The Practitioners of Magic and the Old Norse Concept of Power

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11210%2F24%3A10487288" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11210/24:10487288 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=DYbOE6mEwN" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=DYbOE6mEwN</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The Practitioners of Magic and the Old Norse Concept of Power

Original language description

In the present study, Old Norse magic is analysed as a cultural concept that may have participated in the late medieval Icelanders&apos; interpretation of their history, social reality, and identity. The focus is on episodes in which magic and magicians are explicitly connected to knowledge, where magic is most directly associated with the various possible relationships between public and secret tools of power in medieval Norse society. The present analyses show that these relationships, as depicted in episodes containing magic, are far from uniform. On the one hand, some episodes, typically those involving male sorcerers, present an unambiguous contrast between official power as a force of order and unofficial power as a force of chaos - the legitimate social leaders are portrayed as protectors of social harmony, and their magic-wielding opponents as disruptors. On the other hand, some episodes featuring female sorceresses challenge this clearly outlined dichotomy and show that the principles of power can be more complex. The sorceresses can defend order by protecting the community from disruptive figures, such as outlaws, but at the same time their witchcraft always remains socially marginal. The co-existence of these different conceptualizations in the sagas implies that secret power can both subvert and support official power, and that both types of power can be indispensable - because public authority is not always sufficient on its own as a means of protecting society from threats that transgress its rules.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60500 - Other Humanities and the Arts

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Deshima

ISSN

1957-5173

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

2024

Issue of the periodical within the volume

18

Country of publishing house

FR - FRANCE

Number of pages

19

Pages from-to

35-53

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

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