Title

An Angel’s Power in a Bishop’s Body: The Making of the Cult of Aubert of Avranches at Mont-Saint-Michel

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2003

Publication Title

Journal of Medieval History

Department

History

Abstract

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Benedictine monks of Mont-Saint Michel promoted the cult of Aubert of Avranches, the abbey’s legendary co-founder, and used his newly rediscovered relics as a means of accessing the patronage and power of the elusive, incorporeal archangel Michael, the community’s other founder. Texts, images, the strategic placement of Aubert’s relics throughout the abbey church reinforced the association between these two saints, rendering Aubert more powerful and Michael more accessible. This local study of the interaction between these two cults at the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel suggests that medieval monastic uses of relics were more creative and varied than is generally recognized and that relationships between saints within a single cultic environment could be extremely complex and unstable

Volume

29

Issue

4

pp.

347-360

ISSN

1304-4184

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