Myth and Magic in the Medieval Far North

In 2020, the series Acta Scandinavica published by Brepols under the auspices of the University of Cambridge put out its tenth volume, entitled Myth and Magic in the Medieval Far North. As of the writing of this review, this series has put out fourteen volumes with at least one more on the way that this writer is aware of, many of which have added positively to the advancement of Scandinavian and Nordic Studies. The Acta Scandinavica is "a targeted series for Scandinavian Studies worldwide, focusing on early Scandinavian culture, history, language, and literature across a broad chronological period that stretches from the fall of Rome up to the emergence of modern states in the seventeenth century" (back cover). Understandably, most volumes primarily deal with the medieval period, though it is nice to see that there are a couple of volumes that involve the seventeenth century, a period under-investigated in American academics if not elsewhere. Though the mandate is Scandinavia, they take this in a broad sense, often including Iceland and, in recent years, Sámi, but less so Finland.The articles in this volume will be of interest to scholars of Scandinavian and Nordic Studies; Medieval Studies in general; Folklore Studies, especially those interested in medieval folklore, folklore history, and folklore collaborations with communities; archeology; and possibly those interested in politics, especially medieval political organization among diverse communities.In this hardback volume, there are eleven articles from various scholars, divided into two sections with two articles in the introduction. The two introductory articles are entitled "Introductions: Myths and Magic in the Medieval Far North," written by the editors; and "Bearded Women and Sea Monsters: European Representations of the Far North in the Early and High Middle Ages," written by Miriam Tveit. Section one is entitled "Myth, Magic, and Rituals in the Nordic World" and includes six articles: "On the View of 'the Other'–Abroad and At Home: The Geography and People of the Far North, According to Historia Norwegie" by Lars Ivar Hansen, "The Ice Giant Cometh: The Far North in the Old Norse-Icelandic Sagas" by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, "Fishermen in Trouble–Grímnismál and Elf Island in Northern Norway" by Petter Snekkestad, "Sámi Myths and Medieval Heritage" by Marte Spangen, "'I Hurl the Spirit of Gandul'. Pleasure, Jealousy, and Magic: The Witchcraft Trail of Ragnhild Tregagaas in 1325" by Rune Blix Hagen, and "The Meaning of Ale: Understanding Political Conflicts in the North in Light of Cultural Practice" by Karoline Kjesrud. The second section is entitled "Myth and Representations in the Political Consolidations of the North" with four articles: "The Origins of Political Organization in the High North: A Study of the History and Material Remains of Finnmǫrk, Hálogaland, and the Mythical Ǫmð" by Yassin Njang Karoliussen, "Norwegian or Northern: The Construction and Mythology of Háleygr Identity, c 800–1050" by Ben Allport, "The Foundation of a Norwegian Kingdom: A Northern Counter-Narrative?" by Richard Holt, and "Approaches to Mythologized 'Other' in Norwegian Expansion to the North" by Stefan Figenschow. There are also two indices, "Index of People and Places" and "General Index." In general, the articles are of the highest caliber, with some excellent articles which may well challenge the reader with new perspectives on issues that may be thought to be well known.One misgiving I have is the title, which downplays its greater value to scholarship and might lead a reader not to pick up the book at all, which would be a mistake. The volume certainly includes aspect of myth and magic, but most articles are more about the diversity of cultures found in the Far North. The term "Far North" can be ambiguous, and from the perspective of many medievalists not well versed in medieval Scandinavia, Far North might be thought to include all of Scandinavia; however, if the reader is looking for new finds or perspectives that include Sweden and Denmark, they will be disappointed. The focus of this volume is the Fennoscandia North. As is stated in the introduction, "despite enormous interest in Viking-age Scandinavia, there is relatively little published material available in English for the early history of the northern parts of the continent—which we can call the Far North" (p. 11). In the past twenty years or so, English-speaking academics in Medieval Studies, especially Scandinavian Medieval Studies, have struggled to respond to the appropriation of Norse culture in pop culture which sometimes sees medieval Scandinavia as a predominately homogeneous white space. Many of these articles dispel the idea of homogeneity of culture in the Far North by looking at cultural diversity and reevaluating ground that was thought to be definitive.The introductory two articles lay out the intent of the volume. As stated in the introduction, "the Far North has a rich heritage of archaeological material from several thousand years of settlement" (p. 11). The purpose of this work is described as follows: "it was to address this perceived neglect of research into the Far North that the research group Creating the Far North came together at the University of Tromsø" (p. 11). The second paper in the introduction, "Bearded Women and Sea Monsters: European Representations of the Far North in the Early and High Middle Ages" by Miriam Tveit, looks at traditional nomenclature and representations, often emanating from two Souths. The article maintains that "these southern representations were often confused and, to the modern reader, fantastic representations of the region as a peripheral area containing primitive, but noble, savage, wonders, and oddities" (p. 19). The author goes on to state, "this article will investigate the role of the Far North in a centre-periphery model in medieval European literature, where the northern periphery was the scene for playing out of moral lessons" (p. 19). This article sets up two Souths: one, South Europe, which is perceived as the center of culture in Europe; and the other, South Scandinavia, which is perceived as the center of culture in Scandinavia. Several of the proceeding articles seek to challenge and reevaluate the center and the periphery dichotomy. Further, in the English-speaking academic world of today, Scandinavia is a periphery to western Europe in Medieval Studies and the Far North and Fennoscandia is a periphery to Scandinavia. This article explores these relationships between the two Souths and the Far North, which is then echoed throughout the volume.For the sake of brevity, I will offer two articles that exemplify the vigorous academic dialogue that exists within the volume. In "Fishermen in Trouble–Grímnismál and Elf Island in Northern Norway," Petter Snekkestad uses modern folklore for insight into a well-known Old Norse poem. Snekkestad is aware of the risk when he states at the beginning, "the arguments in this article are predicated on the assumption that certain traditions recorded fairly recently in northern Norway reflect medieval traditions in an unbroken line. There is little to imply that the 'Utrøst tales' discussed below are corrupted by literary influence" (p. 97). Ordinarily, this reader is dubious of using modern folklore to discern traditions over a thousand years old, and Snekkestad is aware of the objections as he writes, "in conclusion, I am aware that the thoughts presented above plunge headlong into intricate scholarly discourse concerning the nature of the Vanir and the tricky relationship between Norse literature and much later folklore. . . . to speculate on what Grímnismál is really trying to tell us based on studying the 'Utrøst tales' is a tall order" (p. 114). However, the article manages to connect myth and folklore to real world practices that give new perspectives on the poem and describes the world that the Norwegians of the Far North find and found themselves in.In Folklore Studies it has become commonplace to include informants or collaborators in studies, especially indigenous people's perspective of their own histories. Further, scholars like Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Rauna Kuokkanen have suggested that the academy should look to decolonize universities by looking beyond Western epistemes of scholarship. In "Sámi Myths and Medieval Heritage," Marte Spangen investigates three archeological phenomena in the Far North: the sállo ground houses, reindeer pitfall traps, and the circular offering sites, by using the method of engaging with local stories and peoples, but also offers a warning. The article reverses more conventional scholarship by viewing the Norse through a Sámi perspective. She states that "it is important that archeologists acknowledge the value of traditional information for understanding landscape use and worldview of indigenous groups in the past" (p. 121). Spangen evaluates the commonly held interpretations of these three medieval archeological artifacts, considers how the Sámi view them, and gives her perspective on all three. In the conclusion, she offers this insight: "as evident from the literature cited above, a focus on fairytales and myths as extremely old remains of cultural facts preserved in the 'people' is an outdated understanding of folklore in general. However, there is still a tendency to implicitly view indigenous oral traditions as especially archaic and well preserved, and thus as better sources for historical facts than traditions in what is understood as contrasting, modern, Western communities" (p. 134). She adds, "however, the repetition of myth and legends include sic a constant renegotiation of these traditions, since a story is never only retold, but reconfigured and reintroduced to the audience" (p. 136).Finally, these two articles described in this review take up almost diametrically opposed approaches in the research: one using folklore to elucidate a medieval poem and its context, the other a warning about doing just that. There is no one way to conduct research, and I find the varied approaches useful and am thankful to see this type of dynamic scholarship in one volume.These are only tastes of the articles and intellectual vigor of this volume. I regret I do not have more space to engage with the other articles here, especially "The Meaning of Ale: Understanding Political Conflicts in the North in Light of Cultural Practice" and "The Foundation of a Norwegian Kingdom: A Northern Counter-Narrative?" whose titles give some insight into content, the former evaluating the relationship of alu, ale, and ritual, the latter the perceived narrative of the unification of Norway, both of which I found very engaging. I would write in conclusion that most of these articles seek to decentralize and decolonize the Far North; they are thought-provoking and yet are written with clarity so that they can also be used in undergraduate teaching.