Imr 07 Christianizing Peoples and Converting Individuals, Armstrong (International Medieval Research)

The anniversary of Augustine’s arrival in Kent in 597, and the subsequent christianization of England, made conversion an obvious theme for the 1997 International Medieval Congress. It was also a theme which attracted massive interest, and not just from early medievalists interested in the christianization of England and its near-contemporary parallels. This volume presents reworkings of 28 of these contributions. The Early Middle Ages are represented in a number of papers concerned with Central and Eastern Europe and as far east as Georgia. Interest in the Baltic region took this aspect of the christianization of Europe well into the fourteenth century. Papers on these regions constitute a good proportion of the present volume, and they provide a very useful point of entry into work currently being done on christinization in areas which are less well known to most historians than is Western Europe not least because of the range of languages involved. With respect to later periods of the Middle Ages two issues predominated: one was the interface between Christians and Muslims in Spain and in the Holy Land and also between Christians and Jews once again in Spain, but also in England, and more generally in Western Europe. The other was the rather more theological question of the nature of conversion, as discussed by Aquinas, and in Franciscan writings. This wide-ranging volume concentrates on historical approaches to the topic. The different types of questions posed and materials used are a fascinating indication of the different interpretations to be found among specialists in different fields. Christianization, as a process affecting complete peoples, or at least large groups, attracts attention, as does conversion of the individual. By putting these varying approaches together, this collection indicates the range of current work on christianization and conversion history and the range itself, quite apart from the individual studies, is an eye-opener. " The special theme of the 1997 International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds produced more than one hundred contributions. The special strand organiser, Prof. Ian Wood, selected and solicited twenty-eight papers in order to produce this most comprehensive treatment on the subject of conversion across the full chronological, geographical and religious expanse of medieval Europe and central Asia. The contributions comprise: J. M. Bak; Signs of conversion in laws R. Berman Brown and S. McCartney; Living in limbo: the experience of Jewish converts in medieval England M. Casey; Conversion as depicted on the fourteenth-century Tring tiles W. von Egmond; Converting monks: missionary activity in early medieval Frisia and Saxony U. Engel; The "conversion" of King John and its consequences for the architectural history of Worcester cathedral M. Evans; Marriage as a means of conversion in Pierre Duboiss De Recuperatione Terre Sancte M.-L. Favreau-Lilie; The conversion of the Finns - a reappraisal of the archaeological record A.-S. Graslund; New perspectives on an old problem: Uppsala and the Christianization of Sweden Z. Hunyadi; Signs and symbols of conversion, I. The written sources: Charters H. Janson; Adam of Bremen and the conversion of Scandinavia Anna Kuznetsova, Signs of conversion in Vitae sanctorum D. Mowbray; "Conversio ad bonum commutabile": Augustinian language of "conversion" in medieval theology B. Nilsson; Early Christian burials in Sweden T. S. Noonan; Why orthodoxy did not spread among the Bulgars of the Crimea during the early medieval era: an early Byzantine conversion model P. O'Brien; Platonism and Plagiarism at the end of the Middle Ages W. Pohl; Deliberate ambiguity: the Lombards and Christianity P. Quinn; Aquinas, the intellect and divine enlightenment B. Ravid; The forced baptism of Jews in medieval England The selected essays in this volume deal with the subject of conversion across the full chronological, geographical and religious expanse of medieval Europe and central Asia. "This is a stimulating and absorbing volume!" (C. M. Cusack in Parergon, p.253-254) " A series of 28 wide-ranging papers, from the 1997 Leeds International Medieval Congress, which focus on the interface between Christians and Muslims in Spain and Palestine, and between Christians and Jews in Spain, England and Western Europe. Subjects include: the conversion of Georgia in the 4th century; the Christianisation of Kent; early medieval missionary activity, the conversion of Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe; the conversion of Jews; conversion in the Mediterranean; competing faiths in Asia; conversion theology; the representation of conversion in the architecture of Worcester Cathedral and the design of 14th-century Tring tiles. pI_II.pdf 1 pIII.pdf 3 pIV_VIII.pdf 4 pIX_X.pdf 9 p001_014.pdf 11 p015_024.pdf 25 p025_036.pdf 35 p037_046.pdf 47 p047_058.pdf 57 p059_067.pdf 69 p068_071.pdf 78 p072.pdf 82 p073_082.pdf 83 p083_088.pdf 93 p089_100.pdf 99 p101_102.pdf 111 p103_114.pdf 113 p115_124.pdf 125 p125_132.pdf 135 p133_146.pdf 143 p147_154.pdf 157 p155_168.pdf 165 p169_192.pdf 179 p193_202.pdf 203 p203_222.pdf 213 p223_246.pdf 233 p247_258.pdf 257 p259_266.pdf 269 p267_276.pdf 277 p277_282.pdf 287 p283_294.pdf 293 p295_302.pdf 305 p303_318.pdf 313 p319_330.pdf 329 p331_337.pdf 341 p338.pdf 348 p339_346.pdf 349 p347_352.pdf 357 This selection of papers from the International Medieval Congress held at Leeds University in 1997, reflects the interest shown by those present, in the christianisation of Britain and the interface between Christians, Muslims and Jews