Scandinavian history in the Viking age - Department of Anglo-Saxon ...

Scandinavian History in the Viking Age
The evidence of place-names
Place-names supply much useful information on pagan cults and society, in terms of ‘theophoric’ names
indicating devotion to particular divinities along with cultic elements such as hof or vé which can be used
(with caution) to extrapolate practices of worship and beliefs. For broader surveys of place-name material
see (B840 ff.).
[K90] M. Olsen, Hedenske kultminder i norske stedsnavne, SDNVAO 1914:4 [UL 500:01.b.4.18]
[K91] Ó. Lárusson, ‘Heathen and Christian traces in Icelandic place-names’, Proceedings and
transactions of the third International Congress of Toponymy and Anthroponymy, Brussels, July 15th-
July 19th 1949, edd. H. Draye and O. Jodogne (1951), 252-58 [UL P498.c.20.5]
[K92] B. Holmberg, ‘Views on cultic place-names in Denmark: a review of research’, (O60):381-93
[K93] S. Brink, ‘Cult sites in northern Sweden’, (O60):458-89
[K94] T. Andersson, ‘Orts- und Personennamen als Aussagequelle für die alt-germanische Religion’,
(K12):508-40
[K95] S. Sigmundsson, ‘Átrúnaðr og örnefni’, (B261):241-54 (E.s.)
[K96] B. Holmberg, ‘Recent research into sacral names’, (A51):280-87
Festivals and worship
Place-names give the impression of widely disparate cults across Scandinavia. Although it should be
borne in mind that theophoric place-names can contain the names of different divinities who may have
performed similar functions in different regions, it is widely held that pagan beliefs and customs are
likely to have varied widely in time and place.
Cult-sites and social gatherings
One of the most visible, or at least easily reconstructed, forms of pagan worship is the communal
gathering at cult-sites, often going under the name hof. The frequent translation of this word as ‘temple’
seems to be misleading, in that separate sacral buildings are difficult to uncover in the material record;
we seem instead to be dealing with ceremonial buildings or halls which had many functions, including
ritual ceremonies, cf. (C60 ff.). For a fascinating recently excavated site, see:
[K100] A.-L. Nielsen, ‘Pagan cultic and votive acts at Borg: an expression of the central significance of
the farmstead in the late Iron age’, (O80):373-92; on Borg in Östergötland
[K101] S. Brink, ‘Mythologizing landscape. Place and space of cult and myth’, (O84):76-112
[K102] C. Raudvere et al., (edd.), Plats och Praxis: Studier av nordisk förkristen ritual (2002)
The hofs of Iceland
The ‘temples’ of Iceland were long held as prime examples of cultic buildings in Scandinavia, but the
reliance of earlier scholars on accounts in sagas (K60 ff.) has now been tempered by more caution. For
surveys of earlier scholarship see (K125) and (G22).
[K103] B.S. Phillpotts, ‘Temple-administration and chieftainship in pre-Christian Norway and Iceland’,
SBVS 8 (1912-13), 264-84
[K103] A. Roussell, ‘Islands gudehove’, (G15):215-23 (E.s. 322-23)
[K104] A. Friðriksson and O. Vésteinsson, ‘Hofstaðir revisited’, NAR 30 (1997), 103-12
Other famous cult-sites
[K110] On Jelling in Jutland see also (D60 ff.) and E. Dyggve, Three sanctuaries of Jelling type, Scripta
minora 1959-60:1 [UL P911:36.c.16.16]; Dyggve’s interpretation is now dated, cf. (K125)
[K111] For Lejre see (D31) and the account by Thietmar (B63)
[K112] The seat of the earls of Lade or Hlaðir in the Trøndelag in central Norway may probably be
considered a cultic centre; for saga-accounts, see K. Düwel, Das Opferfest von Lade: quellenkritische
Untersuchungen zur germanischen Religionsgeschichte, Wiener Arbeiten zur germanischen
Altertumskunde und Philologie 27 (1985) [UL 500:05.d.5.27]
[K113] The nearby site at Mære in the Trøndelag is also recorded as a cult-centre, which may be borne
out by excavations under the mediaeval church, see H.-E. Lidén, ‘From pagan sanctuary to Christian
church: the excavation of Mære church in Trøndelag’, NAR 2 (1969), 3-32, and cf. (K125 ff.)
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