Representations of shapeshifters are prominent in medieval culture and they are particularly abundant in the vernacular literatures of the societies around the North Sea. Some of the figures in these stories remain well known in later folklore and often even in modern media, such as werewolves, dragons, berserkir and bird-maidens. Incorporating studies about Old English, Norse, Latin, Irish, and Welsh literature, this collection of essays marks an important new contribution to the study of medieval shapeshifters.Each essay highlights how shapeshifting cannot be studied in isolation, but intersects with many other topics, such as the supernatural, monstrosity, animality, gender and identity. Contributors to Shapeshifters in Medieval North Atlantic Literature come from different intellectual traditions, embracing a multidisciplinary approach combining influences from literary criticism, history, philology, and anthropology.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Medieval Thought and Shapeshifting
- Santiago Barreiro and Luciana Cordo Russo
- 1. Wundor wearð on wege ‘a wonder happened on the way’
- Shifting shapes and meanings in Old English Riddles
- 2. The Big Black Cats of Vatnsdalr and Other Trolls
- Talking about shapeshifting in medieval Iceland
- 3. The Hoard Makes the Dragon
- 4. Eigi í mannligu eðli
- Shape, Monstrosity and Berserkism in the Íslendingasögur
- 5. The Cursed and the Committed
- A Study in Literary Representations of ‘Involuntary’ Shapeshifting in Early Medieval Irish and Old Norse Narrative Traditions
- 6. Unde sunt aues istae?
- Notes on Bird-Shapeshifting, Bird Messengers, and Early Medieval Hagiography
- 7. Sin, Punishment, and Magic
- Changing Form in Medieval Welsh Literature
- Index
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