EMISCS13

The connections between preaching, politics, and society have been manifold yet varied in the period from Late Antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. In this multi-lingual volume, these associations are studied within their historical context over twelve new contributions, addressing a wide range of geographical areas and opening up a series of sources which have previously been neglected. Special attention is paid to the cultural and geographical circumstances in which the complex relationship between political thought and preaching should be explored. These contributions reveal the circumstances and the procedures that inspire various preachers to reflect upon political topics, which are often of a sensitive nature. In this way, the powerful and the general public of believers have access to an array of political ideas, allowing opinion-making and political discussion. Furthermore, the collection also shows news ways in which political thought and preaching can be explored, revealing new methods and lines of inquiry allowing insights into the complexities of medieval societies. The international cast of contributors provides a broad perspective on the subject, through six articles in French, and six in English.

Depuis au moins l’Antiquité tardive, les relations entre prédication et société politique ont été nombreuses et variées. Dans le présent volume ont été réunies douze contributions qui, en mettant en œuvre une documentation le plus souvent encore inédite, étudient comment, dans des contextes historiques, culturels et géographiques différents, ces relations complexes se sont déployées. Les contributions permettent ainsi de mieux apprécier dans quelles circonstances et selon quelles modalités plusieurs prédicateurs ont été amenés à proposer dans leurs sermons une réflexion de nature politique censée contribuer à la formation de l’opinion des puissants et des fidèles en général. Elles montrent aussi quelques-unes des voies qui permettent d’explorer un domaine de recherche qui n’a suscité jusqu’ici qu’un nombre limités de travaux, mais dont la connaissance est sans aucun doute indispensable pour mieux comprendre la complexité des sociétés médiévales.

Editing as an academic mode of work has had a variable ‘press’ - it is often seen as just plumbing. But without editions no historian of whatever critical persuasion could operate. Texts that are not edited are effectively invisible.

The advent of electronic means of text production has also raised new possibilities and new problems that need to be openly considered rather than ignored. The papers in this volume reflect those concerns, and explore the ways forward. How do the best editorial procedures of the past get transmitted to the future? A distinguished line-up of experienced editors and younger scholars actively grappling with these issues reflect on their engagement with the challenges of textual theory and editorial practice.

No single solution emerges as applicable to all texts and for all editions; the individual characteristics of each text and its transmission, together with the intended audience of each edition, emerge as primary areas for consideration.

The present collection explores a hitherto understudied body of Nordic medieval literature which, although overlooked in traditional, language-based narratives, was in fact crucial in shaping social and religious identities.

By drawing on the ‘performance turn’ in cultural studies, the volume identifies a number of minor and peripheral literary forms and texts that had a vital connection to ritual and ritualized speech. These neglected traditions therefore offer an alternative insight into Nordic literary life and the sets of cultural expression, or storyworlds, underlying Nordic culture.

The collected studies explore different aspects of verbal performances as a primary vehicle for the Nordic storyworlds, with a preference for the Christian over the pagan traditions. Emphasis is placed on Latin, Old Norse, and Finnish traditions that were retold and reproduced over time. These ‘living’ literary forms highlight the importance of non-canonical texts for the interpretation of contact between the peripheries and centres of Nordic culture. Through the focus on the interaction between Latin and the vernacular, between eastern Baltic and western Latin influences, and between ritual and speech in religious practice, this collection demonstrates the importance of ‘minor’ texts for the re-construction of medieval Nordic culture and history.