Beowulf Revisited Medieval News This Week

Medieval News May 2016 No. 5 ...Beowulf Revisited Medieval News this week... Lejre Museum 3 Myth and Archaeology 6 Odin from Lejre 13 The Hoard from Lejre 17 The Hoard from Karleby 20 Reconstructing the Hall 21 From Lejre to Roskilde 24 Beowulf Unlucked 27 Conferences & Books 37 Medieval News Medieval Histories Inc © Photo (frontpage): - read about new exhibitions, Paradisstien 5 The Stoneship at Lejre. Photo: books, research and much more DK2840 Holte National Heritage Agency, Den- Denmark mark Editor-in-chief: Karen Schous- boe www.medievalhistories.com Photos are to the best of our 2016: February, No. 2 [email protected] ability either published by per- ISBN: 978-87-92858-32-0 +45 24 23 36 10 mission or under the CCA. 2 Lejre Museum Lejre in Denmark is famous as the mythical royal seat of the Scyldings, renowned in Beowulf. However, it is also a hugely fascinating archaeological site. A new museum is well worth a detour. Granted, it is a small museum. And yes, contours of a breathtaking archeological more prominent exhibits from the Dark treasure have slowly emerged. What we Ages may be found in the British Museum or in Uppsala. Nevertheless, it pays to trav- centre dominating the early medieval el to Roskilde in Denmark to see not only landscapeget is a glimpse for more of a thantruly 500magnificent years (AD royal the Viking-ship museum, but also Lejre, a 500 - 1000). small inland village four km. from the see. Landscape Here, a new exhibition recently opened, which tells the story of the remarkable Looking a Gl. Lejre from the air, it immedi- ately becomes apparent that the 6th centu- leadership of Tom Christensen has been ry settlement was located in an “old” land- responsiblefinds, which forarchaeologists excavating during under thethe last 30 years. Even though excavations con- of which date back to the Bronze Age. To tinue and new information about the place scape filled with ancestral mounds, some is sure to surface in the years to come, the 3 the east a small river borders up to a flat Lejre as seen from the air - looking west with the hardly visible Lejre stream dividing the isthmus with the burial ground and stoneships from the village, and the halls in the background © Ole Malling/Roskilde Museum. plain. This river, Kornerup, splits into two the museum should include a visit to the with Lejre Stream just east of the ancient nearby Land of Legends, where the an- settlement. Neither of these streams or cient landscape has been recreated. If you tiny rivers are believed to have been navi- have plenty of time, it is especially recom- gable near Lejre by anything except prams. mended to take a tour of Særløse Overdrev (Særløse Commons) with ancient grass- Between these two creeks spans a hilly land recreating a sense of the timeless landscape. consisting of a mound from the 7th cen- turyisthmus and filleda burial with ground an ancient from necropolis,the 10th. Entering Gl. Lejre from the south, the road reaches the small village bordering on the banks of the western riverbed with the heath rolls across a landscape perfect for hilly isthmus to the left. It is believed that intensiveTo the east farming. of the small streams the flat the present village might originally have been a seasonal marketplace inhabited by To the west a hilly landscape rises, covered craftsmen. On the hill to the left, a number in forests alternating with a more open of great halls have been excavated. The landscape with a scrubby vegetation of earliest settlement found dates to the 3rd oaks, elms, juniper and heather. A trip to – 5th centuries and lies up north of here. 4 The Halls foundations of the halls in the landscape and it is recommended to take a walk there before visiting the newly refurbished to have been built. This hall was around 47 museum, which tells the story in an im- metresAround long AD 500 and the app. first seven great meters hall appears wide maculate, imaginative and very illustrative in the middle (5 meters at the ends). The way. hall was probably whitewashed and would have been visible from afar. Here the visitor is invited not only to get a sense of the history behind the place, but Around AD 600 this hall was demolished and a new hall was built to the south, a bit longer and wider. In the end, all-in-all potteryalso an overview- which has of thebeen many found magnificent in the ex- seven different halls of different sizes and cavations.archaeological Luckily, finds the – fromcurator jewellery of the exhi to - probably some of them contemporary, have been excavated. The last one was for themselves. This means that we are not demolished some time around AD 1000. justbition treated has kept to a cool few andsingularly let the impressivefinds speak What we have here is a settlement of royal pieces, but are allowed to see the multi- halls demonstrating continuous use in a - period of 500 years. ing have secured for us. With plentiful tude of finds, which endless metal detect multimedia a visit is higly recommended. a number of minor houses, serving the explanations and a fine and balance use of areaTo these as either magnificent sleeping halls quarters were addedfor visit - If you are fan of Beowulf, this is where you ing guests or – as some have speculated should travel at some point in your life to – “pagan temples”. Important features in get a sense of place and poem the landscape were also the large stone hearths located next to the halls, were re- VISIT: mains of grand feasts have been found. To the west, on the bank of the river, a burial Lejre Museum ground have been excavated. Here a num- Orehøjvej 4 ber of stone ships were erected some time Roskilde in the beginning of the 10th century. Courtyard of the museum, located in one of the old Probably a bit later, a warrior was buried farms in the village of Gl. Lejre together with some dependants at the centre of one of the later halls, which at that point was demolished. It is believed that the site of the ancient hall may have been cho- sen as a way of honouring the dead man. Museum It is not easy to describe the shifting ele- ments in this settlement. However, the museum has very kindly reconstructed the 5 Reconstruction of the hall from ca. AD 900 © Medieval Histories Lejre – Myth and Archaeology REVIEW: New excellent book tells the story of the mythological centre in Gl. Lejre c. 500 -1000 from an archaeological and historical point of perspective. It really deserves to be translated Thietmar was bishop in Merseburg, a Ger- man city south of Magdeburg on the river Because I have heard marvellous Elbe. But he was also the author of a famous chronicle, which he wrote from 1013 will not allow these to pass unnoticed. – 1018 and which deals with the events Inthings those about parts, their the ancientcentre of sacrifices, the king- I not only in Ottonian Germany but also dom [of the Danes] is a place called among its neighbours. Lejre, in the region of Seeland. Every nine years, in the month of January, One of these was the kingdom of Denmark, after the day of which we celebrate the which at that time (during the reign of Ca- appearance of the Lord [6 January], nute the Great) had expanded into a north- they all convene here and offer their ern empire comprising England, Denmark, gods a burnt offering of ninety-nine Norway and parts of present-day Sweden. human beings and as many horses In view of this, it apparently seemed natu- along with dogs and cock – the lat- ral to him to tell this story about Lejre, ter being used in place of hawks. As I have said, they were convinced that South of Roskilde (now called “Gammel these would do service for them with Lejre”).currently a small and insignificant village those who dwell beneath the earth and ensure their forgiveness for any mis- It is a wild scene and most commentators deeds. (Thietmar of Merseburg, Book 1: 17. Here totend describe to regard the the Scandinavians number of sacrifices and Slavs as as quoted from: Ottonian Germany. The Chroni- wilda reflection and uncivilised of Thietmar’s people. general Nevertheless, tendency con of Thietmar of Merseburg. Translated and annotated by David A. Warner. Manchester it is an interesting fact that Lejre early on University Press 2001, p. 80) - 6 played such a significant role in the my thology of the very early history of Den- mark that Thietmar felt the need to name it as the “national” centre par excellence. Later Danish and Icelandic chronicles - ing the heroic and legendary deeds of the Scyldingsfleshed this – Skjoldungernemythology out –by said recount to have had their royal seat there; as did the poem about Beowulf, although the poet does not locate the ancient seat of the Scyldings anywhere except in mythical Heorot, the Part of the rich finds from Lejre © Ole Malling/ famous hall and royal seat of King Hroðgar. Roskilde Museum. Nowadays, no one believes that Beowulf not least think them through. This is done – or for that matter the later chroniclers throughquent finds a careful made siftingby metal-detectors; of the chronicles, and – can be mined for any exact information the other written sources, the archaeo- about the heroic deeds of these very early logical excavations, the many stray metal mythological kings. However, excavations at Lejre have continued to yield new information about what was undoubtedly an finds, and the wider landscape.

Load more