HOWLING SLAVS AND WENDISH WOLVES: TRACING A TOPOS BETWEEN THE SCANDINAVIAN AND SLAVIC WORLDS.

Medieval Nordic and Latin textual sources attest numerous similarities in the depiction of Slavs. One outstanding topos is the juxtaposition of pagan Baltic Vinðr ("Wends") and in general Sclavi with dogs or wolves, indicating an evident authorial defamation of groups as well as individuals. Within a comparative framework, the paper shows that the marginalisation of the pagan "other" was based on the actors' threatening behaviour that stood in opposition to the medieval Christian authorities of Central and Northern Europe. Eventually, the analysed textual defamation of Slavs as wolves or dogs in texts such as Thietmar of Merseburg's Chronicon or Snorri's Heimskringla seems to be an expression of a "pan-Germanic" ideology that mirrors the dichotomy of pagans vs. Christians but also of Slavs vs. Germans/Scandinavians in early medieval Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]