New publication: Legitimizing Episcopal Power in Twelfth-Century Denmark through the Cult of Saints

In my previous blogpost, I announced the publication of a new volume of academic articles, of which I am one of the co-editors. Information about the volume, its content and its general argument can be found here, while the open access edition of the book can be found here.   

Aside from being one of the co-editors, I also contributed with a chapter of my own, titled 'Legitimizing Episcopal Power in Twelfth-Century Denmark through the Cult of Saints', which can be downloaded here. The article is an examination of how the bishops of Odense, Ribe and Lund used the cults of Saint Knud Rex, Liufdag, and Thomas of Canterbury respectively, in order to strengthen their legitimacy vis-à-vis other elite groups of twelfth-century Danish society. The article brought together a number of my academic interests - chiefly the cult of saints, the construction of identity, and Danish history - and was great fun to write, as it allowed me to pursue some old topics and explore some new ones as well. 

This blogpost is prompted by my trip to the post office in my village in the Norwegian fjords, where I picked up my author/editor copy of the book today, and could finally get a physical sense of the labour that took three years to complete.