Scott G. Bruce, Professor of History, and W. Tanner Smoot, PhD Candidate, published their article entitled “The Social Life of an Eleventh-Century Shrine in the Miraculorum sancti Maioli libri duo (BHL 5186)” in Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies 12 (2023): 27-51. Congratulations, Scott and Tanner!
Below is the abstract:
The early eleventh-century Miraculorum sancti Maioli libri duo narrated accounts of more than four dozen miracles that took place at the shrine of Maiolus of Cluny in the town of Souvigny, where the abbot died in 994. This article examines the evidence of this little-known source to reconstruct the social life of a popular pilgrimage destination at the turn of the first millennium. It presents a profile of the kinds of people who visited Maiolus’s tomb, including their names, genders, and occupations. Next, it analyses the maladies for which these pilgrims sought relief through the healing power of the saint. Finally, it explores the social networks that facilitated the movement of pilgrims with motor and sensory disabilities from their homes to the abbot’s shrine.