Imagining the Sacred Past : Hagiography and Power in Early Normandy / Samantha Kahn Herrick.
Herrick, Samantha Kahn, author.
2007
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Title Imagining the Sacred Past : Hagiography and Power in Early Normandy / Samantha Kahn Herrick.
Author Herrick, Samantha Kahn, author.
ISBN 9780674273689
DOI https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674273689
Published Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2007]
Copyright ©2007
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource (272 p.)
Item Number 10.4159/9780674273689 doi
Dewey Decimal Classification 274.4/204
Summary In 911, the French king ceded land along the river Seine to Rollo the Viking, on condition that he convert to Christianity. Over the next century and a half, Rollo and his descendants would become powerful and pious Christian rulers of the mighty European territory, Normandy. In 1066, Rollo's descendant William would conquer England, with papal sanction. Investigating the role of religious tradition in the legitimation of power and the establishment of identity, Samantha Kahn Herrick illuminates the often murky early history of the duchy of Normandy. Central to this religious heritage stood the region's traditional saints, whose deeds, recorded in Latin lives, were celebrated regularly. Herrick focuses on the neglected figures Taurinus of Evreux, Vigor of Bayeux, and Nicasius of Rouen, saints with particular resonance in areas central to the Norman dukes' territorial ambitions. In elaborating a vision of the past that helped explain the present, the saints' stories sanctioned the dukes' rule. Innovative in its historical use of hagiographical literature, this work advances our understanding of early Normandy and the Vikings' transformation from pagan raiders to Christian princes. It also sheds light on the intersection of religious tradition, identity, and power.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Dez 2022)
Series Harvard Historical Studies ; 156
In HUP eBook Package Archive 1893-1999
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
Linked Resources Online Access
Record Appears in Online Resources > Ebooks
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Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Map: Eleventh-Century Normandy
Genealogical Chart: Rulers of Normandy and Their Connections, 911-1087
Introduction
1 Placing the Texts in Time
2 Individual Appeal Explaining the Interest in Taurinus, Vigor, and Nicasius
3 Imagining the Past of the Évrecin The Vita Taurini
4 Reshaping History in the Bessin The Vita Vigoris
5 Claiming the Heritage of the French Vexin The Passio Nicasii
6 Broader Perspective The Norman Vision of the Distant Past and Contemporary Hagiography
Conclusion
Appendix 1 Manuscripts of the Vita Taurini and Vita Vigoris
Appendix 2 Transmission of the Passio Nicasii
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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