Objects that were imbued with sacred potency听played an integral part in the medieval religious experience. Even though not all religious authorities agreed on the legitimacy of the phenomenon听and no ecclesiastical orthodoxy was ever reached on the role of images and materiality in the medieval West, religious objects, mainly figures and images, frequently animated and acquired life. This could, for instance,听manifest itself in听movement, speech or bleeding, sometimes by way of miraculous, sometimes by way of mechanical agency.听听
In this talk, the phenomenon of living matter will be discussed using听medieval Denmark as a case-study. Taking its starting point in the recent volume 鈥淢ateriality and Religious Practice in Medieval Denmark鈥 (ed. Croix &听Heilskov,听Brepols听2021), living objects from mechanical anthropomorphic figures, via relic-endowed sculptures to miraculously bleeding听wonderhosts听will be discussed in order to give a full picture of the many facets of object-animation听at the fringe of medieval Christianity. Although the Lutheran Reformation means that sources that enlighten us on object-animation are few and spread over a long time-period of c. 700 years, and although quite a few of them post-medieval and biased against animated objects, they paint a picture of a very rich religious culture wherein materiality played a key part.听
Dr.听Mads听Vedel听Heilskov听is a specialist in medieval religious culture听and materiality. His听ongoing research project is听called听鈥淎nimated Materiality in the Medieval Catholic West鈥澨and is听funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. Its听first instalment was carried out at听脡肠辞濒别听des听hautes听茅迟耻des听en听sciences听sociales听in Paris and focused on the intellectual and devotional side of object-animation. Its current instalment, 鈥淭echniques of Life鈥, is听housed at 迟丑别听91自拍听Institute of Art听in London. It focuses on the phenomenon of objects acquiring life as a process of becoming which can be broken down into specific artistic and artisanal actions.听