collapse

* Recent Posts

"Christ Is King" by Altair
[Today at 01:09:34 am]


Re: Cill Shift Schedule by SunflowerP
[Yesterday at 11:04:57 pm]


Re: Stellar Bling: The Good, the Bad, the OMG! by SunflowerP
[March 21, 2024, 11:21:37 pm]


Re: Spring Has Sprung! 2024 Edition by SunflowerP
[March 21, 2024, 10:24:10 pm]


Stellar Bling: The Good, the Bad, the OMG! by Altair
[March 21, 2024, 02:52:34 pm]

Author Topic: "Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages" by Stephen A. Mitchell  (Read 2915 times)

Lokabrenna

  • Sr. Master Member
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 829
  • Total likes: 2
    • View Profile
I found this book today on Amazon and I thought it might be of interest to some in this SIG: Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages

Here's the blurb:

Quote
Stephen A. Mitchell here offers the fullest examination available of witchcraft in late medieval Scandinavia. He focuses on those people believed to be able—and who in some instances thought themselves able—to manipulate the world around them through magical practices, and on the responses to these beliefs in the legal, literary, and popular cultures of the Nordic Middle Ages. His sources range from the Icelandic sagas to cultural monuments much less familiar to the nonspecialist, including legal cases, church art, law codes, ecclesiastical records, and runic spells.

Mitchell's starting point is the year 1100, by which time Christianity was well established in elite circles throughout Scandinavia, even as some pre-Christian practices and beliefs persisted in various forms. The book's endpoint coincides with the coming of the Reformation and the onset of the early modern Scandinavian witch hunts. The terrain covered is complex, home to the Germanic Scandinavians as well as their non-Indo-European neighbors, the Sámi and Finns, and it encompasses such diverse areas as the important trade cities of Copenhagen, Bergen, and Stockholm, with their large foreign populations; the rural hinterlands; and the insular outposts of Iceland and Greenland.

By examining witches, wizards, and seeresses in literature, lore, and law, as well as surviving charm magic directed toward love, prophecy, health, and weather, Mitchell provides a portrait of both the practitioners of medieval Nordic magic and its performance. With an understanding of mythology as a living system of cultural signs (not just ancient sacred narratives), this study also focuses on such powerful evolving myths as those of "the milk-stealing witch," the diabolical pact, and the witches' journey to Blåkulla. Court cases involving witchcraft, charm magic, and apostasy demonstrate that witchcraft ideologies played a key role in conceptualizing gender and were themselves an important means of exercising social control.
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of material on magical practices in the North, academic or otherwise. I'd pick it up, but I'm short on cash right now.

If anyone has read it, what did you think of it?
« Last Edit: March 13, 2012, 06:27:18 pm by RandallS »

catja6

  • Staff
  • *
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 381
  • Total likes: 5
    • View Profile
Quote from: Lokabrenna;45770
I found this book today on Amazon and I thought it might be of interest to some in this SIG: Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages

Here's the blurb:

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of material on magical practices in the North, academic or otherwise. I'd pick it up, but I'm short on cash right now.

If anyone has read it, what did you think of it?


Early magic and sorcery (as distinct from early modern witch hunts) have only really begun to be a topic of intense academic study to any degree in the past 10-15 years or so; the trend started in Classics -- makes sense, as there are a LOT of sources, unlike for other European cultures -- and is spreading outward.  The only extended study of Northern magic I can think of off the top of my head is Karen Jolly's book on Anglo-Saxon elf charms; this looks to be a nice addition, focusing upon a later period in continental European history.  It's going on my wish list right away.  :)

asdfghjkl

  • Journeyman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Oct 2011
  • Posts: 136
  • Country: 00
  • Total likes: 0
    • View Profile
Quote from: Lokabrenna;45770
I found this book today on Amazon and I thought it might be of interest to some in this SIG: Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages

Here's the blurb:

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of material on magical practices in the North, academic or otherwise. I'd pick it up, but I'm short on cash right now.

If anyone has read it, what did you think of it?

 
Sounds very neat! I'll have to pick it up when I see it. There is definitely a lack of scholarly material on Northern magical practices.

cigfran

  • Master Member
  • ******
  • Join Date: Jan 2012
  • Posts: 421
  • Total likes: 1
    • View Profile
    • http://cigfran.net
Quote from: Lokabrenna;45770
I found this book today on Amazon and I thought it might be of interest to some in this SIG: Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages

Here's the blurb:

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of material on magical practices in the North, academic or otherwise. I'd pick it up, but I'm short on cash right now.

If anyone has read it, what did you think of it?

 
I've definitely put this on my wish list as well.

And it's true... there's very little serious consideration given to Northern magical practice, outside of, say, Paxson and Flowers. It's all a bit woo for the recon heathen, I think.

Of course, there's always Sorcery And Religion In Ancient Scandinavia by *ahem*... Varg. :yikes:

Tags:
 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
0 Replies
2727 Views
Last post July 06, 2011, 02:12:43 pm
by RandallS
5 Replies
7149 Views
Last post November 13, 2016, 03:04:10 am
by Froði Ingsson
6 Replies
1919 Views
Last post October 24, 2017, 07:52:27 am
by Hildeburh
13 Replies
3057 Views
Last post March 20, 2018, 02:56:23 pm
by Hariti
7 Replies
5557 Views
Last post February 14, 2023, 04:19:16 pm
by Jack

Special Interest Group

Warning: You are currently in a Special Interest Group on the message board with special rules and focused discussions.

* Who's Online

  • Dot Guests: 191
  • Dot Hidden: 0
  • Dot Users: 0

There aren't any users online.

* Please Donate!

The Cauldron's server is expensive and requires monthly payments. Please become a Bronze, Silver or Gold Donor if you can. Donations are needed every month. Without member support, we can't afford the server.

* Shop & Support TC

The links below are affiliate links. When you click on one of these links you will go to the listed shopping site with The Cauldron's affiliate code. Any purchases you make during your visit will earn TC a tiny percentage of your purchase price at no extra cost to you.

* In Memoriam

Chavi (2006)
Elspeth (2010)
Marilyn (2013)

* Cauldron Staff

Host:
Sunflower

Message Board Staff
Board Coordinator:
Darkhawk

Assistant Board Coordinator:
Aster Breo

Senior Staff:
Aisling, Allaya, Jenett, Sefiru

Staff:
Ashmire, EclecticWheel, HarpingHawke, Kylara, PerditaPickle, rocquelaire

Discord Chat Staff
Chat Coordinator:
Morag

'Up All Night' Coordinator:
Altair

Cauldron Council:
Bob, Catja, Chatelaine, Emma-Eldritch, Fausta, Jubes, Kelly, LyricFox, Phouka, Sperran, Star, Steve, Tana

Site Administrator:
Randall

SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal