Constructing Cults in Early Medieval France: Local Saints and Churches in Burgundy and the Auvergne 400-1000

Abstract

Abstract The spiritual landscape of Western Europe abounds in saint cults. Yet in origin the region could not claim to be a Christian Holy Land— the events of the New Testament had for the most part taken place far to the east, only reaching Italy in the histories of Peter and Paul. True, persecution subsequently hit the western provinces of the Roman Empire, and Rome in particular came to boast the tombs of many martyrs, although the impact of the Great Persecution of 303-11 was overwhelmingly eastern. This did not stop the fourth-century Spaniard Prudentius from celebrating the martyrs of his native country. Gaul may have had to wait a little while before the earliest of its martyr-acts, whether authentic or invented, were set down in writing: the Vita S. Symphoriani, for instance, is usually dated to the fifth century, and the Passio Acaunensium Martyrumwas composed by the fifth-century bishop Eucherius of Lyon. At the same time, the fabrication or elaboration of the legends of seven missionaries came to play a vital role in the episcopal competition for status which raged in fifth-century Gaul, while in Burgundy

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