1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910779129903321

Autore

Freeman Charles <1947->

Titolo

Holy bones, holy dust [[electronic resource] ] : how relics shaped the history of Medieval Europe / / Charles Freeman

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2011

ISBN

0-300-16659-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (306 p.)

Classificazione

11.59

Disciplina

235/.2

Soggetti

Relics - History - To 1500

Christian saints - Cult - History - To 1500

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-296) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Prologue: the making of a martyr -- How the Christian relic emerged -- The incorruptible flesh of the martyrs -- Creating a Christian landscape -- The battle for acceptance -- The view from Byzantium -- Bishops, magic and relics in the post-Roman world -- 'A barbarous, fierce and unbelieving nation' -- The great consolidator -- Hope and desperation in a disordered world -- Cults and the rise of anti-semitism -- Fervent Christian pilgrims -- 'The eyes are fed with gold-bedecked reliquaries' -- Looting the East -- Louis IX and the Sainte-Chapelle -- Sacred flesh between death and resurrection -- 'Christ's recruits ... fight back' -- Protectors of il Popolo -- The Virgin Mary and the penitent whore -- The wondrous blood of Christ -- Rescuers and devils -- 'Of far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands' -- 'dead images that ... may not ... help any man of any disease' -- Protestantism and the new iconoclasm -- Intimations of reality -- Reasserting the miraculous -- Within the community of the supernatural.

Sommario/riassunto

Relics were everywhere in medieval society. Saintly morsels such as bones, hair, teeth, blood, milk, and clothes, and items like the Crown of Thorns were thought to bring the believer closer to the saint, who might intercede with God on his or her behalf. This book presents an illustrated exploration of 1000 years of holy relics across Europe.