Marriage as inspiration for the writing of history / Elisabeth van Houts -- Writing Christianization in medieval Hungary / Nora Berend -- Corrupted by power -- bishops in Adam of Bremen's Gesta episcoporum Hammaburgensis ecclesiae / Alheydis Plassman -- The northification of the pagan past in Old Norse literature / Lasse C.A. Sonne -- William of Malmesbury and the Scandinavians / Rodney M. Thomson -- Henry of Huntingdon, the Roskilde chronicle, and the English connection in twelfth-century Denmark / Michael H. Gelting -- The style of Aelnoth / Michael Winterbottom -- Monastic life as a matrix of meaning : history, liturgy, and interior reform in early Danish historical texts / Sigbjørn Olsen Sønnesyn -- Music and its significance for the articulation of history in twelfth-century Scandinavian historiae for sainted rulers / Roman Hankeln -- Memorial, ritual, and the writing of history / Nils Holger Petersen -- Lost chronicle or elusive informers? : some thoughts on the source of Ralph Niger's Reports from twelfth-century Denmark / Mia Münster-Swendsen -- Why was William of Æbelholt canonized? : the two lives of Saint William / Thomas K. Heebøll-Holm -- Dudo of St Quentin and Saxo Grammaticus : historiography in two phases of charismatic culture / C. Stephen Jaeger -- Ideas of empire : Saxo Grammaticus and Godfrey of Viterbo / Thomas Foerster -- Writing peace, writing war : Roger of Howden and Saxo Grammaticus compared / Jenny Benham -- Homage to a great scholar : the unfinished work of Karsten Friis-Jensen -- Karsten Friis-Jensen's preliminary findings towards a new edition of Sven Aggesen / Michael Winterbottom.
Summary:
"In the wake of religious conversion and the establishment of more stable political systems, the outskirts of Latin Christendom produced historical narratives providing their present identities with a foundational past. The essays collected in this volume all seek to illuminate the emergence of a written historical culture in Denmark from the early twelfth century onwards by situating this historical culture in a wider geographical, chronological, and cultural context. The essays in this volume aim to gain insight into Danish historical narratives written in Latin in the long twelfth century. This objective is approached through two mutually enriching perspectives: one the one hand, the Danish historical texts are analysed using the theoretical and methodological advances gained through increasing scholarly interest in medieval historiography in general over the last decades, while on the other hand these texts are also placed in a larger cultural and intellectual context through comparisons with historical narratives from other areas. The period from c.1050 to 1225 saw the emergence of historical narratives about Danish affairs, a development mirroring both the rapid growth of historical writing in the Latin West in this period and the consolidation of Denmark as a Christian kingdom on the model of the great western monarchies. Over past few decades, increasing interest in medieval historiography has produced a refined conceptual framework for the study of medieval historical texts as well as a rich body of knowledge on other comparable historical texts, particularly from England, France, and Germany. This has enabled deeper understanding of the genesis, form, and purpose of texts produced in Denmark, while at the same time serving to enrich our picture of more pervasive trends across political and cultural borders. Both of these perspectives are fundamental to the conception and the goals of this volume. The essays gathered here range from detailed formal analyses to comparative studies of wider trends in the historiographical developments of the high middle ages."-- Provided by publisher.
Series:
Durham medieval and Renaissance monographs and essays ; 5
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.