Grzegorz Bartusik - Adam of Bremens Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum

Adam of Bremens Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum is one of the most important accounts documenting the history, geography and ethnology of Northern and Central-Eastern Europe in the period between the ninth and eleventh centuries. Its author, a canon of the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen, remains an almost anonymous figure 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 Bremens 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 developments in medieval Iceland, especially influences of Latin culture on Old Norse/Icelandic literature.

Radosaw Biskup is associate professor in the Institute of History and Archival Studies at the Nicolaos Copernicus University of Torun. His research focuses on history of the Baltic zone in the Middle Ages, especially ecclesiastical 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 Bremens Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum

Origins, Reception and Significance

Edited by Grzegorz Bartusik, Radosaw Biskup and Jakub Morawiec

For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Studies-in-Medieval-History-and-Culture/book-series/SMHC

First published 2022

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bartusik, Grzegorz, editor. | Biskup, Radosaw, 1976 editor. | Morawiec, Jakub, editor.

Title: Adam of Bremen's Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum : origins, reception and significance / edited by Grzegorz Bartusik, Radosaw Biskup, Jakub Morawiec.

Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series: Studies in medieval history and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: 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 pontificum. | Catholic Church. Archdiocese of Hamburg-BremenHistoryTo 1500. | Hamburg Region (Germany)Church history. | Bremen Region (Germany)Church history.

Classification: LCC BR854.A33 A33 2022 (print) | LCC BR854.A33 (ebook) | DDC 274.3/515dc23/eng/20220324

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022002662

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022002663

ISBN: 978-1-032-12103-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-12105-5 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-22303-0 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003223030

Typeset in Times New Roman

by codeMantra

GestaMagistri Adam Bremensis Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, ed. Bernhard Schmeidler, 3rd edition, Hannoverae and Lipsiae, Hahn, 1917.MGH SRGMonumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores Rerum GermanicarumMGH SSMonumenta Germaniae Historica ScriptoresPLPatrologia LatinaSaxo, Gesta DanorumSaxo 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)TschanAdam 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.

Grzegorz Bartusik, Radosaw Biskup and Jakub Morawiec

DOI: 10.4324/9781003223030-1

There is no doubt that Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, written by Adam of Bremen in the mid-1070s, belongs to the most important historical accounts medievalists have at hand. With a history of the Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen at its centre, Gesta provides an exclusive, colourful and multi-faceted account of political, religious, cultural and economic encounters and developments, not only in the see itself but also in areas Ecclesia Hammaburgensis was strictly interested in: the Empire, Scandinavia, Slavia and the whole Baltic zone. Arranged in four books, Gesta encompasses not only a history of the region but also its nature and the peoples living there.

For decades, and even centuries, scholars have included what Adam provides in his text in their studies, finding him a crucial, although not always trustworthy, witness of the past. Such an approach has meant focusing on what Adam wrote rather than on how and why he wrote it. With time however, the situation has changed. A number of studies have appeared that substantially enhance our understanding of many aspects of Adams self-perception, world view, literary strategies and ways of communicating, especially with regard to the North. The present volume aims to continue in this tradition and deliver more insight into Adams work and its various meanings and functions.

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