Medieval Devotion in Post-William England (and bed curtains)

The Normans brought a few things to England: ties of vassalage, castles, and manuscript production (in addition to the practice of going totally clean-shaven; those mustaches in the Bayeux Tapestry are Anglo-Saxon). A look through a recently ordered book, The St. Albans Pslater: Painting and Prayer in Medieval England, reminded me of the impact of the Normans on England in terms of religious practices. William saw himself as the head of the church, though he invaded England holding a papal banner. The men that he brought with him replaced many of the abbots. For instance, at St. Alban's Abbey, Paul of Caen (referred to as "dust broom" in primary sources) became the abbot in 1077, right during the midst of the Domesday book inquisition, or inquisitio (that means simply questioning). In addition to the construction of a Romanesque abbey church, St. Albans, he instituted a fully functioning scriptorium where professional scribes rubricated (drew lines), colored beautiful pigments, and copied text. One of the outcomes of the projects is the well-known artifact, The St. Alban's Psalter, which was probably a devotional book for the monks at St. Alban's monastery, but may have been a devotional text for a local  religious woman, Christina of Markyate, who earned fame for her religious life, prophecy, and advice.

The mystery of The St. Alban's Psalter is that a large section was cut out and replaced with an image of Christina. Who was Christina? Born around 1095, we only have the book The Life of Christina of Markyate to tell us, and that was only located in the past hundred years. We know very little except what the life tells us--and for that I like the idea of getting to know a so-called commoner. We know she came from wealthy family from a city and that her dad's name was Autti and the moms' Beatrix. What does this mean? Probably she was the result of an Anglo-Norman "alliance"--if the names are any indication. We also know she pledged herself to God at any early age after visiting local monasteries. This annoyed several people: her parents, her betrothed, and the local bishop who also had a secret crush on her after having had children by her aunt in a concubine arrangement. Christina (a name she chose, meaning "little female Christ") showed massive restraint in surviving many arranged incidents that her parents invented in order to deter her from a life of virginity, including trying to get her drunk and locking the betrothed in her bedroom and basically giving him permission to consummate the marriage in any way possible. Nice job, mom and dad, the parent award for negligence goes to you. Kudos to Christina for hanging on from a curtain rod behind the fabric as they searched her room.  After she was able to resume a religious life, we know she befriended some monks at St. Albans. While we don't know if this psalter was hers definitely (this book seems to suggest we simply don't know), we do know she lived a remarkable life as a woman free from marriage in the post-William era. Her parents life, as an Anglo-Norman marriage, show the interweaving of these two societies together. The monasteries built are a testament to what kinds of possibilities were available, for manuscripts and women who sought the ability not to marry. If you need a later medieval project, for another class, check out the book featured below!

St. Alban's Abbey, England (Romanesque)

The later added replacement initial featuring Christina, note the cut out around the edges in the parchment.

This is a book about Christina--though I've used her Life in an upper level class.