Cults of Saints Research Papers (original) (raw)

n the period of the Middle Ages the special role in the religious life both of eastern and western Christians played the relics. Their cult was one of the characteristic attributes of the cult of saints. The relics were strictly connected with the pilgrimage places (centers), they were also the objects of the reciprocal exchange, which was connected with the particular alliance between the both sides participating in this procedure. The cult of relics came to Prussia together with the, invited here, Teutonic Order. They were placed in the majority of the castle chapels. The Teutonic knights not seldom brought them from their home land, some of them could come from Holy places in Palestine, part of them were undoubtedly the gifts of the sovereigns of the neighboring countries. The his- tory proved that the relics often were found among the war captures. In the present article the relics from the castle in Ostróda (formerly Oster- ode) are described. According to the registers of the appointment of the castle chapel from the period between 1411 and 1516 we can draw a conclusion that there were here the relics of the following saints: saint Sigismund, saint Helen, saint Martin, saint Catherine, saint Hubert and Eleven thousand of Virgins. The Reformation and the acceptance of the Luther belief by the last Master of the Teutonic Order in 1525 brought the end to the cult of relics. After this peri- od some of them were taken away some other were dispersed and forgotten

- by Lori Pieper
- •
- Hagiography, Saints' Cults, Latin Medieval Hagiography, Cults of Saints

de Lisboa (1195-1231), português de nascimento, é um alvo popular deste fervor religioso. O seu culto é um fenómeno popular na Igreja Católica. Para além de celebrações regulares no calendário da igreja, as suas imagens estão em muitos altares de oração e são alvo de cultos festivos. Os missionários portugueses introduziram o catolicismo no Sri Lanka em meados do século XVI. Pode, portanto, presumir-se que a devoção a Santo António de Lisboa neste país foi introduzido juntos dos nativos cristãos pelos missionários portugueses. Esta suposição é suportada pelas crónicas do período da expansão portuguesa, onde Santo António é identificado como o «Santo de Lisboa» e o «Santo português». Há muitas igrejas no Sri Lanka contemporâneo dedicadas a Santo António de Lisboa, o que revela claramente a popularidade deste santo no país. Este estudo pretende traçar os factores históricos adoptados para espalhar a devoção a Santo António de Lisboa, no Sri Lanka, durante os séculos XVI e XVII, o período durante o qual os portugueses evangelizaram as Províncias Marítimas do país, e também tentar compreender o progresso da devoção ao longo das diferentes conquistas temporais e espirituais.

Со ња Пе tро вић СА ЖЕ ТАК: Ле ген да о Алек си ју Бож јем чо ве ку, рас про страње на у про зним и сти хо ва ним жи ти ји ма ши ром хри шћан ског света, бли ска је и фол клор ној кул ту ри на со ци јал но-ан тро по ло шком и ког ни тив но-пси хо ло шком пла ну. Схе ма Алек си је вог жи ти ја поду да ра се с оп штом ини ци ја циј ском струк ту ром фол клор них жанро ва, што омо гу ћа ва пре по зна ва ње за јед нич ких кул тур них мо дела и срод них мо ти ва. Ро ђен као бо жан ски дар, Алек си је из ра ста у узор вр ли не и ми ло ср ђа у зе маљ ском жи во ту, а по сле смр ти наста вља да да ру је и ис це љу је као по сред ник из ме ђу љу ди и Бо га, па у на род ној по бо жно сти и фол клор ној кул ту ри ко но ти ра сим боли ку да ра и бо жан ске раз ме не. Ана ли зе Алек си је вог про зног жити ја и вер си фи ко ва не ле ген де Ви ћен ти ја Ра ки ћа, и на род них песа ма ко је су за бе ле жи ли Ан дре је вић, Ву ко вић, Кра ус, Ја стре бов, Ни ко лић, Ка ши ко вић и Ша у лић, по ка зу ју да лик овог све ти те ља по сре ду је из ме ђу зва нич не и на род не кул ту ре упра во ти ме што поста је дар на ро ду, си ро ти њи и бли жњи ма, и на овај на чин успе ва да до не кле пре ва зи ђе про тив реч ност из ме ђу от шел нич ке и на род не кул ту ре.

- by Sonja Petrović
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- Saints' Cults, Folk legends, Epic poetry, Cults of Saints
- by François De Vriendt
- •
- Cultural History, Medieval History, Hagiography, History of Christianity

One of the great premises of medieval popular religion was the localization of the holy, the essential principle of the pilgrimage. At the same time, there was a widespread equation between excessive art and holiness. One result of these complementary dynamics was that many pilgrims felt that the localization of the holy was indicated by an elevated artistic environment, an attitude that was used at times by religious institutions at some holy sites to meet the expectations of some great experience on the part of the tens and even hundreds of thousands of visitors who are recorded as having annually visited these places. At the high point of the pilgrimage (11th-12th centuries), almost all of these pilgrims had no or only very little formal education. And so the question arises, given the important role of art in the lived experience, how was this often complex form of visual media negotiated in this unique intersection of high culture and the non-elite in actual practice? In other words, what provided the crucial interface for a largely uneducated public and the often phenomenally expensive art programs that had been created almost entirely for their benefit, practically speaking? Or, put another way still, was there such a thing as a "tour guide" in the Middle Ages?
This study investigates the medieval "tour guide" or, perhaps better, it investigates guide culture. Toward this end, I ask such questions as was there a "tour guide" in the Middle Ages, that is, is there evidence for an artistic component within medieval guide culture? If so, what was the precedent for this? What was its relation to artistic culture in general and pilgrimage culture in particular? Is there any evidence of guide support, such as guide training or guide aids? What can we say about the range of artistic culture addressed by medieval guides and, in this regard, what sort of information did they convey? Who were these guides and what social groups did they address? Did they act to maintain--consciously or unconsciously--the traditional social distance between the spiritual elite and the non-elite? And how does all this affect our conception of medieval artistic culture, broadly speaking?
Medieval guide culture and its mediating dynamic, ephemeral by nature, have been largely overlooked. But at least something--even if little more than an awareness--of this culture may be recovered. The evidence suggests that it was an active factor in the transmission of particular categories of knowledge and claims, and strongly affected both the object-viewer dynamic and the social context of medieval public art. And in this, the guide, variously understood, was often the principal mediator between the ordinary visitor and the sometimes incredibly lavish and complex art programs--between the public and the public work of art--of the Middle Ages.

- by Conrad Rudolph
- •
- Tourism Studies, Medieval Literature, Medieval History, Medieval Studies

This essay provides an analysis of how and when St Winefride’s cult became popular; how personal and political motives lead to the promotion of the cult (particularly at Holywell, Shrewsbury and Basingwerk) and also how her popularity extended beyond Wales. It includes interesting discussions of cures at the well, royal visitors and the post-reformation cult, and traces the origins of the cult and its development in a chronological fashion.

- by Carla Zappalà
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- Religion, Sociology of Religion, Celtic Studies, Cult of Saints

Reviews of books and some chapters about Brigit, Irish goddess and saint, are gathered by genre: Picture Books, Plays/Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction Popular (Saint), Nonfiction Popular (NeoPagan), Academic/Popular Academic. The aim is to... more

- by Casey June Wolf (Mael Brigde)
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- Irish Studies, Celtic Studies, Saints' Cults, Goddess Spirituality

"La présente étude s'inscrit dans le débat à propos d'une éventuelle " mutation féodale " autour de l'an mil. Il s'agit d'étudier l'aristocratie laïque durant les Xe et XIe siècles, en prêtant une égale attention aux ressorts matériels et idéologiques de sa domination sociale. La signification des transformations que connaît alors l'écriture diplomatique étant au cœur de la controverse, le choix a été fait de partir des sources hagiographiques originaires des abbayes d'Aurillac, Conques et Figeac. Mais le discours hagiographique présente ses propres biais. Afin de s'en prémunir au mieux, on a confronté autant que possible les affirmations des sources hagiographiques aux informations disponibles grâce à d'autres types de documents. La démonstration procède en deux étapes. En recourant aux méthodes de l'hagiologie, la première partie permet de contextualiser la production hagiographique et de s'interroger sur les conditions de sa réception : on s'aperçoit que si les textes latins sont d'abord destinés à être lus par des clercs, de multiples canaux de diffusion orale permettaient aux hagiographes de s'adresser également aux laïcs, en particulier à l'aristocratie. La seconde partie étudie l'évolution de la domination aristocratique à travers ce que permet d'en percevoir l'hagiographie. Elle montre qu'un certain nombre de transformations ont eu lieu dès le début du Xe siècle et permettent de parler d'une " mutation de l'an 900 " : l'émergence de la chevalerie, la mise en place de la féodalité, la montée en puissance des sires, l'importance des châteaux et des milites sont autant de phénomènes qui datent de cette époque. Toutefois, l'an mil connaît deux ajustements non négligeables : le redéploiement de l'identité aristocratique autour des châteaux et le passage d'une conception cognatique de la parenté noble à une autre d'avantage agnatique.
The present study falls within the scope of the debate about a possible "feudal mutation" around the year 1000. It is concerned with the study of lay aristocracy during the 10th and 11th centuries, by giving equal attention to ideological and material aspects of its social domination. Because the meaning of the transformations that affect diplomatic writing then is in the heart of the matter, we make the choice to work from the hagiographic narratives from the abbeys of Aurillac, Conques and Figeac. But there are also biases in the hagiographic discourse. In order to counterbalance their influence, we have compared as much as possible the data from hagiographic texts with the information available thanks to other types of documents. The demonstration is organized in two steps. Using the methods of hagiology, the first part contextualizes hagiographic production and questions the conditions of its reception: we are led to realize that, if the Latin texts are primaraly intented to be read by clerics, multiple oral channels allowed hagiographers to address also the laity, especially the aristocracy. The second part examines the evolution of aristocratic domination through what can be perceived in the hagiography. It shows that some transformations took place as early as the beginning of the 10th century and that we can therefore speak of "a mutation of the year 900": the ermergence of chivalry, the establishment of feudalism, the rise of the lords, the importance of castles and milites are phenomena which date from this time. Howewer, there are two significant adjustments around the year 1000: aristocratic identity refocuses on castles and the the noble kinship moves from a cognatic conception to another more agnatic."

- by Sebastien Fray
- •
- History, Medieval History, Hagiography, Genealogy

Abstract. According to hagiographical sources St. Zotikos was greatly venerated in Constantinople, where he founded an orphanage (ὀρφανοτροφεῖον) under the patronage of Emperor Constantine the Great, which would develop into the most important charity institution in the Eastern Roman Empire. However, with the exception of calendar illustrations in miniature painting for December 31st, when the church commemorates the martyrdom of St. Zotikos of Constantinople, images of this reputable saint are very rarely found in Eastern Christian art, which suggests that his cult was slow to spread beyond the borders of the Byzantine Empire, particularly its capital.
Interest in the cult of St. Zotikos was revived in the age of the Palaiologoi, as evidenced by new hagiographical works – an encomium in honor of the saint penned by Constantine Akropolites, Byzantine nobleman and author († 1321-1324). The paper discusses the reception of the cult of St. Zotikos Orphanotrophos in medieval Serbia in light of iconographical sources and analyzes representations of the saint in Serbian monumental painting of the 14th century.

- by Marka Tomić
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- Byzantine Studies, Byzantine Iconography, Cults of Saints, Serbian medieval art
- by Ivan Foletti
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- History, Medieval History, Cultural Heritage, Medieval Studies

In 1772 the Venetian Senate intervened by passing a law to limit the exorbitant number of religious feasts that were happening in many places throughout the dominio da terra (the mainland) and Istria. Information collected in the 1770s is above all interesting as it formed a true and detailed ethnographic research of religious feasts, rich in descriptions pertinent to the cult of saints and the spreading of religious feasts in the mainland and Istria. Entrusted to a preliminary enquiry by parish priests, these descriptions, far from being uniform and provided with precision offer a colourful frame of popular religiosity and of the difficulties, if not impossibility, of tracing a homogeneous framework of the world of customs which, with its cultural traits, still intensely pervaded religious life of subject populations. The title Ambiguous Descriptions reflects therefore the fact that the information collected by parish priests could hardly provide an adequate answer to the questions formulated by an act which was built on a prospective that was decisively foreign to the world of customs and its numerous aspects.

- by CLAUDIO Povolo
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- Cultural History, Popular Culture, Legal Anthropology, Cult of Saints

Abstract
Les saints, tant vivants que dans l’au-delà, forment un sujet actuellement très apprécié des études concernant l’Antiquité tardive. Dans le domaine iconographique, l’ensemble le plus magnifique de saints est représenté par les quinze portraits de martyrs en mosaïque conservés sur la coupole de la Rotonde de Saint-Georges à Thessalonique. Étrangement, le discours contemporain de l’iconographie hagiographique néglige largement ces images exceptionnelles. La raison en est probablement de l’incertitude de leur datation. Pourtant, qu’on les place dans les dernières décennies du ive siècle, aux alentours de 450, ou au début du vie siècle, ces mosaïques fournissent une importante information sur l’origine et le développement de la représentation des saints. Cet article pose le problème de la genèse de l’image individualisée du martyr, en particulier la question de son rattachement à une tradition authentique liée à son portrait funéraire. Une des caractéristiques distinctives des images du monument de Thessalonique est la variété des représentations : les portraits des martyrs sont nettement individualisés, différenciés par âge, chevelure, barbe, traits physiognomoniques, couleurs, etc. Toutefois, indépendamment de la question de l’origine et de l’authenticité de ces portraits, les couleurs particulières des tesselles utilisées pour rendre les chevelures et les yeux montrent que, dans la Rotonde, les mosaïstes ont donné la priorité à une esthétique de “lumière colorée’, principe qui leur a permis de représenter la beauté idéale des hommes saints dans l’au-delà.

Three cities, Sirmium, Thessaloniki and Iustiniana Prima had very prominent role during Late Antiquity. Their position was apparent through their wealth, their cults and their architecture, primarily of Christian religious buildings. Also, all three of them had one more important thing in common – they were connected by migrations of populations, first from the northern part of the Empire towards the Mediterranean, namely from Sirmium to Thessaloniki, and then once again from the Mediterranean to its hinterland, namely from Thessaloniki to Iustiniana Pri-ma. The consequences of those migrations were the translation of relics and cults, and the appearance of one specific architectural type, the basilica with a transept.

H i s t o r y ◆ i d e n t i t y ◆ V u l n e r a b i l i t y ◆ P r o t e c t i o n

- by Marina Schumann (Miladinov)
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- Reformation, Cults of Saints, Flacius, Vergerius the Younger
- by Giulio Sodano
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- Religion, History of Religion, Mediterranean Studies, Saints' Cults

In the murals painted before 1404/5 in the sanctuary of the church in Mălâncrav, there is a group scene composed of five saints: the three holy kings of Hungary (i.e., Stephen, Emeric, and Ladislas), St. Sigismund of Burgundy, and a holy bishop without defining attributes. Rejecting previous identifications (St. Gerard of Cenad or St. Nicholas) for the holy bishop in Mălâncrav, the article establishes a new identity by focusing on hagiographic, liturgical, and historical texts, and by analyzing a series of images of saints. After placing the representation in Mălâncrav against the background of the cults of saints popular in medieval Hungary, the author identifies the holy bishop in Mălâncrav as St. Adalbert, the patron saint of the Archbishopric of Esztergom and one of Hungary’s holy protectors.

- by Dragos Gh. Nastasoiu
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- Iconography, Hagiography, Cult of Saints, Christian Iconography
- by Paolo Negri
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- Iconography, Art History, Architecture, Renaissance Studies

In the church of the Transfiguration, in the village Pasjane near Gnjilane, there are two icons of martyr Bosiljka Rajičić and a short narrative cycle that shows her martyrdom. They are painted by Konstantin Jakovljević from Galičnik, on demand of the Rajičić family. Bosiljka was kidnapped and murdered as a young girl because she refused to renounce her faith, convert to Islam and marry an Albanian. According to tradition, in the throne that was built next to the northwest pillar, that is part of the construction that separates nave and narthex, her remains are buried.
The short cycle of martyr Bosiljka is painted on the throne, and it consists of scenes of Kidnapping and Assumption. Also, there are two icons on this throne, one of which is bigger and representative while the other is smaller and serves for veneration. Konstantin Jakovljević painted her figure relying on the iconographic method of interpreting martyrdom of new martyrs such as Saint George of Ioannina and Saint Zlata of Maglen.
Placing images of martyr Bosiljka in the sacral space had a primary role in the construction of her cult and her holiness. To the strength of her cult also contributes the fact that in the church is an old chest with her garments. As a part of sacral space, this cult contributes to the formation of a church as a national institution as Bosiljka is a symbolic figure that expresses idea of sacrifice for faith and nation.

- by Ivana Zenarju Rajovic
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- Iconography, Art History, Kosovo, Nineteenth-century Art

Статья посвящена роли образов святых в дискурсах войны и насилия в современном российском православии, прежде всего у православных националистов, в прихрамовой среде и движениях 2012–2018 гг. Основываясь на модели «космической войны» Марка Юргенсмейера, авторы рассматривают образы святых как персонификации сакрального, выражающие те или иные смыслы в контексте символической борьбы добра со злом: святые творят сакральный космос, защищают его, очищают, жертвуют собой ради него – и их пример служит как построению нарратива, так и руководством к действию в среде милитантно настроенных верующих. Образы святых в статье делятся на четыре категории: правители-воины, правители-очистители, ревнители веры и воины-мученики. Особое внимание уделяется роли святых в легитимации реальных войн, общественных конфликтов, протестов против демонстрации «богохульных» фильмов, выставок и спектаклей или за строительство храмов. Авторы делают вывод, что личные образы являются автономным источником авторитета, фиксирующим «воинственность» в качестве содержания традиции, и что образ одного и того же святого может выступать в различных вариациях и легитимировать насилие в большей или меньшей степени в зависимости от характера группы, которая к нему обращается.

- by Алексей Зыгмонт and +1
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- Violence, Saints' Cults, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodoxy

Во рамките на програмата "Отворени денови на Институтот за старословенска кул-тура -Прилеп", посветена на 35 годишниот јубилеј, се одржа меѓународниот научен симпозиум "35 години Институт за старословенска култура -Прилеп" во живописното средновековно гратче Кратово, во периодот од 9 до 11 септември 2015 година. Институтот, заедно со Институтот за словенска филологија од Универзитетот "Адам Мицкјиевиќ" -Познањ, по трет пат беа заеднички домаќини на еминентни научни работници од Македонија, Полска, Словенија, хрватска, Италија, Бугарија и Австралија. Организацискиот одбор успешно ги осмисли и реализира плодните заседанија и дискусии, а доказ за тоа се научните трудови содржани во овој број на нашето репрезентативно списание "Балканославика" кое опфаќа различни тематики од поголем број научни дисциплини на хуманистиката. Меѓународниот издавачки и редакциски одбор е уште една потврда дека и покрај дисконтинуитетот на неговото издавање, кој е единствено од финансиска природа, сепак, списанието продолжува да го задржува својот авторитет во правилното согледување и вреднување на севкупните културно-цивилизациски процеси и пројави на Балканот и пошироко на Европа. Во тој контекст, содржините на списанието го прошируват просторот за дијалог меѓу културите и даваат голем придонес за продлабочување на научните размислувања, дискусии и полемики од областа на археологијата, историјата на уметност, лингвистиката, етнологијата, фолклористиката, литературата, историјата на религиите и одговораат на поголем број на прашања кои произлегуваат од новата реалност.

- by ivanka gergova
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- Cults of Saints
- by Gerda Heydemann
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- Hagiography, Early Middle Ages (History), Cults of Saints
- by Ana Milošević
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- Torture, Cults of Saints

Saint lives, their bodies, and the development of cult were integral towards establishing Northumbrian ecclesiastical identity during the Anglo-Saxon period. In this article, I argue that the saint cults of Cuthbert and Oswald of Northumbria effectively established ecclesiastical identity through their relics, hagiographical accounts, and the promotion of their cults through kingly and lay interaction. While the ecclesiastical community regarded Cuthbert as a model of ascetic practice and contemplation, however, they viewed Oswald as a warrior king who died for his faith. Firstly, I examine the diffusion and distribution of saintly relics, which helped to create relationships between the saint and the individual, encouraging cult growth through miraculous occurrences and intimacy with the saint. Secondly, the clergy’s commission of hagiographical texts further supported the distribution of relics, benefitting the image of the saint and their church. Favourable portrayals of the saints, such as Bede’s interpretation of Oswald and Cuthbert, promoted their ecclesiastical centres and relics. Thirdly, regal and lay involvement enabled cult development, allowing for active involvement with the church and endowing the cults with wealth and authority. Through these three approaches in literature, history, and material culture, I illustrate how Cuthbert and Oswald helped to shape ecclesiastical identity in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.

- by Curtis Runstedler
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- Archaeology, Medieval Literature, Medieval History, Hagiography

Saint Dorothy was highly popular in the fifteenth-century Hungary, however, she was almost unknown a hundred years earlier. This phenomenon is not unique and not limited only to this particular saint and territory. The fourteenth century seems to be the period when the cults and legends of virgin martyrs were rediscovered in Europe. How did their cult re-emerged in Central Europe? The present paper analyzes through the Hungarian cult of Saint Dorothy, which circumstances contributed to the proliferation of the cult of virgin martyrs with interdisciplinary method. For that I use all available materials: visual and written sources produced in medieval Hungary. My aim is to show how the general trends in the cult of saints contributed to the spread of Dorothy's veneration. Besides the growing importance of women, the general changes in the cult of saints facilitated the spread of the cult of virgin martyrs. The growing importance of images and sermons contributed to the spread of the old saints' cult, whose venerations were not connected to certain locations.

- by Dorottya Uhrin
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- Medieval History, Hagiography, Medieval Studies, Medieval Women

MA-Program Intellectual Encounters of the Islamicate World Thesis, Free University of Berlin, Germany

- by Peyman Eshaghi
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- History, Cultural History, Self and Identity, Anthropology of Pilgrimage

This article focuses on the pilgrimage to Marburg, Cologne, and Aachen that the Hungarian Dowager Queen Elizabeth Piast undertook in 1357 along with Charles IV of Luxemburg and his wife, Anna of Schweidnitz. During this joint Angevin-Luxemburg pilgrimage, Elizabeth Piast expressed her piety in Marburg at the sepulcher of her holy predecessor St Elizabeth of Hungary/Thuringia, venerated the relics of the Three Magi in Cologne, and worshipped the Passion and Marian memorials in Aachen, where Charlemagne’s tomb was located as well. The dynastic and political consequences of this pilgrimage were that Charles IV established (in 1362) an altar of St Wenceslas, and the Hungarian queen’s son, King Louis the Great, founded (prior to 1366) a chapel dedicated to his holy predecessors and his country’s patron saints: namely Sts Stephen, Emeric, and Ladislas. By examining a number of written records including chroniclers’ accounts, charters, and treasury inventories, and confronting them with the surviving visual evidence, the author reconstructs the early history of the Hungarian chapel in Aachen and establishes its manifold implications. First, the founding of a ‘national’ chapel in Aachen was an attempt at conferring to the cult of these regional (Hungarian) saints a new, global dimension. Second, the newly-acquired sacred prestige of the sancti reges Hungariae was further transferred upon King Louis the Great as the chapel’s founder and promoter of his holy predecessors’ cult. The heraldic symbols on the donated objects visually linked the donations to their donor, attesting not only to the magnificence of the Hungarian royal house in the second half of the fourteenth century, but also to the pious practices and the self-representation tools of a dynasty wherein the veneration of its holy predecessors played an important part. Finally, besides increasing the Angevins’ sacral and political prestige, the Hungarian chapel also functioned as a spiritual embassy for the Hungarian pilgrims who arrived in great numbers for the Aachen Heiligtumsfahrt.

- by Dragos Gh. Nastasoiu
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- Pilgrimage, Cult of Saints, Medieval Hungary, Charlemagne

The arrival of Gregory the Sinaite to Mount Athos (c. 1326) and his relocation to the borderland between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire, where he founded a monastery in Paroria, marked the beginning of a new chapter in the evolution of spiritual life. Gregory's hesychast ideas attracted a substantial number of disciples from various nationalities, some of whom went on to become prominent representatives of spiritual life in their respective milieus (Patriarch Kallistos of Constantinople, Patriarch Euthymius of Tărnovo). These ideas rapidly spread among South Slavs. The writings of Patriarch Euthymius, the founder of the Tărnovo Literary School, soon became well known in the Serbian milieu and were often copied. After the fall of Tărnovo (1393) many followers of Euthymius's literary ideas relocated to Serbian lands. Following the Parorian traditions of Gregory the Sinaite, in Serbian lands they established a series of smaller monastic communities, where they pursued translation and intellectual work; these communities are usually referred to as pustinja (desert, hermitage) precisely to emphasize their wish to avoid contacts with the wider community, both monastic and secular. Among them two names are particularly noteworthy: Constantine of Kostenets / Konstantin Kostenechki and Gregory Tsamblak. Both had enviable reputations as men of letters even before they came to the Despotate. As a layman, Constantine was close to Despot Stefan Lazarević and spent time at his court; he wrote the Explanatory Treatise on the Letters and the Vita of Despot Stefan Lazarević. Upon his arrival in Serbia Gregory became the hegoumenos (abbot) of the Dečani Monastery and penned the Service and Vita of the monastery's founder Stefan of Dečani, as well as the Account of the Translation of the Relics of St Paraskeva from Tărnovo to Vidin and Serbia. By the end of the 14 th century, a new literary genre emerged in Serbia-the paraklesis, which was based precisely on the Tărnovo literary models. Forced to leave Tărnovo and Bulgaria, the refugees who had arrived in Serbia brought the traditions of the Tărnovo Literary School and thereby had a significant impact on the development and spirit of Serbian literature in the first half of the 15th century.

One of the most attested realities in the Late Antique world is its violent nature as such circumstance is perceived into the very social relations but also because of the frequent warlike episodes or the perennial criminality. This paper pretends to analyze the mediating role against violence of the Christian clergy, one of the principal actors of this period, in some of the ways that violence was displayed, mainly the one derived from banditry, piracy and war, and also its use in the bosom of the very Church.

RESUMEN: Teniendo en cuenta la acción misericordiosa de Dios en los hombres y la respuesta de éstos a Dios, se pasa revista tanto al don de la conversión (fruto de la misericordia divina) como a las obras de misericordia impulsadas por esa misma conversión. Mencionando a varios conversos famosos, son recordados desde una visión cronológica otros más desconocidos, destacando algunos testimonios recientes y ciertos casos especiales de acción misericordiosa de Dios. PALABRAS CLAVE: Conversión, misericordia, obras de misericordia, caridad.
ABSTRACT: Using as a point of departure the merciful action of God toward human persons and their response to God, this article examines both the gift of conversión (as a fruit of divine mercy) and the works of mercy undertaken as a result of this conversion. A number of famous converts are mentioned, with emphasis on recent testimonies and certain special instances of the merciful action of God. KEY WORDS: Conversión, mercy, works of mercy, charity.

- by Ignacio Husillos Tamarit
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- Japanese Studies, Hagiography, Contemporary Spirituality, Spirituality

During the 1401–1403 political crisis in the Kingdom of Hungary, the magnates who were hostile to the ruling King Sigismund of Luxemburg and supported instead the Angevin King Ladislas of Naples deployed a wide range of propaganda tools for proving the legitimacy of their political cause. In a previous study published in this journal (Vestnik of SPbSU. History, 2021, vol. 66, issue 1, рp. 179–192), I have focused on the Hungarian noblemen’s anti-royal propaganda through the utilizing of political and spiritual symbols (i. e., the Holy Crown of Hungary and the cult, relics, and visual representations of St. Ladislas), symbolic actions (coronations and oath-swearing on holy relics), and heraldic self-representation (the Árpádian double cross). The present study approaches the same topic of anti-royal propaganda in the troubled political context of the early 15th century, but from the perspective of the elites’ self-representation strategies via the cult of Hungarian royal saints, artistic patronage, and heraldic self-representation. The two leaders of the anti-royal movement, Archbishop of Esztergom John Kanizsai and Palatine of Hungary Detre Bebek, repeatedly commissioned works of art (i.e., seals, stained-glass windows, and wall paintings) which featured prominently the images of the three Holy Kings of Hungary (Sts Stephen, Emeric, and Ladislas) or displayed the realm’s coat of arms (the Árpádian two-barred cross). The reliance of John Kanizsai and Detre Bebek on the cults and images of the patron saints of the country blended harmoniously the commissioners’ personal piety with their political ambitions. In the context of the early-15th century political crisis, the appropriation of the ideal figures of the sancti reges Hungariae became the driving force behind the Hungarian noblemen’s political cause.

The paper discusses the character of the translations of saints’ relics in the late medieval central Balkans, as they increasingly gained prominence as an encouragement to the veneration of saints. The fact that translations grew much more frequent provides the opportunity to analyse the motivations behind this practice, the ways in which relics were acquired, the types of translation processions and their symbolic significance. The relic translations in the central Balkans in the period under study fitted the Christian translation pattern in every respect and stood halfway between history and cult and, frequently, between politics and cult.

- by Marija Vasiljević
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- Medieval Balkans, Medieval saints, Cults of Saints, Translation of Relics

Des affinités électives : retour sur les rapports entre héros grecs et martyrs chrétiens.

- by Dragos Gh. Nastasoiu
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- Iconography, Hagiography, Cult of Saints, Christian Iconography
- by Giulia Baratta
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- Religion, Christianity, History, Ancient History
- by Pamela M Jones
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- Early Modern History, Italian Studies, Pilgrimage, History of Plague
- by Vereschagina Nadejda
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- Cult of Saints, Saints, Cults of Saints, Medieval Kiev

Pubblicata su "Studi Medievali", III serie, 61/II (2020), pp. 888-891.

- by Marco Papasidero and +1
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- Hagiography, Hagiology, Cults of Saints, Agiografia
- by Dragos Gh. Nastasoiu
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- Cult of Saints, Medieval Art, Medieval Hungary, Transylvanian Romanians

When Alfonso VIII of Castile married Leonor, the sixth child of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, in September 1170, the young and small Iberian kingdom entered the most important dynastic network in twelfthcentury Europe, and its affairs thereafter attracted attention in the Angevin dominions.
The focus of this work is to examine the role of the royal family of Castile, and especially the queen, in the growth of veneration for Becket in their dominions.