Kristin Lavransdatter Trilogy
Kristin Lavransdatter is Sigrid Undset’s three-part epic chronicling the life of the titular character from early childhood to medieval old age. Originally published in 1920-1922 as The Bridal Wreath, The Mistress of Husaby, and The Cross, Undset’s trilogy follows the life of its fourteenth-century Norwegian heroine. From maidenhood to death, Kristin’s life weaves together details from northern Europe’s medieval history, politics, religion, and family life. Undset’s three books demonstrate her study of medieval texts through her accurate portrayal of Kristin’s life; in fact, these books led to Sigrid Undset winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928.
Kristin Lavransdatter is a compelling heroine, even for the twenty-first-century reader, because she is strong-willed, but also because she is so steeped in her time. These books propel the reader back to a time when social roles were strictly defined, when the medieval church touched nearly every aspect of life, but also when folklore traditions still held sway. Undset begins the first volume of Kristin Lavransdatter—The Bridal Wreath—by cataloging Kristin’s lineage, thus setting her story among the medieval epics. Throughout the three volumes, Undset blends various literary styles and folkloric traditions to reflect the beautiful, severe, and disciplined lives of medieval Norwegian families. While certainly fictionalized, Kristin’s life gives the reader an intimate view of the daily toils, concerns and struggles for people of fourteenth-century Norway from childhood to old age.
Amidst the harsh Norwegian landscape, Kristin comes of age. Undset’s first novel, translated as The Bridal Wreath, tells Kristin’s story from childhood to marriage; it is the story of Kristin as maiden. Over the course of its pages the reader meets Simon, the man Kristin’s father chooses as her spouse, and then Erlend, the man Kristin meets independent of her father. These men, and their wildly different approaches to wooing Kristin, embody the novel’s conflict, and lead to Kristin’s lifelong personal struggles. As she approaches marriage in The Bridal Wreath, Kristin must juggle honor and familial piety with passion and physical love. But beyond Kristin’s inner conflict, which ultimately expose the inner struggles of both her parents, Undset’s first novel reveals many elements of daily life—the role of different church figures in society, the importance of hospitality, the annual calendar of saints’ days, feasts and gatherings, the survival of various folkloric traditions, as well as the expectations of well-born son or daughter. While Kristin’s coming age struggles captivated me, it was as much the details of medieval life that kept me reading. By the final pages of the book I was eager to pick up the second novel in the trilogy.
The Mistress of Husaby, book two, is the story of Kristin’s life as a mother and the mistress of a manor. Like The Bridal Wreath, this book reveals many aspects of life in fourteenth-century Norway, including the intimate life of women, from childbirth to household maintenance. This book also highlights the political upheaval of the time, and the ways in which great men could be made or destroyed depending on the success of their causes, by having such instability intimately touch Kristin’s life. As mistress of the Husaby estate, Kristin is responsible for her servants and tenants, for her sons, and ultimately for her husband even amidst instability and betrayal. Through Kristin’s struggles, Undset exposes the private tensions between love of one’s spouse and love of one’s children; a conflict that is, no doubt, fitting in all times: modern or medieval. As with The Bridal Wreath, this novel’s conclusion left me pondering the consequences of Kristin’s decisions, reflecting upon the challenges her life’s progress presents her, and curious how Undset would conclude her story.
In her final installment of Kristin Lavransdatter, Undset masterfully concludes Kristin’s story. The Cross weaves the end of Simon and Erlend’s stories into Kristin’s story, just as the previous two books focus on them both in relation to and independent from Kristin. The Cross reveals the options for a medieval woman late in life (an age the modern reader might consider middle age). Kristin faces the challenges unique to women whose children have grown; Undset’s painful description of watching your children mature and leave home is heartbreaking. Ultimately, Undset brings the story full circle as Kristin’s end-of-life story, in many ways, reflects that of her mother’s (which the reader will remember from the early books). After a life fraught with struggle and suffering, as well as blessed with the love of many, Kristin finds some peace. As The Cross concludes, Kristin’s whole life becomes subject for the reader’s reflection. I found Kristin’s honest, human relationship with love, loss and faith both touching and troubling.
From childhood to death, the life of Kristin is both tragic and self-made. She breaks from the life her father arranged for her and throughout the books suffers the consequences of that youthful choice. Suffering was, no doubt, a substantial part of medieval life; the power of the church, patron saints, and festival days all work to defray that suffering throughout Kristin’s story. And yet, as the modern era demonstrates, suffering is a fundamental human experience. I found this trilogy beautiful in its harsh realism. Walking, skiing, sailing and riding through the rugged beauty of fourteenth-century Norway along with Undset’s characters was at once exciting and romantic. As I read, I longed to stand in a forest and look down on a Norwegian valley or fjord, just as Kristin does on several of her life’s travels.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in northern Europe’s medieval history, family life and politics. Kristin Lavransdatter holds lessons, not only in history, but of a personal, intimate nature for the modern reader, lessons that linger long after the reader finishes the final pages of the third volume. The nature of passion, love, duty, honor, and a life’s work all undergo scrutiny, as does the role of religion and the divine. While many, perhaps most, elements of daily life have shifted greatly since the fourteenth-century, the basic questions of humanity remain static, and it is through this continuity of human experience that Kristin Lavransdatter remains a compelling and thought-provoking read.
