ARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore
Volume 74
Arne Bugge Amundsen Books
Arne Bugge Amundsen is a Norwegian theologian and cultural historian focusing on Northern European history from 1500-1900. His research delves into folk piety, the history of aristocratic estates, and the culture of churches and cemeteries. He also explores the understanding and practice of rituals, examining movements like Pietism and the Enlightenment, as well as visionary and ecstatic phenomena. Amundsen's work illuminates the construction of regional culture and identity across centuries.
Norwegian epitaphs 1550-1700
Contexts and Interpretations
The epitaph genre was particularly popular in post-Reformation Lutheranism (unlike in the Reformed areas of Europe) – as it was in Norway. In addition to a comprehensive introduction to the cultural, social and geographical context of epitaphs, the volume offers a detailed insight into the (self-)representation of the elites who commissioned these epitaphs. It also names the most important artists who were entrusted with the production of the epitaphs in Norway. The main part of the volume is a detailed presentation of the surviving epitaphs in Norway's four early modern bishoprics. Pictorial motifs, inscriptions and biographical studies are included in the interpretation.