Inventing Patron Saints: The Cult of St Fulk between Civic Reality and Historical Fiction

Authors

  • Luca Ricci

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/classicaetmediaevalia.v72i.141498

Abstract

Seventeenth-century sources attest the cult of English pilgrims in southern Lazio. Focusing on the case of Fulk, I argue that the seventeenth-century tradition is supported neither by the literary accounts nor by topographical analyses. Instead, Fulk’s cult, based on Peter Deacon’s twelfth-century Vita Fulconis, was central in processes of civic formation. Changing religious attitudes in the twelfth/thirteenth century are linked with lay sainthood. An English pilgrim coming back from the Holy Land, through the sanctuary on Mount Gargano, brought great prestige to the urban centre vis-à-vis other urban centres, having visited and, thus, been a witness to some of the greatest places in Christendom.

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Published

2023-10-28

How to Cite

Ricci, L. (2023). Inventing Patron Saints: The Cult of St Fulk between Civic Reality and Historical Fiction. Classica Et Mediaevalia, 72, 145–175. https://doi.org/10.7146/classicaetmediaevalia.v72i.141498