CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Baker, Lauren |
|---|---|
| Title | Eat My Dust: Ingesting the Sacred in the Works of Gregory of Tours |
| Summary | Although there is an enormous amount of scholarship on Gregory of Tours and his writings, little has been done on the materiality of his miracle accounts. His recurring remedy of ingesting holy dust is quite unique in the sixth century, found only in Gaul and Syria, and is all the more perplexing due to its indigestible nature. Nevertheless, ingesting dust makes up 32% of all cures involving healing substances in Gregory’s work. Unravelling the origin of this miracle requires a background of Gregory’s life in order to assess his motivations; an exploration into external influences such as fourth and fifth century Christian writers and connections to Syria; and a survey of the different ways in which healing could be achieved in sixth century Gaul. Further, data gathered from Gregory’s writings will help correlate holy substances with their associated afflictions, beneficiaries, applications, and locations. This data will support the analysis of the social contexts of miraculous healing, and evaluate their growing spiritual and physical significance between the fourth and sixth centuries. |
| Supervisor | Jaritz, Gerhard; Adde, Éloïse |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/baker_lauren.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University