Sanctity and Social Alienation in Twelfth-Century Braga as Portrayed in the Vita Sancti Geraldi

Abstract:The Vita Sancti Geraldi is an account of the life of Gerald of Moissac, a French Cluniac monk who became Archbishop of Braga in the early years of the twelfth century. The vita was composed by another French immigrant clergyman, Bernard, archdeacon of Braga. A primary aim of the medieval hagiographer was to construct an iconic portrait of human sanctity and the image of saintly piety presented in the Vita Sancti Geraldi is firmly based in hagiographical convention. Yet Bernard was also able to individualize his account by including a wealth of historical detail, while at the same time revealing the sense of alienation both he and Gerald experienced as outsiders in a sometimes hostile land. These elements are woven together to produce a vivid insight into a Portuguese society in the throes of fundamental cultural change.