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IMC 2007: Sessions

Session 628: Making Saints: Communities and the Construction of Sanctity in British Hagiography

Tuesday 10 July 2007, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Helen Birkett, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Moderator/Chair:Joanna Huntington, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Paper 628-aWho was Responsible for Gerald of Wales's Vita Sancti Hugonis?
(Language: English)
Matthew Mesley, Department of History, University of Exeter
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Latin
Paper 628-bUnofficial and Disputed Sanctity: Sanctifying St Waltheof
(Language: English)
Helen Birkett, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Latin, Religious Life
Paper 628-cConstructing Sanctity in the Community: St Edmund of East Anglia
(Language: English)
Rebecca Pinner, School of Literature & Creative Writing, University of East Anglia
Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Middle English, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

In exploring the communal construction of sanctity, this session seeks to examine not only the processes involved in the promotion of a particular saintly image but also the possible disputes that could arise among a community engaged upon this task. Beginning with a discussion of the role played by Lincoln's secular chapter in publicising Hugh of Lincoln's sanctity, the session will move on to analyse the preparations that attended the promotion of St Waltheof at Melrose Abbey. The final paper explores how, in the virtual absence of historical record, St Edmund's sanctity was constructed by the monastic community at Bury St Edmunds.