IN-PERSON: Prague – Section A

Abstract

Royal saints, in order to understand how veneration and memory continued to uphold the importance of these figures through time. Through the hagiographies and chapels of medieval royal saints, written and place based memory work together to legitimize the holiness of the individual. Saint Wenceslas of Bohemia (d.935) and Saint Margaret of Scotland (d.1093) will be subjects of this comparative case study to look at their cult establishments and traditions in the medieval period as well as their continued venerations in chapels. While Saint Wenceslas of Bohemia has commonly been referenced in the development of the “cult of royal saints,” Saint Maragret provides an interesting counterexample both based on her non-tragic martyrdom and gender. Additionally, both saints have dedicated chapels within a major castle complex of their region which are not only major tourist attractions but are active political sites, situating the saints within a larger narrative of nations’ identity making. These chapel sites have allowed for the memory of the saints to take on a new form within modern cultural tourism. This paper argues that royal saints, existing as a combination of holy and secular power, pose a unique opportunity to look at the continued remembrance of saints both in the medieval period and modern day.