Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The article contains an inventory of the sources of the cult of Saint Thomas Becket in the Swedish Church province, putting them in a regional as well as chronological perspective. There is evidence for the cult in different types of source material but especially in liturgical texts and pieces of art. The earliest example dates back to the 1190s in Uppsala archdiocese. During the last part of the Middle Ages there is evidence of his cult in calendars, missals, and breviaries from all Swedish dioceses but one. However, the degree of festivity with which his day was annually kept varied between the dioceses. The cathedrals played an important role in promoting the cult. At least two of them were provided with chapels and altars in honour of Saint Thomas. Pieces of art with connection to him are preserved from four of the dioceses. Despite the fact that much of the sources from the Middle Ages have been lost, it reasonable to maintain that the cult of Saint Thomas was most evident in the dioceses of Uppsala and Linköping respectively.
Author: Bertil Nilsson
Institution: University of Gothenburg
Language: English
Subfield: Classics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W3089304764