La cripta anulare di San Vincenzo Maggiore nel contesto dell’architettura di epoca carolingia
Goodson, Caroline (2008) La cripta anulare di San Vincenzo Maggiore nel contesto dell’architettura di epoca carolingia. In: de Rubeis, Flavia and Marazzi, Federico (eds.) Monasteri in Europa occidentale (secoli VIII-XI): topografia e strutture. I libri di Viella. Arte. Rome, Italy: Viella libreria editrice. ISBN 9788883342905.
Abstract
This article re-examines the annular crypt of S. Vincenzo Maggiore , part of the late eighth-/early ninth-century abbey church of S. Vincenzo al Volturno in light of the forms and functions of such structures in the period. The years of the late eighth and early ninth century witnessed major transformations in the practice of relic veneration and church-building. Some of these changes are best understood in the light of the struggles to power of Carolingian, Lombard and papal principalities. The chronology, function and a suggestion of the importance of the crypt to the monastery of S. Vincenzo is thus explained as a manifestation of the abbey’s acquisition of relics from Muslim Spain and the triumphant projection of the spiritual and political authority gained thereby. By correlating for the first time the textual and archaeological evidence for local patterns of cult and cult buildings in central Italy at this time, I can show that the crypt at S. Vincenzo, and the corporeal relics that it housed, were highly unusual for the area. I argue that the specific form of the church and the way in which the relic were made visible, but also enclosed and protected, conveyed explicitly the spiritual presence of the saint’s corporeal relics. The relic was placed in the church for the devotion of the monks, especially the abbots who were painted in eternal veneration of the relic, and the spiritual presence of the relic was a bold claim for the importance of a particular kind of saint veneration, desirably to the Carolingians and practiced by the Romans.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Atti del convegno internazionale, Museo Archeologico di Castel San Vincenzo, 23-26 Settembre 2004. (Proceedings of the international conference, Museo Archeologico di Castel San Vincenzo, 23-26 September 2004). Author's note: Topografia e strutture degli insediamenti monastici dall’età carolingia all’età della riforma VIII secolo - fine XI secolo. Atti III Seminario di Studio sui Monasteri nell'alto medioevo. |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies |
| Research Centres and Institutes: | Architecture, Space and Society, Centre for |
| Depositing User: | Sandra Plummer |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Apr 2008 12:10 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 16:48 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/663 |
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