Symbolic Identity and the Cultural Memory of Saints

Product Description This volume examines the relationship between medieval cults of saints and regional and national identity formation in Europe both during and, to some extent, beyond the Middle Ages. It studies how collective identities have been expressed through saints’ cults and their appropriations in texts, visual representations, and music. Attention is given to various aspects of the role of medieval saints’ cults in European identity formation, as saints were used in the service of both religious and political agendas. Focusing on a range of European regions, this volume uses cults of medieval saints and their religious, cultural and political appropriations over time as a vehicle for studying changing cultural and social values. The articles here report research carried out under the European Science Foundation’s collaborative EuroCORECODE project: Symbols that Bind and Break Communities: Saints’ Cults as Stimuli and Expressions of Local, Regional, National and Universalist Identities (2010–2013/14), an international, interdisciplinary research venture funded by the National Research Councils of five countries: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, and Norway. About the Author Nils Holger Petersen is Associate Professor Emeritus of Church History at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has published extensively on medieval music, drama, liturgy, and medievalism in post-medieval music and drama. Anu Mänd is the Head of the Institute of History, Archaeology and Art History at Tallinn University, Estonia. Her current research focuses on the social and cultural history of medieval Livonia, with a particular emphasis on visual culture, saints’ cults, guilds, gender, and memoria. Sebastián Salvadó gained a PhD from Stanford University, USA, and is currently an independent researcher. His research interests include the liturgy of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Arago-Catalonia and post-Norman Conquest England. Tracey R. Sands is the author of The Company She Keeps: The Medieval Swedish Cult of St. Katherine of Alexandria and its Transformations (2010). She has also published a number of articles on saints’ cults and Nordic folklore.