ABSTRACT
Western European holy wells and sacred springs have often been interpreted as sites of pagan ritual activity which continued to be venerated over the course of centuries, albeit some were “superficially” Christianized. While perhaps true for some sites, studies of the life cycles of individual holy wells often reveal more complicated realities of creation and curation over time. This chapter examines a single case study, the holy well associated in the eleventh and twelfth centuries with St. Theoderic (Thierry) and the monastery of Mont d’Or (Saint-Thierry) outside Reims. Though associated from the time of its appearance with the saint’s power, this well was actively visited by those seeking healing and was thus an alternative sacred site to the monastery itself. The miracle stories authored by the hagiographer Adalgisus around the year 1000 show his desire to link the two spaces together and make the holy well secondary to the monastery, while at the same time acknowledging its power. His work suggests that the relationships between medieval religious communities and holy sites in the landscape were neither fully antagonistic nor fully cooperative, but complex and subject to negotiation and change.
