RP 195: Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic Veneration in the Medieval Period

<p><strong>British Museum Research Publication No. 195</strong><br /><br />A landmark publication exploring the relationship between sacred matter and precious materials in the Middle Ages.<br /> <br /> This book is the outcome of the conference "Matter of Faith", held to accompany the British Museum's exhibition <em>Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe</em>, which brought together over thirty international experts in this field to present new research around the themes of medieval reliquaries and relic veneration. The result is an interdisciplinary study of a thought provoking and controversial topic featuring some of the period?s most beautiful and iconic objects. <br /> <br /> This title will prove to be a valuable research tool for historians, art historians and conservators as well as anyone with a general interest in this fascinating subject. <br /> <br /> <strong>About the Authors</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>James Robinson</strong> is Keeper of Art and Design at the National Museum of Scotland. He was formerly Senior Curator of Medieval Collections at the British Museum and was the curator of the 2011 exhibition, <em>Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe</em>. He co-edited the accompanying catalogue and is the author of a number of other publications including <em>Masterpieces of Medieval Art</em>, <em>The Lewis Chessmen</em> and <em>Finer than Gold</em> (all published by the British Museum Press). <br /> <br /> <strong>Lloyd de Beer</strong> is a Project Curator at the British Museum responsible for the late medieval collection. His academic background is in English art and literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. <br /> <br /> <strong>Anna Harnden</strong> is a Project Curator for the International Engagement Department at the British Museum and was Project Curator for the 2011 exhibition, <em>Treasures of Heaven</em>. Her diverse research interests range from medieval manuscripts to contemporary Middle Eastern and African Art<br /><br />Preface<i> James Robinson </i><br /><br /> Part 1: Pilgrimage and Cult Centres<br /><br /> 1. To Be a Pilgrim: Tactile Piety, Virtual Pilgrimage and the Experience of Place in Christian Pilgrimage<br /> <i>Dee Dyas</i><br /><br /> 2. Vestiary Signs of Pilgrimage in Twelfth-century Europe <br /> <i>Janet E. Snyder</i><br /><br /> 3. St George and Venice: The Rise of Imperial Culture<br /> <i>David M. Perry</i><br /><br /> 4. Stones of St Michael: Venerating Fragments of Holy Ground in Medieval France and Italy<br /> <i>Lucy Donkin </i><br /><br /> 5. The Saint and the King: Relics, Reliquaries and Late Medieval Coronation in Aachen and Sz?kesfeh?rv?r<br /> <i>Scott B. Montgomery</i><br /><br /> 6. St Ursula?s Cult and its Manifestation in Liturgy <br /> <i>Kristin Hoefener</i><br /><br /> 7. Picturing Narrative and Promoting Cult: Hagiographic Illumination at Three English Cult Centres <br /> <i>Kathryn Gerry</i><br /><br /> 8. Presentation of Relics in Late Medieval Siena: The Cappella delle Reliquie in Siena Cathedral<br /> <i>Wolfgang Loseries</i><br /><br /> <i>Part 2: Relics, Reliquaries and their Materials</i><br /><br /> 9. A Recently Discovered Anglo-Carolingian Chrismatory<br /> <i>Leslie Webster </i><br /><br /> 10. Grist for the Mill: A Newly Discovered Bust Reliquary from Saint-Flour <br /> <i>Barbara Drake Boehm</i><br /><br /> 11. New Dating of the Limoges Reliquaries of the Stigmatization of St Francis <br /> <i>Elisabeth Antoine-K?nig</i><br /><br /> 12. <i>Christus crystallus:</i> Rock Crystal, Theology and Materiality in the Medieval West<br /> <i>Stefania Gerevini</i><br /><br /> 13. Dressing the Relics: Some Thoughts on the Custom of Relic Wrapping in Medieval Christianity<br /> <i>Martina Bagnoli</i><br /><br /> 14. Common Ground:Reliquaries and the Lower Classes in Late Medieval Europe <i>Sarah Blick</i><br /><br /> 15. A Shrine Reunited?: The Collaborative, Scientific Study of Two Reliquary Panels from the Walters Art Museum and the British Museum<br /> <i>Glenn Gates, Susan La Niece and Terry Drayman-Weisser</i> <br /><br /> 16. The Construction and Conservation History of the Hildesheim Portable Altar <br /> <i>Maickel van Bellegem and Lloyd de Beer</i><br /><br /> 17. New Discoveries Related to the Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude <br /> <i>Shelley Reisman Paine, David B. Saja and Linda B. Spurlock</i><br /><br /> 18. Relics of Gender Identity: Interpreting a Reliquary of a Follower of St Ursula <i>Samantha Riches</i><br /><br /> 19. Embodying the Saint: Mystical Visions, Maria Lactans and the Miracle of Mary?s Milk <br /> <i>Vibeke Olson</i><br /><br /> <i>Part 3: Debate, Doubt and Later Developments</i><br /><br /> 20. Art as Evidence in Medieval Relic Disputes: Three Cases from Fifteenth-century France <br /> <i>Erik Inglis</i><br /><br /> 21. Contested Relics:Winefride and the Saints of the Atlantic Churches<br /> <i>Madeleine Gray</i><br /><br /> 22. The Horn of St Hubert in the Wallace Collection<br /> <i>Jeremy Warren</i><br /><br /> 23. Preserved Miraculously: Relics in the Old Catholic St Gertrude?s Cathedral in Utrecht, Netherlands<br /> <i>Anique de Kruijf </i><br /><br /> 24. Change and Continuity in the Display of Relics in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: The English Catholic Community in a Broader Context <br /> <i>Andrea de Meo Arbore</i><br /><br /> 25. Bodies, Artefacts and Images: A Cross-cultural Theory of Relics<br /><i> Steven Hooper</i><br /><br /> Contributors<br /> Index</p>

A landmark publication exploring the relationship between sacred matter and precious metals in the Middle Ages.

This book is the outcome of the conference Matter of Faith held to accompany the British Museum’s exhibition Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe, which brought together over thirty international experts in this field to present new research around the themes of medieval reliquaries and relic veneration.

The result is an interdisciplinary study of a thought-provoking and controversial topic featuring some of the period’s most beautiful and iconic objects.

This title will prove to be a valuable research tool for historians, art historians and conservators as well as anyone with a general interest in this fascinating subject.