Contenu du sommaire

« In ancient times of Apostles' disciples »: the Sabbatians of Edessa Within christianizing groups in Edessa, Sabbatians are usually forgotten. A meticulous survey of the documentation (primarily heresiological works) enables us to explain the origins of this movement. Ephrem's "Hymns" against heresies mention it for the first time, and later, Jaqub of Edessa clarifies this notice. One can observe some features of quartodecimanism ; but we have to differentiate these Sabbatians, located in Mesopotamia and Osrhoene, from the Novatian expression. This community may keep relations with synagogal structure in Edessa and reveal a doctrinal and ritual Judeo-Christian calcification.

The Virgin in Tuotilo's Workshop. The Medieval Artist as a « Theodidact » In his chronicle of Saint-Gall Abbey, Ekkehart IV tells his reader that the Virgin miraculously appeared in Tuotilo's workshop, an elegant artist in carving and painting, while he was executing some metalwork. Mary not only helped the artist but also instructed him what to do. The following pages are devoted to studying the implications of this divine help. Once the apostolic model of Luke is put aside, I would like to show that in the Middle Ages artistic work cannot be conceived whithout this divine help, which transforms the artist into a « theodidact ».

The Hundred « Voiceless » of Quintanar. The Castilian pattern of Marranism (I) Marranism, even if taken only in the strictest sense of the term (crypto-judaism), is multi-faceted and complex. The model which is delineated here, from the collated testimonies of about one hundred « voiceless » prisoners of the Inquisition, is that of La Mancha in late sixteenth-century New Castile in Spain. Having traced back a particularly instructive example of persecution, their rites and practices are reconstituted « from the cradle to the tomb » (first article), and also their prayers, transmitted orally through the generations, and their culture, fashioned by militant readings (second article). The conclusions drawn are, first, that despite what contemporary historiography might sometimes maintain, crypto-judaism in its specifically Spanish form was still alive, even thriving one century after the expulsion of the Jews ; second, it becomes clear that the archives of the Inquisition are reliable, so long as the critical approach is one that befits religious history.