ASNØC ~ Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic

Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism...

eosm — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:07:24 -0400

Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited

Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited
Martin Carver, Alex Sanmark,…

Black in Camelot (Africans in Arthurian Legend)

eosm — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:22:40 -0400

Black in Camelot (Africans in Arthurian Legend)
Kris Swank

Paper given Tales After Tolkien: Medievalism and Twenty-First Century Fantasy Literature Panel II. 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies (2013)

When the television program Merlin debuted…

View Post

Personal Equipment and Fighting Techniques Among the Anglo-Saxon Population in Northern Europe During the Early Middle Ages

eosm — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:04:00 -0400

Personal Equipment and Fighting Techniques Among the Anglo-Saxon Population in Northern Europe During the Early Middle Ages
Paolo de Vingo

Heroic Age 6 (2003)

The Anglo-Saxon military equipment included a sword or axe, a lance and a buckler, whereas most…

View Post

The Icelandic Sword In The Stone: Bears In The Sky

eosm — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:27:38 -0400

The Icelandic Sword In The Stone: Bears In The Sky Linda A. Malcor
Heroic Age 11 (2008)

This paper examines the Icelandic saga of Hrolf Kraki, compares it to the Greek stories of Theseus and Kallisto, and argues that both traditions of the Sword in the…

View Post

Theseus as an Indo-European Sword Hero, with an Excursus on Some Parallels between the Athenian Monster-Slayer and Beowulf

eosm — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:05:28 -0400

Theseus as an Indo-European Sword Hero, with an Excursus on Some Parallels between the Athenian Monster-Slayer and Beowulf C. Scott Littleton
Heroica Age 11 (2008)

This paper compares Theseus and Beowulf. Both heroes come from afar, enter dangerous,…

View Post

Heroes, Saints, and Martyrs: Holy Kingship from Bede to Aelfric

eosm — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:27:17 -0400

Heroes, Saints, and Martyrs: Holy Kingship from Bede to Aelfric Kent G. Hare
Heroic Age 9 (2006)

Warfare was an essential function of kingship in the early Middle Ages. As warlord, the kings of Anglo-Saxon England led their warbands on expeditions of…

View Post

Beowulf and the Wills: Traces of Totemism?

eosm — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:04:50 -0400

Beowulf and the Wills: Traces of Totemism?
Stephen O. Glosecki

Heroic Age (2001)

This paper accounts for the prominence of the avunculate (the mother’s brother-sister’s son relationship) in Beowulf and other OE sources. Commentary from 1861 to the…

View Post

The Orkney Islands

eosm — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:21:36 -0400

The Orkney Islands
Carolyn Emerick

Celtic Guide, Volume 2, Issue 5 (May 2013)

The Islands of Orkney are a mystical place steeped in history and legend. Like the rest of the British Isles, Orkney is an amalgam of influences. The ancients left their mark…

View Post

Shaping Anglo-Saxon Lordship in the Heroic Literature of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries

eosm — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:05:39 -0400

Shaping Anglo-Saxon Lordship in the Heroic Literature of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries
John Hill

Heroic Age 3 (2000)

Most scholars of Anglo-Saxon heroic story think of that literature as embodying conventional virtues (generosity, bravery, boasting),…

View Post

The Columban Church in northern Britain, 664-717:a reassessment

eosm — Mon, 13 May 2013 08:20:46 -0400

The Columban Church in northern Britain, 664-717:a reassessment
Kenneth Veitch

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 127 (1997), 627-647

During the past decade, there has been an encouraging revival in interest regarding the spread of…

View Post

Imagining the Monstrous: a Journey from Abhorrence to Understanding

eosm — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:07:39 -0400

Friday, day for monsters, fierce beasts & heroes… “Imagining the Monstrous: a Journey from Abhorrence to Understanding”

Imagining the Monstrous: a Journey from Abhorrence to Understanding
ENGLISH 431 STUDENT JOURNAL
(Advanced Studies in Old English)
TRENT UNIVERSITY – 2006

The studies in this journal present an overview of issues concerning alterity ranging from…

View Post

Oral Poetry and the World of Beowulf

eosm — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:31:10 -0400

Oral Poetry and the World of Beowulf
Paul Sorrell

Anyone who sets out to discuss Beowulf as an oral poem immediately
places him- or herself on some rather shaky ground; for this is a hotly contested
area where opinions are very deﬁ nitely, even emotionally…

View Post

Epic and Identity: National, Regional, Communal, Individual

eosm — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:12:25 -0400

Epic and Identity: National, Regional, Communal, Individual
Lauri Honko

As late as 1981 Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish
ethnologists and folklorists introduced a debate on the analytical value of the
concept of “tradition” at their…

View Post

Folklore and Oral Tradition

eosm — Thu, 09 May 2013 08:25:56 -0400

Folklore and Oral Tradition
Lauri Harvilahti

Whereas some of the cultural models for folklore are of a relatively
constant nature, performing situation and variation are characteristically
unstable features of oral tradition. There is no definition of…

View Post

Body, Performance, and Agency in Kalevala Rune-Singing

eosm — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:03:46 -0400

Body, Performance, and Agency in Kalevala Rune-Singing
Anna-Leena Siikala

The Kalevala meter was once the poetic code throughout much of the
Balto-Finnic area: among the Estonians, Finns, Izori, Karelians, Livonians,
and Votyans. The Balto-Finnic peoples…

View Post

Where Now the Harp? Listening for the Sounds of Old English Verse, from Beowulf to the Twentieth Century

eosm — Wed, 08 May 2013 08:24:19 -0400

Where Now the Harp? Listening for the Sounds of Old English Verse, from Beowulf to the Twentieth Century
Chris Jones

Oral Tradition Volume 24, Number 2

This essay examines the representation or staging of oral performance and poetic composition within Be…

View Post

Medieval PetsMedieval Pets Kathleen Walker-Meikle Animals in the...

eosm — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:03:56 -0400

Medieval Pets

Medieval Pets Kathleen Walker-Meikle
Animals in the middle ages have often been discussed – but…

View Post

Bite Me: Rude Food and the Anglo-Saxon Riddle Tradition

eosm — Tue, 07 May 2013 08:20:51 -0400

Bite Me: Rude Food and the Anglo-Saxon Riddle Tradition
Andy Orchard

Lecture given at the University of Toronto, February 14, 2013

I heard that something or other was growing in a confined space
swelling and surging, pushing up its covering;
on that…

View Post

King Arthur and PoliticsKing Arthur and Politics Gordon Hall...

eosm — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:03:47 -0400

King Arthur and Politics

King Arthur and Politics
Gordon Hall Gerould

Speculum, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan., 1927), pp. 33-51

Click…

View Post

Egil’s BonesEgil’s Bones An Icelandic saga tells of a...

eosm — Mon, 06 May 2013 08:21:34 -0400

Egil’s Bones

Egil’s Bones
An Icelandic saga tells of a Viking who had unusual, menacing
features, including a…

View Post