The documentation of
folk legends
in Sweden was begun already in the sixteenth century by Olaus Magnus, the last Catholic archbishop, and reached its peak as late as in the first half of the twentieth century. This rich material has hitherto been accessible to international study only to a limited degree. The over 1800 legend types listed in the present
catalogue
give a vivid picture of the Swedish peasant society with its
trolls
,
ghosts
and
witches
and illustrates its concept of history. The index is based on unprinted records in the four largest
folklore archives
of Sweden and about 150 printed sources, covering all provinces in
Sweden and the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland
. Each section of the catalogue contains an introduction, in which the general background of the legends is described.