Ecclesiastical Landscapes in Medieval Europe: An Archaeological Perspective

By presenting case studies from across eastern and western medieval Europe, Ecclesiastical Landscapes in Medieval Europe aims to start a Europe-wide debate on the variety of relations and contexts between ecclesiastical buildings and their surrounding landscapes between the 5th and 15th centuries AD. The book contains 16 papers dealing with 11 very diverse regions: Transylvania, Western Bohemia, Switzerland, Tuscany, the Po Valley, Central Spain, Galicia, England, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ireland. The volume is divided into two main thematic sections. ‘Ecclesiastical Topographies’ comprises works exploring the spatial dimension of ecclesiastical architecture during the Middle Ages, particularly regarding the creation of the parish system and the relationship between churches and cemeteries. In ‘Monastic Landscapes’ medieval monasteries provide an especially interesting case study because of their recognised capacity to modify the surrounding environment. As a result of the convergence of these perspectives, the hope is that this book will offer researchers ample comparative evidence for understanding the universal elements of ecclesiastical landscapes which transcend both chronological and geographical limits.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Towards an Archaeological Study of Medieval Ecclesiastical Landscapes in Europe – José Carlos Sánchez-Pardo, Emmet H. Marron and Maria Crîngaci Țiplic ; FIRST PART: ECCLESIASTICAL TOPOGRAPHIES ; 1. Lesser Churches, Kin-groups and Communities in the Early Middle Ages: Archaeological Evidence from Corcu Duibne, Ireland – Tomás Ó Carragáin ; 2. By Land and Sea: Medieval Places and Ways of Faith in the Isle of Man – Andrew Johnson ; 3. The Late Antique Ecclesiastical Settlement of Los Hitos and the Rural Landscapes of the Visigoth Capital (Toledo, Spain) – Isabel Sánchez Ramos and Jorge Morín de Pablos ; 4. Landscapes of Christianisation. The Emergence and Evolution of Church Power in the Tuscan Countryside During Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages – Gabriele Castiglia, Stefano Bertoldi and Cristina Menghini ; 5. Christianization and Transformation of Religious Landscape in (West) Bohemia – Martin Čechura ; 6. The Rise of the Parish System in Transylvania as Reflected by the Archaeological Discoveries – Maria Crîngaci Țiplic ; 7. Architectural Interferences in Medieval Transylvania (13th–15th Centuries): the Archaeology of Orthodox Churches in a Catholic Landscape – Daniela Marcu Istrate ; 8. The Archaeology of Romanesque Churches in Transylvania (11th–13th Centuries) – Ioan Marian Țiplic and Maria Crîngaci Țiplic ; SECOND PART: MONASTIC LANDSCAPES ; 9. Monastic Landscapes in the Isle of Man: Ad 1100 to 1540 – Peter Davey ; 10. On the Edge: Excavations at Whitefriars, Perth, 2014-2017 – Derek Hall ; 11. Cistercian Rievaulx Abbey and the ‘Transformation’ of King Henry II’s Wasteland – Freya Horsfield ; 12. Evolution, Innovation and Symbolism in Medieval Monastic Gardens – James Bond ; 13. Ecclesiastical Landscapes in early Medieval Galicia: Physical and Symbolic Transformations – José Carlos Sánchez-Pardo and Marco V. García Quintela ; 14. Stone Building in the Alps: Müstair Monastery in its Landscape Context – Sophie Hüglin and Patrick Cassitti ; 15. Rural Monasteries and Wilderness in Carolingian Northern Italy: Forest, Water and Ecclesiastical Landscapes – Marco Panato ; 16. Similarities and Differences of a Benedictine and a Cistercian Abbey as Reflected in the Landscape. Beginnings for a Comparative Approach – Ünige Bencze

About the Author :
José Carlos Sánchez-Pardo is Senior Researcher in Medieval Archaeology at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) ; Emmet Marron is a Visiting Fellow at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University ; Maria Crîngaci Țiplic is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Romanian Academy in Sibiu.

Review :
'This volume includes many interesting and thought-provoking papers that help to expand our understanding of the monastic landscape within Europe.' The editors have obviously taken great care in compiling a cohesive and comprehensive collection of papers that work towards providing a new academic narrative in the area - an achievement that is to be commended as, unfortunately, that is not always the case with conference volumes.  This volume offers a valuable, wide-ranging set of papers offering many new insights into the construction, form and landscape context and exploitation of churches and monasteries across diverse parts of early to later medieval Europe.