It the goal of this thesis to show how magic and Christianity form a symbiotic relationship in which both are reliant on each other in order to be successful in the medieval romance.
Echoes of Legend: Magic as the Bridge Between a Pagan Past and a Christian Future in Sir Thomas Malory ‘s Le Morte Darthur
June 12, 2018 by
Ascending the Steps to Hliðskjálf: The Cult of Óðinn in Early Scandinavian Aristocracy
September 6, 2017 by
This thesis is a study of the cult of Óðinn as it seems to have evolved within the newly emerging warrior-based aristocracy of southern Scandinavia during the centuries prior to the Viking Age.
Movie Review: Pope Joan – Medieval Legend Comes to Life Onscreen
March 20, 2016 by
Released in 2009, also under its German title, ,Die Päpstin,, ,Pope Joan’ recounts the medieval legend of Johanna von Ingleheim, a woman who disguised herself as a man, lived as a monk, and eventually went on to become pope in the ninth century.
BOOK REVIEW: Grendel’s Mother: The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife by Susan Signe Morrison
February 1, 2016 by
Grendel’s Mother tells the story of Brimhild, a child found abandoned in a boat on the shores of Denmark. Taken in by a fisherwoman woman and her husband, she is received as a blessing for the child they recently lost. There is nothing to identify her save for a few strange, and foreign items packed […]
Celebrating the New Year, Medieval Style
December 31, 2015 by
A look at New Year’s in the Middle Ages.
Sacrificial Magic and the Twofold Division of the Irish Ritual Year
October 31, 2015 by
The historical development of St. Martin’s Day in Ireland, and its relationship with the more ancient festival of Samhain is examined, revealing circumstances that saw much of the ritual nature of Samhain being adopted within a Christian context in the medieval period.
How to destroy gods
August 16, 2015 by
In the year 1168 a Danish bishop destroyed three pagan gods. The story is told in Gesta Danorum, by Saxo Grammaticus, which has recently been entirely translated into English for the first time.
Which Baltic God/Goddess Are You?
July 30, 2015 by
Have you ever wondered who were/are the last pagans in Europe? Baltic Gods were never forgotten. Lithuanians have so many however who from the main ones do you resemble the most – Perkūnas, Žemyna, Vėlinas, Ragutis, Milda or Laima?
A note on the regional distribution of pagan burials in Iceland
July 25, 2015 by
Comparison of the distribution of pagan burials in Iceland with medieval information about the number of farmers in different parts of the country allows a division of the country into three zones of low, medium and high frequency of pagan burials relative to the number of settlements.
The Afterlife of the Dead: Reform in Attitude Towards Medieval Burials, Corpses and Bones
July 7, 2015 by
The International Medieval Congress is taking place at the University of Leeds, I’m on hand this week to report on the conference. This blog post reports on my first session.
Foundation Myths in Medieval and Renaissance Italy
June 10, 2015 by
The 3 papers featured here looked at the development of the civic identities of Florence, Genoa and Rome through art, architecture and foundation legends.
From Runes to Ruins: Documentary looks at rediscovering the Anglo-Saxon past
June 4, 2015 by
In his latest film, From Runes to Ruins, Tom Rowsell examines how people in England are reclaiming their Anglo-Saxon heritage, including its religion.
Katherine of Alexandria: Decline of an Empire
April 27, 2015 by
According to hagiographers, (C)Katherine was a princess, the daughter of Roman governor named Constus. She was well educated, beautiful and highly intelligent. She converted to Christianity at the age of 13 or 14 and caught the eye of the Roman Emperor, Maxentius (278-318 AD).
Environmental Crusading: The Teutonic Knight’s Impact After the Baltic Crusades
March 12, 2015 by
Environmental archaeologist and Professor of Archeology at Reading, Dr. Aleks Pluskowski, examined Malbork and several other sites across Eastern and Northern Europe in his recent paper, The Ecology of Crusading: The Environmental Impact of Holy War, Colonisation, and Religious Conversion in the Medieval Baltic. Pluskowski is keenly interested in the impact the Teutonic Knights and Christian colonisation had on the region. His ambitious 4 year project on the ecological changes in this area recently came to a close at the end of 2014.
Choosing Heaven: The Religion of the Vikings
February 15, 2015 by
The Viking-age gods stemmed from two races – Aesir and Vanir.
‘Hag of the Castle:’ Women, Family, and Community in Later Medieval Ireland
November 30, 2014 by
In a letter written as part of his work for the Irish Department of the Ordnance Survey in 1840, Thomas O’Conor recorded his reaction to a “Sheela- na-gig” sculpture—the image of a naked woman shown exposing her genitalia (fig. 1)—that he saw on the old church at Kiltinane, Co. Tipperary.
CONFERENCES: The Stellinga, the Saxon Elite, and Carolingian Politics
November 26, 2014 by
This is my summary of a paper presented at the Institute of Historical Research on the causes of the Stellinga uprising in the Carolingian period.
Nourishment for the Soul – Nourishment for the Body: Animal Remains in Early Medieval Pomeranian Cemeteries
November 25, 2014 by
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.
Bárðar saga as a source for reconstruction of pre-Christian religion?
November 19, 2014 by
Paper by Eldar Heide given at the second meeting of the Old Norse Folklorist Network
The Goddess Frig: Reassessing an Anglo-Saxon Deity
October 25, 2014 by
The world of the Anglo-Saxon gods will forever remain a mystery to us, existing just beyond the reach of written history.
ARTICLES: The Deflation of the Medieval in Joyce’s Ulysses
September 23, 2014 by
For James Joyce, Irish nationalism, with its appeal to patriotic emotionality and promotion of interest in the archaic and medieval Irish past, was suspect.
Fast and Feast – Christianization through the Regulation of Everyday Life
September 7, 2014 by
This article will illustrate that an important part of rulers’ wish to create a Christian society was the introduction of Christian legislation.
Hungary’s Conversion to Christianity: The Establishment of Hungarian Statehood and its Consequences to the Thirteenth Century
September 1, 2014 by
The Carpathian Basin occupies a peculiar place in history. It was the ground where Roman-Germanic world met that of the Slavs and mounted nomad peoples, where no group had achieved sustained unity before the state of Hungary was founded.
Saints’ Cults in Medieval Livonia
August 3, 2014 by
Saints’ cults played a crucial role in medieval society. Although we know very little about the beliefs and rituals of the indigenous peoples of Livonia, either before or after the thirteenth-century conquest, we may assume that the process of Christianization must have caused major changes in their religious practices.
To Be or Not to Be… a Christian: Some New Perspectives on Understanding the Christianisation of Estonia
July 31, 2014 by
The Christianisation of Estonia has been a subject of extensive research already for a couple of centuries. Archaeologists generally agree that some elements of Christian religion were present in Estonia already prior to official Christianisation at the beginning of the 13th century.
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