Overview
St Edmund was medieval England's patron saint, and at his abbey, two major Latin miracle collections were compiled: one in the 1090s by Herman the Archdeacon, an historian trained in the schools of Lorraine; the other c. 1100 by an anonymous hagiographer who rewrote and expanded Herman's work. Herman's Miracles, an important text for the history of the realm and East Anglia in particular, is edited and translated here in its full fifty chapters for the first time, along with a shorter version intended for wider circulation. The second miracle collection, never before in print, is also presented for the first time and attributed to the Flemish hagiographer Goscelin of Saint-Bertin. Together the collections illustrate a rapid turnover of hagiography, connected to a change of leadership at the abbey of Bury St Edmunds. These works illustrate the evolution of historical writing, applied to the affairs of an exceptional international cult. The introduction revises the history of Bury St Edmunds from its foundations to c. 1100, rejecting old assumptions, adding to our knowledge of Herman's background, and proposing a context and attribution for the second collection which will alter the debate on Goscelin's career. A poem attacking Bishop Herbert Losinga (1091-1119) for simony is also included, edited from previously undiscovered textual witnesses, and linked to Herman and the factional divisions behind the two miracle collections. This volume makes the subject accessible to the full range of scholars interested in Edmund and Anglo-Norman England by providing editions and translations for the first time. Its arguments clear up much of the confusion surrounding the history of the cult and the abbey. It will remain invaluable to literary scholars and historians alike.
Full Product Details
Author: Tom Licence (Senior Lecturer in Medieval History, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History, University of East Anglia)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 14.70cm
, Height: 3.60cm
, Length: 22.30cm
Weight: 0.776kg
ISBN: 9780199689194
ISBN 10: 0199689199
Pages: 538
Publication Date: 17 April 2014
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
this is an exciting and an exemplary addition to Oxford Medieval Texts * Henrietta Leyser, English Historical Review *
this is an exciting and an exemplary addition to Oxford Medieval Texts Henrietta Leyser, English Historical Review
Author Information
Dr Tom Licence, formerly a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of East Anglia. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and medieval editor for the journal History. He has published widely on aspects of monasticism and ecclesiastical history and is best known for his monograph Hermits and Recluses in English Society, 950-1200 (OUP, 2011).
