Liturgical and literary landscapes: the cult of St Oswald of Northumbria in the German-speaking world

Around a dozen settlements in the German-speaking alps are named after a seventh-century Northumbrian saint-king and many of the hamlets and villages called 'Sankt Oswald' use a raven holding a ring as their symbol. How and why did an early-medieval English king come to be so important in the medieval German Empire that his very name came to be inscribed into the landscape? Why is he associated with a raven in vernacular legends and what role did his raven play in embedding his presence in high-altitude settlements? How did liturgical veneration of the historical saint, the building of chapels and churches dedicated to him, and outdoor processions commemorating him, intersect with these vernacular traditions? Oswald's liturgical and literary manifestations have been studied in isolation from one another. Yet, in the mid-twentieth century, near the small settlement of Sauris in the remote Carnian alps, villagers still processed through alpine pastures on his feast day, carrying a thumb relic and an effigy of the Northumbrian king with a raven perched on his shoulder. In Oswald's cult, liturgy and literature interact in powerful ways, which are anchored by his presence in the landscape.

The cults of saints played a central role in medieval devotion and individual saints were often fundamentally connected to places, such as the sites of their martyrdom or the resting-places of their relics. Some saints, while retaining local foci, came to be of broad regional significance and some, mainly those established very early, transcended place to become universally venerated. When saintly cults moved through time and across space, aspects of their devotion and stories told about them changed and were shaped by the different places in which they became rooted. Yet saints were not only shaped by the places in which they were worshipped, but also shaped these places in turn. Oswald's cult, which was transported from northern England to the alps, flourished there from around 500 years after the king's death in battle. Our project will uncover how his presence shaped the cultural landscape of alpine regions and also how his legend and veneration of him was influenced by the topography of his cult in southern Germany and Austria.

Through the lens of Oswald, this project proposes a new, multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the veneration of saints in the Middle Ages grounded in place and landscape. If we are to grasp the cultural, political and social significance of the veneration of saints, as well as the mechanisms by which saintly cults spread, then an approach is needed that brings together different disciplinary methodologies. This project is grounded in both history and literary studies, and, taking inspiration from cultural geography and the spatial turn, will provide a model approach to understanding a key dimension of medieval culture.

The results of our work will be made accessible through: open-access publications; an edition and English translation of a major German narrative of Oswald's life; a public-facing mapping resource; and various seminars, workshops and public-facing events. As well as providing a wholly new reassessment of the significance of the German veneration of Oswald, we also establish new methodologies for studying the cults of saints in medieval Europe. We therefore encourage not only interdisciplinary but also international collaboration, with a particular focus on dialogue between historians and literary scholars and between the English-speaking and German-speaking worlds. Outside academia, the research will be of benefit to diverse publics. Oswald provides an engaging point of focus for exploring connections between England and the continent in the Middle Ages and our public engagement will promote the medieval heritage and international connections of Peterborough, where he was particularly venerated, and support the study of German and the German-speaking world today.