Rewriting the founder: Werden on the Ruhr and the uses of hagiography

Abstract

The rich hagiographical corpus, charters and privileges of the monastery of Werden on the Ruhr allow unparalleled access to its ninth-century history. This article focuses upon three ninth-century Vitae of its founding saint which delineate both the transformations which Werden underwent in the course of the century and the ways in which the monastery attempted to respond and adapt to these changes. In so doing, it illuminates the role that saintly relics and hagiography could play in the formation of Christian communities both within and beyond cloister walls.

Quasi una gens: Saxony and the Frankish world, c. 772–888

“…In the field of religion, Hedwig Röckelein has illuminated the Christianization of the region, with particular attention paid to the role of relics in society, and Theo Kölzer has refined our view of Carolingian involvement in fledgling Saxon foundations through the diplomatic analysis of imperial charters (Kölzer, , , ; Röckelein, , , , , , , , , ). The last 20‐odd years have also marked the emergence of interest in Carolingian Saxony by English‐language historians such as Ian Wood, Eric Goldberg, Eric Knibbs, and Robert Flierman, among others (see here especially Appleby, ; Bachrach & Bachrach, ; Carroll, ; Flierman, , , forthcoming ; Goldberg, ; Hen, ; Karras, ; Knibbs, ; Mayr‐Harting, ; Palmer, , , ; Rembold, , , forthcoming , ; Shuler, ; van Egmond, ; Wood, , , , ). Finally, it is worth noting that the role that published conference proceedings and exhibition catalogues have played in the field, especially those resulting from an 1999 exhibition and associated conferences organized by the Diözesanmuseum Paderborn, and likewise from a conference held in the same year by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress in San Marino (Green & Siegmund, ; Hässler, Jarnut, & Wemhoff, ; Stiegemann & Wemhoff, ).…”