'Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Traditions' explores the traditions of two fascinating and contiguous cultures in north-western Europe. History regularly brought these two peoples into contact, most prominently with the viking invasion of Ireland. In the famous 'Second Battle of Mag Tuired', gods such as Lug, Balor, and the Dagda participated in the conflict that distinguished this invasion. Pseudohistory, which consists of both secular and ecclesiastical fictions, arose in this nexus of peoples and myth and spilled over into other contexts such as chronological annals. Scandinavian gods such as Odin, Balder, Thor, and Loki feature in the 'Edda' of Snorri Sturluson and the 'History of the Danes' by Saxo Grammaticus. This volume explores such written works alongside archaeological evidence from earlier periods through fresh approaches that challenge entrenched views.
Author(s): Emily Lyle (ed.)
Series: The Early Medieval North Atlantic
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 302
City: Amsterdam
Preface 9
Introduction / Emily Lyle 11
Celtic Tradition
1. The Nature of the Fomoiri: The Dark Other in the Medieval Irish Imagination / John Carey 25
2. Tuatha Dé and Fomoiri in 'Cath Maige Tuired' / Elizabeth A. Gray 49
3. Exploring 'Cath Maige Tuired' through the Concept of Hybridity / Ina Tuomala 71
4. How Time Flies in the 'Cath Maige Tuired' / Joseph Falaky Nagy 95
5. The Idols of the Pagan Irish in the Medieval Literary Imagination / Alexandra Bergholm 117
6. Myth as a Historical Resource: The Case of Orgain Denna Ríg (The Destruction of Dinn Ríg) / Kevin Murray 135
7. Hagiography as Political Documentation: The Case of 'Betha Beraigh' (The Life of St Berach) / Ksenia Kudenko 151
Scandinavian Tradition
8. Baldr’s Achilles’ Heel? About the Scandinavian Three-God B-Bracteates / Karen Bek-Pedersen 173
9. The Cult of Óðinn in the Early Scandinavian Warrior Aristocracy / Joshua Rood 197
10. Myth to History in Saxo / Morten Warmind 219
11. The Scylding Dynasty in Saxo and 'Beowulf' as Disguised Theogony / Emily Lyle 235
12. Loki the Slandered God? Selective Omission of Skaldic Citations in Snorri Sturluson's 'Edda' / James Parkhouse 251
13. Ymir, Baldr, and the Grand Narrative Arc of Mythological History / Jonas Wellendorf 271
Index 295
