Part I: Introduction
Stefan Olsson
Chapter from the book: Olsson, S. 2019. The Hostages of the Northmen: From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Olsson, S. 2019. The Hostages of the Northmen: From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages.
Part I of the book deals with previous research on the giving and taking of hostages in the Viking Age and early medieval traditions, and a summary of earlier research on hostages in Roman, Continental Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon traditions is provided. The research on hostages in Old Scandinavian traditions has not been extensive and is basically non-existent in the history of religions.
A methodological discussion is also conducted. In order to get a perspective on hostages in relation to war and peace, the phenomena is put in relation to a theoretical model of peace processes, as well as different perspectives of ritual theory, where the use of the concept of ritual action (or rather ‘acts’) is defined.
Olsson, S. 2019. Part I: Introduction. In: Olsson, S, The Hostages of the Northmen. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bba.a
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Published on Dec. 16, 2019