Epigraphic Literacy and Christian Identity, Modes of Written Discourse in the Newly Christian European North.

Brepols 2012. Hardback,VI 273 p., 39 b/w ill., 15 b/w line art, 156 x 234 mm, Languages: English. ISBN 9782503542942. collection of nine essays deals with the role of epigraphic literacy within the newly introduced Christian culture and the developing tradition of literacy in Northern Europe. This volume examines the role of epigraphic literacy within the newly introduced Christian culture and the developing tradition of literacy in Northern Europe during the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages. The epigraphic material under scrutiny here originates from Scandinavia and North-West Russia ? two regions that were converted to Christianity around the turn of the first millennium. Besides traditional categories of epigraphic sources, such as monumental inscriptions on durable materials, the volume is concerned with more casual inscriptions on less permanent materials. The first part of the book discusses a form of monumental epigraphic literacy manifested on Scandinavian rune stones, with a particular focus on their Christian connections. The second part examines exchanges between Christian culture and ephemeral products of epigraphic literacy, as expressed through Scandinavian rune sticks, East Slavonic birchbark documents and church graffiti. The essays look beyond the traditional sphere of parchment literacy and the Christian discourse of manuscript sources in order to explore the role of epigraphic literacy in the written vernacular cultures of Scandinavia and North-West Russia. Table of Contents Epigraphic Literacy and the Communication of Christian Culture in Northern Europe KRISTEL ZILMER . Part I: Runic Literacy and Christian Connections in the Context of Scandinavian Rune Stones Clerical or Lay Literacy in Late Viking Age Uppland? The Evidence of Local Rune Carvers and Their Work MAGNUS KALLSTROM . Carving Technique and Runic Literacy. LAILA KITZLER AHFELDT , Christianity in Runes: Prayers in Scandinavian Rune Stone Inscriptions from the Viking Age and the Early Middle Ages, KRISTEL ZILMER , ?Dead in White Clothes?: Modes of Christian Expression on Viking Age Rune Stones in Present-Day Sweden, HENRIK WILLIAMS, Part II: Exchanges between Christian Culture and Practical Modes of Correspondence in Scandinavia and Northwestern Russia: Rune Sticks, Birchbark Documents and Church Graffiti, Pragmatic Runic Literacy in Scandinavia c. 800-1300: With a Particular Focus on the Bryggen Material MICHAEL SCHULTE How Christian Were the Norwegians in the High Middle Ages? The Runic Evidence TERJE SPURKLAND The Birchbark Documents in Time and Space ? Revisited JOS SCHAEKEN Birchbark Literacy and the Rise of Written Communication in Early Rus? ALEXEJ GIPPIUS Written Culture of Medieval Novgorod in the Light of Epigraphy TATJANA ROZHDESTVENSKAJA List of Contributors