This volume is intended as a belated but heartfelt thank-you and Gedenkschrift to the late Larry Syndergaard (1936-2015), long-time professor of English at Western Michigan University and Fellow of the Kommission für Volksdichtung (International Ballad Commission). Larry’s contributions down the decades to ballad studies--particularly Scandinavian and Anglophone--included dozens of papers and articles, as well as his supremely useful book, English Translations of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballads. As David Atkinson and Thomas A. McKean of the Kommission have written (May 2015): “Larry... was a sound scholar with a penetrating mind which he used to support, encourage and befriend others, rather than show off his own knowledge. He will be remembered for his contributions to international balladry, especially for providing a bridge between the English- and Scandinavian-language ballads.” Larry’s particular fascination with the vernacular ballads of the northern medieval world are reflected in this collection; topics here range from plot elements such as demonic whales, otherworldly antagonists, and mer-people to thematic issues of genre, religion and sexual mores. As a tribute to the global influence of Larry’s scholarship and the broad academic interest in medieval ballads, the essays in this volume were contributed by twelve international scholars of narrative song based in Europe, North America and Australia.

-----------

Publisher description

Morgan's critical introduction establishes a social and historical context for the ballads of chivalry and romance and a general framework for their reading.

Examines the legacy of the medieval poet composers of Northern France, the trouveres. For many years problems and difficulties concerning the surviving melodies, have prevented us from accessing these songs. This book addresses many of these problems, helping us develop an understanding of the repertoire.

In Heroic Sagas and Ballads, Stephen A. Mitchell examines the world of the medieval Icelandic legendary sagas and their legacy in Scandinavia. Central to his argument is the view that these heroic texts should be studied in the light of the later Icelandic Middle Ages rather than that of the Viking age, although the stories, the tellers, and the audiences are clearly concerned with exactly this period of Scandinavian history. Viewing these sagas as the products of highly diverse forms of inspiration and creation—some oral, some written—Mitchell explores their aesthetic and social dimensions, demonstrating their function both as entertainment and as a literature with a more serious purpose, one with deep roots in Nordic literary consciousness. The traditions that these sagas relate possessed an importance beyond the temporal and geographical confines of medieval Iceland, and Heroic Sagas and Ballads considers the process by which these heroic materials were subsequently recast as metrical romances in Iceland and as ballads throughout the rest of Scandinavia. It is ultimately concerned with much more than just those stories that inspired such modern writers as Richard Wagner and H. Rider Haggard; its anthropological and folkloric approach to the legendary sagas shows how the extraliterary dimensions of medieval texts can be explored. Heroic Sagas and Ballads addresses issues of central importance to medievalists, folklorists, comparatists, Scandinavianists, and students of the ballad.

With full-page maps and supplementary photos, this encyclopedia covers every aspect of Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, including rulers and saints, overviews of the countries, religion, education, politics and law, culture and material life, history, literature, and art.

The Original Robin HoodTraditional ballads and plays, including all medieval sourcesTranslated into Modern English by Thor Ewing Rhymes of Robin Hood were the great popular literature of medieval England. Now newly translated into fresh Modern English verse, they tell the original story of the outlaw hero. A thorough introduction places the legend in its original context in the reign of King Henry III, and casts fascinating new light on the true identity of the real Robin and his feud with the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Presents a comprehensive, illustrated reference of the period in world history known as the Middle Ages, encompassing both the Eastern and Western hemispheres.