Saint Alban and the Cult of Saints in Late Antique Britain

256 Pages·2016·11.46 MB·English

Saint Alban and the Cult of Saints in Late Antique Britain
Michael Moises Garcia
Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
The University of Leeds
Institute for Medieval Studies
August, 2010
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The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate
credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others.
This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material
and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper
acknowledgement.
The right of Michael Moises Garcia to be identified as Author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
© 2010 The University of Leeds and Michael Moises Garcia
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I must thank my amazing wife Kat, without whom I
would not have been able to accomplish this work. I am also grateful to the rest
of my family: my mother Peggy, and my sisters Jolie, Julie and Joelle. Their
encouragement was invaluable. No less important was the support from my
supervisors, Ian Wood, Richard Morris, and Mary Swan, as well as my advising
tutor, Roger Martlew. They have demonstrated remarkable patience and
provided assistance above and beyond the call of duty. Many of my colleagues
at the University of Leeds provided generous aid throughout the past few years.
Among them I must especially thcmk Thom Gobbitt, Lauren Moreau, Zsuzsanna
Papp Reed, Alex Domingue, Meritxell Perez-Martinez, Erin Thomas Daily, Mark
Tizzoni, and all denizens of the Le Patourel room, past and present. I also
received assistance with proofreading from Katie Neville, Steve Werronen,
Nicky Tsougarakis, Geoffrey Humble and Marci Freedman. Various scholars
outside the University of Leeds who commented on different sections, drafts,
and other pieces of work that went into the thesis also deserve credit. These
include Ned Schoolman, Neil Christie, Meg Cormack, Hrvoje Kekez, Zoe Devlin
and Caroline Holas-Clark. Special thanks are also due to Niki Hughes. Last, but
definitely not least, I must thank Ste Coombs for technical support as well as all
the curries and Scotch whiskies.
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Abstract
This thesis presents an interdisciplinary study of cult of saints in Britain
during Late Antiquity, utilising both textual and archaeological evidence. The
study pursues question regarding when and why the cult of saints was
introduced to Britain as well as the impact of the Anglo-Saxon conversion on
native British cults. Chapters two and three assess case studies consisting of
primary textual sources, including: De Laude Sanctorum by Victricius of Rouen;
the anonymous Passio Albani; the Vita Germani by Constantius of Lyon; Gildas'
De Excidio Britonum; the collected responses of Gregory the Great, known as
the Libel/us Responsionum; Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Ang/orum; the
anonymous Miracu/a Nynie; Aelred of Rievaulx's Vita Niniani; and the
anonymous Vita Samsonis. The archaeological evidence examined in chapters
four and five consists of early medieval churches sited over Roman graves and
in extra-mural cemeteries as well as distinctive burials from the fourth to
seventh centuries referred to as 'special graves'. The evidence shows that the
development of the cult of saints in Britain followed the same trajectory as on
the Continent which reinforces the idea the Christianity continued in Britain after
the Roman period.
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Contents
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ iii
Abstract .............................................................................................................. iv
Contents ............................................................................................................. v
List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................... ix
Chapter 1: Britain and the Late Antiquity Paradigm ............................................ 1
1.1 Overview ................................................................................................... 1
1.2 The "Decline and Fall" Paradigm .............................................................. 4
1.3 The Rise of "Late Antiquity" ..................................................................... 12
1.4 The Cult of Saints ................................................................................... 17
1.5 Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Cult of Saints ................................... 25
1.6 Monument reuse ..................................................................................... 32
Chapter 2: The textual evidence part 1: martyr cults ........................................ 40
2.1 Overview ................................................................................................. 40
2.2 The earliest evidence .............................................................................. 42 .
2.3 The invention of a British martyr? ........................................................... 48
2.3.1 The Passio Albani ............................................................................ 50
2.3.2 Germanus and Pelagianism ............................................................. 61
2.4 Saints' cults and the Anglo-Saxon conquest.. ......................................... 69
2.5 An uncertain martyr ................................................................................. 80
2.6 Anglo-Saxon revisionism ........................................................................ 88
2.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 94
Chapter 3: The textual evidence part 2: confessor cults ................................... 96
3.1 Overview ................................................................................................. 96
3.2 Samson ................................................................................................... 98
3.3 Ninian .................................................................................................... 107
3.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 118
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Chapter 4: The archaeological evidence part 1: churches .............................. 120
4.1 Overview ............................................................................................... 120
4.2 Archaeology and the cult of saints ........................................................ 121
4.2.1 The traditional model ...................................................................... 122
4.2.2 Problems with the traditional model ................................................ 126
4.3 The evidence ........................................................................................ 128
4.3.1 Churches over Roman mausolea ................................................... 128
4.3.1.7 St Mary-de-Lode, Gloucester ...................................................... 147
4.3.2 Churches in late Roman extra-mural cemeteries ........................... 150
4.3.3 Sites mentioned in the textual sources ........................................... 157
4.3.3.1 St Albans ..................................................................................... 159
4.3.3.2 Caerleon ...................................................................................... 163
4.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 167
Chapter 5: The archaeological evidence part 2: cemeteries ........................... 170
5.1 Overview ............................................................................................... 170
5.2 Changing burial practices ...................................................................... 170
5.2.1 Inhumation and orientation ............................................................. 175
5.2.2 Christian and pagan cemeteries ..................................................... 177
5.2.3 Grave goods ................................................................................... 181
5.2.4 Burial ad sanctos, special graves and saints' graves ..................... 185
5.3 The evidence ........................................................................................ 189
5.3.1 Poundbury ...................................................................................... 191
5.3.2 Cannington ..................................................................................... 197
5.3.3 Llandough ....................................................................................... 202
5.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 205
Chapter 6: Britain in Late Antiquity ................................................................. 207
6.1 Overview ............................................................................................... 207
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6.2 A review of the conclusions thus far ...................................................... 207
6.3 Appropriating the past in late antique Britain ......................................... 212
6.4 The cult of saints, Britain and the Late Antiquity Paradigm ................... 216
Bibliography .................................................................................................... 219
Primary References .................................................................................... 219
Secondary Sources ..................................................................................... 220
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Figures
Figure 4.1: Tours in the fourth and fifth centuries (after Galinie) .................... 125
Figure 4.2: Churches in cemeteries and over mausolea ................................ 129
Figure 4.3: Churches over mausolea: A) Wells B) Lullingstone C) Stone-by-
Faversham D) St Martins, Canterbury ............................................................ 130
Figure 5.1: Late antique cemeteries with possible cult associations ............... 189
Figure 5.2: Pound bury Cemetery .................................................................... 190
Figure 5.3: Cannington Cemetery ................................................................... 196
Figure 5.4: Uandough Cemetery .................................................................... 201
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List of Abbreviations
BAR British Archaeological Reports
CBA Council for British Archaeology
DEB Gildas, De Excidio Britonum, ed. and trans. Michael Winterbottom
DLS Victricius of Rouen, De Laude Sanctorum
HE Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, ed. and trans. Colgrave and Mynors
MGH Monumenta Gerrnaniae Historica
SRM Scriptores Rerum Merovingicorum
1
Chapter 1: Britain and the Late Antiquity Paradigm
1.1 Overview
This thesis addresses a problem in the study of the cult of saints in Britain. Until
the 1970s, the prevalent historical view of the Roman to medieval transition in
Britain held that in the fifth and sixth centuries Britain was isolated from the
Continent, there was little or no continuity of Roman culture and Latin learning,
and Christianity was more or less abandoned until the arrival of Augustine's
mission in AD 597.1 As a result of this view, which will be referred to as the
Decline and Fall paradigm, most studies of the cult of saints in Britain begin with
2
the Anglo-Saxon period. The cults of Alban, Julius and Aaron, which appear to
have developed in the Roman period, are treated as anomalies. Furthermore,
when these cults are discussed, their origins are rarely examined in depth. It is
taken for granted that they emerged in the Roman period, immediately or soon
after the supposed martyrdoms and sometime before the end of persecutions at
the beginning of the fourth century.3 Since then, there has been little
1 For example, see E. Thurlow Leeds, The Archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon Settlements
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913); R. G. Collingwood, Roman Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1934); Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, The Oxford History of England (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1943); J. N. L. Myres, Anglo-Saxon Pottery and the Settlement of England (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1969).
2 For example David Rollason, Saints and Relics in Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, MA:
Basil Blackwell, 1989).
3 For example, Wilhelm Meyer, Die Legende des h. Albanus des Protomartyr Ang/iae in Texten
vor Beda, Abhandlungen der k6niglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen.
Philologisch-historische Klasse (Berlin: Weidmannsche, 1904); John Morris, 'The Date of Saint
Alban', Hertfordshire Archaeology, 1 (1968), 1-8; Martin Biddle, 'Alban and the Anglo-Saxon
Church', in Cathedral and City: St Albans Ancient and Modern, ed. by Robert Runcie (London:
Martyn Associates, 1977), pp. 23-42; G. R. Stephens, 'A Note on the Martyrdom of St Alban',
Hertfordshire Archaeology, 9 (1986), 20-21; Martin Biddle and Birthe KjC21lbye-Biddle, 'The
Origins of St Albans Abbey: Romano-British Cemetery and Anglo-Saxon Monastery', in Alban
and St Albans: Roman and Medieval Architecture, Art and Archaeology, ed. by Martin Henig
and Philip Lindley (Leeds: Maney, 2001), pp. 45-77; Jeremy Knight, 'Britain's Other Martyrs:
Julius, Aaron and Alban at Caerleon', in Alban and St Albans: Roman and Medieval
Architecture, Art and Archaeology, ed. by Martin Henig and Philip Lindley (Leeds: Maney,
2001), pp. 38-44; Richard Sharpe, 'The Late Antique Passion of St Alban', in Alban and St