IMC 2015: Sessions
Session 242: Myths in the Far North, II: Origins and Stories
Monday 6 July 2015, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | 'Creating the New North' Research Programme, Universitetet i Tromsø |
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| Organiser: | Richard Holt, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet |
| Moderator/Chair: | Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, Department of English Studies, Durham University |
| Paper 242-a | Chieftains and Conversion: Building the Norwegian Kingdom in the North (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Economics - Trade, Geography and Settlement Studies |
| Paper 242-b | St Olav of Norway: The Making of a Royal Saint, 1030 - c. 1200 (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Hagiography, Political Thought |
| Paper 242-c | Who Needs Origin Myths?: Norse Story-Telling before 1300 (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Political Thought |
| Abstract | The imposition of the authority of the Norwegian state on to the late Iron Age society of the northern region was a drawn-out process, coinciding with the introduction of Christianity and an organized Church. Meanwhile, the emerging monarchy and Church developed their own ideologies of social authority, enveloping kings and the rights of kingship in a framework of dynastic and religious myths. The creation of the St Olav figure, although perhaps originally a conqueror’s cult, expressed both religious and nationalist forces. In time the saint became a weapon the Church could use against monarchs, who in turn emphasized alternative ideologies of kingship. |