Winchester Cathedral starts potentially groundbreaking research

Winchester Cathedral has started preparatory work for the potentially groundbreaking research into the contents of its mortuary chests. Historians believe the wooden boxes contain the bones of Anglo-Saxon kings, including ancestors of King Alfred and the Danes such as Canute.

 The boxes were recently taken down from the presbytery screens and moved to the Lady Chapel at the eastern end of the cathedral where a wooden hut has been erected with a lockable door. The cathedral is hoping for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Click here to read this article from the Hampshire Chronicle

See also Notes and Queries about the Mortuary Chests

Archaeologists uncover early Christian community in Norway

The cathedral in Stavanger was built in the year 1125, and is one of the earliest pieces of evidence for permanent settlement in the Norwegian town. However, new analyses of medieval skeletons found beneath the cathedral suggest that Christians lived in Stavanger for several generations prior to this.

Over 15,000 human bone fragments lay helter-skelter in a wooden crate. This mess did not discourage the researchers at the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger, who are now resurrecting the dead.

“We are reassembling and analyzing individual skeletons in order to form a picture of Stavanger’s population before and around 1000,” associate professor Paula Utigard Sandvik and osteoarchaeologist Sean Denham said.

They are working on a taxing puzzle that sheds new light on Stavanger’s history.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Medieval records of the Church Courts of York now online

Fascinating records from the Church Courts of York are now available on-line at the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York, allowing historians new insights into a huge variety of topics over many centuries.

From arguments about church taxes on liquorice, roses and pigeon dung, to families disputing wills and inheritance, the records paint a vivid picture of the social, economic, political, religious and emotional world of people living in a period from the 14th to 19th centuries.

Digitisation of the York Cause Papers, which record the proceedings of the ecclesiastical courts of York from 1300 to 1858, has been funded through a grant from JISC, the UK’s technology consortium for higher and further education. The development means the papers are set to become one of the most widely-used historical records in the UK.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

New online version of The Acts and Monuments by John Foxe released

A new interactive version of The Acts and Monuments by John Foxe has been published online by the University of Sheffield. This work, available at http://www.johnfoxe.org, is an ecclesiastical history that is regarded as an essential resource for researchers of English history, religion and literature.

The Acts and Monuments details the history of the Protestants who were executed for heresy in the sixteenth century. The text was instrumental in creating anti-Catholic sentiments which informed the prejudices of the English people and the public policy of English governments, from the reign of Elizabeth I to that of William IV – from 1560 to 1835.

The text is a foundation source for the history of the English Reformation and the late Medieval Church, as well as being a cornerstone resource for scholars of English literature and religion.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Russians to mark Day of Baptizing of Kievan Rus

Russia is marking for the first time in its history the Day of Baptizing of Kievan Rus – a new ‘commemorative date’ that has been established to commemorate the Grand Duke Vladimir, who adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the official religion of the early medieval duchy of Rus.

“The establishing of the Christian faith in the olden Rus helped promote the consolidation and flourishing of the state and exerted a great influence on the maintenance of Russia’s unity at knotty periods of history,” members of the upper house of Russian parliament said in their decision as they added July 28 to the list of commemorative dates.

Click here to read the article from the ITAR-TASS News Agency

Shroud of Turin goes on display

The Shroud of Turin has been put on display in the Turin Cathedral, the first time it has been seen by the public in ten years. The cloth, which depicts the image of Jesus Christ, has been carbon dated to the 13th or 14th century, but millions of Christians believe that it is relic from biblical times. The shroud's exhibition will last for six weeks and is expected to draw millions of visitors.

Here is a series of videos about the new exhibition of Shroud of Turin as well as about its history:

Pilgrimage: A Cultural and Spiritual Journey

A recent book by St Andrews University academic Rev Dr Ian Bradley, which offers a history of the pilgrimage over the past two millennia, is to be translated into Arabic.

Pilgrimage: A Cultural and Spiritual Journey, which came out last year, sets out common routes in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Norway, France, Spain, Italy, Bosnia-Herzogovina, and Poland and brings them to life through vivid personal accounts and prayers from pilgrims.

Dr Bradley, who is Reader in Church History and Practical Theology at St Andrews University and Associate Minister of Holy Trinity Church, said that the news of the Arabic translation came as a complete surprise but reflects the resurgence of interest in pilgrimage across the world. The book has already been published in Norwegian and Danish editions in the past few months.

The practice of pilgrimage, understood as a departure from daily life on a journey in search of spiritual wellbeing, is a central feature of all the world's major faiths.

Christian pilgrimage reached its zenith in the Middle Ages with thousands travelling for many months to Rome, Santiago de Compostela, St Andrews and other shrines thought to house the relics of Apostles and martyrs.

The book explores the phenomenon pilgrimage from its origins in the Exodus and wilderness experience of the Jews; the medieval times when millions of pilgrims spent months travelling across Europe; and the modern revival which has blurred the lines between pilgrimage and tourism and made places such as Iona, Taizé and Santiago di Compostella destinations for contemporary seekers and travellers.

"As church attendance has plummeted," Dr. Bradley explains, "more people are travelling the old medieval pilgrim routes across Europe or visiting shrines old and new."

Dr Bradley is actively involved in the project to create a long-distance pilgrim way between Iona, through Highland Stirlingshire to St Andrews, about which he writes at some length in his recent book.

Dr Bradley said, "It would be wonderful if the appearance of my book in Arabic brings pilgrims from the Middle East and the Arab world to Scotland, and especially to St Andrews."

Relics from Pilgrimages found from Medieval Leicestershire

During the Middle Ages Leicestershire people made difficult journeys to distant religious shrines but this important spiritual activity never reached the history books. Now, work by metal detectorists around the fields of Leicestershire is recovering this history in the form of the lead relics brought back from their journeys. Over the last 30 years Leicestershire Museums and, more recently Portable Antiquities Scheme staff have been recording these discoveries.

Relics of lead ore have been discovered from journeys to shrines such as Canterbury, Walsingham, St Andrews in Scotland, and Windsor – where the tomb of Henry VI is housed.

Peter Liddle, community archeologist for Leicestershire County Council, said: "When I started with the county museums service over 20 years ago our collection included just a handful of religious relics.

"But thanks to the work of metal detectorists and the portable antiquities scheme, particularly since 2003, we are building a picture of the journeys undertaken by Leicestershire's pilgrims. We now have about 75 relics, many of which have been donated to us.

"The finds include small flasks which held holy water from the shrines and medallions. The flasks were used as 'medieval first aid kits' which were used to heal wounds or cure illnesses."

"Interestingly, the inscriptions tell us about pilgrimages to lesser known shrines such as Burton Abbey and the shrine of St Modwen and the Black Madonna of Doncaster, which was a statue of the Virgin Mary."

Relics date from the early 13th century through to the 16th century and Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.

Mr Liddle said: "Many were likely to have simply been discarded in fields when churches were cleared out. The relics are like a kind of code which helps us to piece together the history of people's lives not recorded in many history books. They are absolutely invaluable in bringing this history to life.

"Many are slightly worn on one side, which indicates they were often rubbed by their owners. The fact people made pilgrimages of such distances tells us just how important spirituality was in the lives of Leicestershire people."

Wendy Scott, county co-ordinator for the portable antiquities scheme, said: "We are now building up a database cataloging all of the finds. It is the work of all the metal detector people which has made this possible and shows just how valuable their ongoing contribution is."

On 24 February Peter Liddle will be telling the story of medieval pilgrimage and how we know that local people travelled to shrines throughout medieval England and Scotland. The talk is at Donington's Heath Manor House at 7.30pm on Wednesday 24 February. Admission is free but booking is essential on (01530) 831259 or at the Manor House.

Medieval Irish Archbishop was corrupt, says scholar

A recent article has detailed the corruption of a 14th century Archbishop of Dublin, showing how he was caught for extensive embezzlement and forgery.

It is found in the article, "The Case Against Alexander Bicknor, Archbishop and Perculator," by James W. Lydon, which is part of a collection of essays entitled Ireland and the English World in the Late Middle Ages.

Alexander Bicknor had come to Ireland in 1302, serving Edward I and Edward II in various administrative duties, including deputy chancellor and justiciar, before being appointed by the Pope as Archbishop of Dublin in 1317.

Eight years later, an investigation carried out by the Royal Exchequer in London began turning up evidence that the Archbishop had been for years skimming money sent out by the English king, which Bicknor was in charge of distributing.

For example, a writ was sent to Bicknor ordering him to pay the earl of Ulster £2500, 15s. for wages in serving in the war in Scoltand, and Bicknor kept 500 marks for himself, while stating that he had sent the full amount to the earl.

As the investigation proceeded, the English government found that the Archbishop, along with the treasurer and other royal officials in Ireland, were routinely embezzling royal funds and then forging false records.  A clerk named John of Manchester was hired by Bicknor to commit the forgeries.

One of the illegal scams goes back to 1313, when they concocted a letter patent from the prior of the Dominicans in Dublin stating that he had received 35 marks in alms granted by the King - in reality the Dominicans only got 5 marks.

The royal court was able to get several of the archbishop's underlings to admit to the forgeries and frauds, including John of Manchester.  Bicknor was summoned to London, and when questioned, said they he did not wish to deny that he knew about or consented to them.

The court ruled that the corruption involved the sum of £1168. 6s. and ordered all those involved, including the archbishop, to be confined to the Fleet Prison and have their property seized. Besides property around Dublin, the crown seized other lands in Gloucester, Shropshire and Staffordshire from Bicknor.

The imprisonment of Alexander Bicknor did not last long. Within days, King Edward II had sent order releasing him, "because of devotion to the holy church and reverence for the episopal dignity." Lydon adds that Bicknor was an effective administrator and increased royal revenues, which may have also been reason enough for Edward to be lenient with him.

The other people imprisoned spent months or years in prison before they were able to pay large fines to obtain their release, and some were even banned from serving a royal office again. Although Bicknor was given a pardon, officials from the Royal Exchequer spent the next twenty years continuing to investigate and question the archbishop, in particular about revenues and goods confiscated from the Templars.

One question left unanswered was why Bicknor spent years defrauding the royal government. Lydon writes, "there is no apparent reasons for his actions. It can be said with some certainty that he did not need the money for personal use. He certainly did not live a life of extravagance and did not acquire wealth by the time of his death."

Durham in line to host the Lindisfarne Gospels

The Lindisfarne Gospels, one of the world's great treasures, could be heading to Durham’s World Heritage Site in 2013.

Durham is bidding to become the UK’s 2013 City of Culture and wishes to display the Gospels during that year.

The British Library has agreed to work with Durham University, Durham Cathedral, and Durham County Council towards a 3 month loan of the Gospels, subject to the satisfactory completion of a 6-month feasibility study.

The beautifully illustrated Gospels were written in the North East around the year 700 AD were carried for two hundred years around the region together with the body of St Cuthbert before reaching Durham in 995AD where the Cathedral was founded as the final resting place for the one of England’s most important and best-loved saints. The Gospel Book remained in Durham for a further five hundred years until the Reformation.

It is intended that the Gospel Book will be displayed within the City’s World Heritage Site, which is shared by the University and Cathedral and is already home to one of the world's great collections of medieval manuscripts and treasures together with the relics of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede.

The University and Cathedral are currently working in partnership to enhance the World Heritage Site to improve access to their manuscripts and other treasures for visitors, scholars, students and staff.

Earlier this year, the British Library Board accepted the recommendations of an independent high-level group of world experts in the care of historic manuscripts that the Gospel Book could be lent to appropriate institutions for periods of not more than 3 months at a time every 7 years.

The Association of North East Councils (ANEC) agreed that Durham should host the Gospel Book on behalf of the North East.

Professor Christopher Higgins, Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, said: “I would like to thank the many people in the North East who have helped us reach this point.

“Durham, the burial place of Bede, became the focus of North East scholarship and has been one of the great centres of European learning for over a millennium. Welcoming the world-renowned Gospels to the place where they were once treasured emphasises the importance of our scholarly heritage as the University continues to shape all our futures through innovation, research and education.”

The Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, Dean of Durham Cathedral, said: “The Lindisfarne Gospel Book was written ‘in honour of God and St Cuthbert’ so it will be wonderful to see this magnificent book once more displayed alongside the relics of St Cuthbert and other treasures of that great era of Christian civilisation and endeavour.

“The visit of the Gospel Book to Durham will be a truly significant cultural and spiritual event for the North East region as a whole, for this City, and for the Cathedral.”

Sir Colin Lucas, Chairman of the British Library Board said: “The Board fully recognises the cultural and spiritual importance of the Gospels for the people of the North East. It is keen to provide the widest possible access to, and to promote awareness of, this unique manuscript which has such significance in world heritage terms.

“The Library is pleased to be working with the Durham Partnership and with support from Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums to ensure that the highest levels of stewardship will be exercised during the loan.”

Simon Henig, Leader of Durham County Council is excited by the potential for the Gospels loan to drive the City’s tourism economy. He said: “This will have very positive implications for tourism and the visitor economy as a whole, as the Gospels will prove a draw to Durham and the surrounding region and will serve as an introduction to the many other cultural attractions we have here.”

Leader of the North East Regional Museums' Hub, Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, will work with the Durham partners to provide curatorial advice and support and ensure the display of the Gospel Book is linked to the rich early Christian heritage across the North East, including the island of Lindisfarne and Monkwearmouth, which is itself bidding for World Heritage Status with neighbouring Jarrow.

Paul Watson, Chair of the Association of North East Councils added: “The British Library’s willingness to finalise a loan of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the region is excellent news and something the Association has been pressing for.

“Durham’s World Heritage Site will be an excellent location to display the Gospels in their historic, spiritual and academic context. We look forward to working with partners and the British Library as we continue to explore how the Library might contribute to the regional economy in the longer term."

Journal of Medieval History releases December 2009 issue

The Journal of Medieval History has released its latest issue (Volume 35:4), with six new articles mostly focusing on aspects of medieval Christianity. Here is information about the articles, including their abstracts

Gift-giving and books in the letters of St Boniface and Lul, by John-Henry Wilson Clay

The Anglo-Saxon missionary and archbishop St Boniface (d.754) and Lul, his protégé and successor in the see of Mainz (d.768), left behind a rich collection of letters that has become an invaluable source in our understanding of Boniface's mission. This article examines the letters in order to elucidate the customs of gift-giving that existed between those who were involved in the mission, whether directly or as external supporters. It begins with a brief overview of anthropological models of gift-giving, followed by a discussion of the portrayal of gift-giving in Anglo-Saxon literature. Two features of the letters of Boniface and Lul are then examined — the giving of gifts and the giving of books — and a crucial distinction between them revealed. Although particular customs of gift-giving between the missionaries and their supporters were well established, and indeed bore some resemblance to ‘secular’ gift-giving customs depicted in Anglo-Saxon poetry, books, while exchanged frequently, were consistently excluded from the ritualised structures of gift-giving. A dual explanation for this phenomenon is proposed: first, that books were of greater practical importance to the mission than other forms of gifts; second, that their status as sacred texts rendered them unsuitable for inclusion within rituals that depended upon the giver emphatically belittling the material worth of their own gift.

Discipline, compassion and monastic ideals of community, c.950–1250, by Katherine Allen Smith

This essay examines the intersections of discipline, compassion and community in a selection of monastic texts from the late tenth through to the mid-thirteenth centuries, focusing on disciplinary rituals involving punitive flogging or flagellation. Although members of all of the major religious orders viewed flogging as a necessary method of correction needing little or no justification, as evidenced by customaries, letters, and even miracle collections, few scholars have examined the role of this practice in the shaping of monastic culture. This essay suggests that disciplinary rituals served a number of related functions within coenobitic monasticism: they reinforced hierarchies within communities, tested individuals' mastery of the virtues of humility and obedience, expressed superiors' compassion and love for their subordinates, and reminded penitents and spectators alike of Christ's bodily suffering. These conclusions are further supported by a close reading of Peter the Venerable's vita of the Cluniac prior Matthew of Albano, a text which depicts disciplinary violence as a synthetic element of monastic life, as well as a ritual means of promoting the spiritual growth of individuals and entire communities.

Prouille, Madrid, Rome: the evolution of the earliest Dominican Instituta for nuns, by Julie Ann Smith

The lifestyles of the three earliest Dominican women's communities were formulated according to their specific historical conditions and exigencies during the years 1206–21. Initially, the women associated with the preaching mission of Diego of Osma and Dominic Guzman were based at Prouille in the Languedoc and followed the Augustinian Rule. The development of the first instituta for Dominican nuns was the result of 15 years of overseeing the lives of the sisters. However, enclosure, and the institutional requirement for its observance, only came about in 1220 with the establishment of San Sisto, when St Dominic wrote an instituta specifically intended for a cloistered nunnery. This paper retraces and elucidates the historical development of the first Dominican instituta for women, and considers the remarkable choice of the Augustinian Rule as the basis for an enclosed women's order.

A shared imitation: Cistercian convents and crusader families in thirteenth-century Champagne, by Anne E. Lester

This article examines the relationship between Cistercian nunneries and the crusade movement and considers the role of gender in light of the new emphasis on penitential piety and suffering prevalent during the thirteenth century. Focused on evidence from the region of Champagne in northern France, it argues that female family members of male crusaders adopted Cistercian spirituality as a means of participating in the experience of suffering and the pursuit of the imitation of Christ that had come to be associated with the act of crusading. The connection between Cistercian nuns and crusaders was further strengthened during this period as the Cistercian order expanded its liturgy to include specific rounds of prayers for success in the east and in southern France, for Jerusalem, and for the well-being of crusaders. Many crusader families in Champagne founded Cistercian nunneries to function as family necropolises, further sharpening the connections between crusaders, memory, and suffering as experienced in female Cistercian houses.

Prison and sacrament in the cult of saints: images of St Barbara in late medieval art, by Megan Cassidy-Welch

This article analyses the changing visual representation of St Barbara during the later middle ages. The article identifies a shift in St Barbara's iconography: whereas earlier medieval representations of the saint almost always show her with her prison tower, a number of fifteenth-century representations show the saint holding a chalice and host. The article traces how and why this shift occurred. In particular, the article explores the ways in which medieval thinking linking incarceration and liberation were integrated into new representations of St Barbara to stress her intercessionary, sacramental functions. Overall, the article argues that the visual transformation of St Barbara's prison tower into a liturgical vessel reveals how saints like Barbara were increasingly viewed as conduits to the inclusive sort of freedom that participation in Christianity's sacramental economy invited.

The political significance of Christine de Pizan's third estate in the Livre du corps de policie, by Tracy Adams

Although the general historical context of Christine de Pizan's Livre du corps de policie (LCP), the Orleanist-Burgundian feud occasioned by the periodic insanity of King Charles VI, has long been recognised, the precise argument that the author wages through her unique configuration of the third part of the body politic has not been explored. This essay reads the LCP as an intervention into the escalating struggle for power between Charles VI's brother, the duke of Orleans, and his cousin, the duke of Burgundy. Christine's purpose emerges most clearly in her peculiar arrangement of the third part of her body politic, le peuple, where two points bear particular consideration: her inclusion of the University and her division of the ‘merchants’ across two separate categories, a repartition which seems to refer to the contemporary distinction between the highly-placed merchants of Paris and the butchers. Christine seems to be arguing that if the University were to make common cause with the ruling burghers and well-placed merchants, they could force into submission their more restless brothers and sisters, the butchers and their thuggish followers, whom the duke of Burgundy would finally convince to rise up in 1413 in what has become known as the Cabochian Revolt.

The Journal of Medieval History is published by Elsevier. Click here to go to their website.

6th Century Cross is restored by the Vatican

The Crux Vaticana, a cross given to the city of Rome by a Byzantine emperor in the 6th century, has been restored after two years of work. The jewel-encrusted golden cross is said to contain a piece of the cross carried by Jesus Christ.

The Papacy has been using the Crux Vaticana for nearly 1500 years during Easter and Christmas ceremonies at the Vatican, and over the centuries grime and wax have dulled its colour. An attempt at restoring the cross in the 19th century caused further corrosion.


According to Sante Guido, who restored the cross, the changes include replacing some of the gems (which had been added to it in previous centuries) on the cross with twelve pearls along with emeralds and sapphires.

Guido said to Associate Press, "It's the most important reliquary of the 'true cross' that we have. It's particularly important because it's the only reliquary that came from an emperor, so there are various levels of religious and historic significance."

Ioli Kalavrezou, a Byzantine art history professor at Harvard University, commented that this restoration will make the cross look more like its original state. "I can't say it's exactly as it would've been, but it comes much closer to what an object like that would've looked like," she said.

The Byzantine Emperor Justin II gave the Crux Vaticana to the people of Rome sometime between 565-578. The cross contains the following inscription written in Latin: "With the wood with which Christ conquered man's enemy, Justin gives his help to Rome and his wife offers the ornamentation."

The restoration was paid for by an anonymous donor. The Crux Vaticana will be on public display inside St. Peter's Basilica until April 12.

Grover Zinn wins Emeritus Fellowship to research Hugh of Saint-Victor

Grover Zinn, Emeritus Professor at Oberlin College, has been awarded an Emeritus Fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to continue his research on the twelfth-century philosopher and mystic Hugh of Saint-Victor.

The Mellon Emeritus Fellowship program provides up to $35,000 to support one year of research activities for outstanding scholars in the humanities and social sciences who are retired but still active in the academic community.

Zinn's project will center on the writings of Hugh of Saint-Victor, and will involve three intertwined components. Zinn will write an essay on the historical and theological study of the ideas of Hugh of Saint-Victor on the contemplative life, will translate into English two of Hugh's principal works--De archa Noe and Libellus de formatione arche--and will, with the aid of an Oberlin graduate, create a digital realization of a complex drawing that features prominently in the texts.

"I intend to engage readers in an exploration of the interaction of experience, the nature of religious symbols, and the process of worldview and spiritual construction," said Zinn.

"My intended audience is not limited to specialists in Victorine thought, or in medieval mysticism, but to a broader audience interested in the intersection of the history of ideas, theology, religious experience, mysticism, spiritual discipline and itineraries, and the history of art."

Professor Zinn's research has dealt with medieval religion, and his published works include Richard of St. Victor: The Twelve Patriarchs, the Mystical Ark, Book Three of Trinity.

Scholar Delves into Medieval Cardinal’s Obsession with Hunting

The Fordham Medieval Studies Program closed out its 2009 Spring Lecture Series with a look at one of the odder figures from 16th-century Italy.

Ippolito I of Este, a cardinal who lived from 1479 to 1520, never really took his religious duties seriously, and instead, spent an inordinate amount of time hunting, according to Enrica Guerra, Ph.D.

From early on, Guerra said, it was obvious that something was amiss with Ippolito, who was sent by his parents, Ercole I of Este and Eleonor of Aragon, to be schooled from 1487 to 1492 in Hungary at the court of Beatrice of Aragon, his aunt. As an example, Guerra cited a correspondence from his teachers to his parents:

Once he comes back from school he never rests, but he never tires himself out. And he has a natural tendency toward religious custom and toward humanistic studies.

“We cannot know if these words reflect reality or not,” Guerra said. “Although Ippolito surely attended school and religious functions, it is hard to believe that he did this with the passion that is described in these letters. The ambassadors and the men of Ippolito’s court could not write about his weak bent for studying since he was under the care of his aunt, for whom they worked.”

In fact, efforts to shield Ippolito’s parents from his dalliances with the bow and arrow were for naught, and he felt compelled to explain himself:

You wrote to me you have heard about the inconveniences created by my hunting and killing chicken and geese, and I am sorry that you are worried about this because it is against my desire to give you pain. But I would like you to know that what you were told is not so bad because it has just happened only one time and I gave an order to pay for the dead animals at double their value.

“Nine days after this letter of Ippolito, Ercole’s answer arrived,” Guerra said.

Believing this had happened just one time, we passed over it; but again we have heard, on many occasions, that you continue your hunting in this way and it seems very bad behavior and we cannot allow you to continue it.

“It seems like Ippolito did not care about his behavior, and the title of cardinal was unimportant to him compared to his passions,” she said. “The cardinals were like princes in the Roman Church. That is why the reaction of Ercole seems strange. He was like an old father who is not able to understand that he was living in a new period, and continued to act as if it were 20 years earlier.”

Ippolito’s obsessions did not seem to bother his brother, Alfonso, who became duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio after their father’s death in 1505.

Like Alfonso, Ippolito joined the Cambrai League, which was created to fight against the Republic of Venice. His actions were instrumental in a victory over the Venetian fleet in a battle in Polesella in 1509.

Stationed alongside the River Po, Ippolito’s artillery forces waited until just before dawn, when the river raised the Venetian ships to the level of the embankment. When they attacked, the result was devastating; their forces sank two ships immediately.

“It seems that Ippolito had forgotten the chicken and geese to turn his attention to something that was more important for the duchy of Ferrara,” Guerra said. “The Battle of Polesella represents the height of military achievement by Ippolito.

“It is too early to say how Ippolito’s love for hunting and weapons may have influenced his political and ecclesiastical life, because there are still too many sources that I must analyze,” she said. “But it can be said that Ippolito’s religious activity was not impressive.”

Guerra, a medieval fellow at Fordham and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ferrara, delivered the presentation, “A Mania for Killing Geese and Chickens: The Life of the Cardinal Ippolito of Este” on April 20.