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SAINTS 1150-1300: 
BACKGROUND TO THE DATASET 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

[p018c]

This dataset is drawn from D. Weinstein and R. Bell, Saints and Society: the Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000-1700 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1982).

Weinstein and Bell undertook a statistical analysis of individuals venerated as saints over this period covering such aspects as their background, career and types of ‘saintly’ behaviour. Their aim was to analyse the nature of sainthood rather than any individual saint and hence to explore changing configurations of piety in Latin Christendom and to contrasting popular perceptions of holiness with the official canonisation process. The dataset with which you will be working is a based on subset of their original supplemented by additional information.

None of the various compilations of material on saints give clear criteria for including or excluding individuals nor are any of them complete. Weinstein and Bell’s list is therefore based on that of Pierre Delooz, Sociologie et Canonisation (Liège and The Hague, 1969). They include from his list:

This totalled 864 saints (counting grouped martyrs or saints as one entry).

Those whose official title is ‘Blessed’ are included as well as those more properly titled ‘Saint’. The distinction between the two terms came into wide use only in the seventeenth century and therefore is not helpful for the earlier period. ‘Blessed’ refers to those whose cult has a more limited observance than a ‘Saint’ and whose full canonisation awaits further investigation and official approval.

Each saint is treated as of equal statistical importance in their analysis, although some are clearly more influential than others.

The dataset you are using has been limited only by date of death. It includes those individuals identified by Weinstein and Bell as fulfilling the criteria above who also died between 1150 and 1300. Dates of death are usually more accurate than dates of birth.

The dataset is not complete yet in terms of data. This is in part deliberate to demonstrate the particular problems of historical data. A researcher may find that data is in itself incomplete or not easily available. The data may also not lend itself easily to the structure and conventions of a database which may also give it a spurious sense of objectivity. For example, in the case of this dataset, the dates of death and birth are not necessarily beyond doubt but are entered as a number field precluding use of terms such as circa and other to denote ambiguity. The field containing details of each saint’s biography is restricted to 250 characters, obviously inadequate to give full details, and is therefore very subjective and dependent on the individual who has entered the data.

The data that historians deal with, especially historians of earlier periods, is often ‘fuzzy’ and hence it is particularly important when designing a database for such material to give considerable thought to the nature of the material and the use to which it will be put. There is no reason why the user of such material cannot benefit from the easy and fruitful analysis which a database allows, but the limitations of both the material and the software have to be taken into account.

It is hoped that MA and research students will be involved in the further development of this dataset.
 

Further reading:
B. Abou-El-Haj (1994) The Medieval Cult of Saints. Formations and Transformations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. BX4659.E85ABO
P. Brown (1981) The Cult of the Saints. Its Rise and Function in Latin Christendom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. BX2333BRO
M. Goodich (1982) Vita Perfecta: The Ideal of Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century. Stuttgart: Hiersmann. BX4662.GOO
T. Head (1990) Hagiography and the Cult of Saints. The Diocese of Orléans, 800 to 1200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. BX4659.F8.HEA
T. Heffernan (1988) Sacred Biography: Saints and their Biographers in the Middle Ages. New York: Oxford University Press. BR1690HEF
T.F.X. Noble and T. Head (eds) (1995) Soldiers of Christ. Saints and Saints’ Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. London: Sheed and Ward. BX4654.SOL
A. Vauchez (1997) Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. BX2230VAU
B. Ward (1992) Signs and Wonders. Saint, Miracle and Prayers from the Fourth tot the Fourteenth Centuries. Hampshire: Variorum, especially XXII and XXIII. BX4659.E85WAR
Donald Weinstein and Rudolph Bell (1982) Saints and Society. The Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000-1700. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. BX4659.E85WEI

Tables:

Careercodes:

Codes defining main occupational categories.

Orders

Abbreviations of each relevant monastic or mendicant order.

SaintsI

Full table of the 864 saints identified by Weinstein and Bell.

SaintsII

Saints 1150-1300.

Source

Codes defining source type.

Status

Codes defining status of saint.

Fields in Saints I and SaintsII:

Name:

Given name of saint.

Alternative name:

Any other names by which the saint is described.

Date of Death:

These may be estimates. Dates of birth are often not known in this period unless the saint was also royal or noble. This is a number field.

Calendar Date:

Date of liturgical celebration (i.e. Feast Day).

Source type:

Coded by Weinstein and Bell and listed in table: Source.

Gender:

F/M

Country of Birth:

Geographical area of birth. For ease of use and comparison, areas have been described by their modern equivalent. For example, Brabant is described as the Netherlands even though such a place did not exist as a nation in this period.

Occupational category:

Partially descriptive and partially coded. Codes are contained in table: Careercodes.

Order:

Coded. See table: Orders

Main components of 
Saints reputation:

The field has been expanded to take 250 characters but is still restricted by size. Hence the descriptions are brief and are necessarily subjective.

Martyr:

Bivariate coding i.e. Yes/No

Status code:

Coded: see table: Status

Date of canonisation:

Four possible entries relating to either canonisation or beatification.
1. Within 25 years
2. Within 75 years
3. Within 175 year
4. More than 175 years

Type of canonisation:

Papal/local if known.

 

Sources of Information
J. Coulson (ed.) (1958) The Saints. London: Burns and Oates.
D.H. Farmer (1992) The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: OUP.
M. Goodich (1982) Vita Perfecta: The Ideal of Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century. Stuttgart: Hiersmann.
H. Thurston, S.J. and D. Attwater (eds) Butler’s Lives of the Saints. Aberdeen: Burns and Oates.
C. Jöckle (1995) Encyclopaedia of Saints. London: Alpine Fine Art.
A. Vauchez (1997) Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Donald Weinstein and Rudolph Bell (1982) Saints and Society. The Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000-1700. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
 

 
 
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(c)R. Middleton 1997. Last modified 30 June 1998.