Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of St. Andrews, 2000. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. [231]-259) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1927.

La violence au Moyen Âge ne serait-elle qu’une question de perspective ? Cette question marque le point de départ de cette étude consacrée aux récits de la violence dans les sources hagiographiques. L’analyse du discours, reposant sur une déconstruction systématique des récits, a fait apparaître un canevas narratif commun sur lequel chaque auteur est venu broder son propre récit. Mais sous une simplicité apparente se dissimule un discours bien plus complexe en lien avec les problématiques sociales de leur époque. L’approche lexicale a permis de montrer que la dénonciation d’une action comme « violence » devient un moyen d’en exprimer l’illégitimité du point de vue de l’auteur et de sa communauté. Elle entre ainsi dans des stratégies plus larges d’autolégitimation mises en place par l’Église, dans lesquelles le discours de la violence est instrumentalisé dans le but de « normer » la communauté des fidèles, mais aussi de défendre son patrimoine ou de légitimer certaines réformes. Évidemment, le récit hagiographique de la violence n’offre qu’une vision unilatérale dans laquelle les motivations de la partie adverse sont déformées ou tout simplement ignorées. Enfin, l’intérêt porté au discours et à son élaboration, mais aussi à ses formes et aux thématiques abordées a permis de mener une réflexion plus générale sur les enjeux de l’écriture hagiographique. L’hagiographie s’adresse à un public très large en divers lieux et à différents moments, empruntant alors des voies communicationnelles variées. La lecture mais aussi l’écoute le plus souvent dans un cadre liturgique permettent une large diffusion du message hagiographique et lui confère toute son efficacité. De par ce caractère quasi universel, l’hagiographie devient aussi multifonctionnelle et joue un rôle socialimportant. / Would the violence in the Middle Ages be only a question of perspective? This question is the basis for this study on hagiographical stories of violence. The analysis of discursive strategies showed a common narrative structure on what each author came to embroider his own story. But this visible simplicity hides a more complex discourse linked to social issues of their times. The lexical study has showed that the denunciation of an action as "violence" becomes a means to express illegitimacy from the point of view of the author and his community. It belongs to strategies of autolegitimization set up by the Church, in which violence is instrumentalized with the intention not only to influence behaviours of the community of faithful, but also to defend its property or to justify some reforms ongoing. Of course, the hagiographical story of violence gives us only an unilateral vision in which the motivations of the opposite camp are simply distorted or hidden. Finally, the interest on discursive strategies and on the various forms of violence reported lead us to consider writing motives of thehagiographers. Hagiography touch a very large public in various places and at various times, using several ways of communication. Reading but also listening often in a liturgical context make the hagiographical message efficient. All over this quasi universal character, hagiography becomes multifunctional as well and plays an important social role. In this way, we can say that hagiography can be seen as a weapon in hands of religious men. It allows the glorification of a past through the holyness of the community foundator or members. But it’s also a support of the instrumentalisation of conflictsbetween the lay aristocracy and religious communities. / Könnte die Gewalt im Mittelalter nur eine Frage der Perspektive sein? Diese Frage ist der Anfangspunkt dieser Studie über Erzählungen der hagiographischen Gewalt. Die Diskursanalyse, auf einer systematischen Infragestellung der Berichte beruhend, hat ein gemeinsames narratives Schema gezeigt, dem jeder Autor seine eigene Geschichte hinzufügt. Dennoch verbirgt das scheinbar Einfache einen viel komplexeren Diskurs, der mit der sozialen Problematik der Epoche zusammenhängt. Die lexikalische Analyse hat nachgewiesen, daß die Stigmatisierung einer Tat als „Gewalt“ dem Autor unddessen Gemeinde als Mittel dient, die Ungesetzlichkeit der Tat hervorzuheben. So wird diese Darstellung zu einem der von der Kirche etablierten Selbstlegitimationsverfahren. In diesen Verfahren, wird die Gewaltthematik nicht nur dazu genutzt, um die Gläubigen zu beeinflussen, sondern auch um ihr Erbe zu schützen und diverse Reformen zu rechtfertigen. Selbstverständlich gibt die hagiographische Erzählung der Gewalt nur eine einseitige Sicht wieder, in der die Beweggründe der Gegner verdreht, bzw. verheimlicht werden. Schlussendlich hat die Analyse des Diskurses und seines Aufbaus eine allgemeinere Betrachtung der Ziele der hagiographischen Schriften ermöglicht. Die Hagiographie richtet sich an ein sehr breites Publikum, an verschiedenen Orten und zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten. Dazu werden verschiedene Kommunikationswege genutzt. Das Lesen sowie das Hören, in einem oft liturgischem Umfeld, verbreiten auf eine schnelle und wirksame Weise die hagiographische Botschaften. Dadurch wird die Hagiographie übergreifendund spielt eine wichtige Rolle in der Gesellschaft.

This thesis explores the relationship between hagiography and history, with a particular focus on the cult of the little-studied sixth-century Antiochene holy man Symeon Stylites the Younger. It argues that any hagiographic text can only be understood through an appreciation of both its particular historical context and of developments in the genre over time. The first chapter thus addresses the economy, society and culture of the Antiochene area, arguing, against some recent archaeological interpretations, that sixth-century natural and military disasters did have a significant impact on the region. The second chapter turns to the first text associated with Symeon's cult, the sermon collection attributed to the stylite, which reveals how a holy man could construct his own spiritual authority through powerful rhetoric. Starkly polarised in his thought, Symeon eschews the compromises adopted by many clerical preachers, focusing on the opposition of demon and monk, rich and poor, and heaven and hell. The third chapter addresses the Life of Symeon, arguing that it can be read as an extended apology for Symeon's failure to protect the Antiochene from the disasters of the sixth century. The fourth chapter looks at the Life of Martha, Symeon's mother, which contains an original and inclusive vision of holiness, focusing not on asceticism or celibacy but on the redemptive powers of liturgy and the sacraments. The fifth chapter takes a step back, arguing that both Lives reflect broader developments in hagiography in the late sixth and seventh centuries: Symeon's hagiographer's struggle to justify disasters are echoed in other near-contemporary saints' Lives, while Martha's Life resembles in many respects the posthumous miracle collections which flourished in this period and were, in their relatively narrow focus, very suitable for a time of crisis.

abstract: The hagiographic comedy written by Tirso de Molina Los lagos de San Vicente (1607) presents the journey of Santa Casilda in search of the cure of an illness in her blood that affects her. Casilda rejects the medical assistance offered to her by Muslim doctors and miraculously she finds the cure in the Christian world. In this quest, the intellectual and theological evolution of the future saint in defense of the Christian faith is presented. This dissertation will study the resources that Tirso de Molina employs to show the rejection and displacement against the Islamic world represented by a series of erotic behaviors that, in the effort of dramatizing these impertinences they are characterized within a second discourse. Tirso de Molina takes advantage of the hagiographic comedy's discourse nature and the baroque's obscure literary characteristics to express his messages. This dissertation will study in detail how the combination of hagiographic theatrical elements with linguistic expressions are used to convey a subversive discourse that therefore suggests the application of queer theory as a frame of reference. As a result of this investigation it is concluded that Tirso de Molina promotes the hagiographic model and in order to contrast the triumph of the moral Catholic world over the immoral Muslim world the play writer makes references to the nefarious sin. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Spanish 2011

La thèse présente la reconstruction codicologique et l’édition commentée des fragments de deux codices hagiographiques sur papyrus conservés au Musée du Louvre. Ils contiennent les restes de la Vie de sainte Eupraxie (codex 1), de la Vie de saint Abraham de Qidun et de la Vie de sainte Théodora d’Alexandrie (codex 2). Le codex 1 est inédit. Le codex 2 fut partiellement publié en 1889 par C. Wessely, mais la découverte de nouveaux fragments et la restauration de l’ensemble ont entièrement remis en cause cette édition. La consultation de nombreux manuscrits médiévaux a permis de combler l’essentiel des lacunes. Certaines subsistent pourtant dans la Vie de sainte Théodora. Ces papyrus présentent les plus anciens témoins des versions grecques des textes, ce qui a permis l’identification des familles de manuscrits les plus fidèles à l’original. La Vie d’Abraham de Qidun présente la particularité d’être une traduction grecque d’un texte composé en syriaque. Des témoins grecs perdus mais contemporains du papyrus ont aussi été traduits en araméen christo-palestinien. Une place particulière est donnée à ces versions. La Vie d’Eupraxie et la Vie de Théodora sont probablement des fictions où apparaissent en filigrane des querelles historico-religieuses. / This thesis presents the reconstruction and the commented edition of the fragments of two hagiographical codices on papyrus, from the Musée du Louvre. They preserve some parts of the Life of Eupraxia (codex 1), of the Life of Abraham of Qidun and the Life of Theodora of Alexandria (codex 2). The codex 1 is unedited. The codex 2 was partly published in 1889 by C. Wessely, but as a result of the discovery of new fragments and the restoration of all of these papyri, a new edition was indispensable. After the reading of a large number of medieval manuscripts, it has been possible to fill most of the holes. Only the Life of Theodora remains incomplete. These papyri present the oldest witnesses of the Greek version of the texts, allowing the identification of the groups of manuscripts which preserved the best text. The Life of Abraham is a Greek translation of a genuine Syriac text. Some now lost Greek manuscripts, contemporary of the papyrus, have been translated in Christo-Palestinian Aramaic. These versions are studied in particular. The Life of Eupraxia as well as the Life of Theodora is probably fictions in which it is possible to suppose the presence of historical-political quarrels.

abstract: This dissertation examines the relationship between secular law and Old and early Middle English hagiography in order to illustrate important culturally determined aspects of early English saints’ lives. The project advances work in two fields of study, cultural readings of hagiography and legal history, by arguing that medieval English hagiographers use historically relevant legal concepts as an appeal to the experience of their readers and as literary devices that work to underscore the paradoxical nature of a saint's life by grounding the narrative in a historicized context. The study begins with a survey of the lexemes signifying theft in the 102 Old English saints’ lives in order to isolate some of the specific ways legal discourse was employed by early English hagiographers. Specialized language to refer to the theft of relics and moral discourse surrounding the concept of theft both work to place these saints lives in a distinctly literal and culturally significant idiom. Picking one of the texts from the survey, the following chapter focuses on Cynewulf’s Juliana and argues that the characterization of the marriage proposal at the center of the poem is intended to appeal to a specific audience: women in religious communities who were often under pressure from aggressive, and sometimes violent, suitors. The next chapter addresses Ælfric of Eynsham’s Lives of Saints and discusses his condemnation of the easy collaboration of secular legal authorities and ecclesiastics in his “Life of Swithun” and his suggestion in the “Life of Basil“ that litigiousness is itself a fundamentally wicked characteristic. Lastly, the project turns to the South English Legendary’s life of Saint Thomas Becket. Rather than a straightforward translation of the Latin source, the South English Legendary life is significant in the poet's inclusion of a composite version of the Constitutions of Clarendon, demonstrating the author's apparent interest in shaping the reception of legal culture for his or her readers and emphasizing the bureaucratic nature of Becket's sanctity. In sum, the study shows that the historicized legal material that appears in early medieval English hagiography functions to ground the biographies of holy men and women in the corporeal world. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2012

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-02-19Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:23:41Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 marques_lh_dr_assis.pdf: 915897 bytes, checksum: f39b0ad726687f70f3140fabce3b1624 (MD5) / Este estudo tem como objetivo central apresentar de que forma as seis hagiografias hispano-visigodas escritas e até hoje preservadas, foram utilizadas no processo de difusão/comunicação do cristianismo na Espanha visigoda (séculos V a VIII) e, em especial, nos seus meios rurais, cujo contexto cultural religioso era caracterizado, entre outros fatores, pela aculturação entre a recém-assimilada fé cristã e as crenças préromanas e romanas. Foram analisadas as seguintes hagiografias: Vida de Santo Emiliano, de Bráulio de Saragoça; Vida de São Frutuoso, de autor anônimo; Vida de São Desidério, de Sisebuto; Vida dos Santos Padres de Mérida, também de autor desconhecido e as versões de Isidoro de Sevilha e Idelfonso de Toledo para a obra De viris illustribus. Realizada à luz da Análise do Discurso Crítica e contextualizada a partir da historiografia sobre o tema, a análise privilegiou A Vida de São Milão por seu âmbito rural, com a qual as demais hagiografias foram cotejadas, tendo demonstrado a fragilidade do processo de cristianização da Igreja visigoda e sua tendência a atuar em prol das relações de dominação em nível social, político, econômico, cultural e, portanto, religioso. / This study has as main objective to present how the six written and preserved until today Visigothic hagiographies, were used in the process of diffusion/communication of the Christianity in Spain Visigothic (centuries V to VIII) and, especially, in the rural zone, whose religious cultural context was characterized, among other factors, for the acculturation betweeen the recently-assimilated Christian faith and the pre-Roman and Roman faiths. The following hagiographies were analyzed: Life of Saint Aemilian, written by Bráulio of Saragoça; Life of Saint Fructuosus, from anonymous author; Life of Saint Desiderius, written by Sisebuto; Life of the Fathers of Mérida, also from unknown author and the versions of Isidoro of Seville and Idelfonso of Toledo for the work De viris illustribus. Accomplished by using Critic's Analysis of Speech and considering the context from the historiography about the theme, the analysis privileged The Life of Saint Milan Life because her rural ambit, with the one which the others hagiographies were compared, having demonstrated the fragility of the process of Christianization of the Visigothic Church and its tendency to act on behalf of the dominance relationships in social, political, economical, cultural and, therefore, religious level.

abstract: This dissertation is a study and translation of the Hereditary Household of the Han Celestial Master (Han tianshi shijia 漢天師世家), a hagiographical account of successive generations of the Zhang family patriarchs of Celestial Masters Daoism (Tianshi dao 天師道) at Dragon and Tiger Mountain (Longhu shan 龍虎山) in Jiangxi province that was compiled in stages between the late fourteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The Zhang family emerged in the late Tang or early Five dynasties period and rose to great prominence and power through the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties on the basis of the claim of direct and unbroken lineal descent from Zhang Daoling 張道陵 the ancestral Celestial Master whose covenant with the deified Laozi in 142 C.E. is a founding event of the Daoist religion. In this study I trace the lineal history of the Zhang family as presented in the Hereditary Household in chronological parallel to contrasting narratives found in official histories, epigraphy, and the literary record. This approach affords insight into the polemical nature of the text as an assertion of legitimacy and allows for a demonstration of how the work represents an attempt to create in writing an idealized past in order to win prestige in the present. It also affords the opportunity to scour the historical record in an attempt to ascertain a plausible timeframe for the origin of the movement and to explore the relationship of the Hereditary Household to earlier hagiographic works that may have informed it. This study also contextualizes the Hereditary Household in the post-Tang religious climate of China. In that period the establishment of lineal authenticity and institutional charisma through narratives of descent became a widespread tool of legitimation employed by Buddhists, Daoists, and Confucians in hopes of obtaining imperial recognition and patronage. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Religious Studies 2016