The Scylding Dynasty in Saxo and Beowulf as Disguised Theogony

The common ground between the representations of the Scylding dynasty in Saxo’s Gesta Danorum and Beowulf consists of four generations and this set has already been explored in the legendary context. There is, however, a hidden intervening generation between the third and fourth generations which becomes visible when attention is paid to the succeeding reigns of Balder and Høther, taken along with the birth of Rolf Krake from father-daughter incest in Saxo which means that Rolf’s mother belongs to the generation after his father. This chapter argues that this intervening generation corresponds to that of the young gods in a proposed Indo-European theogony and is that of the death of Balder, while the fifth generation is that of the mortal avenger.

The Idols of the Pagan Irish in the Medieval Literary Imagination

Medieval Irish literary sources include a number of legends relating to idols purportedly worshipped by the pagan Irish prior to the coming of Christianity. Of these the most famous is Crom Cróich of Mag Slécht, identified as the ‘king-idol of Ireland’ in the pseudohistorical lore as well as in the hagiography of Saint Patrick. This article traces the development of the various traditions relating to Crom Cróich in the medieval literary milieu and re-examines some of the evidence presented by previous scholars in support of the view that these legends could refer to an actual cult of a pre-Christian deity.

Myth to History in Saxo

Saxo Grammaticus composed his Gesta Danorum as a written monument to the ancient greatness of the Danes. To write his rather tedious work he used a varied mass of materials, including sagas and chronicles as well as mythological tales, which he historicizes. Georges Dumézil in Du mythe au roman demonstrated in his study of Saxo’s tale of Haddingus how the elements of the story could be related in detail to the story of Njord as recounted by Snorri Sturluson, Saxo’s younger Icelandic contemporary. This is only one of such instances. In my chapter I treat the visit to Geirrod and the sacrifice of King Vikar in order to demonstrate how Saxo used and historicized these materials of which he is sometimes our oldest source.

Loki the Slandered God? Selective Omission of Skaldic Citations in Snorri Sturluson’s Edda

Despite widespread acknowledgment of the complexity of Loki’s nature and function in Old Norse mythology, many critical approaches nonetheless begin from an implicit foundational assumption that he is in essence a negative and antagonistic figure. Conversely, some scholars have interpreted Loki as a culture hero, whilst it is widely agreed that aspects of his negative characterization developed under the influence of traditions about the Christian Devil. This chapter considers the extent to which the thirteenth-century Icelandic historian and mythographer Snorri Sturluson actively contributed in his Edda to the ‘demonization of Loki’ (John Lindow, Norse Mythology [2001], 303), through an analysis of the lists of kennings (poetic periphrases, quoted from older skaldic verse) which Snorri provides for major mythological entities.

Exploring Cath Maige Tuired through the Concept of Hybridity

This chapter examines the contemporary Irish identity and social reactions to the process of cultural hybridization, as they are depicted in the late Viking-Age narrative Cath Maige Tuired. The tale is a product of a transitional era whose preoccupations and prejudices are reflected in the narrative representations of the Fomoiri and the Tuatha Dé Danann. This chapter considers Cath Maige Tuired within its historical context as a narrative of hybridity in which the pivotal cultural identities are built on an ongoing comparison between the tale’s representations of the Self and the Other. At the same time the narrative illustrates a number of other cultural concerns at the forefront of the collective intellectual consciousness.

Ymir, Baldr, and the Grand Narrative Arc of Mythological History

The Baldr story is now often linked with the killing of Ymir and seen as the pivotal point in a great mythological narrative that outlines the history of the flawed order of Óðinn from creation to destruction. This article discusses two related points with a bearing on the foundations of this theory. The first deals with the interpretation of the killing of Ymir and its significance for subsequent mythological events. Rather than seeing the killing of Ymir as a foundational crime, it is argued that the sources present it as a benign creative act. The second main point deals with the interpretation of the Baldr story as a murder within the family which, it is argued, is a story about the inevitability of fate.

The Cult of Óðinn in the Early Scandinavian Warrior Aristocracy

Medieval literary sources often portray the Norse deity Óðinn as being the ultimate sovereign, ruling over other gods and earthly rulers alike. This chapter compares the earliest evidence for the deity to the warrior-based aristocracy which was beginning to come to power during the period prior to the Viking Age, and attempts to shed new light on the relationship between the two. The chapter argues that many Óðinn’s features developed during this period and played a role in the identity formation of the early warrior rulers who worshipped him.

The Nature of the Fomoiri: The Dark Other in the Medieval Irish Imagination

Scholars undertaking to reconstruct the mythology of the ancient Celts often point to the Túatha Dé Danann and Fomoiri of Irish legend as representing earlier gods of light opposed to gods of darkness and chaos; the hostilities between them are regarded as the Irish reflex of an Indo-European ‘War of the Gods’. The prevalence of this polarized model is largely due to two influential texts, Cath Maige Tuired and Lebor Gabála Érenn: elsewhere in the tradition, in sources of all periods, the connotations of the two terms overlap repeatedly, and the nature of their relationship is profoundly ambiguous. This contribution undertakes to survey the evidence – arguing that, for the Irish, darkness was by no means incompatible with divinity.

Baldr’s Achilles’ Heel? About the Scandinavian Three-God B-Bracteates

The article seeks to revise the currently dominant interpretation of the so-called ‘three-god bracteates’ as an early version of the Norse myth about Baldr. A detailed review shows that the elements of this myth as it is known from medieval literary sources and the iconographic elements depicted on the much earlier bracteates do not really match. It is clear that the motif on the bracteates is inspired by images from Roman coins, but it is also clear that it does not constitute a direct parallel. The article presents a new suggestion, which is that the bracteates must be considered with Norse narrative traditions in mind, but without forcing the motif to comply with preconceived ideas.