The saint and the count : a case study for reading like a historian /
Leah Shopkow.
- xii, 202 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-193) and index.
"In the province of Bayeux": St. Vitalis in the historical and hagiographic record -- "Strive to rise swiftly from the dust": The author Stephen of Fougeres -- "men who built the Holy Church": hagiography and genre -- "these are not our inventions": miracles and doubt -- "they tried to kill him": hagiography and the problem of violence.
"While historians know that history is about interpreting primary sources, students tend to think of history as a set of facts. In The Saint and the Count, Leah Shopkow opens up the interpretive world of the historian using the biography of St. Vitalis of Savigny (d. 1122) as a case study. This biography was written around 1174 by Stephen of Fougères and provides a rich stage to demonstrate the kinds of questions historians ask about primary sources and the interpretive and conceptual frameworks they use. What is the nature of medieval sources and the interpretive problems they present? How does the positionality of Stephen of Fougères shape his biography of St. Vitalis? How did medieval people respond to stories of miracles? And finally, how does this biography illuminate the problem of violence in medieval society? A translation of the biography is included, so that readers can explore the text on their own."--
1487508433 1487525869 9781487508432 9781487525866
2019461287
Etienne, de Fougères, Bishop of Rennes, -1178. Vitalis, of Savigny, Saint, -1122.