Memory and Materiality in the Letters and Gifts sent by Ansellus ‘de Turre’ from Jerusalem to Paris, ca 1120
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6093/1593-2214/9832Keywords:
Middle Ages, 12th Century, Jerusalem, Paris, Letter-writing, Rhetoric, Memory, Gift-giving, RelicsAbstract
This article looks at how the description of existing material elements (environments and objects) could be used to both cultivate past memories and create new memories for the future, with the ultimate goal of generating a sense of community between individuals who lived apart from each other. It will take as case-study two letters sent by Ansellus, then cantor of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, to the cathedral chapter of Notre-Dame in Paris around 1120, which attest in an exceptional way the various means which could be employed to reach this goal, from a skillful use of rhetoric to the sharing of gifts (in this case, of relics) and of knowledge connected, from the circulation of envoys to the establishment of a confraternity of prayer.
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