St Katherine of Alexandria : texts and contexts in Western medieval Europe / edited by Jacqueline Jenkins and Katherine J. Lewis

This volume contains an interdisciplinary collection of essays on St Katherine of Alexandria and her followers. St Katherine of Alexandria was one of the most popular saints in Medieval Europe. This book constitutes the first interdisciplinary collection of essays to explore her cult and the range of meanings which St Katherine embodied for her devotees. The essays between them consider a wide range of evidence, from visual representations (wall paintings, manuscript illuminations, stained glass, and seals), to literary texts (lives of the saint, prayers, hymns, devotional manuscripts, and breviaries) as well as documentary evidence (wills, chronicles, ecclesiastical records and antiquarian writings) and the physical remains of churches and chapels dedicated to St Katherine. These sources are interpreted as part of wider manifestations of devotion to the saint in England, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Wales. The authors approach the cult from varying disciplinary and methodological perspectives, but all seek to uncover the various religious, social and cultural messages contained within the different versions of St Katherine which these particular texts and contexts offer. The volume as a whole therefore sheds light not only on devotion to St Katherine, but also on a much wider range of issues and ideologies governing the lives of her devotees and the societies in which they lived. Front matter (“Contents”, “Acknowledgements”, “A Note on Texts and Translations”, “List of Abbreviations”, “List of Contributors”), p. i Free Access Introduction, p. 1 Jacqueline Jenkins, Katherine J. Lewis https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1907 The Role of the Normans in the Development of the Cult of St Katherine, p. 19 Christine Walsh https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1908 Pilgrimage and the Cult of St Katherine in Late Medieval England, p. 37 Katherine J. Lewis https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1909 Buchedd Catrin: A Preliminary Study of the Middle Welsh Life of Katherine of Alexandria and her Cult in Medieval Wales, p. 53 Jane Cartwright https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1910 The Saint as Symbol: The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria Among Medieval Sweden’s High Aristocracy, p. 87 Tracey R. Sands https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1911 A Christian Corpus: Virginity, Violence, and Knowledge in the Life of St Katherine of Alexandria, p. 109 Anke Bernau https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1912 ‘Lady, you are quite a chatterbox’: The Legend of St Katherine of Alexandria, Wives’ Words, and Women’s Wisdom in MS Escorial h-I-13, p. 131 Emily C. Francomano https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1913 St Katherine and Laywomen’s Piety: The Middle English Prose Life in London, British Library, Harley MS 4012, p. 153 Jacqueline Jenkins https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1914 St Katherine’s Hair, p. 171 Karen A. Winstead https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1915 St Katherine and the Late Medieval Clergy: Evidence from English Breviaries, p. 201 Sherry L. Reames https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1916 Katherine’s Place in a Renaissance Collection: Evidence from Antonio degli Agli (c. 1400–1477), De vitis et gestis sanctorum, p. 221 Alison Frazier https://doi.org/10.1484/M.MWTC-EB.3.1917 Back matter (“Selected Bibliography”, “Index”), p. 241 Medievalists from the US and Britain examine evidence of the third- century saint's popularity across Europe throughout the Middle Ages, and suggest some reasons for it. Prominent questions they address are whether she was popular because she was powerful, or powerful because she was popular; and what made her image so much more open than that of other saints to appropriation by such a variety of medieval saints. The ten essays are from international gatherings in Kalamazoo and Leeds in 1999. Distributed in the US by The David Brown Book Company. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)