Medievalists.net » Folklore

Trolls in the Middle Ages

Medievalists.net — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 21:03:26 +0000

Where did trolls come from? What did medieval and early modern people think of trolls? How did the concept of the modern day troll evolve?

The post Trolls in the Middle Ages appeared first on Medievalists.net.

Nourishment for the Soul – Nourishment for the Body: Animal Remains in Early Medieval Pomeranian Cemeteries

Medievalists.net — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 10:39:02 +0000

Late medieval sources clearly refer to souls, which in traditional folk beliefs were periodically returning to feed and warm themselves by the fires made by the living. This kind of conception can be merged with Slavic eschatology. There is multiple evidence to confirm that belief some form of spirit or soul was spreading amongst the people, who in the early medieval period, bordered directly with Pomerania.

The post Nourishment for the Soul – Nourishment for the Body: Animal Remains in Early Medieval Pomeranian Cemeteries appeared first on Medievalists.net.

The Legend of the Pied Piper in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Grimm, Browning, and Skurzynski

Medievalists.net — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 13:28:38 +0000

This paper examines the changes that were made in the literary telling and retelling of the story of the Pied Piper during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, comparing the folktale “Die Kinder zu Hameln” (1816) by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the poem “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”(1842) by Robert Browning, and the book What Happened in Hamelin (1979), by Gloria Skurzynski.

The post The Legend of the Pied Piper in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Grimm, Browning, and Skurzynski appeared first on Medievalists.net.

Seasonal Setting and the Human Domain in Early English and Early Scandinavian Literature

Medievalists.net — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 10:26:17 +0000

Seasonal Setting and the Human Domain in Early English and Early Scandinavian Literature Paul Sander Langeslag University of Toronto: Doctor of Philosophy, Centre for Medieval Studies (2012) Abstract The contrast between the familiar social space and the world beyond has been widely recognised as an organising principle in medieval literature, in which the natural and the […]

The post Seasonal Setting and the Human Domain in Early English and Early Scandinavian Literature appeared first on Medievalists.net.

Auðun of the West-Fjords and the Saga Tradition: Similarities of Theme and Structural Suitability

Medievalists.net — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 11:41:19 +0000

Auðun of the West-Fjords and the Saga Tradition: Similarities of Theme and Structural Suitability Josie Nolan (Trinity College Dublin) Vexillum, Vol.3 (2013) Abstract This paper evaluates the story of Auðun from the West Fjords, a Þáttr dating from the Sturlinga period of medieval Iceland. It compares the short prose narrative to the much longer sagas […]

The post Auðun of the West-Fjords and the Saga Tradition: Similarities of Theme and Structural Suitability appeared first on Medievalists.net.

Wild woman and her sisters in medieval English literature

Medievalists.net — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 00:47:31 +0000

The subject of this work is the concept and figure of the Wild Woman. The primary focus will be on various forms this figure assumes in medieval English literature: Grendel's mother—the second monster Beowulf faces—and Chaucer's Wife of Bath, along with other figures.

The post Wild woman and her sisters in medieval English literature appeared first on Medievalists.net.

Saga Motifs on Gotland Picture Stones: The Case of Hildr Högnadóttir

Medievalists.net — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:51:40 +0000

This article will only examine one of these legends, namely the ‘Hildr legend’ in the context of two of these stones, lärbro stora hammars and stenkyrka smiss . An attempt will be made to place the images in a larger context than has been done before, and by doing so to strenghten the probability that they were indeed intended to refer to the original Hildr legend.

The post Saga Motifs on Gotland Picture Stones: The Case of Hildr Högnadóttir appeared first on Medievalists.net.

Contemplating the Evolution of Medieval Double-Entendre Literature

Medievalists.net — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:59:29 +0000

The linguistic composition of the Exeter Book Riddles supports this, and in fact, the genre became a refuge for contemporary colloquial speech which was seen as coarse and lower class within the ideologies of Christianity and Germanic heroism.

The post Contemplating the Evolution of Medieval Double-Entendre Literature appeared first on Medievalists.net.

The historical basis of Lycanthropism or: where do Werewolves come from?

Medievalists.net — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 03:04:18 +0000

Werewolves, Lycanthropes or Man-Wolves appear in many German, French and Scandinavian stories. Nowadays there exists an image of these creatures, which combines almost all the aspects of the werewolf-myths around the world, that was brought to us by Hollywood.

The post The historical basis of Lycanthropism or: where do Werewolves come from? appeared first on Medievalists.net.

Faerie Folklore in Medieval Tales: An Introduction

Medievalists.net — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:14:28 +0000

Defining the term 'faerie' is not easy; some definitions include only specific, pre-Christian types of mythological creatures while other definitions include all of the spirits, angels and supernatural animals as well as the souls of the dead. I will take a middle road and include the spirits and the souls of the dead, since the dead and the faeries have an intimate connection in the folklore of the British Isles.

The post Faerie Folklore in Medieval Tales: An Introduction appeared first on Medievalists.net.