Udomawianie św. Wojciecha. Mitologizacja misjonarstwa i władzy biskupiej w Polsce i w Skandynawii od XI do XIII w.
St Adalbertus domesticus. Patterns of missioning and episcopal power in Poland and Scandinavia from the 11th to the 13th century

Author(s): Wojtek Jezierski
Subject(s): Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: medieval history; church history; Christianity in the Middle Ages; religious culture; Poland during the Piast dynasty
Summary/Abstract: This article explores the ways episcopal milieus on the north-eastern peripheries of Europe created and renewed their identities and symbols of episcopal authority by domesticating their immigrant saints during the high Middle Ages. By comparing the examples of holy bishops arriving to Poland, Sweden, and present-day Finland (St Adalbert, St Sigfrid, St Henry), it studies the episcopal mythopoesis, that is, the creation of foundational myths and mythologies as well as their adaptation to specific local needs and changing historical circumstances. The article further probes to what extent these mythopoetic efforts were original or imitative in comparison to the Western European episcopal centres and other peripheries. How similarly or differently did the bishops in the “old” and “young” Europe respond to the question: What beginnings do we need today? And what role did the appropriation, commodification, and domestication of holy bishops’ images and body parts play in building the institutional identities of bishoprics?

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