Never Just a Memory by Gloria Cook

Never Just a Memory by Gloria Cook

Emerging in the early centuries of Christianity, St. Anne - mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus - become an increasingly popular figure in late medieval northern Europe, standing at the centre of an elaborately-constructed extended holy family. Despite this popularity, and the ideal model of female lay piety she represented, St Anne s absence from Scripture made her a problematic figure for Reformers. Tracing the history of the cult of St. Anne across the medieval and early modern period in German- and Dutch-speaking Europe, this book examines her shift from incredibly popular late medieval saint, to target of Protestant criticism, to reconfigured focus of post-Tridentine Catholic devotion.

Drawing upon a broad range of both textual and visual sources, Dr Welsh advances novel arguments about St. Anne s cult from its medieval roots right through to the nineteenth century. Challenging received notions of her cult as the last gasp of medieval piety or a precursor of later trends, this study provides a new and multi-textured understanding of St. Anne in Northern Europe, which can in turn be used to explore shifting relationships between domesticity and sanctity, concepts of properly pious lay behaviour for both men and women, and attitudes toward women (particularly older women) across several centuries. Perceived in these terms, St. Anne s cult provides an example of how important it is not only to move beyond old cliches that rigidly separate elite and popular religion, but also to look past traditional chronological boundaries in the study of medieval and early modern Europe.

Cook, Gloria: - Gloria Cook is the author of several well-loved Cornish novels, including Trevallion, Kilgarthen and Roscarrock, as well as the Pengarron series. She is Cornish born and bred, and lives in Truro. Her favourite pastime is exploring Cornwall's coast and countryside, and historical places. She is married with a grown-up family.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780727862525
ISBN 10	0727862529
Title	Never Just a Memory
Author	Gloria Cook
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Canongate Books
Year published	2005-06-24
Number of pages	256
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.