An evaluation of Matthew Paris as a writer in the medieval French vernacular.

Traces Matthew Paris’ career as a Benedictine monk of St Albans and the effect of his environment on his creative work.

Liturgy was central to the cult of the saints, regulating how, when, where, and with what honors they were worshipped. This chapter examines how Roman attempts to censor and standardize the liturgy after the Council of Trent came up against local, regional, and national efforts to preserve the distinctiveness of their particular devotions.

Sanctity intersected with medicine during the early modern period because the remains of aspiring saints could offer evidence of divine favor. By studying examples of extreme asceticism, bodily incorruption, and other anatomical wonders, this chapter reveals how medical expertise became a crucial part of Catholic canonization efforts.

An analysis of Matthew Paris’ practice as a copyist and the context in which he worked alongside assistants.

A survey of the surviving manuscripts containing works by Matthew Paris and their ownership in the later Middle Ages and post-Reformation period.

While few martyrs made it to sainthood during the early modern period, the idea of martyrdom was nevertheless revitalized and reshaped following the Reformation and New World discoveries. This chapter analyzes how martyrdom functioned across different geographical and religious frontiers – heresy, infidelity, and paganism – whose importance shifted over time in line with Catholic imperial expansion.

This chapter traces the development of Black sanctity in early modern Catholicism, examining how Black saints were venerated within the context of European Christianity, transatlantic slavery, and African diasporic communities. By focusing on both ancient and contemporary holy Black figures, the chapter explores the rich and multifaced roles played by Black saints in both European missionary efforts and Afro-diasporic religious practices.

This chapter examines bishops both as saint-makers and as saints in their own right from the end of the Council of Trent through the eighteenth century. Bishops promoted the cult of existing saints in their communities, worked as arbiters in formal canonization procedures to create new saints, and sometimes became saints themselves through their efforts to live like the model bishop saints they admired.

Matthew Paris’ coverage of the involvement of England in international affairs.

Using the Iberian Peninsula as a case study, this chapter examines the evolution of female sanctity away from the late medieval visionary model pioneered by Catherine of Siena toward a new paradigm of enclosed, contemplative mysticism exemplified by Teresa of Ávila. Analysis of the post-Tridentine lives and hagiographies of late medieval and early sixteenth-century visionary Castilian women reveals the existence and surprising vitality of an “intermediate” model, which shows that Teresa’s triumph was by no means inevitable.

Traces the readership and use of Matthew Paris’ manuscripts after his death and in subsequent centuries before and after the Reformation dissolution of the monasteries as far as the modern era.

Hagiography played a seminal role within early modern Catholicism, with the writing and dissemination of the lives of saints – ancient, medieval, and contemporary – essential to countering Protestant attacks and reinforcing Catholic identities. This chapter investigates how printed lives, epics, and dramatic performances contributed to a multisensory experience of sanctity that connected local religious communities with the broader aims of early modern Roman Catholic Reform.

A new reading of the making of Matthew Paris’ contemporary history, known as the Chronica maiora.

An introduction to one of Matthew Paris’ most celebrated artworks, an image of the Virgin and Child incorporating his own self-portrait, which may be interpreted not only as virtuoso painting but also as a personal act of religious devotion.