Iceland’s uncommon proclivity towards storytelling, its robust tradition of medieval manuscripts, and the “re-oralization” of those narratives after the medieval period, create a body of folktales and legends that have encoded a hidden account of how orthodox and heterodox beliefs (sometimes pagan in origin) intermingled as Christianity, and later Reformation, spread through the North. This volume unlocks that secret story by placing Icelandic folktales in a context of religious doctrine, social history, and Old Norse sagas and poetry. The analysis herein reveals a cultural memory of belief.
- Front Cover
- Half Title
- About the Author
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Copyright Information
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledments
- Introduction: Stories, Memories, and Mechanisms of Belief
- Cultural Memory and the Development of Belief
- Cultural Memory in Iceland and Abroad
- Reformation and Lutheranization: Some Context
- Lutheranization and Icelandic Folk Stories
- Final Thoughts
- Chapter 1. The Dead Bridegroom Carries Off His Bride: Pejoration and Adjacency Pairs in Atu 365
- “Djákninn á Myrká” (The Deacon of Myrká)
- ATU 365 and Connections to Old Norse Literature
- The Pejoration of ATU 365
- A Theological and Historical Context
- Discursive Tales as Adjacency Pairs
- Adjacency Pairs for “Djákninn á Myrká”
- Adjacency Pairs in the Bear’s Son Tales
- Final Thoughts: The Deacon of Myrká and the Legacy of Storytelling
- Chapter 2. The Elf Woman’s Conversion: Memories of Gender and Gender Spheres
- “Álfkonan hjá Ullarvötnum” (The Elf Woman at Ullarvötn)
- Gender Spheres in Old Norse Sources
- Gender Spheres in Post-Medieval Folk Narratives
- The Cultural Memory of Auður hin djúpuðga
- Cases of Witchcraft, Male or Female?
- Gender Spheres and the Elf Woman’s Conversion
- Final Thoughts: The Elf Woman’s Conversion
- Chapter 3. The Fylgjur of Iceland: Attendant Spirits and a Distorted Sense of Guardianship
- The Móri of Sel (or Þorgarður)
- Origins and the Muddling of the Fylgja Group
- Pejoration and Attendant Spirits in Old Norse Sources
- Post-Medieval Fylgja Tales
- Inheritance (Genealogically and Geographically) of Attendant Spirits
- Fylgjur as Souls (Aðsókn or Hugr)
- Pejorated Assistance
- Retribution and Punishment
- Final Thoughts: Þorgarður, Pejoration, and Angry (Pagan) Spirits
- Chapter 4. The Elf Church: Memories of Contested Sacred Spaces
- Tungustapi
- Early Memories of Contested Spaces
- Foundations of Sacred Spaces
- Contested Spaces and the Reformation
- Galdra-Loftur and the Battle for Sacred Space
- The Cosmic War and the End of Loftur Þorsteinsson
- “Galdra-Loftur,” “Tungustapi,” and the Inward Turn
- Final Thoughts: Church Moving and the Elf Church at Tungustapi
- Chapter 5. The Stupid Boy and the Devil: Saemundur Frodi Sigfusson, Magic, and Redemption
- “Tornæmi Drengurinn og Kölski” (The Stupid Boy and the Devil)
- The Folk Legacy of Sæmundur fróði
- Ministration and the Post-Medieval Sæmundur Stories
- Sæmundur’s Death and Accountability
- Final Thoughts: The Legacy of Sæmundur fróði and “The Stupid Boy and the Devil”
- Conclusion
- Select Bibliography
- Index
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