Medieval England

Sergei Sergeevich Lazarev phd student, Saint-Petersburg State University, Institute of History (5 Mendeleevskaya liniya, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034)
lazarevsergey01@gmail.com

Lazarev S. S. Hagiography as genre of medieval historical writing (basing on biographies of Edward the Confessor), Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2023, vol. 12, pp. 216–231.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2023-12-216-231

Language: Russian

Hagiography studies are the most promising areas of historical research. Therefore, problems regarding the genre features of hagiographic works, approaches to their study and the relationship of these texts with the era in which they were created are becoming relevant again. Moreover, the study of hagiographic works helps to understand how the historical consciousness of medieval people functioned and the necessary and valuable memory of the past was created. This article analyses plots reflecting the events of the Norman Conquest of England in the mirror of hagiographic literature. The source base for the study was the four main lives of Edward the Confessor: the anonymous «Vita Ædwardi regis qui apud Westmonasterium requiescit», «Vita beati Eadwardi regis Anglorum» by Osbert of Clare, «Vita sancti Edwardi regis et confessoris» by Aelred of Rievaulx and «La Estoire de seint Aedward le rei» by Matthew Paris. As a result, it is proved that the hagiographers of Edward the Confessor, although they followed the general storyline, had different approaches to assessing events and historical figures. It was a consequence of the transformation of the political climate of medieval England. In addition, it was shown that hagiography as a genre of medieval historical writing pursued a specific goal: the transmission of didactic and moral truths through the events of the historical past.

Key words: Edward the Confessor, medieval historical writing, hagiography, lives of saints, medieval England, the Norman Conquest

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-lazarev-2023/

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Aleksandr Segreevich Novikov assistant professor, Leningrad State University named after A. S. Pushkin (Peterburgskoye highway, bld. 10, Pushkin, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 196605)
alessandro_novarres@mail.ru

Novikov A. S. Paradox of Aliénor d’Aquitaine in the context of the High Middle Ages gender model of a noble woman, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2022, vol. 10, pp. 238–251.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2022-10-238-251

Language: Russian

The article is based on the text of a speech at the Memorial conference in honor of the 75th anniversary of Yuri Pavlovich Malinin «I was born in a real European city» (May 06, 2021). The change of order in the English Kingdom, begun in 1066 under king William I the Conqueror and his heirs, affected not only the male aristocrats of the Kingdom, but their noble-born wives and daughters as well. The gradual transformation of a woman of noble origin from an «attachment» to her father and husband into an independent subject of legal relations began, thereby starting the process of female emancipation, of course, in the form in which medieval society allowed it. Women have become more educated, and, as a result, more free-thinking. From the loot, along with gold and other trophies, the English aristocrat, starting in 1066, began gradually turning into a target for courtly love, both with the prospect of owning a woman in the end, and without it. Over time, this particular model of behavior in courtliness began to prevail. The example of queen Aliénor d’Aquitaine is the most eloquent manifestation of the above trends that concern not merely England, but the whole Europe.

Key words: Aliénor d’Aquitaine, High Middle Ages, Medieval England, Medieval France, gender model, noble woman

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/novikov-2022-en/