Anderson - 2010 - The Backrest Beasts of Óðinn from Lejre

8/2/2019 Anderson - 2010 - The Backrest Beasts of Óðinn from Lejre

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on an earlier tower by the 1'1 Lord Fraserprior to his ennobling by Charles I. The

expansion and embellishment of this finetower into a courtyard residence with

outer courts and gardens was diligentlycharted. Addyman's own contributionreviewed a number of recent surveys and

excavations at Scottish towers which

reveal hitherto-unsuspected variety.To take two significant examples, theamoun t of medieval fabric within the19lh-century Brodick Castle is much

greater than was suspected, and the

confection of Craigevar has proven tohave been not a de 1101'0 construction. butthe rebuilding of a more prosaic tower

house. The potential cross-fertilisation

of ideas derived from this conferencehas been most rewarding, and it is

encouraging to note that the organisershope to repeat thei r success.

J ohn Ma lcolm , Historic Scotland

John.Malcolm@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

NEWS& VIEWS

Odin (OO inn) from Lejre

The rOllnd of excavations undertaken atLejre. Denmark, d uring 2008- 09 has led

to the discovery of yet more buildings,including one 60m in length (making it

the largest yet known from Southern

Scandinavia during the first millennium).The discoveries will provoke renewed

interest in this Iron-Age and Viking-Agesettlement complex. For the moment.

interest has focused on one of the smallfinds unearthed in 2009: an amulet. madeof silver with niello in lay, that appears

to represent the god Od in (Old Norse

06inn) en throned on his high scat,backed by a pair of beasts and nanked bya pair of ravens. A report on that object

by Tom Christcnsen has appeared in the2009 issue of ROMU. the annual journalof Roskilde M useum (pp 7- 25). It

includes over two dozen images showing

the object and some items that help 10

contextualize it. For the convenienceof pcrsons withou t easy access to the

journal (or a knowledge of Danish), anEnglish summary, drafted by Carl

Edlund Andersen and myself andaccompanied by a selection of images,

is posted at my personal website: http://www.english.wisc.eduljdniles Reportsand studies relat ing to the excavations

undertaken at Lejre up to the year 2006

are published in Niles 2007.

John D. Nilesjdniles@wisc.edu

,(

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Amulet/rom Lejre, Roskilde AII/sel/",!Die iHal/ing

The BlIckrest Beasts of 06inn from LcjrcThe question of the identity of theoccupant of the Lejre high chair has beenmooted on the world wide web. Among

the features that help support anidentification of that figure as 06inn arethe highly naturalistic birds perched on

the armrests. These could well beunderstood as 60inn's ravens. Huginnand M lIninn. In this context. it has alsobeen speculated that the two beast headson the back rest of the Lejre high chair

could represent wolves. As is well knownfrom the poem Grinmismti/ (verse 19) in

the Poetic Edda. 06inn is the master oftwo wolves named Geri and Freki. Snorri

Sturluson likewise included andexpanded on this information in theGy/ftlgillllillg section of the Prose Edda,and the names or both wolves alsoappear in skald ic poetry as lerms (heifi)with the generic sense "wolr' (Jcsch 2002,255).

Amlllet from Lejre, rear l'i£'II',

RIme KmulelZoomorgraphic

With this in mind, it may be worth

recalling other possible Viking Age

8/2/2019 Anderson - 2010 - The Backrest Beasts of Óðinn from Lejre

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definitely 60inn's wolves pairs of

wo lves o r wolf·like beasts. For cxa mple.

Christenscn has observed that the

annrcsts of thc silver chair figurine from

Hedeby could be lions or perhaps wolves(2009, 10) ; the laller animal. at leasl.

might have been familiar loca lly to

Scandinavians. Th e Boksta runc·sto nc(U855 in Uppland. Swedcn) includes a

depiction o f a spea r-wielding man o n

ho rseback in the compan y of two dog- o r

wolf·likc beasts and two birds. This was

interprcted bXSiJf:n ( 1983. 90) as

representing 66inn in the company of hi s

wolves Geri and Frek i. as well as hi sravens Huginn and Muninn . Of co urse.

as is so o ften thc case wi th suchpre-Christian Scandina vian artefacts,

int erpretation is neither clear-cut no r

without co ntroversy. For example.

Vierk interpreted the Hedeby chair <IS

not 60inn's high -seat but a throne

functioning as a pla tform from which aI'o/ra (female witch) pract ices seior

(magic<l1 ar ts).

As fo r the Lejre figurine. it is by no

means certain that the anima ls

represented were intended to be wolves.

The beasts wear co llars (o r neck-rings).

suggesting domesticated animals. though

perhaps Viking Age Scandinavians might

have expected 60inn to equip hi s wolves

wi th co llars o r rings. It might ha ve been

no more than a desi re fo r symmetry of

form tha t d ictated the placement of twobea st heads o n either side of the back rest

of thc Lejre figurine's chair. Nevertheless.

the possibility tha t the Lejre chair

figurine might feature not only two

ravens but additionally two wolves would

provide further significant reasons to

identify its occupant as 60inn .

Cllrl Edlund And erson

ca r .a nderson@unisa bana.edu.co

RderenecsChristensen. T 2009 'Odin fra Lejre·.

ROMU, 7- 25.Jesch. J 2002 The S catutilUlI'iallsfrollllhe

Vendet Period 10 Ihe Telllh Celllllry:

An Elhnographic Perspeclil'e. Studies in

Historical A rchaeoethnology 5,Woodbridge: Boydell.

Niles. J 2007 8eo\l"lI/falld /..ejre. ed. withM. Osborn and featuring con tribu tions

by T. Christensen, Tempe: Arizona

8

Center fo r Medieval & Renaissa nceStudics.

Silcn , L 1983 'Nfigra renektioner

angfiende bilderna pfi Balingsta-stenen i

Upp land', Forlll 'iilmell 78. 88 91.Vierck. H 2002 'Zwei Amulettbilder als

Zeugnissc des ausgehenden Heidentums

in Haithabu', in BericJlle iiber die

AIIsgrabllllgen ill Hailhabll 34: Da s

archiiologische Fundmaterial VI \.

NcumUnster: Wacholtz. 9-67.

The S taffordshire Hoa rd; a response to

the repo rt by Mark Hall in thc Socie ty's

Newsletter, 43:

few recentarcha

eo logicaldiscove ries have given ri se to so manyrumo urs as the Staffordshire An glo

Saxon hoard but o ne ill-informed item

even found its way into yo ur recentewsletter. Allhough several parish

boundaries in the area do follow the

Roman Watling Street. which was then

still in use, the 'out-stepping parishbo undary on wh ich the fie ld si ts'. a

location suggested 10 have been of

possible ritual significance. is that of theWest Midlands county, actually drawn

up only in 1974. This actually ran

through the area of the 19 lh--centuryextra-parochial and later parish.

coincidentally passing close to the

find-spot. Enough sa id!

Della I-lookc. University of Birmingham

Hornb)' Cas tle Fieldwork: 20 10 Season .

Hornby Castle near Bedale North

Yorkshire was co nstructed in the late 13lh

century o n the si te o f an earlier structure

dating back at least into the carly 12 lh

century. It was substantially expandcd

into the co urt yard castle seen today by

Sir Jo hn Conyers KG in the mid 15 lh

century beforc being further altered by

William Lord Conyers at thc turn of the

151h/ 16th centuries with the constr uction

o f the famous Ho rn by Po rtal(now inthe Burrell Collection G lasgow). It

sub sequent ly became the country hOll se

ofthc Earls of Holderness in the late

17lb century. and then the Osborne Dukes

of Leeds in the late 18th century, whensignificant refurbishment work took

place, before being gutted and partially

dcmolished in 1930 to pay the deb ts o f

the then owner the l l' hDu ke of Leed s.

T he Architectu ra l and Archaeologica lSociety of Durham and No rthumberland