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Bones of Contention: The Justifications for Relic Thefts in the Middle Ages

Burke, Gina Kathleen
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1090353960

Abstract Details

2004, Master of Arts, Miami University, Religion.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the popular religious phenomena of relic thefts during the Middle Ages. The hagiographic accounts, where monks and nuns record many of these thefts, reflect some ambivalence over these actions. Questions arise on how then the thefts were justified and moralized, and why certain members of society, especially clerics and royalty, were able to not only participate, but also to have their deeds labeled as sacred. Applying the sociological approach to this study of the thefts within hagiographic texts reveals that the divine authority of clerics and kings, which allowed them to participate in these acts, enabled these members of the medieval church to justify their involvement in theft because the sacredness of the theft, and the person committing it, trumped the situation’s ethical concern.
Peter Williams (Advisor)
65 p.
relic thefts; saints; hagiography; justifications; ambivalence; hagiograhphic accounts; monks and nuns; princes and kings; relics; thefts

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Burke, G. K. (2004). Bones of Contention: The Justifications for Relic Thefts in the Middle Ages [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1090353960

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Burke, Gina. Bones of Contention: The Justifications for Relic Thefts in the Middle Ages. 2004. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1090353960.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Burke, Gina. "Bones of Contention: The Justifications for Relic Thefts in the Middle Ages." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1090353960

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1090353960
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© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.