O fracasso idealizado: reescrevendo a Vita Anskarii no liber I das Gesta Hammaburgensis de Adam de Bremen.

This article deals with the narratives of the Christianization of Scandinavia in the early centuries of its mission, especially between 850-910. It is based on the historical writings by Adam of Bremen († after 1080). This paper deals with this problem by applying the principles of the Vorstellungsgeschichte, which incorporates the contributions of anthropology to historical analyses. In this sense, Adam's narrative is analysed mainly as a testimony of the author's world view, and the contents he includes in this narrative are understood as a platform for his ideas' expression. Particularly noteworthy are his strategies to deal with sensitive events in the diocese's past, especially those involving its founding archbishops. The way he deals with failures and setbacks and opposes to them the successes of missionary enterprise reflect mainly the problems faced by Hamburg-Bremen in the eleventh century. This retrospective view is potentially legitimating to Adam's contemporary problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]