The medieval cult of saints

The Medieval Cult of Saints: Formations and Transformations explores the political economy and visual topography of the cult of saints in Medieval Europe. Especially in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, liturgies for the veneration of saints were incorporated into public spectacles staged in sumptuous architecture and coordinated with market fairs that attracted audiences of locals and pilgrim visitors.

Using more than thirty picture cycles of saints' lives in a range of media, published together for the first time, Abou-El-Haj examines a spectrum of cult practices. She argues that repeated and emphasized subjects visualized renewal, expansion, and fierce competition among cults, whether displayed in private or in public spaces. She then applies her results to the history of one monastery and its cult, St. Amand d'Elnone, where three distinct illustrated versions of its patron's life, produced over a hundred years, document how the covent shifted the visual record of its patron as it devised economic strategies to protect its property and privileges.

Charts, a map, lists, iconographic and comparative analyses, and 206 plates survey the statistical, temporal, and spatial distribution of the cults, as well as the sources for the St. Amand manuscripts.