Gods and Humans in Medieval Scandinavia: Retying the Bonds: 103 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 103)
Cambridge University Press, 4/1/2021
EAN 9781108441063, ISBN10: 1108441068
Paperback, 222 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
The coming of Christianity to Northern Europe resulted in profound cultural changes. In the course of a few generations, new answers were given to fundamental existential questions and older notions were invalidated. Jonas Wellendorf's study, the first monograph in English on this subject, explores the medieval Scandinavian reception and re-interpretation of pre-Christian Scandinavian religion. This original work draws on a range of primary sources ranging from Prose Edda and Saxo Grammaticus' History of the Danes to less well known literary works including the Saga of Barlaam and the Hauksbók manuscript (c.1300). By providing an in-depth analysis of often overlooked mythological materials, along with translations of all textual passages, Wellendorf delivers an accessible work that sheds new light on the ways in which the old gods were integrated into the Christian worldview of medieval Scandinavia.
1. Retying the bonds
2. The hierarchy of disbeliefs in antipagan polemics
3. Universalist aspirations in Hauksbók
4. The Byzantine Gods of Saxo Grammaticus
5. Gods and humans in the Prose Edda
Epilogue
Óðinn and Odysseus.