The study is a discussion of the Pagan concept of the good with reference to the upper-classes of the Late Iron Age societies in Scandinavia, Northwest Europe and Anglo-Saxon England. It is based on a sample of halls belonging to the first millennium AD and on the analysis of a number of texts. Among these the following are poems: The poem about the Battle of Maldon, the "Beowulf", two poems by Venantius Fortunatus to Sigibert and Brunhild and four by the same author to Duke Lupus. The following prose texts are used: The Martyrdom of Saint Sabas, Danish and Swedish rune-stone texts mentioning the word "good", and the account in "Landnámabók" mentioning Queen Aud. The discussion is summed up in a chapter concerning the characteristics of the good and in a chapter discussing the forms of talk which takes place in the Late Iron Age hall in its most elaborate, i.e., royal form.
Author(s): Frands Herschend
Series: Occasional Papers in Archaeology, 15
Publisher: Uppsala University
Year: 1998
Language: English
Commentary: pages 115-148 are missing
Pages: 210
Preface 7
I. Introduction 9
The Material 12
The Hall 14
The Origin 16
The Farm Owner's Seat 25
The Family in the Hall 31
The Interface Between the Farm Owner and his Guests 32
The Retinue and the Smashed Hall 35
The Architecture 37
Hall and Settlement Structure 43
Hall and Cosmology 49
Conclusion 51
The Choice of Texts 51
Earlier Research 54
Conclusion 46
II. Usage and Non-Usage 63
The Good Composition 63
The Use of Good in "Maldon" 73
The First and Second Parts of "Beowulf" 77
Six Narratives About the Good 81
When the Good People Meet 81
The Two Contract-Combat Episodes 82
The Two Appeasement Scenes 85
The Frame Story 88
The Two Anglo-Saxon Poems 91
Venantius Fortunatus 91
The Poems to Sigibert and Brunhild 94
The Lupus Poems (Appendix II) 101
The Two Panegyrics 103
The Official Panegyric 104
The Private Panegyric 109
The Two Notes 113 [partly missing]
The Good Sabas 117 [missing]
The Social Conflict in Beowulf and the Sabas Letter 121 [missing]
Hero, Prosecutor, Monster and Martyr 127 [missing]
Death by Water 129 [missing]
The Rune-stones 130 [missing]
Queen Aud's Settlement 137 [missing]
Vifil's Place 142 [missing]
Aud's Qualities 145 [missing]
III. The Characteristics of the Good 149
The Model Behaviour 149
Goodness and Honour 154
Friendship and Goodness 157
Complementarity 159
The Making of an Aristocracy 160
IV. The Room of the Good 167
Hall Life 167
Hall Talk 168
Appendix I 182
Appendix II 186
Appendix III 193
Abbreviations 197
References 197
