Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages

Abstract

Pp. 206, notes, bibliography, index, acknowledgments.) in his chapter exploring the daily life of the medieval nordic world, Professor Stephen A. mitchell sharply dissects a major tension sur- rounding the role of magic in that society: "re- lief through magic," he says, "and relief from magic were both important means of address- ing the stresses of everyday life in the middle Ages" (p. 51). mitchell's clear, direct prose-re- flected in the above quote-applies techniques from folkloristics and comparative literature to understand the spiritual conflicts that shaped the cosmological worldview of medieval nordic peoples. mitchell views magic as a type of arti- fact, a potsherd of culture, infiltrating many layers of the society in which it is found. he breaks the book into six rough parts, which oc- casionally overlap with one another, to reveal the character of nordic sorcery and folk magic. beginning with a look at materials and sources, the author continues with a grounded examina- tion of vernacular practices. he then explores performance and narrative, theological inter- pretations, and the presence of magic in legal documents, before finishing with a brief but insightful perspective on the sometimes mis- represented role of gender in discussions of medieval witchcraft.