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UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Bringing Out the Saints: Journeys of Relics in Tenth to Twelfth Century Northern France and Flanders Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/94d9p7fh Author Craig, Kate Melissa Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Bringing Out the Saints: Journeys of Relics in Tenth to Twelfth Century Northern France and Flanders A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Kate Melissa Craig 2015 © Copyright by Kate Melissa Craig 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Bringing Out the Saints: Journeys of Relics in Tenth to Twelfth Century Northern France and Flanders by Kate Melissa Craig Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Patrick Geary, Chair The social importance of saints’ relics during the European Middle Ages is well documented, yet relics have rarely been treated as mobile objects beyond discussions of their transportation from one permanent location to another (a “translation”). This dissertation examines the practice of taking relics on out-and-back journeys to explore the consequences of temporarily removing these objects from the churches in which they were housed and displayed, focusing on northern France and the Low Countries during the high Middle Ages. Medieval relics were considered direct conduits to the supernatural power of the saints, and an itinerant relic projected religious, economic, and political authority onto the areas it traveled through. However, travel also brought a relic into contact with unfamiliar audiences. Using evidence from customaries, hagiography, charters, and images, I demonstrate that while moving relics transformed them into versatile tools of power, it also exposed them to criticism, antagonism, and danger from both lay and ecclesiastical groups. ii The first chapter argues that relics traveled frequently and regularly by tracking the appearance of instructions for temporary relic movement across eleventh-century customaries, mainly from the monastery of Cluny. The next three chapters examine hagiographical texts to reveal the complexity of the interactions between those performing relic journeys and three groups that they might encounter en route: other ecclesiastics, lay property owners, and the laity at large. The second chapter shows that while bringing their relics together could serve as a demonstration of goodwill between multiple monasteries, moving one relic into the physical presence of another might also provoke intense conflict. The third chapter examines the roles mobile relics could play in monastic property disputes, ranging from intimidation of lay opponents to more subtle assertions of authority over a landscape. The fourth chapter demonstrates that although medieval lay devotion to relics is often taken for granted, a mobile relic might also incite dissent or rejection from local laypeople. Finally, the fifth chapter explores visual and textual imaginings of relic journeys and their significance, especially the use of the Ark of the Covenant as a motif to valorize the experience of transporting relics. iii The dissertation of Kate Melissa Craig is approved. Teofilo F. Ruiz Min Li Patrick Geary, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv For Ethel and Nelda v Table of Contents List of Abbreviations..................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................... x VITA ............................................................................................................................................. xii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: The Liturgy of Transporting Relics ........................................................................ 28 I. Calendrical relic movement in the Cluniac customaries ....................................................... 37 II. Non-calendrical relic movement in the Cluniac customaries ............................................... 48 III. Relic movement in other customaries ................................................................................. 64 Chapter Two: Bringing Relics Together ...................................................................................... 73 I. Hospitality, unity, and collective purpose ............................................................................. 76 II. Tension, competition, and exclusion .................................................................................... 95 Chapter Three: Property, Landscape, and Relics on the Move .................................................. 125 I. Revisiting narratives of intimidation ................................................................................... 130 II. Interweaving the legal and spiritual through relic movement ............................................ 142 III. Writing possession onto the landscape ............................................................................. 152 Chapter Four: Lay Agency and Audience ................................................................................... 168 I. Contested mobilities: should relics travel? .......................................................................... 172 II. Donations and preaching: untangling narratives of “greed” and “deception” ................... 184 III. Lay joy and dissent during relic entries and exits ............................................................. 202 Chapter Five: The Imagined World of Relic Journeys ............................................................... 222 I. Arca Dei: Imagining the movement of the Ark of the Covenant ......................................... 225 II. Arca sancti: Imagining the movement of reliquaries ......................................................... 239 III. Interpreting relic movement using the Ark ....................................................................... 254 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 262 Figures......................................................................................................................................... 276 Bibliography of Works Cited .......................................................................................................311 vi List of Abbreviations AASS Acta sanctorum (68 vols., Société des Bollandistes, Antwerp and Brussels, 1643-1940). Digitized by Chadwick-Healey as the Acta Sanctorum Database . AASSOSB Acta sanctorum ordinis sancti Benedicti , ed. Jean Mabillon (9 vols., Paris, 1668-1701; 2 nd ed., Venice, 1733-40). BHL Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina BnF Bibliothèque nationale de France BM Bibliothèque municipale (of city) CCH Paris Catalogus codicum hagiographicorum, Biblioteca nationali parisiensi CCCM Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis (Turnhout) CCM Corpus consuetudinum monasticarum KBR Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België / Bibliothèque royale de Belgique Mansi Mansi, Giovanni Domenico, ed., Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica SS Scriptores (in folio) SS rer. Mer. Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum PL Patrologia cursus completus, series latina , ed. J.-P. Migne (221 vols., Paris, 1844-64). vii List of Figures 1 Brussels KBR 9069, fol. 25v. The Ark at the Crossing of the Red Sea. 2 Morgan Picture Bible, fol. 39v. David Dances Before the Ark. 3 Apse Mosaic at Germigny-des-Prés. 4 Paris BnF lat. 6(2), fol. 5r. The Ark in the Camp. 5 Vatican Pal. 39, fol. 44v. The Ark in the Temple. 6 Bible of St-Paul-Outside-the-Walls, fol. 59v. The Ark Crosses the Jordan. 7 Utrecht Psalter, fol. 66r. Psalm 113. 8 Utrecht Psalter, fol. 75r. Psalm 131. 9 Eadwine Psalter, fol. 203v. Psalm 113. 10 Eadwine Psalter, fol. 237r. Psalm 131. 11 Old English Hexateuch fol. 142v. The Ark Carried by Priests. 12 Lambeth Bible, fol. 66v. The Ark Carried by Priests. 13 St. Alban’s Psalter. Psalm 113. 14 Pantheon Bible, fol. 60v. The Ark Carried by Priests. 15 Hortus deliciarum (reproduction), fol. 51v. The Ark Carried by Priests. 16 Michaelbeuern Bible, fol. 74. The Ark Crosses the Jordan. 17 Fressac Bible, fol. 88r. The Ark Carried by Priests. 18 Souvigny Bible, fol. 73r. The Ark Carried Around Jericho. 19 Morgan Picture Bible, fol. 21r. The Ark Taken by the Philistines. 20 Paris BnF lat. 17198, fol. 92v. The Ark Taken by the Philistines. 21 The Bayeux Tapesty. Harald Swears on Two Reliquaries. 22 Shrine of Saint Amandus. 23 Chasse-type reliquary from Limoges. 24 The Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude. 25 Reliquary of St. Anastasios the Persian. 26 Domed Reliquary, Guelph Treasure, Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum. 27 Oxford University College 165, fol. 159r. St. Cuthbert’s Reliquary Carried to Lindisfarne. 28 Valenciennes BM 502, fol. 30v. The Burial of St. Amand. 29 Pierpont Morgan Library 736, fol. 17v. The Burial of St. Edmund. viii 30 Echternach Pericopes, fol. 160r. The Translation of
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