This thesis investigates pain beliefs and behaviours in medieval Iceland between 1100 and 1300, shedding light on a relatively underexplored aspect of the Old Norse world. While previous research has examined the history of pain in Europe more generally, this project introduces a new dimension by focusing on Icelandic sagas and vision literature. Pain is a deeply personal and subjective experience which is challenging to quantify or describe. Eira Ebbs has considered the question of pain from a variety of angles, and drawn on complementary fields such as the histories of emotions and disability to create a more detailed and nuanced discussion.
The analysis reveals that while medieval Icelandic society maintained a rigid hierarchy, there existed a surprising degree of fluidity, as individuals navigated identities and social positions through their responses to pain. By demonstrating how pain could reinforce, challenge, or redefine cultural norms and expectations, this study highlights its significance as a lens for understanding the complexities of identity, power, and community dynamics in thirteenth-century Iceland.
The Icelandic perception of pain was complex, marked by diverse and sometimes conflicting norms. With a particular emphasis on elite men, such as chieftains and householders, this study shows how social classification played a defining role in shaping how people expressed and reacted to pain. In turn, individual responses to suffering could define community identities and roles. The findings suggest that attitudes and responses to pain were not static; pain expression evolved over time and to suit various contexts, influenced by cultural conditions, such as political dynamics and religious change, and, in turn, playing an important role in these same social transformations.
Eira Kathleen Ebbs successfully defended her dissertation on 17 January 2025.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: "The sagas as historical sources for the history of emotion"
Evaluation committee
- Professor Sif Ríkharðsdóttir, University of Iceland (First Opponent)
- Professor Haki Antonsson, University College London (Second Opponent)
- Associate Professor Caitlin Megan Ellis, University of Oslo (Committee Administrator)
Chair of the defence
- Associate Professor Erika Maelan Graham-Goering
Supervisors
- Professor Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, University of Oslo
- Professor Hans Jacob Orning, University of Oslo
- Kjersti Storheim, Oslo universitetssykehus
- John Anker Henrik Zwart ved Institutt for klinisk medisin