Wonderful to Relate: Miracle Stories and Miracle Collecting in High Medieval England (The Middle Ages Series)

While the late Anglo-Saxons rarely recorded saints' posthumous miracles, a shift occurred as monastic writers of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries started to preserve hundreds of the stories they had heard of healings, acts of vengeance, resurrections, recoveries, and other miraculous deeds effected by their local saints. Indeed, Rachel Koopmans contends, the miracle collection quickly became a defining genre of high medieval English monastic culture.Koopmans surveys more than seventy-five collections and offers a new model for understanding how miracle stories were generated, circulated, and replicated. She argues that orally exchanged narratives carried far more propagandistic power than those preserved in manuscripts; stresses the literary and memorial roles of miracle collecting; and traces changes in form and content as the focus of the collectors shifted from the stories told by religious colleagues to those told by lay visitors to their churches.__Wonderful to Relate__ highlights the importance of the two massive collections written by Benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury in the wake of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. Koopmans provides the first in-depth examination of the creation and influence of the Becket compilations, often deemed the greatest of all medieval miracle collections. In a final section, she ponders the decline of miracle collecting in the thirteenth century, which occurred with the advent of formalized canonization procedures and theological means of engaging with the miraculous. "While the late Anglo-Saxons rarely recorded saints' posthumous miracles, a shift occurred as monastic writers of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries started to preserve hundreds of the stories they had heard of healings, acts of vengeance, resurrections, recoveries, and other miraculous deeds effected by their local saints. Indeed, Rachel Koopmans contends, the miracle collection quickly became a defining genre of high medieval English monastic culture. Koopmans surveys more than seventy-five collections and offers a new model for understanding how miracle stories were generated, circulated, and replicated. She argues that orally exchanged narratives carried far more propagandistic power than those preserved in manuscripts; stresses the literary and memorial roles of miracle collecting; and traces changes in form and content as the focus of the collectors shifted from the stories told by religious colleagues to those told by lay visitors to their churches. "Wonderful to Relate" highlights the importance of the two massive collections written by Benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury in the wake of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. Koopmans provides the first in-depth examination of the creation and influence of the Becket compilations, often deemed the greatest of all medieval miracle collections. In a final section, she ponders the decline of miracle collecting in the thirteenth century, which occurred with the advent of formalized canonization procedures and theological means of engaging with the miraculous."--Front inside flap of dust jacket

While the late Anglo-Saxons rarely recorded saints' posthumous miracles, a shift occurred as monastic writers of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries started to preserve hundreds of the stories they had heard of healings, acts of vengeance, resurrections, recoveries, and other miraculous deeds effected by their local saints. Indeed, Rachel Koopmans contends, the miracle collection quickly became a defining genre of high medieval English monastic culture.

Koopmans surveys more than seventy-five collections and offers a new model for understanding how miracle stories were generated, circulated, and replicated. She argues that orally exchanged narratives carried far more propagandistic power than those preserved in manuscripts; stresses the literary and memorial roles of miracle collecting; and traces changes in form and content as the focus of the collectors shifted from the stories told by religious colleagues to those told by lay visitors to their churches.

Wonderful to Relate highlights the importance of the two massive collections written by Benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury in the wake of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. Koopmans provides the first in-depth examination of the creation and influence of the Becket compilations, often deemed the greatest of all medieval miracle collections. In a final section, she ponders the decline of miracle collecting in the thirteenth century, which occurred with the advent of formalized canonization procedures and theological means of engaging with the miraculous.

While the late Anglo-Saxons rarely recorded saints' posthumous miracles, a shift occurred as monastic writers of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries started to preserve hundreds of the stories they had heard of healings, acts of vengeance, resurrections, recoveries, and other miraculous deeds effected by their local saints. Indeed, Rachel Koopmans contends, the miracle collection quickly became a defining genre of high medieval English monastic culture. Koopmans surveys more than seventy-five collections and offers a new model for understanding how miracle stories were generated, circulated, and replicated. She argues that orally exchanged narratives carried far more propagandistic power than those preserved in manuscripts; stresses the literary and memorial roles of miracle collecting; and traces changes in form and content as the focus of the collectors shifted from the stories told by religious colleagues to those told by lay visitors to their churches. "Wonderful to Relate" highlights the importance of the two massive collections written by Benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury in the wake of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. Koopmans provides the first in-depth examination of the creation and influence of the Becket compilations, often deemed the greatest of all medieval miracle collections. In a final section, she ponders the decline of miracle collecting in the thirteenth century, which occurred with the advent of formalized canonization procedures and theological means of engaging with the miraculous. -- Book jacket Contents Illustrations Introduction Chapter 1. Narrating the Saint’s Works: Conversations, Personal Stories, and the Making of Cults Chapter 2. To Experience What I Have Heard: Plotlines and Patterning of Oral Miracle Stories Chapter 3. A Drop from the Ocean’s Waters: Lantfred of Fleury and the Cult of Swithun at Winchester Chapter 4. Fruitful in the House of the Lord: The Early Miracle Collections of Goscelin of St.-Bertin Chapter 5. They Ought to be Written: Osbern of Canterbury and the First English Miracle Collectors Chapter 6. Obvious Material for Writing: Eadmer of Canterbury and the Miracle-Collecting Boom Chapter 7. What the People Bring: Miracle Collecting in the Mid- to Late Twelfth Century Chapter 8. Most Blessed Martyr: Thomas Becket’s Murder and the Christ Church Collections Chapter 9. I Take Up the Burden: Benedict of Peterborough’s Examination of Becket’s Miracles Chapter 10. Choose What You Will: William of Canterbury and the Heavenly Doctor Conclusion: The End of Miracle Collecting Appendix 1: Manuscripts of the Christ Church Miracle Collections for Thomas Becket Appendix 2: The Construction of Benedict of Peterborough’s Miracula S. Thomae Appendix 3: The Construction of William of Canterbury’s Miracula S. Thomae List of Abbreviations Notes Selected Bibliography Index Acknowledgments Drawing on fresh work in the social sciences, Rachel Koopmans offers a new model for understanding how medieval miracle stories were generated, circulated, and replicated within an oral environment. She argues that the miracle collection became a defining genre of the high medieval period. Drawing on fresh work in the social sciences, Rachel Koopmans offers a new model for understanding how medieval miracle stories were generated, circulated, and replicated within an oral environment. She argues that the miracle collection became a defining genre of the high medieval period.