Mikael Males

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2026). In Praise of divinatio. The Value of “True Errors” and Metrical Heuristics. Annali online Unife. XX, s. 218–239. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Quest’articolo sostiene che, nel comune discorso sul metodo ecdotico, l’importanza della congettura, o divinatio, sia stata spesso sottovalutata, laddove si tende a conferire una centralità sempre maggiore alla pura stemmatica. Nonostante la stemmatica goda all’apparenza di una maggiore “scientificità”, si rileva che i risultati raggiunti per divinatio sono spesso più solidi. Per sua natura, tuttavia, questo metodo risulta efficace più nell’individuazione degli errori che non nella loro correzione. Se in una prassi filologica “di vecchio stampo” questo poteva considerarsi un limite, il presente studio sostiene che insufficiente riconoscimento è stato attribuito alla semplice individuazione degli errori, al di là dell’eventuale emendazione. Lo studio affronta, inoltre, le potenzialità dell’analisi metrica a fini ecdotici, prendendo in considerazione in modo particolare il corpus poetico germanico di più antica attestazione.

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2025). The study of Old Norse grammatical literature c. 2000-2024. Medioevo europeo. ISSN 2532-6856. 9, s. 159–188. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This article offers a critical survey of scholarship on Old Norse grammatical literature from approximately 2000 to 2024, proposing a broader and more integrative conception of grammatica than prior reviews. Extending beyond the four canonical grammatical treatises, it includes works such as Snorri Sturluson’s Edda, Litla Skálda, and the Icelandic Rune Poem, thereby recontextualizing the intellectual landscape of medieval Icelandic philology. Particular attention is given to recent methodological shifts emphasizing empirical scrutiny, source analysis, and cross-disciplinary testing of hypotheses. Case studies illustrate how Latin grammatical models were selectively appropriated and transformed within a vernacular framework, challenging conventional narratives of cultural dependence. This re-evaluation not only enriches our understanding of the transmission and function of grammatical knowledge in the North but also underscores the originality and analytical depth of Icelandic scholarly production in the high and late Middle Ages.

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2025). ‘The Rune Poems: Origin, Intertextual Links and Revised Chronology’. Journal of English and Germanic Philology (JEGP). ISSN 0363-6941. 124(4), s. 431–462. doi: https:/muse.jhu.edu/article/971034. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2025). Hlǫðskviða and the rise of the Old Norse legendary sagas. Neophilologus: An International Journal of Modern and Mediaeval Language and Literature. ISSN 0028-2677. 109, s. 367–389. doi: 10.1007/s11061-025-09841-3. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Hlǫðskviða or “The Battle of the Goths and the Huns” is the most famous of the poems contained in the Old Norse legendary sagas, being generally held to belong to the earliest Old Norse poems. By contrast, the present article argues that linguistic features and the characteristics of verbal and metrical correspondences with other poems are most easily explained by a twelfth-century date. Comparable examples are explored, and the study indicates that the poetry in the legendary sagas should probably not be divided into old and young poems, but rather be viewed generally as the product of a twelfth-century antiquarian flowering drawing on older elements. It is suggested that older poems treating the topics of the legendary sagas may once have existed, since stray stanzas in the sagas appear to be old, but that they did not belong to the canon of poetry transmitted by court poets. They would therefore not have enjoyed the stable transmission typical of eddic and skaldic poetry, ensuring the survival of entire poems. For this reason, would-be authors of the twelfth century needed to expand the corpus, leading to a greater ratio of late poetry in the legendary sagas than in any other genre of Old Norse historical literature. This process was crucial to the emergence of the genre of legendary sagas as we know it.

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2025). Prenominal of/um(b) in Old Norse Poetry as a Dating Criterion. Journal of English and Germanic Philology (JEGP). ISSN 0363-6941. 124(1), s. 1–27. doi: 10.5406/1945662x.124.1.01. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2024). Approaches to Dating the Poetry in the Sagas of Icelanders. Scripta Islandica: Isländska sällskapets årsbok. ISSN 0582-3234. 74, s. 81–102. doi: 10.33063/diva-524128. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2024). EARLY EDDIC POETRY (c. 850‑1000): THE OTHER TYPE OF PAGAN COURT POETRY? I Gautier, Alban; Lucas-Avenel, Marie-Agnès & MATHEY-MAILLE, Laurence (Red.), Poésie et politique dans les mondes nordiques et normands médiévaux (IXe-XIIIe siècle). Presses Universitaires de Caen. ISSN 9782381852232. s. 159–175. doi: 10.4000/13tz6. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Old Norse poetry is commonly divided into Eddic and skaldic poetry. Skaldic poetry is generally connected to the court, but scholars rarely mention possible contexts of composition of Eddic poetry, and no overview of indications has been published. This chapter presents such an overview. In fact, the evidence is relatively rich and points unambiguously to a courtly context. It therefore seems likely that the distinction between Eddic and skaldic poetry was not one of context, but one of function, and since only skaldic poetry merited substantial rewards from the ruler, only the latter had a strong sense of authorship. It is further argued that scholarly reluctance to discuss context is not primarily due to the character of the sources, but that it has been inherited from an earlier period, when Eddic poetry was seen as a popular form, in contradistinction to elite skaldic poetry.

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2024). The Dating of Hávamál. Maal og Minne. ISSN 0024-855X. 1, s. 81–117. doi: 10.52145/mom.v116i1.2277. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  I denna artikel identifieras och prövas fyra innehållskriterier som alla pekar mot komposition före ca 1000 och därmed stöttar språkliga kriterier. Inga motstridiga indikationer har identifierats, och spridningen av kriterier i dikten kan tyda på att även om Hávamál möjligen är sammansatt av mer än en dikt torde detta ha ägt rum tidigt, troligen i perioden ca 900–50.

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2024). Emendations and the choice between variants in the eddic poems. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia. ISSN 1782-7183. 20, s. 141–166. doi: 10.1484/J.VMS.5.142574. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2023). The Dating of Bragi's Poetry. Medioevo europeo. ISSN 2532-6856. 7(2), s. 63–77. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2023). The Irish Background of the Icelandic Calendrical Reform. Peritia: Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland. ISSN 0332-1592. 34, s. 107–122. doi: 10.1484/J.PERIT.5.136862. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2023). Textual criticism and Old Norse philology. Studia Neophilologica. ISSN 0039-3274. doi: 10.1080/00393274.2023.2205888. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Old Norse editors typically apply the principles of textual criticism with moderation, mainly correcting obvious errors. The exception is poetry, where the introduction of variant readings and emendations is often necessary. This two-pronged and overall restrictive approach is based on the characteristics of the corpus, but in recent decades, some scholars have called its premises into question, either in theory or in practice. In most examples discussed in this article, arguments against textual criticism are paired with disregard for or misrepresentation of its aims and methods. In other instances, scholars who attempt a reconstructive approach neglect the epistemological preconditions of textual criticism, even when drawing on its assumptions. In order to address these issues, the present article discusses the goals and principles of textual criticism with reference to examples from Old Norse scholarship. Specifically, it explores how scholars relate to scribal errors.

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2023). The Earliest Old Norse Metrics. Filologia Germanica – Germanic Philology. ISSN 2036-8992. 15, s. 121–144. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This article explores Old Norse metrical developments in the ninth century, focusing on the only securely datable evidence we have: the Rök stanza and Bragi’s poetry. It reveals a greater degree of continuity between the two than scholars have previously assumed, and it clarifies fundamental dynamics in the emergence of dróttkvætt that have hitherto been impeded by an unwarranted analytical dichotomy. It also presents the first detailed metrical analysis of the Rök stanza, specifying how far its form has proceeded from the shared Germanic one towards later, specifically Old Norse forms. While Bragi’s metrical practices are usually grouped together with those of other early poets, this article also clarifies how he differs from these in ways that are most plausibly explained by the fact that he represents the earliest attested stage of dróttkvætt poetry

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2022). Hear No Sievers, See No Sievers: Metrics and the Eddic Commentary Tradition. Neophilologus: An International Journal of Modern and Mediaeval Language and Literature. ISSN 0028-2677. doi: 10.1007/s11061-022-09747-4. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2022). Irish Influence on Late Norse Paganism: The Leviathan and the Miðgarðsormr. Peritia: Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland. ISSN 0332-1592. 33, s. 159–188. doi: 10.1484/J.PERIT.5.131903. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2021). Kan fornisländskans rúnar betyda “bokstäver”? Scripta Islandica: Isländska sällskapets årsbok. ISSN 0582-3234. 72, s. 127–136. doi: 10.33063/diva-439404. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This article argues that Old Norse rúnar cannot have the unqualified meaning ‘letters’, but only ‘runes’ or, rarely, ‘another type of script than the ordinary’. The mean­ing ‘letters’ in dictionaries and translations is derived from Latin, which has no word for ‘runes’, and where the natural translation of rúnar is therefore litterae ‘letters’. When Latin translations were subsequently reverted into the vernacular, the additional meaning ‘letters’ entered scholarly literature on the subject. This is true not only of Old Norse, but also of Old English and Old High German. This obser­vation can provide us with more secure readings of some textual passages and, more importantly, allows us to follow the expression of attitudes towards runes in Iceland in the period c. 1150–1350.

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2021). Gylfaginning: Poetic Sources and the Structure of the Archetype. Saga-Book. ISSN 0305-9219. 45, s. 119–150. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2021). Imagining the Holy Land in the Old Norse World. I Aavitsland, Kristin Bliksrud & Bonde, Line M. (Red.), Tracing the Jerusalem code : Volume 1 : The holy city Christian cultures in medieval Scandinavia (ca. 1100–1536). De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9783110634853. s. 455–475. doi: 10.1515/9783110639438-022. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2020). Form. I Bampi, Massimiliano; Larrington, Carolyne & Rikhardsdottir, Sif (Red.), A Critical Companion to Old Norse Literary Genre. Boydell & Brewer. ISSN 9781843845645. s. 61–72. doi: 10.1017/9781787447851.005. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  We cannot read literary works without making use of the concept of genre. In Old Norse studies, genre has been central to the categorisation, evaluation and understanding of medieval prose and poetry alike; yet its definition has been elusive and its implications often left unexplored. This volume opens up fundamental questions about Old Norse genre in theory and in practice. It offers an extensive range of theoretical approaches, investigating and critiquing current terms and situating its arguments within early Scandinavian and Icelandic oral-literary and manuscript contexts. It maps the ways in which genre and form engage with key thematic areas within the literary corpus, noting the different kinds of impact upon the genre system brought about by conversion to Christianity, the gradual adoption of European literary models, and social and cultural changes occurring in Scandinavian society. A case-study section probes both prototypical and hard-to-define cases, demonstrating the challenges that actual texts pose to genre theory in terms of hybridity, evolution and innovation. With an annotated taxonomy of Old Norse genres and an extensive bibliography, it is an indispensable resource for contemporary Old Norse-Icelandic literary studies.

• Males, Mikael (2020). Fóstbrœðra saga: A Missing Link? Gripla. ISSN 1018-5011. 31, s. 71–102. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Kjesrud, Karoline & Males, Mikael (2020). Learning the Truth. I Kjesrud, Karoline & Males, Mikael (Red.), Faith & Knowledge in Late Medieval & Early Modern Scandinavia. Brepols. ISSN 9782503579009. s. 9–25. doi: 10.1484/M.KSS-EB.5.117739. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2020). Denoting the Holy in Skaldic Tradition. I Kjesrud, Karoline & Males, Mikael (Red.), Faith & Knowledge in Late Medieval & Early Modern Scandinavia. Brepols. ISSN 9782503579009. s. 149–172. doi: 10.1484/M.KSS-EB.5.117745. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2019). Etymology, Wordplay, and the Truth Value of the Linguistic Sign from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. I Males, Mikael (Red.), Etymology and Wordplay in Medieval Literature. Brepols. ISSN 9782503575759. s. 15–43. doi: 10.1484/M.DISPUT-EB.5.115596. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2019). Etymological Interpretation of Dreams in Old Icelandic Literature. I Males, Mikael (Red.), Etymology and Wordplay in Medieval Literature. Brepols. ISSN 9782503575759. s. 213–243. doi: 10.1484/M.DISPUT-EB.5.115603. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2019). Introduction. I Males, Mikael (Red.), Etymology and Wordplay in Medieval Literature. Brepols. ISSN 9782503575759. s. 1–13. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2018). Pseudo-Remigius and the Old Icelandic Barbarismus: A Pilot Study. I Edzard, Lutz; Borgland, Jens Wilhelm & Hüsken, Ute (Red.), Reading Slowly. A Festschrift for Jens E. Braarvig. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISSN 9783447109642. s. 321–331. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvckq4dr.26. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2017). 1100-talets pseudonyma skaldediktning: En kritisk granskning. Maal og Minne. ISSN 0024-855X. s. 1–24. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  i denna artikel diskuteras ett antagande som har blivit allt vanligare inom skaldediktsforskningen från mitten av 1900-talet och framåt, nämligen att det under 1100-talet skall ha komponerats åtskillig poesi i de skalders namn som hade levat på 900-talet. Detta antagande förutsätter, åtminstone implicit, att sagorna hade antagit den prosimetriska form vi känner från 1200- talet redan hundra år tidigare. i denna studie granskas här så många tillgängliga indicier som möjligt för att bedöma om skaldediktsprosimetrum verkligen var en vanlig form på 1100-talet, och de visar sig alla peka mot att så inte var fallet. Formen tycks snarare ha utvecklats under påverkan av eddadiktsprosimetrum i perioden runt och framför allt efter 1200. antagandet om pseudonym 1100-talsdiktning motsägs därmed av den litterära utvecklingen och detta leder till frågan om vilka kriterier som har använts för att uppställa en hypotes. Dessa befinns bjuda på åtskilliga problem, och det föreslås att företräde istället bör ges åt mät- och falsifierbara kriterier.

• Males, Mikael (2017). Character, Provenance, and Use of the Icelandic Fifth Grammatical Treatise. Arkiv för nordisk filologi. ISSN 0066-7668. 132, s. 121–138. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This article argues that the short textual fragment today called the Fifth Grammatical Treatise (below 5GT) represents a kind of hybrid within Icelandic poetics, occupying a middle ground between the nativizing treatises, such as Snorri’s Edda, and the Latinate ones, such as 3GT and 4GT. Like Snorri’s Edda, 5GT uses vernacular rather than Latin terminology and it is not arranged according to principles canonized within the grammatical tradition, but the concept it treats are alien to the vernacular tradition and belong in the sphere of Latin learning. The article also contends that the combined evidence of manuscript context and features within the text itself suggest that its author is Óláfr Þórðarson, nephew of Snorri Sturluson, or someone very close to him, and that Óláfr drew on 5GT in his composition of 3GT. This contextualization sheds further light on how 5GT fits into the evolving tradition of Icelandic poetics, not least because Óláfr is the person who took this tradition from a nativizing to a Latinate mode in 3GT. The attribution of 5GT to his intellectual milieu thus enables us to get close to the individuals who, after Snorri, developed the discourse on vernacular poetics in the thirteenth century. The translation of Latin texts that Óláfr undertook in 3GT may appear as the most straightforward way of transferring Latin learning into the vernacular. The intermediate, hybrid solution of 5GT, however, suggests that the nativizing mode held such a strong position in Icelandic intellectual circles that translation was the most, rather than the least, challenging solution for transforming local poetics into a theoretical discourse recognizable by European standards.

• Males, Mikael (2017). The Last Pagan. Journal of English and Germanic Philology (JEGP). ISSN 0363-6941. 116(4), s. 491–514. doi: 10.5406/jenglgermphil.116.4.0491. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2016). Applied Grammatica: Conjuring up the Native Poetae. I Eriksen, Stefka Georgieva (Red.), Intellectual Culture in Medieval Scandinavia. Brepols. ISSN 9782503553078. s. 263–307. doi: 10.1484/m.disput-eb.5.110527. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2015). Er Ólafur Þórðarson höfundur Eglu? Són. ISSN 1670-3723. 13, s. 173–179. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2014). Skáldskaparmál as a Tool for Composition of Pseudonymous Skaldic Poetry. I martin, chase (Red.), Eddic, Skaldic, and Beyond: Poetic Variety in Medieval Iceland and Norway. Fordham University Press. ISSN 9780823257812. s. 62–74. doi: 10.5422/fordham/9780823257812.003.0005. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2013). Allegory in Old Norse Secular Literature: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia. ISSN 1782-7183. 9, s. 99–132. doi: 10.1484/j.vms.1.103878. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2013). Wormianusredaktören: Språk, tro och sanning vid 1300-talets mitt. Arkiv för nordisk filologi. ISSN 0066-7668. s. 41–77. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2011). Egill och Kormákr - tradering och nydiktning :. Maal og Minne. ISSN 0024-855X. s. 115–146. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2008). Vellekla, dunhent och jónssonsk utgivning. I Johansson, Karl G.; Janson, Henrik; Magnúsdóttir, Auður; Malm, Mats & Rogström, Lena (Red.), "Vi ska alla vara välkomna!" Nordiska studier tillägnade Kristinn Jóhannesson. Göteborgs universitet. ISSN 9789163322303. s. 363–368. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2006). Den avhängiga: Kvinnoförakt som förutsättning för ett enda genus på 1200-talets Island? Collegium Medievale. ISSN 0801-9282. 19, s. 65–82. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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• Males, Mikael Meuller (2024). Den äldsta fornnordiska litteraturen. Nya vetenskapliga rön. Dialogos Förlag. ISBN 9789175044347. 248 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Kjesrud, Karoline & Males, Mikael (2020). Faith & Knowledge in Late Medieval & Early Modern Scandinavia. Brepols. ISBN 9782503579009. 306 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2020). The Poetic Genesis of Old Icelandic Literature. De Gruyter Brill. ISBN 9783110641837. 353 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2019). Etymology and Wordplay in Medieval Literature. Brepols. ISBN 9782503575759. 272 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2017). Snorre och sagorna. De isländska källorna till vår äldre kulturhistoria. Dialogos Förlag. ISBN 9789175043258. 160 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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• Heide, Eldar & Males, Mikael Meuller (2025). 87. Håvamål. Samtale med norrønfilolog Mikael Males. doi: https:/pod.link/1635409693/episode/NzkzNTQ2ODYtNmQ5ZS00YWZjLTkwYTItODNjZTExYTY1ZjE5?fbclid=IwY2xjawPoLTJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBqS3hwdExJSkJnS2ZxOW5Dc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHlOyr20pjsfhkfMeBVqvER9ouPNBZkGLBh4IT-YlYlPJ3dycO-RYCmUlauSD_aem_z2jbTzrnh3EjqovlNJE4yA. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2025). Norge har en hedensk arv å være stolt over. [Internet]. Forskning.no. doi: https:/www.forskning.no/historie-litteratur-sprak/professor-norge-har-en-hedensk-arv-a-vaere-stolt-over/2460347. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2025). Håvamål. Samtale med norrønfilolog Mikael Males. doi: https:/creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/truogmeining/episodes/87--Hvaml--Samtale-med-norrnfilolog-Mikael-Males-e31g1qk. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Håvamål er eit av dei mest kjende eddadikta. Men kva er det for eit dikt? Kor gammalt er det? Er det dikta av éin eller mange? Kva var diktaren eller diktarane ute etter? Kvifor legg han / dei orda i munnen på Odin? Passar levereglane i diktet vår tid? Kor tidleg bør du eigentleg stå opp dersom du skal drepa nokon?

• Males, Mikael Meuller (2024). The interdependence of the Old Norse runic poems. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2023). Are you Experienced and Attentive Enough? Old Norse Poetry as a Conceptual and Analytical Challenge. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2022). ‘Háttalykill and twelfth-century poetic historiography’. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2022). Hávamál: Date, internal coherence and context of composition. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2022). Irish words in Old Norse: true loans or stylistic markers? Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael Meuller (2022). A (re)assessment of Irish influences in Scandinavia before c. AD 1000. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael & Downey, Clodagh (2020). What is Metre? Latin, Irish, Norse. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2019). Introduction. I Males, Mikael (Red.), Etymology and Wordplay in Medieval Literature. Brepols. ISSN 9782503575759. s. 1–13. doi: 10.1484/M.DISPUT-EB.5.115595. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2019). Conceptual Frames of Icelandic Grammar c. 1150–1350. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2019). Irish-Norse cultural exchange and the diagnostic value of likeness. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2018). Dating Skaldic Poetry by Content: A Viable Method? Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2017). The Reception of Inspired Greek in the West. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael & Furuseth, Sissel (2017). Boklunsj: Snorre och sagorna. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Males, Mikael (2010). Mytologi i skaldedikt, skaldedikt i prosa. En synkron analys av mytologiska referenser i medeltida norröna handskrifter. Universitetet i Oslo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  I avhandlingen granskas referenser till norrøn mytologi i skaldedikt. Referenserna och skaldedikterna tolkas i sitt sammanhang, i fdrhållande till omgivande prosa i enskilda, medeltida handskrifter. Till skillnad från tidigare forskning på skaldedikt undviks rekonstruktion av dikterna, som istallet tolkas som de står i handskrifterna. Slutsatserna gåller handskrifternas samtid, 1200- och 1300-tal. Analysen visar att skaldedikt ofta fdrstods på ett mindre logiskt satt ån man i dag antar. Granskningen av de mytologiska referenserna tyder på att saften att infdrliva mytologi och hedendom i en kristen vårldsbild också de var tåmligen fria och varierande och att olika tolkningsstrategier kunde samverka. Hedendomen kunde utmålas som strukturellt lik kristendomen, eller som fdrkastlig, eller som verksam och dårfdr rationell, allt beroende på framstållningens fokus. En biprodukt av analyserna har varit att de visar att Snorri Sturlusons Edda sågs som ett anvandbart redskap for att skapa "gammal" poesi att lågga i munnen på åldre skalder.

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