To the cultures of medieval northwestern Europe, the changing of the seasons was a material and economic reality that strongly informed the labour, travel and ritual calendars. However, while there has been much research into the interplay between society and its physical surroundings as reflected in medieval literature, the seasonal aspect of this dynamic has hitherto been neglected. This book analyses the narrative and psychological functions of seasonal settings in the literatures of medieval England and Iceland from the eighth to the fourteenth century, from Beowulf to Sir Gawain and the...