The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300) [Hardcover]

Mythology is usually reserved for non-Christian religions. However, the adoption of Christianity in northern and east-central Europe between ca. 1000 and 1300 can be adequately described as a myth-making process: local saints were added to the Christian pantheon in all regions entering Latin Europe. The present collection explores the links between local sanctity and the making of national myths in medieval historical writing. By bringing together specialists in history and literature of the European periphery in question, The contributions convincingly argue that the writing of history and saints’ lives from this pioneering period are attempts at creating cultural foundation myths.

We are presented with an exiting collection of essays studying the process of cultural assimilation of the peripheral zones of Latin Christendom - Scandinavia and East Central Europe. ... On the whole this is a collection of valuable contributions that are not meant to close but to open further, research in a vast field recently considered to separate political, literary, and religious history. - Boris Todorov, Comitatus, Vol. 39, 2008. We are presented with an exiting collection of essays studying the process of cultural assimilation of the peripheral zones of Latin Christendom - Scandinavia and East Central Europe. ... On the whole this is a collection of valuable contributions that are not meant to close but to open further, research in a vast field recently considered to separate political, literary, and religious history.- Boris Todorov, Comitatus, Vol. 39, 2008.

Lars Boje Mortensen is Professor of Ancient and Medieval Cultural History at the University of Southern Denmark and Prof II of Medieval Latin at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Bergen.

Introduction
      Lars Boje Mortensen

Constructing the Past. Religious Dimensions and Historical Consciousness in Adam of Bremen’sGesta