Attitudes occidentales à l'égard des miracles d'images dans le haut Moyen Âge

Western Attitudes to Miracles connected with Images in the Early Middle Ages. J.-M. Sansterre. Only a few texts provide us with a view of what was thought, from the 6th to the 10th century north of the Alps, about miracles connected with images. Except for a story by Gregory of Tours concerning the Mediterranean border of Gaul that was then influenced by the Orient, these texts relate wonders having occurred in the Orient or Italy. Two attitudes can be distinguished: either the straightforward belief in the manifestations of this phenomenon or, as in the Libri Carolini, the inability to refute its principle and deny that images could be a vehicle of divine powers. It is suggested, by highlighting a testimony from the mid-9th century concerning the monastery of Ellwangen in Alemania, that what appeared as a miracle connected with images may also have happened now and then north of the Alps in the Early Middle Ages. In a second part, a brief comparison is made with the Italian sources. Although the veneration of images was more intense and less controversial in Italy, the texts written there do not mention many miracles connected with them and the images took second place by comparison with the holy relics.Sansterre Jean-Marie. Attitudes occidentales à l'égard des miracles d'images dans le haut Moyen Âge. In: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 53ᵉ année, N. 6, 1998. pp. 1219-1241