Unseen: The Religious Supernatural in the Earliest Middle Ages

FAIN: FEL-273265-21

Lisa Marie Bitel
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA 90089-0012)

Research and writing leading to a book on religious conversion to Christianity in early medieval Britain and Ireland.

My book project is about religious change in Ireland and Britain between ca. 400-800 C.E.. Most scholars treat the Christianization of these islands as a story of sudden epiphanies, drawn from Christian-authored medieval histories and hagiographies. I propose instead to explain changes in the religious habits and landscapes of ordinary people in relation to the unseen forces that surrounded them. The source base includes neglected texts across written genres in both Latin and the vernaculars, as well as a growing body of recent archaeological evidence that contradicts traditional histories. I use this evidence to show how people in the region gradually shifted their interactions with the religious supernatural, including the triune Christian God. They chose what to see among possible religious realities, then negotiated with family members, allies, and authorities to find efficacious ways of dealing with the supernatural. Eventually, they learned to look like Christians.

Associated Products

Sacred Underground (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Sacred Underground
Author: Lisa Bitel
Abstract: Invited scholarly workshop including scholars of religion, history, and archaeology from across the US and Britain.
Date Range: Oct 22, 2022
Location: University of Southern California

Stuck in the Iron Age: The Buried Otherworld of Early Medieval Ireland (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Stuck in the Iron Age: The Buried Otherworld of Early Medieval Ireland
Author: Lisa Bitel
Abstract: An analysis of three 7th-8th-century Irish texts concerning Christian burials, the archaeological evidence for sacred sites from before and after Christian influence in Ireland, and stories of the underground Otherworld. My thesis: Christian scholars of the early Christian period in Ireland (and probably elsewhere in northern Europe) were concerned not only to baptize souls but also to sanctify the landscape and purify it of non-Christian supernatural significance.
Date: 10/22/2022
Conference Name: Sacred Underground

Converting the Religious Supernatural: A Fairy Tale (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Converting the Religious Supernatural: A Fairy Tale
Abstract: The paper addresses the persistence of the Otherworld in ancient literature and modern folklore, as well as graphic and digital media. In Ireland and elsewhere believers continue to encounter the aos síthe (folk of the Otherworld) and similar “small gods” and to exploit them for both tourism and religion. These small gods, by way of Wales, also became French fairies (Fée); while the faeries of post-Norman England eventually became a lucrative modern business in fantasy literature, garden decor, and other popular media. I examine this co-evolution of story and Otherworld over the long haul, asking: Why do some forms of the supernatural and their veneration survive major religious shifts while others disappear?
Author: Lisa Bitel
Date: 06/02/2023
Location: Boston University

Otherworld: Tales of Wonder and Romance from Medieval Ireland (Book)
Title: Otherworld: Tales of Wonder and Romance from Medieval Ireland
Author: Lisa Bitel
Abstract: Nine stories produced between 700 and 900 CE by anonymous Irish writers, all of which treat relations between humans and immortal supernatural citizens of the non-Christian Otherworld. These enchanting stories are unknown to the general reading public but are as entertaining and important as more familiar medieval literature, such as "Beowulf" or "El Cid." The interactive translation includes contextual and interpretative materials drawn from other medieval sources.
Year: 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Type: Translation
Translator: Lisa Bitel

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