Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Femininities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age Luke John Murphy Lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni trú Félagsvísindasvið Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Femininities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age Luke John Murphy Lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni trú Leiðbeinandi: Terry Gunnell Félags- og mannvísindadeild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2013 Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni Trú og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Luke John Murphy, 2013 Reykjavík, Ísland 2013 Luke John Murphy MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis Kennitala: 090187-2019 Spring 2013 ABSTRACT Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Feminities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age This thesis is a study of the valkyrjur (‘valkyries’) during the late Iron Age, specifically of the various uses to which the myths of these beings were put by the hall-based warrior elite of the society which created and propagated these religious phenomena. It seeks to establish the relationship of the various valkyrja reflexes of the culture under study with other supernatural females (particularly the dísir) through the close and careful examination of primary source material, thereby proposing a new model of base supernatural femininity for the late Iron Age. The study then goes on to examine how the valkyrjur themselves deviate from this ground state, interrogating various aspects and features associated with them in skaldic, Eddic, prose and iconographic source material as seen through the lens of the hall-based warrior elite, before presenting a new understanding of valkyrja phenomena in this social context: that valkyrjur were used as instruments to propagate the pre-existing social structures of the culture that created and maintained them throughout the late Iron Age. ÚTDRÁTTUR Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, yfirnáttúrulegar kvenverur og vígamannamenning höfðingja á síðari hluta járnaldar Þessi ritgerð er athugun á valkyrjunum á seinni tímum járn aldar, með sérstöku tilliti til þeirrar notkunar sem stríðshöfðingjar þjóðfélagsins sóttu í, sköpuðu og ýttu undir slík trúarleg fyrirbrigði. Sóst er eftir að staðsetja tengsl milli mismunandi gerða valkyrja og annarra yfirnáttúrulegra kvenvera (þá sérstaklega dísirnar), gegnum nána og varkfærnislega skoðun á heimildum. Þaðan af verður dregin tillaga að nýrri skipan að grunni yfirnáttúrulegra kvenvera á seinni tímum járnaldar. Ritgerðin mun þá ransaka frávik valkyrjanna frá grunn stigi, með grannskoðun á hinum ýmsu einkennum þeim tengdum í skáldlegu, óbundnu máli, og sjónrænum heimildum, með tilliti til sjónarmiðs þeirrar menningar sem stríðshöfðingja þessa tíma bjuggu við. Að lokum er borin fram nýr skilningur á valkyrjunum í þessu félagslega samhengi: að valkyrjur þjónuðu sem áhöld til þess að útbreiða fyrirliggjandi félagsskipan þess þjóðfélags sem skapaði og viðhélt þeim í gegnum síðari hluta járn aldar.1 1 My thanks to Árni K. Guðmundsson, Embla Þórsdóttir and Haukur Þorgeirsson for their invaluable linguistic assistance with the drafting of this Icelandic text. 3 Luke John Murphy MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis Kennitala: 090187-2019 Spring 2013 CONTENTS List of Figures.............................................................................................................5 Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................6 1.1 Valkyries and Valkyrjur ...............................................................................6 1.2 Sources..........................................................................................................11 1.3 Methodology..................................................................................................25 1.3.1 Comparativism, Change and Variety.............................................................28 1.3.2 Modelling the Past..........................................................................................37 1.4 The Structure of this Thesis.........................................................................41 Chapter 2: Valkyrjur in the Old-Norse Cultural Continuum...............................43 2.1 Distinguishing the Valkyrjur.........................................................................43 2.2 The Dísir: a ‘Base State’ for Supernatural Femininity in the Late Iron Age?................................................................................................................50 2.2.1 The Dísablót: Cult and Ritual.........................................................................50 2.2.2 (Supernatural) Ladies......................................................................................63 2.3 Conclusions: Taxonomising the Dísir and Valkyrjur..................................91 Chapter 3: Valkyric Discourse in the Late Iron Age.............................................98 3.1 Approaching the Valkyrjur............................................................................98 3.2 Horn-Bearing and Valhöll...........................................................................101 3.3 Óðinn and Agency........................................................................................122 3.4 Sex after Death?...........................................................................................126 3.5 Silver ‘Valkyries’ and Iconographic Horn-Bearers..................................131 3.6 Spirits on the Battlefield..............................................................................138 3.7 Valkyrjur as Catalysts: Psychopompoi.......................................................144 Chapter 4: Conclusions............................................................................................149 Bibliography..............................................................................................................151 Word Count (excluding Critical Apparatus): 44,914 words, 146 pages 4 Luke John Murphy MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis Kennitala: 090187-2019 Spring 2013 LIST OF FIGURES 1.A , Arthur Rackham, “Brünnhilde”, illustration to Richard Wagner, The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie, trans. Margaret Armour (London and New York: William Heinmann and Doubleday Pace & Co., 1910), p. 102 ........................................................................................................................8 1.B, Valkyrie, a superheroine from the Marvel Universe. Image Source: The Comic Book Database ...8 1.C, Dollmann, “The Ride of the Valkyrs”, reprinted in H. A. Guerber, Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1908), p. 176 ..........................12 1.D, Altuna Runestone, U 1161, Rundata ...............................................................................................16 1.E, Svanberg’s model of ritual systems in southern Scandinavia. After Fredrik Svanberg, Death Rituals in South-East Scandinavia (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2003), fig. 59, p. 144 ............................................................................................................................30 2.A, The Oseberg Wagon “Triangle Carving”. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ..........................83 2.B, Figure 2.B, Euler diagram showing relationships between dísir, after Chapters 2.2.1-2.2.2 ..........95 2.C, Figure 2.C, Euler diagram showing relationships between dísir, valkyrja, fylgja and draumkona, after Chapters 2.2.1-2.2.2 ..........................................................................................................96 3.A, Helgafell, Breiðafjörður, Iceland, from the NE. Image Source: Author .......................................114 3.B, Reconstruction of Birka Chamber Grave Bj. 834, as seen from above. Artist: Þórhallur Þráinsson. After Neil S. Price, The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (Uppsala: The Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 2002), p. 136 ...........................................................................................................................116 3.C, Picture Stone, Tjängvide, Gotland. After James Graham-Campbell, The Viking World. 3rd edn. (London: Frances Lincoln Ltd., 2001), p. 179.........................................................................132 3.D, Silver Brooch, Tissø, Denmark. Image Source: Nationalmuseet Website, ‘Freja’.......................134 3.E, Silver Figurine, Hårby, Denmark. Image Source: Nationalmuseet Website, ‘Fynbo finder valkyrie fra vikingetiden’.......................................................................................................................135 3.F, Detail from the Oseberg Tapestry showing male and female figures, armed, in animal costume. After Arne Emil Christensen, Anne Stine Ingstad and Bjørn Myhre, Oseberg dronningens grav: Vår arkeologiske nasjonalskatt i nytt lys, 2nd edn. (Oslo: Schibsted, 1993), p. 244 .......................................................................................................................................136 3.G, Detail from the Oseberg Tapestry showing a figure in bird costume. Artist: Sofie Krafft. After Christensen, Ingstad and Myhre, Oseberg dronningens grav, p. 245......................................137 3.H, Detail from the Oseberg Tapestry showing a woman holding a sword. Artist: Sofie Krafft. After Christensen, Ingstad and Myhre, Oseberg dronningens grav, p. 245......................................137