Sanctity and Pilgrimage in Medieval Southern Italy, 1000–1200

Description

Southern Italy's strategic location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean gave it a unique position as a frontier for the major religious faiths of the medieval world, where Latin Christian, Greek Christian and Muslim communities coexisted. In this study, the first to offer a comprehensive analysis of sanctity and pilgrimage in southern Italy between 1000 and 1200, Paul Oldfield presents a fascinating picture of a politically and culturally fragmented land which, as well as hosting its own important relics as important pilgrimage centres, was a transit point for pilgrims and commercial traffic. Drawing on a diverse range of sources from hagiographical material to calendars, martyrologies, charters and pilgrim travel guides, the book examines how sanctity functioned at this key cultural crossroads and, by integrating the analysis of sanctity with that of pilgrimage, offers important new insights into society, cross-cultural interaction and faith in the region and across the medieval world. Cover......Page 1 Half-title page ......Page 3 Abstract......Page 5 Title page ......Page 7 Copyright page ......Page 8 Dedication ......Page 9 Contents......Page 11 Acknowledgements......Page 13 Abbreviations......Page 15 Map 1. Southern Italy and Sicily......Page 17 Map 2. The major routeways in southern Italy and Sicily......Page 18 Introduction......Page 19 Part I. Sanctity......Page 37 1 Sanctity in early Medieval Southern Italy......Page 39 2 The Latin mainland: South Italian saints, Normans, Church reform and urbanization ......Page 69 3 Greek saints in Southern Italy: at Christendom’s faultline ......Page 125 4 Sicilian saints and Christian renewal......Page 157 Part II. Pilgrimage......Page 197 5 Bridge to salvation and entrance to the underworld: Southern Italy and international pilgrimage......Page 199 6 Pilgrims at South Italian and foreign shrines: origins, identities, destinations ......Page 244 Conclusion......Page 293 Bibliography......Page 297 Index......Page 319