Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives
Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives

Author: Anders Andrén

Publisher: Nordic Academic Press

Published: 2006-01-12

Total Pages: 877

ISBN-13: 9187121158

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Consisting of more than 70 papers written by scholars concerned with pre-Christian Norse religion, the articles discuss subjects such as archaeology, art history, historical archaeology, history, history of ideas, theological history, literature, onomastics, Scandinavian languages, and Scandinavian studies. The interdisciplinary aim of the book brings together text-based and material-based researchers to improve scholarly exchange and dialogue and provide a variety of contributions that elucidate topics such as worldview and cosmology, ritual and religious practice, myth and memory, as well as reception and present-day use of old Norse religion.

The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose
The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose

Author: Kirsten Wolf

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 1442646217

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With The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse–Icelandic Prose, Kirsten Wolf has undertaken a complete revision of the fifty-year-old handlistThe Lives of the Saints in Old Norse Prose.

The End(s) of Time(s)
The End(s) of Time(s)

Author: Hans-Christian Lehner

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-05-25

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 9004462430

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Crises and end time expectations are closely linked to one another. The present volume collates interdisciplinary research from specialists in the study of apocalyptic and eschatological subjects worldwide and overcomes the existing Euro-centrism by incorporating a broader perspective.

Flesh and Word
Flesh and Word

Author: Sarah Künzler

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-08-22

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 3110455870

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Bodies and their role in cultural discourse have been a constant focus in the humanities and social sciences in recent years, but comparatively few studies exist about Old Norse-Icelandic or early Irish literature. This study aims to redress this imbalance and presents carefully contextualised close readings of medieval texts. The chapters focus on the role of bodies in mediality discourse in various contexts: that of identity in relation to ideas about self and other, of inscribed and marked skin and of natural bodily matters such as defecation, urination and menstruation. By carefully discussing the sources in their cultural contexts, it becomes apparent that medieval Scandinavian and early Irish texts present their very own ideas about bodies and their role in structuring the narrated worlds of the texts. The study presents one of the first systematic examinations of bodies in these two literary traditions in terms of body criticism and emphasises the ingenuity and complexity of medieval texts.

The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300)
The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300)

Author: Lars Boje Mortensen

Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9788763504072

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Mythology is usually reserved for non-Christian religions. However, the adoption of Christianity in Northern and East-Central Europe between c. 1000 and 1300 can be adequately described as a myth-making process: local saints were added to the Christian pantheon in all regions entering Latin Europe. The present collection explores the links between local sanctity and the making of national myths in medieval historical writing. By bringing together specialists in history and literature of the European periphery in question, the case is made that the writing of history and saints lives from this pioneering period should been analysed together as mainly successful attempts at creating cultural foundation myths.

The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland
The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland

Author: Erika Sigurdson

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 9004301569

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In The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland, Erika Sigurdson provides a history of the fourteenth-century Icelandic Church with a focus on the the social status of elite clerics following the introduction of benefices to Iceland. In this period, the elite clergy developed a shared identity based in part on universal clerical values, but also on a shared sense of interdependence, personal networks and connections within the framework of the Church. The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland examines the development of this social group through an analysis of bishops’ sagas, annals, and documents. In the process, it chronicles major developments in the Icelandic Church after the reforms of the late thirteenth century, including its emphasis on property and land ownership, and the growth of ecclesiastical bureaucracy.

Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend
Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend

Author: John McKinnell

Publisher: DS Brewer

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9781843840428

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Close examination of the significant theme of other-worldly encounters in Norse myth and legend, including giantesses, monsters and the Dead. A particular, recurring feature of Old Norse myths and legends is an encounter between creatures of This World [gods and human beings] and those of the Other [giants, giantesses, dwarves, prophetesses, monsters and the dead]. Concentrating on cross-gendered encounters, this book analyses these meetings, and the different motifs and situations they encompass, from the consultation of a prophetess by a king or god, to sexual liaisons and return from the dead. It considers the evidence for their pre-Christian origins, discusses how far individual poets and prose writers were free to modify them, and suggests that they survived in medieval Christian society because [like folk-tale] they provide a non-dogmatic way of resolving social and psychological problems connected with growing up, succession from one generation to the next, sexual relationships and bereavement.

Narrating the Beginnings
Narrating the Beginnings

Author: Alberto Bernabé Pajares

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-04-02

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 3658321849

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The present book is a compilation of studies on narratives of mythical origins in different cultures written by outstanding specialists. It aims to provide a broad view on creation-myths from different times and areas of the world with a particular focus on how these texts contributed to the conception of the past as “universal history”, as a common origin of mankind or as the great opening, the theatrum mundi. On the other hand, the purpose of this book is to study the phenomenon from a typological point of view, analyzing the specific characteristics of this particular type of texts, rather than finding influences between the different cultures in the genesis of these narratives.

Medieval Obscenities
Medieval Obscenities

Author: Nicola F. McDonald

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1903153506

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"Medieval Obscenities examines the complex and contentious role of the obscene - what is offensive, indecent or morally repugnant - in medieval culture from late antiquity through to the end of the middle ages in western Europe. Its approach is multidisciplinary, its methodologies divergent and it seeks to formulate questions and stimulate debate." "The essays examine topics as diverse as Norse defecation taboos, the Anglo-Saxon sexual idiom, sheela-na-gigs, impotence in the church courts, bare ecclesiastical bottoms, rude sounds and dirty words, as well as the modern reception and representation of the medieval obscene. The volume demonstrates not only the vitality of medieval obscenity, but its centrality to our understanding of medieval life."--Jacket.

The Growth of the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (1180-1280)
The Growth of the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (1180-1280)

Author: Theodore Murdock Andersson

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780801444081

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Andersson introduces readers to the development of the Icelandic sagas between 1180 and 1280, a crucial period that witnessed a gradual shift of emphasis from tales of adventure and personal distinction to the analysis of politics and history.