Gods and Humans in Medieval Scandinavia
Retying the Bonds

This study shows some of the ways in which medieval Scandinavians received and re-interpreted pre-Christian religion.

Jonas Wellendorf (Author)

9781108441063, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 April 2021

220 pages
22.7 x 14.9 x 1 cm, 0.32 kg

'… useful and interesting work relevant for researchers …' Luke John Murphy, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

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.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD], Regional & national history [HBJ], General & world history [HBG], Humanities [H], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature & literary studies [D]