This volume explores some of the many different meanings of community across medieval Eurasia. How did the three 'universal' religions, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, frame the emergence of various types of community under their sway? The studies assembled here in thematic clusters address the terminology of community; genealogies; urban communities; and monasteries or 'enclaves of learning' in particular in early medieval Europe, medieval South Arabia and Tibet, and late medieval Central Europe and Dalmatia. It includes work by medieval historians, social anthropologists, and Asian Studies scholars. The volume present the results of in-depth comparative research from the 'Visions of Community' project in Vienna, and of a dialogue with guests, offering new and exciting perspectives on the emerging field of comparative medieval history.
Author(s): Eirik Hovden, Christina Lutter, Walter Pohl (eds.)
Series: Brill’s Series on the Early Middle Ages, 25
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: XII+512
Editors' Preface ix
List of Contributors xi
Introduction: Meanings of Community in Medieval Eurasia / Walter Pohl 1
PART 1. Addressing Community: Terms, Concepts and Meanings
1. People(s) of God? Biblical Exegesis and the Language of Community in Late Antique and Early Medieval Europe / Gerda Heydemann 27
2. The Political Usage of Religious and Non-religious Terms for Community in Medieval South Arabia: A Comparative Response to Gerda Heydemann's Chapter / Johann Heiss and Eirik Hovden 61
3. Jamāʿa vs. Mulk: Community-Centred and Ruler-Centred Visions of the Islamic Community / Rüdiger Lohlker 78
PART 2. Urban Communities and Non-Urban Sites
4. The City as Commune / Elisabeth Gruber 99
5. Addressing Community in Late Medieval Dalmatia / Oliver Schmitt 125
6. Urban Communities in Medieval South Arabia: A Comparative Reflection / Johann Heiss, Eirik Hovden and Elisabeth Gruber 148
PART 3. Genealogies as Means for Constructing Communities
7. The Political Construction of a Tribal Genealogy from Early Medieval South Arabia / Daniel Mahoney 165
8. Genealogical Representations of Monastic Communities in Late Medieval Art / Christian Nikolaus Opitz 183
9. Genealogy into the Future: Glimpses from Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho's (1653–1705) Exposition of the Extended Dalai Lama Lineage / Birgit Kellner 203
10. Genealogy: A Comparative Perspective from the Early Medieval West / Walter Pohl 232
PART 4. Spiritual Communities: Texts, Sites and Interactions
11. Introduction: Spiritual Communities across Medieval Eurasia / Rutger Kramer 273
12. Enclaves of Learning, Religious and Intellectual Communities in
Tibet: The Monastery of gSang phu Ne'u thog in the Early Centuries of the Later Diffusion of Buddhism / Pascale Hugon 289
13. Teaching Emperors: Transcending the Boundaries of Carolingian Monastic Communities / Rutger Kramer 309
14. Competing Visions of Welfare in the Zaydi Community of Medieval South Arabia / Eirik Hovden 338
15. 'Vita communis' in Central European Monastic Landscapes / Christina Lutter 362
16. The 'Schottenklöster' in the World: Identity, Independence and Integration / Diarmuid Ó Riain 388
17. Among Teachers and Monastic Enclaves: An Inquiry into the Religious Learning of Medieval Tibet / Mathias Fermer 417
18. Enclaves of Learning: A Commentary on the Papers in the Section on 'Spiritual Communities' / Steven Vanderputten 451
19. Response to the Chapters in 'Spiritual Communities' Section / Jonathan R. Lyon 461
20. Medieval Eurasian Communities by Comparison: Methods, Concepts, Insights / Andre Gingrich 468
Index 499
