Narrating religious processions in Visigothic Iberia: a sociology of saintly power

Abstract

The sources for Visigothic-era Iberia include several vivid accounts of processions at which royal power was presented forcefully to the people. Narratives of the triumphs of the martyrs over their persecutors function very differently, as those who had formerly been subject to abject humiliation were turned into victorious emblems of local resistance to hegemonic imperial authority. This article argues that through their adaptations of hagiographical and martyrological traditions, the ecclesiastical authors of the Visigothic era articulated a vision of the ideal relationship between leaders and their followers that was constructed through the display of consensus and reciprocity. Stories about saints moving through and displaying their power within urban space, accompanied by their entourages (or enemies) in front of friendly (or hostile) audiences reflect an attempt to negotiate and assert control over contemporary urban space in the context of historical contestation. The inclusion of such examples in texts that were deployed repeatedly in liturgical contexts would have helped to shape expectations about the nature of power and its appropriate (and inappropriate) performance, also configuring thinking about relationships between those who saw themselves as belonging to the Christian civic community and those who were excluded from it.