Rituals, Performatives, and Political Order in Northern Europe, c. 650–1350

Description

This multidisciplinary volume draws together contributions from history, archaeology, and the history of religion to offer an in-depth examination of political ritual and its performative and transformative potential across Continental Europe and Scandinavia. Covering the period between c. 650 and 1350, this work takes a theoretical, textual, and practical approach to the study of political ritual, and explores the connections between, and changing functions of, key rituals such as assemblies, feasts, and religious confrontations between pagans and Christians. Taking as a central premise the fact that rituals were not only successful political instruments used to create and maintain order, but were also a hazardous game in which intended strategies could fail, the papers within this volume demonstrate that the outcomes of feasts or court meetings were often highly unpredictable, and a friendly atmosphere could quickly change into a violent clash. By emphasising the conflict-ridden and unpredictable nature of ritual acts, the articles add crucial insights into the meanings, (ab)uses, and interpretations of performances in the Middle Ages. In doing so, they demonstrate that rituals, far from being mere representations of power, also constituted an important mechanism through which the political and religious order could be challenged and transformed. Front Matter ("Contents", "List of Illustrations", "Editors’ Preface", "List of Abbreviations"), p. i Free Access Introduction: Rituals, Performatives, and Political Order in Northern Europe c. 650-1350, p. 1 Lars Hermanson https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108537 Part I. Performance and Ambiguity Rituals in Early and High Medieval Europe Making Boso the Clown: Performance and Performativity in a Pseudo-Diploma of the Renegade King (8 December 879), p. 43 Geoffrey Koziol https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108538 Symbolic Communication and Medieval Order: Strengths and Weaknesses of Ambiguous Signs, p. 63 Gerd Althoff https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108539 Part II. Ritual Space in Early Medieval Scandinavia At the Assembly: A Study of Ritual Space, p. 79 Alexandra Sanmark https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108540 Custodian of the Sanctuary: Protecting Sacred Space as a Ritual Strategy for Gaining Legitimacy and Power in Pre-Christian Scandinavia, p. 113 Olof Sundqvist https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108541 Part III. Feasts, Fists, and Festivals in High and Late Medieval Scandinavia Convivium in terra horroris: Helmold of Bosau’s Rituals of Hostipitality, p. 139 Wojtek Jezierski https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108542 Festive Governance: Feasts as Rituals of Power and Integration in Medieval Norway, p. 175 Hans Jacob Orning https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108543 The Wedding at Flugumýri in 1253: Icelandic Feasts between the Free State Period and Norwegian Hegemony, p. 209 Jón Viðar Sigurðsson https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108544 Just Rituals: Masquerade, Manipulation, and Officializing Strategies in Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, p. 237 Kim Esmark https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108545 Feasting with Traitors: Royal Banquets as Rituals and Texts in High Medieval Scandinavia, p. 269 Lars Kjær https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108546 ‘Mead and Beer and Cherry Wine and Wine both Red and White’: Feasts, Courts, and Conflicts in Fourteenth-Century Sweden, p. 295 Thomas Småberg https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108547 Guilds as a Political Playground: The Ritual of Gildedrikk in High and Late Medieval Scandinavia, p. 321 Håkon Haugland https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RITUS-EB.5.108548 Back Matter ("General Index"), p. 359