In the shadow of death : Saint Boniface and the conversion of Hessia, 721-54 / by John-Henry Clay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clay, John-Henry, author.

Series:

Cultural encounters in late antiquity and the Middle Ages ; Volume 11.

Cultural encounters in late antiquity and the Middle Ages ; Volume 11

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Boniface, Saint, Archbishop of Mainz, approximately 675-754.

Boniface.

Hessians--Religion.

Hessians.

Missions, English--Germany--History--To 1500.

Missions, English.

Germany--Church history--To 843.

Germany.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 487 pages) : illustrations, maps.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout, Belgium : Brepols, [2010]

Summary:

In the year 721 the Anglo-Saxon missionary St Boniface came with his followers to Hessia, a small but turbulent province on the borders of the expanding Frankish kingdom. This book is the first dedicated interdisciplinary study of Boniface's thirty-three-year mission among the Hessians. The author relates the historical sources to the rich archaeological heritage of the region in order to describe the political and cultural context of the mission and its relationship to long-term Frankish interests in the Saxon borderlands. Thanks to the survival of many letters between the missionary community and its supporters, it is also possible to examine a symbolic literary discourse that portrayed the missionaries as heroic exiles who chose to suffer torments in a distant land for the sake of Christ. Finally, fresh evidence drawn from topography and place names is used to argue for the existence of an expansive pre-Christian sacred landscape that was one of the major obstacles faced by Boniface and his followers. The result is an innovative study that brings history and archaeology into communication with the landscape, both real and imagined, in order to reconstruct a crucial moment in the conversion of Europe in all its complexity, ambiguity, and drama. Awarded the Josef Leinweber Prize 2009 by the Fulda Faculty of Theology.

Contents:

Foundations. Introduction ; Historiography

Context. West Saxon origins ; Hessia on the eve of the Bonifatian mission

Mission. The chronology of the Bonifatian mission in Hessia ; Representing the mission ; Experiencing the mission ; Conclusion

Appendix. Terms and expressions relating to mission and missionaries in the letters of Boniface and Lul ; Metaphors and motifs used to represent the mission in the letters of Boniface and Lul ; The terms Germania and Germanicum in the letters of Boniface and Lul ; Property held by Hersfeld in Hessia before 775 ; Patrons of Fulda in the Amöneburg district, 750-79.

Notes:

Revision of the author's doctoral thesis.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [431]-471) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

2-503-56025-3