This book presents information on the role of women in religious studies, folklore and mythology. By investigating women's special skills related to goddess cults together with legends and popular traditions, the author explores the importance of the goddess as a subject for study. Chapters cover: mistress of animals; mistress of the grain; mistress of distaff and loom; mistress of the home; mistress of the dead; and mistress of sovereignty.

This book presents information on the role of women in religious studies, folklore and mythology. By investigating women's special skills related to goddess cults together with legends and popular traditions, the author explores the importance of the goddess as a subject for study. Chapters cover: mistress of animals; mistress of the grain; mistress of distaff and loom; mistress of the home; mistress of the dead; and mistress of sovereignty.

This book is an invaluable exploration of the significance of the sword as symbol and weapon in the Anglo-Saxon world, using archaeological and literary evidence. The first part of the book, a careful study of the disposition of swords found in peat bogs, in graves, lakes and rivers, yields information on religious and social practices. The second is concerned with literary sources, especially Beowulf.

In the early years of the thirteenth century the Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus provided his people with a History of the Danes, an account of their glorious past from the legendary kings and heroes of Denmark to the historical present. It is one of the major sources for the heroic and mythological traditions of northern Europe, though the complex Latin style and the wide range of material brought together from different sources have limited its use. Here Hilda Ellis Davidson, a specialist in Scandinavian mythology, together with the translator Peter Fisher, provides a full English edition;...