Livonian Hospitality. The ‘Livonian Rhymed Chronicle’ and the Formation of Identities on the Thirteenth-Century Baltic Frontier

• The conquest and colonization of the northeastern Baltic Rim in the thirteenth century durably shaped religious and ethnic identities of and relations between the native population and the arriving crusaders. This article explores the codes and displays of hospitality in the anonymous ‘Livonian Rhymed Chronicle’, which are seen here as ways of conceptualizing the relationship and conflicts between the Teutonic Knights and the pagan or apostate people in Livonia. It asks what consequences the framing of the host-guest relations might have had for the self-comprehension of the chronicle’s author and his audience. The analysis of the chronicle is pursued along three lines: the first focuses on the questions of chivalry, courtesy, and conversion; the second explores different renditions of a miracle story of inhospitality from the 1220s ; the third focuses on the conceptual metaphors of hospitality as a way in which the Teutonic Knights’ accommodated their adversaries’ viewpoints. In its conclusions, the article argues how a broad focus on the institutions, concepts, and discourses of hospitality can help account for both confrontational and amicable attitudes between the colonizers and the colonized both on the Baltic frontier and among other European frontier societies.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Religious Studies (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Studier av enskilda språk (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Languages (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Literatures (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

hospitality

hostility

host-guest relations

Livonia

Latvia

Estonia

Baltic crusades

Baltic Rim

Teutonic Knights

mission

colonization

metaphors

miracles

courtesy

sauna

Historical Studies

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)