Debating Religious Space and Place in the Early Medieval World (c. AD 300-1000)

Religious spaces are often some of the most debated, contested, or otherwise scrutinized in the early medieval world. That space and place were important to people in the past is evident in their architecture, artwork, literature, and in their cemeteries and burial grounds. While these observations are not new, this volume brings together interdisciplinary and multi-national archaeologists, historians, and geographers to discuss and debate ‘space’ and ‘place’ with a focus on new methodologies and current approaches to Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.
The papers in this volume address such themes as phenomenological and experiential issues in the archaeology of space and place, access to and visibility of spaces (locations) in the past, the transformation and appropriation of spaces beyond the ‘Christian/Pagan’ dichotomy, and aspects of community and memory-building in the medieval world. The contributors to this volume recognize that terms such as ‘Christianization,' ‘Islamization,' and indeed ‘space’ and ‘place’ themselves are loaded words and each paper takes a different route to the discussion of sacred space in the past. Together, they offer a current discussion about the role of ‘space’ and ‘place’ in religious history.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Defining Religious ‘Space’ and ‘Place’
Brittany Thomas and Chantal Bielmann

Chapter 1. The Evolution of Forum Space in Late Antique Hispania: the Genesis of a New Urbanism?
Pilar Diarte-Blasco

Chapter 2. Malta in Late Antiquity: Mortuary Places and Spaces
Glen Farrugia

Chapter 3. A Case for Space: Rereading the Imperial Panels of San Vitale
Brittany Thomas

Chapter 4. The Early Medieval architecture of the cult places in the Western Alps: The Verbano Cusio Ossola district
Francesca Garanzini

Chapter 5. Identifying the Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries in the Tees Valley, North-East England
Stephen J. Sherlock

Chapter 6. Religious Change vs Cultural Change: The Case of Islamisation in the Early Medieval Period
Jose Carvajal Lopez

Chapter 7. Interactions between the Clerical Enclosure and the Extra-Claustral Clergy in Carolingian Francia: A Sacred Space with Porous Walls
Stephen Ling

Chapter 8. The monastery of Saint Maurice of Agaune (Switzerland) in the first millennium
Alessandra Antonini (translated by Chantal Bielmann)

Chapter 9. Exploring Monastic Space and Place in the Swiss Alps
Chantal Bielmann

Chapter 10. Sacred Ground: Community and Separation in a Norse Churchyard, Greenland
Jess Angus McCullough

Chapter 11. Light and Life in the Catacombs: Questioning the Early Christian and Early Medieval Pilgrim Experience
Neil Christie

Conclusion: Looking for Beliefs and Visions in Archaeology
Deirdre O’Sullivan

Dr. Chantal Bielmann is Postgraduate Researcher Development Adviser at the University of Leicester. She completed her PhD in 2014 at Leicester on A Christianisation of Switzerland? Urban and Rural Transformations in a Time of Transition, AD 300-800. Her research interests include religious landscapes, including monastic archaeology, as well as alpine culture and archaeology. Chantal is currently working on a project looking at building techniques and architecture of medieval churches in Ticino, Switzerland. Her recent publications include:

2017. ‘Saintly’ space and alpine towns in Rhaetia Secunda and Vallis Poenina. Conference Proceedings of Urban and Rural Landscapes between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (November 14-16 2012), University of Zaragoza (forthcoming).

2016. Roaming bishops or local landowners? Exploring patronage and ownership of early medieval churches in Churrhaetia. Fana, aedes, ecclesiae. Forme e luoghi di culto nell’arco alpino occidentale dalla preistoria al medioevo. Milan Aligraphis Libri.

Dr. Brittany Thomas has recently completed her PhD at the University of Leicester, working on the late antique art and architecture of Ravenna under Dr Neil Christie. Her research interests include approaches to art in public spaces, public engagement with heritage spaces, and conceptions of ‘the gaze’ and ‘the viewer’ in historic periods. Her recent publications include:

2016. Imperial Statues and Public Spaces in Late Antiquity: Conceptualising ‘Constantine’ at York as an Ancient Public Commission. TRAC 2015: Proceedings of the Twenty Fifth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, Leicester 2015. Oxford: Oxbow Books.