Three books I'm looking at right now in preparation for discussing the
whole Christian vs. pagan debate in Beowulf are:
Richard Fletcher, The Barbarian Conversion (Henry Holt, 1997)
Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick, A History of Pagan Europe (Routledge,
1995)
Ronald Hutton, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles
(Blackwell, 1991)
I also just finished reading MacMullen's book--very informative, but the
ratio of text to notes was almost 1:1--I spent twice as much time
combing through his sources as I did reading the actual work. But I do
recall some specific information on burial practices in rural Italy in
his book, and how only the focus had changed, not the actual rituals
themselves. The others I am still in the process of moving through, but
if I find anything specifically related to your question in my readings,
I will post ASAP.
--Ron Ganze
Stephen J. Harris wrote:
> Dear Fabrizio,
>
> Perhaps you may want to look at Ramsay MacMullen, _Christianity and
> Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries_ (Yale University Press,
> 1997); James C. Russell, _The Germanization of Early Medieval
> Christianity_ (Oxford UP, 1994); Henry Mayr-Harting, _The Coming of
> Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England_ (Pennsylvania State UP, 1972);
> and Peter Brown, _The Rise of Western Christendom_ (Oxford: Blackwell,
> 1996). I found these books very informative. Each will also have an
> excellent bibliography pertaining to your topic.
>
> Hope this is of use,
>
> Stephen
>
>
>
> Fabrizio Contic wrote:
>
>> It's Fabrizio from Italy. I'm interested in christianisation of
>> rural
>> people in the middle ages. I'm looking for some information about
>> meeting between christian religion and other kinds of pre-christian
>> beliefs, and about the psychological impact of this. Jean Delaumeau
>> was
>> a master in this kind of research, anyway his studies concerning
>> much
>> more modern age than middle ages. Does such a research related to
>> middle
>> age exist?
>>
>
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|