Caitlin Ellis
Dr Caitlin Ellis is Associate Professor of Nordic Medieval History at the University of Oslo. She is a historian of the early and central Middle Ages, focusing on Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland and the North Atlantic. In particular, her research has examined cross-cultural relations and maritime networks. She use textual and material evidence to analyse identity, trading connections, religious change, and the expression of power. The majority of this textual material is in Old Norse, medieval Irish, Latin, Old English, and medieval Welsh and her work is also informed by literary approaches. Her interests span the Viking and Norman worlds.
Caitlin previously held research positions in Reykjavík, Dublin and Stockholm. She has held teaching positions at the universities of Maynooth, Durham, Oxford, Cambridge and East Anglia. Her PhD is from the department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge.
Caitlin previously held research positions in Reykjavík, Dublin and Stockholm. She has held teaching positions at the universities of Maynooth, Durham, Oxford, Cambridge and East Anglia. Her PhD is from the department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge.
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Papers by Caitlin Ellis
Because of its close and numerous structural parallels to the Snow White tale-type, Ála flekks saga must be considered to represent the clearest Snow White variant in the extant corpus of medieval Icelandic literature. Furthermore, the saga must also be regarded as one of the earliest known literary Snow White variants in the world.
This article also discusses the álög (‘curse’) motif in Old Norse and its relationship to the Irish geis.
[Jonathan Y. H. Hui, Caitlin Ellis, James McIntosh and Katherine Marie Olley, ‘Ála flekks saga: A Snow White Variant from Late Medieval Iceland’, Leeds Studies in English, New Series XLIX (2018), 45–64]
It is the intention of the authors to provide a new and scholarly translation, freely accessible to academics, students and enthusiasts alike, in order to help the saga gain a wider audience and some long-overdue attention. This translation represents part of a recent wave of English translations of indigenous riddarasögur (‘sagas of knights’).
The introduction investigates motifs including the werewolf episode, Áli's dream, and Áli's fleck. It also discusses manuscripts and transmission.
Jonathan Y. H. Hui, Caitlin Ellis, James McIntosh, Katherine Marie Olley, William Norman and Kimberly Anderson, ‘Ála flekks saga: An Introduction, Text and Translation’, Leeds Studies in English New Series XLIX (2018) 1–43.
[Caitlin Ellis, 'Alfred versus the Viking Great Army', The Historian 139 (autumn 2018), 16–22]
Book Reviews by Caitlin Ellis
[Saga-Book of the Viking Society for Northern Research 43 (2019), 147–9.]
Publications by Caitlin Ellis
leiksveins (The Saga of Jón the Player) ranks as one of the least
known and least accessible. Also known as Jóns saga leikara—the
name given to it by seventeenth-century antiquarian and scholar
Árni Magnússon—the short tale is usually classified as a ridda-
rasaga (literally “saga of knights,” or chivalric saga); although, as
with many sagas within this category, it contains elements from
more genres than just romance. The saga is an entertaining tale
that freely adapts and combines disparate elements from a wide
range of source material, but to date it has received very little
attention from scholars within the field of medieval Icelandic
studies. The text and translation accompanying this article seek to redress this fundamental issue of accessibility by making the saga available to a
wider audience than before. It is our hope that, amid the increasing
scholarly interest in the late medieval Icelandic romances, and the
production of English translations of them, Jóns saga may be
evaluated in light of current and future analytical trends, be they
stemmatic, generic, literary, folkloric, gender studies, or others.
Because of its close and numerous structural parallels to the Snow White tale-type, Ála flekks saga must be considered to represent the clearest Snow White variant in the extant corpus of medieval Icelandic literature. Furthermore, the saga must also be regarded as one of the earliest known literary Snow White variants in the world.
This article also discusses the álög (‘curse’) motif in Old Norse and its relationship to the Irish geis.
[Jonathan Y. H. Hui, Caitlin Ellis, James McIntosh and Katherine Marie Olley, ‘Ála flekks saga: A Snow White Variant from Late Medieval Iceland’, Leeds Studies in English, New Series XLIX (2018), 45–64]
It is the intention of the authors to provide a new and scholarly translation, freely accessible to academics, students and enthusiasts alike, in order to help the saga gain a wider audience and some long-overdue attention. This translation represents part of a recent wave of English translations of indigenous riddarasögur (‘sagas of knights’).
The introduction investigates motifs including the werewolf episode, Áli's dream, and Áli's fleck. It also discusses manuscripts and transmission.
Jonathan Y. H. Hui, Caitlin Ellis, James McIntosh, Katherine Marie Olley, William Norman and Kimberly Anderson, ‘Ála flekks saga: An Introduction, Text and Translation’, Leeds Studies in English New Series XLIX (2018) 1–43.
[Caitlin Ellis, 'Alfred versus the Viking Great Army', The Historian 139 (autumn 2018), 16–22]
[Saga-Book of the Viking Society for Northern Research 43 (2019), 147–9.]
leiksveins (The Saga of Jón the Player) ranks as one of the least
known and least accessible. Also known as Jóns saga leikara—the
name given to it by seventeenth-century antiquarian and scholar
Árni Magnússon—the short tale is usually classified as a ridda-
rasaga (literally “saga of knights,” or chivalric saga); although, as
with many sagas within this category, it contains elements from
more genres than just romance. The saga is an entertaining tale
that freely adapts and combines disparate elements from a wide
range of source material, but to date it has received very little
attention from scholars within the field of medieval Icelandic
studies. The text and translation accompanying this article seek to redress this fundamental issue of accessibility by making the saga available to a
wider audience than before. It is our hope that, amid the increasing
scholarly interest in the late medieval Icelandic romances, and the
production of English translations of them, Jóns saga may be
evaluated in light of current and future analytical trends, be they
stemmatic, generic, literary, folkloric, gender studies, or others.
In two initial case studies, Irish support for rebels against Anglo-Norman rulers will be considered: the support of Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, king of Leinster, for Harold Godwinson’s sons, and the connections between Muirchertach Ua Briain, king of Munster and high-king of Ireland, and Arnulf de Montgomery, which angered Henry I. These case studies illuminate the complex networks between Ireland and Britain in which the Normans were involved.