Erlend, meanwhile, attempts to deal with his former mistress, Eline Ormsdatter, with whom he has fathered two children. Kristin and Erlend begin a secret affair, causing her to break off her engagement to Simon and bringing shame on herself. While betrothed to Simon, she falls in love with a man from the Husaby estate in Trondelag named Erlend Nikulausson.Įrlend is a social outcast due to a past adulterous relationship, which led to his excommunication from the Catholic Church.
Kristin accepts the match with a general apathy but does not dislike Simon for any particular reason. As she grows out of her youth and into womanhood, she is betrothed to Simon Andresson, the son of a nearby estate owner, a man several years her elder. Some people in Sel shame Kristin after she survives an attempted sexual assault. Kristin’s coming of age and resulting loss of innocence is facilitated by the upsetting experiences of her childhood. She finds subtle ways to subvert her family’s preferences and expectations out of a youthful sense of rebellion. Together they bear six children: three girls who survive and three boys, all of whom die in infancy. Ragnfrid is a capable woman, a good match for her husband in industry and hard work. Lavrans is a courageous and quiet man, well-respected in the community, industrious and intelligent. Kristin’s parents are “pious and God-fearing people” (4) living in Jørundgaard on the slopes of Sil in Norway. The story spans the time from Kristin’s youth to the time of her marriage at age 17 to Erlend Nikulausson, a disgraced 32-year-old aristocrat with whom she has fallen in love. The Wreath centers on the protagonist Kristin Lavransdatter, daughter to Lavrans Bjørgulfson (her father) and Ragnfrid Ivarsdatter (her mother).
This study guide uses the 1997 Penguin Classics edition translated into English by Tiina Nunnally.Ĭontent Warning: Please be advised that this novel references sexual assault and death by suicide. Undset’s father was an archaeologist and a scholar, and this influenced her historical approach to literature. Praised for being an accurate depiction of life in medieval Norway, The Wreath draws its historical accuracy from Undset’s meticulous research and careful development of setting and historical details in the novel.
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