IMC 2013: Sessions

Session 603: Adam of Bremen and His Gesta: Reflections on Local Matters in Scandinavia

Tuesday 2 July 2013, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:	School of History, University of Leeds
Organiser:	Tim Barnwell, School of History, University of Leeds / Kısmet Press, Leeds
Moderator/Chair:	Ian N. Wood, School of History, University of Leeds
Paper 603-a	Adam of Bremen and the Problem of Paganism (Language: English) Tim Barnwell, School of History, University of Leeds / Kısmet Press, Leeds Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval, Mentalities, Pagan Religions
Paper 603-b	'Personal Jesus': Adam of Bremen and 'Privet' Churches in Scandinavia during the Early Conversion Period (Language: English) Dimitri Tarat, Department of History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval, Lay Piety, Mentalities
Paper 603-c	Reading Adam of Bremen in Medieval Scandinavia (Language: English) Erik Niblaeus, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities, University of Cambridge Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval, Local History, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract	Few medieval authors can match the originality, psychological accuracy, and literary finesse displayed by Adam of Bremen in his Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. His work is essential for our understanding of the conversion period in Scandinavia, and yet it is also a sophisticated and subtle text which must be handled with care. This session will be used to provide three new perspectives on this difficult text, considering Adam's descriptions of the Christianisation of Scandinavia in terms of both his deliberate literary strategies and his unquestioned prejudices, and contrasting these approaches with an analysis of his reception by the earliest generations of Scandinavian historians.