Centre for Medieval Studies
Aaron Sheldon
The Ties that Bind: Love in the Family in the Old Norse Sagas
My research centres around the historical emotions of the Old Norse sagas, specifically love, and how we can see some aspects of the medieval Icelandic culture of emotions through the relationships within a family. My work historicises the emotions in the sagas through case studies and uses the Old Norse language to locate emotional terms and the contexts in which the terms are used. While work has been done on love in the Old Norse sagas, much of it has focussed upon romantic love, and so my research seeks to expand the horizon of the study of love in the Old Norse world.
Biography
Aaron completed a B.A. in History at the University of York in 2017, before continuing his studies at York as part of the CMS for his Masters in Medieval Studies, which he completed in 2018. A year later, Aaron returned to the CMS to begin his PhD in Medieval Studies with funding from WRoCAH. He currently co-hosts the weekly SCRAMS presentations alongside his research. His primary research interests are: Old Norse literature, language, and culture, and the History of Emotions.