In his article, ‘Plastic Pagans: Viking Human Sacrifice in Film and Television’, Harry Brown notes a very key difference between how it is being portrayed and how it was in reality.
Approaches to paganism and uses of the pre-Christian past in Geoffrey of Monmouth and Snorri Sturluson
May 5, 2014 By
The dissertation is a comparative analysis of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s and Snorri Sturlusson’s descriptions of paganism and uses of pre-Christian history. What was the function of these pre-Christian narratives, and what apporaches were used by the two authors to construct a complete image of the past, acceptable to their contemporary societies?
Some Considerations Regarding the Slavic God Triglav
March 22, 2014 By
This article presents a description Triglav, a god or complex of gods in Slavic mythology.
St. Patrick’s Irish Pride
March 17, 2014 By
In honour of the day, it seems fitting to throw out some interesting facts about St. Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint.
A Comparative Analysis Of Early Medieval North-West Slavonic And West Baltic Sacred Landscapes
February 15, 2014 By
The major aim of our paper is to present a comparative analysis of early medieval north-west Slavonic and Prussian objects and places which are interpreted in a sacral context.
Judith’s Necessary Androgyny: Representations of Gender in the Old English Judith
February 11, 2014 By
The Old English poem Judith explores Anglo-Saxon representations of femininity and masculinity by constructing a double-gendered hero who differs from the biblical version of the same woman.
Medieval Thought and its Architectural Expression
February 2, 2014 By
This dissertation will study the correlation and influences between a series of underlying beliefs and how these find expression in the architecture and setting of place.
Kings, chieftains and public cult in pre-Christian Scandinavia
January 22, 2014 By
The article addresses the question of the performance of pre-Christian public cult by political leaders in early medieval Scandinavia.
The Acculturation of Scandinavians in England: A consideration of the burial record
January 11, 2014 By
he portrayal of the ‘Vikings’ as an archetypal barbarian ‘other,’ wreaking death and destruction wherever they went, was already current in the medieval period, but in England the depictions became more extreme in the centuries after the attacks.
Who cursed whom, and when? The cursing of the hoard and Beowulf’s fate
January 7, 2014 By
The article provides an interpretation to lines 3051-3075 of the epic poem “Beowulf,” concerning the death of Beowulf and the curse on the dragon’s treasure. It outlines the actions contained in the passage, including Beowulf’s slaying of a dragon, his mortal wound, and the actions of his people following his death. It discusses various translations and readings of the passage, and focuses particularly on readings of the curse on the dragon’s hoard.
Heathen: Linguistic Origins and Early Context
December 29, 2013 By
It is my hope that this endeavor will allow the reader to have a serious understanding of the origins, early history, and more importantly the context of the word heathen, and what this might have meant for the people implied by it.
The Riurikid Relationship with the Orthodox Christian Church in Kievan Rus
December 29, 2013 By
Prior to the late tenth century, the princes of the Riurikid dynasty were rulers over the loose collection of pagan Slavic tribes and minor city states that were Kievan Rus. However, in a relatively short period, the dynasty had linked itself and its legitimacy to rule to the Orthodox Christian Church centered in Constantinople.
St. Ninian of Whithorn
December 9, 2013 By
My interest here is in finding usable information regarding the centuries before Bede and in the way in which new data, especially the outstanding recent archaeological discoveries at Whithom in Wigtownshire (which is certainly the site of Candida Casal. might support and add to his picture of St. Ninian and the importance of his church at Candida Casa.
Projecting Power in Sixth-Century Rome: The church of Santi Cosma e Damiano in the late antique Forum Romanum
December 4, 2013 By
In the year 526 CE, the bishop of Rome, Pope Felix IV, petitioned the Ostrogoth king Theoderic for permission to convert a small complex in the Forum Romanum into a place of worship dedicated to the Saints Cosmas and Damian…This paper critiques traditional interpretations of this church—its physical location and its apse mosaic—in light of new research that nuances our understanding of the historical context in which it was commissioned.
Bodies, Saracen giants, and the medieval romance : transgression, difference, and assimilation
September 6, 2013 By
Bodies, Saracen Giants, and the Medieval Romance: Transgression, Difference, and Assimilation explores the treatment of the bodies of three Saracen giants in the romances of Roland and Vernagu (c. 1330), Sir Beues of Hamtoun (c. 1330), and The Taill of Rauf Coilyear (c. 1513-42)
The Protocol of Vengeance in Viking-age Scandinavia
August 23, 2013 By
Violence, even murder, perpetuated this cycle of revenge. This code of retribution can be broken down further into the following dimensions: the individuals involved, the appropriate actions as deemed by Viking society, and any extenuating circumstances, such as supernatural strength or the wronged party’s reluctance to seek revenge.
The Pagans and the Other: Varying Presentations in the Early Middle Ages
August 6, 2013 By
The Pagans and the Other: Varying Presentations in the Early Middle Ages Ian Wood Networks and Neighbours, Volume One, Number One (2013) Abstract This paper discusses the position of the pagan ‘Other’ in medieval thought, arguing that although Paganism was alien to the Christian, churchmen wanted above all to bring the pagans into the Christian […]
The Christianisation of Bohemia and Moravia
July 27, 2013 By
The territory of what is now Czech Republic consists of essentially two lands, Bohemia and Moravia.
Religious and Cultural Boundaries between Vikings and Irish: The Evidence of Conversion
July 19, 2013 By
If we compare sources from England, the horror with which viking attacks were viewed is immediately apparent. The heathenism of vikings is stressed as one of their dire attributes in Alcuin’s famous response to news of the attack on Lindisfarne in 793. Literary accounts of vikings also became more lengthy and imaginative over time.
‘Cast out into the hellish night’: Pagan Virtue and Pagan Poetics in Lorenzo Valla’s De voluptate
July 19, 2013 By
Valla wrote about Epicureanism before the Renaissance rediscovery of classical Epicurean texts. Poggio Bracciolini had not yet circulated his newly-discovered manuscript of first century Epicurean philosopher Lucretius’ De rerum natura, and Valla wrote without access to Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Philosophers, which discussed Epicurus’ teachings in greater detail.
Feasting with Early Medieval Chiefs: Locating Political Action through Environmental Archaeology
May 18, 2013 By
This excellent paper was the first given in the session on Early Medieval Europe. It looked at various archaeological excavations in Iceland and Denmark and the political role feasting played in pre-Christian Viking societies.
Reincarnation among the Norse: Sifting through the Evidence
May 17, 2013 By
This short article looks at the possibilty of reincarnation as a common alternative concept of life after death among Germanic heathens and then as a possible non-standard alternative belief.
Louis the Pious and the Conversion of the Danes
May 17, 2013 By
This paper was part of a very interesting session on the Early Middle Ages. The papers covered Eastern European Infant Burial, the archaeology of medieval feasting and conversion. This paper contrasted the conversion policies of Charlemagne versus those of Louis the Pious.
Book Review: Shadow on the Crown
May 4, 2013 By
A review of Patricia Bracewell’s book: Shadow on the Crown.
Rune Stones and Magnate Farms: The Viking Age in Vadsbo Hundred
April 16, 2013 By
What is the relationship between the Viking Age magnate farms and local place names? What of the numerous Rune stones, burial mounds, surface finds, and ancient monuments? Are they also tied to subsequent names? Can they help us place farms and other sites?
How you can Follow Us!