Making Christian landscapes in the early medieval Atlantic world

This book is concerned with the conversion to Christianity in Atlantic Europe, and how the processes of Christianisation related to landscape change during the early Middle Ages (c. AD 400–1200). The case study regions are located all along the continent’s western shore from Galicia to Norway, and across the northern islands from Britain and Ireland to Iceland (Figure 1.1). While Christianity represented a more or less common set of beliefs and ideas, the early medieval societies of Atlantic Europe were characterised by vibrant diversity: much can potentially be learned about these societies by comparing and contrasting their local responses to Christianity and how they created what Peter Brown has called ‘micro-Christendoms’ in different contexts.1 This complexity makes all-encompassing comparisons difficult, which is why the case studies in the book focus on one particular theme: the relationships between Christianity and landscape.