Doing Memory Medieval Saints And Heroes And Their Afterlives In The Baltic Sea Region 19th 20th Centuries

This anthology is about the representations and uses of medieval saints, heroes, and heroic events as elements of popular, local, and national culture during the 19th and 20th centuries in the Baltic Sea region: Scandinavia, Finland, Baltic countries, Northern Germany and North-Western Russia. Authors examine the processes of how medieval saints and heroes have been remembered, commemorated, interpreted, used, and reflected during modernity, and by whom. The focus of the anthology is on "doing" memory as a practice that commemorated the past and shaped spaces and identities in the present. It approaches the memory of saints and heroes, for example, Swedish Saints Birgitta and Eric, Danish Saint Knud, Kyivan Princess Olga, Swedish military leader in Finland Tyrgils Knutsson, Liv/Latvian warrior Imanta and Holsatian count Gerhard III as a shared heritage and as part of national, local and popular culture. The anthology contributes to the understanding of the Baltic Sea region through the study of saints, cults and heroic representations in the longue durée between the Middle Ages and modernity. It also adds nuance to the use of popular concepts of memory studies, particularly an update of Pierre Nora's lieux de mémoire.

This anthology is about the representations and uses of medieval saints, heroes, and heroic events as elements of popular, local, and national culture during the 19th and 20th centuries in the Baltic Sea region: Scandinavia, Finland, Baltic countries, Northern Germany and North-Western Russia. Authors examine the processes of how medieval saints and heroes have been remembered, commemorated, interpreted, used, and reflected during modernity, and by whom. The focus of the anthology is on "doing" memory as a practice that commemorated the past and shaped spaces and identities in the present. It approaches the memory of saints and heroes, for example, Swedish Saints Birgitta and Eric, Danish Saint Knud, Kyivan Princess Olga, Swedish military leader in Finland Tyrgils Knutsson, Liv/Latvian warrior Imanta and Holsatian count Gerhard III as a shared heritage and as part of national, local and popular culture. The anthology contributes to the understanding of the Baltic Sea region through the study of saints, cults and heroic representations in the longue durée between the Middle Ages and modernity. It also adds nuance to the use of popular concepts of memory studies, particularly an update of Pierre Nora's lieux de mémoire.

The conversion of the lands on the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea by Germans, Danes and Swedes in the period from 1150 to 1400 represented the last great struggle between Christianity and paganism on the European continent, but for the indigenous peoples of Finland, Livonia, Prussia, Lithuania and Pomerania, it was also a period of wider cultural conflict and transformation. This collection explores the theme of clash of cultures from a variety of perspectives, discussing the nature and ideology of crusading in the medieval Baltic region, the struggle between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and the cultural confrontation that accompanied the process of conversion.

The societies of the lands around the Baltic Sea underwent remarkable changes in the thirteenth century. This book examines aspects of these religious, economical, societal, and institutional innovations, such as the adaption of the Christianity, emergence of urban life, and the development of economic resources.

In Visual Culture and Politics in the Baltic Sea Region, Kersti Markus examines how visual rhetoric was used by the Danish rulers as an instrument in establishing supremacy in the region during the Baltic crusades.

Winner of the Early Slavic Studies Association 2018 Book Prize This volume offers a novel, trans-regional vision of Viking Age (9th-11th century) cultural and political contacts between Scandinavia and the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea, using predominantly archaeological evidence, combined with historical sources, topography and logistical considerations.