Sharon Farmer here investigates the ways in which three medieval communities—the town of Tours, the basilica of Saint-Martin there, and the abbey of Marmoutier nearby—all defined themselves through the cult of Saint Martin. She demonstrates how in the early Middle Ages the bishops of Tours used the cult of Martin, their fourthcentury predecessor, to shape an idealized image of Tours as Martin's town. As the heirs to Martin's see, the bishops projected themselves as the rightful leaders of the community. However, in the late eleventh century, she shows, the canons of Saint-Martin (where the saint's relics resided) and the monks of Marmoutier (which Martin had founded) took control of the cult and produced new legends and rituals to strengthen their corporate interests. Since the basilica and the abbey differed in their spiritualities, structures, and external ties, the canons and monks elaborated and manipulated Martin's cult in quite different ways. Farmer shows how one saint's cult lent itself to these varying uses, and analyzes the strikingly dissimilar Martins that emerged. Her skillful inquiry into the relationship between group identity and cultural expression illuminates the degree to which culture is contested territory. Farmer's rich blend of social history and hagiography will appeal to a wide range of medievalists, cultural anthropologists, religious historians, and urban historians.

Regine Pernoud, the highly acclaimed French medieval historian, and author of best-selling titles on Joan of Arc and Hildegard of Bingen, as well as the book Those Terrible Middle Ages, presents an enlighteneing biography of one of France's most revered saints, and man whose impact on France, and Europe, continues to this days. Martin of Tours lived in the 4th century, at that great turning point in history when the Roman Empire fell and the Church took charge in the West. He left a successful career in the military life to become a monk, and later a Bishop who traveled extensively, evangelizing the countryside and creatiung that particular sort of community life in a village that is now called a "parish." More than four hundred towns and some four thousand parished in France are named after St. Martin. The term "chapel" is derived from the actual church where pilgrims venerate Martin's "cape" or cloak. Martin of Tours was a servant of the common man, as well as the nobility, and a very humble man who responded to the needs of his times and and opened up vast perspectives for ordinary, everyday life. Given the crisis of the Christian Faith now facing France and all of Europe, the story of this solider and great apostle and Christian evangelist is a timely one indeed.

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

A young adult biography of the African-Spanish saint, Martin de Porres, patron of social and interracial justice.