Conclusion

Summary

With the cure-seekers having arrived at the end of their journey for miraculous healing so this book comes to its conclusion. The journey taken by both the cure-seekers and this work began with the initial health complaint, the impairment or illness that drew these individuals to seek out saintly intercession. The journey then moved on, identifying who these cure-seekers were and what their experience of the road to recovery was like, before arriving at the shrines and the desired remedy. In taking this journey, this work set out to answer the questions of how cure-seekers experienced the miraculous cure-seeking process they undertook, and how the hagiographical materials presented healthcare.

Throughout this book consideration has been given to understanding the place of healing miracles within the broad spectrum of medieval healthcare that was on offer, and to investigating the experiences of those who sought remedy through the saints’ intercession. The miracle accounts recorded in miracula provide an insight into these experiences of affliction and recovery that few other contemporary sources can. In using these materials, the research presented here has stood on the shoulders of giants in this field, including Finucane whose pivotal work also demonstrated the benefits of analysing posthumous hagiographies from a statistical standpoint. Here, this methodology was combined with a focused case-study approach, as has also been taken by Yarrow and Trenery. Concentrating on seven select texts, relating to what might best be termed localised saints’ cults (in terms of their predominant popular appeal), has allowed for close engagement with a select group of cure-seekers whose quests for holy healing were recorded in these twelfth-century miracle accounts. This close analysis has additionally offered the opportunity to consider what the hagiographers (and the monastic communities more broadly) knew of ill health and healing, and the dynamic between the various avenues of healthcare.

To place miraculous healing within both its healthcare context, and the saints’ cults within their monastic setting, Chapter 1 addressed the medical knowledge and remedial practices that were present within England. What were the alternative therapeutic avenues on offer, and where did healing miracles sit within this wider spectrum of healthcare? The surviving evidence of monastic book collections and library catalogues, especially with regard to the seven case-study cult centres, was a valuable line of enquiry.