Saintliness In Merovingian Society

The study of a martyr’s life in medieval society is very important to medieval historians as it allows them to analyze the current religious view in a particular time period. Hagiographies are significant because the person that writes it, idolizes a martyr for their contributions to a religious community. A hagiography on a saint can be used to research and understand the idea of saintliness that existed in a particular society. This essay will argue that the East Anglian and the Merovingian society, both had similar ideas of a martyr’s saintliness. Abbo of Fleury’s hagiography, The Martyrdom of St. Edmund, and an unknown nun of Chelles hagiography, Life of St. Balthild, shows that the idea of saintliness, in the East Anglian and Merovingian society, were derived from the characteristics of a martyr’s heroic nature and their association to miracles, which can be seen in St. Edmund and St. Balthild.
Scholar, Pierre Delooz, researched the idea of how a martyr’s saintliness is depicted in the Catholic Church and found that it is defined by their actions of heroism. Heroism can be defined as a saint’s contribution to the overall success in a society in which they live in.
A martyr’s heroism was one of the most important idea’s that defined their saintliness in East Anglian and Merovingian society. St. Edmund shows heroism differently from St. Balthild because in medieval society, men were particularly drawn to anger to show their masculinity. The gender difference is why St. Edmund shows
Edmund had to act manly and show his heroism through protecting East Anglia from the Viking Heathen army and in Merovingian society St. Balthild had to act womanly and show her heroism in a non violent way by acting in a selfless manner in the community. In both societies heroism was seen as helping the community through