| Paper 1515-b | The Life of Lidwina of Schiedam Printed for Rich and for Common People
(Language: English)
Nelly Moerman, Departement Kunst-, religie- en cultuurwetenschappen, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Index terms: Art History - General, Hagiography, Printing History, Religious Life |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
The paper will examine the relationship in the Old English poem Andreas between the spiritual poverty of the Mermedonians and the physical poverty of their land. Andrew is tortured and miraculously healed; as a result both land and people are enriched physically and spiritually: fruiting trees sprout in the barren landscape, and the Mermedonians convert to Christianity. I will explore the symbolism of the three days of torture and the trees that spring from Andrew's blood in relation to the tree of sin stemming from Abel's murder depicted in Genesis A and the link between this section of Andreas and Rogation Days.
Paper -b:
Lidwina of Schiedam (1380-1433) suffered a long life of illness after falling on the ice at the age of fifteen. After her death, preparations were made for canonization. To raise the necessary money, a local priest, called Otgier Nachtegael, printed a book containing her life story in Latin (1498). This beautifully produced edition contains twenty hand-coloured woodcuts illustrating her life. A few years later, in 1505, he prepared a simpler version for the common people, printed in Dutch but using the same woodcuts. Both editions can be seen as ecclesiastical propaganda. This paper discusses differences and similarities between the two.
Paper -c:
Barlam and Josaphat [MS. Peterhouse Camb. 257(P)] was quite popular in the later middle ages throughout England, in a longer as well as in many abbreviated forms. In this paper, I will show how this interest in the text was partly due to the strategies of the Lancastrian kings to cement a link between kingship and monasticism. We know the coronation of Henry IV was marked as a solemn occasion and that the reigns of his son and grandson were marked by even more conspicuous displays of royal piety and holiness. The Lancastrian kings saw themselves as anti-Richard and they wanted to people to believe that they did not want the opulent lifestyle of Richard II. So, does the story of a prince-turned-hermit fit into the Lancastrian scheme of self-legitimisation? Thus, the extent to which the text of Barlam and Josaphat could serve the interests of the Lancastrian kings with its 'rags and riches' plotline is the focus of this paper.
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