A History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe Part 4: The Viking Age

Episode 4 of my series on the history of witchcraft and magic in Europe.

Huge thank you to The Vikings and especially to Oswald the leech for generously sharing their time and agreeing to appear in the video!

00:00 Intro
00:35 The Evidence
01:13 Odin and Freya
02:39 The sagas
04:26 Thorbjorg, from the Saga of Erik the Red
11:37 Oswald the Anglo-Saxon leech
13:18 Norse terminology
15:48 Sámi magic
17:10 "Love magic"
18:26 Charms, amulets and runes
23:20 Staffs and magic wands
25:35 Thurid, from Grettir's Saga

Exploring the Scandinavian undead: What is a draugr?    • Exploring the Scandinavian undead: What is...  

Creepy Classics theme music composed and performed by Ed Harrisson ©

Books and sources (some of these are affiliate links; if you buy direct from the link I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you):

Stephen A. Mitchell, Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages: https://amzn.to/3RdwabU

Neil Price, The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia: https://amzn.to/3X9tLCG

Bengt Ankerloo and Stuart Clark (eds), Witchcraft and Magic in Europe Vol. 3: The Middle Ages: https://amzn.to/3VAzL6x

Grettir's Saga, trans. Jesse Bycock: https://amzn.to/3yVynSI

On rune sticks and stones: https://www.scandinavianarchaeology.c...

On runestones: https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowl...

On the Sámis: https://www.iwgia.org/en/sapmi.html

Image credits:

Illustration from the Heimskringla: Gerhard Munthe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Odin riding Sleipnir from an 18th century Icelandic MS, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

Freya: Carl Emil Doepler (1824-1905), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Cover of the Edda: Peter August Gödecke (1840-1890), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Ynglingasaga title: Gerhard Munthe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Frontispiece of the Saga of Erik the Red: Arngrímur Jónsson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Discovery of Greenland: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand, PPOC, Library of Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Nanortalik, Greenland: amanderson2, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Reconstructions of Thorbjorg and of a grave at Birka from Price, Neil. The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (p. 108 and 126). Oxbow Books. Kindle Edition. Drawings by Þórhallur Þráinsson and Thomas Hjejle Bredsdorff

Viking women reenactors: Peter van der Sluijs, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Hann Glacier: Clemens Stockner, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Clay spindle-whorl from Britain: The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Anglo-Saxons: by Albert Kretschmer, painters and costumer to the Royal Court Theatre, Berin, and Dr. Carl Rohrbach., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Codex Runicus: Template:Asztalos Gyula, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sámi choir at a concert: Kirkens Informasjonstjeneste (Information Service of the Church of Norway), CC BY-SA 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Sigtuna Amulet I side A: Bengt A Lundberg / Riksantikvarieämbetet, CC BY 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Sigtuna Amulet I side B: Bengt A Lundberg / Riksantikvarieämbetet, CC BY 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Staffs from Birka: The Swedish History Museum, Stockholm from Sweden, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons and The Swedish History Museum, Stockholm from Sweden, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Relief showing Akhenaten and his family: Neoclassicism Enthusiast, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

Portrait of Mary I: Antonis Mor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Illustration of Thurid from Grettir’s Saga: Henry Justice Ford, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Other photos author’s own