Medieval Murdered Saints: Holy Women and Holy Dogs

Hello and welcome to Medieval Murder, the podcast that brings all things gruesome and historical to the comfort of your own home or car or wherever it is you’re listening from. My name is Hannah Purtymun and I’m here with my father Kevin Purtymun to discuss some of the most famous and infamous murders that took place in the Medieval and Early Modern periods.

Today we’ll be talking about two saints during the medieval period who were both murdered: Saint Godelieve of Gisel and Saint Guinefort.

If you have any listener questions, comments, or topic suggestions please feel free to reach our via our Twitter Account @MurderMedieval, our instagram account @MedievalMurder or via email at info.medievalmurder@gmail.com.

Sources:

Stephen of Bourbon (Etienne de Bourbon), “De Superticione” in “De septem donis Spiritus Sancti”, or “Tractatus de Diversis Materiis Praedicalibus”, in Anecdotes Historiques, Legends et Apologues Tires de Receuil inedit d’Etienne de Bourbon, ed. Albert Lecoy de La Marche (Paris: La Société de l’Histoire de France, 1877), pp.314-29.

Goodish, Michael. “The Politics of Canonization in the thirteenth century: lay and Mendicant saints.” Saints and their Cults: Studies in Religious Sociology, Folklore and History. Pg. 169-187.

Klaniczay, Gábor. ‘The Power of the Saints and the Authority of the Popes. The History of Sainthood and Late Medieval Canonization Processes’, in Church and Belief in the Middle Ages: Popes, Saints, and Crusaders (Amsterdam, 2016).

Kienzle, Beverly Mayne and Nancy Nienhuis. “Battered Women and the Construction of Sanctity,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 17, 1 (Spring 2001): 33-61.

Rist, Rebecca. "The papacy, Inquisition and Saint Guinefort the Holy Greyhound." Reinardus. Yearbook of the International Reynard Society 30, no. 1 (2018): 190-211.

Salih, Sarah. “Saints and sanctity in medieval England.” British Library. Jan. 2018.

Venarde, Bruce. “Drogo of Sint-Winoksbergen, Life of St. Godelieve,” Medieval Hagiography. (Jan. 2018).