Saints : A new legendary of heroes, humans and magic

£30.00

Availability : 30 In Stock

ISBN/Barcode : 9781529416619

Quantity :

Subtotal : £30.00

Saints' legends suffused medieval European culture.

Their heroes' suffering and wonder-working shaped landscapes, rituals and folk beliefs. Their tales spoke of men raised by wolves, women communing with flocks of birds and severed heads calling from between bristling paws. In Saints, Amy Jeffs retells legends born of the medieval cult of saints.

She draws on 'official' lives, vernacular romances, artworks and obscene poetry, all spanning from the fourth to the sixteenth centuries. The legends' heroes originate from as far east as Turkey and North Africa and as far west as Britain and Ireland. Saints includes such enduring super saints as Brigid, George, Patrick and Michael, as well as some whose legends are less well known (Scoithín, Euphrosyne and Ia) or else couched in prejudice (William of Norwich).

The commentaries following the stories offer a history of each saint and, together, trace the rise and fall of the medieval cult of saints from the first martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. And all this maps onto the passing year: from St Mungo in January to St Thomas Becket in December. Jeffs guides her readers from images high on the walls of medieval churches, through surviving treasures of the elite and into the shifting silt of the Thames, where lie the lowly image-bearing badges once treasured by pilgrims.

She opens manuscripts that hold wondrous stories of the lives and deaths of wayfaring monks, oak-felling missionaries and mighty martyrs. With tales of demons and dragons, with the stubborn skull of a giant, with stories of sleepers in a concealed Greek cave, Saints will enchant and transport readers to other worlds.

Books and gifts - £4 post and packing per order, UK addresses.

-£25.00 post and packing per order, Overseas addresses.

Art and craft - post and packing individually priced.

Wigtown Voucher -£1.35 for letter UK addresses.

Orders will be shipped by second class postage. Please allow 3 - 5 days for your order to be processed.

CLICK AND COLLECT - we aim to have your order ready for collection within 3 working days, but will email you to let you know when it is available to save you having a wasted journey.

Collection from:

Wigtown Festival Company

11 North Main Street

Wigtown

DG8 9HN