Popular Religion in Late Saxon England

“Jolly’s erudite and lively explication of the charms of elves provides unique and valuable insights into popular culture in late Saxon England.” — Speculum

“This interesting work convincingly challenges previous treatments of the subject.” — Times Literary Supplement

“Karen Jolly has written a book that succeeds in being both focused and wide-ranging. With the Anglo-Saxon 'elf charms' as her chief point of reference, she manages to integrate with confidence and ease a diversity of materials, including not only the literary sources in Old English and Latin, but also the archaeological evidence and the ecclesiastical and political records. She shows a firm command of the time and place that she writes about and demonstrates the rootedness of religion magic within a particular culture. The result is a broad and fascinating panorama of Anglo-Saxon religious culture. While Jolly speaks of 'popular' religion, she makes no facile distinction between this and clerical Christianity; the book marks a noteworthy advance in our study of this culture in all its complexities.” — Richard Kieckhefer, Northwestern University