"If you think the history you were taught in school was accurate, you're in for a big surprise. This group of researchers blows the lid off everything you thought you knew about the origins of the human race and the culture we live in"--Cover p. [4].

This book focuses on the formative period of Church reform in the Middle Ages in Northern Europe, when the Church paved the way for the development of money economy on its own doorstep. Church archaeology provides evidence for patterns of monetary use related to liturgy, church architecture and devotional culture through the centuries. This volume encompasses Alpine European evidence, with emphasis on Gotland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland, which opens up a new field of research on religion and money for an international audience. Based on 100,000 single finds of coins from the 11th to 18th centuries from 650 Scandinavian churches, the volume offers an in-depth discussion of the concepts of ritual, liturgy and devotional uses of money, monetary space and spiritual economy within the framework of Christendom, the medieval church and church architecture. Written by international scholars, Coins in Churches will be a valuable resource for readers interested in the history of religion, money, the economy, and church architecture in Northern Europe in the Middle Ages.

Aquitainian Participation in the Conquest; Stereotype Normans in Vernacular Literature; Byzantine Marginalia to the Norman Conquest; Norman Architectural Patronage; Domesday Book and the Teneurial Revolution; Henry of Huntingdon and Historia Anglorum; Domesday Inquest and Land Adjudication; Abbey of Cava; Post-Conquest Attitudes to the Saints of the Anglo-Saxons; Danish Geometrical Viking Fortresses; Holy Face of Lucca. G. BEECH, M. BENNETT, K. CIGGAAR, E. FERNIE, R. FLEMING, D. GREENWAY, P. HYAMS, G.A. LOUD, S.J. RIDYARD, E. ROESDAHL, D. WEBB.34 plates, figs.

This is the second and final volume presenting the results of the Northern Emporium research project and the high-definition excavations carried out within this programme in 2017-18 in Ribe. The 22 chapters survey the remarkable range of finds retrieved from this hub of the North Sea world in the eighth and ninth centuries AD: artefacts made from pottery, stone, shell, glass, metals, amber, leather, wood, textile, bone and antler. They offer detailed insights that highlight discoveries such as the assemblages from glass bead or comb-making workshops, and rare finds such as wooden furnishings and musical instruments. The focus of the book is on assembling Ribe’s early urban network. By analysing finds and their context, we develop a picture of social roles and interactions between residents and visitors in the emporium. And we follow the connections they created with other worlds as we trace the flows of glass vessels, pottery and wine barrels from Western Europe; iron, stone and animal products from North and Central Scandinavia and beads and coins that travelled from the Middle East and the Indian Ocean into northern Europe’s new maritime frontier.