Table Of ContentAdam of Bremen’s Gesta
Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae
Pontifcum
Adam of Bremen’s Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontifcum is one of
the most important accounts documenting the history, geography and eth-
nology of Northern and Central- Eastern Europe in the period between
the ninth and eleventh centuries. Its author, a canon of the archdiocese of
H amburg- Bremen, remains an almost anonymous fgure but his text is an
essential source for the study of the early medieval Baltic. However, despite
its undisputed status, past scholarship has tended to treat Adam of Bremen’s
account as, on the one hand, an historically accurate document, but on the
other, a literary artefact containing few, if any, reliable historical facts.
The studies collected in this volume investigate the origins and context of
the Gesta and will enable researchers to better understand and evaluate the
historical veracity of the text.
Grzegorz Bartusik is assistant professor in the Institute of History at the
University of Silesia in Katowice. His research focuses on cultural devel-
opments in medieval Iceland, especially infuences of Latin culture on Old
Norse/ Icelandic literature.
Radosław Biskup is associate professor in the Institute of History and Archi-
val Studies at the Nicolaos Copernicus University of Torun. His research
focuses on history of the Baltic zone in the Middle Ages, especially ecclesi-
astical developments in the Teutonic Order in Prussia.
Jakub Morawiec is associate professor in the Institute of History at the
University of Silesia in Katowice and head of the Centre for Nordic and Old
English Studies. His research focuses on the history of Scandinavia in the
Middle Ages, the development of royal ideology and Icelandic skalds.
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Adam of Bremen’s Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum
Origins, Reception and Significance
Edited by Grzegorz Bartusik, Radosław Biskup and Jakub Morawiec
For more information about this series, please visit: https:// www.routledge.
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Adam of Bremen’s Gesta
Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae
Pontificum
Origins, Reception and Significance
Edited by
Grzegorz Bartusik, Radosław Biskup
and Jakub Morawiec
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
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© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Grzegorz Bartusik, Radosław
Biskup and Jakub Morawiec; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Grzegorz Bartusik, Radosław Biskup and Jakub
Morawiec to be identifed as the authors of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in
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British Library C ataloguing-i n-P ublication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress C ataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Bartusik, Grzegorz, editor. | Biskup, Radosław, 1976– editor. |
Morawiec, Jakub, editor.
Title: Adam of Bremen's Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontifcum :
origins, reception and signifcance / edited by Grzegorz Bartusik,
Radosław Biskup, Jakub Morawiec.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. |
Series: Studies in medieval history and culture | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Identifers: LCCN 2022002662 (print) | LCCN
2022002663 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032121031 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032121055
(paperback) | ISBN 9781003223030 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Adam, von Bremen, active 11th century. Gesta
Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontifcum. | Catholic Church. Archdiocese of
Hamburg-Bremen—History—To 1500. | Hamburg Region (Germany)—
Church history. | Bremen Region (Germany)—Church history.
Classifcation: LCC BR854.A33 A33 2022 (print) | LCC BR854.A33 (ebook) |
DDC 274.3/515—dc23/eng/20220324
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022002662
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022002663
ISBN: 9 78-1 -0 32- 12103- 1 ( hbk)
ISBN: 9 78-1 -0 32- 12105- 5 ( pbk)
ISBN: 9 78-1 -0 03- 22303-0 (e bk)
DOI: 10.4324/9 781003223030
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Contents
List of abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
GRZEGORZ BARTUSIK, RADOSŁAW BISKUP AND JAKUB MORAWIEC
1 Imperial politics and visions of the North 13
HENRIK JANSON
2 Proselytus et advena: reading the opening lines of Adam’s
prologue in the light of biblical viewpoints on foreigners
and converts 50
ŁUKASZ NEUBAUER
3 Sven Estridsen as Adam’s informant 61
JAKUB MORAWIEC
4 St. Olaf and Adam of Bremen’s narrative pragmatics 81
MACIEJ LUBIK
5 Ad insulas Baltici. Role and reception of scholia in Adam of
Bremen’s Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum 96
CARINA DAMM
6 Adam of Bremen and the early ( pre- 995) history of Norway 108
LAURA GAZZOLI
7 The eleventh- century Normans of Normandy in the view of
Adam of Bremen 121
MARCIN BÖHM
vi Contents
8 Religious conversions in Adam of Bremen’s Gesta
Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum and in Saxo
Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum: a comparative approach 130
JULES PIET
9 On the influence of Adam’s Gesta on Yngvars saga víðfǫrla 146
ANNETT KRAKOW
10 Adam of Bremen and visions of the state in Early Medieval
Scandinavia – a comparative approach to chiefdom, leadership,
kingship, segmental tribes 158
PIOTR PRANKE
11 Ars moriendi and figures of power in Adam of Bremen’s Gesta
Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum 178
MARTA REY- RADLIŃSKA
12 Female characters and the meaning of history in Adam of
Bremen’s Gesta Hammaburgensis 189
LUKAS GABRIEL GRZYBOWSKI
13 Of Gunnhildrs and Gyðas 201
KENDRA WILLSON
14 At the edge of time: Adam of Bremen’s imaginary North and
Horror Vacui 217
MIRIAM MAYBURD
15 Scythia and the Scythian Sea on the mental map of
Adam of Bremen 234
TATJANA N. JACKSON
16 Harald Bluetooth and the Western Slavs: cultural interactions
in light of textual and archaeological sources 246
LESZEK GARDEŁA
17 The description of the Oder ( Odra) estuary in Adam of
Bremen’s Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum.
The oldest accounts of the river until the
end of the twelfth century 268
PIOTR PIĘTKOWSKI
Contents vii
18 Est sane maxima omnium, quas Europa claudit, civitatum.
Adam of Bremen and the estimation of size and population of
early medieval Wolin 279
WOJCIECH FI LI P OW I A K
19 Adam of Bremen’s Gesta Hammaburgensis pontifcum
as an inspiration for Polish politics of history in
Wolin after WW2 288
PAW E Ł MIGDALSK I
Geographical Index 301
Name Index 305
Abbreviations
Gesta Magistri Adam Bremensis Gesta Hammaburgensis
ecclesiae pontificum, ed. Bernhard Schmeidler, 3rd
edition, Hannoverae and Lipsiae, Hahn, 1917.
MGH SRG Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores
Rerum Germanicarum
MGH SS Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores
PL Patrologia Latina
Saxo, Gesta Danorum Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum, The History
of the Danes, ed. Karsten Friis- Jensen, trans.
Peter Fisher, vol. 1, 2 vols., Oxford Medieval Texts
( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015)
Tschan Adam of Bremen, History of the Archbishops
of Hamburg- Bremen, trans. Francis J. Tschan,
Records of Civilisation. Sources and Studies, New
York: Columbia University Press, 1959; 2002.
