Publisher's Synopsis
Christian authors of the Late Antique period deliberately set themselves the ambitious goal of revolutionizing the world of Latin letters, particularly concerning the questions of warfare and sanctity. In this new study, John Damon explores how one of these writers, Sulpicius Severus, created in his account of the life of St. Martin of Tours an anti-heroic literary model that reflected the new spiritual, political, and social realities of a Roman society in transformation from a pluralistic polytheism to univocal monotheism. - - Focusing on the body of early English Christian literature from the arrival of Roman Christianity in England through the period of the Crusades, Damon demonstrates the persistence of Sulpicius's model, despite obvious differences in the representation of saints and warriors in the literature of early England. Between the pious, peaceful saints and willing martyrs of late antiquity and the chivalric Christian heroes of the Middle Ages seems to lie an unbridgeable gulf; yet Damon shows how the two ideals presented intertwining and competing visions of Christian heroism throughout the period. - - Hagiography is the primary literary genre he examines to document the changing ethos from rejection of warfare to formal accommodation with and eventually active participation in wars considered just or holy. From Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, through the works of Alcuin and ãlfric, to the South English Legendary, Damon traces the subtle evolution in Christianity from the celebration of pacifist saints to the glorification of the new breed of holy warrior who not only died but fought for Christ.
