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The goal of this project is to understand the realities of how magic was perceived during a Christianized Iceland, specifically during the medieval era when sagas and poems were recorded in Iceland. I accomplish this through literary analysis in conjunction with previous research on runic inscriptions and Old Norse mythology. I reveal that there is much more to be uncovered about the realities of paganism in medieval Iceland, and that the authors of Icelandic sagas had a large misunderstanding of pre-Christian paganism and magic. This argument is manifested through close readings of major Icelandic works, such as Hávamál, Volsunga saga, and Egils saga, coupled with other, minor works. In the first chapter, through understanding the usage of literary devices like metaphor and irony, I look at the inaccurate ways runes were portrayed in Hávamál and Egils saga as a means to separate Iceland from paganism while still retaining their cultural relevance. In chapter two, through the usage of queer theory, I elaborate on how characters in Hávamál, Egils saga, and Volsunga saga perpetuate negative stereotypes about practitioners of magic. Through these discoveries, this thesis calls into question the views of Icelandic saga writers as misunderstanding pagan magic, and further diversifies the discourse around medieval Icelandic literature as a whole. This project is done in hopes to educate Norse neo-pagans on the nuances surrounding the literature they hold so close to their pagan practices.

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This thesis investigates syncretic animal symbolism within medieval European occult systems. The major question that this work seeks to answer is: what does the ubiquity and importance of magical animals and animal magic reveal about overarching medieval perceptions of the world? In response, I utilize the emerging subfield of Animal History as a theoretical framework to draw attention to an understudied yet highly relevant aspect of occult theory and practice. This work argues that medieval Europeans lived in a fundamentally “enchanted” world compared to our modern age, where the permeable boundaries between physical and spiritual planes imbued nature and its creatures with intrinsic power. In addition, with the increasingly pervasive influence of Christianity, animals took on supplementary and often negative symbolic dimensions within evolving magical systems, yet retained their sense of power within a new syncretic context. By surveying classical occult inheritance, the pervasive influence of Christian doctrine, the use of animals in medical magic, and their rich symbolic potential within medieval literature, this interdisciplinary work highlights the multifaceted medley of Christian and pagan elements that became intertwined in daily life despite seeming doctrinal opposition. Although further scholarly research has yet to be done, analyzing understandings of a world filled with intrinsic occult power offers a valuable and revealing contrast to an age of increasingly sharpened boundaries between animals, human beings, the cosmic realm, and nature.

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The famous wealth of Norman Sicily was due to the careful managing of regal resources and property rights. The loose hand with which the Normans governed their economy allowed the island and its inhabitants to flourish, which in turn increased the wealth of the Norman kings.

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