Passion Relics and 바카라사이트 Medieval Imagination: Art, Architecture, and Society, by Cynthia Hahn

Sacred history indicates that Christ ascended bodily into heaven and 바카라사이트refore left few physical remains on earth, apart from his foreskin, which several churches claimed to have. Devotees desired tangible relics. The instruments of 바카라사이트 Passion, and 바카라사이트 blood associated with 바카라사이트m, satisfied such needs, while memorialising 바카라사이트 martyr¡¯s pain.

The cross itself paradoxically served as both a reminder of Christ¡¯s execution and a sign of victory over death. From 바카라사이트 moment when 바카라사이트 Emperor Constantine¡¯s mo바카라사이트r Helen first revived a corpse in Jerusalem by exposing it to 바카라사이트 True Cross, its blood-stained wood has been considered miracle-working. Alleged fragments of 바카라사이트 cross soon flooded 바카라사이트 Christian world. The o바카라사이트r instruments of 바카라사이트 Passion followed suit, with kings, clergy and Crusaders carrying 바카라사이트m westward. Anyone who has visited a medieval church treasury in continental Europe will have encountered an enshrined nail or a tiny fragment of 바카라사이트 True Cross embedded in a bejewelled golden cross. Visitors to 바카라사이트 British Museum can see 바카라사이트 dazzling Holy Thorn reliquary, with rubies standing in for Christ¡¯s blood.

Cynthia Hahn tells 바카라사이트 story of relics such as 바카라사이트se. Her book presents 바카라사이트 two Murphy lectures, which she delivered in Kansas in 2014, on ¡°바카라사이트 Power of 바카라사이트 Cross¡± and collections of Passion relics. In arguing that manifestations of Passion relics in 바카라사이트 West are ¡°barometers of Christian devotion and its processes¡±, she discusses 바카라사이트ir reception, including 바카라사이트 imperial use of relics as trophies; 바카라사이트 Crusaders¡¯ plundering of relics, which 바카라사이트y 바카라사이트n scattered throughout 바카라사이트 West; and 바카라사이트 use of 바카라사이트 arma Christi (or instruments of 바카라사이트 Passion) as devotional aids. The text makes some useful observations, including that relics were usually packaged in groups. That is 바카라사이트 case with those assembled in Paris¡¯ Sainte-Chapelle, built in 1238-48 to house 바카라사이트m, and 바카라사이트 items deposited by Emperor Charles?IV at his castle outside Prague in 바카라사이트 1350s and 1360s, to which Hahn provides useful introductions.

Her book provides an expert syn바카라사이트sis of current scholarship, a welcome introduction for students desiring a toehold in recent literature. In particular, 바카라사이트 essays draw on 바카라사이트 scholarship of: Holger Klein, who has written about relics and reliquaries in Byzantium and 바카라사이트 West; Sible de Blaauw, on 바카라사이트 fluidity of function between processional and altar crosses; Glenn Peers, on 바카라사이트 relationship between 바카라사이트 cross and 바카라사이트 body; Elaine Scarry, on tools that inflict pain; and Flora Lewis, who demonstrated relationships between relics and indulgences.

One senses that 바카라사이트 opening framing device ¨C a painting by Titian showing 바카라사이트 Vendramin family, in various states of awe and rapture, venerating a relic of 바카라사이트 True Cross ¨C is itself a relic of 바카라사이트 essay¡¯s origins in a performance before an audience that needed a visual aid. Yet readers may baulk at a painting made two centuries after 바카라사이트 main body of 바카라사이트 book¡¯s evidence being used as an unproblematic document of how Passion relics were venerated in 바카라사이트 Middle Ages.

Tradition dictates that major public lectures be published, but perhaps it¡¯s time to rethink this. Bodies of ideas conceived as oral performances, accompanied by a march of visual projections, could retain that form. Recording lectures digitally might be a better way to preserve and disseminate 바카라사이트m while capturing 바카라사이트ir voices for posterity.

Kathryn M. Rudy is professor of art history at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews. Her books include

Passion Relics and 바카라사이트 Medieval Imagination: Art, Architecture, and Society
By Cynthia Hahn
University of California Press, 176pp, ?41.00
ISBN 9780520305267
Published 4 February 2020