St Martin of Tours was a protector saint of numerous French kings. His was one of the most successful saintly cults in medieval Europe, and the city of Tours functioned as a religious metropolis, drawing pilgrims from all over the continent. Until now, little has been known about how St Martin came to inspire such a lively folkloric tradition, numerous works of art, and the establishment of thousands of churches and numerous confraternities. In this book, Yossi Maurey addresses these questions by focusing on the church dedicated to the saint in Tours, which acted as the crucible for Martin's cult. Maurey explores the music and liturgy of the cult - the most effective means of its dissemination - to reveal its enormous diffusion and impact. Building a more concrete picture of how saints' cults operated and shaped medieval realities, this book also provides new insights into the interactions between contemporary religion, art and politics.

The first study to explore the music of St Martin's cult and its influence upon medieval religion, art and politics.

About the Author
Yossi Maurey has served as Lecturer in the Department of Musicology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 2008. He holds a PhD (2005) in musicology from the University of Chicago.

Reviews
'In this outstanding examination of musical production surrounding a warrior turned soldier of Christ, Maurey has helped us listen closely to the music that helped fashion France's most venerable saint.' Michael Alan Anderson, Plainsong and Medieval Music
'Maurey has written the book with an eye for his inevitably varied audience, and has done so very well. Each of the chapters manages to cover a discrete area of the study, yet where information inevitably overlaps he is good about repeating it within the context and confines of the current chapter, referring the reader to another chapter generally as a last resort only.' Sean Dunnahoe, Early Music
'Yossi Maurey traces the complex path by which veneration of Martin evolved from the saint's death and the celebration of his life in the biography by Sulpicius Severus through his transformation into the archetypal chivalric knight in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Thanks to his painstaking research, we now stand on much firmer ground in our understanding of Martin's widespread cult, its liturgy, and its constituent music.' James Grier, Music and Letters


Awards
Winner of First Prize, Polonsky Prizes, Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2015.



Book Information
ISBN 9781107060951
Author Yossi Maurey
Format Hardback
Page Count 318
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 790g
Dimensions(mm) 254mm * 181mm * 21mm