Popular Religion in Late Saxon England

Popular Religion in Late Saxon England PDF Author: Karen Louise Jolly
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469611147
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
In tenth- and eleventh-century England, Anglo-Saxon Christians retained an old folk belief in elves as extremely dangerous creatures capable of harming unwary humans. To ward off the afflictions caused by these invisible beings, Christian priests modified traditional elf charms by adding liturgical chants to herbal remedies. In Popular Religion in Late Saxon England, Karen Jolly traces this cultural intermingling of Christian liturgy and indigenous Germanic customs and argues that elf charms and similar practices represent the successful Christianization of native folklore. Jolly describes a dual process of conversion in which Anglo-Saxon culture became Christianized but at the same time left its own distinct imprint on Christianity. Illuminating the creative aspects of this dynamic relationship, she identifies liturgical folk medicine as a middle ground between popular and elite, pagan and Christian, magic and miracle. Her analysis, drawing on the model of popular religion to redefine folklore and magic, reveals the richness and diversity of late Saxon Christianity.

Popular Religion in Late Saxon England

Popular Religion in Late Saxon England PDF Author: Karen Louise Jolly
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469611147
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399

Get Book Here

Book Description
In tenth- and eleventh-century England, Anglo-Saxon Christians retained an old folk belief in elves as extremely dangerous creatures capable of harming unwary humans. To ward off the afflictions caused by these invisible beings, Christian priests modified traditional elf charms by adding liturgical chants to herbal remedies. In Popular Religion in Late Saxon England, Karen Jolly traces this cultural intermingling of Christian liturgy and indigenous Germanic customs and argues that elf charms and similar practices represent the successful Christianization of native folklore. Jolly describes a dual process of conversion in which Anglo-Saxon culture became Christianized but at the same time left its own distinct imprint on Christianity. Illuminating the creative aspects of this dynamic relationship, she identifies liturgical folk medicine as a middle ground between popular and elite, pagan and Christian, magic and miracle. Her analysis, drawing on the model of popular religion to redefine folklore and magic, reveals the richness and diversity of late Saxon Christianity.

Tradition and Belief

Tradition and Belief PDF Author: Clare A. Lees
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 9781452903880
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
In this major study of Angle-Saxon religious tests sermons, homilies, and saints' lives written in Old English -- Clare A. Lees reveals how the invention of preaching transformed the early medieval church, and thus the culture of medieval England in placing Anglo-Saxon prose within a social matrix, her work offers a new way of seeing medieval literature through the lens of cultures. To show how the preaching mission of the later Anglo-Saxon church was constructed and received, Lees explores the emergence of preaching from the traditional structures of the early medieval church -- its institutional knowledge, genres, and beliefs. Understood as a powerful rhetorical, social, and epistemological process, preaching is shown to have helped define the sociocultural concerns specific to late Anglo-Saxon England. The first detailed study of traditionality in medieval culture, Tradition and Belief is also a case study of one cultural phenomenon from the past. As such -- and by concentrating on the theoretically problematic areas of history, religious belief, and aesthetics -- the book contributes to debates about the evolving meaning of culture.

Trees in the Religions of Early Medieval England

Trees in the Religions of Early Medieval England PDF Author: Michael D. J. Bintley
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 184383989X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Drawing on sources from archaeology and written texts, the author brings out the full significance of trees in both pagan and Christian Anglo-Saxon religion.

Perceptions of the Prehistoric in Anglo-Saxon England

Perceptions of the Prehistoric in Anglo-Saxon England PDF Author: Sarah Semple
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199683107
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Represents an unparalleled exploration of the place of prehistoric monuments in the Anglo-Saxon psyche, and examines how Anglo-Saxon communities perceived and used these monuments during the period AD 400-1100.

The Dramatic Liturgy of Anglo-Saxon England

The Dramatic Liturgy of Anglo-Saxon England PDF Author: M. Bradford Bedingfield
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9780851158730
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Liturgical rituals of the high festivals from Christmas to Ascension in late Anglo-Saxon England; liturgical practice derived from from vernacular homilies and sermons.

Anglo-Saxon Saints Lives as History Writing in Late Medieval England

Anglo-Saxon Saints Lives as History Writing in Late Medieval England PDF Author: Cynthia Turner Camp
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1843844028
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
A groundbreaking assessment of the use medieval English history-writers made of saints' lives. The past was ever present in later medieval England, as secular and religious institutions worked to recover (or create) originary narratives that could guarantee, they hoped, their political and spiritual legitimacy. Anglo-SaxonEngland, in particular, was imagined as a spiritual "golden age" and a rich source of precedent, for kings and for the monasteries that housed early English saints' remains. This book examines the vernacular hagiography produced in a monastic context, demonstrating how writers, illuminators, and policy-makers used English saints (including St Edmund) to re-envision the bonds between ancient spiritual purity and contemporary conditions. Treating history and ethical practice as inseparable, poets such as Osbern Bokenham, Henry Bradshaw, and John Lydgate reconfigured England's history through its saints, engaging with contemporary concerns about institutional identity, authority, and ethics. Cynthia Turner Camp is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Georgia.

Priests and Their Books in Late Anglo-Saxon England

Priests and Their Books in Late Anglo-Saxon England PDF Author: Gerald P. Dyson
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9781783276387
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Fresh perspectives on the English clergy, their books, and the wider Anglo-Saxon church.

Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800

Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 PDF Author: Patrick Sims-Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521673426
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
Describes the early conversion to Christianity of the pagan peoples of an area stretching from Stratford-upon-Avon to Offa's Dyke.

The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons C.597-c.700

The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons C.597-c.700 PDF Author: Marilyn Dunn
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441110135
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Draws on historical, ethnographical and anthropological studies to create a fresh understanding of Christianization in medieval Europe.

Contesting Christendom

Contesting Christendom PDF Author: James L. Halverson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742554726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
The pervasiveness of the Christian religion has long been treated as one of the key features of medieval society. Indeed, Europe in the Middle Ages is often described simply as a Christian culture. Yet what do we mean when we say that medieval Europe was a Christian society, and what did it mean to be a Christian in the Middle Ages? These questions are fundamental to any understanding of the Middle Ages, yet the variety of theoretical approaches and conclusions represented in this carefully selected and provocative collection of key works in the field highlights the complexity of the answers. Introducing students to medieval Christianity, James L. Halverson presents a rich array of readings that offers a variety of ways to study the history of religion within a chronological setting. His opening chapter and introductions to each section and selection frame the essays and provide a strong conceptual framework to build upon. Making it clear that scholars have approached religion from many perspectives and used many different methodologies, this collection presents some of the best scholarship of religion as culture and practice, emphasizing the ongoing attempt to understand the social and cultural aspects of medieval Christianity. Contributions by: Rudolf Bell, Constance Brittain Bouchard, Peter Brown, Marcus Bull, Caroline Walker Bynum, Mark R. Cohen, Georges Duby, Eamon Duffy, Joan Ferrante, Richard Fletcher, Katherine L. French, Thomas A. Fudge, Herbert Grundmann, James L. Halverson, Karen Louise Jolly, Lester Little, Rob Means, Bernd Moeller, Andrew P. Roach, Jane Tibbets Schulenburg, Keith Thomas, and Ian Wood.