Social Norms in Medieval Scandinavia

Description

In the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia, social values such as reputation, honour, and friendship, were integral to the development of rituals, customs, religion, literature, and language. Everyday norms are mainly conveyed orally or ritually, and rarely in a written or material shape. Despite this, the Old Norse-Icelandic literary corpus remains the most important source of our present-day knowledge of social development in the medieval North. New research methods allow us to explore how relics of the material culture of the medieval north can confront, corroborate, or disprove the depiction of social norms in medieval Scandinavian literature. This volume considers in depth how social norms affected the creation and functioning of societies in the medieval North, approaching the topic from a range of disciplinary angles including law-making, politics, religion, and literacy. List of Illustrations viii Preface / JAKUB MORAWIEC, ALEKSANDRA JOCHYMEK, GRZEGORZ BARTUSIK ix Introduction. The 'goðar' and 'Cultural Politics' of the Years ca. 1000–1150 / JÓN VIÐAR SIGURÐSSON 1 PART I: PRE-CHRISTIAN RITUAL PRACTICE AND LITERARY DISCOURSE Chapter 1. The Use of Silver by the Norsemen of Truso and Wolin: The Logic of the Market or Social Prestige? / DARIUSZ ADAMCZYK 19 Chapter 2. Silk, Settlements, and Society in 'Íslendingasögur' / ANITA SAUCKEL 35 Chapter 3. Being Óðinn Bursson: The Creation of Social and Moral Obligation in Viking Age Warrior-Bands through the Ritualized, Oral Performance of Poetry — The Case of 'Grímnismál' / SIMON NYGAARD 51 Chapter 4. Elements of Satire and Social Commentary in Heathen Praise Poems and Commemorative Odes / DAVID ASHURST 75 Chapter 5. Friendship and Man’s Reputation: A Case of 'Odds þáttr Ófeigssonar' / MARTA REY-RADLIŃSKA 91 PART II: RECEPTION AND CULTURAL TRANSFER Chapter 6. Cultural Transfer of Cognitive Structures of Fortune in the Latin and Old Icelandic Literatures and Languages: The Case of the Metaphor 'Fortune is a Wheel' / GRZEGORZ BARTUSIK 103 Chapter 7. Dating, Authorship, and Generational Memory in 'Ljósvetninga saga': A Late Response to Barði Guðmundsson / YOAV TIROSH 139 Chapter 8. 'Quid Sigurthus cum Christo?' An Examination of Sigurd’s Christian Potential in Medieval Scandinavia / ŁUKASZ NEUBAUER 155 Chapter 9. Jómsborg and the German Reception of 'Jómsvíkinga saga': Introducing Masterhood as a Social Norm / MICHAEL IRLENBUSCH-REYNARD 173 PART III: OUTSIDERS AND TRANSGRESSORS Chapter 10. The Unfamiliar Other: Distortions of Social Cognition Through Disguise in Two 'Íslendingasögur' / ALEXANDER J. WILSON 187 Chapter 11. A Deviant Word Hoard: A Preliminary Study of Non-Normative Terms in Early Medieval Scandinavia / KEITH RUITER 201 Chapter 12. Enchanting the Land: Monstrous Magic, Social Concerns, and the Natural World in the 'Íslendingasögur' / REBECCA MERKELBACH 213 Chapter 13. Social Margins in 'Karlamagnús saga': The Rejection of Poverty / ALEKSANDRA JOCHYMEK 229 Chapter 14. 'Þótti mǫnnum... hann myndi verða engi jafnaðarmaðr': The Narrator, the Trouble-Maker, and Public Opinion / JOANNE SHORTT BUTLER 239 Chapter 15. Discipline or Punish? Travels and Outlawry as Social Structures in Medieval Iceland / MARION POILVEZ 255