IMC 2013: Sessions

Session 804: Between Entertainment and Persuasion: On Structures and Functions of Miracle Accounts and Collections, II

Tuesday 2 July 2013, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:	Trivium: Centre for Ancient, Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of Tampere / Hagiography Society
Organisers:	Sari Katajala-Peltomaa, School of Social Sciences & Humanities, University of Tampere Christian Krötzl, School of Social Sciences & Humanities, History & Philosophy, University of Tampere
Moderator/Chair:	Rachel M. Koopmans, Department of History, York University, Toronto
Paper 804-a	The Status of Miracles in Central European Saint's Lives (Language: English) Ildikó Csepregi, Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest Index terms: Daily Life, Hagiography
Paper 804-b	Gender and Narrative Strategies in the Depositions of 14th-Century Canonization Processes (Language: English) Sari Katajala-Peltomaa, School of Social Sciences & Humanities, University of Tampere Index terms: Daily Life, Hagiography
Paper 804-c	Miracles and Cognition: Function of Dreams and Visions in Late Medieval Miracle Accounts from the Low Countries (Language: English) Jonas van Mulder, Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen Index terms: Daily Life, Hagiography
Abstract	Medieval Miracle Accounts and Miracle Collections have become increasingly popular and are being used by researchers from all kind of scholarly traditions. This fruitful and inspiring variety of research 'ad fontes' has however also left many questions of method and theory aside. Analytical guidelines and 'working-tools' are largely still to be considered as desiderata. The sessions will concentrate mainly on the structures and functional elements of miracle collections from the High and Later Middle Ages. Questions to be treated are: size, composition, typology of structures, rhetorical elements, stage of composition and preservation, official or non-official character, linked or not-linked to canonisation attempts, full or abbreviated version, inserted in other types of sources, larger context and function, links to other types of sources, enquiries and juridical procedures. Entertainment and persuasion are important functional features, linking the topic of these two sessions to the general topic of the IMC 2013. Miracle accounts had to entertain an audience, in order to attract prospective pilgrims. On the other hand they had - in the case of miracle accounts connected to canonization attempts - to persuade a learned commission on the miraculous powers of the saint in question. How do these functions appear in the accounts, could they be combined, or were they in conflict?