IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 338: Materiality and Sanctity: St Thomas Becket among the Saints, II - Healing, Cult Rivalries, and Pilgrims

Monday 1 July 2019, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:	Wellcome Collection
Organisers:	Elma Brenner, Wellcome Library, London Paul Webster, School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Cardiff University
Moderator/Chair:	Paul Webster, School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Cardiff University
Paper 338-a	In the Very Place Where the Saint Had Lain: Healing and Cursing at the Barrow of St Amphibalus (Language: English) Lily Alice Gwendoline Hawker-Yates, Centre for Kent History & Heritage, Canterbury Christ Church University Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Hagiography, Medicine, Religious Life
Paper 338-b	Ughi's Viaggio di Fiandra ed Inghiterra: A Florentine Merchant Experiences Sacred Space in Canterbury, 1444 - Analysis of a Previously Unknown Autograph Diary (Language: English) Chiara Capulli, Department of History of Art / Pembroke College, University of Cambridge Raffaele Danna, Faculty of History / Pembroke College, University of Cambridge Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Art History - Decorative Arts, Economics - General, Lay Piety
Abstract	In this second section exploring the cult of St Thomas Becket within the wider context of devotion to the medieval saints, papers examine the stage management of cults between the 12th and 15th centuries. In considering how communities reacted to the Becket phenomenon, the first two papers compare and contrast Canterbury with St Albans and Durham, examining the cult of St Amphibalus and that of St Cuthbert. Themes include healing miracles and sites of healing, and the quest to demonstrate the efficacy of saints other than Becket. The final paper examines a previously unknown account of the pilgrimage experience of a 15th-century Florentine merchant, focusing on Canterbury and Becket, and demonstrating the phenomenon with which other cults were faced.