Placeholder text

Go to cart

The Cross Goes North

By Martin Carver

The Cross Goes North

By Martin Carver

0 - Default Title
Description
In Europe, the cross went north and east as the centuries unrolled: from the Dingle Peninsula to Estonia, and from the Alps to Lapland, ranging in time from Roman Britain and Gaul in the third and fourth centuries to the conversion of peoples in the Baltic area a thousand years later. These episodes of conversion form the basic narrative here. History encourages the belief that the adoption of Christianity was somehow irresistible, but specialists show the underside of the process by turning the spotlight from the missionaries, who recorded their triumphs, to the converted, exploring their local situations and motives. What were the reactions of the northern peoples to the Christian message? Why would they wish to adopt it for the sake of its alliances? In what way did they adapt the Christian ethos and infrastructure to suit their own community? How did conversion affect the status of farmers, of smiths, of princes and of women? Was society wholly changed, or only in marginal matters of devotion and superstition? These are the issues discussed here by thirty-eight experts from across northern Europe; some answers come from astute re-readings of the texts alone, but most are owed to a combination of history, art history and archaeology working together.
MARTIN CARVER is Professor of Archaeology, University of York
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Edition:
illustrated
Number of Pages:
604
Release Date:
2006-01-26
Publication Date:
2006-01-26
Publisher:
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
1843831252
ISBN13:
9781843831259
Weight:
904 g
Height:
156 cm
Width:
234 cm
Thickness:
32 cm
Buy on Amazon
Currently sold out