Культы святых правителей в раннесредневековой Европе: взаимосвязь религиозного и политического
The Cults of Holy Rulers in the Early Medieval Europe: The Interaction between Religious and Political Aspects

Summary/Abstract: this paper, we have made an attempt to review the complex interaction between two spheres of consciousness, political and religious, based on various cults of the saint rulers. The cults of the saint rulers have a special place among the medieval cults. They were linked with the objectives of political ideology and the sacralization of power. The connection between kingship and sainthood was common in Europe during the period of the 6th – 11th centuries. The analysis of different types of medieval saint rulers has been performed – Frankish queens, such as Chrodechild (Clotild), Radegund, Balthild (Bathild), as well as King Olav II of Norway. Two types of sources, which reflect the category of sainthood from different approaches, have been considered: hagiographic (Vitae) and literary (Saga). The analysis of these sources has demonstrated the existence of two ideological traits: one, more dominant, is tied up with the system of Christian religious conceptions, the latter one reflects both Christian and traditional Viking’s observances. The image of a holy woman was consistent with the traditional model of holiness and reflected more negative assessment of secular authority by the church consciousness. At the same time, the Lives of saint queens represented them as a model of Christian ruler. The contrast between “secular” and “spiritual” in the image of St. Olav seems less obvious. The Norwegian king was depicted not only as a carrier of the Christian virtues, but as a mighty and valiant ruler. Therefore, it has been revealed that the cults of the saint rulers reflect different dominant social perceptions of authority.

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