Finding Faith: An edition of the "Vie de Sainte Fey, Virgine et Martire", and a study of the cult of St. Faith in post-conquest East Anglia.
Item
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Title
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Finding Faith: An edition of the "Vie de Sainte Fey, Virgine et Martire", and a study of the cult of St. Faith in post-conquest East Anglia.
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Identifier
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AAI3287101
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identifier
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3287101
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Creator
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Smith-Bernstein, Deborah.
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Contributor
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Adviser: William Coleman
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Date
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2007
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Medieval | History, Medieval | Gender Studies | Women's Studies | Religion, General | Art History
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Abstract
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The Abbey Church of Sainte Foy of Conques was a popular pilgrimage destination for eleventh-century Normans who often visited the little saint before embarking on expeditions to Spain or Jerusalem. The first daughter cell of Conques was established in the late eleventh-century at Conches-en-Ouches, Normandy, and Horsham St. Faith's Priory was founded near Norwich in 1105. Its founders, Robert Fitzwalter and Sybil Chesney Fitzwalter, were descended from under-tenants of the powerful Domesday tenants-in-chief, Robert I Malet and William I Warenne.;St. Faith's popularity in East Anglia is demonstrated by material evidence or possible patronage connections linking Horsham St. Faith with Bury St. Edmunds and Campsey Priory, Suffolk; moreover, royal interest in her cult is demonstrated by the existence of Westminster Abbey's Chapel of St. Faith, which features a monumental painting of Faith that is dated between 1250 and 1275. The thirteenth century was a particularly productive period for St. Faith's cult; c. 1210 a monk from Bury St. Edmunds, Simon of Walsingham, composed an Anglo-Norman verse translation, the Vie de Sainte Fey, from a Latin redaction, possibly from Canterbury. During extensive restorations at St. Faith's priory, c. 1250, a set of wall paintings was produced; the paintings remained undiscovered until the twentieth century. A large crucifixion, which is supported by a series of cartoons narrating the events leading to the priory's foundation by the Fitzwalters, dominates the paintings; the paintings feature several unusual details such as a wheel barrow and a reef point sail.;The only known text of the Vie de Sainte Fey is part of a fourteenth century compilation of saints' lives dating from the late thirteenth and early fourteenth-centuries (BL Additional 70513). The dissertation includes an edition and a translation of the Vie, which is part of a unique Anglo-Norman codex of thirteen saints' lives that was owned and possibly assembled by the nuns of Campsey Priory. Some of the lives included in the codex were composed by women and two of the lives are dedicated to Isabella, the Countess of Arundel; several others are linked to nunneries with royal connections or with the lay patronage of aristocratic families.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy Restricted.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.