Servants of god?: Servi in the letters of Gregory the great

When Gregory the Great styled himself 'servant of the servants of God' in his correspondence, he was drawing on a long tradition of using service as a metaphor to describe appropriate religious leadership and piety. However, his letters also reveal a church filled with servi, whose service to religion was neither metaphorical nor chosen, and upon whom both religious institutions and individuals were utterly dependent. This article explores the conjunction and disjunction between the rhetoric of service as a religious ideal in Gregory's correspondence, and the reality of service, which his letters indirectly reveal. It argues that the rhetoric and reality of service both shaped each other and that service thereby became a determinative model of behaviour in late antique and early medieval Christianity. Gregory's letters are therefore a useful case-study through which to explore an important issue in the development of the church as a sociallyembedded institution.

The value of weoro: A historical sociological analysis of honour in Anglo-Saxon society

The values that underpin the Anglo-Saxon concept of honour changed at the beginning of the sixth century. During this period, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms enshrined a new era of cultural and religious fervour, inculcating new practices of honour among the new Christianised Anglo-Saxon elite. This paper demonstrates the transition from pagan to Christian honour systems. Historians have often examined honour through concepts based on comparisons or 'terms of art', for example 'Bushido' in Japan, 'Futuwwa' in Islam, and 'chivalry' in Christianised later-medieval Europe. This paper emulates these examples by examining honour in Anglo-Saxon society through use of the Old English term weoro, an under-studied phenomenon. Unlike Bushido or chivalry, weoro does not imply a mandated way of living. Weoro is instead pervasive, encompassing many modes of Anglo-Saxon life: poetry, giving- and -receiving, burial, kin, and bestowing honours. This paper combines sociological analysis with historical evidence.

Death on the altar: The rhetoric of 'otherness' in sources from the early period of the crusades

The article poses a thesis that the chroniclers of the First Crusade were tapping into a preexisting literary tradition of religious conflict in the process of shaping an image of an enemy. It centres on an analysis of the symbolic significance of the particular description of a priest's death at the hands of the Turks on the altar during the celebration of mass found in several sources describing the massacre of Christians in Civetot during the First Crusade (Gesta Francorum, Tudebode's Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere, Baldric of Dol's Historiae Hierosolymitanae libri IV, Guibert of Nogent's Gesta Dei per Francos, Robert the Monk's Historia Hierosolymitana, and Oderic Vitalis' Historia ecclesiastica). The article argues that the presented description could be considered an example of a rhetorical strategy employed in the crusading accounts, used for the purpose of depicting the enemy as religious and cultural 'other'. Furthermore, the article discusses the intertextuality and the potential influence of ancient and scriptural motifs on the literary workshop of the chroniclers in their versions of the story.

The six ages of Patrick: Yet another return to the dating question

This article returns to the surviving texts of Patrick, apostle to Ireland, in order to refine further his floruit in the fifth century. It argues that Patrick's use of a classical scheme relating age to status clarifies the contexts for the autobiographical details of his life, and that these details can be correlated with the limited historical records that survive for this period. In connecting his excommunication of Coroticus to an Easter controversy c. 455, and his controversial elevation to an episcopal see to a dislocation in clerical authority in Britain c. 441, I argue that Patrick's formal clerical career c. 427-455 matches Richard Hanson's sophisticated literary arguments made in the latter third of the twentieth century. I also propose that the uncertainty over the date of Patrick's death (in a context of exile), as represented by various reports in the Irish and Welsh annals c. 457-493, is inconsequential to his formal period of authority.

The Christianisation of the eastern European Steppe peoples

This paper examines the difficulties experienced in bringing Christianity to the peoples of eastern Europe in the early Middle Ages and beyond. In focus are the problems and processes of converting the Eurasian nomads who appeared in the steppes of eastern Europe. The research reveals that the success of missionary activity from various Christian denominations (often associated with trade activities) depended upon the receptiveness of the leaders of nomadic communities. A number of examples from various communities are provided.

Narrating laws and laws of narration in Medieval Scandinavia [Book Review]

Review(s) of: Narrating Laws and Laws of Narration in Medieval Scandinavia, by Scheel, Roland (ed.), Erganzungsbande zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 117 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2020) hardcover, x + 295 pages, 4 b and w illustrations, RRP euro99.95; ISBN 9783110654219.

Epitaph for an era: Politics and rhetoric in the Carolingian world [Book Review]

Review(s) of: Epitaph for an Era: Politics and Rhetoric in the Carolingian World, by De Jong, Mayke, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019) e-book, xvi +262 pages, 1 map, RRP 22.99 pounds; ISBN: 9781108813884.

The saga of the Jomsvikings: A translation for students [Book Review]

Review(s) of: The Saga of the Jomsvikings: A Translation for Students, by Finlay, Alison and ordis Edda Johannesdottir, The Northern Medieval World (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications/Berlin: de Gruyter, 2018) paperback, 124 pages, 1 b and w + 3 colour illustrations, RRP euro25.95; ISBN: 9781580443135.

Monsters in society: Alterity, transgression, and the use of the past in Medieval Iceland [Book Review]

Review(s) of: Monsters in Society: Alterity, Transgression, and the Use of the Past in Medieval Iceland, by Merkelbach, Rebecca, The Northern Medieval World (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications/Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019) hardback, 253 pages, RRP euro86.95; ISBN: 9781501518362.