James Palmer, Early Medieval Hagiography (Past Imperfect), Amsterdam 2018
At its core, a hagiographical text describes the exemplary life of a particular saint. Saintly stories inform the audience about the influence these holy men and women allegedly had on their surroundings. Hagiographers could be creative in the process of highlighting the extraordinariness of their protagonist’s sanctity while, at the same time, emphasizing their adherence to familiar Christian norms and values. Indeed, James Palmer points out that this twofold dimension of familiarity and distinctiveness turn hagiography into an unrivalled source-type for a better comprehension of early medieval history (3). Early Medieval Hagiography attempts to outline the nature of these hagiographical narratives, and to give a glimpse of what these texts reveal about the cultural complexity and diversity of the Early Middle Ages (2).
A critical reflection on hagiography is also relevant for those interested in the medieval culture of war, because saints could figure in narrative scenes of warfare. Palmer points out how saintly stories were often characterised by accounts of conflict, of how a saint faced hostility or challenged common norms and values (5-6). Certainly, warfare could be included in these accounts as well. For example, the hagiography of Barbatus of Benevento tells the tale of the saint successfully praying for Mary’s intervention against the Byzantine Emperor Constans II who was besieging Benevento.
The book’s four chapters resemble a hagiography’s entire life-cycle, starting with the moment of composition and ending with a discussion on the benefits of the study of hagiography for our understanding of medieval history.
The first chapter Making Saints (Up) (15-39) investigates the reasons for creating a hagiography. Palmer argues that, in essence, hagiographers wanted to use the story of a saintly individual in some way or another (15). The telling of these stories resulted in “a highly complex piece of social and political argumentation, [since] he who controls the past may well attempt to shape the future with it. (18)” Palmer wisely mentions that any general statements are fragile since there were neither hard rules in creating early medieval hagiography, nor was there an official process of canonization. To underline this variety, he grants the reader an elaborate, albeit non-exhaustive, list of sixteen possible reasons for composing a hagiography (36).
Chapter two, Collecting Saints’ Stories, devotes attention to the afterlife of medieval hagiographies in manuscript compilations (41-64), and to the sources that worked alongside hagiographies such as calendars, litanies or martyrologies (55-60). In these codices, Palmer argues convincingly that texts could function individually and collectively. Clearly, each individual text contained its own specific arguments. However, in collections saintly biographies could contextualise one another and create new perspectives by highlighting common themes and motives (53).
The third and fourth chapters form a reflective tandem on the study of hagiography by modern historians. Chapter 3, Historians and the Quest for Truth, covers the evolved perception of hagiography in modern scholarship (65-87). Palmer offers an insight into the different paradigms which have characterised analyses of hagiography. He aspires to stimulate further reflection on existing methodologies and to foster new questions for future studies. This reflection is continued in the fourth and final chapter Hagiographies and Early Medieval History (99-110) in which Palmer summarizes how hagiography has contributed to our understanding of the period’s history in two significant ways: first, hagiographers tended to inadvertently provide us with unique perspectives on the complexity of early medieval society. Second, the hagiographer himself was also a part of this society, attempting to instigate change through saintly examples (106-107). The book ends with a call for further comparative studies between Latin hagiography and sacred biographies from other traditions, and a helpful list of further studies to read (111-122).
This book accomplishes its aims, and manages to conflate a wealth of information and knowledge succinctly. As part of the Past Imperfect series, this book’s main audience will consist of scholars and students, both undergraduates and graduates. It is written in a clear and concise style, rendering it suitable for a general audience with an interest in medieval religion.