Religion and Belieff

276 Pages·2016·22.52 MB·English

Religion and Belieff
El Europe
Ill
Papers of the 'Medieval Europe Brugge 1997' Conference
Volu1ne 4
edited by
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1997

I.A.P. Rapporten
uitgegeven door I edited by
Prof Dr. Guy De Boe

eligion and elief
• Medieval Europe
Ill
Papers of the 'Medieval Europe Brugge 1997' Conference
Volume 4
edited by
Guy De Boe & Frans Verhaeghe
I.A.P. Rapporten 4
Zellik
1997

Een uitgave van het Published by the
Instituut voor het Archeologisch Patrimonium
Institute for the Archaeological Heritage
Wetenschappelijke instelling van de Scientific Institution of the
Vlaamse Gemeenschap Flemish Community
Departement Leefmilieu en lnfrastructuur Department of the Environment and Infrastructure
Administratie Ruimtelijke Ordening, Huisvesting Administration of Town Planning, Housing
en Monumenten en Landschappen and Monuments and Landscapes
Doornveld
Industrie Asse 3 nr. 11, Bus 30
B -1731 Zellik -Asse
Tel: [phone] (+ 32 2 463 13 33)
Fax: [phone] (+ 32 2 463 19 51)
DTP: Arpuco.
Seer.: M. Lauwaert & S. Van de Voorde.
ISSN 1372-0007
ISBN 90-75230-05-2
D/1997 /6024/4

04 RELIGION AND BELIEF - GODSDIENST EN GELOOF - LE MONDE DE LA RELIGION -
RELIGION UND GLAUBE
was organized by Karen Hoilund Nielsen
werd georganiseerd door Hubert De Witte
fut organisee par
wurde veranstaltet von
Preface
Religion and belief constitute fundamental com different types of social strategies - have given new
ponents of all societies past and present and medieval life to the study of churches, abbeys and other religi
and later times are no exception to the rule. In the ous buildings.
medieval West, the three great monotheistic religions The archaeological study of religion and belief
-Christianity, Islam and Judaism- very much per cannot limit itself to the excavation, description and
vaded most aspects of daily life' and society, up to and art historical and historical study of religious build
including the spatial organisation of the landscape ings, because the latter are but one category of their
and settlements. Through its multiple specific organ visible and archaeologically detectable manifesta
isations and its growing role as a political and econ tions. Other ways to investigate them include the
omic power from late Roman times onwards, the archaeological study of burial and mortuary pract
Church also gained social and cultural control in a ices, a whole range of symbol isms reflected in medie
major way, expanding continuously its influence to val and later art and architecture and many types of
the North and East. In later times, after the emer objects and the ways they are decorated. In addition,
gence of Protestantism, this would hardly change. neither the physical spatial imprint of religion on
And in the South, the confrontation with Islam towns, villages and rural areas nor the many mean
equally pervaded society. ings of the buildings themselves in terms of power,
The monumental dimension of religion and belief social strategies and gender-related situations can be
-religious buildings of all kinds - has long enjoyed neglected. All this illustrates rather well the many
the attention of archaeologists, historians and art his intricate links between religion and belief on the one
torians, not only because of the impact churches, hand and many if not most other aspects of the
monasteries and related structures had on past and medieval and later world which are of direct interest
present land- and townscapes but also because of to archaeologists on the other. In this sense, religion
their strong art historical connotations and their and belief again demonstrate the need for (medieval
significance in terms of architectural history. To and later) archaeology not to isolate this topic from
some extent and together with castles, they were the the many other subjects which confront them. And
most readily accessible physical remains of the medie this in turn is in keeping with the philosophy of the
val and later past. Before the advent of a fullfledged international conference on medieval and later
medieval and later archaeology, they constituted one archaeology MEDlEY AL EUROPE BRUGGE 1997
of the most 'popular' fields of research, to a large which took place in Brugge, Belgium, on 1 through 4
extent dominated by specialists of architectural his October 1997.
tory. But with the emergence of more modem ques
tions and approaches, the attention seems to have For sheer practical reasons, however, a number of
been diverted to some extent and in the 1970s and contributions presented on this occasion have been
part of the 1980s, the archaeology of religious build grouped in section 04 under the general heading
ings grew at a slower pace than the rest of medieval Religion and belief - Le monde de la religion -
and later archaeology. Since then, the swing of the Religion und Glaube - Godsdienst en geloof The
pendulum seems to have been reversed and the new section was organized by Karen H0ilund Nielsen
approaches and questions - particularly in terms of (Denmark) and Hubert De Witte (Urban Archaeo
spatial organisation, symbolisms of all kinds and logy Service, Brugge, Belgium).
The present volume offers a collection of pre - Finally, a last section groups papers concerning
printed papers, a number of which were presented specific aspects ofbeliefs and different types of their
orally and debated during the sessions of section 04. material manifestations, including the processes of
Unfortunately, quite a few contributors to this section conversion, ex-voto's and aspects of magic.
did not submit a text in time for inclusion in the The volume of course does not do justice to the
present volume while other colleagues could not at many excavations and the wealth of other types of
tend and present their contribution. This explains research work where religion and belief constitute
why the general structure and the contents of the basic issues or are of direct or indirect importance.
present volume do not conform exactly to the pro Nor does it provide a complete overview of the
gramme of the conference. The volume has been results attained and knowledge acquired. Neverthe
organized keeping in mind both the complexity of the less, the 25 papers included in the present volume
subject and the general lines of the structure of provide a good idea of the potential of this particular
section 04 of the conference. This means that the con field of research, emphasizing at the same time the
tributions in the present volume have more or less complexity of the subject. They also indicate that in
been grouped according to the following topics: a number of ways, the archaeological study of medie
- a first series of papers concerns monasteries and val and religious buildings is slowly but definitely
abbeys, with a number of contributions which discuss changing while the interest in new aspects of and
more general topics and/or take a regional approach. indicators for religion and belief is growing This is
They are followed by a few studies which present the even more true when this collection of papers is
recent information for specific sites. considered within the context of the other volumes in
- The next section groups papers related to eccles the present series - and particularly those on urban
iastical organisation, churches and synagogues, with ism (0 1) , death and burial (02), art and symbolism
again a number of general and regional approaches (05), rural settlement (06) and material culture (07).
and a number of site-related studies, this time fol
lowed by two contributions on synagogues.
Frans Verhaeghe & Guy De Boe