While historians know that history is about interpreting primary sources, students tend to think of history as a set of facts. In The Saint and the Count, Leah Shopkow opens up the interpretive world of the historian using the biography of St. Vitalis of Savigny (d. 1122) as a case study. This biography was written around 1174 by Stephen of Fougères and provides a rich stage to demonstrate the kinds of questions historians ask about primary sources and the interpretive and conceptual frameworks they use. What is the nature of medieval sources and what are the interpretive problems they present? How does the positionality of Stephen of Fougères shape his biography of St. Vitalis? How did medieval people respond to stories of miracles? And finally, how does this biography illuminate the problem of violence in medieval society? A translation of the biography is included, so that readers can explore the text on their own.

In this pedagogical microhistory, Leah Shopkow demonstrates the skills used to present history through the biography of St. Vitalis of Savigny.

Count de Saint-Germain was certainly the greatest Oriental Adept Europe has seen in last centuries of the last millennium. He never laid claim to spiritual powers, but proved to have a right to such claim. He was a pupil of Indian and Egyptian hierophants, and proficient in the secret wisdom and arts of the East. Saint-Germain is, until this very time, a living mystery. And the Rosicrucian Thomas Vaughan, another one. Together with Mesmer, he belonged to the Lodge of the Philalethes. Like all great men, the Count was slandered and lied about. Saint-Germain was a “fifth rounder,” a rare case of abnormally precocious individual evolution. He was sent by Louis XV to England, in 1760, to negotiate peace between the two countries. Before and during the French Revolution, the Count puzzled and almost terrified every capital of Europe, and some crowned Heads. Saint-Germain predicted in every detail the social and political upheaval in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799. In fact, it was he who brought about the just outbreak among the paupers, and put an end to the selfish tyranny of the French kings. The Count’s temperamental affinity to the celestial science forced the Himalayan Adepts to come into personal relations with him. When True Magic has finally died out in Europe, Saint-Germain and Cagliostro, sought refuge from the frozen-hearted scepticism in their native land of the East.

The Rosicrucian adept who preserved his youth for centuries. Was Francis Bacon the author of Shakespeare's plays; Editor of King James Version of the Bible; Count Saint-Germain founder of Freemasonry; heir to the English throne; Prince Rakoczy; foun.

The Saint gets more than he bargained for when he tries to help a friendly pastor and he discovers murder when he aids Father Christmas.