Professor of History John Eldevik presented a paper in July at the annual International Medieval Congress in Leeds, England, as part of a panel on "Networks and Entanglements in the Cult of Saints."
Eldevik's presentation, "Martyrdom, Memory, and Reform: The Hirsau Network and Crusader Saints in the 12th Century" examined the rise of two saints' cults in the mid-twelfth century within a network of German monasteries associated with the so-called Hirsau Reform.
The cults of Thiemo of Salzburg and Ernest of Zwiefalten, both of whom were believed to have perished as martyrs while on Crusade, served to bolster the commitments of both reformed monastic communities and their lay patrons to the Crusade movement, particularly after the disastrous Second Crusade (1146-48) had resulted in the humiliating defeat of Christian armies in the Holy Land.
