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Lady with a Mead Cup: Ritual, Prophecy and Lordship in the European Warband from La Tene to the Viking Age.
... The institutional backbone of a Scandinavian force was the warband. This is sometimes referered to as the comitatus or Gefolgschaft in studies dealing with the concept and the institution is traced back into the Roman Iron Age (Enright 1996). The concept of the warband is largely derived from literary and historical sources that are not contemporary with the Vendel Period, but from both before and after there are key concepts that remain constant. ...
... The concept of the warband is largely derived from literary and historical sources that are not contemporary with the Vendel Period, but from both before and after there are key concepts that remain constant. The warband has been fancied as a type of egalitarian group of warriors, but there is clearly a hierarchy involved (Enright 1996). There are three general hierarchical positions in the warband, the chieftain, the hird, and recruited troops. ...
... John Ljungkvist asserts that this hierarchy can be revealed in the burial ground at Vendel (Ljungkvist 2000). The reciprocal relationship between the chieftain and his followers was key and is highlighted consistently in later Old Norse literature (Enright 1996) and is a key criterion in Ljungkvist's hierarchical reading of Vendel Period weapon graves (Ljungkvist 2000). ...
This thesis analyzes and documents the splint armor material from Valsgärde 8 and Vendel I, X, and XI. This armor is then contextualized in the warrior institutions, weapon-systems, and fighting techniques of warbands from Central Sweden. Analogies for the splint armor are sought after with the closest parallels being found around the Black Sea area, associated with Byzantine, Sassanid, and Steppe-Nomadic martial cultures. The systems of exchange between these two regions are then analyzed in order to inform as to where this armor came from, why it is there in Central Sweden, and what this can tell us about the development of military contacts between Central Sweden and the Black Sea area during the Vendel Period.
... The contexts of the triple cups place them in a milieu where they can be connected to banqueting or feasting with analogy to life in the hall (see also Fredriksen 2005), where the beaker also operate as a symbol of royal power (Bauschatz 1978, 290;Enright 1996;Pollington 2003). In Celtic mythology many connections are made between tripleness and feasting or drinking. ...
... The cups also display a connection to feasting, often combined with other vessels in early Iron Age graves. The feasting aspect and the unified cups both work as metaphors for the important role of the drink for making political and social alliances (Enright 1996), and after the death of an important member of society alliances needed to be renegotiated to stabilize the social order (Oestigaard and Goldhahn 2006). In the words of Miranda Green (1989, 170) triplism may be seen as a sign of totality, or: "the exaltation of the forces of nature, an expression of extreme potency". ...
This paper explores the function and symbolic significance of two rare groups of pottery from Norwegian graves of the five first
centuries AD: triple cups and bird-shaped beakers. These beakers are part of an old tradition of drinking rituals with interesting
ethnographic parallels connecting them to the feasting of the farming communities of 16th and 17th Centuries. The vessels point back
to the life-giving drink, brought to humankind by the gods and thereby playing an important part in both social and religious life. The
triple-cups relate to the Trinitarian symbolism that can also be found in iconography and written sources, representing cosmological
totality. Bird-shaped beakers relate to the bird as a helping animal, but also to their power of healing and collectors of wisdom and
information from other worlds. Both kinds of vessels are interpreted as primary symbols in funerary feasting of the early Iron Age
society.
... Pilø 2004;Grønnesby and Heen-Pettersen 2015). The important role of drinking in Iron Age society is emphasized by many (Enright 1996;Gjerpe 2001;). However, the use and preparation of food in communal settings is rarely focused upon. ...
... Lack of settlement evidence in the vicinity of these sites, implies that these gatherings were held outside the immediate farmsteads (e.g. Martens 2005; Samdal and Bukkemoen 2008; Bukkemoen and Simonsen 2009;Ødegaard 2015) As such, they represent a different context than a feast in the hall of a lord or chieftain (Enright 1996). The layout, and the large dimensions of the pits, along with the obviously regulated food preparation speak in favor of regular activities that are distinguishing qualities of ritual meals (Hamilakis 2013: 87;. ...
The 14 articles presented in this publication represent some of the latest and most relevant research on rural settlement and farming from the Late Neolithic through the Early Medieval Period in Norway. It deals with the impact of climate change, plague and the AD 536–7 volcanic event and some of the earliest farms north of the Arctic Circle. It provides new perspectives and archaeological evidence for the Viking age farm of Norway, differences in regional settlement structures of agrarian societies, the relation between houses and graves in the Iron Age, and varying food practices as indicators of societal change.
... Haerfølgjet er sett på som ein sentral institusjon i germanske samfunn, og er omtala i ei rekke skriftlege kjelder (ibid. ;Steuer 1989;Enright 1996;Evans 1997;S. Kristoffersen 2000a: 39). ...
... Ein indikasjon på diakritiske trekk er Jack Goody (1982) si knyting av diakritisk praksis til utviklinga av spesialiserte mattilberedarar, der ektemake eller husfrue vert erstatta i denne rolla i og med at ho vert del av den politiske modus. Husfrua si politiske rolle i gjestebodet i folkevandringstid -the Lady with a Mead Cup (Enright 1996) -vert her understreka. Tidlegare har eg vektlagt distinksjonen i klasse knytta til det diakritiske gjestebodet og hallen som førestelling. ...
... Welsh mêl 'honey', melyn 'yellow', and the high hero's reward of medd o eur 'mead from gold' (cf. Enright 1996). ...
This book examines the impact of ancient DNA research and scientific evidence on our understanding of the emergence of Indo-European languages in prehistory. Offering cutting-edge contributions from an international team of scholars, it considers the driving forces behind the Indo-European migrations during the 3rd and 2nd millenia BC. The volume explores the rise of the world's first pastoral nomads the Yamnaya Culture in the Russian Pontic steppe including their social organization, expansions, and the transition from nomadism to semi-sedentism when entering Europe. It also traces the chariot conquest in the late Bronze Age and its impact on the expansion of the Indo-Iranian languages into Central Asia. In the final section, the volumes consider the development of hierarchical societies and the origins of slavery. A landmark synthesis of recent, exciting discoveries, the book also includes an extensive theoretical discussion regarding the integration of linguistics, genetics, and archaeology, and the importance of interdisciplinary research in the study of ancient migration.
... Welsh mêl 'honey', melyn 'yellow', and the high hero's reward of medd o eur 'mead from gold' (cf. Enright 1996). ...
This book examines the impact of ancient DNA research and scientific evidence on our understanding of the emergence of Indo-European languages in prehistory. Offering cutting-edge contributions from an international team of scholars, it considers the driving forces behind the Indo-European migrations during the 3rd and 2nd millenia BC. The volume explores the rise of the world's first pastoral nomads the Yamnaya Culture in the Russian Pontic steppe including their social organization, expansions, and the transition from nomadism to semi-sedentism when entering Europe. It also traces the chariot conquest in the late Bronze Age and its impact on the expansion of the Indo-Iranian languages into Central Asia. In the final section, the volumes consider the development of hierarchical societies and the origins of slavery. A landmark synthesis of recent, exciting discoveries, the book also includes an extensive theoretical discussion regarding the integration of linguistics, genetics, and archaeology, and the importance of interdisciplinary research in the study of ancient migration.
... Welsh mêl 'honey', melyn 'yellow', and the high hero's reward of medd o eur 'mead from gold' (cf. Enright 1996). ...
This book examines the impact of ancient DNA research and scientific evidence on our understanding of the emergence of Indo-European languages in prehistory. Offering cutting-edge contributions from an international team of scholars, it considers the driving forces behind the Indo-European migrations during the 3rd and 2nd millenia BC. The volume explores the rise of the world's first pastoral nomads the Yamnaya Culture in the Russian Pontic steppe including their social organization, expansions, and the transition from nomadism to semi-sedentism when entering Europe. It also traces the chariot conquest in the late Bronze Age and its impact on the expansion of the Indo-Iranian languages into Central Asia. In the final section, the volumes consider the development of hierarchical societies and the origins of slavery. A landmark synthesis of recent, exciting discoveries, the book also includes an extensive theoretical discussion regarding the integration of linguistics, genetics, and archaeology, and the importance of interdisciplinary research in the study of ancient migration.
... The hall, or mead-hall, is probably the most renowned building category from the Iron Age, and for good reason, since it is repeatedly alluded to both in the Norse sagas and in the Saxon and Anglo-Saxon skaldic poetry (see Thompson 1995;Brink 1996;Enright 1996;Herschend , 1998. The hall was a building, or room, where the lord would entertain prominent guests in order to negotiate and legitimate his power. ...
How did people organize their settlements in later prehistoric societies? How do architecture, spatial organization, land divisions, and landscape use relate to different modes of social organization? The papers in this book contribute to a greater understanding of the complexity and dynamics of settlement and landscape organization in the Nordic countries from the Late Bronze Age to the Renaissance.
Among the topics addressed is the notion of the wandering settlements as the standard settlement pattern across southern Scandinavia in the last millennium BC. This idea is nuanced by in-depth regional studies. Up-to-date methodological and theoretical insights are employed to shed light on over-arching patterns of demography and the interaction between humans and the natural world, as well as on technological adaptation and innovation. Contributions to the book explore the nature of the relationships between settlements: both symmetrical relationships, between neighbouring farmsteads, and asymmetrical relationships, between farmsteads representing different levels in a social hierarchy. Spatial and temporal relations between communities of the living and the dead are also discussed.
This book provides a comprehensive update on current research and methodologies in settlement archaeology in the Nordic countries. It is intended for students, archaeologists, and the interested reader working with settlements, landscape use, and social organization.
... Prielaida, jog baltų politinė vadystė formavosi bičiulių bendruomenių pagrindu, leidžia atsakyti į klausimą, kodėl midus tapo svarbiausiu diduomenės gėrimu, telkiančiu valdantįjį elitą į vieningą karinę bendruomenę tarsi bičių šeimą: midus − tai valdančiųjų kilmės ženklas. Kita vertus, midaus ir bičių modelis yra universalesnis: midaus puotos buvo būdingos Šiaurės ir Vakarų Europos regionams, ypač germanams ir keltams (Enright 1996). Valdovo ir jo vasalų geriamas midus čia labai panašiu būdu vienijo juos į šeimai prilygintą karinę bendriją, kurią, tarsi bičių motina, vienijo karalienė, naujus valdovo "šeimos" narius palaimindavusi su midaus taure (ten pat: 34). ...
Although the living tradition of making mead and partaking of it has become extinct in Latvia and Lithuania in the course of the recent centuries, its traces can still be found in the historical, ethnographic and folklore sources. This tradition is particularly prominent in two cases: in the nobility feasts of the 15th–16th centuries and in the parties held by beekeepers in the 19th–20th centuries.Mead used to play a significant social and political role in the life of nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: not only the ruler and the court, but also foreign leaders and diplomats arriving to make political and commercial contracts enjoyed it. The mead consumption indicated the social prestige of the nobles. Although following Christianization of Lithuania, wine grew increasingly frequent in the nobility’s feasts, mead nevertheless preserved its firm position until the 16th century; even until the 17th century, it was still popular among the nobles.Because of its social and political importance in the nobility’s life, mead also entered the legendary tradition. The 16th century Renaissance historians (Erasmus Stella, Simon Grunau, Lucas David and others) describing the origins of the Prussians and Lithuanians, depict mead as the drink of the noble warriors. According to the legends, mead was an invention and the favored drink of the Cymbrian (Gotland) nobles arriving to Prussia and subsequently sharing it with the local Prussian nobility, thus legitimizing its equal status. The legendary Prussian king Widewuto established his Prussian kingdom following the pattern of the beehive and grouping the members of the society according to their occupation (fieldworkers, beekeepers, stockbreeders, etc.) To ensure the lasting peace in his kingdom, Widewuto introduced the public mead-drinking feasts. However, not only the nobility, but also the commoners enjoyed drinking mead. Since procuring its main ingredient – honey – depends on the activity of the beekeepers, the author devotes special attention to their life style, social communication and festivities.Until the 16th century, the hollow-tree beehives in the woods were much more common in Lithuania than the artificial ones kept in the homesteads; therefore, the trade of procuring honey had much in common with hunting, since both activities took place in the forest. Because of the wild nature and unpredictable behavior of bees, the beekeepers much as the hunters depended on luck and the deities in charge of good fortune, differing in this respect from husbandmen. On the other hand, beekeeping in the Baltic lands was more than just part of economy: it was a social phenomenon, binding the beekeepers together as friends. The beekeepers believed that keeping the bees single-handedly caused bad luck; therefore, one had to share both the beekeeping tasks and the procured honey with one or several partners in trade. The friendship ties established by the beekeepers united them into beekeeping communities (bičiuolija), the members of which tended to the bees together and at least twice a year (during the honey harvesting and in spring, when tending to the tree-hollows) arranged parties for their members (literally – friends, bičiuliai in Lithuanian). During these parties, the beekeepers and their families enjoyed eating and offering honey and drinking mead together. These parties of beekeepers provided an alternative to those held by husbandmen, called sambariai, during which the whole village community drank beer made of the grain collected from all the farms.The phenomenon of bičiulystė (literally, friendship by means of beekeeping) is characteristic exclusively to the Balts, therefore it must have formed as early as the Baltic tribal period. In the 12th – the beginning of the 13th century, when the process of political integration gained momentum, the political leadership formed in the Baltic tribes, and the military nobility emerged. It is quite likely, that the social pattern of bičiulystė was rather handy in this process. The communities of beekeepers, binding inhabitants of different villages by mutual trust, loyalty and cooperation, provided an ideal media to form the soldiery, i.e. friends in arms (amicia). The masculine character of these communities, their association with hunting and rituals of good fortune, the reinforcement of mutual connections by means of marriage, and the mead-drinking parties may serve as additional arguments in favor of this assumption.The analysis allows us assuming that mead-drinking festivities arranged in Lithuania by members of different social layers have common roots in the ancient communities of beekeepers characteristic to the Balts. In the process of social differentiation and stratification, the social pattern of bičiulystė found different use among the nobles and the peasants. Among the nobles, the mead-drinking feasts disappeared in the 17th century, while beekeeping peasants arranged their parties until the beginning of the 20th century.
... Siden det var kvinner som synes å ha hatt forvaltningsansvar over flere av ritualene rundt drikking, ga det dem en viktig rolle. Det synes å ha vaert en sterk tradisjon for at kvinner hadde en saeregen og betydningsfull funksjon knyttet til servering av alkoholholdig drikke i både den germanske og den førkristne norrøne kulturen (Enright 1996). Koplingen mellom kvinner og servering kan gjenfinnes i skaldediktningen (Meissner 1921 s. 401), eddadiktningen (Mundal 1992;Schjødt 1983) og sagalitteraturen (Guerrero 2014) og ikke minst i kunsten som vi her har sett. ...
En gjennomgang av gjenstandsmaterialet med motivet kvinner med drikkebeger datert til vikingtid og påfølgende drøfting av motivets betydning. Tradisjonelt har motivet blitt plassert i et mytologisk univers og det mytologiske vesenet valkyrjen har dominert tolkningene. Jeg argumenterer for at motivet kan ha hatt flere betydninger som har fungert på en og samme tid.
... As far as information about those graves usually comes from the old or outdated sources it cannot be regarded as reliable in most cases. There are also some La Tène cremation graves containing 1 Nelson 2004, p. 113. 2 Arnold 1995 See : Enright 1996. 4 Arnold 1991 spindleworls or typical female ornaments along with the sets of military equipment that are usually interpreted as double burials 1 . ...
The article deals with the iconography of the Celtic coins which come from the South-Eastern Europe. Main attention is paid to the coins found in the Trans-Carpathian region of Ukraine. The aim of this article is to shed light on symbolism of the Celtic coins, in particular on a horse-rider figure on the reverse of these coins. Research methodology is based on the structuralist approach. The scientific novelty. The author shows how the imagery of the coins was connected to the Celtic religious beliefs and cults. The Celtic issues from the Trans-Carpathian region were derived chiefly from the coins of Philip II and Audoleon. A horse-rider image is present on almost all of the Celtic coins from the Trans-Carpathian area and nearby regions. While on most of coins the rider’s figure is highly schematized, some of them contain a detailed image of a female figure. There is no reason to suggest that the Celtic women used to lead their communities or were widely involved in the warfare as military leaders or individual fighters. At the same time, their significance in the religious and ideological spheres of warfare was great. One can assume that the horse-rider depicted on the Celtic coins was considered rather as an image of deity associated with war, fertility and horse-breeding. It is highly probable that this deity in fact was Epona or other related goddess. The coins were widely used in both trade and ritual practices. In particular, the Classical sources mention the Celtic ritual of devotion of coins to the goddess of hunting. The findings of coins with chop-marks, similar to those found in the Gallic and Gallo-Roman sanctuaries, should be mentioned in this context as well.
... Not only have other researchers in this historiography shown significantly more elements from medieval sources than ritual drinking, the act of communal drinking in Old Norse Religious contexts has been widely written about and the assertion that modern ritual drinking is a reflection of 19th century Romanticism must be discarded. See Enright 1996 andSundqvist 2002: 193 for examples of academic discourse on heathen drinking rituals. ...
“Asatru”, the modern worship of the Heathen deities of Scandinavia and Northern Europe, is a relatively young, internationally developing religious phenomenon. Since the 1990’s researchers have gradually built a body of academic literature seeking to chronicle and contextualize Asatru’s multifaceted histories, beliefs, practices and social developments within the larger arena of Western societies. This critical historiography provides an over-view of the most influential extant research of Asatru and frames the developing academic discourse. The article shows that Asatru is a dynamic, heterogenous web of intersected movements which are both rapidly developing, and prone to the influences of overarching societal discourses, and that this is especially true of popular and academic discourses aimed at Asatru itself. This historiography serves as a landmark demonstrating where we have come so far as researchers with our study of and relationship with Asatru, and what steps we might consider taking in the future.
... Within the Scandinavian discourse, it is not easy to identify any definite works that have set standards for the interpretation of keys. The term housewife is referred to several places without direct reference to specific publications, and there are indications that discussions within gender research and historical studies have inspired archaeology on this area (Arwill-Nordbladh 1991: 63, see also Enright 1996). However, by analysing the literature on keys the last 50 years one can identify the possibly monumental texts on which the researchers' statements rest: the Old Norse written sources, Rigsþula and Þtrymskviða in particular, alongside some law texts (for example Borgartingslova, Olavsson 1914). ...
... Within the Scandinavian discourse, it is not easy to identify any definite works that have set standards for the interpretation of keys. The term housewife is referred to several places without direct reference to specific publications, and there are indications that discussions within gender research and historical studies have inspired archaeology on this area (Arwill-Nordbladh 1991: 63, see also Enright 1996). However, by analysing the literature on keys the last 50 years one can identify the possibly monumental texts on which the researchers' statements rest: the Old Norse written sources, Rigsþula and Þtrymskviða in particular, alongside some law texts (for example Borgartingslova, Olavsson 1914). ...
... I tidligere forskning (se bl.a. Enright 1996;Hedeager 1990;1992;Härke 2000) er det argumentert for at romertiden og folkevand ringstiden, der våpenofferfunnene hyppigst påtreffes, var preget av et prestigevaresystem à la Mauss' (1995Mauss' ( [1925) gavegivningssystem. Gjenstander av spesiell karakter (f.eks. ...
The powers of the deep – an interpretation of war booty as
sacrificial offerings. The custom of war booty sacrifice,
found commonly in large parts of southern Scandinavia, is
normally interpreted as offerings to a god or transcendental
power. Research beyond this, is yet quite disregarded. The
article is an attempt to glance past the single objects (the
basis of past investigations into the find complex) and see
the totality of the situation. By seeing the place of offering
as a sacred site where members of society can congregate
and interact with each other and the gods, a whole new set
of religious and mundane relations can be read out of the
find context.
The contexts resemble a variety of offerings known from
written sources throughout Europe. These sources are, in
spite of divergence in time and location, used to obtain
ideas of the thoughts behind these large scale offerings.
Marcel Mauss’ The Gift gives inspiration to the
interpretation that the offering opens a relation between the
performer and the recipient of the sacrifice, where the
power receiving the sacrifice is obliged to respond with
good fortune or the like. The watery context of the finds are
investigated, and found to be a “first principal beginning”
for many societies, a source of the divine, where contact
with the gods is made easy. Border zones between different
elements are also found to be preferred locations for
offerings throughout prehistory. Rituals at the sacred sites
are argued to be important features for a society in
sustaining and stabilizing the dynamics between people and
powers. In a marginal situation like war, an offering might
be seen upon as especially important either obtain the
favour of the gods or to regain peace and calm after a
battle. Finally the origin of the finds are discussed to show
that they are obtained from far away, and that this can be
seen as an offering of greater value. The sacrifices of war booty bare witness of sacred sites that were of immense
societal importance. These sites must have played central
roles maintaining and reproducing the social order due to
the apparent bonds to the divine aspect of life.
... Då hävdas och manifesteras önskvärda normer och ideal i tal och handling, som också får strukturerande effekter. I flera skriftliga källor, som dock inte med säkerhet kan föras tillbaka till exempelvis 700-talet, finns berättelser om ceremonier och ritualer i hallar, såsom drickande och skålande, genom vilka till exempel en social rangordning skapades och bekräftades (Enright 1996;Nordberg 2003). I Hrotgars hall, som nämns i kända eposet Beowulf, bjuder Hrothgars drottning Wealtheow östdanernas odalherre först att dricka ur en bägare (övers. ...
Handlingar på gränsen: En hypotes kring hetero- och homoerotiska uttryck på heliga Helgö och närliggande Hundhamra under yngre järnålder
... Across Northern Europe in the first millennium AD, sacral and martial imagery was used to underpin the new social and political hierarchies of the Late Iron Age and early medieval period (e.g. Enright 1996;Hedeager 1999: 151;Ringtved 1999: 50;Price 2002). The Rhynie stone (3) came from a cemetery associated with a high-status central place, perhaps an early royal centre (Noble et al. 2013(Noble et al. : 1142(Noble et al. , 2019. ...
Warrior ideologies in first-millennium AD Europe: new light on monumental warrior stelae from Scotland - Volume 94 Issue 373 - Mark Hall, Nicholas Evans, Derek Hamilton, Juliette Mitchell, James O'Driscoll, Gordon Noble
... Price (2002) knytter dessuten volvene til krigføring og rokker dermed ved den tradisjonelle forståelsen av krig som et utelukkende maskulint domene. Michael Enright (1996) har undersøkt ett bestemt motiv som opptrer i en rekke ulike kilder: kvinnen med mjødbegeret. Han argumenterer for at kvinner gje nnom drikke ritualer hadde en viktig funksjon i den germanske kulten, derunder den norrøne. ...
I artikkelen utforsker jeg kvinner i vikingtid som forskningstema og hvordan de fremstilles i faglitteratur og skolebøker.
... Trakya ve Balkanlardaki klasik antik dönemlerdeki törenlerde kullanılmıştır. Günümüzde Hollanda'nın Frisland eyaletinde yaşayan ve geçmişleri 16. yüzyıla dayanan törenlerde kullanılan boynuzdan yapılmış kadehler (Şekil 13) halen Hollanda'daki Frisland müzesinde sergilenmektedir (Enright, 1996). ...
Boynuzlar, genellikle memeli hayvanların baş kısmında yer alan ve büyümenin bir işareti olarak kabul edilen oluşumlardır. Keratin ve benzeri proteinlerden oluşup doğumdan sonra gelişmeye başlar ve bu süreç hayvanın yaşamı boyun-ca devam eder. Birçok memeli hayvan türünün erkekleri boynuzlu olup büyük-lük ve şekli türe göre değişim gösterir. Boynuzlardan tarih öncesi dönemlerde farklı şekillerde yararlanılmıştır. Taş devrine ait bulgularda bile hayvan boy-nuzları üzerine çizilmiş resimlere rastlanılmıştır. Yüzyıllardan beri boynuzlar, kadeh, ilaç, düğme, bıçak sapı, müzik aleti, barutluk gibi değişik amaçlar için de kullanılmıştır.
... Trakya ve Balkanlardaki klasik antik dönemlerdeki törenlerde kullanılmıştır. Günümüzde Hollanda'nın Frisland eyaletinde yaşayan ve geçmişleri 16. yüzyıla dayanan törenlerde kullanılan boynuzdan yapılmış kadehler (Şekil 13) halen Hollanda'daki Frisland müzesinde sergilenmektedir (Enright, 1996). ...
This book argues that tribal Scandinavia was set on the route to kingship by thearrival in the AD 180s–90s of warrior groups that were dismissed from the Romanarmy after defeating the Marcomanni by the Danube.Using a range of evidence, this book details how well‑equipped and battle‑seasoned warriors, familiar with Roman institutions and practices, seized landand established lordly centres. It shows how these new lords acquired wealth by stimulating the production of commodities for trade with peers and Continental associates, Romans included, to reward retainers and bestow on partners. In these transcultural circumstances, lords and their retainers nurtured artisanal production of exquisite quality and developed a heroic ethos and refined hall etiquette. The topic of warfare, created by the volatile politics of lordly cooperation and competition, is also explored. Venturing substantially beyond the usual scope of syntheses of this period, this book looks at how the break‑up of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of ‘Great tribes’ such as the Franks and Goths influenced lords and tribal leaders across Scandinavia to form kingdoms, emulating what they for centuries had considered the superior polity, the Roman Empire.This book’s fresh take on disputed research topics will inspire scholars, students, and interested readers to delve further into this pivotal period of European history.
(PDF) The Northern Routes to Kingship: A History of Scandinavia AD 180–550. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387035419_The_Northern_Routes_to_Kingship_A_History_of_Scandinavia_AD_180-550 [accessed Dec 31 2024].
The people of early England (c. 450–1100 CE) enjoyed numerous kinds of entertainment, recreation and pleasure, but the scattered records of such things have made the larger picture challenging to assemble. This volume illuminates the merrier aspects of early English life, extending our understanding of the full range of early medieval English culture. It shows why entertainment and festivity were not merely trivial aspects of culture, but had important functions, in ritual, in community-building, in assuming power, and in resistance to power. Among the activities explored are child's play; drinking and feasting; music, dance, and performance; the pleasures of literature, festivals and celebrations; hunting and sport; and games.
The Old Norse word fjǫlkynngi is often translated as ‘magic’, but its literal meaning is something like ‘great knowledge’. This paper argues that, rather than thinking of the ‘ordinary’ and the ‘magical’ as discrete categories, people in the medieval Norse world are likely to have conceived of knowledge as existing along a continuum from the everyday to the exceptional. An examination of representations of the preparation of drinks by women in medieval Scandinavian texts demonstrates, not only that the creation of ‘magical’ drinks can be viewed as an extension of the ‘ordinary’ art of brewing, but also that ‘ordinary’ brewing is likely to have been understood as involving beings or forces that would now be considered ‘magical’. A final section extends the argument to the textile arts.
This study is concerned with the contribution of Jan de Vries (1890–1964), a controversial Dutch scholar of Germanic and Old Norse philology, folklore, and comparative religion, to the discipline of Celtic studies. First, therefore, his work is located within the context of De Vries’ biography and of his scholarly network of the post-war era, notably his correspondence with likeminded colleagues such as Dumézil, Höfler, Wikander, and Eliade. Subsequently, his theories of Celtic and Germanic ethnogenesis are examined, as well as his ideas about the connections between the Celtic and Germanic pre-Christian religions and traditions of heroic saga. Finally, the relatively limited impact of De Vries’s Celtic studies is elaborated on.
Remarkable finds have been discovered in the Migration Period Plinkaigalis cemetery in central Lithuania: four burials contained drinking horn mounts decorated with recurring zoomorphic and geometric motifs, and four more burials contained other fragments of drinking horns. Similar elaborate ornate mounts can be found elsewhere in Central and Western Lithuania, as well as in Scandinavia, northern Poland, and the Königsberg region.
The article discusses the chronology of the Plinkaigalis drinking horns, with all eight burials radiocarbon dated. The burials are dated to between the early fifth century and the first half of the sixth century AD, with a high probability that they all belong to a narrow time span or are relatively contemporaneous. The similarity of the grave good assemblages and the close spacing of the burials in the cemetery area serve as supplementary evidence of this. All the burials were of armed men, most or all of which were distinguished by their richness. Thus, we may argue that drinking horns were an attribute of a community’s military elite for a relatively short period of time. It is still unknown how these unique objects arrived in central Lithuania, and how much migration or distant contacts had to do with it. At the present stage of research, the chronological analysis carried out allows us to challenge the idea of direct connections with Scandinavia.
Avaldsnes på Karmøy i Rogaland, som ifølge Snorre var Harald Hårfagres kongsgård, har siden 2007 vært sentrum for en stor forskningsinnsats. Omfattende utgravninger har blant annet avdekket restene av en høvdinggård fra 200–400-tallet og ruinen av en kongsgård i stein fra omkring 1300. Viktige innsikter er vunnet om stedets, regionens, og det norske kongerikets historie, og resultatene har stor betydning også for internasjonale forskningsspørsmål. Artiklene i denne boken baserer seg på foredrag fra Karmøyseminaret 2022, og har et felles søkelys på høvding- og kongemaktens vesen. Temaene spenner fra romertidens stammesamfunn via vikingtidens første rikskonger til det norske kongedømmets fall ved Håkon 6. Magnussons død i 1380. Fremstående fagfolk fra Norge, Sverige og England diskuterer blant annet rygers, goteres, og andre stammers vandringer på kontinentet i de første århundrer e.Kr., vikingtidens dronninger og kongsmødre, Harald Hårfagres oversjøiske kontakter og det norske kongedømmets utgangspunkt i Nordvegen, seilingsleden langs kysten fra Rogaland til Hålogaland. Artiklene er skrevet for å kunne leses av både leg og lærd. Dagfinn Skre (f. 1954) er professor i arkeologi ved Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo, og leder Kongsgårdprosjektet Avaldsnes. Han har tidligere blant annet ledet utgravninger av vikingbyen Kaupang i Vestfold. Frans-Arne Stylegar (f. 1969) er arkeolog, tidligere fylkeskonservator i Vest-Agder og direktør for Varanger museum IKS, og arbeider nå som kulturminneekspert i Multiconsult.
Zentrale Fragestellung der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Art und Weise, wie in den spätwikingerzeitlichen Bestattungen auf dem gotländischen Gräberfeld von Havor die Erinnerungen an und Vorstellungen von Vergangenheit auf der einen und kulturelle Veränderungen auf der anderen Seite zur Konstruktion von spezifischen Identitäten und damit auch zur Legitimierung von Besitz- und Herrschaftsansprüchen instrumentalisiert wurden. Dieses Vorgehen, besonders durch den Aufgriff älterer Bestattungstraditionen und die Nachnutzung älterer Grabanlagen, erlaubt Rückschlüsse auf die Wahrnehmung einer mythischen Vergangenheit in der Wikingerzeit und auf die diskursive Ebene von Erinnerungen und Traditionen als soziale und identitätsstiftende Konstrukte, die keinesfalls als statisch und konservativ, sondern im Rahmen einer invention of tradition, als dynamisch, wandelbar und aktiv manipulierbar begriffen werden müssen. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt dabei neben der Auswertung der spätwikingerzeitlichen Bestattungen auf der chronologischen Entwicklung des Gräberfeldes und dem dazugehörigen Komplex mit Ringwall und Siedlungen in der vorwikingerzeitlichen Eisenzeit. Die lokalen Traditionen und die Vergangenheit, die sich in den Gräbern und sicherlich auch in dem Ringwall und den älteren Siedlungsresten manifestierte, war offensichtlich für die wikingerzeitlichen Hofgemeinschaften von Havor von großer Bedeutung für die kollektive Identität. Theoretischer Ausgangspunkt für diese Analyse ist neben einer Reihe anderer wichtiger theoretischer Konzepte zur Interpretation von Bestattungen als Medien des öffentlichen Diskurses besonders die Neukonzeptionalisierung des Ressourcenbegriffes durch den SFB 1070, der als analytisches Werkzeug eine holistische Perspektive auf das multidimensionale Netzwerk von Perzeption und Inwertsetzung materieller wie immaterieller Aspekte ermöglicht. Die Auswertung des Gräberfeldes von Havor findet damit zum einen mit einem praktischen sowie einem theoretischen Zugang statt, mit der archäologische Auswertung des Fundmateriales und der theoriebasierten Diskussion über die daraus abstrahierbaren Aussagemöglichkeiten. Zum anderen arbeitet die Auswertung auf drei Ebenen: Auf der Mikroebene der einzelnen Bestattungen, auf der Mesoebene des Komplexes von Havor mit Gräberfeld, Ringwall und Siedlungen sowie auf der Makroebene mit der gesamt-gotländischen Perspektive.
This work investigates what motivates environmental action through developing a case study on how ecological conscience forms in the ritual practices of a new religious movement. I conducted a two-year ethnographic study with a community of contemporary Heathens in eastern and southwestern Ontario to investigate how ritual practices are related to the formation of conscience in the group. I used participant observation and interviews to investigate how ritual is related to conscience formation, and how it can generate a sense of obligation to others, including nonhuman others. I draw on social psychology (especially terror management theory), cognitive science, anthropology, ritual studies, and philosophy to describe and interpret three ritual practices, each of which involve some sort of gift giving. First I discuss high sumbel, a ritual of sharing drinks and giving gifts, then Dísablót, an example of ancestor veneration in which offerings (a type of gift) are given to the dead, and finally the procession of Nerthus, in which offerings are made to a figure participants understand as a power of nature associated with a particular bioregion. I find that giving gifts and expressing thanks in ritual inspires a sense of gratitude and a desire to give in turn in participants. Among these Heathens this gratitude and felt sense of obligation extends beyond human relations to include the more than human world. When one gives a gift one develops an appreciation for what one has already received, and when ritual activities include things that make participants aware of their mortality, the values that come to mind during the activity can be operationalized. In this case, values of inclusion, gratitude, sharing, and generosity are reinforced through ritual practice and influence participants’ dispositions, attitudes, and habitual behaviours.
This book is an edition and translation of one of the most important and celebrated sources of Old Norse-Icelandic mythology and heroic legend, namely the medieval poems now known collectively as the Poetic Edda or Elder Edda.
Included are thirty-six texts, which are mostly preserved in medieval manuscripts, especially the thirteenth-century Icelandic codex traditionally known as the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda. The poems cover diverse subjects, including the creation, destruction and rebirth of the world, the dealings of gods such as Óðinn, Þórr and Loki with giants and each other, and the more intimate, personal tragedies of the hero Sigurðr, his wife Guðrún and the valkyrie Brynhildr.
Each poem is provided with an introduction, synopsis and suggestions for further reading. The Old Norse texts are furnished with a textual apparatus recording the manuscript readings behind this edition’s emendations, as well as select variant readings. The accompanying translations, informed by the latest scholarship, are concisely annotated to make them as accessible as possible.
As the first open-access, single-volume parallel Old Norse edition and English translation of the Poetic Edda, this book will prove a valuable resource for students and scholars of Old Norse literature. It will also interest those researching other fields of medieval literature (especially Old English and Middle High German), and appeal to a wider general audience drawn to the myths and legends of the Viking Age and subsequent centuries.
This book is an edition and translation of one of the most important and celebrated sources of Old Norse-Icelandic mythology and heroic legend, namely the medieval poems now known collectively as the Poetic Edda or Elder Edda.
Included are thirty-six texts, which are mostly preserved in medieval manuscripts, especially the thirteenth-century Icelandic codex traditionally known as the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda. The poems cover diverse subjects, including the creation, destruction and rebirth of the world, the dealings of gods such as Óðinn, Þórr and Loki with giants and each other, and the more intimate, personal tragedies of the hero Sigurðr, his wife Guðrún and the valkyrie Brynhildr.
Each poem is provided with an introduction, synopsis and suggestions for further reading. The Old Norse texts are furnished with a textual apparatus recording the manuscript readings behind this edition’s emendations, as well as select variant readings. The accompanying translations, informed by the latest scholarship, are concisely annotated to make them as accessible as possible.
As the first open-access, single-volume parallel Old Norse edition and English translation of the Poetic Edda, this book will prove a valuable resource for students and scholars of Old Norse literature. It will also interest those researching other fields of medieval literature (especially Old English and Middle High German), and appeal to a wider general audience drawn to the myths and legends of the Viking Age and subsequent centuries.
This book is an edition and translation of one of the most important and celebrated sources of Old Norse-Icelandic mythology and heroic legend, namely the medieval poems now known collectively as the Poetic Edda or Elder Edda.
Included are thirty-six texts, which are mostly preserved in medieval manuscripts, especially the thirteenth-century Icelandic codex traditionally known as the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda. The poems cover diverse subjects, including the creation, destruction and rebirth of the world, the dealings of gods such as Óðinn, Þórr and Loki with giants and each other, and the more intimate, personal tragedies of the hero Sigurðr, his wife Guðrún and the valkyrie Brynhildr.
Each poem is provided with an introduction, synopsis and suggestions for further reading. The Old Norse texts are furnished with a textual apparatus recording the manuscript readings behind this edition’s emendations, as well as select variant readings. The accompanying translations, informed by the latest scholarship, are concisely annotated to make them as accessible as possible.
As the first open-access, single-volume parallel Old Norse edition and English translation of the Poetic Edda, this book will prove a valuable resource for students and scholars of Old Norse literature. It will also interest those researching other fields of medieval literature (especially Old English and Middle High German), and appeal to a wider general audience drawn to the myths and legends of the Viking Age and subsequent centuries.
Venantius Fortunatus was a Latin, Ravenna educated, semi-political rhetorical poet active in Merovingian Francia in the late 6th century. Arriving in Austrasia from the Alps in the spring of 566, he wrote three poems, not least an epithalamium publicly performed at the wedding of Sigibert and Brunhild. This literary genre, its structure and the three addressees of his poems can be seen as a surprisingly detailed template for the Norse poem Skírnismál. The value of Fortunatus’ poetry rests with his ability to amalgamate Germanic, Christian and Latin Roman culture in a period of transition from a pagan to a Christian society. Since these periods of transition are reoccurring, it is possible to see an education in the 10th–11th century as the background for the Norse Skírnismál author, who probably must have read Fortunatus in order to compose his Norse wedding entertainment. Skírnismál is thus neither a purely Norse nor a purely oral composition.
In this paper, we argue that closer engagement with the field of new institutional economics (NIE) has the potential to provide researchers with a new theoretical toolbox that can be used to study economic and social practices that are not readily traceable in material culture. NIE assumes that individual actions are based on bounded rationality and that the existence of rules (institutions) and their enforcement – the institutional framework – influences agents’ actions by providing different incentives and probabilities for different choices. Within this theoretical framework, we identify a number of concepts, such as collective identity and mobile jurisdictions , that seem to fit what we know of Viking age economic systems. In applying these models to the available archaeological and textual data, we outline the ways in which further research could provide a new understanding of economic interaction within a rapidly evolving context of diaspora and change.
The paper deals with one of the women's roles in Anglo-Saxon literature: the peace-weaving tradition. For many decades, the female characters from several Old English epic poems have all been considered marginal and excluded figures (Overing, 1995: 216-260) because of their representations in these literary creations. In this paper, we try to offer an anthropological approach to womanhood in Beowulf, taking into account the context of the society presented in the epic poem, emphasizing the woman's central role for the sealing of peace between two rival tribes/populations, thus representing the hope for the whole Anglo-Saxon society, for its continuity and development. We will present the women's roles in Beowulf within the story itself and the society presented in the poem. Our investigation of these women in relation with their men indicates the preservation of memories about the pagan Germanic past for the Anglo-Saxon poet who will include these details further in the Anglo-Saxon traditions and culture.
Skaldic diction has long been noted for the many analogies it creates between
the human body and the natural environment. One manifestation of this interchange
occurs where women are referenced by kennings with base words denoting “land” or “earth,” as in the kenning grund gulls [ground of gold]. The idiosyncrasies of this type of woman-kenning have not before been studied, although
a related metaphorical construction in which land is likened to a woman has been discussed.
This article examines the linguistic taxonomies, metaphorical correlatives, and creative
adaptations of this kenning-type “woman-as-land” within skaldic verse of the tenth to fourteenth centuries. The article also looks
beyond kennings as lexical units, considering how imagery of women as “land” occurs in various forms of wordplay in skaldic verse and how these images are subsequently
incorporated into the prosimetrical contexts of sagas.
Considering that Max Weber?s theory of the ?men?s union (Mannerbund)? is still unsurpassed today, despite the fact that it was not syst ematically developed anywhere, the authors undertook its reconstruction from the many fragments left behind after his death, primarily in the book Economy and Society. Although Weber is rightly considered to have paid the most attention to the phenomenon of warrior communism in his discussions of the Mannerbund, a detailed analysis shows that his dealings with the warrior orgy and the warrior cult are equally important contributions.
inn has long been a highly-debated figure with regard to his gender and sexuality. While some have interpreted him as a strictly masculine being, others have argued him to be queer, with caveats surrounding how this affected his role as a deity. I use a queer theoretical framework to firstly streamline my interpretation of Óðinn's gender, and set this within both a cultural context and a queer context. I then turn my attention to the context of the warrior hall. I demonstrate that the interpretation that this was a strictly masculine space is based in scholarly bias, primarily argued by Otto Höfler as part of his work for the National Socialist German Workers' Party (or Nazi Party), and has not since been sufficiently critically challenged. After reassessing the primary material to demonstrate the gender dynamics of the warrior hall, I then demonstrate that, by blurring boundaries and queering his gender, Óðinn acts in a way that mediates between the roles of men and women within the culture of the hall.
The question of food is at the centre of many current issues (political, environmental, nutrition and health, religion, etc.). Though food can nowadays be considered as a challenge, it is also a popular topic, not only with the public at large but also with scientists in different disciplines, particularly historians who have adopted a broader view of the theme of food, emphasizing its significance within the study of society, whether it be ancient or current. Indeed, food is not just a matter of simple nutrition, it also plays an essential role in the construction of identity, both individual and collective. The identity issue has also been fashionable throughout the last decades. Though it has become more and more contested, identity can be regarded as a cross-cutting notion of an interdisciplinary approach to food, especially between history, sociology and anthropology. These two last fields can indeed provide conceptual and innovative tools for historians. This introductory article to the subject of this issue of Kentron aims to give a brief historiographic picture of these two questions, not only within the field of historical studies – by emphasing in particular the study of food in Antiquity and the early medieval period – but also in those of sociology and anthropology, while trying to show the interest of a cross-cutting approach, still cautious in France, in studies on Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, between these different disciplines.
In the religious literature of Anglo-Saxon England, allusions to the destiny and appearance of the blessed dead in the other world generally include, as expected in a Christian context of belief in the resurrection of the flesh, mentions of their bodies, and particularly of their food habits. The repertoire of this spiritual literature normally includes representations of spiritual ebriety, the word of God as food and paradise as a place for feasting. However, those images are given in many nuances, between prose and poetry, Latin and Old English texts. Whereas Latin prose tends to evoke bodies and food without reluctance, vernacular poetry appears much more cautious towards such representations.
Aristocrats, women, knowledge and power – Vik from the Roman Age to the Viking Age
This paper is inspired by local interest in the relationship between the two farms Hove and Hopperstad in the settlement of Vik on the Sognefjord in Western Norway, from ca. 200 AD through the Viking Age. Large burial monuments at the Hove farm indicate that this was the chieftain´s farm in the early Iron Age, while only a few scattered remains of Viking Age burials are known.
At Hopperstad the situation is different. Nine burials from the late Iron Age are known from the farm. Six out of the nine are women´s burials, most of them richly equipped, indicating that the women in question may have held important positions in the local community as well as a wide net of contacts in the upper strata of society. During the Viking Age, Hopperstad seems to have acquired a level of importance equal to that of Hove, perhaps even higher. The unusual ratio of female vs male burials seems to indicate that women were in charge of the Hopperstad farm during this process.
The main part of the paper is dedicated to a discussion of the mechanisms behind such an extraordinary social and economic advancement/success of the Hopperstad community under feminine leadership in a society where masculine dominance was the (almost) unquestioned norm. Potential factors addressed are the Norse code of honour, gender roles, and power.
A RICHLY FURNISHED GRAVE from the migration period in Norway is our starting point for a discussion of the impact of dress in life and death. The Sande farm is situated on the southern tip of Norway on the Lista peninsula, an area renowned for its many rich finds from the migration period.⁴⁴ Helliksen 2006 Helliksen, W 2006, ‘Rik kvinnegrav og naust fra folkevandringstid på Sande i Herad’, Listamuseet Årbok 2006, 7–9. [Google Scholar], 7; Lund 2008 Lund, W H 2008, ‘Grav, kult og hall i folkevandringstid og merovingertid på Sande i Farsund k, Vest-Agder’, Primitive Tider 10, 7–19. [Google Scholar], 8–10.View all notes A high-status grave from Sande in Vest-Agder was excavated in 2005 and was found to be lavishly equipped, not least in terms of jewellery items and dress fittings. Some remarkable textile remains were also preserved. The types of adornment and their position in the grave strongly suggest this was the burial of a woman, while the jewellery and textiles and their composition, style and appearance, all offer valuable information on the story of the individual and the dress code of the time. This article offers the first detailed exploration of this burial and its assemblage and an in-depth discussion of the surviving textile fragments and dress equipment as evidence of a form of dress and display that may have operated in life and death.
Previous studies of the cohesion of organized armed groups (OAGs) have made great progress, but they have mostly focused on units fighting for modern Western states. I argue that the study of OAGs that contain their own legitimacy requires a broadened theoretical framework. Such groups may be conceptualized as “ruling organizations” in Max Weber’s terminology. Examples of such groups range from early medieval warbands to modern militias and guerrillas. Members of ruling organizations obey commands for a combination of three reasons: rational, traditional, and charismatic—these in turn form the basis of the legitimacy of the organization. Pinpointing the foundations of obedience in a group provides us with another way of emphasizing weak points that we want to either target or reinforce. This study contributes theoretically to the study of cohesion by linking it to theories of legitimacy in political orders.
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