This volume in Oxford Medieval Text contains Eadmer's Lives of Saints Oda, Dunstan, and Oswald, as well as the Miracles of Dunstan and Oswald. These three English saints, together with Æthelwold of Winchester, were key figures in the Benedictine revival of the tenth century, which saw a flowering of Anglo-Saxon religious, artistic, and literary culture. Eadmer of Canterbury (c.1060-c.1130), the secretary, confidant, and biographer of Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (1033-1109), was one of the most important historians and biographers in the period after the Norman Conquest. His works, written in Latin, look back constantly to the Anglo-Saxon past, while at the same time they accurately reflect the present-day realities of the wider European society into which England had been forcibly integrated. Manuscripts of his Lives of the Saints circulated widely in both in England and France, but apart from his Life of Anselm they have been little studied, and have remained largely untranslated. The works newly edited and translated in this edition provide many insights into the wider political history of the pre- and post-Conquest periods, as well as important evidence for the cults of the saints in Canterbury and Worcester.

This volume explores the work of Anselm of Canterbury, theologian and archbishop, in light of the communities in which he participated.

The cults of the saints were central to the medieval Church. These holy men and women acted as patrons and protectors to the religious communities who housed their relics and to the devotees who requested their assistance in petitioning God for a miracle. Among the collections of posthumous miracle stories, miracula, accounts of holy healing feature prominently and depict cure-seekers successfully securing their desired remedy for a range of ailments and afflictions. What can these miracle accounts tell us of the cure-seekers' experiences of their journey from ill health to recovery, and how was healthcare presented in these sources? This book undertakes an in-depth study of the miraculous cure-seeking process through the lens of Latin miracle accounts produced in twelfth-century England, a time both when saints' cults particularly flourished and there was an increasing transmission and dissemination of classical and Arabic medical works. Focused on shorter miracula with a predominantly localised focus, and thus on a select group of cure-seekers, it brings together studies of healthcare and pilgrimage to look at an alternative to medical intervention and the practicalities and processes of securing saintly assistance.

How did medieval people define themselves? And how did they balance their identities as individuals with the demands of their communities? Lives, Identities and Histories in the Central Middle Ages intertwines the study of identities with current scholarship to reveal their multi-layered, sometimes contradictory dimensions. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from legal texts to hagiographies and biblical exegesis, and diverse cultural and social approaches, this volume enriches our understanding of medieval people's identities - as defined by themselves and by others, as individuals and as members of groups and communities. It adopts a complex and wide-ranging understanding of what constituted 'identities' beyond family and regional or national belonging, such as social status, gender, age, literacy levels, and displacement. New figures and new concepts of 'identities' thus emerge from the dialogue between the chapters, through an approach based on life-histories, lived experience, ethnogenesis, theories of diaspora, cultural memory and generational change.

The cult of the saints was central to medieval Christianity largely due to the miraculous. Saints were members of the elect of heaven and could intercede with God on the behalf of supplicants. Whilst people visited shrines and prayed to the saints for many reasons it was the hope of intercession and the praise of miracles past which drove the cult of the saints. This book examines how a person solicited aid from a saint, how they might give thanks and the ways in which post-mortem miracles structured the cult of the saints. A huge number of miracle stories survive from medieval England, in dedicated collections as well as in saints’ lives and other source material. This corpus is full of stories of human relationships, vulnerability and deliverance of people from all parts of society. These stories reveal all manner of details about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. They also show us how people navigated the world with the aid of the saints. Saints could help with wayward livestock, lost property or lawsuits as well as fire, plague and injury. They could also protect members of their communities, correct lapses by their custodians and even kill those who mistreated them. A respectful relationship with a saint could be proof against any problem. Making Miracles in Medieval England will appeal to all those interested in religious practices in medieval England, medieval English culture, and medieval perceptions of miracles.

This book reconstructs the late Anglo-Saxon history of the church of Worcester, covering the period between Bishops Waerferth and Wulfstan II. Starting with an examination of the episcopal succession and the relations between bishops and cathedral community, the volume moves on to consider the development of the church of Worcester's landed estate, its extent and its organization. These are analysed in connection with the very significant measures taken in the eleventh century to preserve - and sometimes manipulate - the memory of past land transactions. Of paramount importance among such measures was the production of two cartularies - Liber Wigorniensis and Hemming's cartulary - respectively compiled at the beginning and at the very end of the eleventh century. Last but not least, the volume considers ecclesiastical organization and pastoral care in the diocese of Worcester, by looking at the relations between the cathedral church and the other churches in the diocese. Special attention is given to the payment of church dues and to such aspects of pastoral care as preaching, penance and visitation of the sick. Thanks to the combined analysis of these areas, the book offers a detailed picture of the main occupations (and preoccupations) of the late Anglo-Saxon church of Worcester in its interaction with society at large: from its tenants to its faithful, from the clergy in its diocese to its opponents in land disputes.

Essays bring out the important and complex roles played by Anglo-Saxon churchmen, including Bede and lesser-known figures. Both episcopal and abbatial authority were of fundamental importance to the development of the Christian church in Anglo-Saxon England. Bishops and heads of monastic houses were invested with a variety of types of power and influence. Their actions, decisions, and writings could change not only their own institutions, but also the national church, while their interaction with the king and his court affected wider contemporary society. Theories of ecclesiastical leadership were expounded in contemporary texts and documents. But how far did image or ideal reflect reality? How much room was there for individuals to use their office to promote new ideas? The papers in this volumeillustrate the important roles played by individual leading ecclesiastics in England, both within the church and in the wider political sphere, from the late seventh to the mid eleventh century. The undeniable authority of Bede and Bishop Æthelwold is demonstrated but also the influence of less-familiar figures such as Bishop Wulfsige of Sherborne, Archbishop Ecgberht of York and St Leoba. The book draws on both textual and material evidence to show the influence (by both deed and reputation) of powerful personalities not only on the developing institutions of the English church but also on the secular politics of their time. Contributors: Alexander R. Rumble, Nicholas J.Higham, Martyn J. Ryan, Cassandra Rhodes, Allan Scott McKinley, Dominik Wassenhoven, Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Debby Banham, Joyce Hill.

St Dunstan of Canterbury (909-88) was the central figure in the development of English church and society after the death of King Alfred. Douglas Dales traces Dunstan’s life beginning with his education at the great monastery of Glastonbury of which he became abbot. He was a central figure at the court of the kings of Wessex but was banished, partly because of his hostility to the king’s mistresses, and went to exile in Flanders. After his return he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. During the twenty-eight years of his primacy he carried out one of the major developments of the century, the reformation of the monasteries. This book aims to examine him not merely as a prelate and royal advisor, but to see other aspects of his life: his skills as a craftsman caused him to be adopted as the patron saint of goldsmiths; some of his work as calligrapher and artist survives to this day; the coronation service which he drew up still lies at the heart of this service for English monarchs today; he was famed for his musical skills; above all, the sanctity of his name and the fame of his miracles kept Dunstan’s memory alive. Douglas Dales’ re-examination of the life and times of Dunstan sets his achievements against the social and religious background of the day, at a time when new forces were emerging that would shape the future of England and the English Church for centuries to come.

Formerly known by its subtitle “Internationale Zeitschriftenschau für Bibelwissenschaft und Grenzgebiete”, the International Review of Biblical Studies has served the scholarly community ever since its inception in the early 1950’s. Each annual volume includes approximately 2,000 abstracts and summaries of articles and books that deal with the Bible and related literature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha, Non-canonical gospels, and ancient Near Eastern writings. The abstracts – which may be in English, German, or French - are arranged thematically under headings such as e.g. “Genesis”, “Matthew”, “Greek language”, “text and textual criticism”, “exegetical methods and approaches”, “biblical theology”, “social and religious institutions”, “biblical personalities”, “history of Israel and early Judaism”, and so on. The articles and books that are abstracted and reviewed are collected annually by an international team of collaborators from over 300 of the most important periodicals and book series in the fields covered.