Sorceress or Witch?: The Image of Gender in Medieval Iceland and Northern Europe

Most literature on the history of witchcraft concentrates on the sources from the later Middle Ages, where the emphasis is on the witch trials. Comprehensive study, however, shows that the female witch is much older. Important scholarships on the origin of medieval witchcraft emphasizes the contributions of Greco-Roman culture, but the Icelandic contributions tend to be minimized. The purpose of this book is to look at the imagery of witches in the Icelandic literary tradition and thereby to close some historical gaps.