Østersøens flertydige kirker
Author
Summary, in English
Ambiguous churches of the Baltic Sea: Nylars on Bornholm is used as a point of departure in a discussion of the so-called defensive churches or multi-functional churches at the Baltic Sea. The categorization of medieval society into four separate spheres, the church, the castle, the town and the countryside, is criticised as having created a heterogenous group of deviant churches. The deviant churches have been interpreted in three competitive perspectives: 1) defense, 2) profane function and 3) symbolic form. However, to understand the deviant churches it is necessary to combine the perspectives. The multi-functional churches represented a fusion, where the sacred and the profane were integrated. The whole point was, that a broad specter of functions such as hostelry, residence and store were made sacred by being integrated in the church building or church yard. Most of the multi-functional churches at the Baltic Sea belong to the period c. 1170-1240 and might be connected to the Danish empire, the crusades and the Saint Canute Guilds. When peace broke down in the 1240s, some of the multi-functional churches were symbolically fortified as also several towns and many manors.
Department/s
Publishing year
2003
Language
Danish
Pages
10-35
Publication/Series
Bornholmske samlinger
Volume
2003
Full text
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Bornholms Historiske Samfund
Topic
- Archaeology
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0084-7976