HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

BIOGRAPHY 1000‒1350 359Hagiography was a particularly important weapon in the Church’sarsenal against its ideological and political opponents. In the face ofthe rejection of the institution of saints’ cults by the heretics, andthe fear that the faithful would become attached to false miracleworkers,the Church was concerned to insure that only reputablepersons were venerated. In 1266/67 Abbot Philip of Clairvaux undertookan investigation into the stigmata displayed by Elizabeth ofSpaalbek, a beguine hermitess living near Liège. 17 At first skepticalabout third-person reports, he visited her hermitage and was aidedby Abbot William of St. Trond, who served as an interpreter. Inthe introduction to her life, he sought to justify the composition ofa biography devoted to a contemporary saint in the following way:Since, as is written in Ecclesiasticus 42 [.16], “The glory of the Lordis his full work”, and in Tobit [12.11 and 12.7] “The works of Godshould be publicly honored, for the sake of his glory and honor, whois glorified in his saints”; for the sake of the edification of those whoread and those who hear. Among the other deeds of the Lord whichaccording to the prophet are universal goods, our Lord, renewing thesigns and changing the miracles in these days has performed a miraculousdeed in the person of a certain poor and innocent virgin. Wehave neither read nor heard of such a deed having been performedeither in our own time or in former times. But we are unable to avoidspeaking about the glory of the Lord which we have seen and heard.Philip further argues that her exemplary acts and miracles are intendedto “strengthen the faith of those who are in doubt, bring sinners topenance and the ungrateful to thanksgiving, inflame the hard-heartedand obstinate to piety and devotion”.The role of the saint’s life as a didactic tool led to the mining ofhagiography by preachers in need of raw material for their sermons.The Dominican John Gobi’s popular Scala Coeli (1322/30) representssuch a collection of exemplary tales and miracle stories organizedunder subject headings that could be easily consulted by preachers.In the prologue, he writes:17Philip of Clairvaux, Vita Elizabeth sanctimonialis in Erkenrode, in Catalogus codicumhagiographicorum bibliothecae regiae Bruxellensis, ed. Socii Bollandiani, 2 vols. (Brussels,1886–89), 1:362–63.