| Paper 1735-a | Old Saints, New Empire: Memory and Identity in the Cults of St Ithamar of Rochester and St Vigor de Bayeux
(Language: English)
Bridget Riley, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, Downtown
Index terms: Hagiography, Monasticism, Religious Life, Social History |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
This paper will discuss two relatively understudied saints and how their cults reflected upon the reinforcement of cultural and religious identity that took place in England after the Norman Conquest. St Ithamar of Rochester was pulled out of historical obscurity as a representation of an English identity which was challenged after the Conquest. Conversely, St Vigor de Bayeux stood as a symbol of Norman spirituality and thus an expression of cultural assimilation and even resistance for the Norman settlers. By looking at these two saints and their communities, this discussion will challenge narrow understandings of the cult of saints and point towards the great impact it had upon the writing and rewriting of identity.
Paper -b:
The establishment of a new Norman episcopacy in England following the Conquest of 1066 altered the patterns of both ecclesiastical and monastic governance, and arguably created tensions between English communities and the new Norman incumbents. It also resulted in a significant outpouring of hagiographical literature which celebrated, and perhaps defended, Anglo-Saxon saints. This paper will examine the hagiographical texts produced c.1080 by the female monastic house at Barking in Essex, many of which point to resistance to Norman episcopal imperium, in order to explore an English monastic experience of, and reaction to, the jurisdictional re-organisation which followed the Norman Conquest.
Paper -c:
This paper investigates the ways the cult of Edward the Confessor influenced and was influenced by devotion in French religious institutions, exploring the transmission of cult material across the Channel. The paper is concerned with two main aspects: firstly, the devotion to Edward in the abbey church of Fécamp in Normandy, where he occupied a place in the sanctorale and was the subject of a glass cycle (c.1308). Secondly, the adaptation of liturgical material composed for Louis IX as evidenced by a particular antiphon extant in a Carthusian prayerbook. This will add nuance to the picture of Edward's cult.
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