Christianity and War in Medieval East Central Europe and Scandinavia

Description

This collaborative collection provides fresh perspectives on Christianity and the conduct of war in medieval East Central Europe and Scandinavia, investigating the intersection between religion, culture, and warfare in territories that were only integrated into Christendom in the Central Middle Ages. The contributors analyze cultures that lay outside Charlemagne's 'limes' and the frontiers of the Byzantine Empire, to consider a region stretching from the Balkans to the Baltic and Scandinavia. The volume considers clerics as military leaders and propagandists, the role of Christian ritual and doctrine in warfare, and the adaptation and transformation of indigenous military cultures. It uncovers new information on perceptions of war and analyzes how local practices were incorporated into clerical narratives, enabling the reader to achieve a complete understanding of the period. List of Illustrations vii Editors’ Preface ix List of Abbreviations xi Christianity and War in Medieval East Central Europe and Scandinavia: An Introduction / RADOSŁAW KOTECKI, CARSTEN SELCH JENSEN, and STEPHEN BENNETT 1 PART ONE: THE CHURCH AND WAR Chapter 1. The Role of the Dalmatian Bishops and Archbishops in Warfare During the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries: A Case Study on the Archbishops of Split / JUDIT GÁL 25 Chapter 2. Thirteenth-Century Hungarian Prelates at War / GÁBOR BARABÁS 39 Chapter 3. The Image of 'Warrior-Bishops' in the Northern Tradition of the Crusades / SINI KANGAS 57 Chapter 4. Memory of the 'Warrior-Bishops' of Płock in the Writings of Jan Długosz / JACEK MACIEJEWSKI 75 Chapter 5. Preachers of War: Dominican Friars as Promoters of the Crusades in the Baltic Region in the Thirteenth Century / JOHNNY GRANDJEAN GØGSIG JAKOBSEN 97 Chapter 6. Depictions of Violence in Late Romanesque Mural Paintings in Denmark / MARTIN WANGSGAARD JÜRGENSEN 117 PART TWO: RELIGION IN WAR AND ITS CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS Chapter 7. Religious Rituals of War in Medieval Hungary Under the Árpád Dynasty / DUŠAN ZUPKA 141 Chapter 8. Pious Rulers, Princely Clerics, and Angels of Light: 'Imperial Holy War' Imagery in Twelfth-Century Poland and Rus’ / RADOSŁAW KOTECKI 159 Chapter 9. Religion and War in Saxo Grammaticus’s 'Gesta Danorum': The Examples of Bishop Absalon and King Valdemar I / CARSTEN SELCH JENSEN 189 Chapter 10. Rhetoric of War: The Imagination of War in Medieval Written Sources (Central and Eastern Europe in the High Middle Ages) / DAVID KALHOUS and LUDMILA LUŇÁKOVÁ 207 Chapter 11. Civil War as Holy War? Polyphonic Discourses of Warfare During the Internal Struggles in Norway in the Twelfth Century / BJØRN BANDLIEN 227 Chapter 12. Martyrdom on the Field of Battle in Livonia During Thirteenth-Century Holy Wars and Christianization: Popular Belief and the Image of a Catholic Frontier / KRISTJAN KALJUSAAR 245 Chapter 13. Orthodox Responses to the Baltic Crusades / ANTI SELART 263 Selected Bibliography 279 Index 285