Stones of the saints? Inscribed stones, monasticism and the evangelisation of western and northern Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries

Dark, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9116-8068 (2021) Stones of the saints? Inscribed stones, monasticism and the evangelisation of western and northern Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 72 (2). pp. 239-258. ISSN 1469-7637 doi: 10.1017/S0022046920002559

Abstract/Summary

Despite the paucity of written sources for fifth- and sixth-century Britain, there are many inscriptions containing brief texts in Latin or Irish. This paper reinterprets these inscribed stones, showing that, contrary to the universal current assumption that most represent the memorials of secular notables, a much stronger case can be made for understanding them as ecclesiastical monuments associated with the cult of saints. Read in this way, they offer new insights into the fifth- and sixth-century British Church and the evangelisation of the west and north of Britain during these centuries.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/92628
Identification Number/DOI	10.1017/S0022046920002559
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Economics
Uncontrolled Keywords	archaeology; history; epigraphy British; fifth- to seventh-centuries AD; inscribed stones; Church; monasticism; saints; evangelisation
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
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