Book Series The North Atlantic World, vol. 9

Small Churches and Religious Landscapes in the North Atlantic c. 900-1300

Jette Arneborg, Orri Vésteinsson (eds)

  • Pages: approx. 365 p.
  • Size:216 x 280 mm
  • Illustrations:63 b/w, 51 col., 10 tables b/w.
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2025


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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-60525-8
  • Paperback
  • Forthcoming (Mar/25)

Forthcoming
  • € 140,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE


BIO

Jette Arneborg is senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark
Orri Vésteinsson is professor of archaeology of the University of Iceland

Summary

In recent years, archaeologists working at Norse sites across the North Atlantic have excavated a number of very small churches with cemeteries, often associated with individual farms. Such sites seem to be a characteristic feature of early ecclesiastical establishments in Norse settlements around the North Atlantic, and they stand in marked contrast to church sites elsewhere in Europe. But what was the reason behind this phenomenon?

From Greenland to Denmark, and from Ireland to the Hebrides, Iceland, and Norway, this volume presents a much-needed overview of small church studies from around the North Atlantic. The chapters gathered here discuss the different types of evidence for small churches and early ecclesiastical landscapes, review existing debates, and develop a synthesis that places the small churches in a broader context. Ultimately, despite the varied types of data at play, the contributions to this volume combine to offer a more coherent picture of the small church phenomenon, pointing to a church that was able to answer the needs of a newly converted population despite the lack of an established infrastructure, and throwing new light on how people lived and worshipped in an environment of dispersed settlements.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Introduction
Jette Arneborg and Orri Vésteinsson

Section 1. Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland

Ireland and the Scandinavian North Atlantic. Comparing Small Churches and Religious Landscapes
Tomás Ó Carragáin

Planning the Presence of God. Approaching Small Churches in Early Medieval Scotland
Gilbert Márkus

The Manx Keeills. Small Churches on the Isle of Man
Andrew Johnson

Small Churches in the Hebrides
Sarah Thomas

A Case Study from the Western Isles. The Lewis Coastal Chapel-sites Survey
Rachel C. Barrowman

Small Churches in Orkney
Sarah Jane Gibbon

Small Churches and Chapels in Shetland. An Archaeological Project in the Context of Norse Christianity in the Norðreyjar (Northern Isles) and Suðreyjar (Southern Isles)
Christopher D. Morris with summaries of projects by Rachel C. Barrowman and Kevin J. Brady

Section 2. Mainland Scandinavia: Denmark and Norway

Between Worship and Representation in the Viking Age. The Early Christian Buildings in Jelling and South Scandinavia
Mads Dengsø Jessen

Small Churches in Norway
Jan Brendalsmo

Section 3. North Atlantic: Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland

Christianity, Churches and Medieval Kirkjubøur. Contacts and Influences in the Faroe Islands
Símun V. Arge

Small Churches in Iceland
Orri Vésteinsson

Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit. An Early Religious Landscape
Hildur Gestsdóttir

The Geography of a Cemetery. Internal Layout, Burial Customs and Social Hierarchy in Early Christian Cemeteries, North Iceland
Guðný Zoëga

Small Churches and Church Organization in Norse Greenland. Farms and Churches in Norse Greenland
Jette Arneborg, Jan Heinemeier, and Niels Lynnerup

Þjóðhildarkirkja Reconsidered
Orri Vésteinsson

Conclusions. The Small Church Phenomenon
Jette Arneborg and Orri Vésteinsson

Index
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Index