Landscapes across Europe were transformed, both physically and conceptually, during the early medieval period (c AD 400-1200), and these changes were bound up with the conversion to Christianity and the development of ecclesiastical power structures. Whilst Christianity represented a more or less common set of beliefs and ideas, early medieval societies were characterised by vibrant diversity: much can potentially be learned about these societies by comparing and contrasting how they adapted Christianity to suit local circumstances. This is the first book to adopt a comparative landscape approach to this crucial subject.
It considers the imprint of early medieval Christianity on landscapes along the continent’s western shore from Galicia to Norway, and across the northern islands from Britain and Ireland to Iceland. The construction of new monuments clearly led to some major physical changes, but landscapes are not just affected by tangible, material alterations: they are also shaped by new types of knowledge and changing perceptions. Christianity was associated with many such changes including new ways of seeing the land that directly affected how landscapes were inhabited and managed. By examining how people chose to shape their landscapes, this book provides fresh perspectives on the Christianisation of Atlantic Europe.
Tomás Ó Carragáin is a lecturer in the Archaeology Department, University College Cork. He is the author of Churches in Early Medieval Ireland: Architecture, Ritual and Memory and Sam Turner is a lecturer School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University. He is the editor of Life in Medieval Landscapes
Cork University Press December 2016 | 9781782052005 | €39 £35 | Hardback | 250 x 195mm | 640 pages
CONTENTS
Introduction: making Christian landscapes in the early medieval Atlantic world TOMÁS Ó CARRAGÁIN and SAM TURNER
IRELAND
Hallowed by saints, coveted by kings: Christianisation and land tenure in Rathdown, c. 400–900 GILL BOAZMAN
Reconstructing the territorial framework for ecclesiastical and secular power structures: a case study of the kingdom of Uí Fáeláin PAUL MACCOTTER
Conversion and consolidation in Leinster’s royal heartland PATRICK GLEESON and TOMÁS Ó CARRAGÁIN
Territoriality and the cult of Saint Ciarán of Saigir ANNE CONNON
Early ecclesiastical precincts and landscapes of Inishowen, County Donegal COLM O’BRIEN and MAX ADAMS
WALES AND SCOTLAND
Christianising the landscape in early medieval Wales: the island of Anglesey NANCY EDWARDS
Feeding the body and claiming the spirit(s): early Christian landscapes in west Wales RHIANNON COMEAU
Death and the formation of early Christian Scotland ADRIÁN MALDONADO
ENGLAND
The bones of the Northumbrian landscape: technologies of social change in the conversion period SAM TURNER and CHRIS FOWLER
Streanæshalch (Whitby), its satellite churches and lands THOMAS PICKLES
Converting the Peak District? Britons, Angles and Christians JOHN MORELAND
GAUL AND IBERIA
Funerary patterns in towns in France and England between the fourth and tenth centuries: a comparative approach ELISABETH LORANS
Christianisation and parish formation in early medieval France:a case study of the dioceses of Rennes, Dol and St Malo ANNE LUNVEN
Parish boundaries and the illusion of territorial continuity in landscape archaeology: the evidence from the Touraine ELISABETH ZADORA-RIO
The creation of ecclesiastical landscapes in early medieval Galicia (northwest Spain, fifth to tenth centuries) JOSÉ CARLOS SÁNCHEZ PARDO
GERMANIC AND NORDIC LANDS
From conversion to consolidation in eighth-century Hessia JOHN HENRY CLAY
The religious transformation of a landscape: Drenthe (the Netherlands), c. AD 800–1600 JAN KOLEN
Introducing Christianity to a challenging environment: the example of Norway SÆBJØRG WALAKER NORDEIDE
Alternative histories on the making of the early Christian landscape of Iceland STEINUNN KRISTJÁNSDÓTTIR
Further details at http://www.corkuniversitypress.com/Making-Christian-Landscapes-in-Atlantic-Europe-p/9781782052005.htm