Aelred of Rievaulx and the Saints of Hexham: Tradition, Innovation, and Devotion in Twelfth-Century Northern England

Abstract

This article examines a little-studied work by Aelred of Rievaulx (d. 1167): his tractate on the miracles of the saints of Hexham—referred to here asMiracula—composed for the feast of the saints’ translation in 1154/1155. WhileMiraculahas been incidental to the prolific scholarship on Aelred, this article brings it back to the center of Aelred's life and thought. It describesMiraculain some detail, putting to rest any speculation that Aelred was not the text's author through a careful treatment of the surviving manuscripts. It then explores Aelred's sophisticated notions of who the saints were, how they inhabited Hexham, and what he and his audience expected the saints to do on their behalf. Finally, it demonstrates that Aelred intentionally combined local traditions about the saints with his own modern Cistercian concerns about spiritual life to produce an innovative meditation on saints, miracles, and veneration.Miraculaallows scholars to see Aelred not only as a preeminent reformed Cistercian thinker but also as someone formed by and committed to the ongoing cult of the local saints.

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