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The Saint and the Count: A Case Study for Reading like a Historian
While historians know that history is about interpreting primary sources, students tend to think of history as a set of facts.
In The Saint and the Count, Leah Shopkow opens up the interpretive world of the historian using the biography of St. Vitalis of Savigny (d. 1122) as a case study. This biography was written around 1174 by Stephen of Foug?res and provides a rich stage to demonstrate the kinds of questions historians ask about primary sources and the interpretive and conceptual frameworks they use. What is the nature of medieval sources and the interpretive problems they present? How does the positionality of Stephen of Foug?res shape his biography of St. Vitalis?How did medieval people respond to stories of miracles? And finally, how does this biography illuminate the problem of violence in medieval society? A translation of the biography is included, so that readers can explore the text on their own.
In The Saint and the Count, Leah Shopkow opens up the interpretive world of the historian using the biography of St. Vitalis of Savigny (d. 1122) as a case study. This biography was written around 1174 by Stephen of Foug?res and provides a rich stage to demonstrate the kinds of questions historians ask about primary sources and the interpretive and conceptual frameworks they use. What is the nature of medieval sources and the interpretive problems they present? How does the positionality of Stephen of Foug?res shape his biography of St. Vitalis?How did medieval people respond to stories of miracles? And finally, how does this biography illuminate the problem of violence in medieval society? A translation of the biography is included, so that readers can explore the text on their own.
216 pages, Paperback
Published April 19, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2023
One of the most infuriating interviews I've ever heard was with a novelist who said that being a historian was easy - they just sit in the library and read books. She said writing historical fiction was much harder, because you had to sit in the library and read books AND come up with a plot. I wish I could make that novelist read this book, because it's all about what historians actually do, which is interpret and analyze primary sources, and use those sources to build arguments.
Shopkow, examining a hagiography of a medieval saint, gives us a 'worked example' of how historians work with primary sources. I'm not a medievalist, so I can't comment on some of the particulars of Shopkow's analysis, but I enjoyed digging into the document with her. Shopkow investigates the life of the saint and the author of hagiography, and explores the context of these lives and the time and place in which the document was written. She also presents her own translation in an appendix, so you can read the whole thing.
If you're interested in history and how historians do their work, you should definitely pick this up. If you're interested in the medieval church, you might like this too.
Shopkow, examining a hagiography of a medieval saint, gives us a 'worked example' of how historians work with primary sources. I'm not a medievalist, so I can't comment on some of the particulars of Shopkow's analysis, but I enjoyed digging into the document with her. Shopkow investigates the life of the saint and the author of hagiography, and explores the context of these lives and the time and place in which the document was written. She also presents her own translation in an appendix, so you can read the whole thing.
If you're interested in history and how historians do their work, you should definitely pick this up. If you're interested in the medieval church, you might like this too.
May 9, 2021
Excellent guide to historical research.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews