What makes a hero, and how do societies shape their heroic figures over time? This volume challenges static typologies of the heroic and explores the historical processes behind the emergence, transformation, and negation of medieval heroes. With a focus on Sweden, Finland, Prussia, and the Baltic regions, the contributions analyze the earliest moments in which historical figures were either canonized or condemned in chronicles, hagiographies, and administrative records.
This longue durée perspective on heroism reveals that neither the hero nor their negation are absolute concepts—they are always historically contingent.
We’re proud to announce the inaugural volume in our Studies of the Baltic Sea Region series (Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft), which is edited by our Series Editors Alexander Drost, Marie-Theres Federhofer (UiT Norges arktiske universitet) and Clemens Räthel (Universität Greifswald):
Anti-Heroes: Negations and Contradictions of the Heroic in the Medieval and Early Modern Baltic Sea Region
Edited by Gustavs Strenga (Latvijas Kultūras akadēmija / Latvian Academy of Culture) & Cordelia Heß (Aarhus University)
This collection challenges fixed notions of heroism by examining how medieval and early modern societies across Sweden, Finland, Prussia, and the Baltic territories constructed—and deconstructed—their heroic figures in chronicles, hagiographies, and administrative records. Through a longue durée perspective, the essays reveal heroism as a dynamic, historically contingent process rather than an absolute.