In the twelfth century, the city of Limoges was the site of the mass production of beautiful and ornate metal champlevé boxes, over 700 of which have survived. Many of these boxes were used as reliquary caskets. But how were these intricate boxes built? Why in Limoges?And what does the wide diffusion of these objects say about the cults of particular saints, like that of Saint Thomas Becket? Carmeliz Ramas-Fisk, Frances Eshleman, and John Keirouz walk us through the technical, religious, cultural, and political aspects of these fascinating objects. While you're listening, check out the links to a thirteenth-century reliquary casket in Edinburgh, a reliquary of Saint Valerie currently in Limoges, and a reliquary of Saint Thomas Becket now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Bibliography:
“13th Century Reliquary Casket.” National Museums Scotland. Accessed November 17, 2022. https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/global-arts-cultures-and-design/13th-century-reliquary-casket/ “Châsse reliquaire de Sainte-Valérie.” Centre de la Culture de Limousin Médiéval. Accessed November 16, 2022. https://en.limousin-medieval.com/chsses-sainte-valerie. Hahn, Cynthia. 2010. “What Do Reliquaries Do for Relics?” Numen 57 (3/4): 284–316. Koopmans, Rachel. 2015. “Visions, Reliquaries, and the Image of ‘Becket’s Shrine’ in the Miracle Windows of Canterbury Cathedral.” Gesta 54 (1): 37–57. https://doi.org/10.1086/679400. O’Neill, John Philip, ed. Enamels of Limoges, 1100–1350. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/enamels_of_limoges_1100_1350. “Reliquary Casket of St Thomas Becket: Commemorating the death of St Thomas Becket.” c. AD1200. Accession AN2008.36. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK. https://www.ashmolean.org/reliquary-casket-st-thomas-becket. “Reliquary of the Journey and Adoration of the Magi.” c. 1200. Accession 2019.423a, b. The Met Cloisters, New York, NY. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/834048. Rubinstein, Stella. “Some Limoges Reliquaries of the Late Twelfth Century.” Arts & Decoration (1910-1918) 7, no. 6 (1917): 304–22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43799792. Slocum, Kay Brainerd. The Cult of Thomas Becket: History and Historiography through Eight Centuries. London and New York: Routledge, 2019. Stohlman, W. Frederick. “A Limoges Reliquary.” Record of the Museum of Historic Art, Princeton University 3, no. 1 (1944): 5–7. https://doi.org/10.2307/3774119. Swarzenski, Georg. 1951. “A Masterpiece of Limoges.” Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 49 (275): 17–25. Webster, Paul. “Introduction. The Cult of St Thomas Becket: An Historiographical Pilgrimage.” In The Cult of St Thomas Becket in the Plantagenet World, c. 1170–1220. Paul Webster and Marie-Pierre Gelin, eds. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2016. 1–24. Yvernault, Martine. “Reading History in Enamel: The Journey of Thomas Becket’s Experience from Canterbury to Limoges. In Canterbury: A Medieval City. Catherine Royer-Hemet, ed. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010. 137–59.
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HIST 6077: Angevin EmpireThese podcasts were recorded by students in the Fordham University History Department Graduate Course HIST 6077 in Fall 2022. |