TY - ENCYC

T1 - Hagiography

AU - Kandzha, Iliana

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - The Christian veneration of the saints inspired a prolific literary tradition that included narratives devoted to the virtuous lives, martyrdoms, and posthumous miracles of saints, as well as records relating to the transfer of relics and canonisation procedures. Although being a target of scholarly scepticism until the twentieth century, hagiography has proved to be an invaluable source for studying not only saints and their cults but also the literary, political, and social milieux in which a hagiographic text was created and disseminated. The article provides an overview of the most influential methods for approaching medieval hagiographies. It starts with outlining the problematic of “hagiography” as a literary form and overviewing the major developments and resources for hagiographic studies. The next part positions hagiographic texts in relation to saints’ cults, emphasizing the interdependence between religious practices, political agendas, and canonisation procedures, on the one hand, and the hagiography, on the other. The overview proceeds by analysing a hagiography as text, introducing approaches from close-reading, narratology, as well as reception and translation studies. Hagiography can also be studied as a material object – as a manuscript, composite codex, printed book, and visual representation. Finally, a number of approaches to hagiography from the standpoint of social anthropology, sociology, microhistory, and gender and disability studies, as well as global history, are exemplified.

AB - The Christian veneration of the saints inspired a prolific literary tradition that included narratives devoted to the virtuous lives, martyrdoms, and posthumous miracles of saints, as well as records relating to the transfer of relics and canonisation procedures. Although being a target of scholarly scepticism until the twentieth century, hagiography has proved to be an invaluable source for studying not only saints and their cults but also the literary, political, and social milieux in which a hagiographic text was created and disseminated. The article provides an overview of the most influential methods for approaching medieval hagiographies. It starts with outlining the problematic of “hagiography” as a literary form and overviewing the major developments and resources for hagiographic studies. The next part positions hagiographic texts in relation to saints’ cults, emphasizing the interdependence between religious practices, political agendas, and canonisation procedures, on the one hand, and the hagiography, on the other. The overview proceeds by analysing a hagiography as text, introducing approaches from close-reading, narratology, as well as reception and translation studies. Hagiography can also be studied as a material object – as a manuscript, composite codex, printed book, and visual representation. Finally, a number of approaches to hagiography from the standpoint of social anthropology, sociology, microhistory, and gender and disability studies, as well as global history, are exemplified.

U2 - 10.4324/9780415791182-RMEO367-1

DO - 10.4324/9780415791182-RMEO367-1

M3 - Encyclopedia chapter

BT - Routledge Resources Online - Medieval Studies

A2 - Klemettilä, Hannele

A2 - Niskanen, Samu

A2 - Willoughby, James

PB - Routledge

ER -