L’abbaye de Loosduinen. D’un lieu de pèlerinage à un site touristique

Abstract

According to the legend (ca. 1300) the Countess Margaret of Henneberg gave birth to as many children as there are days in the year. The children were baptized in extremis and buried together with their mother in the church of the abbey of Loosduinen, next to Den Haag. The analysis of this legend and of its cult allows us to point out the fundamental dissonance between the popular and the learned perception of the legend, as well as their mutual interpenetration till the 18th century. The popular and learned approaches to the miracle started contradictory, but then converged to merge in the early 16th century. After this period of synchrony, a strong dichotomy reappears in the beginning of the Modern Period. As a result of the sceptical movement, Loosduinen gradually lost its attractiveness as a destination for pilgrimage. Although it was still visited in the 17th century by a reduced number of pilgrims, it mainly developed into a touristic site visited by people driven by curiosity, eager to mock the superstitious beliefs of the “boors”.