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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 1815: Changing Climates, The Preternatural, III: Climates of Faith - Saints and the Supernatural

Thursday 8 July 2021, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:Henry Marsh, Department of History, University of Exeter
Moderator/Chair:Owain Nash, Department of History, University of Bristol
Paper 1815-aRelics with Attitude: Reading Mental Activity in Early Medieval Saints' Bodies
(Language: English)
Merel Veldhuizen, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Culture / Department of English, University of Southampton
Index terms: Hagiography, Lay Piety
Paper 1815-bLocal Intercessors: The Cult of Saints in the South West
(Language: English)
Lydia Fisher, Department of History University of Exeter
Index terms: Lay Piety, Local History
Paper 1815-cGraffiti and the Parish Church: Case Studies in Social and Spiritual Interactions
(Language: English)
Crystal Hollis, Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter
Index terms: Art History - General, Lay Piety
Abstract

Papers in this session consider how the cults of saints and spiritual interactions in the Middle Ages reveal intellectual and social climates of belief, action, and faith in communities. The first paper considers whether early medieval English audiences perceived dead saints to retain traces of mental capacity as their appearance and environment changed. The second paper examines the localised nature of saints' cults in the South West of England, using the social, cultural and geographical context of the region as a 'climate' to question how these factors shaped beliefs and devotional practices. The third paper reflects on how medieval graffiti allows researchers to observe a relationship between the built environment and social climates. It explores how the churches, as locations built for interaction with the preternatural and supernatural can be used as localised climates to map the social histories of communities through individuals' interactions with the supernatural.