Relics, Communal Identity and Glorious Past: The Memory of the Saints in the Hispanic translationes of the Eleventh and Twelfth centuries

Abstract

I would like to propose an analysis of a very specific topic to this academicquestion, addressing memory, antiquity, and (in certain cases) the recovery ofholy relics. These served as resources, first, to forge a common identity; secondly, givecohesion to a social body; thirdly, to sustain specific secular rights; and, finally, to establisha power structure within a given historical context. I am particularly interested inassessing the extent to which the discursive use of the problem of the relics contributedto the creation of a sense of ecclesiastical identity and supremacy in the Iberian Peninsula.With this goal in mind, we will primarily study the translationes, tales that narratethe circumstances surrounding the finding (real or fictitious), transfer, and definitiveplacement of sacred remains.Concretely, I will examine texts produced in the eleventhand twelfth centuries, a time of great change in Hispanic history and in the evolution ofthe Iberian Church (think of the problems around the change of the Visigothic Rite, thestruggle for metropolitan supremacy, the consolidation of cathedral chapters, and thesituation of the monastic orders).