Overview

Sacred Skin offers the first systematic evaluation of the dissemination and development of the cult of St. Bartholomew in Spain. Exploring the paradoxes of hagiographic representation and their ambivalent effect on the observer, the book focuses on literary and visual testimonies produced from the emergence of a distinctive vernacular voice through to the formalization of Bartholomew’s saintly identity and his transformation into a key expression of Iberian consciousness. Drawing on and extending advances in cultural criticism, particularly theories of selfhood and the complex ontology of the human body, its five chapters probe the evolution of hagiographic conventions, demonstrating how flaying poses a unique challenge to our understanding of the nature and meaning of identity. See inside the book.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrew M. Beresford
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   72
Weight:   0.689kg
ISBN:  

9789004407800

ISBN 10:   9004407804
Pages:   352
Publication Date:   05 March 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

 Preface  List of Figures  Abbreviations  1Hagiographic Tradition and the Transformation of Identity: The Origin and Evolution of the Cult of St. Bartholomew  1Bartholomew and the Classical Inheritance  2Bartholomew in Iberian Literature and Culture  3Bartholomew’s Hagiographic Legacy  2The Infant on the Mountainside: The Abduction of St. Bartholomew in Early Iberian Art  1The Legend of the Infant in Early Iberian Art  2Bartholomew and the Diabolical Double  3Prelapsarian Providence and the Infant on the Mountainside  4The Cult of the Infant  3St. Bartholomew’s Evangelical Ministry and the Cosmic Drama of Conversion  1Bartholomew’s Threefold Ministry  2Bartholomew’s Exorcistic Drama  3Idolatry and Iconoclash: Bartholomew as Double-Edged Sword  4Holy Water: Bartholomew as Baptizer  4The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew in Early Iberian Art  1From Ministry to Martyrdom  2Flaying in Early Iberian Art  3Flayed Skin and the Fragmented Self: Bartholomew as Dermaphore  4Flaying, Decapitation, and Bartholomew as Devotional Icon  5St. Bartholomew and the Formalization of Hagiographic Identity: Spanish Art in the Seventeenth Century  1Bartholomew and the Early Iberian Legacy  2Bartholomew: Portraits and Apostolates  3Flaying as Narrative Representation  4Colophon: Beyond Ribera, Tradition and Innovation Appendixes  Texts and Sources  Appendix 1: A Fourteenth-Century Castilian Reworking of Pseudo-Abdias’sActa fabulosa  Appendix 2: The Gran flos sanctorum (Compilation A)  Appendix 3: The Leyenda de los santos (Compilation B)  Appendix 4: Flos sanctorum from Fundación Casa de Alba MS 30 (Alternative Reading Related to Compilation B)  Appendix 5: Locations in Spain with Bartholomew as Patron  Works Cited  Index

Reviews

"""Beresford’s richly detailed study proves that Bartholomew is much more than his skin, and that carefully woven, historically grounded interdisciplinary studies can underpin theoretical contributions (and vice versa). At once an extraordinarily deep dive into a very particular case of martyr cult in a particular region and also a wide-ranging study that covers over a dozen centuries of narrative and art alongside insights from contemporary theories of embodiment, Beresford’s Sacred Skin will reward both the specialist in medieval Iberia and any historian of art, body, or religion who seeks a model for how technical reconstruction of the evolution of a saint (or any influential figure) can address crucially broad questions such as identity, inter-religious conflict, or global historiography. [...] the true achievement of this text is to model the extraordinary range of methodologies, theories, and historical contexts it requires to fully probe a cultic devotion and its expression over centuries in a particular region. Beresford’s work is breathtaking in its methodological scope and profoundly comprehensive in its historical precision. No careful reader can end up anything less than an expert in the skin of the saint."" Jessica A. Boon, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in La Corónica, 49.3 (2021)"

Beresford's richly detailed study proves that Bartholomew is much more than his skin, and that carefully woven, historically grounded interdisciplinary studies can underpin theoretical contributions (and vice versa). At once an extraordinarily deep dive into a very particular case of martyr cult in a particular region and also a wide-ranging study that covers over a dozen centuries of narrative and art alongside insights from contemporary theories of embodiment, Beresford's Sacred Skin will reward both the specialist in medieval Iberia and any historian of art, body, or religion who seeks a model for how technical reconstruction of the evolution of a saint (or any influential figure) can address crucially broad questions such as identity, inter-religious conflict, or global historiography. [...] the true achievement of this text is to model the extraordinary range of methodologies, theories, and historical contexts it requires to fully probe a cultic devotion and its expression over centuries in a particular region. Beresford's work is breathtaking in its methodological scope and profoundly comprehensive in its historical precision. No careful reader can end up anything less than an expert in the skin of the saint. Jessica A. Boon, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill in La Coronica, 49.3 (2021)

Author Information

Andrew M. Beresford is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Durham. He has published widely on Spanish hagiography and devotional topics, including books on Agnes (2007), Thaïs and Pelagia (2007), and Agatha and Lucy (2010).

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