Category: Lectures

Remembering St Hilda in the Later Middle Ages a talk by Christiane Kroebel (Associate Fellow, Institute of Historical Research, and curator of Whitby Museum’s Abbey collection)

Abstract
Medieval Section members may recall that I spoke about St Hilda in 2017. This is the result after several years of further research into this well-known figure from early medieval England but how she was regarded in the later Middle Ages is considered here. After the Norman Conquest, she became the focus of renewed interest which resulted in the foundation of a Benedictine monastery at Whitby. However, St Hilda’s appeal can be seen elsewhere and is traced through church dedications and secular and monastic texts. Uncovering the history of these churches found a small number of people who promoted her memorialization after the Conquest and their influence affected where her name is found in locations in Yorkshire and northern England. A network of secular landholders as patrons can be detected. It seems that in later centuries devotion to her never reached great popularity nevertheless she had her following amongst the laity and in diverse monastic foundations. By the fourteenth century, two miracles became popular whose origin cannot be firmly established as coming from Whitby but resonated locally.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwsd-mopjItHNIvF741i6I6e0BmbKZn13dK