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Religions
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Saints and Cities: Hagiography and Urban History
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Saints and Cities: Hagiography and Urban History

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (16 June 2024) | Viewed by 4107

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Samantha Kahn Herrick

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of History, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
Interests: medieval European history; saints; hagiography; cities; urban growth; rivalry; networks of communication and exchange

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hagiographical sources hold valuable information about urban history. Saints’ cults were often based in cities, or in places that grew into cities; rural shrines attracted pilgrims who came from or passed through cities; texts traveled among urban networks. Hagiographical texts thus reflect urban life from various angles and can, therefore, be used to explore urban history. Moreover, because hagiographical texts sometimes survive from or concern cities otherwise obscure in the historical record, they can be crucial evidence for the urban past. This Special Issue aims to showcase scholarship using hagiographical sources to explore various dimensions of urban history, including (but not limited to) urban growth, politics, economic history, urban society, the lived experience of city dwellers (or visitors), communications, and material culture. While the issue will primarily focus on texts and cities of medieval Europe, neither cities nor hagiography are exclusively European (or medieval) phenomena. Submissions are, therefore, welcome from other contexts as well. This Special issue is dedicated to expanding the body of scholarship demonstrating the value of hagiographical sources in exploring the multifaceted nature of urban history.

Dr. Samantha Kahn Herrick
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • history
  • hagiography
  • saints
  • shrines
  • medieval Europe
  • cities
  • urban history
  • urban life

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 231 KiB  
Article
Straw-Saint, Martyr, Most-Barbarous Archtraitor: Anti-Hagiographies of Henry Garnet in Seventeenth-Century London
by Caroline K. Barraco
Religions 2024, 15(8), 990; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080990 - 15 Aug 2024
Viewed by 644
Abstract
In 1606 Henry Garnet, provincial of the English Jesuits and purported co-conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot against James I, was executed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Following his death, accounts of miracles occurring at his execution began to spread throughout England, including [...] Read more.
In 1606 Henry Garnet, provincial of the English Jesuits and purported co-conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot against James I, was executed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Following his death, accounts of miracles occurring at his execution began to spread throughout England, including an account of a relic bearing his miraculous image. While Catholic writers promoted these accounts as evidence of Garnet’s innocence, Protestant contemporaries argued that Garnet was an illegitimate martyr and that his commemoration was evidence of Catholic support for regicide. This article demonstrates how London Protestant writers and publishers utilized anti-hagiographical arguments to intervene in attempts to promote Garnet’s sainthood, counter claims about the veracity of his relic, and shape his legacy in the decades following his execution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Saints and Cities: Hagiography and Urban History)
16 pages, 317 KiB  
Article
Medieval Arles through the Lives of Its Founding Bishop
by Samantha Kahn Herrick
Religions 2024, 15(7), 877; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070877 - 22 Jul 2024
Viewed by 623
Abstract
Texts recounting the careers of saints were foundational to Christian worship and historical construction in medieval Europe. They were also fluid, living works that evolved over time as individual saints’ stories were revised, adapted, and retold. These texts changed in response to changing [...] Read more.
Texts recounting the careers of saints were foundational to Christian worship and historical construction in medieval Europe. They were also fluid, living works that evolved over time as individual saints’ stories were revised, adapted, and retold. These texts changed in response to changing contexts in which they were used and understood. This article undertakes a case study to see how the evolution of one urban saint’s legend reflects the history of that saint’s city. Specifically, it analyzes the numerous Latin and vernacular texts produced between the mid-fifth and late twelfth centuries that recount the deeds of Saint Trophimus, first bishop of Arles. It argues that shifts in the saint’s story reflect broad changes in the political, religious, and social life of Arles. It also demonstrates that the number of parties recounting the legend multiplied over time, and that dissonances within the story arose as these groups adapted the tale to their own interests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Saints and Cities: Hagiography and Urban History)
27 pages, 2399 KiB  
Article
Letare Taxandria: Regionalism and Hagiographic Interactions between Sint-Oedenrode, ’s-Hertogenbosch, and Liège in the Medieval Cult and Liturgy of St Oda
by Catherine Saucier
Religions 2024, 15(6), 667; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060667 - 29 May 2024
Viewed by 931
Abstract
“Rejoice, Texandria, for Oda!” Thus begins the series of chants and readings commemorating the virgin St Oda, patron of the village that took her name—Sint-Oedenrode—in the late medieval liturgy of the town of ’s-Hertogenbosch. Overt praise for the surrounding region, Texandria, extending across [...] Read more.
“Rejoice, Texandria, for Oda!” Thus begins the series of chants and readings commemorating the virgin St Oda, patron of the village that took her name—Sint-Oedenrode—in the late medieval liturgy of the town of ’s-Hertogenbosch. Overt praise for the surrounding region, Texandria, extending across the northern limits of the duchy of Brabant and diocese of Liège, is a recurring theme in the liturgy inspired by the saint’s legend. Yet how did Oda, of Scottish origin, become so closely associated with this remote region? And what was the significance of her liturgical veneration in ’s-Hertogenbosch, to which Sint-Oedenrode was enfranchised? Exemplifying interactions between central and secondary places within a specific region, this study argues for the relevance of the historical approach to urban–rural dynamics in medieval hagiography and its related liturgy. Recognition that smaller towns and villages played important roles in regional networks prompts more focused attention to regional priorities in the legends and liturgies of local saints. That Oda’s cult is attested by a diversity of extant documentary evidence—historical, hagiographic, and liturgical, including newly discovered liturgical readings—facilitates interpretation of her veneration in ’s-Hertogenbosch and of the intertextual connections between her legend and those of other saints, notably Lambert, associated with the duchy and diocese. As suggested by this example, regionalism merits greater scrutiny as an integral component of civic religion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Saints and Cities: Hagiography and Urban History)
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16 pages, 306 KiB  
Article
‘Mary Magdalene Rises from the Dust,’ Twice
by Yossi Maurey
Religions 2024, 15(6), 659; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060659 - 28 May 2024
Viewed by 925
Abstract
Liturgy was the perfect and unparalleled medium for public relations in the Middle Ages, and when it came to relics, it could transform any stone, bone, or a piece of wood into an object worthy of devotion. This article revolves around the activating [...] Read more.
Liturgy was the perfect and unparalleled medium for public relations in the Middle Ages, and when it came to relics, it could transform any stone, bone, or a piece of wood into an object worthy of devotion. This article revolves around the activating force of the relics of Mary Magdalene in medieval France. It examines two liturgies—from Vézelay and from Saint-Maximin in Provence—honouring the saint, representing two distinct responses whose character reflects the priorities of the communities that produced them and the agendas that set them in motion. Liturgy was accorded a special role in bolstering the claims of Provence over the corporeal presence of Mary Magdalene in its midst, with liturgists adopting a more audacious and unreserved vocabulary to validate these claims over those of Vézelay. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Saints and Cities: Hagiography and Urban History)
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