Historical Narratives and Christian Identity on a European Periphery: Early History Writing in Northern, East-Central, and Eastern Europe (c.1070–1200)

Description

This volume presents the first comprehensive overview of the major early historical narratives created in Northern, East-Central, and Eastern Europe between c. 1070 and c. 1200, with each chapter providing a short introduction to the narrative in question. Most chapters are written by established experts in their fields, who have published critical editions of the discussed narratives, their English translations, or analytical works dealing with early history writing in corresponding regions. However, the volume is more than just a summary of various narratives. Despite being written in such different languages as Latin, Old Norse, and Old Church Slavonic, these narratives played similar roles for their reading audiences, in that they were crucial in the construction of Christian identity in the lands recently converted to Christianity. The thirteen authors contemplate the extent to which this identity formation affected the nature of narrativity in these early historical works. The authors ask how the pagan past and Christian present were incorporated in the texture of the narratives, and address the relative importance of classical and biblical models for their composition and structure. By addressing such questions, the volume offers medievalists a coherent comparative study of early history writing in the peripheral regions of medieval Europe in the first centuries after conversion. Front matter (“Contents”, “List of Abbreviations”, “List of Contributors”), p. i Free Access Introduction. History Writing and Christian Identity on a European Periphery, p. 1 Ildar H. Garipzanov https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5014 Christianity and Paganism in Adam of Bremen’s Narrative, p. 13 Ildar H. Garipzanov https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5015 Two Early Twelfth-Century Views of Denmark’s Christian Past: Ailnoth and the Anonymous of Roskilde, p. 33 Michael H. Gelting https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5016 Historia Norwegie and Sven Aggesen: Two Pioneers in Comparison, p. 57 Lars Boje Mortensen https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5017 Theodoricus Monachus: The Kingdom of Norway and the History of Salvation, p. 71 Sverre Bagge https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5018 The Two Ages in Ágrip af Nóregs konunga sǫgum, p. 93 Theodore M. Andersson https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5019 Íslendingabók: The Creation of an Icelandic Christian Identity, p. 111 Else Mundal https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5020 Whetting the Appetite for a Vernacular Literature: The Icelandic Hungrvaka, p. 123 Jonas Wellendorf https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5021 A New Chosen People? Gallus Anonymus’s Narrative about Poland and its Rulers, p. 145 Zbigniew Dalewski https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5022 Christian Identity in the Chronicle of the Czechs by Cosmas of Prague, p. 167 János M. Bak https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5023 ‘More paganismo’: Reflections on the Pagan and Christian Past in the Gesta Hungarorum of the Hungarian Anonymous Notary, p. 183 László Veszprémy https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5024 Christian Chronology, Universal History, and the Origin of Chronicle Writing in Rus’, p. 205 Oleksiy P. Tolochko https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5025 Pagan Past and Christian Identity in the Primary Chronicle, p. 229 Donald Ostrowski https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5026 Christian Identity in the Early Novgorodian Annalistic Writing, p. 255 Timofey V. Guimon https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.5027 Back matter (“Index”, “Notes on Editorial Board”), p. 277