Between hellfire, 11,000 heavenly virgins and medieval forgery

Seminar paper from the year 2023 in the subject History of Europe - Middle Ages, Early Modern Age, University of Heidelberg (ZAW Institut für Klassische Archäologie und Byzantinische Archäologie), course: Viva Colonia. Eine Stadtbiografie von der Gründung bis ins frühe Mittelalter (Proseminar), language: English, abstract: The majority of archaeologists and historians today deny the historical existence of St Ursula, but the question still arises as to why and how the legend of St Ursula was able to develop and become one of the most important martyr cults of Western Christianity in the Middle Ages.

St Ursula was one of the most important and popular saints of Western Christianity in the Middle Ages and early modern period. Her cult of martyrdom can be documented in large parts of Western Europe from the Ottonian period at the latest and several churches and cities claimed to be in possession of a relic of St Ursula, a prestigious and, due to the predictable flow of pilgrims, economically lucrative claim. Klaus Militzer also explains that St Ursula was accorded a prominent position in the medieval and early modern veneration of saints. From the late Middle Ages onwards, it can be proven that St Ursula was frequently venerated in special Ursula brotherhoods as an intercessor for the dying and the dead - similar to Mary (the mother of Jesus). [...]