The wicked women whom the Devil feared
There are also many folk tales about wicked women whom the Devil feared or with whom he worked closely – women who were not thought of as witches, only as wicked during their lifetimes. one example is a woman known as the Pintorpa Lady, who was the wicked lady of Eriksberg Castle. It is said that she ordered a crofter to fell the largest oak tree in the park and transport it to her. The crofter used the lady’s two deceased husbands as draught horses. Later, she is seen dancing with the Devil before accompanying him to hell. Another woman, known as Sko-Ella or Kitta Grå, once made a bet with the Devil that she could break up a married couple – something the Devil had failed to do. If she succeeded, she would receive a pair of fine new shoes. She succeeded, but the Devil did not dare to hand the shoes over to her directly, instead passing them to her using a stick. This very motif can be found in several Swedish medieval church paintings. In this talk, I will examine these stories and use folklore studies to analyze them. They tell us different things: one is humorous but at the same time misogynistic, the other is critical of the aristocracy.
Speaker Bio:
Tommy Kuusela earned his PhD in History of Religions at Stockholm University in 2017. He has published more than 70 articles on Swedish folklore and Old Norse religion. He works at one of Sweden’s oldest and largest folklore archives, founded in 1914 in Uppsala. Kuusela is often on the move, both in Sweden and abroad, giving talks at conferences, museums or for organizations. He is often contacted by different media such as television, radio, newspapers and podcasts. He is the host of Sweden’s biggest folklore podcast with more than 2,2 million downloads.
Curated & Hosted By:
Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
