Sini Kangas – författare

Medievalists reading and writing about and around authority-related themes lack clear definitions of its actual meanings in the medieval context. Authorities in the Middle Ages offers answers to this thorny issue through specialized investigations.This book considers the concept of authority and explores the various practices of creating authority in medieval society. In their studies sixteen scholars investigate the definition, formation, establishment, maintenance, and collapse of what we understand in terms of medieval struggles for authority, influence and power. The interdisciplinary nature of this volume resonates with the multi-faceted field of medieval culture, its social structures, and forms of communication. The fields of expertise include history, legal studies, theology, philosophy, politics, literature and art history. The scope of inquiry extends from late antiquity to the mid-fifteenth century, from the Church Fathers debating with pagans to the rapacious ghosts ruining the life of the living in the Sagas. There is a special emphasis on such exciting but understudied areas as the Balkans, Iceland and the eastern fringes of Scandinavia.

Medievalists reading and writing about and around authority-related themes lack clear definitions of its actual meanings in the medieval context. Authorities in the Middle Ages offers answers to this thorny issue through specialized investigations.

This book considers the concept of authority and explores the various practices of creating authority in medieval society. In their studies sixteen scholars investigate the definition, formation, establishment, maintenance, and collapse of what we understand in terms of medieval struggles for authority, influence and power. The interdisciplinary nature of this volume resonates with the multi-faceted field of medieval culture, its social structures, and forms of communication. The fields of expertise include history, legal studies, theology, philosophy, politics, literature and art history.

The scope of inquiry extends from late antiquity to the mid-fifteenth century, from the Church Fathers debating with pagans to the rapacious ghosts ruining the life of the living in the Sagas. There is a special emphasis on such exciting but understudied areas as the Balkans, Iceland and the eastern fringes of Scandinavia.

Medieval Westerners accepted killing for religion and praised the outcome of the First Crusade (1096-1099). At the same time, their attitude to violence was ambivalent. Theologians shunned the practical use of force, while the warrior aristocracy valued the capacity for physical destruction. In the absence of theological doctrine on the practicalities of holy warfare, the first crusaders draw their ideas about killing from diverse and sometimes conflicting traditions.This book answers questions about how religious violence was described, justified and remembered in the sources of the First Crusade. What was the relation between faith, convention, and action?

Keskiajan Euroopan historiassa harva jakso on yhtä tunnettu, dramaattinen ja ristiriitainen kuin ristiretkien aikakausi. Kuinka Jerusalem valloitettiin, ja millaista oli elämä Pyhälle maalle perustetuissa ristiretkivaltioissa?Paavi Urbanus II:n julistama Jerusalemin vapautus aloitti vuonna 1095 ristiretkien ajan, jolla oli kauaskantoisia seurauksia keskiajan Euroopassa, Lähi-idässä ja Pohjois-Afrikassa. Muslimien hallitsemalle Pyhälle maalle suuntautuneiden ristiretkien lisäksi sotaa käytiin Jumalan nimessä myös Baltian pakanoita vastaan.FT Sini Kangas avaa kirjassaan sydänkeskiajan ristiretkien taustoja, tapahtumia ja seurauksia. Ristiretket eivät olleet vain sarja sotaretkiä - ne olivat kokonainen uskonnon, politiikan ja vallanhimon muovaama aikakausi, joka on jättänyt syvän jäljen Euroopan historiaan.