Coins in Churches

Svein H. Gullbekk is Professor of numismatics and history of money at Museum of Cultural History, Oslo University; and is Principal Investigator for the project "Religion and Money: Economy of Salvation in the Middle Ages".Christoph Kilger is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at Uppsala University, Campus Gotland. He specializes in Viking and medieval archaeology and numismatics, especially relating to social, economic and monetary history of Northern Europe.Steinar Kristensen is Senior Engineer at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, with responsibility for digital documentation of major excavation projects. He specializes in GIS technology in archaeological contexts.Håkon Roland is Associate Professor of numismatics and classical archaeology at Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo. He has a long record of publication on numismatics, archaeology and within Heritage studies.

‘This publication is rich in a diverse range of material: for archaeologists it offers a touchstone for interpretations of similar sites and practices; for Church historians it opens up a new area to be taken account of; and numismatists will recognise the benefits to be derived from analysis of the coin evidence. A comprehensive index and full bibliography greatly facilitate interrogation of the volume’ – Medieval Archaeology, Volume 67:1‘[The introductory articles] form an impressive unit that explains not only the social use of money in the Middle Ages, but also the patterns of pecuniary behaviour within the church building … the book, which is strongly influenced by the ideas of the new numismatics, constitutes a fresh element in the research literature dealing with medieval society’ - Peter Carelli in META 2024 (translated from Swedish).

• Part 1: Money and Religious Devotion 1. Money and Religious Devotion in Medieval Northern Europe 2. Pious gifts: Coins and Church Interior Part 2: Coin finds in Scandinavian churches 3. The archaeology of church floors 4. Digitizing the past – A rewarding challenge for the present. The Digitizing process of analogue data from excavation in medieval churches 5. Moving money, ritual money - Studying monetary and ritual space in Bunge church on medieval Gotland 6. Coin finds of Høre stave church, Oppland Norway: Reflections of regulation and conflict in the Middle Ages 7. Eidskog church revisited: Coin finds, architecture and devotional use of money 8. Coins and monastic liturgy in the Middle Ages. A study of St Mary’s Benedictine Nunnery in Bergen, Norway 9. The Archaeological Landscape under Church Floors. Coins and Contexts in Aggersborg Church, Jutland, Denmark 10. Coins in Church Contexts – Hedensted church, Jutland, Denmark 11. Building for Glory. Coins in the houses of the Lord in Gränna and Arby, Sweden 12. Coin finds and coin use in the medieval round church at Klåstad, Östergötland, Sweden 13. Jomala church, Åland Islands — Coin offerings to the Virgin Mary and the long Reformation Part 3: Coin finds in churches in Central Alpine Europe 14. Inside the church: Coin-finds and liturgical topography. A survey of the Central Alpine Europe evidence