The Material Culture of Devotion and Vestiture

This chapter examines how Eudes of Nevers’s Account-Inventory can offer evidence of the place of Christian practice within the household of an elite crusader and some hints as to the count’s devotions. The reference to “the chapel” reveals that upon arrival in Acre, Count Eudes already had the means to outfit a space consecrated to Christian worship, but that he found that “old chapel” wanting and created the “new chapel.” The chapel’s liturgical furnishings, the material objects and adornments used in the celebration of Christian rites, were a mix of old and new items. More precious were the vessels used on or near the altar. While it is not clear what the ivory box listed among the altar linens contained, the two “decorated pyxes” were containers used to store consecrated Hosts, and the monstrance was used to display the Eucharist. The chapter looks at liturgical books, as well as the vestments comprising Eudes’s chapel set. While elements of this golden set could have been used in processions, declaring publicly the crusader’s service to Christ and his church, its design beautified and emphasized the chanting of the Mass within the count’s new chapel hidden from the view of outsiders.