The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD 300-1300

609 Pages·2003·19.56 MB·English

by  Martin Carver

THE CROSS GOES NORTH
Processes of Conversion in Northern
Europe, AD 300-1300

Martin Carver
THE CROSS GOES NORTH
Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe,
AD 300–1300
Disclaimer:
Some images in the original version of this book are not
available for inclusion in the eBook.
Image not available
Rune stone U 489, Morby, Lagga parish, Uppland, raised by
the mother Gullög who had a bridge made for her daughter
Gillög’s soul (after Upplands runinskrifter)
THE CROSS GOES NORTH
Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe,
AD 300–1300
Edited by
Martin Carver
YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS
© Editor and Contributors 2003
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
First published 2003
A York Medieval Press publication
in association with The Boydell Press
an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9 Woodbridge Suffolk IP12 3DF UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
PO Box 41026 Rochester NY 14604–4126 USA
website: www.boydell.co.uk
and with the
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
ISBN 1 903153 11 5
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The cross goes north : processes of conversion in northern Europe, AD
300–1300 / edited by Martin Carver.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–903153–11–5 (alk. paper)
1. Europe, Northern – Church history – Early church, ca. 30–600 –
Congresses. 2. Europe, Northern – Church history – Middle Ages,
600–1500 – Congresses. 3. Conversion – Christianity – History –
Congresses. I. Carver, M. O. H.
BR738 .C76 2003
274.8 – dc21 2002010810
Disclaimer:
Some images in the original version of this book are not
available for inclusion in the eBook.
The printing of this book is made possible by a gift to the University of
Cambridge in memory of Dorothea Coke, Skjaeret, 1951.
Typeset by Keystroke, Jacaranda Lodge, Wolverhampton
Printed in Great Britain by
St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Contents
List of plates ix
List of figures xi
PART I
Processes of Conversion 1
1 Introduction: Northern Europeans Negotiate their Future 3
Martin Carver
2 The Politics of Conversion in North Central Europe 15
Przemys¬aw Urban´czyk
3 ‘How do you pray to God?’ Fragmentation and Variety in
Early Medieval Christianity 29
Aleksander Pluskowski and Philippa Patrick
PART II
Into Celtic Lands 59
4 Processes of Conversion in North-west Roman Gaul 61
Susan M. Pearce
5 Roman Britain, a Failed Promise 79
William H.C. Frend
6 Where are the Christians? Late Roman Cemeteries in Britain 93
Christopher Sparey-Green
7 Votive Deposits and Christian Practice in Late Roman Britain 109
David Petts
8 Basilicas and Barrows: Christian Origins in Wales and Western Britain 119
Jeremy Knight
9 ALandscape Converted: Archaeology and Early Church
Organisation on Iveragh and Dingle, Ireland 127
Tomás Ó Carragáin
vi CONTENTS
10 Romanitas and Realpolitik in Cogitosus’ Description of the Church
of St Brigit, Kildare 153
Carol Neuman de Vegvar
11 Making a Christian Landscape: Early Medieval Cornwall 171
Sam Turner
12 Early Medieval Parish Formation in Dumfries and Galloway 195
Christopher Crowe
13 Christian and Pagan Practice during the Conversion of Viking
Age Orkney and Shetland 207
James H. Barrett
PART III
Christianity and the English 227
14 Anglo-Saxon Pagan and Early Christian Attitudes to the Dead 229
Audrey L. Meaney
15 The Adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon Royal Courts to Christianity 243
Barbara Yorke
16 The Control of Burial Practice in middle Anglo-Saxon England 259
Helen Geake
17 The Straight and Narrow Way: Fenland Causeways and the
Conversion of the Landscape in the Witham Valley, Lincolnshire 271
David Stocker and Paul Everson
18 Three Ages of Conversion at Kirkdale, North Yorkshire 289
Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts
19 The Confusion of Conversion: Streanæshalch, Strensall and Whitby
and the Northumbrian Church 311
P.S. Barnwell, L.A.S. Butler and C.J. Dunn
20 Design and Meaning in Early Medieval Inscriptions in Britain
and Ireland 327
John Higgitt
21 Spaces Between Words: Word Separation in Anglo-Saxon
Inscriptions 339
Elisabeth Okasha
CONTENTS vii
22 Sacraments in Stone: The Mysteries of Christ in Anglo-Saxon
Sculpture 351
Jane Hawkes
23 Alcuin’s Narratives of Evangelism: The Life of St Willibrord and
the Northumbrian Hagiographical Tradition 371
Kate Rambridge
24 Pagans and Christians at a Frontier: Viking Burial in the Danelaw 383
Julian D. Richards
25 The Body of St Æthelthryth: Desire, Conversion and Reform in
Anglo-Saxon England 397
Catherine E. Karkov
PART IV
From the Alps to the Baltic 413
26 From a Late Roman Cemetery to the Basilica Sanctorum Cassii
et Florentiiin Bonn, Germany 415
Christoph Keller
27 The Cross Goes North: From Late Antiquity to Merovingian Times
South and North of the Alps 429
Volker Bierbrauer
28 The Cross Goes North: Carolingian Times between Rhine and Elbe 443
Michael Müller-Wille
29 The Cross Goes North: Christian Symbols and Scandinavian Women 463
Jörn Staecker
30 The Role of Scandinavian Women in Christianisation: The Neglected
Evidence 483
Anne-Sofie Gräslund
31 Runestones and the Conversion of Sweden 497
Linn Lager
32 Christianity, Politics and Ethnicity in Early Medieval Jämtland,
Mid Sweden 509
Stig Welinder
viii CONTENTS
33 The Scandinavian Animal Styles in Response to Mediterranean and
Christian Narrative Art 531
Nancy L. Wicker
34 The Role of Secular Rulers in the Conversion of Sweden 551
Alexandra Sanmark
35 Byzantine Influence in the Conversion of the Baltic Region? 559
Per Beskow
36 St Botulph: An English Saint in Scandinavia 565
John Toy
37 Christianisation in Estonia: AProcess of Dual-Faith and Syncretism 571
Heiki Valk
Index 581
Plates
Frontispiece: Rune stone U 489, Morby, Lagga parish, Uppland ii
6.1 Interior of lead-lined coffin in burial 513 at Poundbury 102
9.1 View of Inis Úasal, Iveragh looking south-west in the direction of
Inis Fhearainn na gCléireach 137
9.2 Gable shrine at Killabuonia, Iveragh 144
11.1 The wheel-head cross at Cardinham, tenth to eleventh century 188
12.1 A‘Whithorn school’ cross-head from Whithorn (tenth century) 198
12.2 Anglian cross at Penpont 203
18.1 St Gregory’s minster at the foot of the North York Moors 291
18.2 The sundial and inscription recording the revival of the Anglian
minster by the Scandinavian lord Orm Gamalson in the eleventh
century 292
19.1 Strensall church and the river Foss, viewed from the north 319
21.1 Dedication stone in Jarrow parish church, Co Durham 341
21 2 The Alfred Jewel, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 342
21.3 Cross-shaft from Yarm, North Yorkshire, now in the Monks’
Dormitory, Durham Cathedral 343
21.4 Stone in St Nicholas’ church, Ipswich, Suffolk 344
21.5 Dedication stone from Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, now in the
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 344
22.1 The Healing of the Blind Man: Ruthwell, Dumfries 355
22.2 The Raising of Lazarus: Heysham, Lancs. 356
22.3 The Raising of Lazarus: Great Glen, Leics. 356
22.4 The Raising of Lazarus: Rothbury, Nld 357
22.5 The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes: Hornby, Lancs. 359
22.6 The Miracles of the Loaves and Fishes and the Wedding at Cana:
Dewsbury, Yorks. 360
22.7 The Wedding at Cana: Breedon-on-the-Hill, Leics. 362
24.1 Burial mound at Heath Wood under excavation 391
25.1 St Æethelthryth 405
25.2 Christ 406
25.3 St Benedict 407
30.1 Picture stone from Tjängvide, Gotland 484
30.2 Detail of Hjalmar Stolpe’s field drawing of chamber-grave Bj 968,
Birka 486
30.3 Pendant crosses from women’s graves in Birka 487
30.4 Grave slab from c.1300, Eidfjord Church, Hardanger, Norway 488
30.5 Distribution map of Swedish Viking Age rune stones 489