Survival, memory and identity : The roles of saint worship in Early Modern Castile

Sammanfattning: This paper aims to explore the connections between the rural communities of Early Modern Castile and the saints they venerated through their festivities, relics and advocations and the roles that these relationships fulfilled in their societies. The Castilians of the sixteenth century seem to have used their interactions with saints not only for the purpose of the salvation of their souls, but rather, as ways to ensure the survival of their population, to cement social cohesion and identity, or to preserve the memory of their communities. Through the topographic relations of Philip II, a fantastic source that reproduces the voices of members of rural communities of Central Castile, this paper analyses the boundaries between the utilitarian and the cultural in the worship of saints, and the limits of local culture and identity.