ABSTRACT

Where medieval Denmark and Scandinavia as a whole has often been seen as a cultural backwater that passively and belatedly received cultural and political impulses from Western Europe, Professor Michael H. Gelting and scholars inspired by him have shown that the intellectual, religious and political elite of Denmark actively participated in the renaissance and reformation of the central and later medieval period. This work has wide ramifications for understanding developments in medieval Europe, but so far the discussion has taken place only in Danish-language publications. This anthology brings the latest research in Danish medieval history to a wider audience and integrates it with contemporary international discussions of the making of the European middle ages.

chapter 1|8 pages

Introduction

part I|65 pages

Religious Culture

chapter 3|16 pages

Byzantinizing Crucifixes in Central Medieval Denmark

How, When and Why

chapter 4|16 pages

Motherhood as Emotion and Social Practice

Mary and Anne as Maternal Models in Medieval Iceland

chapter 5|16 pages

The Black Friars and the Black Death

Effects of the Plague on Friars Preachers in Fourteenth-Century Northern Europe

part II|79 pages

Intellectual Culture

chapter 7|20 pages

Banking on – and with – the Victorines

The Strange Case of Archbishop Eskil's Lost Deposit

chapter 9|16 pages

Two Journeys and One University

King Christian I and Queen Dorothea's Journeys to Rome and the Foundation of the University of Copenhagen

part III|79 pages

Legal Culture

chapter 10|26 pages

The Church Law of Scania on the Consecration of Churches and the Appointment of Parish Priests

International Canon Law and that of Scania

chapter 11|20 pages

Dating the Laws of Medieval Denmark

Studies of the Manuscripts of the Danish Church Laws

chapter 13|20 pages

Border Warfare between King and Pope in Late Medieval Denmark

A Case Study of Royal Politics towards Ecclesiastical Benefices and Papal Provisions c.1350–1525

part IV|51 pages

Aristocratic and Court Culture

chapter 15|14 pages

Runes, Knives and Vikings

The Valdemarian Kings and the Danish Past in a Comparative Perspective

chapter 16|18 pages

Placing Blame and Creating Legitimacy

The Implications of Rügish Involvement in the Struggle over the Succession amidst the Danish Church Strife c.1258–1260