Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 2400
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Cormack , Margaret
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Visions, Demons, and Gender in the Sagas of Icelandic Saints
  • Source: Collegium Medievale 7, ( 1994): Pages 185 - 209.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Demons Dreams in Literature Gender in Literature Hagiography Iceland Literature- Prose Miracles Sagas Visions Women in Religion
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Scandinavia
  • Century: 13- 14
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: This article is a study of the dreams and visions in the sagas of the Icelandic bishops Þorlákr, Jón, and Guðmundr. It concentrates primarily on visions, whose contents are analyzed. It then discusses possible explanations for the observations that (1) only women have visions in which advice is given regarding third parties, and (2) demonic attacks on women often take place in the context of a vision, while those on men may occur in the waking world and be "verified" by witnesses. Possible explanations, including the exclusion of women from the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the use which could be made of their visions by clerical authors, are discussed. [Reproduced from the publisher's website: http://www.khm.uio.no/]
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: College of Charleston
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1994.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 08019282