ME4901 The Cult of the Saints
   
Lecturer  Professor Rob Bartlett (Room 9, 71 South Street)
   
Credits 60
   
Availability 2012-13, Semesters 1 and 2
   
Class Hour TBC
   
Description This special subject studies a central aspect of medieval religious life, the veneration of the saints. In Martinmas Semester we will survey the history of the cult of the saints from its origins to the Reformation, drawing on sources and literature from the whole of western Christendom. In Candlemas Semester we will take a detailed case study. Issues covered include the patronage of the saints, hagiographic literature, miracles of healing and punishment, the canon law of relics, the geography, chronology and sociology of cults, the political aspect of cults and the surviving material evidence of shrines, buildings and pictorial representations.     
   
Basic Reading
  • P. Brown, The Cult of the Saints
  • R Finucane Miracles and Pilgrims
   

Course Structure

One two hour meeting per week

   
Assessment 60% examination
40% course work inclusive of one oral assessment
   

Learning Outcomes

 
   
Restrictions Available only to students in the second year of the Honours Programme