Every now and again I return to the Swedish
medieval calendars that I used to work on in the spring of 2021, and I am
reminded of how utterly fascinating it is to put one’s research skills to the
test in order to sort out a question of identity, and to sift through available
materials in order to advance one step forward. The plethora of names contrasts
frustratingly well with the dearth of solid details, and each puzzle provided
by the often fragmentary survivals of the calendars is a reminder of a now-lost
historical context from which these puzzles emerged, either as veneration of
historical persons – however altered by generations of cult activity – or as a
scribal error or confusion.
While I have already reflected on the tantalizing opportunities of knowledge
and speculation offered by these minor saints (here), today’s work has highlighted
to me that much of our current dearth of information is the result of modern-day
research priorities. Since research necessarily must be funded, those
organizations that provide that funding need to be convinced that a proposed
project is worth both the while and, above all, the money. Moreover, since the
funding bodies in questions are rarely familiar with the gaps in knowledge or where
we need to spend more effort in order to get one, albeit one important, step further,
the acquisition of research money requires convincing arguments. Such arguments
are typically made using well-known topics or figures, or even buzzwords that
are in vogue at any given moment.
Arguing for the funding required to track minutiae in a vast body of surviving
medieval manuscript materials that pertain to the cult of saints, however, is
difficult to do, because by their very nature such minutiae are not well known,
and neither do they have a notable impact on later historical events. Yet these
minor saints can still teach us a great deal about the mechanics of cult-making,
distribution and dissemination, about the tenacity of stories or the
placeholders or echoes of those stories, i.e., the hard-to-identify names, about
specific historical moments when the hand of a scribe unwittingly created the
starting-point for a non-existent saint through conflation or confusion. In
short, knowing more about these minor saints might allow us to understand the
cult of saints as a phenomenon in much greater detail.
These reflections are partly the result of the time and effort spent looking
for details about saints such as Victor Maurus, Primus and Felicianus, and the
elusive Januarius whom I have not yet managed to identify. Some of these are
well known in some places (such as Victor Maurus in the Milanese tradition,
thanks to Ambrose and his cult-making efforts). Some are widely, if not well,
known thanks to their inclusion in canon-making texts such as Legenda Aurea
(such as Primus and Felicianus). And others remain difficult to identify (such
as Januarius, whichever Januarius he might be). Since relatively little
scholarship has been expended on these saints, what available information there
is must often be treated with caution, especially because it can be difficult
to assess where a specific identification comes from, or what is the basis of a
specific claim. The effort with which details about these and other such saints
are found and assessed is a constant reminder of how the small things suffer in
the shadow of bigger, more shiny ones, and that academia is still very much steered
by the attraction to shiny things.
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
- And did those feet, William Blake
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
- And did those feet, William Blake
tirsdag 7. november 2023
On minor saints and priorities
Entries for May 8, May 10, and May 12; these saints are, respectively:
Victor Martyr (Victor Maurus), Gordianus and Epimachus, and Nereus and Achilles
Detail from Sveriges Riksarkiv Fr 25603
Entries for the first halves of May and June
Etiketter:
Ambrose of Milan,
History,
Manuscript fragments,
Medieval,
Milan,
Saints,
Sweden
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