Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, Prophecy and Lordship in the European Warband from La Tine to the Viking Age

Michael

J. Enright

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ABBREVIATIONS © Michael]. Enright 1996 PREFACE

ix xi
1

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A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

Ritual, Group Cohesion and Hierarchy in the Germanic Warband Warlords, Hetzerinnenand Sibyls

II III

38

ISBN 1-85182-188-0

The Liquor Ritual and the Basis of the Lordly Power to Command Followers

69

IV
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

The Archaeology ofIntoxication and the Continuity of Transalpine History 97 1 From Liibsow to the Vikings 99 2 From Hochdorf to the Gaels 133 3 Aspects of Continuity and Oral Culture 154 Warband Religion and the Celtic World I Druids, Female Magic and Weaving Beams 2 Wealhtheow 3 The Celto-Germanic Warband and the Rise of the Warlord 4 Governmental Forms 5 Mercury, Wodan and the One-Eyed Warlord 6 Rosmerta and Veleda 7 Mercury, Rosmerta and a Concept of Rhineland Kingship 8 The Inauguration of the Warlord Conclusion 288 337 169
170

189 195
214
217 240

249
260

VI

.BIBLIOGRAPHY Printed in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wilts. INDEX

ABBREVIATIONS

For my parents, Michael and Esther Enright. And in loving memory of "gran", Patrick Kenneally, and of "daw", Madge Mac Mahon, in her wonderful "little house under the hill".

AAH AESC AF AG AHR AIBL AJAR AK AM

ANB
ANF

ANRW

ANS ASE BBCS BIA BJ BJS BLAFAM CHJ CMCS DA EC ELN ES ES FMSt. HA HdR HJ HZ IF

JDAI JEGP JFH ]IES JMV

JAF

JMH

Acta Archaeologica Hungaricae Annales: Economies, Societes, Civilisations Ausgrabungen und Funde Archaeologia Geographica American Historical Review Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (Comptes Rendus) American Journal of Ancient History Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt Annuale Medievale Archaologische Nachrichten aus Baden Arkiv for nordisk Filologi Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies Anglo-Saxon England Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology (University of London) Bonner Jahrbiicher British Journal of Sociology Bulletin de Liason de l'Association Francaise d' Archeologie Merovingienne Cambridge Historical Journal Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies Deutsches Archiv fiir die Erforschung des Mittelalters Etudes Celtiques English Language Notes English Studies Epigraphische Studien Friihmittelalterliche Studien Historisk Arkiv Handworterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte Historisches Jahrbuch Historische Zeitschrift Indogermanische Forschungen Journal of American Folklore Journal des deutschen archaeologischen Instituts Journal of English and Germanic Philology Journal of Family History Journal ofIndo-European Studies Journal of Medieval History Jahresschrift fllr mitteldeutsche Vorgeschichte

Abbreviations

Jahrbuch des romisch-gerrnanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz JRSAI Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland KZS Kdlner Zeitschrift fiir Soziologie LSE Leeds Studies in English MAGW Mitteilungen Anthropologische Gesellschaft in Wien MGH Monumenta Germania Historica MGH AA Auctores antiquissimi MGH SS Scriptores MGH SS rer. Germ. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum MGH SS rer. Lang. Scriptores rerum Langobardorum et ltalicarum saec. VI-IX. MGH SS rer. Merov. Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum MLR Modern Language Review MQ Mankind Quarterly MP Modern Philology MS Medieval Scandinavia NAR Norwegian Archaeological Review NM Neophilologische Mitteilungen NMS Nottingham Medieval Studies PBA Proceedings of the British Academy PP Past and Present PRCA Paulys Realencyclopiidie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft PRIA Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy . PZ Priihistorische Zeitschrift RA Revue archaeologique RC Revue Celtique RHDFE Revue historique de droit francais et etranger RS]B Recueils de la Societe Jean Bodin SBVS Saga-Book of the Viking Society SCH Studies in Church History SG Studium Generale SHR Scottish Historical Review SMC Studies in Medieval Culture SMRH Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History SN Studia Neophilologica SP Studies in Philology SS Scandinavian Studies SSO Settimane di studio del centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo St. S Studien zur Sachsenforschung TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society TZ Trierer Zeitschrift VA Varia Archaeologica WZ Westfalische Zeitschrift ZBL Zeitschrift flir bayerische Landesgeschichte ZcP Zeitschrift filr celtische Philologie ZdP Zeitschrift fllr deutsche Philologie Zf.A Zeitschrift flir Archiiologie Zf.DA Zeitschrift fur deutsches Altertum und Literatur .ZSSR (GA) Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung filr Rechtsgeschichte. Germanische Abteilung ZSSR (RA) Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung filr Rechtsgeschichte. Romanische Abteilung

]RGZ

PREFACE

This book grew slowly, nolens volens, because I set out to write a different one. Several years ago, in the midst of research for a socio-institutional history of the Germanic comitatus, I. composed an article on the cup-offering ritual in Beowulf and the Historia Langobardorum. It was published in Friihmittelalterliche Studien in 1988 (and reappears here as chapter one with only slight modification)." Upon returning to my original project, however, I was continually irked by the nettlesome sense of having excluded too much relevant matter from the article, of not having sufficiently explored the background of the ritual offering to fully explain it in an intellectually satisfying way. Curiosity and self-criticism eventually obliged me to indulge again the lady with a mead cup. Once decided that a more thorough analysis was needed, two probative essays followed fairly rapidly. These were read and commented upon by Karl Hauck of Munster who suggested that a broader discussion and an additional chapter might make a useful book. That chapter (appearing here as chapter five on warband religion and the Celtic world) became far more extensive than originally planned. Although an avalanche of literature was available to draw upon, many of the assumptions made therein seemed questionable. Archaeologists andhistorians differed considerably in their approach to cultural change during the Roman period in Central Europe, for example, while two other groups of specialists, Germanists and Celticists, frequently seemed to blithely go their own ways without paying a great deal of attention to their colleague's results. Much can be learned by a comparison of their findings and I hope to have made some progress in the present work. But "some progress" is the operative phrase. An attempt to assess a cross-section of this disparate material in light of conclusions reached or suspected led to exploratory forays in fields in which I am very conscious of being an amateur-archaeology, runology, linguistics, epigraphy, place-names, to name only a few. I have taken some consolation from the fact that a full study of these subjects would be beyond the capability of anyone writer although that has been cold comfort on many occasions. Undoubtedly, therefore, experts in these areas will find errors although much effort has been expended to keep them to a minimum. I remain nonetheless convinced that some venture must be made to
• I have also drawn several pages from an article which appeared in JiirgJarnut, Ulrich Nonn und Michael Richter, eds., Karl Martell in seiner Zeit (Sigmaringen, 1994) pp. 367-380. xi

xii

Lady with a Mead Cup

Preface

xiii

·draw together the myriad strands of evidence in order to eventually develop a coherent picture of cultural interaction in early Europe. In some ways the present study is an experiment. It is an attempt to isolate the cup-offering ritual of some Germanic peoples of the Early Middle Ages, to establish its function within the institution in which it appears, to seek to explain its cultural and religious sources and to suggest that an analysis of the ritual provides a case study which demonstrates that considerably more continuity existed in European history from La Tene through the Viking period than is commonly supposed. The presence of the cup-offering ritual among diverse peoples over many centuries indicates great social significance. Since the ritual is best described in the Beowulf poem, a work which seems to provide a fairly reliable description of the warband lifestyle, it is Beowulf that forms the starting point for the analysis that follows. It is not a study of the poem in the narrow sense for I am not interested in its literary value but rather in certain aspects of the institution to which it frequently alludes and always takes for granted. Chapter one describes the cup-offering ritual and relates it to kingship and the maintenance of cohesion within the warband. The crucial figure is Wealhtheow, the lady with the mead cup, who first presents it to the ruler and then distributes liquor to his followers. Chapter two examines some elements of prophecy and provocation which seem to accompany the distribution and to be especially associated with Hrothgar's queen. These are interpreted as institutionally functional characteristics of Wealhtheow and not, as one might otherwise suppose, merely personal quirks. Prophecy and provocation appear to have been typical behaviors of women amongst warrior groups in Germanic cultures and a connection with the sibyls who sometimes accompanied early Germanic leaders seems demonstrable. This interpretation then leads naturally to an initial discussion of Julius Civilis of the Batavi and Veleda, a prophetess of the Bructeri, since they are the earliest leader/prophetess team that can also be linked to warband organization. Chapter three seeks to elucidate a perceived association between entry into lordship, entry into marriage and the distribution of drink among retainers. The idea of the creation of a fictive family, itis argued, is central to this complex pattern of thought. A number of clues indicate that a similar concept and a distribution of drink also played a role in the creation of Civilis as leader of the Batavian revolt in AD 69. The purpose of chapter four is entirely different, in part because I now seek to examine documents of a different genre. Several problems are dealt with. On . one hand, the existence of the motif and ritual in question needs to be more . securely demonstrated for the early Germanic milieu. On the other, the evidentiary gap between the ages of Civilis and Beowulf requires bridging since little material is available for the former period and only slightly more for the centuries that intervene. The only approach capable of eliciting significant new information

is that of archaeology. Hence, chapter four is devoted to the archaeology of intoxication in Central Europe from the Iron Age to that of the Vikings and also adds a brief discussion of the contemporary oral culture in order to clarify the reasons for continuity of the mead cup complex among some peoples of the Early Middle Ages and its disappearance or near disappearance from the literary records of others. Chapter five provides the most complicated exposition of the book. Despite a large gap of some seven to nine centuries, the figures of Veleda and Wealhtheow seem to be joined by a surprising number of salient characteristics-prophecy, mediation, a religious aura and a link with kingship and a warband. Both names have Celtic connections and so does the comitatus itself. This being the case, a further and more complete exploration of the cultural background of the comitatus and the origins of warband religion seemed necessary. Investigation of the liquor ritual thus leads to another level of questioning and becomes part of a broader context. In addition, the nature of the hypothesis offered seemed to require a shift to a more novel approach. If, as will be argued, the key relationship in the Germanic comitatus was not simply the lord/follower duality (although that is the dominant one) but rather the far more intricate pattern of lord/ prophetess/ follower, then a new level of complexity has been added and a new attempt at an interpretation makes sense. As far as I know, no other work deals specifically with the variety of problems thus raised although, needless to say, the fine studies of scholars like Reinhard Wenskus, Walter Schlesinger, Hans Kuhn, Christoph Ruger, Karl Paschel and others have been indispensable guides as can easily be read from the footnotes. Perhaps one should also say what this book is not: it is not a history of the comitatus. As I now (reluctantly) accept, a true history of that institution is impossible to write because of the scarcity of the sources and the ambiguity of scattered reference. On the other hand, it is possible, in broad strokes, to analyze the nature of a number of aspects of its organizational development and behavioral pattern; some of these are discussed here although I hope to do more in a subsequent volume. The present focus is on ritual and religiosity. The aim is to demonstrate and document the existence of the lord/prophetess dynamic within the comitatus and its continuity over time. By comitatus (or warband or Gefllgschaft) I mean an organization of free men both within and without tribal structures who swear an oath of allegiance and military support to a leader in return for maintenance, gifts and plunder, but whose oath is not necessarily conditional on balanced reciprocity although a high degree of mutual devotion is intended and expected. In an early stage of development, warband members live in or near the leader's hall but eventually live elsewhere on land gifted or gained where they may also recruit a following of their own. Under certain conditions, the partly free or unfree may playa role in the organization. That is the framework for the following discussion.

xiv

Lady with a Mead Cup

A number of debts require acknowledgment. First and foremost, I wish to thank Karl Hauck for his encouragement, advice and frequent hospitality over the years, all of this despite onerous editorial duties and his own daunting research program of singular importance. His solicitude gives meaning to the term "community of scholars". Special thanks also to Forrest McDonald (a teacher who has left his mark) for his typically generous support at an early stage of my research and to the Earhart Foundation for a grant which financed a trip that madethis book much easier to write. I also remember with pleasure Edwin Hall who first introduced me to the works of Ernst Kantorowicz. An earlier version of this study (excluding chapter four) was read by Winfred Lehmann who made many helpful suggestions and comments; so did Padraig O'Neill. I am sure that past conversations with friends and colleagues, Edwin Hall, Michael Richter, Robert Walton, Anthony Papalas, also made a difference although I can no longer be specific since most comments have long since been absorbed at various stages of the work. None of the above are responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation. My thanks to Brian Edwards for his typing and attention to the bibliography and to Mrs. Patricia Guyette of Interlibrary Loan at East Carolina University for her kindness and unflagging efforts in chasing the elusive essays of medievalists: In addition, I am very proud of my son Edward who continues to overlook my numerous faults and who for several years now has navigated his way around tumbling shoals of papers and manuscripts. Likewise my daughter, Anne-Kristin. Even though far away she is constantly in my thoughts. Finally, a special mention for my friends at Happy's Pool Hall (especially Lavonda "Duke" Kelly, Paul Chittum and Joe Meski) who greatly improved my game while also demonstrating a clear, albeit little known, relationship between straight pool and academic research. Michael J. Enright Greenville, North Carolina

RITUAL,

GROUP COHESION IN THE GERMANIC

AND HIERARCHY WARBAND

Both the political activities of Germanic queens and the lifestyle of the Germanic warband or comitatus are subjects which have often attracted scholarly attention. Interest in the former in particular is now flourishing in the English speaking world and has already eclipsed the latter which belongs to a more traditional category of historiography. In one sense this pattern of inquiry represents a long overdue reexamination of the sources just as it also reflects the social and philosophical ferment characterizing the last generation of Western society. Not surprisingly, a reading of the recent literature tells us almost as much about ourselves as it does of the distant past especially since so much attention has been focused on the degree of independence to which the Germanic queen could aspire or anticipate. Such a question is certainly worth asking but the sources can seldom provide a satisfactory answer since it is so extraordinarily difficult to establish when the queen or royal widow is acting independently or when it is that she is simply functioning as the proxy for someone else, be it a husband, son, a faction of the nobility or the comitatus. Moreover, since so little is known about the actual enterprises of royal wives in general, much of what has been written has dealt with a few outstanding figures whose character and virtues, it is sometimes suggested, were fully as "virile" as their male counterparts and would undoubtedl~ be wi~ely s?ng did we only know more about them. But this type of conjecture IS unlikely to really advance historical knowledge since it actually
I

• A number of very recent works appear in the bibliography but are cited infrequently in the notes. J learned of these during the last stages of manuscript preparation and was, regrettably, unable to make full use of them. They include Lotte Hedeager on Iron Age societies, Rolf Hachmann on the Gundestrup cauldron, as well as conference proceedings by Karl Hauck on bracteates; Heinrich Beck, Detlev Ellmers, Kurt Schier on the sources of Germanic religion and Gunter Neumann and Henning Seemann on aspects of the Germania of Tacitus.

See, for example, Janet Nelson, "Queens as Jezebels: The Careers ofBrunhild and Balthild in Mero~ngian History:' (1978); Pauline Stafford, Qjleens, Concubines and Dowagers: the King's Wifo ~n the Early MIddle Ages (1983); Suzanne Fonay Wemple, Women in Frankish Society: Marnage and the Cloister 500-g00 (1981); Miles Campbell, "Queen Emma and Aelfgifu of Northamp,ton: C~ute the Great's Women" (1971); Helen Damico, Beowulf's Wfalhtheowand the Valkyne Tradition (1984); Jenny Jochens, "The Politics of Reproduction: Medieval Norwe?ian Kingship" (1987). These are only a few of the large number of studies written on this topic m the past two decades. In contrast, works in English on the history of the comitatus are scarce on the ground. But see David Gr~en, The Carolingian Lord: Semantic Studies on Four Old High German ~rds: Balder, {ro, Truhtm, Herro (196?); Hector lI:'1unro Chadwick, Studies on AngloSaxon Institutions (1963 ), pp, 308-354; John Lmdow, Comitatus, Individual and Honor. Studies in North Germanic Institutional Vocabulary (1975). Not dealing specifically with the warband but often of relevance is Alexander Callender Murray, Germanic Kinship Structure: Studies in Law

and Society in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (1983).

La4v with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarchy

in the Germanic Warband

diverts attention from the crucial problem of interaction between king, queen and comitatus and it is only through the integrated study of the social exchanges between the three that we can hope to recognize the internal organizational design which often effected external political action: At first glance this formulation may well strike scholars as somewhat peculiar. Except in the case of female regencies, all studies of the Germanic warband have . dealt nearly exclusively with the relations between lord and follower in the arena of the aula regis and have rarely taken account of the queen who, aside from her domestic activities and influence on the usual plots and machinations of the court, has never been thought to have had much to do with the comitatus. In my opinion this view should be modified to allow for the occasional subtle influence of a third party whose interests usually but not always coincide with those of the leader. What follows here, however, is not an attempt to list all of the possible ways in which a concerned or ambitious wife might influence her husband and his retainers. Such an exercise would have little meaning. Rather, it is a description and analysis of a perceived institutional arrangement. The present chapter seeks to investigate an hypothesized triangular pattern of political intercourse and to show that, contrary to common assumption, the royal consort normally played a significant if subordinate role in the establishment of order and hierarchy among the members of the warband and that, just as women in the wider world were used to bind families in alliances, so did the queen act to help achieve cohesion and unity of purpose between lord and follower in the royal hall. The significant point here is not that she was ever able to direct policy but rather that the queen, acting as her husband's delegate, exercised a number of important functions which, although only vaguely noticed in the literature, have noteworthy implications for the study of early European political organization and its ritual affirmation. In the following pages, using the Beowulf poem as a point of departure for social analysis, I shall try to sketch some of the notable ways in which royal (and noble) consorts routinely contributed to the enhancement of stability within a volatile warrior society and then how they helped to maintain continuity in times of stress and transition. Shortly after his arrival at Heorot, king Hrothgar's great hall, Beowulf is given an honorable seat between the king's sons and witnesses the entrance of Wealhtheow whose formal proffering of the ceremonial cup of liquor to the Danish king signals the true beginning of the feast. Although lengthy, this description of the queen's actions deserves careful attention and must be cited in full since reference will subsequently be made to various aspects throughout the following study:

I know of no study dealing specifically with this relationship are made in Nelson, "Queens as jezebels", p. 38£

but many perceptive

observations

607 Fa wres on salum sinces brytt« It was then a fine moment for the bestower of treasure, 608 gamolfeax ond gudrof; geoce gelyfde grey of hair, good at fight, he had confidence in that help, gehyrde on Beowulfe 609 brego Beorht-Dena; the prince of the Bright Danes, [when] 610 [olces hyrde feestreedne gepoht the folk's shepherd, heard the firm resolve from Beowulf. 6II Deer wees heeleJahleahtor, h/j{n swynsode There was laughter among the warriors, merry noise arose, 612 word weenm toynsume. Eode Wealhpeow Jor'H, words were cheerful. Stepped forth Wealhtheow, 613 ctpen HroiJgares cynna gemyndig, Hrothgar's Qyee~, careful of noble usage. 614 grette goldhrllden guman on healle Gold-adorned she greeted the men in hall. 615 ond Jafrelllic toif fulgesealde And then the gracious woman offered the cup 616 erest East-Dena eJelwearde first to the East-Dunes' king, the guardian of their land, 617 beed hine b/irlne et peere beorpege bade him be happy in partaking of this beer-assembly, 618 leodum leofne; he on lust geJeah be amiable to the people. He took part eagerly 619 symbel ond seleful, sigerof kyning in the feast and formal cup, fully victorious king. 620 Ymbeode Ja ides Helminga Then her steps led here and there the lady of the Helmings, 621 duguJe ond geogoJe dal eeghwylcne to veterans and youths, to each group of them, 622 sincfoto sealde, o] Jeet sel alamp she offered from the treasure-vessel. Until the moment came 623 Jeet hio Beotaulfe, beaghroden ctoen when to Beowulf the ring-adorned queen, 624 mode geJungen medoful eetbeer; gratified in her heart, brought the cup of mead. 625 grette Geata lead, Gode Jancode . She greeted the chief of the Geats, gave thanks to God, 626 wisfeest wordum Jres. 'Hehire se willa gelamp, wise as she was in her words, that her wish had come to good 627 peet heo on eenigne eorl ge/fyde that she might have confidence in some hero, 628 fyrena frofre. He peet [ul geJeah a comforter in her woes. He partook of the cup,

Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarchy in the Germanic Warband

\

629 taalreot» wiga 630 ond ]« gyddode

at Wea/hpeon, guJe gefysed

the fierce slayer, from Wealhtheow's hands. And then chanted his eagerness to fight. 631 Beowulf maJe/ode, beam Ecgpeotoes. Thus spoke Beowulf, the son of Ecqtheow
632 "Ic Jeet hogode, }a ic on holm gestah, ''1 for one had this resolve in mind when I put to sea. 633 saba: geseet mid minra secga gedriht

I embarked on the long ship with my band of men

634 peet ic anunga 635 willan geworhte, 636 feondgrapum fast. 637 eorlic ellen, eotora leoda o}"deon wee/ crunge. Ic gefremman sceal

that I once for all the wish of your people I would accomplish or else fall in the fray. Fast in hostile grips I must perform
oplfe endedag minne gebidan!" toel licodon, eode goldhroden. til hire frean sittan.

heroic deeds or else my last day

638 on }isse meoduhealle 639 Dam wife }a word 640 gilpcwide Geates; 641 freolicu folcctoen

in this mead-hall must meet". The woman enjoyed those words, the Geat's daring say. She resumed her steps, the gold-adorned. gracious sovereign to sit by her suzerain. 3 The stages of Wealhtheow's progress are as follows: she enters with a cup and greets the warriors, offers the cup first to the king, bids him enjoy the drinking and be happy with his people. Hrothgar partakes eagerly. Thereupon, Wealhtheow serves the retainers (it looks as if the same ceremonial vessel was used on each occasion)' moving first to the veteran warriors and then to the younger men among whom sits Beowulf She honors him with a speech before giving him the drink while he proclaims his eagerness to fight and promises to perform heroic deeds. Wealhtheow is pleased by his reply and returns to take her seat beside the king. Let us now seek to unravel the elements in order to fully understand the rationale underlying the queen's behavior. To begin with, it must be emphasized that the Beowulf poet is here using all
3 Fr. Klaeber, ed. Beotaulfand the Fight at Finnsburg (19503), p. 23f. The translation is that of Andre Crepin, "Wealhtheow's Offering of the Cup to Beowulf: A Study in Literary Structure" (1979), PP·44-58. 4 This is also Crepin's view, "Wealhtheow's Offering", p. 52.

of his powers to describe the idealized archetypical image of aristocratic Germanic life-a way of thinking and doing which, by the late eight or ninth century when the poem (arguably) may have been first declaimed,' was already fading into the primordial past but which still maintained a powerful hold on the emotions of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy who continued to recognize the essential rightness and congruity of the statement," As scholars have constantly noted, Heorot is not just any royal hall; it is "the most famous of buildings under heaven", the "bright dwelling of brave men" whose walls symbolize the realm of warmth, protection and honor standing true against the wintry waste and chaos of the stormy world outside.' The mighty Hrothgar had built it at the zenith of his power to furnish the best of all frameworks for the communal life of the warband which he had attracted to his side after years of successful warfare. It is, then, the ideal hall for a model retinue. From the potent gifstol at its center," the place of majesty where Hrothgar sits and near where the queen takes her place, flows all the treasure and public recognition which constitute the fundamental cultural values of the archaic world view. From this primarysite the kingliness of the king radiates and is most palpably made manifest. It is here that the essential gestures of the society take place-the giving of gifts, the bestowal of honors, the granting of land. It is both the starting point and cuhnination of the most significant communal rituals, judgements, deliberations and celebrations and thus is a special, even holy, place which the unworthy dare not approach. These remarks form the necessary introduction to Wealhtheow's ritual and must dispel any notion that the drinking procedure she initiates and which brings her into immediate contact with the high-seat is anything like a commonplace act of service. Most scholars have traditionally underrated the significance of the scene. According to Schiicking, we are here "dealing only with a subsidiary figure who was not of central significance to the author", and Miillenhoff dismisses the entire passage as "a pretty interpellation"." Recent work has tended to modify
5 The question of dating has recently been discussed but not solved in Colin Chase, ed. The Dating of Beowu/f(1981). See further Dorothy Whitelock, The Audience ofBeowulf(1951)j and for an excellent study of the context with remarks on possible dates, Patrick Wormald, "Bede, Beowulf and the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxon Aristocracy" (1978). 6 The appeal of Beotoulft» both Christian aristocrats and clerics is rightly emphasized in Wormald, "Bede". 7 Among many studies of the Anglo-Saxon hall concept, see Kathryn Hume, "The Concept of the Hall in Old English Poetry" (1974); Alvin Lee, The Guest Hall ojEden (1972)j William Chaney, The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England (1970), pp. 135-136. These might profitably be compared with Pierre Riche, "Les representations du palais dans les textes litteraires du Haut Moyen Age" (1981); Heinrich Wagner, "Der konigliche Palast in keltischer Tradition" (1974). 8 Essential studies on the Germanic throne are now Karl Hauck, "Formenkunde der Gotterthrone des heidnischen Nordens" !1984); Hans Drescher and Karl Hauck, "Gotterthrone des heidnischen Nordens" (1982), pp. 237-244 (Drescher); 244-301 (Hauck). 9 Levin Schiicking, Heldenstole und Wiirde imAngelsiichsischen (1934), p. 40; Karl Mi.illenhoff, "Die inn ere Geschichte des Beovulfs", in his Beouulf Untersuchungen iiber das angelsdchsisohe Epos und die dlteste Geschichte der germanischen Seeviilker (1889), p. 117.

Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarchy in the Germanic Warband

. this view" but the scholar who probably came closest to appreciating its importance was Wilhelm Gronbech, the great savant of medieval Germanic culture, for he refers to it in ways which suggest that he was cognizant of Wealhtheow's movements as a ritual, a solemn occasion in which the hierarchial order within the comitatus was established and renewed." But even Gronbech did not.see to the heart of the rite. In recent times, however, Andre Crepin, whose excellent translation I have borrowed above," has advanced our understanding of the significance of the queen if not of the ritual. Crepin points out that the poet is very careful to identify the birth, character and queenly attributes of Wealhtheow.'3 She is gold-adorned, goldhroden, and ring-adorned, beaghroden, and elsewhere we are told that she wore a golden diadem, gyldnum beage. These references clearly express her royal status which is further emphasized by descriptions like ides helminga, lady of the Helmings, cmen hro'{Jgares,Hrothgar's queen, and freolicu [olcctoen, gracious sovereign. In this aspect at least she is the ideal queen and her dress, gestures, words and movements are all noted to underline her stately presence and archetypical status. Just as clearly she is also Hrothgar's delegate, an extension of his authority: She sits by him, expresses his thoughts (11.608, 627) and is identified as his queen. Most significantly, she is wise in her words, taisfast wordum, and careful of noble usage, cynna gemyndig. In this she is like the distinguished chieftain Wulfgar, Hrothgar's herald, who is "known to many" for his wisdom and who was also described as "knowing the usage of a court" (1. 358) when he advanced to the high-seat and stood waiting to formally announce Beowulf. Wealhtheow's movements are imbued with the same formality. As Crepin points out, the passage cited above owes its unity "to its internal consistency based on repetition. The repetition of the verbs eode and grette emphasizes the various stages in the stately progress of the queen. She appears (forl!J, 1. 612b), walks among the warriors (ymb, 1. 620a), and finally goes and sits down beside her lord.''"
10 See especially Crepin, "Wealhtheow's Offering", p. 51f. Damico (Wealhtheow) goes too far in the other direction, however, by seeking to make Wealhtheow more important in the poem than she actually is. II This work is available in English: Wilhelm Gronbech, The Culture ofthe Teutons (1931), p. 160f. 12 Crepin, ''Wealhtheow's Offering". He misses much of the significance of the cup-offering, however, because he leaves aside the ritual itself "to focus on the writing". 13 Crepin, "Wealhtheow's Offering", p. 51f. He is exactly right to point out that "none of her [Wealhtheow] gestures, words or features is idiosyncratic". Unfortunately, he does not follow up the perceptive observation that "the role of the queen is to promote peace among the warriors in the hall by offering them the cup of mead". Although he regards Wealhtheow as a "Neb enfigur", Schiicking, iHeldenstolz, p. 40) did point out that what she did is characteristic of the behavior of noblewomen in the hall: "Trotzdem erhalt ihr Bild durch das, was sie sagt, und wie sie es sagt, einige ganz charakteristische Ziige ... Soweit spiegelt sich in ihren Worten nur das Bild der angelsachsischen Fiirstin, das wir auch anderswo find en. " 14 Crepin, ''Wealhtheow's Offering", p. 51f.

The queen's movements are solemn in nature. They are prescribed acts which pertain to her status and role in the hall. Beyond this, I would suggest that Wealhtheow's progress, at least her offering of the cup to the king, is part of an archaic ritual of lordship which she must act out wheh the occasion warrants. The arrival of Beowulf and his companions evidently constitutes such an occasion and thus Wealhtheow quickly moves to assert her lord's superior dignity in the company of strangers from across the sea. Fortunately, we need not rely on Beowulf alone to establish this pattern, for another Old English work, the gnomic poem Maxims I, provides exemplary confirmation of the traditional ceremonial nature of the rite: The nobleman must have fighting spirit, his courage must grow, and his wife be a success, liked by herpeople; she must be cheerful, keep secrets, be generous with horses and precious things; at mead drinking she must at all times

I
f l I

and places approach the protector of princes first, infront of the companions, quickly pass the first cup to her lord's hand, and know what advice to give him as joint
master and mistress of the house together.
IS

These lines make it rather certain that Wealhtheow's cup offering is simply a specific instance of a general behavioral prescription which applies to all noblemen's wives. Aside from the poetic statement, the genre in which this appears suggests the same conclusion. Maxims Ibelongs to that type of Old English verse . which is called "wisdom literature". ,6 Such, in Bloomfield's words, is "devoted, in one way or another, to rules for conduct or control of the environment or to information about nature and man and designed to suggest a scheme of life, ...

IS Original text and translation are printed in T.A. Shippey, Poems 0/ WISdom and Learning in Old English (1976), pp. 68-69. Precise dating of Maxims I is impossible. It may belong to the eighth or ninth century but George Philip Krapp and Eliot van Kirk Dobbie (Anglo-Saxon Records 4, [1954]), p. xlvii. are also comfortable with the idea of an early tenth century date.

Cyning sceal mid ceape ctaenegebicgan, bunum ond beagum; Bu sceolon arest geofom god toesan. Gull sceal in earle, wig geweaxan, ond wifge}eon, leo/mid hyre leodum, leohtmod taesan; rune healdan, rumheort bean mearum and ma}mum, meodoruadenne for gesi9meegen syml« eeghweer eodor ee}elinga arest gegretan, forman julie to fiean hond ricene gereecan,' ond him reed tsitan boldagendum. bam atsomne. 16 See the introduction to Shippey, Poems of Wisdom and Learning.

8'

Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarchy in the Germanic Warband

to ensure its continuance, . . . to control life by some kind of order. "17 Wealhth~ow's actions fall within this definition for she is clearly imposing an order in the hall and Maxims I makes it certain that she must perform in this way. There are two other reasons for holding that Wealhtheow's movements are part of a specialized ritual which others cannot perform in the same way-, -the first having to do with formal declaration of Hrothgar's title and the second with its formal acknowledgement. When Wealhtheow offered the cup to Hrothgar, she bade him be happy in partaking of the feast and amiable to the people. But it is important to note that this is a poetic summary of what she said and not her exact words. The poet feels no compulsion to be precise at this point for the ritual which we need to examine in detail was for him, we now know, an aristocratic commonplace and subordinate to his main purpose which was the setting of a scene and the description of a feast. There are six such descriptions in Beowulf and, as Crepin remarks, allusions to banquets "are inserted into the narrations in the manner of Chinese boxes: a banquet at Ingeld's court is referred to by Beowulf (I. 2041) while narrating the one at Hrothgar's (I. 2029), while he himself is at that moment being entertained at his uncle's banquet'T" The length of these narrations varies greatly and depends on the poet's desire to develop their constituent elements. The queen's offering of drink is only one such element which, in poetry but not in fact, can be omitted or elaborated at need although the basic ritual, as shown by Maxims I, will always remain the same. When Beowulf later describes the queen's circuit of the hall for his uncle, for example, he uses different terms to describe her and speaks of her offering gifts and greetings but not drink

Then came Wealhtheow forth, walking under a golden diadem to where the two good cousins sat ... Spake then the Scyldings' dame: accept this cup, my beloved lord, dispenser of treasurel Be thou happy, gold-friend of men, and to the Geats speak with kind words, as one should dol Be cheerful towards the Geats, mindful of gifts, near and far. 19 In the first line attention is called again to the queen's golden diadem and in a few lines later to her noble status as lady of the Scyldings. This epitomizes her queenly character when she proffers the cup and greets the king. Her words are now quoted exactly and it is most significant that she immediately proclaims Hrothgar as lord and king,jreadrihten, and metaphorically emphasizes the point by proclaiming him bestower of treasure, sinces brytta, goldwine gumena," Standing before the high-seat arid delivering an address which pertains to her duty as queen, this oration can only be construed as a formal statement ofHrothar's status as ruler. It closely parallels the poet's language in the lines immediately before the first appearance of Wealhtheow (ll. 607-{)IO) when Hrothgar is characterized as bestower of treasure, sinces brytta, princes of the Bright-Danes, brego Beorht-Dena, and the folk's shepher!i,folces hyrde. At the precise moment
19 The translation is essentially that of Benjamin Thorpe, BeowulfTogetherth Widsith and the Fight at Finnesburg (19622). In KIaeber's edition, the original reads as follows: Fa auom Wealh}eo jo~ gan under gyldnum beage par }a godan tmegen seton suhtergejiederan; }a g:yt WaJShiera sib atgadere, aghwylc olfrum tryme. Swylce }ar Unfer] pyle IE fotum sat freon Scyldinga; gehl11.Ylc iora his ferh]« treotsde, h pat he heejiJemod micel, leah }e he his magum nare arfas: at ecga gelacum. Spreec ifa ides Scyldinga: 'Onfob }issum fulle, jreodrihten min, sinces brytta! .Pu on selum toes, goldwine gumena, ond to Geatum speec mildum mordum, siaa sceal man don! Beo wid Geatas gleed, geofena gemyndig, nean on feorran }u nu hafost. 20 For the significance of the diadem as a sign of high social rank, see Nikolaus Gussone and Heiko Steuer, "Diadem" (1984). Andfor the relationship between queen, treasure and kingship, see Reinhard Schneider, Kiinigswahl und Kiinjgserhebung im Friihmittelalter; Untersuchungen zur Herrschafisnachfolg« bei den Langobarder: und Merowingern (1972), pp. 242-8. An important interpretation is presented by Karl Hauck, ''Voneiner spatantiken Randkulter zum karolingischen Europa" (1967), esp. p. 34f. See also the comments of Stafford, Queens, Concubines and Dowagers, P; 108f.

(1l.2017-!Z019)·
Although the exact words which Wealhtheow spoke when offering the cup are lost, it does seem possible, using lines 616-{)18 of the poem as a partial control, to reconstruct some specific aspects of what, under the circumstances, she must have said. Since we know that Wealhtheow was "careful of noble usage" and "wise in her words" and since we also know that she was required to greet the king while presenting the mead cup, it seems highly probable that her address would not vary very much from one ritual occasion to another. After all, the essence of ritual is repetition and a public greeting before the high-seat must always be a solemn one. Lines 1163-1175, interspersed with commentary record a second cup-offering. The crucial ~ords are these:

17 Morton Bloomfield, "Understanding Old English Poetry" (1968), p. 17. The following works are also suggestive: Barbara Nolan and Morton Bloomfield, "Beotmard, Gilpcwities, and the Gilphlaeden Scop of Beowulf" (1980); Elaine Tuttle Hansen, "Hrothgar's 'Sermon' in Beowulf as Parental Wisdom" (1982); Eadem, "Precepts: An Old English Instruction" (1981); Geoffrey Russom, "A Germanic Concept of Nobility in The Gifts of Men and BeOWUlf" (1978). 18 Crepin, "Wealhtheow's Offering", p. 52.

10

Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarchy

in the Germanic Warhimd

II

offering he is called East-Danes king, the guardian of their land, East-Dena e} elioearde, and fully victorious king, sigerof kyning. Wealhtheow then goes on to speak of kingly qualities when she refers to mildum taordum and geofona gemyndig. This public naming of the ruler is extremely significant and, quite apart from references to the nomen regis in the works of Isidore of Seville, the Irish Twelve Abuses and the Frankish Royal Annals," it was a feature of royal inaugurations among the North Germans. Olivecrona demonstrated that it was the essence of the dama, "judgement" of the king by the law-speaker of the Svear, and that the subsequent giving of the royal name by each assembly along the route of the king's circuit was central to the election rite," Hoffmann believes that the Norwegians and Danes had a similar practice," In the Anglo-Saxon offering rite, of course, the element of primacy and precedence stands out most clearly. Wealhtheow served the king first and the gnomic poem shows her ministration to be a traditional and necessary custom. The followers then acknowledge and assent to the ruler's precedence by each accepting a drink of liquor from the hands of the queen after the first offering. As will be shown below their acceptance of the liquor had legal and religious significance. It is quite certain, therefore, that the queen's service was not, as might otherwise be supposed, '4 just a communal bonding rite which made the comitatus a band of brothers, although it did that too; its primary purpose was to establish the lordship of the individual first served and named and the subordinate status of those served afterwards. This novel finding carries a number of important implications which can now be discussed and analyzed in detail for the light it throws on the structure of the warband and the role of the queen within it. The Germanic ritual feast, the symbel, of which the Wealhtheow episode is often taken as a particularly good example, has been described as a situation in which the participants "significantly" sit down." As Bauschatz recently emphasized, sitting down does not occur as a significant action very often in Germanic literature and when it does the occasion is a special one. When leaders sit down,
21 Hans Hubert Anton, Piirstenspiegel und Herrscherethos in der Karolingereit (1968), p. 66f.; Helmut Beumann, "Nomen imperatoris. Studien zur Kaiseridee Karls des Grossen" (1972); Arno Borst, "Kaisertum und Nomentheorie imJahre 800" (1972); Michael John Enright, Iona, Tara and Soissons. The Origin oj the ROJIal Anointing Ritual (1985), p. 85f. 22 Karl Olivecrona, Das Werden eines Kiinigs nach schmedischem Recht (1947). 23 Erich Hoffmann, Kiinigserhehung und Thronfolgeordnung in Danemark his zum Ausgang des Mittelalters (1976). 24 That is generally the way in which the ritual has hitherto been interpreted. Crepin assumes it to be the case, for example. . ·25 Paul Bauschatz, "The Germanic Ritual Feast" (1978), p. 290f. See, among many other studies, Karl Hauck, "Rituelle Speisegemeinschaft im 10. und 11. jahrhundert" (1950)j Walter Janssen, "Essen und Trinken in frUhen und hohen Mittelalter aus archaologischer Sicht" (1981)j Ottar Gronvik, The Word for 'Heir,"lnheritance' and 'Funeral Feast' in Ear{y Germanic (1982)j Hugh Magennis, "The Cup as Symbol and Metaphor in Old English Literature" (1985).

for example, retainers often remain standing and that is an appropriate sign of status. Otherwise, men sit to eat or drink and a guest is invited to sit," But the manner and place of sitting is especially noteworthy for it suggests a certain recognized order within a group and also suggests an apportioning of positions corresponding to rank. This type of arrangement seems demonstrable in Beowulf for it is logical to suppose that a serving ritual which must begin with the establishment of precedence will continue in the same way, that is, according to the hierarchy made manifest by the seating order. Unfortunately, the exact seating arrangements around the high-seat, the plate of greatest honor, are impossible to deduce from the poem itself. Nevertheless, certain remarks by the poet do seem to affirm that places were assigned according to rank. We know that a major division existed in the hall between the dugulJ, veterans, andgeoguB, youths." Each area was an honorable one and reflected, aside from age and experience, the reputation of the fighter and the ruler's knowledge of his forbears. It is the ruler who directs each individual to his place. Thus, when Beowulf arrived at Heorot and identified himself as a son of Hrothgar's friend who had come to fight Grendel, Hrothgar assigned him a seat of honor between his two sons who sat among the youths (11.1191, 2013). This cannot have been a hasty directive-on the contrary, much that had gone before is a prelude to its realization-for it settles the touchy matter of a guest's status and proclaims the lord's precise level of regard for his qualities. The importance of the act, together with a hint of its perennial potential for disruption, is indicated by the second strophe of Havamal: Hail to the giverl a guest has come; Where shall the stranger sit?'8 Later, when Beowulf had. vanquished Grendel and had returned to his own land after proving his mettle, king Hygelac, his father's brother, gave him a seat at his side (1. 1077). Significantly, this corresponds exactly to the place held by Hrothulf, king Hrothgar's nephew, at Heorot(ll. 1017, 1164). Nearness to royalty was the key criterion of rank and the king's nephew, after being appropriately tested as a warrior, probably always sat beside his uncle. At this point, Hygelac's
26 The most recent work is Leopold Hellmuth, GastJreundschaft und Gastrecht bei den Germanen (1984). This is a useful and competent study but breaks no new ground. An opportunity may have been missed to cast additional light on an important topic. 27 The most recent discussion is J.A. Burrow, The Ages oJMan. A Study oJMedieval Writing and Thought (1986), pp. 123-134. Especially useful are Hilding Back, The Synonyms for 'Child: 'Boy' and 'Girl' in Old English J1934)j Hildegard Stibbe, 'Herr' und 'Frau' und verwandte BegrijJe in ihren altenglischen Aquiualenten (1935). See also George Engelhardt, "On the Sequence of Beowulf's Gellglld" (1953). A magisterial study is that of Caroline Brady, " 'Warriors' in Beowulf An Analysis of the Nominal Compounds and an Evaluation of the Poet's Use of Them" (1983). 28 Henry Adams Bellows. The Poetic Edda (1923), p. 29.

12

LadJlwith a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarc~y in the Germanic Warband

13

queen is also described as serving liquor to her husband and his followers. As Beowulf sat next to him she must have served him second since she would hardly have skipped a place only to serve someone else and return to Beowulf. Almost certainly, then, the queen's order of service proceeded according to the grades of rank and honor within the comitatus. . Other evidence confirms this exceptionally significant pattern. In the year 588, . after his betrothal to the sister of the Frankish king Childebert II fell through, the recently elected king Authari of the Lombards sought the daughter of the Bavarian ruler Garibald, for his wife. The story of how he won her is contained in Paul the Deacon's Historic Langobardorum (compiled during the last decade of the eighth century and thus perhaps roughly contemporary with Beowulf) which contains a number of motifs comparable to those we have been discussing." Paulrelates that Authari first sent envoys to Garibald to ask for his daughter's hand. They were given a favorable reply and, upon their return, the king conceived the idea of visiting Bavaria in order to assess for himself the beauty of Theudelinda. Disguised as an ambassador he asked Garibald for permission to interview his daughter so that he might accurately report to his master on her appearance. Garibald acceded to the request and Theudelinda turned out to be so pleasing that Authari said to him: "Since we see that the person of your daughter is such that we may properly wish her to become our queen, we would like if it please your mightiness, to take a cup of wine from her hand, as she will offer it to us hereafter." And when the king (Garibald) had assented to this that it should be done, she took the cup of wine and gave it first to him who appeared to be the chief Then . . . she offered it to Authari, whom she did not know was her affianced bridegroom
30

editor joins those arguing for a ninth century date." During the famous scene where Walter, Hagen and Gunther are resting after battle (ll. 1409-1416) Walter tells his betrothed to mix wine. She is to serve Hagen first because he is a worthy champion (athleta bonus) and then Walter. Gunther is to be served last for, although he is a king, he is also sluggish in battle, In the hall, of course, Gunther would have been served first but Walter is not his follower and assigns him a rank and service appropriate to his showing on the battlefield. While the reversal of precedence is appropriate because the king is a coward, the explanation for the peculiar sequence shows that it is in conflict with the normal requirements of hierarchical recognition. Actually, any'variation of this type will always require an explanation for it constitutes a grave insult to the person passed over; any other procedure would be quite surprising. The Icelandic sagas, some parts of which many scholars have thought to accurately depict an earlier stage in Germanic development, make it quite clear that it was a prerogative of kings to be greeted first and also contain scores of references to serious quarrels about precedence in the hall which are nearly invariably related to the seating arrangement and hence also to the sequence of service (a similar conflict is mentioned in Beowulf [ll, 1085-1096]).32 Whether the queen's serving rite continued to exist as such in

31 Dennis Kratz, ed. Waltharius and Ruodlieb (1984), p. 68:

This passage is important because it shows that the queen's serving of her husband's followers is not a practice confined to the Anglo-Saxons but extends to other Germanic peoples. It also demonstrates that in any group the drink offering will proceed strictly according to rank. Although the setting is different, the overall approach is the same in the poem called the Waltharius whose newest

"lam misceto merum Haganoni et porrige primum. Est athleta bonus, fidei si iura reseruet. Tum praebetll mihi, reliquis qui plus tolerat». Postremum uolo Guntharius bibat utpote segnis inter magnamimum qui paruit arma virorum et qui Martis opus tepide atque eneroiter egit. " Obsequitur cuneus Heriricifilia verbis. Francus at oblato licet arens pectore vino "Defer" ait ''prius Alpharidi sponso ac seniori, virgo, tuo, quoniam, fiueor, me fortior ille nee solum me, sed cunctos supereminet armis. " 32 See, for example, Hellmuth, Gastfreundschaji, pp. 54-68 et passim. As the author rightly notes
(p. 55): "In der altnordischen Literatur wird dem Platz des Gastes grosse Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt: Es wird nicht nur verhiiltnismassig oft erwahnt, dass ein Gastgeber nach der Frage nach dem Namen und der Herkunft eines Fremden diesem einen Platz in seiner Halle anbot, sondern es wird dabei stets gesagt, urn taelchen Platz es sich handelt." There are some intriguing similarities here between Celts and Germans and I hope to discuss this question in greater detail below. See the acute observations of Philip O'Leary, "Contention at Feasts in Early Irish Literature" (1984). Much can be learned from a study of early Greek concepts as well. See, especially, Gerard Baudy, "Hierarchic oder: Die Verteilung des Fleisches. Eine ethnologische Studie iiber die Tischordnung als Wurzel sozialer Organisation" (1983); Walter Burkert, "Opfertypen und antike Gesellschaftsstruktur" (1976). Attention should also be called to the "Opfer"-Kolloquium held at Miinster in 1983. The papers are published in Friihmittelalterliche Studien 18, 1984, and many are relevant to this discussion. One thinks especially of Otto Gerhard Oexle, "Mahl und Spende im mittelalterlichen Totenkult" (pp. 401-420).

29 Georg Waitz, ed. Pauli Historia Langobardorum (1878), p. 133f. For analysis, see Hermann Frohlich, Studien zur langobardischen Thronfolge von den Anjangen bis zur Eroberung des italienischen Reiches durch Karl den Grossen (774) 1(1980), p. 97f.; Schneider, Kli'nigswahl, p. 25f. 30 Waitt, Historia Langabardorum, p. 134: 'Quia talem filiae vestrae personam cernimus, ut earn merito nostram reginam fieri optemus, si placet vestrae potestati, de eius manu, sicut nobis postea factura est, vini poculum sumere praeoptamus,' Cumque rex id, ut fieri deberet, annuisset, ilia, accepto vini pocuJo, ei prius qui senior esse videbatur propinavit. Deinde cum Authari, quem suurn esse sponsum nesciebat .... The translation is that ofWiIliam Dudley Foulke, Paul the Deacon. History of the Lombards (19742). .

Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, graup cohesion and hierarchy

in the Germanic Warband

IS

later centuries is difficult to say but," given what we know of the Germanic mentality of the eight century, it seems quite clear that any such formal procedure would be closely bound to the status hierarchy within the warband. The close connection which existed between the seat taken and the authority or status which one might legitimately claim is further demonstrated by OE Jrumstol, a word which means "original or principle dwelling place" but can be literally translated as "first seat"." The seventh century laws of Ine of Wessex refer to a son's right to his Jrumstol. 35 Regardless of the late date of some of the sources, therefore, it seems very likely that the hierarchical seating arrangement and the associated ritual are extremely old. What, then, have we learned of the lord-queen-follower relationship through our analysis of Wealhtheow's progress? There have been a number of intriguing results. It is now clear that the lady of the hall is an instrument of her husband used to express his lordship and maintain order among his Gefolgschaft, This purpose becomes more obvious if we compare Wealhtheow for a moment to that other most fascinating figure, Unferth the pyle/ who occupies an ambiguous place at the king's feet and whose chief purpose in the poem is to act as a foil to Beowulf. Actually, the role of both figures is complimentary although only that of the latter has been properly explained. When Beowulf enters the hall he is welcomed by Hrothgar and invited to tell of his past exploits. Unferth now intervenes in a sharply hostile and aggressive manner (ll. 499-529); he unbound war-words, onband beadu-rune, in an attempt to show that Beowulf is a fool and a simpleminded adventurer. But the hero calmly replies, defends his deeds and turns the tables by sarcastically recalling Unferth's past. There could hardly be a more puzzling contrast than that between the obliging and decorous welcome of the lord and the stinging rebukes of his follower who, however, seems to hold a privileged position and whose behavior is clearly tolerated, even perhaps expected. The truth is that it was actually awaited behavior. As Clover has recently argued, Hrothgar's silence during this episode is not really puzzling for it "must indicate sponsorship" of Unferth." This is shown by the mocker's place in the hall which presumes a special relationship with the king. Unferth is his extension; his agent in any encounter which calls for hard questioning or close assessment.
33 The clergy, of course, promoted different rituals and the bishops especially inveighed against feasting practices in which the lower clergy often took part. Much that was of pagan origin continued to find expression on these occasions. Some examples are discussed by Hauck,

Hrothgar can afford to play the gracious host who is above the fray because he knows that Unferth will "put the alien through the necessary paces"." Once the stranger's character has been tested, the queen ~an then enter, as Wealhtheow does, and restore harmony by renewing formality, bidding the king be amiable and speaking cheerfully to the retainers, including Beowulf whom she greets effusively shortly thereafter. In this, she acts very much like Sif, the queenly wife of Thor, who offers drink to Loki in the concluding stanzas of Lokasenna after he has insulted the gods: "Hail to thee, Loki, and take thou here/The crystal cup of old mead". The same motif also recurs in the sagas. In fact, then, both Unferth and Wealhtheow are governmental tools of Hrothgar, delegates who help him dominate the hall. They are, in the idiom of police interrogators all over the world, "Mr. Nice Guy and Mr. Tough Guy" who, by alternate bouts of harsh and tender questioning, compel the suspect to revel his motives and qualities, his strengths and weaknesses. Ifit is Unferth's role to stir up strife (and he has justly been called an originally "Wodanistic figure")" then it is Wealhtheow's to mend relations. The full depth and complexity of her behavior will not become apparent, however, until we also understand something more about the organization of the warband and the role of lordly wives in its confirmation and continuity. The fact is that the comitatus has often been unduly and unrealistically eulogized by scholars who have argued that its basis lay primarily in a reciprocal relationship between lord and follower in which the former was little more than primus inter pares. 4' But the present
38 Ibid. '39 Ibid. p. 465, n. 72. She notes that Magnus Olsen called attention to this link and adds that the Morskinskinna version of Magnuss(lna saga depicts a similar intervention of the queen. 40 Joseph Baird, "Unferth the Jyle" (1970), p. 9. The cultic background is explained in Karl Hauck, "Carrnina Antiqua. Abstammungsglaube und Stammesbewusssein'tIrcfia); Idem, "Lebensnormen und Kultmythen in gerrnanischen Stammes-und Herrschergenealogien" (1955). See also HermannMoisl, "Kingship and Orally Transmitted Stammestradition Among the Lombards and Franks" (1985). 41 The ideal of reciprocity is much more heavily stressed in older works. In recent times modifications have been made but the concept of mutually contingent loyalty among free men continues to be regularly opposed to that of obedience among dependents. The conflicting approaches are well illustrated by the following two studies: Walter Schlesinger, "Herrschaft und Gefolgschaft in der gerrnanisch-deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte" (1963); Hans Kuhn, "Die Grenzen der germanischen Gefolgschaft" (1956). See further, Reinhard Wenskus, Stammesbildung und Verfossung. Das Werden derjruhmittelalterlichen gentes (19772), pp. 346-374; Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand, Frdnkisch« und frankalateinische Bezeichnungen for saziale Schichten und Gruppen in der Lex Salica (1972); Gabriele von Olberg, Freie, Nachbarn und Gejolgsleute. f/iJ/kssprachige Bezeichnungen aus dem sozialen Bereich in den jriihmittelalterlichen Leges (1983); Karl Kroeschell, Haus und Herrschaft im ji-iihen deutschen Recht (1968); Ernst Dick, Ae. Drylu

Rituelle Speisegemeinschajt.
34 See Jaqueline Simpson, "A Note on the Word Fridstoll" (1955), esp. p. 201. '35 EL. Attenborough, ed. The Laws (If the Earliest English Kings (1922), p. 48, n. 38. 36 Norman Eliason, "The lyle and Scop in Beowulf" (1963); Ida Masters Hollowell, "Unferth the pyle in Beowulf" (1976). 37 Carol Gover makes this brilliant argument in "The Germanic Context of the Unferth Episode" (1980), p. 460.

und seine Sippe. Eine toortkundliche, kultur-und ischen Glaubensuorstellung uam taashstiimlichen Fruhfeudale Interpretationen des Verhiiltnisses reiches (1982). See also Green, Carolingian MUrray, Germanic Kingship Structure.

religionsgeschichtliche Betrachtung zur altgermanHeil (1965);]iirgen Hannig, Consensus Fidelium. von Kiinigtum und Add am Beispiel des FrankenLord, Chadwick, Anglu-Suxon Institutions, and

16

La4v with a Mead Cup

Ritual, graup cohesion and hierarc~v in the Germanic Warband

17

analysis shows that this interpretation cannot be correct for the ritual feast, long taken to be the purest expression of a communal bonding rite, is simultaneously an expression of lordship, hierarchy and disparity of rank. One must not forget that it is the lord who provides the feast, who tests the worth of newcomers, who assigns them to seats-which is in fact a public statement of their status-, -and who, finally, directs his wife to serve them in a ritual which forces them to accept the superiority of every individual who is served before them. These warrior societies cannot have been other than deeply status-conscious for the crucial mechanism which creates their coherence simultaneously establishes subordination. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the problems and contradictions which plagued this society are reflected in the relationships of the mead-hall, a name which is revealing in itself. Having analyzed the significance of the distribution of drink we may now discuss the meaning of its mutual consumption for that too will help us to appreciate the role of the lord's wife in her function as delegate. Communal feasting was the outward sign of mutual dedication demanded by the archaic mind-set. Fundamental to barbarian society was the belief that the only man one could trust was a relative and the only man one could truly call "friend" was a kinsman. Hence, the persons who collectively form the kingroup are referred to as propinqui or parentes but they can also be called amici;'" the two concepts interlock. Like the members of a kindred, the retainers of a lord are bound to him and to each other by ties expressed in terms of blood kinship. In Beowulf, they can be called young kin retainer, magupegnas, kinsmen, magas, and the group as a whole can be called a band of kinsmen, sibbegedryht.43 Of course this is fictive kinship created through a convivial communion at the feast, a drinking which serves as a substitute for blood. As such it needed a strong religious sanction and we get some idea of its nature by the horror it inspired among hagiographers. In his Vita Columbani, written by Jonas ofBobbio, the author mentions that the holy man encountered a group of heathens with a vessel of beer in their midst called a cupa while on his way to Swabia. They were about to make an offering to their god Wodan. Columbanus destroyed the vessel for, as Jonas says, it was clear that the devil was hidden in the cask and that through earthly drink he had proposed to capture the souls of the participants." Similarly, in the Vita Vedastis it is told how the saint and the king were invited to a feast at which both pagans and Christians were present. Because of the mixed character of the company the
42 Donald Bullough, "Early Medieval Social Groupings: The Terminology of Kinship" (1969), p. 12 with n. 21 where many examples are cited. 43 Schlesinger, "Herrschaft und Gefolgeschaft", p. 19f.;Brady, "'Warriors' in Beowulf", p. 214f. 44 Bruno Krusch, ed. Lonas. Vita Columbon; abbatis (1902), p. 102. See commentary in Karl Hauck, "Zur Ikonologie der Goldbrakteaten XV: Die Arztfunktion des seegermanischen Gotterkonigs, erhellt mit der Rolle der Vogel auf den goldenen Amulettbildern" (1977).

liquor had been placed in separate vessels, one of which was "consecrated in the heathen manner"." The saint destroyed it with the sign of the cross. In view of these examples, communal drinking, which had the purpose of creating fictive kinship; must also be viewed as having some of the .aspects of a cultic act," It aimed at creating a non-natural bond of loyalty, and liquor was used because liquor was the medium through which one achieved ecstacy and thus communion with the supernatural." For the present it is enough to say that this conception was a widespread one among Indo-European peoples and seems to have been closely related to the earliest rites of royal inauguration. In view of the religious significance of communal drinking it is only to be expected that oaths would commonly be made over liquor at the convivia.4H When Wealhtheow served Beowulf in the hall he drank what she poured and then proclaimed that he would kill the monster Grendel or die trying. Words spoken in this way had a powerful social significance. The poet calls it a gilpsprcec and a gilpwide (I. 640). As Nolan and Bloomfield point out, this manner of speaking cannot be construed as "boasting" in the modern sense of the word: "The hero's speech as it is matched by subsequent deeds appears to serve a ritual function not unlike that of incantation, bolstering the sense of his own ability and fortifying his will to fulfill the tribal definition of heroism by facing death for the community's sake. "49 Such strengthening of will was often needed. Hrothgar had already explained that his men had made vows over their cups to stop Grendel but repeatedly failed (11.480-487). In later years, when Beowulf battled the dragon, Wiglaf also reminded the retainers or how often they had sworn their bravery and dedication in the mead-hall (11.2632--2635). In the Battle of Maldon Aelfwine bids his comrades to remember the words spoken over mead, and the more sensible if also more melancholy Wanderer cautions warriors to wait until they are .sober before taking oaths. 50 In his now classic article, Einarsson took.careful note of the solemn

45 Bruno Krusch, ed. Ionas. Vita Vedastis episcopi (1905), p. 314f. On Merovingian saints lives in general, see Frantisek Graus, Viilk, Herrscher und Heiliger im Reich der Merllwinger (1965). 46 The studies cited in note 32 all emphasize this point. For the Indo-European background, see Emile Benveniste, Indo-European Language and Society (1973), pp. 470-480. This important work, translated from the French edition of 1969 by Elizabeth Palmer, deserves far more attention by medievalists than it has hitherto received. See also Maurice Callen, Etudes sur le uocabulaire religieux du Vieux-Scandinaue. La Libation (1921); Renate Doht, Der Rauschtranl: im germanischen Mytlws (1974); Stefan Einarsson, "Old English Beot and Old Icelandic Heitstrenging' (1968). 47 See the discussion of Germania 22 in Rudolf Much, Herbert Jankuhn and Wolfgang Lange, Die Germania des Tacitus (1967), p. 307f.;Doht, "Rauschtrank", p. 168f.;Nolan and Bloomfield, "Beottuord" . 48 Einarsson, "Old English Beot"; Nolan and Bloomfield, "Beottaord". 49 Nolan and Bloomfield, "Beotword", p. 502. 50 Text and discussion in Einarsson "Old English Beat", p. 102f.

I8

Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarc~v in the Germanic Warband

19

nature of such promises in the mead-hall and also pointed out that liquor usually fortified important bargains such as the buying of a bride or even of lesser commercial transactions. 51 If liquor was not a necessary concomitant of the gilp or beot it is clear that gilpcwidas over liquor were extremely common. But the fact that it is invariably the lord's wife who bears the liquor during solemn .ritual occasions has never been adequately noted. Upon considering the full context, however,-the importance of fictive kinship, the cultic implications of the act, the "incantatory" nature of the words spoken over liquor-it now seems probable that she too was perceived as being in some pivotal way connected to the rite. Her person might also be thought of as gilphlaeden as is that of the scop who remembers heroic deeds and sings of them (and who is really the third delegate of the king in the hall)." At the very least, she must have been viewed as especially worthy of trust. She is the bearer of the consecrated liquor and, in the case of Beowulf, seems to incite his gilp. But how often were such oaths kept? The foregoing remarks on fictive kinship and liquor consecration were designed in part to delineate the ideal warband relationship praised by Germanic poets and many modern scholars as well. Reality was far more brutal. To the extent that the ideal helped foster group loyalty and reciprocity between lord and follower it was a noble one. But both the elements of mutual aid and friendship in the kingroup and comitatus have been exaggerated. In the fifth century, for example, Clovis sought out his kinsmen only to butcher them. He manipulated the values of his society to further a savage ambition-in one case persuading a son to plot his father's death and in another to bribe a king's followers to desert their lord for gilded copper rings. 53 Where is the ideal of dying with one's lord or even of living to avenge the death of one's lordr" Ragnachar, the betrayed king, was killed by Clovis in front of his followers who, on discovering the fraud of the rings, yet begged for peace and declared themselves satisfied at being allowed to live. True consanguinity was insufficient to restrain murder in these episodes and fictive kinship was an even less effective control. The pages of Gregory's Historia Francorum are strewn with the remains of broken oaths, as well as those who believed them. 55
51 Ibid., p, 103. 52 Since it is the ruler who rewards the poet and, in the final analysis, controls his singing, one must suppose this relationship to be vertical and only vaguely reciprocal. Theoretically, this need not be the case but one is entitled to doubt that many scops acted against the will of the hlaford. 53 These famous examples, and others, are discussed in Frantisek Graus, "Uber die sogenannte germanische Treue" (1959). His criticism is discussed by Walter Schlesinger, "Randbemerkungen zu drei Aufsatzen uber Sippe, Gefolgschaft und Treue" (1963), p. 316f.; Walter Kienast, "Germanische Treue und Konigsheil" (1978). '54 Kuhn, "Grezen", p. 7f.; Rosemary Woolf, "The Ideal of Men Dying With Their Lord in the Germania and in The Battle IIf Maldrtn" (1976); Helmut Gneuss, Die Battle IIf Maldrtn als historisches und literarisches Zeugnis (1976), p, 15f. 55 Graus, "Sogenannte germanische Treue",

Nor, indeed, does the comitatus appear to have been a happy society of friends who dealt with each other on the basis of equality and brotherhood. To the extent that it lasted beyond the migration period at all-and that in itself is a debatable proposition-the horizontally organized Gefolgschaft gradually lost the element of rough equality between lord and follower to be replaced by a vertical relationship based on service if, actually, it had ever been otherwise for most peoples," Even in the earliest sources, for example, Germanic terms for "friend" like OHG wini and OE wine can express a vertical as well as a horizontal relationship. 51 So with the Latin amicus which probably influenced them and which already in the imperial period could be used as a technical term for a particular rank. In Merovingian times it could be used to designate an inferior in a lord-vassal relationship," Even in the Tacitean comitatus where the principle of reciprocity is held to have predominated, definite elements of precedence and subordination existed. Tacitus explicitly states that the chief's retinue contained different grades of rank determined at his discretion: gradus quin etiam ipse comitatus habet, indicio eius quem sectantur," This determination of rank probably led to a great deal of ill-will which may have been as cumulative as the drinking bouts were repetitive and must, in any case, have sorely threatened and often broken the fictive kinship bond established by communal intoxication. According to Tacitus, the drinking bouts of the Germans frequently caused quarrels which were rarely settled by harsh words but commonly by wounds and killing: crebrae, ut inter vinolentos, rixae raro conviciis, saepius caede et vulneribus transiguntur.60 He adds that warriors 61 normally took weapons to feasts: ad convivia procedunt armati. Carried to demonstrate free birth and status, no doubt these weapons were also present because of the great rivalry to decide who should have first place with the chief: magnaque et comitum aemulatio, quibus primus apud principem suum locus.(12 ondiC tions by the eighth century had not improved. The Beowulf poet says that one of the hero's outstanding qualities was that he never killed his drinking companions -a remark which presupposes that such commonly occurred." If brotherhood was often absent so too was altruism. Many a sad story is concealed behind the facade of occasional individual success in heroic literature

56 Kuhn, "Grezen", p. 14: "Wo nicht eine starke Oberschicht entwickelt ist, ist kein Raum fllr die Gefolgschaft." This is a highly significant observation. An immense amount of relevant archaeological material, yet to be digested by historians, is contained in the important study by Heiko Steuer, Friihgeschichtliche Sazialstrukturen in Mitteleuropa (1982). 57 Green, Carolingia« Lord, p. 106f. 58 Ibid., pp, 65f., 107f. 59 M. Hutton, ed. Tacitus: Agricola, Germania (19634), p, 283. 60 Ibid., p. 294f. 61 Ibid. 62 Ibid., p. 282.

20

La4y with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarchy in the Germanic Warband

21

for a great deal of warband life consisted of one-upmanship and a striving for riches and rank. Early in his career, for example, Beowulf was despised by his comrades. The Geats thought him worthless because he could not win his lord's favor. It was only years later that the hero won compensation for those insults. He did so by coming back rich and giving all of his noble gifts to the man, who .had once humiliated him, or at least tolerated his humiliation, his uncle, Hygelac," Hygelac then gave him a princely counter-gift of sword, land and dwelling. While this transaction is.presented in an essentially positive light, it is also true that Beowulf thereby gained revenge for the many shames and the poet takes pleasure in pointing it out (II. 2178-2189) for he says that Ecgtheow's son had proved himself and thereby "all the insults were reversed"-just as Beowulf could drink to Hrothgar's gifts because "he did not need to feel ashamed before warriors" (II. I024-I026). Clearly, then, the gift-giving nexus is profoundly complex and redolent of ambiguity;" The real atmosphere of the mead-hall, as opposed to its sanitized idealization, often rippled with currents of bitterness and jealousy which gave rise to polemic, vindictiveness and bloodshed. A gift given to one follower could be a taunt to another and a lesser gift could easily damn with faint praise. The warriors in turn had to be careful of their dealings with the primary gift-giver. After Beowulf's victory, for instance, they loudly celebrated his glory and proclaimed that no one in the world was worthier to rule a warband. The poet is quick to add that this was not intended as a slight to Hrothgar and that he took no umbrage (11.856-863). Other kings might have. Wealhtheow at least was deeply dismayed. She now began to fear that Hrothgar loved Beowulf so much that he would declare him his successor. What would happen to her children? As we know, they were murdered by a kinsman who sat next to Hrothgar's high-seat. Of all gifts, food and drink were the most basic. That is why the Anglo-Saxon lord was called hlaford, loaf-guardian, and his follower hlafoeta, loaf eater. A certain mutuality is suggested by these terms and the counter-gift of service in return for food and a share of the plunder need not always be envisioned as onerous. Savage twists can occur in this pattern, however, and prestation has a destructive side not often explained. It could be, and often was, a type of potlatch. Because every gift called for a counter-gift of equal value, a follower could be subordinated or an enemy shamed through bestowal of a present which he could

not match. Such a gift was that of land, craved by every follower' for it sustained rank and permitted marriage. Yet, even when freely and generously given, it was usually a life-gift only or held at the lord's pleasure. As there was only a limited amount of arable land available to be distributed and .since lords had many followers to reward, it was also a difficult gift to keep. The poet Deor lamented his deprivation of an estate given him by his lord but then taken back and given to another who had risen in favor," Similarly, Widsith, the oldest poem in any Germanic language, records the poet's giving of a valuable arm-ring to his lord Eadgils, king of the M yrgingas, in return for receiving back the same estate which his father had held." But this estate would have to be paid for over and over again for land's enduring value was such that an adequate counter-gift was almost impossible to make. As a gift, then, land acted to permanently subordinate the receiver who became liable for unfailing life-long service-an obligation which could become increasingly debilitating with age. The land might also be lost by lack of suitable sons to do the lord's bidding. Of course, the gift of food and drink called for a lesser return. Nevertheless, the longer one accepted these gifts, the greater the pressure to perform and the tensions between lord and follower (and within the comitatus as a whole) would thereby rise proportionately. Paradoxically, it is for that very reason that the dual purpose mead-bond had to be exalted. Without powerful religiqusly supported and periodically renewed sanctions this society would explode (or it is one which almost encourages bloodshed and treachery, all the eulogies to faith and trust notwithstanding. Heroic poetry was needed because so few "iere really heroic. Against this background the role of the lord's wife comes into much sharper focus. While many have tecognized that she is aJreorfuwebbe, a peace-weaver, the term is most often applied to women given in marriage in order to secure peace
66 George Philip Krapp and!ElIiot van Kirk Dobbie, eds. The ExeterBook (1936), p. 179:

J :1

I
0,1/ )

I
il
i1

Reet ic bi me syljum secgan wille, }eet ic hwile wees HeoUeninga scop, I dryhtn« dyre. Me wu!~Dear noma. Ahte icfela tointra fllga"S tilne, holdne hlaford, o}}r.e~Hellrrenda nu, leo"Screeftigmann londryht gepah, leet me eorla hleo r.erkesalde. Rr.esofereode; }issb stua mag!
For discussion, see Chadwick, Anglo-Saxon 67 Krapp and Dobbie, Exeter Book, p. 152:

'I

Institutions,

p. 368f.

63 Many examples are cited in Much, jankuhn and Lange, Germania, p. 308f. 64 The classic work is Marcel Mauss, Essai sur le don, Forme et raison de l'tfchange dans les socirftrfs 65 See Aaron J. Gurevich, "Wealth and Gift-Bestowal Among the Ancient Scandinavians" (1968); Charles Donahue, "Potlatch and Charity: Notes on the Heroic in Beowulf" (1975)' Marshall Sahlins, Stone-Age Economics (1972), pp. 149-183. '

archaiques (19502).

}lIne ic Eadgilse lin r.e~tsealde, minum hleodryhtne, }a ic to ham biasom, leofum tIl leane, lees }e he me land jilrgeaj; mines jeeder e}el, jre4 Myrginga.
See again Chadwick,

Anglo-Saxon Institutions, p. 368f. Also Eric John, Land Tenure in Ear(y England. A Discussion ofSome Problems (1964), p. 54f.

22

Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarchy

in the Germanic Warband

23

among peoples. 611 A few others have recognized that the term might also be applied to lord's wives like Wealhtheow who give jewels to guests, speakfreondla}u wordum and thus function as diplomats who "construct bonds of allegiance between the outsider and the king and his court"," Our findings above indicate that this is only a partial picture of the queen's significance, the full depth of which is considerable more profound. Wealhtheow is a binder, a ''weaver'', and may' also perhaps be called an oath-carrier. In Hrothgar's hall she is the instrument which sanctifies his status by naming him lord, by serving him before all others and by causing each of the retainers to drink after him. By serving the followers in strict order of precedence she also sanctifies the status of each warrior in relation to his companions. In one sense Wealhtheow makes them all into a band of brothers but, while this formulation is true as far as it goes, it is necessary to add that this is also a perfectly hierarchical family for the true focal point is the "father" in his gifitol before whom the liquor rite begins and ends. No doubt the holders of these valued hall-seats will change as aspiring warriors range through the organization, drink to generosity, fashion their oaths, jockey for position and seek to impress the leader; the queen cannot control their circuits although she may well be able to exert a subtle influence. Nevertheless, her presence is essential in the long run because the binding rite she performs is her particular privilege and duty and thus her passage from the high-seat to bench and back again is the spatial trace of a personal commitment which the group recognizes as actually a commitment to its own existence. Her cheering words and gifts help the unsuccessful to accept their lot or to bide their time. From the social viewpoint that is her primary function, to make a harsh life full of conflict and rivalry more bearable. At the same time she is a well-honed tool of her husband's dominance for it is his power that she symbolizes and she acts throughout as his representative. No other outlook is possible within the Germanic Miinnerbund. If the queen is a stabilizing influence on the comitatus during her husband's lifetime, what happens after his death? This question has been much discussed in recent years and it may now be possible, based on our findings above, to add some significant modifications and additions to previous commentary;" Beowulf
68 Bernice K1iman, "Women in Early English Literature, Beowulf to the Ancrene Wisse" (1977), p. 33. Christine Fell, Womer: in Anglo-Saxon England (1984) offers many improbable feminist readings with regard to female status. 69 Larry H. Sklute, "Freothutaebb« in Old English Poetry" (1970), p. 540. 70 See the studies cited in note 1 to which can be added Pauline Stafford, "The King's Wife in Wessex, 800-1066" (1981); and Silvia Konecny, Die Frauen des kartllingischen Ktl'nigshauses. Die politisc/ze Bedeutung der Ehe und die Stellung der Frau in der ji-a'nkischen Herrscherfamilie vam 7· his zum 10. Jahrhundert (1976); Thilo Vogelsang, Die Frau als Herrscherln. Studien zur 'ctmsars regni' Formel im Mitte/alter (1954); Susanne Wittern, "Frauen zwischen asketischem Ideal und weltlichem Leben. Zur Darstellung des christlichen Handels der merowingischen Koniginnen Radegunde und Balthilde in den hagiographischen Lebensbeschreibungen des 6. und 7· jahrhunderts" (1986). An especially thoughtful essay is that of Eleanor Searle, "Women and the Legitimization of Succession at the Norman Conquest" (1980).

can be again a convenient starting point. In the prelude to Beowulf's arrival at Heorot and during the speeches which follow his coming, Hrothgar several times reiterates a desire to lavishly reward. the hero who survives the task of defeating the monster (ll. 385, 660-661). Thereafter, Hrothgar deepens his purpose and his intentions become far more encompassing than originally intended; he now wants to name Beowulf as his successor," The old king realizes that he must soon die and that his sons are too young to succeedhim. Beowulf's behavior, demeanor and superb victory; beyond the ability of any of the Danes, have now convinced the old hlaford that the Geatish warrior would be the best protector of his people and he seeks to bind him to his following in the closest way possible by adopting him as his son and by bestowing gifts which suggest a future kingship of the Danes. Hrothgar's original placing of Beowulf between his sons might indicate that he was thinking along these lines from the beginning and it is clear that the retainers now share his opinion and are enthusiastically willing to accept Beowulf's designation for they have sworn that no warrior is more worthy to rule over men (11.856-861). If Hrothgar and his comitatus are united in purpose, however, Beowulf and Wealhtheow, for different reasons, are opposed-Beowulf because he is bound to Hygelac and the Geats (and perhaps also because he foresees trouble with Hrothgar's sons), and Wealhtheow because she hopes that her sons can survive their minority under Hrothgar's nephew, Hrothulf, and then govern independently. Were Beowulf to become king he would undoubtedly marry and have sons of his own to provide for. Hrothulf, on the other hand, might treat her children better because of their kinship and long acquaintance. Although Wealhtheow knows it to be a gamble, she decides to use her influence on behalf of Hrothulf. And yet, what influence does she have against her husband? All she can do is offer veiled pleadings to Beowulf and mild hints to Hrothgar; she is powerless to counter the implicit offer of kingship, at least while her husband lives. All of this, apparently, is in stark contrast to the power of Hygd, Hygelac's wife, after her husband's death in a battle against the Frisians. Upon Beowulf's return from this war she offers him the throne-more specifically she offers him treasure and kingdom, rings and high-seat, hard ond rice, beagas ond bregostol (11. 2369-2370), and does so despite the fact that Heardred, her son, is willing to become king. According to the poet, she did not trust Heardred to be capable of defending the land against foreign invaders. Although the remaining Geats tried to prevail on Beowulf to accept the offer, he refused to do so out of loyalty to his lord's memory; instead he became Heardred's councilor and gave him his full support Unfortunately; later events proved the queen's pragmatism better founded
71 A convincing analysis is presented by John Hill, "Bellwulj'and the Danish Succession. Gift Giving as an Occasion for Complex Gesture" (1982). Also, Malcolm M. Brennan, "Hrothgar's Government" (1985). I have not seen Stephanie Hollis, ''Beowulf and the Succession", which appeared in Parergon.

Lady with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesion and hierarchy in the Germanic Warband

25

than the hero's faith since Heardred's rashness brought death to himself and defeat to his people. Beowulf then acceded to the throne which he had earlier refused. These examples of the queen's role in succession decisions present the historian with a curiously contrasting and dubious pattern-the portrait of a consort who is relatively powerless while her husband lives but suddenly appears to inherit decisive influence upon his death. Hygd's startling ability to offer kingship to a retainer is a pointed example but, when carefully considered, it ill accords with Wealhtheow's previously described vulnerability and, presumably, with Hygd's own impotence during Hygelac's reign. Something is surly amiss for if the younger wife of an older lord could expect to later decide the succession, then she should, because of this potential, also grow in authority and stature in proportion to her husband's increasing feebleness. And yet this is not what happened to Wealhtheow whose husband's impending and anticipated death lent her no power to appoint a successor. She offers rich gifts to Beowulf but that is more in the nature of a bribe than a true attempt to reward or to establish friendship and reciprocity." Clearly, she does not want Beowulf as lord or protector for that is a role to be assumed by Hrothulf; she wishes the Geat to be satisfied with his new wealth and reputation, to remain uninvolved in the forthcoming transition and to either depart or else elect to stay as an honored retainer and councilor-but no more than that (11.1215-1231). She begs Beowulf to befriend her sons, to be kind to them, and even hints at defiance when she says that the drunken warriors will do her will although that is no more than a worried mother's forlorn parting shot as she ends her speech." The warriors are pledged to Hrothgar not to her and they have already chanted the hero's victory and proclaimed that no man was worthier to rule than this leader of the Geats. Beowulf, a recently arrived guest, appears unsure what to make of this. While presumably flattered by Hrothgar's implicit promise he wants to remain above the fray for he has no real desire to become king of the Danes; his ties to his own lord and people remain too strong. The fact is, however, that he could easily have chosen otherwise and we cannot hope to understand the politics of the lordqueen-retainer relationships until the rationale for the heterogeneous approaches of the two women can be explained. Although the Beowulf poem cannot help us further with this problem, other sources do offer a solution and a brief analysis of these will also provide an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the basic conventions and principles accepted by the comitatus in crucial times of transition. They can help us to recognize and explain an important technique for the bolstering of group cohesion during the interregnum.
72 See Hill, "Danish Succession", p. I88£ 73 T?e reference to "drunken warriors" is discussed by Hugh Magennis, "The Beowulf Poet and his druncne dryhtguman" (I985); Idem, "The Treatment of Feasting in the Heliand " (I985).

Allusion has been made in another context to the marriage of Authari of the Lombards and Theudelinda, daughter of duke Garibald 'of the Bavarians, in May of 589. Authari died childless in September 590, however-he was poisonedand, according to Paul's Historia Langobardotum, Theudelinda then assumed a key role in determining the succession." The queen, he said, had so won the respect of the Lombards(the term ''Lombards'' does not refer to the people as a whole but to the nobles of the kingdom and the members of Authari's retinue) that "they allowed her to remain in her royal dignity, advising her to choose for herself whomever she might wish from all the Lombards" as her husband so long as he was one "who could capably rule the kingdom"." After taking council with 6 the prudent, consilio cum prudentibus habens,7 the queen chose Agilulf, the powerful duke of Turin, to be her husband for he was energetic and warlike and suited both in body and mind for the government of the kingdom: Brat enim idem

vir strenuus et bellicosus et tam forma quam animo ad regni gubernacula coaptatus."
She then sent word to Agilulf to meet her at the town Lumello where, after a discussion with the duke which Paul mentions but does not describe, she caused wine to be brought and, taking a drink herself, she then offered the cup to Agilulf who took it from her hands and kissed her," Marriage and kingship were then formally discussed although, from what we now know of the ritual cup offering, it is clear that the basics of the agreement had already been symbolically sealed. Shortly afterwards, with Theudelinda as his wife, Agilulf assumed the regia

dignitas.
This story has an interesting sequel for, if the Frankish chronicler Fredegar is to be trusted, Gundberga, Theudelinda's daughter, followed her mother's lead in the next generation." Fredegar says that Gundberga was good-natured, generous and universally loved. Mo She was also well disposed to a certain Adalulf who was in her husband's service but he mistook her admiration for something more and asked her to sleep with him. After receiving a contemptuous refusal Adalulf attempted to save his now endangered life by undermining her position with her

74 Schneider, Kiinigsmahl, p. 29£; Frohlich, Langobardischen Thl'Onjillge, pp. I8£, 97f. 75 Waitz, Historia Langobardorum, p. 140: Regina vero Theudelinda quia satis placebat Langobardis, permiserunt eam in regia consistere dignitatem, suadentes ei, ut sibi quem ipsa voluisset ex omnibus Langobardis virum eligeret, talem scilicet qui regnum regere utiliter possit. 76 Ibid. 77 Ibid. 78 Ibid., p. I41. 79 Schneider, Kiinigswahl, p. 39£, 247; Frohlich, Langobardischen Thronfalge, pp. I04f., I26£ 80 John Michael Wallace-Hadrill, ed. The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar With its Continuations (I960), p. 4I£: Gundeberga regina, cum esset pulchro aspecto, benigna in cunctis et piaetate plenissema christiana, aelimosinis larga, praecellenti bonitatem eius diligebatur a cunctis. '

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husband. He hastened to king Charoald and reported that Gundberga was scheming to poison him and then to place duke Taso of Tuscany on the throne by marrying him." The queen was eventually cleared of all charges. When Fredegar next mentions Gundberga, however, her husband is dead and all of the Lombards have sworn fealty to her: Gundeberga regina, eo quod omnes Langobardi eidem fidem cum sacramentis firmauerant.1b She sent for Rothari, duke of Brescia, and compelled him to abandon his wife in order to marry her. With her support, she said, he would become king. Then, "because the Lombard lords were beguiled by Gundberga", they "did raise Rothari to the throne't." Soon afterwards, however, Rothari imprisoned her and contented himself with.concubines for the next five years. The Gundberga episode is less historically certain than that of Theudelinda but the latter's resemblance to Hygd is quite clear." Even the marriage references are probably not an exception since, although the Anglo-Saxon poet does not mention that Beowulf married Hygd when he became king, it is quite likely that such did indeed occur. It is a more than reasonable assumption since the union of royal widow and throne-claimant fits a common traditional Germanic pattern demonstrable for many peoples over a long chronological span." In England, for example, Bede had rough words for Eadbald, son of Aethelberht of Kent, who married his deceased father's second wife in 616 and, in the late ninth century, Asser, the biographer of king Alfred, was equally outraged when Aethelbald of Wessex, Alfred's brother, married his father's widow. fiG This custom, sometimes associated with "levirate marriage" because of similar Old Testament practices, was especially common in the pagan period so that Augustine found it necessary to query its legitimacy in one of his questiones to pope Gregory the Great.87 Despite many biblical exempla the church proclaimed the practice to be uncanonical-a recent work maintains that its legal recognition would have limited the
81 Ibid.: Locum acceptum dixit [Adalulf] ad regem: 'Domina mea, regina tua Gundebarga, apud Tasonem ducem secrecius tribus diebus locuta est, ut te uenino interficerit, ipsum coniugatum subli~arit in regnum.' 82 Ibid., p. 59. 83 Ibid.: Gundoberga adtragente omnes Langobardorum primati Crotharium sublimant in regno. 84 Walter Schiicking, for example, refuses all credence: Der Regierungsantritt. Eine rechtgeschichtfiche und staatsrechtliche Untersuchung (1898), p. 81. Both Schneider, Kiinigswahl, p, 40; and Frohlich, Langobardischen Thronfalg«, p. 129, are uncertain. In JiirgJamut's view, the matter cannot certainly be decided: Geschichte der Langobarden (1982), p. 57. 2 85 Schneider, Kiinigswahl, p. 246f.; Dorothy Whitelock, The Beginnings o/English Society (1977 ), p. ISO. 86 Bertram Colgrave and R.A.B. Mynors, eds. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (1969), p. ISO; Michael John Enright, "Charles the Bald and Aethelwulf of Wessex: The Alliance of 856 and Strategies of Royal Succession" (1979). 87 Colgrave and Mynors, Bede, p. 84: Interrogatio Augustine: Vsque ad quotarn generationem fideles debeant cum propinquis sibi coniugio copulari; et nouercis et cognatis si liceat copulari

number of testamentary bequests to the churchfifi-~nd later ecclesiastics waged a centuries long campaign against these "incestuous" unions which included those to the surviving spouses of near relatives. figThe monkish poet's lack of reference to Beowulf's nuptials, therefore, can be explained by his reluctance to sully the reputation of his hero who would have to be regarded as a self-condemned sinner if he actually married his uncle's widow. Beowulf's marriage choice is likely to have been dictated by sound economic and political thinking (of which the poet provides a number of examples). As the widow of the king, Hygd was probably the richest woman in the kingdom. Her family had surely contributed to the union and Hygelac's gifts to her, particularly his ''morning gift?" which might have included large estates, made her an extremely valuable source of wealth. (Gregory of Tours says that Chilperic loved his wife "very dearly for she had brought a large dowry with her")." To allow this wealth to leave the royal fisc, or to chance the strengthening of possibly hostile others who might seek out the queen for the sake of it, could not be allowed by any ruler who hoped to maintain a stable government. Medieval sources make frequent allusions to this 'queen-treasure problem and to its political ramifications," An episode from Gregory's history of the Franks describes a common solution if marriage did' not take place. After the death of the polygynous king
88 Jack Goody, The Development oftb« Fami~y and Marriage in Eurtlpe (1983). 89 J. Fleury, Recherches historiques sur les empechements de parente dans le mariage cananique des origines aux Jausses decreta/Cs (1933); Korbinian Ritzer, Formen, Risen und religiiises Brauchtum der Eheschliessung in den christlichen Kirchen des ersten Jahrtausends (1962), p. 214. 90 King Chilperic gave the Visigothic princess Galswintha five cities, for example: De civitatibus vero, hoc est Burdegala, Lemovecas, Cadurcus, Benarmo et Begorra, quae Gailesuinda, germana domnae Brunichilde, tarn in dote quam in morganegyba, hoc est matutinale donum, in Francia veniens certum est adquisisse .... Rudolf Buchner, ed. Gregor von Tours. Zehn Bucher Geschichten II (1974), p. 262f. There is considerable dispute about the significance of Germanic marriage gifts. For recent commentary, see Diane Owen Hughes, "From Brideprice to Dowry in Mediterranean Europe" (1978), p. 268f.; Wemple, "Women in Frankish Society", pp. 12, 44; Whitelock, Beginnings of English Society, p. Isof. Cf. Heinrich Brunner, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte I (19612), pp. 94f., 391. A helpful discussion of specific examples can be found in Margarete Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Mertlwingerzeit nach den Werken Gregors von Tours I (1982), p. 313f. An overly optimistic assessment of wives' control over marriage gifts and the general status of women is argued in Marc Meyer, "Land Charters and the Legal Position of Anglo-Saxon Women" (1980). Michael Hillmann, on the other hand, reaches an opposing and overly pessimistic conclusion in "Geschlecht als Massstab der Rechtsordnung, Uberlegungen zur Geschlechterpolaritat in den altenglischen Gesetzen" (1986). The most sensible discussion of this topic I have found is Anne Klinck, "Anglo-Saxon Women and the Law" (198z). See also Rosalind Hill, "Marriage in Seventh-Century England" (1979); Margaret Clunies Ross, "Concubinage in Anglo-Saxon England" (1985). Richard L. Schrader, God's Handiwork: Images o/Women in Ear(y Germanic Literature (1983), is useless. 91 Buchner, Gregor von Taurs I, p. 232f. 9Z Weidemann Kulturgeschiclue I, p. zo; Dietrich Claude, "Beitrage zur Geschichte der frilhmittelalterlichen Konigsschdtze" (1973); Schneider, Kiinigswahl, p. 246f.; Nelson, "Queens as Jezebels", p. 36f.

coniugio.

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Charibert, Theudechild, one of his queens, sent messages to her former husband's brother, king Guntram, saying that she would like to offer him her hand in marriage. Guntram replied that "she may come to us and bring her treasure with her. "93 Theudechild was delighted at the news and gathered all her possessions. She clearly wanted to remain a queen. But when he met her Guntram decided "it is better that this treasure should fall into my hands than that it should remain in the control of this woman who was unworthy of my brother's bed", He seized her goods, left her a small portion, and packed her off to a nunnery at Arles where the fasts and vigils were not at all to her taste. A former queen was always a dangerous presence. In fact, at the third Synod of Saragossa, the Visigothic bishops decreed that a royal widow must always enter a convent," The putative grounds for the decision were protection against insult and harm but political concerns probably played a significant role. Except in the case of a particularly secure ruler or dynasty (and these were rare although female regencies were less so) former royal wives were usually faced with the prospects of re-marriage, death, imprisonment or exile. Let us now return to Theudechild, who was nothing if not persistent. She sought desperately to escape her fate: "She sent messengers in secret to a certain Goth, promising him that, ifhe would carry her off to Spain and marry her there, she would escape from the nunnery with what wealth remained to her and set off with him without the slightest hesitation.?" Interrupted in her attempt at freedom by the suspicious abbess, Theudechild was beaten mercilessly and locked in a cell where "she remained until her dying day, suffering great anguish". Gundberga's five years pale in comparison. A number of other associations between queen and treasure are also significant .in clarifying the queen-comitatus relationship. Recent research makes it seem likely that women of the Thuringians, Anglo-Saxons and Franks, among others, wore a key or a key-like object hanging from their belts as a sign of free, married status," Many have been found in female graves. They are unsuitable for actual use, however, and are probably to be explained as symbols of the right of the women of the house to control the door, storeroom or chest of valuables. Thus, the friwif locbore of Aethelberht's laws has recently been explained as the free woman "in charge of the keys"." This interpretation makes considerable sense
93 Buchner, Gregor von 1lJurs 1, p. 230. 94 For commentary, see Walter Laske, Das Problem der Miinchung in der Viilkerwanderungszeit (1973), p. 48f.; Klaus Sprigade, Die Einweisung ins Kloster und in den geistlichen Stand als politische Massnahme im jriihen Mittelalter (1964), p. SIf. 95 Buchner, Gregor von Tours 1, p, 230. 96 Birgit Dubner-Manthey, "Kleingerate am Giirtelgehange als Bestandteil eines charakteristischen Elementes der weiblichen Tracht. Archdologische Untersuchungen zu einigen Lebensbereichen und Mentalitaten der Frauen in Spatantike und Friihmittelalter" (1986), p. ISO;Hayo Vierck, "Religion, Rang und Herrschaft im Spiegel der Tracht" (1978). 97 Christine Fell, "Aji-iwij'locbore Revisted" (1984). She is wrong, however, to think that hairstyle did not indicate both marital and social status.

because of the close link between dress, ornament and rank in Germanic culture. Applied to the king's wife, it enables us to further clarify her role. Since queens were generally women of the house writ large and Germanic rulers often divided their kingdoms as they did their farms and made little or no distinction between their own property and that of the royal fisc, 98 it also' seems to follow that many Germans will have perceived the rights of the queen in the aula regis to be very similar to those of the free wife in her home. Hence, they will have viewed her close association with treasure, the possessions of the house, as something quite natural and proper (the same reasoning applies to her serving ritual) and will have deferred to her in. many areas. The Vita Balthildis, written soon after her death in 680 or thereabouts, shows the queen.lthe wife of Clovis II, doing much the same as Wealhtheow in Beowulf; she is "nurse to the young men" and she is the distributor of "rich. gifts of gold and silver"." Even in a later period, according to Hincmar's.De ordine palatii which incorporates material dating from the reign of Charlemagne, '00 the queen supervises the aamerarius, the royal treasurer, and is also responsible for distributing yearly gifts to the household followers (we also know that the gifts were graded according to the rank of the recipients). '0' All of this suggests a special intimacy between queen and comitatus. In this position of key-holder she was also the guardian of the royal insignia and thus, as Hincmar records, after Charles the Bald's death, his wife, Richildis, handed over to her son the royal raiment, a staff of gold and jewels and "the sword called the sword of St. Peter through which she was to invest him with the kingdom'L'" Finally, it
98 I am not convinced by Ian Wood's arguments to the contrary in Peter Sawyer and Ian Wood, eds. Ear{y Medieval Kingship (1979), pp. 6-;Z9. The fundamental studies are contained in Engen Ewig, Spiitantikes undji-iinkisches Gallien. Gesammelte Schriften (1952-1973) (1976), pp, 114230. See also Heinz joachim Schussler, "Die frankische Reichsteilungvon Vieux-Poitiers (742) und die Reform der Kirche in den Teilreichen Karlmanns und Pippins. Zu den Grenzen der Wirksamkeit des Bonifatius" (1985). 99 Bruno Krusch, ed. Vita S. Balthildis (1888), p, 486.; Eugen Ewig, "Das Privileg des Bischofs Berthefried von Amiens fur Corbie von 664 und die K1osterpolitik der Kiinigin Balthild" (1976), p. 577, n. 89·; Nelson, "Queens as jezebels", p. 47f. 100 Thomas Gross and Rudolf Schieffer, ed. Hincmarus de online palatii (1980), p. II. 101 Ibid., p. 72; De honestate vero palatii seu specialiter ornamento regali nee non et de donis annuis militum ... ad reginam praecipue et sub ipsa ad camerarium pertinebat. For the grading of gifts, see Hans Haefele, ed. Notker Balbulus. Gesta Karoli Magni Imperatoris (19622.),p. 92; Timothy Reuter, "Plunder and Tribute in the Carolingian Empire" (1985), p. 81, n. 36; Janet Nelson, "The Church's Military Service in the Ninth Century; A Contemporary Comparative View?" (1983), p. 24.. 102 F. Grat, J. Vielliard and S. Clemencet, eds. Annales de Saint-Bertin (1964), p. 218f.: Richildis Compendium ad Hlodowicum veniens, missa sancti Andreae attulit et praeceptum, per quod pater suus illi regnum ante mortem suam tradiderat, et spatam quae vocatur sancti Petri, per quam eum de regno revestiret, sed et regium vestimentum et coronam ac fustem ex auro et gemmis. On Richildis, see Karl Werner, "Die Nachkommen Karls des Grossen bis urn das jahr 1000" (1967), p. 411; Enright, "Charles the Bald", p. 299f.;Jane Hyam, "Errnentrude and Richildis" (1981), pp. 153-6.

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should also be noted that since a king normally carried his treasure with him on travels to royal residences, a queen might well be the first to lay her hands on it in the event of the king's demise. In sixth century Francia, this occurred at the deaths of kings Charibert, Chilperic and Sigibert.?" Capture of the queen, then, and especially capture of the queen and royal thesaurus, could lend a clear aura of 0 legitimacy to any candidate with a reasonable claim to the throne. 1 4 As abduction for the purpose of marriage was quite common, a contender who possessed both the queen and treasure was in an excellent position to exploit his advantage and bring any rivals to heel. 105 Early Medieval sources furnish many instances of this type of political configuration. The same principles apply to the thinking of the nobility. Indeed, the idea of expressing a claim to a particular territory through the possession of a woman (usually the wife of a recalcitrant rival or retainer) might also be applied to consecrated nuns. This, apparently, is what earl Swein Godwinson was doing when, on his way home from a campaign against the Welsh in 1046, "he ordered the abbess of Leominster to be brought to him, and kept her for as long as he pleased and afterwards allowed her to go horne"?" Traversing the passages related to Hygd, Theudelinda, Gundberga and Richildis, the unwary reader might conclude that the barbarian queen exercised a great deal of authority "in her own right". This somewhat nebulous phrase, which bids fair to become an historiographic cliche, is actually misleading for it implies that she could act openly and independent of the wishes of her husband and his comitatus and such was hardly ever true even after the death of the lord. In the case ofTheudelinda and Gundberga, one might conceive them (as Frohlich does in his recent dissertation on the Lombards)"" to have been covered by chapter 182 of the Edictus Rothari which decrees that a widow shall have the right to choose another husband provided he be a free man.'oB But a number of conditions are attached to this law in order to protect the rights of the relatives who had originally transferred her mundium or guardianship to her first husband and chapter 188 states that if she acts without the consent of her relatives the man who receives her must pay two fines for doing so, the first to compensate for illegal intercourse and the second in order to avert a feud. Widows do have greater
103 Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte I, p. zoo 104 There now seems to be wide general agreement

105

106 107 108

on this. Even abandoned queens, as Eugen Ewig points out, might still remain in possession of sizable thesauri: "Studien zur merowingischen Dynastie" (1974), p. 44. Rupert Kastler, "Raub-, Kauf- und Friedelehe bei den Germanen" (1943); Simon Kalifa, "Singularites matrimoniales chez les anciens germains: le rapt et le droit de la femme a disposer d'elle-meme" (1970); Ferdinand Ganshof, "Le statut de la femme dans la monarchie franque" (196z), P·44f. John Earle and Charles Plummer, eds. TWIIujth« Saxon Chronicles Parallel]. (189Z), p. 164. See Ross, "Concubinage", p, 30f. Frohlich, Langobardischen ThronjO/ge, p, 105. Franz Beyerle, ed. Edictus Rothari (196z), p. 43.

freedom of choice and movement but their behavior continues to remain subject to external constraints. Royal widows, to whom the challenged interpretation above has recently been applied, seem to have operated under similar controls although with some ·modification. What appears to have happened is that the ex-husband's comitatus assumed the role of mundium holder-something which follows naturally from the organization of the warband as a fictive family so that the surviving "sons" laid claim to the guardianship of their widowed "mother". As noted previously, she is normally too important to potential claimants-and thus also to the comitatus who will often continue to feel a loyalty to their dead lord-to be allowed a retirement to her own devices. It may be that many widows preferred this arrangement. During years of dealing with the retinue the capable queen will have had plenty of occasions to form personal relationships with the individuals whom she tended and gifted in their youth. She might also have played a role in nurturing factions who would naturally turn to the ruler's bed-mate in order to influence his. decisions. The leader, as we have seen, encouraged such activity because it provided a vent for dissatisfaction and kept him in intimate touch with attitudes, personal sentiments and potential plots. A widowed queen, then, if she had accumulated wealth, friends and political acuity, might well prefer to remain at the node of power rather than the periphery. If she had borne a living and suitable son her position becomes stronger for such extends her period of influence, always provided of course that she can keep the boy's uncles at bay. All these many variables depend to a decisive degree on the attitudes of the retainers, a fact which goes far to explain the differences between Wealhtheow and Hygd. Despite having a son, the former can do little except plead by implication because Hrothgar, although old, continues to command the loyalty of his comitatus who in any event are united in wanting Beowulf as king. The move fails solely because of Beowulf's lack of commitment and the queen's years-of ministrations to the followers make not an iota of difference. The Hygd episode is more complicated. On the face of it, Hygd is both far seeing and altruistic because she is willing to exclude her son in favor of his cousin Beowulf who can better protect the country. But why could he not protect the kingdom as the boy's chief councillor with the full support of dowager and warband? Confronted with unanimity a young leader has little choice but to do what he is told. The best explanation for this difficulty is that Hygd wished otherwise but had no choice in the matter; she was compelled to act as the emissary ofHygelac's comitatus who wanted a veteran warlord to follow instead of an untried boy. True, there is no mention of such pressure but, under the circumstances and especially when one recalls Wealhtheow's worry about the fate of her sons destined to be murdered by their uncle, it seems most likely that Hygd acted under duress. The AngloSaxons who listened to the Beowu/fpoem would have well understood the limits on her freedom but the poet avoided explanation for the same reason he excluded

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reference to her subsequent marriage-in order to demonstrate once again the ideal moral character of his hero. Beowulf's refusal, of course, depends on the same reasoning. In view of this explanation and reconstruction, let us now examine more closely the story of Theudelinda whose actions parallel those of the Geatish queen. Although a monograph would be needed to properly delineate the queen-seestatus relationship in all its details, a brief sketch of the events in Lombardy in 590 will allow us to discuss some of the relevant forces which often come into play at the death of a king. It is necessary to stress at the outset that Paul's story of Agilulf and Theudelinda is too colorful and saga-like to be accepted at face value especially since Agilulf appears as a completely passive character despite his being a duke and thus a man of power and consequence in the kingdom."? He was also a relative of the king: cognatus regisAuthari. liD Birth and position, then, as well as the fear of an enemy assuming the throne, would all require Agilulf to aggressively intervene in any major political transaction. Paul probably underplays this aspect because he is captivated by the chance to tell a good story with a happy denouement. Even so there are hints as to what actually occurred. We are told, for example, that Authari was poisoned. The only clue to the possible perpetrator is an earlier reference to a contretemps between Agilulf and a wizard who predicts his future marriage to Theudelinda. Agilulf threatens him with death ifhe speaks further of the matter and so the implication is that rumor at least had already credited Agilulf with ambitions for the throne.:" An earlier source, the Origogentis Langobardorum,1l> tends to support the hypothesis of the duke's energetic management. It depicts him as a warlike and decisive figure who seizes the initiative by marrying the queen (iunxit se Theudelendae reginae), taking the throne and defeating rebels who oppose him. This source, which is far closer to the events it describes, seems to present the more accurate interpretation; it is Agilulf who wants Theudelinda to wife in order to strengthen his claim to the kingship and not Theudelinda who wants him. The dead king's comitatus plays a crucial role in such succession politics. A close reading of the Deacon's remarks on Theudelinda's freedom to choose a husband actually indicates that she is a stalking-horse for the palace retainers, a messenger on behalf of others who is herself part of the prize. After all, the fact from which all else depends is that Theudelinda does not remain in power by her own will but because the warband allows her to do so: permiserunt eam in regia

consistere dignitatem."3 It follows that her taking counsel with theprudentes is not a voluntary act and neither is the additional requirement that she "choose" someone capable of governing the country. On the contrary, there seems little doubt that Authari's comitatus had already opened negotiations with Agilulf (who may have plotted Authari's death) and that they had made plans with him for the transition so that he could confront other possible claimants with afait accompli. To suppose otherwise is to make the very large assumption that the Lombards would actually have been willing to place the affairs of the kingdom in the hands of a young woman of the Bavarians who had lived with them for only about sixteen months from her marriage on IsMay 589 to the death of Authari on 5 September 590. Of course, things might have been otherwise if Theudelinda had borne a throneworthy son and a large enough faction of the comitatus and nobility wished .to establish a regency and allowed her to become regent. One thinks here of the famous (or notorious) Merovingian queens Brunhild and Fredegund, the former a Visigoth and the latter originally a slave. But even these women, perhaps the most interesting and capable of the sixth century, could only "rule" through their sons with the support of aristocratic factions. It is, then, the palace retainers and the nobles (many of whom are still regarded as members of the comitatus even if they are not often present in the hall) who play the key role in dealing with contenders and establishing kings on the throne. Later sources refer to their offer of rule to a candidate with the technical term invitatio, invitare,"4 but the basic process can be traced to a far earlier period. Why then the recurrent pattern of the queen offering the kingship if she does not have a free choice in the matter? There are several reasons which might be cited, all of which have been mentioned or adumbrated above. Of these, the traditional Germanic attitudes of respect for the free married woman who administers the family household and whose widowhood entitles her to a somewhat wider measure of independence are notable for they color the perception of the protagonists. Seen from this angle, the queen's former relationship with the deceased ruler and her association with important affairs in the royal hall imbue her with a certain aura of legitimacy which can be captured and utilized by those who need it. This is an extraordinarily important and perhaps even pivotal quality because the Germans did not posses any clearly defined rules of succession to the throne, a circumstance which often led to open warfare on the king's demise. 115 To all concerned the old king's wife would have appeared as the most promising

109 See Frohlich, Langllbardischen Thronjolge, p, 99f. . IIO Waitz, Historia Langobardorum, p, 141. III Ibid., P. 13Sf. II2 Georg Waitz, ed. Origll gentis Langobardorum (1878), p. 5: Et exivit Acquo dux Turingus de Thaurinis, et iunxit se Theudelendae reginae, et factus est rex Langobardorum,

Il3 Waitz, Historia Langabardorum; p. 140. II4 See Erich Hoffmann, "Die Einladung des Konigs bei den skandinavischen Vcilkern im Mittelalter" (1975). Both Procopius and Gregory of Tours contain examples. lIS This is emphasized in Philip Grierson, "Election and Inheritance in Early Germanic Kingship" (1941); Schneider, Kiinigswahl, p. 240f. He refers to "die Dominanz der Macht".

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bridge to peaceful possession, a conduit to the justifiable power which she symbolizes but cannot exercise in her own name. At the root of this thinking lies the simple but expressive concept of sexual union which joins man and wife and produces a completely new family which yet shares a blood relationship with two others. The comitatus, acting in the role of the queen's mundium holder, offers her to a leading contender and thereby creates an association based on the ubiquitous and culturally intrinsic view of women as living links between families and peoples. The queen in turn appears as the symbolic carrier of royal authority. It is further natural to view her in this light since, aside from joining families, she also joins leader and warband in the communal drinking rite and proclaims the lordship of the man served first. This is her traditional, originally religiously sanctioned and probably jealously guarded prerogative which lasts, it seems, until the eighth and ninth centuries when the Christian clergy take over or replace many of the king-making rituals of the Germana?" As mediatrix and covenant bearer of the comitatus the queen is the appropriate emissary to the new lord and that is why her capture and marriage, voluntary or involuntary, are so important to usurpers, rebels, royal claimants and warband alike. In this simple society she represents the element of continuity between reigns and seems to vaguely foreshadow the idea of the eternal kingship at a time long before the concept developed that the king never dies,"? Considerably more research will be needed in order to properly verify this latter observation but the important ingredients of hierarchy, legitimacy and especially of a shadowy concept of continuity do seem to be present in her service ritual and suggest the possible existence of a body of Germanic or Indo-European thought about this aspect of kingship which has hitherto been largely overlooked. Some overall conclusions may now be drawn. The foregoing investigation results in a picture of the comitatus which differs considerably from the prevailing _ view in which reciprocity is deemed more important than hierarchy and in which the lord's wife, when she is mentioned at all, figures primarily as a cup bearer to the retainers or a decorative presence at the welcoming of guests. If I have correctly interpreted the evidence assembled then neither view seems fully warranted. The king's wife or chief wife, the queen if she has been formally recognized as such, is more than just a hostess who dispenses drink; rather, she functions in the hall as women do in society where they act as binders between families who create and embody alliances in order to fashion friendship or restore peace between feuding groups. This brittle equilibrium is achieved through a

periodic renewal of the bond between lord and warband which is easily strained. because of the inherently subjective judgements involved in the distribution of plunder, treasure and land together with the accompanying tensions and calculations. Conflict is bound to be endemic since rivalry for the lord's favor is constant and normally determines the future of the retainer. The public religiously sanctioned assignment of ranks is necessary, therefore, in order to prevent a relentlessly flourishing dissent. On the other hand,. a moderate amount of internal tussling is not always disruptive since, if rivalry be inevitable, it can also be harnessed and made to work to the leader's advantage and for the security of the group. Here, in both cases, is where the queen can enter the breach. Although her husband fixes the status gradations she can make his decisions more palatable through subtle non-threatening mediation appropriate to a woman. It is effective because of her sex, because of the religious significance of the ritual and because she shares some of the characteristics of both lord and follower without full membership in either category. liB The same reasoning tends to increase her value to the comitatus when she becomes a widow for, among other possibilities, marriage and service ritual can help cushion the impact of the accession of the new lord with a separate following who may also want to settle scores with some members or factions of the band she now represents. The ritual itself, of course, which we see to be common to peoples as diverse and geographically distant as the Anglo-Saxons and Lombards, gives every sign of great antiquity indicating that its roots must be sought in the domestic activity of the wife in the early Germanic household, the mediatrix between father, sons and dependentfomilia. Arguably, the most surprising finding concerns the structure of the warband. For obvious reasons (as even the name suggests) historians have always viewed the comitatus in unanimously unspoken assumption as a purely male institution with the royal consort operating mainly in the same relation to her husband as do the wives of his followers back on their farms. Neither her activities as hostess, her giving of gifts nor her occasional advice make much of a difference here for they all have a common domestic basis in Germanic culture. Contrarily, the present reading suggests that the queen's activities within the group are too thoroughly integrated, too nicely interwoven, to consider her any longer as an attending but essentially extraneous character comparable, say, to a steward or groom. Although she does not fight, and while her role is undeniably unique, her ritual and ministrations would seem to be too closely tied to the maintenance and thus existence of the group to view her as a total outsider and too functional during successions to describe her as really extraneous. The mortar that cements

II6 See Janet Nelson, "Inauguration Rituals" (1979), p. 51£ et passim. II7 On which, of course, see the great work of Ernst Kantorowicz, The King's Two Bodies. A Study in Medieval Political Theolob.'V (19702).

118 Approaching the matter from a different perspective, John Michael Wallace-Hadrill seems to reach a somewhat similar conclusion. "A queen," he says "was an honorary man" (The Frankish Church [1984], p. 404). So also, for the church at least, was the nun.

3~

La4v with a Mead Cup

Ritual, group cohesionand hierarc~v in the Germanic Warband

37

the bricks must be regarded as part of the building. That is not to imply that the queen is indispensable; in fact she can be rejected, exiled, demoted or killed like any of the followers but a substitute, another wife, must then be found who will perform the same necessary functions. A liminal figure, the queen belongs to both lord and comitatus at different times in her political life-cycle. Under normal circumstances, that is with a competent living ruler, her influence is contained .within narrow limits and she cannot devise policy. On the other hand, it is probably not beyond her powers to sometimes influence policy, to nudge it along or to slow it down. Should one speak then, perhaps, of a triune pattern of political dialectic within the warband? On balance, the answer must be a qualified negative -negative because her power is largely borrowed, qualified because the proposed formulation might well apply to three situations of not infrequent recurrence: when counsel is divided and the ruler uncertain, in the case of evenly balanced factions during an interregnum (when contenders will also negotiate) or in the event that a clever dowager can manipulate an inexperienced son. Otherwise, as argued above, the queen is the flexible instrument of the lord and upon his death usually becomes the instrument of the warband which she continues to hold together as an organization since she is the living symbol of continuity and the channel to legitimacy. Her marriage, arranged by the seniores of the retinue, is essentially an extension of family politics which will seal the bargain joining new leader and old follower. This design is so pervasive, however, that it seems to have achieved a life of its own--constant references to the capture of queens by throne-claimants are difficult to explain--and hence must also be regarded as an actual aspect of an as yet unexplained barbarian "political theory". It is not one which is written down but that lack is easily explainable on the basis of familiarity accompanied by a typically Germanic reluctance to form abstractions. Nevertheless, at least some parts of the whole are discernable through analysis and the liquor ritual would seem to be the key which can unlock the storeroom. It is to the sources and socio-cultural meanings of the liquor ritual that we may now turn our attention. As it unfolds in the chapters which follow, the search will eventually range over a long millennium. It will, because of the scattered nature of the evidence and the complexity of the thesis, require numerous digressions and, occasionally, some repetition. The thesis that will be argued is fourfold: first, Wealhtheow's behavior reflects ancient elements in the tradition of the Germanic comitatus and has some points in common with the behaviors of women in Germanic society; second, her. ritual and organizational relationship with the warlord can be traced to the milieu surrounding Julius Civilis of the Batavians and the prophetess Veleda in the first century AD; third, the practices involved, even the form of warband organization itself, are ultimately derived from contact with Celtic cultures; fourth, analysis of the warlord/prophetess linkage reveals the existence of a frequently overlooked historical current of continuity stretching from the beginnings of La Tene culture to the Carolingian period on the

continent and, on the periphery, in Scandinavia and Ireland, for some considerable time beyond it.

Warlords, Hetzerinnen and Si~yls

39

II

WARLORDS,

HETZERINNEN

AND

SIBYLS

Wear these treasures with the right good willI Thrive and prosper and prove your might! . Befriend my boys with your kindly' counsel; I will remember and I wilLrepay. You have earned the undying honor of heroes In regions reaching as far and wide As the windy walls that the sea encircles.

Chapter one explored selected aspects of the social and political interactions between warlord, wife and followers and maintained the hypothesis that close examination reveals the existence of a triangular pattern of relationships which helps to explain some hitherto confusing patterns in the history of the comitatus. I have argued that the queen is a delegate of the lord who fortifies the ties between leader and retainer. The primary mechanism employed for this purpose is the liquor service which joins the members of the warband community in a complex web of duties, loyalties and acknowledgements. All of these are woven into a multi-textured ritual by the lady who carries the mead cup and pours the liquor over which, and accompanying which, the warriors make their oaths. Against this background, several elements which have as yet only been remarked upon in passing now deserve to be isolated and analyzed in greater detail. The first aspect requiring comment is that the entire procedure is quite thoroughly charged and suffused with a religious aura. Wealhtheow is a liminal figure carrying out, in prescribedfashion, a rite which is central to the maintenance of the warband. In a later age, what she does might be termed a state ritual. The cultic component of her actions, moreover, is still further emphasized when she offers the mead to Beowulf and gives thanks to God that her plea for succor has been heard. It is in reaction to her speech and presentation--i.tself a ritual actthat Beowulf makes his powerful promise to either perform heroically or to die in the process. The poet's description of Wealhtheow as being wisfcest wordum, wise in her words, while at the same time she is speaking to the deity and offering drink is still another element which accentuates the religious atmosphere appropriate to the making of vows; it contains a certain subtle hint of the numinosity which surrounds her. A kind of latent religious atmosphere also vitalizes the queen's speech in the second banquet scene which is declaimed after Hrothgar has expressed an intention to adopt Beowulf and after the queen has entreated him to leave the realm instead to his nephew, Hrothulf. Wealhtheow attempts to bribe Beowulf with gifts and good wishes after he has received another cup of drink: Wealhtheow spoke to the warrior host: "Take, dear Beowulf, collar and corselet,

May fate show favor while life shall last! I wish you wealth to your heart's content,' In your days of glory be goodto my sons!
Here each hero is true to each other, .Gentle of spirit, loyal to lord, Friendly thanes and a folk united, Wine-cheered warriors who do my will." [ Other scholars, of course, have also detected the religious flavor of these lines. Although Helen Damico's recent interpretation of Wealhtheow (in which she argues that the queen is modeled after the valkyrie figure) may be somewhat strained, she is undoubtedly correct in her view that the tone of much of this speech "resembles that of a benison": Her attribution of a prophetic power to the queen in this instance may seem more debatable but in the final analysis it, too, appears sound since Wealhtheow's exhortation to the hero is to "thrive and prosper" and the wish that fate show him favor in wealth and honor cannot be readily separated from her ritual actions. Her expressed desire is certainly borne out by the long life and fame of king Beowulf. We note also the conspicuous combination of these wishes with the visceral concepts of kin-loyalty and allegiance to lord and folk. The religious and prophetic overtones cannot be overlooked for they are present in the language itself. As Irving said of some of these lines, they have an incantatory quality approaching that of prayer. 3 The second element requiring explanation is that of Wealhtheow as agent provocateur for it cannot be denied that the queen is a dangerous women whose counsel is sometimes poorly thought out and, on one fateful occasion at least, leads to horrible disaster,' We note that she has completely misjudged Hrothulf's character, for example. She proclaims that she "knows" his goodness although the poet knows that he is the man who will kill her children for the sake of
1 Klaeber, BeoTDulf, 11.1215-1232. The translation is by Charles W. Kennedy, trans. Beowulf: The Oldest English Epic (1940), p. 39f. 2 Damico, Wealhtheot», p. 97. Damico persuasively compares this speech to that of the valkyrie in HelgakvilJa Hundingsbana I. 3 Edward B. Irving, A Reading of BeOTDu/f(1968), pp. 140;. See also Nolan and Bloomfield, ''Beotword'', pp. 499-516. '. ,,' ." 4 See, for example, Brennan, "Hrothgar's Government", p. 13; Hill, Darush Succession , PP·177-97·

Lady with a Mead Cup . ambition. But Wealhtheow's assessment of his qualities is so faulty that she prefers him to Beowulf who, despite his short stay atHeorot, has demonstrated the best of characters judged according to the values of the society to which she belongs. All recognize this except the queen. By desiring her husband to nullify his newly established kinship with Beowulf and retract his offer of kingship, she is introducing a perilous note of dissention into the society of the comitatus. Moreover, she is willing to put her prestige on the line by running a foolish bluff. In the last several lines cited above, she obliquely threatens Beowulfby suggesting that the warriors of the hall will do her will against him even though the poet makes clear that both Hrothgar and his retainers are unanimous in wanting Beowulf as king. The hint that she possess autonomous power is not only untrue but also hazardous since she thereby warns her potential ruler of her reservations and possible untrustworthiness. Had Beowulf accepted Hrothgar's offer-which must have seemed likely because of its munificence-and had Wealhtheow's judgement of his character been correct, her words would undoubtedly have made him suspicious and per haps have created the very situation which she feared so desperately. As with Unferth, however, we may also assume that the queen is accustomed to being provocative on special occasions since, as noted above, her words and actions when presenting mead to the hero are actually calculated to elicit his promise to essay the killing of Grendel. gu}e gefysed in line 630 can be aptly translated as "incited to battle".' Not only is this interpretation of her action supported by the poem itself but numerous studies of Germanic culture confirm the practice as historical; men often make promises in the hall when presented 6 with drink by women and both sexes expect it to be that way. Finally, one of the most intriguing questions of all centers on the fact that it is a woman, the warlord's wife, who is expected to ritually name and praise the king and then to confirm the warband's system of precedence. As with some other questions raised about Wealhtheow in the present study, this one also seems to have escaped the close scrutiny it deserves. When the context is taken into consideration, however, it all seems paradoxical and noteworthy. The comitatus is a band of armed, bellicose, ambitious and often cruel warriors who treasure the virtues of courage and loyalty and exalt the characteristics of physical strength
5 Geoffrey Russom, "The Drink of Death in Old English and Germanic Literature" (1988), p. 182£. He notes that "several passages in Beowulfshow a close association between an offer of drink and an incitement to show one's merit" and cites the following lines: Hwilum maeru cwen, friousibb folea, flet eall geondhwearf, baedde byre geonge. "At times the famous queen, peace-pledge of nations, went all around the hall, urged on [baedde] the young men." See also Nolan and Bloomfield, "Beotioord", pp. 499-516. 6 Ibid.; Einarsson, "Old English Bent", pp. 99-123. One may refer to analysis in the first chapter from notes 36 to 53. Further analysis in chapter m.

Warlords, Hetzerinnen and Sibyls and dexterity. Even if our examination in the previous section shows that a woman might find it easier (and safer) to act as an intermediary within this group, it continues to seem unusual that she should be so closely tied to the aggressive ethos and power structure of the masculine comitatus. If one need see nothing unusual in the fact that the warriors are served by a woman, one hardly expects this woman to have highly significant speechmaking rights within the gathering. Nor does the fact that she is the wife of the leader carry much weight in this regard (although it can be important otherwise) since that might help explain occasional speeches at his behest or with his indulgence but cannot explain the traditional and institut~onal demand that she frequently speak. Yet, we are told in Maxims I, and have already found it confirmed in Beowulf and other Germanic and Latin texts, that the lady of the hall must publicly offer the cup to the leader first and also offer him advice. One finds it difficult to escape the suspicion that something is being overlooked here which is fundamental to the thought-world of the Germanic warband. We are confronted with a bundle of characteristics centering on Wealhtheow which seem strangely puzzling or even contradictory-a connection with royal power, a religious aura, prophetic ability and a tendency to provoke. Aside from the fact that most modern criticism tends towards the same assessment, we can be quite certain that the poet wished to highlight the contrasts since the very name Wealhtheow, a baffling choice, apparently means "British slave". Commentators over the past several generations are united in the view that this is the most extraordinary name in Old English literature and such unanimous perplexity has only been deepened by studies demonstrating that the Anglo-Saxons took great care in the choosing and bestowal of names which they regarded as keys to character,' But how does one reconcile the queenly character of the ides Helminga with an appellation which denotes servitude and suggests contempt? So far, no explanation has won universal acceptance and no scholar has sought for an answer within the institutional context of the comitatus although the nature of the poem might well seem to suggest that much can be learned by doing so. . Setting, words and actions in the Beowulf poem combine to indicate that Wealhtheow is a curiously provocative figure at home in the cultic-ritual field whose speeches are institutionally significant to the comitatus and are tinged with religious symbolism. Although I am not suggesting that she is a priestess-she is too clearly depicted as the noble wife and mother for that-the poet has certainly chosen to present her as a guide and key participant in ritual and to endow her with qualities which suggest a subtly hieratic and at least partially oracular character. Why he did so requires some sustained attempt at explanation. We must, therefore, seek to uncover the reasons for the ascription of these distinctive
7 Fred C. Robinson, "The Significance of Names in Old English Literature" (1968), pp. 14-58.

La4v with a Mead Cup

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and Sibyls

. 43

oddities to the character of the warlord's wife knowing that the poet would not have chosen them had his model been either incredible or uncommon. It has already been shown that other aspects of her behaviour--cup-offering, royal naming and mediation--are universally expected in this milieu and there is no reason why those now under discussion should be any different. In the pages which follow, I will seek to show that the depiction ofWealhtheow as provoker of dissension is solidly grounded in the social reality of the behavior of women in Germanic culture while the hint at her apparently premonitory abilities is equally well grounded in the religious reality of oracular belief. What will then strengthen this hypothesis, in my view, is the subsequent demonstration that the qualities mentioned were usually associated with certain women companions who served the earliest known Germanic warlords so that a clearer connection will emerge with Wealhtheow's previously discussed delegatory function and the actual historical context of the developing comitatus. It will be argued that female exhortation, status assignment, provocation and prophecy all played a role in the growth of that institution and thus demand analysis from an institutional viewpoint. Wealhtheow's actions are not eccentric and, in the present writer's opinion, have not hitherto been fully understood because they have generally been studied apart from that context which gave them meaning in the culture in which they appear, the network of relations between the warlord and warband. The immediate problem is methodological. Since the present exercise aims at the explication of the principles underlying an archaic set of attitudes - ones taken for granted by those concerned and not usually expressly voiced in the few sources available-the only way to demonstrate the required chain of associations is through the citation of examples which, unfortunately, themselves require explanation to expose their rationale. Much must be gleaned from context alone and this necessitates what may initially seem to be an unduly circuitous approach. One may hope, however, that such will eventually prove rewarding and enlighten more than it confuses. Within this scheme, one way to begin to achieve a greater insight into the cultural background to Wealhtheow's incitements is to examine the figure of the Hetzerin, the woman who provokes conflict in Icelandic saga, and then draw some parallels with an earlier period which demonstrate continuity. One proceeds from what is better known to what is less understood. The Hetzerin, it will be argued, has roots which lie at least as far back as the first century AD and, under certain conditions, also has a peculiar power to influence the opinions of men concerning reputation and status. Some of Wealhtheow's behavior, at last, might well fit this model and, if so, then we are in a much better position to understand her character and the institution in which, as we now know, she plays so notable a role. In medieval Iceland, as in earlier continental societies, women could not represent themselves in court cases. Neither could they witness, prosecute

directly, fight in a dual or speak at Thing assemblies." Nevertheless, they exercised a notable degree of indirect influence which they gained through persuasion, exhortation and, most interestingly, through insult. This is a strikingly apparent contradiction; in a society which excluded them from the public sphere, women still contrived to play an inordinate role in decision-making and getting·things done. When the problem is closely examined, it becomes clear that in the sagas it is often women who draw attention to the slighted honor of their neighbors and menfolk and they frequently incite, goad and urge the men into action by harping on the perceived deficiency. So common. is this motif that it transcends all literary genres and Rolf Heller, in an incomplete count, could list fifty-one saga instances in which women incited men to take vengeance or perform risky deeds-hence the term, Hetzerin, female provoker, which he applied in these cases," Heller's monograph appeared thirty yeats ago.and since then the Hetzerin has been widely recognized as the dominate female in the sagas. 10 One group of these Hetzerin incidents exhibits pronounced ritual characteristics and is especially worth examining . .A recent outstanding study in this area is that by William Miller who convincingly demonstrated the existence of a gruesome ceremony by which Icelandic women were able to force their reluctant male relatives to take vengeance by taunting them with the head of the slain, with the bloody clothing of the corpse or with the bloody weapon which had wounded the dead man. It The moral force of this act always caused men to resort to arms despite previous unwillingness. A good example which shows how this ritual incitement might work occurs in Njals saga. I~ When Skarphedin Njalsson and his brothers killed Hoskuld Thrainsson, a legal action was immediately started by the dead man's relatives. This was not enough for Hoskuld's widow, Hildigunn, who demanded her uncle Flosi's support. Flosi was a respected chieftain who had given Hildigunn to Hoskuld in marriage and thus had some obligation to support her husband's kin even if the. precise boundaries of his duties are uncertain. Although quite ready to advance Hildigunn's case, he did not believe that the matter should come to blood. The widow was well aware of his views and strongly opposed them. When Flosi stopped by the farm on his way to the Althing to plead her case, Hildigunn began

type

8 William 1. Miller, "Dreams, Prophecy and Socery: Blaming the Secret Offender in Medieval Iceland" (1986), p. II4£; Jesse L. Byock, "Governmental Order in Early Medieval Iceland" (1986), p. 134£ 9 Rolf Heller, Die Literarische Darstellung der Frau in den Islandersagas (1958) pp, 98-122. 10 Jenny M. Jochens, "The Icelandic Heroine: Fact or Fiction?" (1986), pp. 35-50; eadem, "The Female Inciter in the King's Sagas" (1987), pp. 100-19. I I William Ian Miller, "Choosing the Avenger: Some Aspects of the Bloodfeud in Medieval Iceland and England" (1983), pp. 159-404. 12 Einar 01. Sveinsson, Brennu-Njdls saga chs. lIl-I6. English citation from Magnusson and Paisson, trans. Njals Saga, pp. 238-40.

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Warlords, Hetzerinnen and Sibyls

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a campaign to force him to take up weapons. The way in which she did so is profoundly revealing of a whole series of Germanic mores and of the way in which the legally and physically weaker sex could exert pressure on their more powerful male relatives. As we shall see, a Close analysis of this passage reveals a decidedly archaic stratum of Germanic custom which tells us much about female provokers .and the power they exercised even over the actions of kings. It seems best to cite the passage in extenso as detailed analysis will be necessary. Prior to Flosi's arrival, Hildigunn carefully set the stage for her plans: "I want all the men to be out here when Flosi rides in," she said. "The women are to clean the house and put up the hangings, and to make ready a high-seat for Flosi. " Soon Flosi came riding into the home-meadow. Hildigunn went to meet

him.
"You are welcome, kinsman," she said. "My heart rejoices at your coming. " "We shall eat here and then ride on," said Flosi. The horses were tethered. Flosi went inside. He sat down, and threw the high-seat away from him on to the dais. "I am neither king nor earl," he said, "and there is no need to make me a high-seat. There is no need to mock me, either." Hildigunn was beside him. "It is a pity you are offended," she said. "We did this in all sincerity. " Flosi replied, "If you are being sincere with me and your motives are good they will speak for themselves, and condemn themselves if they are evil." Hildigunn laughed an icy laugh. "This is nothing," she said. "We shall get closer yet before we part." She sat down beside Flosi, and they talked in undertones for a long time. After that the tables were set up, and Flosi and his men washed themselves. Flosi examined the towel; it was full of holes, and one end had been ripped away. He threw it down on the bench and refused to use it; instead he tore a piece off the table-cloth, dried his hands on it, and tossed it to his men. Then he sat down at the table and told his men to eat. At that moment Hildigunn came into the room and went up to Flosi, pushed her hair back from her eyes, and wept. Flosi said, "You are sad now, kinswoman, you are weeping. It is only right that you should weep over a good husband." "What redress will you get me?" she asked. ''How much help will you give to me?" "I shall press your claims to the full extent of the law," said Flosi, "or else conclude a settlement which in the eyes of all good men will satisfy every demand of honour."

Hildigunn said, ''Hoskuld would have avenged you with blood if he were in your place now." ''You are a ruthless woman," said Flosi. "It is clear now what you are after." Hildigunn said, "Arnor Ornolfsson from Forsriverwoods never did your father as grave an injury as this, and yet your brothers Kolbein and Egil killed him at the Skaptafell Assembly." , She walked from the room and unlocked her chest. She took out the cloak, the gift from Flosi, which Hoskuld had been wearing when he was killed, and in which she had preserved all his blood. She came back with the cloak and went .up to Flosi without a word; Flosi had finished eating and the table had been cleared. She threw the cloak 'l1~oundhis shoulders, and the clotted blood rained down all over him. "This is the cloak you gave to Hoskuld, Flosi," she said, "and now I give it back to you. He was wearing it when he was killed. I call upon God and all good men to witness that I charge you in the name of all the powers of your Christ and in the name of your courage and your manhood, to avenge every one of the wounds that marked his body--or be an object of contempt to all men." , Flosi threw off the cloak and flung it back into her arms. "Monster," he cried. ''You want us to take the course which will turn out the worst for all of us. 'Cold are the counsels of women.' " He' was so agitated that his face changed colour rapidly; one moment it was red as blood, then pale as withering grass, then black as death. He and his men went out to their horses and rode away to Holtsford; here they waited for the Sigfussons and other friends. The passage is puzzling at a number of points but leaves a powerful impression. Let us look first to the episodes of the bloody garment, the charge ofHildigunn, and then to those of the tablecloth and high-seat. Each can tell us something important about the exhortatory role of women in Germanic society and thus, eventually, also throw new light on the atmosphere surrounding the lord's wife in the liquor ritual. As Miller points out, in each of the seven instances of the blood-vengeance ritual the aggrieved party who called for the principle of lex talionis was a woman." In four cases it was the widow and in three the dead man's mother. While the grievant does not always have to be a woman, women do appear to be the usual initiators. Some real part of the corpse must be present, however, so that, in the biblical phrase, his blood may "cry out" for vengeance. Thus, the woman presents herself as simply carrying out the wishes of the corpse. In Lasdoela saga for example, Gudrun shows her sons the preserved blood-stained clothing of their
13 Miller, "Choosing the Avenger", p. 185.

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sire saying "these very clothes you see before you here challenge you to avenge your father"." The ritual also has much older antecedents and it is important to note this fact. While Miller does cite some Anglo-Saxon evidence," he does not introduce a partial Frankish parallel which, though not concerning a corpse, clearly recalls the Icelandic practice for here too the grievant is a woman who wishes to force revenge for an injury and does so by sending a bloody token to a relative. Her name was Clotild, daughter of king Clovis of the Franks. Her brother had sent her off to Spain as bride for king Amalric of the Visigoths and she had taken with her a great dowry of treasure. Within a few years her husband began mistreating her because of her refusal to convert (the Visigoths being Arians) and at one point he beat her so severely that she sent a towel stained with her own blood to her brother, Childebert." "Greatly moved", Childebert readied an expedition and caused the death of Amalric when one of his men struck him down with a javelin. Clotild then began the journey home with him but died on the way and was eventually buried in Paris with her father. Although this Frankish incident is not fully comparable to that of the saga, the motif of female grievant provoking revenge with a bloody token is certainly present and indicates the antiquity of the principle. While Childebert might well have acted on receipt of an appeal alone, it is clear that Clotild wanted to ensure his intervention and that is why she included the stained towel. This made certain that Childebert would be "moved" to undertake the dangers, the expense and the journey for a refusal would render him contemptible and threaten both his status and manhood before his peers. . Hildigunn's charge to Flosi indicates the nature of the sanctions which she could call on to force him to take revenge. She demands blood in the name of his "courage" and "manhood" or else, she pronounces, he will become a figure of scorn. Inherent in this charge is the accusation that a man who refuses the goad couched in these terms is less than a man; he is womanish. The aura of implied homosexuality hangs heavily in the background and colors the interaction. '7 Thus, in another example of goading in Eyrbyggja saga, when Thorarinn the Black is accused of stealing horses by Thorbjorn, his mother, Geirrid, who thought that he had reacted too mildly, came to the farmhouse door and said:
14 Sveinsson,

What people say about you is all true, Thorarinn, that you have a woman's nature rather than a man's if you let Thorbjorn the Stout heap all kinds. of insults on you; and I don't know why I have such a son. ,8 Unable to back down after the insult, Thorarinn replied: "Nor shall I stand here any longer" and rushed off to do battle. Later, after a second fight and a victory, Thorarinn returned to the farm and answered his mother's queries with a verse: Women's contemptuous taunts I turned from me--dun eagles fed there on the flesh of foemen-as I battled. Little spared I, strife-loving lady [Geirrid], to wield ruthlesslyloath though to. boast-my bitter brand in mortal conflict. '9 Geirrid demanded to know if this meant that Thorbjorn was slain and her son described in detail how his sword had "entered the warrior's gullet": "'Then my egging you on did some good' exclaimed Geirrid. 'Now all go inside and bind your wounds'." , This episode, in turn, casts new light on other earlier materials. Consider, for example, a passage from the Historia Francorum in which one Sichar, after having killed Chramnesind's kinsmen, could still form a close friendship with him so that the two became devoted to each other and "often had meals together and even slept in the same bed". One day, however, when Sichar was drunk, he began saying that Chramnesind should be grateful to him for the killings since the compensation Sichar had paid him had made him rich: When he heard Sichar's remarks, Chramnesind was sick at heart. "If I don't avenge my relatives" he said to himself, "they will say that I am weak as a woman, for I no longer have the right to be called a manl" Thereupon he blew the lights cut and hacked Sichar's skull in two. . . . Chramnesind stripped Sichar's corpse of its clothes and hung it from a post in his garden fence. 20 Although Chramnesind was not here goaded by a woman, the significant fact is that he has internalized the terms of the expected insult so that he applies it himself-he worries about appearing like a woman. Nothing could more strongly show the dread of this idea in Frankish society. Chramnesind kills his friend because of a fear of what his relatives will say even though they have not yet said
18 Paul Schach and Lee M. Hollander, 19 Ibid. p. 30f. 20 Buchner, Gregor von Tours II: trans. EyrbyggjaSaga The Role of Sexual Themes in Njals Saga (1980). (1959), p. 29. See also Ursula Dronke,

Laxdoela saga ch. 60. Translation Laxdoela Saga (1972), p. 197.

by Magnus Magnusson

and Hermann

Palsson,

15 Miller, "Choosing the Avenger" pp. 194-204. 16 Buchner, Gregor von Tours ill, 10, p. 156. Translation by Lewis Thorpe, Gregllry of Tours. History of the Franks (1979 ), p. 170. 17 Folke Strom notes that "lack of courage, patent physical cowardice, implied such a flagrant deviation from what convention demanded that it could be branded as a symptom of perversion-of an abnormal, that is to say feminine, nature". Strom, Nid, Erg; and Old Norse Moral Attitudes (1973), pp. 3-20; Preben Sorensen, The Unman(v Man: Cllncepts of Sexual Defamation in Early Norse Society; Karl Gade, "Homosexuality and Rape of Males in Old Norse law and Literature" (1986), pp. 124-41.

p:

IX.,

19, p. 256f. Translation

by Thorpe,

p. 501.

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it. The passage does not identify the potential blamers among his relatives as women but we can well imagine that while he would consider it grim if men faulted him with being womanish, he would find it unendurable for women to do so. A closer parallel to Thorarinn and his quarrelsome mother appears in a passage of the seventh century chronicle of Fredegar describing an episode from the life , of Theodoric, king of the Goths: At one time, Theodoric and the Goths were making war against king Odoacer and the Heruli and, fleeing with his men, Theodoric entered Ravenna. His mother Lilia was there and came out to meet him, insulting him saying: "There is no place for you to flee to my son unless I raise my dress and you return to the womb from which you were born."" In Mediterranean sources at least," statements like this can be accompanied by an obscene gesture, a pointing at the genitalia or an actual raising of the dress. It is clear that it is not confined to the Germans alone, appearing among many peoples ancient and modern, but it is certain that its force is always greater in a simple society which exalts the warrior virtues. In all such cultures, the sex of the accuser is a critical datum. As Roberta Frank pointed out in a recent paper, some thirty-three named and four anonymous Icelandic scalds addressed poetry to women between 970 and 1210, and sometimes did so in unexpected circumstances. The reason for this female apostrophe, she concludes, is that "feud in Iceland was very much a woman's business" for women were constantly watching, judging and making comparisons of men." Absent the bloody-shirt motif cited above, women could always appeal to the concept of manliness and it now appears that by doing so they became the most feared critics within these small population groups where reputation was a matter of life and death. As a corollary to this finding, it must also be postulated that many women would have felt a strong inducement to support this masculine ethos and to emphasize their function as arbiters of'reputation, It was more than just gossip; the functioning of the heroic code, as the poets realized, was closely linked to their evaluations. Geirrid and Lilia certainly taught their sons the power of female criticism just as Hildigunn did to Flosi and many other examples could easily be adduced. Let us now return to the elucidation of the plot itself The episode of high-seat and table cloth can most conveniently be dealt with together. Both the context of
21 Bruno Krusch, ed. Chronicorum quae dictuntur Fredegarii schalastici libri (1888), IV, II, 57: Nam quadam vice apud Odoagrum rege et Aerolis Theudericus cum Gothis prilium concitasset, Theudericus fugiens cum suis, Ravennam ingressus est; ibique mater eius Liliam obviam veniens, increpans eum, dicens: "Non est, ubi fugias, fili, nisi ut levi vestimenta mea, ut ingredias utero, de quo natus est." 22 Carl Sittl, Die Gebiirdenden der Griechen und Riimer (1980), p. 104. 23 Roberta Frank, "Why Skalds Address Women" (1990), pp. 76, 78.

die scheme and Flosi's reaction to it point to an elaborately staged interdependent affront which stops just short of direct insult but is yet nicely calculated to give deep offense while remaining, to use a modern term, "deniable". Such a q~ality also makes it difficult to explain fully so that the scene must be approached In an oblique manner in order to reveal all implications. While the symbolism of the high-seat is obvious, that of the table and its accoutrements-and on~ .must suppose that it was lavishly set-require considerable background exposition. With its richness of costly vessels and ornaments, the lord's table was a cardinal symbol of status throughout the Early Middle Ages. As we have already seen, the seating order was a public visual statement of the hierarchy of the warband community while also expressing and renewing the bond which joined all who ate or drank from it. In the Sichar / Chramnesind passage cited above, it was said that both men became so close that they often had meals together and such behavior signified intimacy. Gregory of Tours provides plenty of examples showing that an invitatio~ to a meal was an offer of friendshi~ w~ich oblig~te~ the guest to a political alliance; a refusal, on the other hand, signified enmity Consequently, tables were usually highly decorated and valued objects and those of royal halls were often kept in special storeroom with the treasure and other insignia of status," One thinks of the so-called "table of Solomon" preserved by the Visigoths or the three beautiful silver tables possessed by Charlemagne, one of which- was a favorite of Louis the Pious but was eventually chopped up and distributed asa reward to warriors." Some courts might be noted for the display of these objects and become famous for the munificence surrounding them. It was said of prince Harald of the Danes in the ninth century ~at he wanted ~o visit Francia in order to see "the kingdom of the Franks, the piety of Caesar, his noble force and the service of his table ... ".'7
24 This point is widely noted in the litera~ure. See, for example,.Hauck, Rit~elle Speisegetneinschaji, pp, 61I~1; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte II, p. 369f.; Dietrich Claude, 'Unters~chung:~ zu~ friihfrankischen Comitat" (1964), p, 74f.; Brian Brennan, "Senators and SOCIalMobility in Sixth Century Gaul" (1985), p. 158. . ..' . .., ._" 25 Dietrich Claude, "Beitrage zur Geschichte der frtlhmittelalterlichen Korugsschatze (1973), pp. 5-24; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte II, p. 360f. 26 Claude, "Konigsschatze", pp. 9, 23;.Thegan, "Vita Hlodo,?ci", ch. 8 in ~;inhold R~u.' e~; Qucllen zur karolingischen Reichsgeschichte I (1980), p. 223.; Reinhold Rau, ed. Ann. Bertiniani s.a. 842 in his Quellen II, p. 56. 27 Cernere namque placet Francorum regna fidemque Caesaris, arrna, dapes, christicolumque decus, Culturamque Dei, cui servit cuncta potestas, Ut canis, atque fides firmiter alma tenet. Edmond Ferel ed. Ermold le Noir. Poime sur Louis le Pieux et epitres au roi Pepin (1964), 11. 2036~039, p. '154.The politico-theological background in Karl Hauck, "Der Mission~au.ftrag Christi und das Kaisertum Ludwigs des Frommen" (1990), p. 289f.; Idem, "Karolingische Taufpfalzen im Spiegel hofnaher Dichtung" ~19~5);Arnold ~genendt, Kais:rherrschap. und Kiinigstauft: Kaiser, Klrnige und Piipste als gelStllelle Patrone In der ahendlandischen MlSslllnsgeschichte (1984), p. 215f.

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The silver dishes placed on these tables were equally loaded with symbolic freight and were themselves regarded as signs of high status. An indisputable connection exists between the munificence of the table setting and kingship. When king Childebert of the Franks wished to adopt a son who would succeed him, for example, he "gave him three pairs of everything which a king could need, , arms, clothes and ornaments with some silver dishes and a team of horses.,,·8 Similarly, describing the treasure of the Vandals in a sixth century triumph, Procopius refers to the articles wont to be set aside for royal service. These included jewelry, "golden drinking cups" and "all the other things which are useful for a royal table"." Such beautiful objects were so rare and valuable that they might even be thought to symbolize the standing of an entire people. A community rich enough to possess them could not fail to be important. When Gregory of Tours was summoned to attend Chilperic at his manor in Nogentsur-Marne, the king showed us a great salver which he had made of gold encrusted with gems and which weighed fifty pounds. "I have had this designed for the greater glory and renown of the Frankish people," he said. "If it is granted to me to live, I propose to have other objects made." 30 The removal of these status symbols from an opponent signified great humiliation. Thus, king Guntram boasted of the table service he had confiscated from duke Mummolus. As one course was being served at a feast, the king said: All the plate which you see here belonged to the traitor Mummolus. By the grace of God, it has now passed into my possession. I have had fifteen other dishes out of the set broken up, all as large as the one you see. I have kept only this one plate, with a second one which weighs one hundred and seventy pounds," Naturally, then, such plates and cups were viewed as adjuncts to royalty and often presented 'as gifts to kings: "Queen Brunhild had a great salver of incredible size made out of gold and precious gems. This she dispatched to the king in Spain, together with a pair of wooden dishes, commonly called basins, which were also
28 Buchner, Gregor von Tours I: ill, 24, p, 178. One should add that the small knives used for eating at table were also regarded as status symbols. As J. Werner notes, "iibernahm aus dem spatromischen Milieu zunachste die frankische Oberschicht im Zeichen standischer Reprasentation die Sitte, Einzelmesser oder Messerpaare mit Goldgriffen als Essbesteck mit sich zu fiihren und ins Grab zu nehmen." There is good evidence for later times as well. See Joachim Werner, "Das Messerpaar aus dem Basel-Kleinhuningen Grab 126" (1968), p. 647£; Peter Paulsen, Alamannische Adelsgraber von Njpderstotzingen (Kreis Heidenheim) (1967), p. 103; Percy Ernst Schramm, Herrsahaftszeichen und Staatssymbolik IT (1955), p. 542. 29 H.B. Dewing, ed, Procopius IT (1924) "History of the Wars" IV, 9, 3f, p. 281. 30 Buchner, Gregor von Tours IT: VI, 2, p. 6. 31 Ibid., VIII, 3, p. 164.

decorated with gold and jewels." 3' There are many such examples and a small mountain of archaeological evidence to accompany them." The table/treasure mentality was fully shared by the BeowulJpciet. Consider, for example, the episode of the dragon's hoard which occurs while the old hero lies dying and just before he bequeaths kingship to his faithful retainer (11.27442800). He now orders Wiglaf to return to the creature's cave and bring out the "ancient wealth" for death will be easier, he says, if he surveys this prize. Wiglaf enters and finds jewels, standing cups, vessels, arm-rings and finely made old helmets. When he looks again, he sees '''a standard all of gold, greatest of marvels made by hand, hanging high above the hoard." It was surrounded by a strange light which illuminated the treasure. Many objects were contained therein but the poet chooses to emphasize the dishes, jeweled drinking-cups and banner with which the retainer returns. On seeing them, Beowulf gives thanks to God that he has been allowed to win this treasure for his people before he dies and expresses satisfaction that his life has been well sold. His sentiment is hardly different from Chilperic's, who had a large dish made for the greater renown of the Franks and promised more such if he lived. Obviously, these utensils are not only valuable in themselves but also in what they represent. Indeed, scholars have remarked that the dragon's hoard with its golden banner "is an image for Beowulf's kingdom" which Wiglaf will inherit, just as he plunders the cave of its symbols of kingship. 34 A reading of these passages can help us to appreciate Hildigunn's tactics but to fully comprehend her maneuverings we must recall that the wife of the lord, just as the wife of the free man, represents his status while at the same time being responsible for the utensils and ornaments of the horne." The wife holds the keys to the storerooms," It is her right to prepare the table appropriately so as to honor the house and its guests and the way in which she does so can reflect her opinion of her husband's status and that of his friends. Such subtleties belong to a

Ibid., IX, 28, p. 278. Weidemann, Kulturgechischte II, p. 360£ Chaney, Cult IIf Kingship, p, 140£ One scholar's analysis of Anglo-Saxon grave-goods of the sixth century led him to suggest that "it is tempting to conclude that the wealth bestowed on a woman may be a reflection of her husband's status as much as her own". C.J. Arnold, "Wealth and Social Structure: A Matter of Life and Death" (1977), p. 132. For women of the Swedish vikings (the Rus) the evidence is more direct: "each woman wears on either breast a box of iron, silver, copper, or gold; the value of the box indicates the wealth of the husband". H.M. Smyser, "Ibn Fadlan's Account of the Rus, with Some Commentary and Some Allusions to Beowulf" (1965), p, 96. He is referring, of course, to brooches. The association is otherwise indirectly made in Njdls saga where a husband does not defend his wife and so she loses her seat of honor. Or in Laxdoela saga: "Hrefna is to sit in the seat of honour". Kjartan insists, "and to be accorded the highest esteem as long as I am alive". Dronke, Sexual Themes, p. 20£ 36 Fell,}i'iwiflocbore, pp. 157-165; Dubner-Manthey, "Kleingerdte", p. 105£; Vierck, "Tracht", PP·271-83·

32 33 34 35

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pre-industrial culture and are no longer easy for modems to interpret but a glance at a plainer parallel from the Historia Francorum will show the nature of the by-play to be expected from the Hetzerin in this field. Amalaberg was the wife of Hermanfrid, the king of the Thuringians who ruled jointly with his brother Baderic after a third brother was killed. Amalaberg disapproved of the joint rule and so she "sowed the seeds of civil war" between the two remaining brothers: One day when her husband came in to have a meal, he found only half the table laid. When he asked what she meant by this, she answered: "A king who is deprived of half his kingdom deserves to find half his table bare." Hermanfrid was roused by this and by other similar things which Amalaberg did. He decided to attack his brother .... 37 Would that we knew the nature of the "other similar things"! Nonetheless, this passage clarifies further the attitudinal atmosphere surrounding the symbolic order of the Germanic table-in the quotation above it represents the kingdom just as it represented the acme of kingliness for the Danish prince Harald-and the way in which women could exploit such associations for the sake of expressing their views 'and inciting conflict where they judged it necessary. Equipped with this new understanding of the significance of the table and its ornaments we can more easily interpret Hildigunn's manipulation of power symbols. All her exaggerated formality and deference are calculated mockeries of Flosi's chiefly status and of his unworthy character exposed by a refusal to revenge her husband. In Hildigunn's opinion, revenge is the only manly response whereas Flosi holds honor to be satisfied by a court case. The high-seat and table, then, suggest an undeserved and unworthy lordship which is emphasized by the peasant-like towel full of holes so that the high status is contrasted with poverty of soul. When Flosi sits down he will do so with dirty hands and present a derisory tableau of a boor aping a lord in the home of a man who had truly possessed the quality of honor. Flosi shows himself to be keenly aware of the symbolism, however, and turns the tables, so to speak, when he knocks over the high-seat and uses the tablecloth to clean his hands. The first action demonstrates an utter contempt for Hildigunn's charade while the second returns the insult. At this
37 Buchner, Gregor von Tours I: ill, 4, p. I46f. Translation by Thorpe, p. I64. The connection between the serving of meals and the goading woman has also been noted by Joaquin Martinez-Pizarro, "The Three Meals in HeiiJarviga saga: Repetition and Functional Diversity" (I986), pp. 220-a.34. As he points out, the men's reaction to the food being served "is never so to speak gastronomic; they respond not to the food as food.but to the meaning they find in the victuals or attribute to them." It is all part of an elaborate domestic code. Dover connects Hildigunnr's actions with widowhood and ritual mourning. The associations do not seem unlikely and provide hints, to be discussed later in the present study, of a pattern of thought whereby women, prophecy and a cult of the dead form part of a single complex for the early Germans. See CarolJ. Clover, "Hildigunnr's Lament" (I986), pp. I4I-83·

point Flosi has bested Hildigunn at her own game. She, in tum, concedes the preliminary victory and must now, therefore, trot out the decisive weapons in her arsenal, the bloody cloak and the charge on Flosi's manhood. Against these potent talismans the angry leader cannot prevail and the magnitude of his defeat is reflected in his multi-hued visage. The best he can do is the weakly acquiescent riposte that "cold are the counsels of women". Thus, it is that Hildigunn gets what she wants from a chief who had been implacably determined not to give it. No one who studies this elaborately knotted mobilization of status symbols can realistically conclude that the episode reflects anything other than a traditional mode of male-female conflict. The recognition of threat, speed of reaction, subtlety of manipulation and familiarity of employment betray a long-standing cultural comprehension which is little short of astounding and immediately suggests the existence of a practiced core of intensely held values of great antiquity. In fact, any lingering suspicion to the contrary must be set aside because citations from the Historia Francorum sustain the argument. Hildigunn's table manners are surely similar to those of Amalaberg and her bloody cloak is clearly comparable to Clotild's bloody towel. Even beyond these affinities, we must also recognize a noteworthy parallel in the fact that Amalaberg sought to influence a king and Hildigunn a chief. Evidently, high rank carries no immunity to the Hetzerin's threat (actually it probably intensified it) for the association of women with service to table, and thus to authority in relation to control of home and hall, seems so thoroughly embedded in the collective psyche of all segments of Germanic society that alternatives are practically inconceivable. Power is exercised by men but many of the symbols of that power are maintained and arranged by women. Their manipulation forms a non-verbal language which can be either brutally direct or subtly provocative. It would also seem that the symbolic language must, afortiori, be even more practiced and pointed in the exclusive and hierarchic society of a warrior sodality where the lord's wife must be present in the hall. That is not to say that female goading always works. Without her bloody relic, Hildigunn would have failed and Clotild might have remained in Spain. As Amalaberg was able to try "other similar things", however, one must also be willing to envision the employment of a variety of related feminine devices which will always have some effect because they rely on the fluid but perennial concepts of honor, status and shame which Germanic women frequently manipulated in attempts to influence men's design. For these reasons, I think, one is justified in arguing that Wealhtheow's provocative behavior and ritual of status recognition are made more understandable when seen against the background of the Hetzerin's durable tactics. As already established in several other areas, the Queen's actions are not idiosyncratic. Just as the offering to husband and followers is traditional, so too is her incitement of the hero's dangerous promise. Her support of her children contrary to Hrothgar's wish, even though it threatens the security of the group, is a more

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personal undertaking but is unlikely to be anything novel or unusual in the behavior of Germanic wives whose outlook is much more thoroughly domestic and parochial than their more widely traveled and experienced menfolk. It is possible to demonstrate that this type of behavior by Germanic women is much older than Gregory of Tours and the sixth century but, before doing so, it seems appropriate to take into account a recently advanced contrasting interpre'ration. The concept of the female goader has recently been severely criticized by Jenny Jochen who argues that it is largely the literary creation of the saga authors drawn from, she opines, the "mirage of male fantasies and fears"." She also suggests that at least some of the attributes of the Hetzerm should. be associated with the "policies and attitudes of churchmen". Her thesis appeals to some modern sensibilities but is unconvincing for several reasons. In the first place, she overlooks the fact that the role of Hetzerin held many attractions but few dangers. It was an easy one for women to adopt since, in contrast to men, it was much less dangerous for them to act irresponsibly in serious cases," Unlike their male counterparts, who had to reckon with the likelihood of woundings and deaths, women were not expected to take up arms in the causes they espoused and only very rarely, and in extreme circumstances, ventured to do so. The physical risks for them were far less for they might urge to battle but did not need to fight. The role of Hetzerin might also seem an attractive one since it could confer substantial power at a critical moment and was thus both a handy and appealing psychological tool. Moreover, because Icelandic women who were widows could not personally receive wergild anyway, they had little inducement to settle for compensation and might thus be expected to more lightly clamor for blood. But even in the rare cases that a woman personally participated in a bloodletting, it is unlikely that she would be held responsible or punished for it since any man affected might be judged cowardly for prosecuting her and this attitude, with few exceptions, must often have protected female goaders. It may have partaken of some of the qualities of an actual taboo. Also overlooked inJochen's analysis is the very important social nexus in which both women and men functioned and which constantly created conditions encouraging Hetzerei. Although the passage of women created strategic political bonds between families, a wife often maintained close ties with her own kinsmen whose interests and loyalties could easily diverge considerably from those of her husband's family. In such cases it is only to be expected that a woman might sometimes urge her husband, perhaps against his own better judgement, to support her affines. The sagas provide many such instances and to deny what would appear to be a commonplace social reality in favor of an unproven theory of literary creation seems injudicious. Against this, Jochen's demonstration that the incidence of Hetzerei is higher in the "family sagas" than in other types of
38 Jochens, "Icelandic Heroine", p. 47f.; Idem, "Female Inciter", pp .. loo-19· 39 See the studies by Miller cited in notes 8 and II.

sources is useful but ultimately unconvincing since it relies on an assessment of the sources which is itself controversial. Nor is it really fair to blame churchmen for the Hetzerin who, as we shall see below, existed in Germanic culture long before the introduction of Christianity. While the figure of Eve may sometimes have encouraged ambivalent feelings amongst clergymen, the same church was also responsible, as Jochen herself emphasizes," for the most remarkable of all advances in the freedom and security of women in that the hierarchy insisted from the time of Gratian onwards on the mutual consent theory of marriage while also forbidding the widely prevalent practice of concubinage. Thus, there is no reason to believe that the clergy was any more intolerant than anyone else in the culture and a reasonable basis for holding the contrary view. Finally, to suggest as she does, that the authors of the Icelandic sagas were on the one hand "deeply imbued with pagan tradition" but on the other hand had also received a thorough clerical education and had perhaps thereby "absorbed" a two-track ecclesiastical attitude, iii simply to set up a false dichotomy. The hidden assumption is that the pagan tradition was not ambivalent about females or female qualities. This is highly debatable but if one wishes to support it, one must hold strictly to one of two propositions each of which contains pitfalls: either pagans consistently thought highly of women or else consistently regarded them as inferior beings. Both the laws (which usually treat women as incompetent) and the Hetzerin motif suggest that the former is incorrect but if the latter be argued, then the grounds for blaming ecclesiastics disappear, for the bias is already present. Even if it could be shown that the clergy was marginally more prejudiced than the population at large, however, it might still be irrelevant since such demonstration would not necessarily affect the historicity of the motif in question but would merely suggest that churchmen might have tended to emphasize it more than some other authors. In view of these objections, one cannot accept the thesis as presented. Jochen's paper contains some acute observations of permanent worth but the existence of the female goader is difficult to dismiss as fictional. So far I have discussed the darker side of the Hetzerin motif in order to demonstrate the palpable historicity of'its roots in the common Germanic culture which probably affected the Beowulf poet's depiction of Wealhtheow. The task has been facilitated by the fact that explanations of causality in the sources naturally tend to cluster around cases of conflict rather than of settlement and thus the negative side of the female inciter is easier to document. That is not to say that the obverse of the coin is not also discernable. Previous discussion of Wealhtheow's behavior has established that women who can blame and provoke
40 Jochens, "Icelandic Heroine", p. 48; Idem, "The Church and Sexuality in Medieval Iceland" (1980), pp. 377-92; Idem, "Consent in Marriage: Old Norse Law, Life and Literature" (1986), pp, 142-'76.

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can also praise and mediate and thus reduce conflict among men. The Old English references to the offered cup followed by praise and advice clearly establish the positive role played by women of rank in the small but highly significant body of the comitatus. The combined witness of philology, literature and history all attest to this honored function. Citation of a few instances outside the warband , however, may prove useful in adding depth to the portrait of the cup-bearing woman within it. A glance at the Historia Francorum shows that early medieval writers sometimes emphasized the prowess of a lord by showing that women praised him. A famous case, although its relevance to the explication of Germanic attitudes in this area has not hitherto been recognized, is that of king Childeric of the Franks, the father of Clovis. When Childeric was expelled from the kingdom for debauching the daughters of nobles, he fled to Thuringia where he took refuge with king Bisinus and his wife Basina. Some years later he was recalled to his throne and, thereafter, Basina deserted her husband and journeyed to Francia: He questioned her closely as to why she had come from far away to be with him, and she is said to have answered: "I know that you are a strong man and I recognize ability when I see it. I have therefore come to live with you. You can be sure that if I knew anyone else, even far across the sea, who was more capable than you, I should have sought him out and gone to live with him instead." This pleased Childeric very much and he married her. She became pregnant and bore a son whom she called Clovis. He was a great man and became a famous soldier,"

it. co~cerns ~ woma~ who l:f~ her husband for a "better" man and who, thereby, highlights his superior qualities, The woman involved is named Deuteria and she came from a noble senatorial family. Her husband must have been noble as well ?ut we know nothing about him. f\t the time of the incident Deuteria was living m or near the fortress of Cabrieres, then being threatened with a siege by Theudebert. She sent messengers to him to say: "No one can resist you, noble prince. We accept you as our ruler. Come to our town and do with it what you will." Theudebert marched to Cabrieres and entered the township. He saw that the inhabitants were offering no resistance. ... Deuteria went to meet him. He found her attractive, fell in love with her, persuaded her to go to bed with him and had intercourse with her," Shortly afterwards, the two were married. This episode is particularly intriguing because a few paragraphs later Gregory tells us that Deuteria subsequently became jealous of her daughter by her first husband and drowned her because she was afraid Theudebert might desire her. Although it is a heinous crime, Gregory reports the murder without overt judgement, saying only that it happened in the city of Verdun. His only characterization of Deuteria is that she was "a married woman full of energy and resource". He takes the same relaxed attitude toward Theudebert, Despite exposing serious flaws in his character he still describes him as being elegant, able, courageous; a man who "proved himself to be a great king, distinguished by every virtue. He ruled his kingdom justly: respected his bishops, was liberal to the churches .... " 43 ' Quite obviously, neither of these episodes can be judged solely on the basis of clerical prejudice. Gregory has numerous biases but many are quite alien to moderns because his criteria for judgement are different. From his sixth century epi~copal/ senatorial viewpoint, the preponderant standards are those of nobility of hneage, the prowess of Christian warriors, generosity to the church and most emphatically, the degree of respect accorded the office of bishop. Against these outstanding virtues, murder, rapine, brigandage, adultery and polygyny count for less. The correct choices of women do count, however, for the narratives indicate that the way in which women spoke of men was important for male reputations in both Romano-Frankish and Frankish contexts. While the Hetzerin motif predominates in many sources, then, that which we might term Lobende the prai~e theme, is by no means absent. What the documents seem to be suggesting IS this: the female provoker exists and there is prejudice against her in that guise. Once she turns to praise, however, her testimony becomes valuable but such is less commonly mentioned, perhaps because the more distracting negative tendencies come to be more often stressed and then routinized. Further research would be necessary to test this hypothesis but, for the present, would take us too

Si non e vero eben trovatol Despite his career of furious debauchery, Gregory
clearly admires Childeric and we can now recognize the significance of the fact that he has Basina, a woman, sing his praises. Nor does the bishop of Tours chastise Basina for breaking the marriage bond although that is what post- Tridentine moderns would expect of a bishop. Rather, he approves of Basina and applauds her 'judgement based on a rational assessment of the status andabilities of the two men. In the sentence introducing the quotation above, Gregory writes: "now that Bisinus and Childeric were both kings, Queen Basina ... deserted her husband and joined Childeric". What primarily concerned Gregory, and also all those warlords, wives and warriors for centuries to come, was not an anachronistic concept of abstract morality but rather the living contemporary forces of status, honor and shame. For the chronicler of the Franks, the rightness of Basina's choice was amply demonstrated by Childeric's subsequent career and the fact that she bore a son who became a noted warrior. A comparable incident is related of Clovis' grandson, Theudebert. Once again,

41 Buchner, Gregor von Tours I: II, 12, p. 94. Translation

by Thorpe,

p. 128f.

42 Ibid., p. 176.

43 Ibid., p. 178.

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Lady with a Mead Cup

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and Sibyls

59

far afield since a number of more immediately relevant topics from ancient commentaries remain to be discussed. We may conclude, however, that the Hetzerin had another and brighter side which could sometimes be important. Let us now examine the question of origins and comitatus association. Roman sources confirm that women acted as goaders and praisers, as exhorters in fact, from the very beginning of the tradition as we know it. In chapter seven of Germania, Tacitus lays great stress on the importance of individual reputation among the tribes of central Europe and indicates elsewhere that it is the reputation of warlords which often attract followers. If kings are chosen in this period on the basis of birth, military leaders are taken on the basis of ability. He says specifically that "if they are energetic, if they are conspicuous, if they fight in the front line, they lead because they are admired", et duces exemplo potius quam imperio, si prompti, si conspicui, si ante aciem agant, admiratione praesunt" He then adds that two things ''most stimulate their courage". The first is the fact that relatives fight together in formation and the second is that each warrior knows that women are the witnesses to his bravery: Close by them, too, are those dearest to them, so that they hear the shrieks of women, the cries of infants. They are to every man the most sacred witnesses of his bravery--they are his most generous applauders. The soldier brings his

wounds to mother and wife, who shrink not from counting or even demanding them and who administer bothfood and encouragement to the combatants. Tradition says
that armies already wavering and giving way have been rallied by women who, with earnest entreaties and bosoms laid bare, have vividly represented the horrors of captivity which the Germans fear with such extreme dread on behalf of their women, that the strongest tie by which a state can be bound is the being required to give, among the number of hostages, maidens of noble birth: They even believe that the sex has a certain sanctity and prescience, and they do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. These lines certainly contain a hearty dose of exaggeration. We know that in times of dearth or emergency Germanic husbands sometimes sold their wives and children and we also know that maidens were not usually regarded as especially good sureties," On the other hand, the general tenor of Tacitus' report
44 Hutton, Tacitus. Germania 7, p, 274. Translation by Church and Brodribb, p. 712. 45 Revolt among the Frisians, for example, followed only after they had first sold their cattle, their land and then their wives and children. See John Jackson, ed. Tacitus. The Annals ill (19512), IV, 72, p, 128. Commentary in Much, Jankuhn and Lange, Germania, p, 166f., and Reinhold Bruder, Die Germanisch» Frau im Lichte der Runeninschrijten und der antiken Historiagraphie (1974), pp, 145-51. A useful discussion of Germanic society from a Marxist viewpoint will be found in Bruno Kruger, Die Germanen: Geschichte und Kultur der germanischen Stdmme in Mitteleurope I (1988), pp. 121-{)1, 264-{)0. See also Rafael von Uslar, Die Germanen vom I. bis 4. jahrhundert nacb Christus (1980); Eduard Norden, Die germanische Urgeschichte in Tacitus Germania (19592); Malcolm Todd, The Northern Barbarians. IOO BC-,'ID 300 (19872); Nehlsen, Sklauenrecht,

on women as stimulators of courage, witnesses to bravery, demanders and counters of wounds, entreaters and counselors is confirmable from other sources and, despite some recent criticism, must be regarded as factual. An example of practice is contained in the Historia where Civilis surrounds himself with the standards of the defeated Roman cohorts to remind his men of their honor. He "directed his own mother and sisters, and the wives and children of all his men, to stand in the rear, where they might encourage to victory, or shame defeat. The warsong of the men, and the shrill cries of the women, rose from the whole line . 6 • • • " 4 It must nevertheless be admitted that the mode of conflict described here. is as much reminiscent of tribal folk-warfare as that of the comitatus where women and children are less likely to have been present. I do not regard that as a serious obstacle to the present interpretation, however, since a carryover of some such attitudes is a high probability. These passages from Tacitus, as well as those from Frankish, Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic sources, provide strong support for thy present hypothesis which emphasizes continuity in the Hetzerin motif and sees it as reflecting social reality. As in the sagas, it is mothers, sisters and wives who praise the brave and shame the cowards. The contrary view is more difficult to uphold. In recent times, however, the Tacitean references to women have been. subjected to intense scrutiny by Reinhard Bruder who sought to depict them as primarily intentionally propagandistic and rhetorical but was forced to conclude that certain features probably rested. on sound historical foundations," Thus, he was driven to admit that women were sometimes present at battles-as exhorters but not as combatants as some scholars have argued-and that they did encourage the fighters through word and gesture. Although I do not discuss them, comparative materials from Celtic and Greek culture as well as anthropological data would all add weight to this conclusion. Here, then, in the forests of Germania, is the archetype, the primordial Hetzerin whose descendant lives on in statelier guise in Hrothgar's hall. Although it was necessary to explore a number of byways before arriving at the site of her nativity, we have reached along the route a new understanding of the role of women as the formers of attitudes in simple societies. While the opinions of men were usually decisive, it may be regarded as established that women had a secure niche as judgers of reputation and it is, I suggest, the now demonstrated continuity of this function which partially explains Wealhtheow's speechmaking rights in the midst of a warrior band at Heorot. But this is only one link in a chain of associations each of which has a bearing on the other and can only be separated

46 Gifford Moore, ed. Tacitus. The Histories II (19512),.IV, 18, p. 34; Much, Jankuhn and Lange, Germania, p. 165f.; Bruder, Germanische Frau, pp. 128-42. 47 Bruder, Germanische Frau, p. 142.

60

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61

for the purpose of analysis. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts as we shall see when discussing the relationship between liquor, women and initiation into lordship. Before examining that complex topic, however, a number of other Tacitean passages describing the odd political intimacy shared by warlords and prophetic women must be analyzed for these contain hitherto unnoticed clues which are essential to explaining. the oracular-like pronouncements of Hrothgar's queen. Although our study so far has resulted in some new insights into the character of the female exhorter, it is still too generalized a depiction for it does not yet bring her sufficiently into the ambit of the warlord nor endow her with the rather vague but nevertheless identifiable aura of sacrality which suffuses Wealhtheow's liquor ritual. The means of doing so are at hand, however, and lie in Tacitus' observation that the Germans believed their women to possess a certain sanctity and prophetic power which rendered their counsel worthy of hearing. He goes on to add that "in Vespasian's days we saw Veleda long regarded by many as a divinity. In former times, too, they venerated Aurinia, and many other women, 8 but not with servile flatteries, or with sham deification." 4 There are three broad ways of interpreting this Tacitean odor of sanctity said to surround at least some tribal females. The traditional approach, the one held by several generations of leading scholars, takes the cited passage largely at face value and associates Veleda and her "many other" companions with the oft-mentioned wise women, matronae and priestesses of the Germanic corpus. It views the passage as authentic in its essentials even while recognizing a certain amount of exaggeration in that the author's celebration of Germanic women in general is a tactic calculated to damn their increasingly immoral Roman sisters with faint praise." The two other views seem more extreme. At one pole is the minimalist : position held most strongly by Bruder who argues that such passages are primarily literary embellishments written not only to contrast Romans and Germans at the expense of the former but also to enliven a book by highlighting the exotic and picturesque. A dose of this skepticism is salutary for it is certain that not all Germanic women were virtuous, few were really venerated as prophetic wonders and Roman commentators on Germanic culture did have their own axes to grind and reputations to advance. Skepticism notwithstanding, however, we are still left with the undeniable facts, which Bruder must reluctantly but explicitly recognize, that certain Germanic women did wield influence because they were revered as sibyls, that they did function in the sacral area and did interact in a politically significant way with certain military leaders and rulers. The other interpretive extreme is represented by some modern feminists who ransack the literature on

I
·1

I
\

Amazons, Norns, Valkyries and priestesses in an attempt to compile a heroic genealogy while at the same time proposing a wide degree of autonomy for the greatest possible number of early medieval women." This approach draws inspiration less from the sources than from modern social movements and is best described as romantic and speculative. Much of it exhibits a yearning to identify an hypothesized long-lost golden age of "pre-patriarchal society" when a matriarch ruled the Noble Savage and the Indo-European sky god had not, it is argued, yet risen to prominence. Although a few insights have been achieved by some scholars influenced by this school, its assumptions are frequently characterized by wishful thinking. In sum, while account must be taken of Bruder's criticism, the traditional interpretation remains soundest. That is not to say that it cannot be modified so .as to achieve greater clarity and exactitude, particularity in the case of early comitatus politics which, of course, is a special interest here. The revised edition of Much's well-known Germania commentary speaks of the "political influence" of Veleda, the first century prophetess of the Batavian revolt, and Naumann, whose study of the Seherin is cited by Much, describes her as being "apparently the ally of the Batavianleader Civilis" who was ''in a certain respect his equal"." Veleda's prophecies must, therefore, be seen in a political context and once this problem is squarely faced the key questions become these: who decided what Veleda was going to prophecy? Could she decide herself or was she controlled by someone else? Although the sources do not say a great deal about Veleda, they constantly associate her with Civilis and, when carefully analyzed, encourage the hypothesis that, like Wealhtheow, she was an instrument of the warlord employed to advance his cause. Let us now note the evidence which associates the two figures. After a notable victory over the legions, after the warlord Civilis ceremonially cut the hair which he vowed never to trim until his triumph, the standing of the Romans reached a low ebb in the North. His intention of winning the supremacy over all Gaul and Germany seemed realizable to many and men from a variety of tribes flocked to his standard. He sent a captured Roman officer to Veleda, who had prophesied victory for the Germans. Munius Lupercus, legate of one of the legions, was sent along with other gifts to Veleda, a maiden of the tribe of the Bructeri, who possessed extensive dominion; for by ancient usage the Germans attributed to many of their

48 Hutton, Tacitus. Germania 8, p. 276. 49 Among many works, see Much, Jankuhn and Lange, Germanic,

50 For example: Miriam R. Dexter, "Indo-European Reflections on Virginity and Autonomy" (1985), pp. 57-74; Fell, Wilmen; Schrader, Images. 51 Much, Jankuhn and Lange, Germania, p, 169f.; Hans Naumann, "Der Konig und die Seherin" (1938), p. 347ff. A perceptive general discussion will be found in H.R. Ellis Davidson, Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Ear(y Scandina7)ian and Celtic Religions (1988), pp. 159-66.

62

Lady with a Mead Cup

Warlords. Hetzerinnen and Si~)lls

women prophetic powers and, as superstition grew in strength even actual divinity. The authority of Veleda was then at its height,because she had foretold the success of the Germans and the destruction of the legions. Lupercus, however, was murdered on the road." In Historic 4, 65 Veleda is again mentioned. Civilis and his supporters were then deciding whether Colonia Agrippinensis (Koln) should be given over for plunder to the troops. The tribe of the Tencteri was especially bitter against the colony. When negotiations began, the colonists proclaimed: "As arbiters between us we will have Civilis and Veleda; under their sanctions the treaty shall be ratified." The Tencteri were thus appeased, and ambassadors were sent with presents to Civilis and Veleda, who settled everything to the satisfaction of the inhabitants of the Colony. They were not, however, allowed to approach or address Veleda herself. In order to inspire them with more respect, they were prevented from seeing her. She dwelt in a lofty tower, and one of her relatives chosen for the purpose, conveyed, like the messenger of a divinity, the questions and the answers. 53 There are two further brief references affecting our interpretation. One states that a captured Roman trireme was given as a gift to Veleda and another that the Roman commander Cerialis sent secret emissaries who held out the prospect of peace to the Batavi, and of pardon to Civilis, while advising Veleda and her relatives to change by a well-timed service to the Roman people the fortunes of war, which so many disasters had shown to be adverse. He reminded them that the Treveri had been beaten, that the Ubii had submitted, that the Batavi had had their country taken from them, and that from the friendship of Civilis nothing else had been gained but wounds, defeat and mourning; an exile and a fugitive, he could only be a burden to those who entertained him .... 54 This happened after the capitulation of Civilis. Let us now examine these citations in an attempt to establish the nature of the relationship between Civilis and Veleda. Fragmentary as they are, some new insights may be attainable with regard to the elements of prophecy and the behavior of prophetesses. In a recent study, I argued that both Germans and Celts actually employed the apparently neutral device of casting lots to gain support for an intended action." Prominently mentioned in Germania, lot-casting could be manipulated to achieve compromises between factions who could not otherwise honorably back down and to add supernatural force to secretly formulated
5Z

plans. Thus, a ruler might cast lots, or cause lots to be cast for him, until they settled on the predetermined course which he wanted followed and which thereby seemed to have divine approval. It seems to me that warlords might well have made similar use of sibyls. We know that spaewomen and seeresses certainly existed among the early Germans and all indications are that tribesmen were deeply influenced by their opinions which, as in many other cultures, might often have marked political overtones. The fact that Veleda foretold victory for the revolt was obviously an important easily manipulable political datum since a positive prediction would inspire the tribes and attract followers to an anti-Roman resistance while a negative one would have the opposite effect. Civilis, of course, as a wily leader mindful of troop morale, was highly attuned to the value of signs and omens. Tacitus says that he "was naturally politic to a degree rarely found among barbarians" and then adds that he was given to representing himself as the long dead anti-Roman commanders Sertorius and Hannibal "on the strength of a similar disfigurement of his countenance"." For the sake of his followers' morale, then, Civilis had to take control ofVeleda and shape her pronouncements but he also had to act as if her prognostications were the purest of divine enlightenments. That warleader and sibyl worked closely together is indicated by all the texts cited as well as by the specific reference to their "friendship". One must remember, however, that a truly egalitarian "friendship" in Germanic society only came into being when both individuals were of equal status and that otherwise an element of subordination existed. Whereas Civilis was a warleader of the Batavian royal family, Veleda is described simply as a "maiden of the Bructeri". The status-differential is vast. Moreover, Veleda was also kept isolated from others so that the colonists were not allowed to approach or address her themselves. Clearly, someone controlled access to the oracle. Messages were sent to 'her through a relative "chosen" for that purpose. Since her prophecies were favorable to Civilis, the question as to who ruled her and who chose the relative is hardly a difficult one to answer. It might, however, still seem theoretically defensible to argue that Veleda was independent enough to support Civilis simply because she wished him well. This possible hypothesis founders on two objections. First, the texts suggest that both Romans and Germans thought Veleda's prophecies could be influenced by the right kind of timely intervention. Two passages mention the giving of gifts and Cerialis advised her that a change in her attitude would be a service to the Roman people. Simply stated: political allegiance determines prophetic utterance. Thus, even if we assume Veleda's good will, Civilis would still have needed to control her since prophecy is always a dangerous instrument and a willful prophetess is a loose cannon on any warlord's ship. To quote an appropriate proverb: "trust is good, control is better". Finally, Veleda's kinsmen are mentioned in two citations
56 Moore, Tacitus. Histories II: IV, 13, p. ZZ.

Moore, Tacitus. Histories II: IV, 61, p. uS. 53 Ibid., p. 1z6. 54 Ibid., pp. Z1Z, z16. 55 Enright,Iona, Tara· and Scissons, pp. 31-41 and n. 131.

Lady with a Mead Cup

Warlords, Hetzerinnen

and Sikvls

and in the second the legion's commander advises her "and her relatives" to serve the Roman people. He obviously assumes that her allegiance is negotiable I So whom had she served before? As an unmarried woman, Veleda would have been under the guardianship of her father or brothers who had no incentive to give her in marriage since she brought them both wealth and prestige. In this case, since .Cerialis only talks to Veleda after the warlord's defeat, it seems probable that he .is assuming his opponent's position as patron of the family. The conclusion that she was not a free agent is, despite generations of assumption to the contrary, inevitable. Nor does it look as if Civilis and Veleda were doing anything really new. According to Tacitus, no people practiced augury and divination by lot more diligently than the Germans. Omens of all kinds were respected, among them the flight of birds and the neighing of certain horses. This latter means of gaining future knowledge was particularly venerated and it is explicitly stated that when the horses were taken out, they were accompanied by priest and king who "observe their neighing and snorting", hinnitusque ac fremitus observant. 57 In many cases, then, it would have been the sacral ruler who interpreted the omens for the tribe. Control of the omens, it seems, was nothing new to kings and it looks as if Civilis, who came from a royal family and wished to become king, was simply following tradition. In principle, at least, there appears to be little difference between the functions performed by Veleda and any other kind of oracle. Although many types of oracles were respected, it is also clear that leaders often maintained women to interpret the supernatural. Cassius Dio mentions another warlord/prophetess pair when he says that Ganna, successor to Veleda, accompanied Masyos, king of the Semnones, to Rome where both were honored by Domitian before returning home, and Suetonius says that Vitellius kept a woman of the Chatti whom he trusted as an oracle. 58 Another piece of evidence for such pairing has been found in, of all places, the island of Elephantine near the southern border of Egypt. Written on an ostrakon in second century Greek occurs the name of Baloubourg (reete Waluburg), a sibyl of the Semnones, who is unlikely to have landed in those climes unless she accompanied a band of auxiliary troops of her people. This clue is particularly intriguing since it suggests that prophetesses like Veleda, Aurinia and Ganna may sometimes (often?) have traveled with the warlord's followers. Another indication is provided by Caesar in his reference to Ariovistus, a
57 Hutton, Tacitus. Germania 10, p, 278. See also Davidson, Myths and Symbols, pp. 149-54; Rene Derolez, "La divination chez les gerrnains" (1968), pp. 269~4. 58 For these and the following references see Cassius Dio, Hist. Rom. 67, 5; Suetonius, Vita Vitellii 14; Naumann, Seherin, pp. 347-58; Hans Volkmann, Germanische Seherinnen in riimischen Diensten (1964); Edward Schroder, Walburg, die Sibylle: Deutsche Namenkunde. Gesammelte Aujsiitze zur Kunde deutscher Persanen- und Ortsnamen (1944), pp. 60-4; Jan de Vries, Altgermanische Religillnsgeschichte 1(1956), pp. 319-33.

warlord of the first century Be, although in this example several women are involved and not just one. The case is worth considering in greater detail, however, because it can provide us with a more specific instance of the manipulation of the readers of omens. In a passage from the Gallic War describing a long delay in an expected battle between the legions and the forces of Ariovistus, Caesar has this to say of the metres familiae of the opposing forces: It was a custom among the Germans that their matrons should declare by lots and divinations whether it was expedient or not to engage, and the matrons declared that heaven forbade the Germans to win a victory, if they fought an action before the new moon. 59 On the face of it, this passage seems to emphasize the high degree of power accorded to certain wise women since, apparently, they were able to dictate when, or even if, battles were to be fought. Such impression is misleading. Caesar reports that he had great difficulty in bringing Ariovistus to engage. For "five days in succession" he ordered his troops to form for battle before the Roman camps and on each occasion Ariovistus would commit only his cavalry to minor encounters. On the sixth day, or perhaps somewhat later, Ariovistus still would not approach but instead ordered some of his men to a restricted and indecisive encounter from noon to sunset. It was on questioning some of the captured foemen as to the reason for these tactics that Caesar elicited the answer' cited above. In fact, as is made likely by Ariovistus' reluctance to join battle, the divinations of the matrons were a delaying tactic, a device to gain time. As Delbriick and Walser suggested, the legions on this occasion probably outnumbered the Germans, although Caesar implies otherwise." Thus, Ariovistus postponed battle as long as possible because he was waiting for reinforcements. It was only when Caesar advanced to his camp that "compelled by necessity", Ariovistus committed his full strength. As in other comparable examples, then, the lot-casting and divinations served the warlord's wishes and interests. Although the device may seem a clumsy one, it is actually a highly sophisticated instrument of propaganda. Unlike the disciplined Roman legionnaire, the Germanic warrior's morale and steadiness of purpose often depended on the warlord's personal bravery and reputation for cleverness and success, qualities particularly necessary to a leader like Ariovistus whose troops were composed of men from six or seven different peoples and joined by no common bonds of tribal loyalty. Having led them to a face-to-face confrontation with the Romans, Ariovistus could not retreat even if the wives and children of his troops had not been present. To do so would have destroyed his
59 H.J. Edwards, ed, Caesar. The Gallic War (19802), 1,50, p. 82. 60 Delbruck, Kriegskunst p. 445f.; Gerold Walser, Caesar und die Germanen: Studien zur pll/itischen Tendenz rdmischer Feldzugsberichte (1956), p. 35f.; Siegfried Gutenbrunner, "Ariovist und Caesar" (1953), pp. 97-100•

(j6

Lady with a Mead Cup

Warlords, Hetzerinnen and Sibyls

reputation and his followers would have departed; the omens alone offered an honorable way out. When divination works, then, it redounds to the credit of the leader; when it fails the matronae can be blamed. That such may sometimes have happened is, perhaps, suggested by a passage in the Getica where Jordanes says that king Filimer of the Goths drove out the ''witch women", magas mulieres,

Haliurunnas"
The foregoing analysis suggests that the warlord/ sibyll warband combination has ancient roots in Germanic culture which were still present in tradition at least in the age of the Beowulf poet who, however, only obliquely alludes to their existence through his references to incitement, the hint at the queen's oracular powers and through his general depiction of the woman who ritually presents the cup to the leader. The Hrothgar /Wealhtheow association as presented in the poem is an echo of an earlier more robust and vigorous politico-theological conception which requires considerable reconstruction to be understood. The poet's description is partial and some aspects may be deliberately shaded and elusive. Whatever the reason for his sensitivity-and it is difficult to know whether to ascribe it to the subtlety of his art or his Christian conviction-it seems quite probable that, on the whole, his portrait is reasonably realistic, He knows whereof he speaks but says less than he knows. Perhaps the most persuasive illustration of this is the now certain but never overtly emphasized delegatory role which is common to both Wealhtheow and Veleda who are further joined by ritual conduct, supernatural association and close ties to the warlord. While some differences in detail are present, and are only to be expected, one would need a high degree of faith in the lottery of circumstance to attribute the predominant congruity to an extra-institutional source. The political and religious needs of the comitatus warlord who rules a fictional family of warriors are undoubtedly the decisive variables. It is from a similar but even more ancient background in tribal warfare that the Hetzerin springs but here, too, certain modifications of her character have occurred; for, while the duality of her complementary qualities is noted by. the Roman historian-she lauds courage and disdains cowardice, demands wounds but also heals them-the balance is already out of kilter in Gregory of Tours and the Icelandic sources may have gone further. But the church is probably not at fault here since Tacitus is overkind for his own reasons and the bias may be due to other variables or even be perennial. It may ultimately lie in the differing psychology of the sexes. The association of women with rank is certainly perennial, however, and we have noted the way in which they could

manipulate the same domestic status symbols ·and utter the same criticisms regardless of milieu and chronology. As members of this culture and participants in an organization where consciousness of relative status is ubiquitous, it would not be surprising if women like Wealhtheow, who were evidently expected to play that role, should combine the qualities of Hetzerin and sibyl in varying degrees at various times. The association of women with magic will persist also. Magic is constantly associated with women in the Early Middle Ages and the Libri pc1!nitentiales show that there is actually a factual basis for this in the village rituals of archaic Europe. 62 Nor is it unusual to find the same beliefs in the halls of the mighty. One need only recall the repeated charges of witchcraft against Judith, the wife of Louis the Pious, or the death of Gerberga, sister of Bernard of Septimania, who was drowned in the river as a witch." Such expresses the attitude of hostile witness. Within. the Germanic comitatus, however, another pattern can be discerned - that of Ariovistus with his matronae, Civilis with Veleda, Masyos with Ganna, Waluburg with Germanic auxiliaries and Hrothgar with Wealhtheow. At this point, it might be objected that the chronological differential is so great as to reduce credibility in the association posited. There are at least two possible rejoinders. First, the evidence already presented strongly suggests otherwise. Second, and perhaps even more significant, so does the nature of the institution itself. One can reasonably posit continuity over many centuries· because the institutional context, the warband itself, lasts for many centuries and always requires similar kinds of reinforcement. The supernatural will never lack for a welcome in the warband for those men who are most likely to provide it and seek to control it are leaders who cannot afford to neglect the morale of their troops. Even in modern armies, similar types of practitioners are still present, although they are now called chaplains, morale officers and political commissars. Finally, one other observation may be added with regard to the offering of drink. It is instructive to note that Tacitus says that the wives and mothers of warriors gather at the sidelines during combat and minister to their menfolk by providing food and exhortation (cibosque et hortamina pugnantibus gestant) while checking wounds as proofs of valor. 64 Presumably, the offer of food to tired fighters would also include drink and, presumably also, the women would refuse to serve cowards or laggards. If so, then we have here the intriguing combination of drink-offering with incitement and the determination of status. The links in this
(1982), pp. 1-39; Pierre J. Payer, Sex and the Pemtentials: The Development ofa Sexual Code 550-I150 (1984), pp. 19-55. 63 Reinhold Rau, ed. Anonymi vita Hludowici imperatoris 44, 53 in his Q1lellen I, pp. 334, 354· 62 Monica Blocker, "Frauenzauber-Zauberfrauen" General discussion in Pierre Riche, "La magie I'epoque carolingienne" (1973), pp. 127-38. 64 Hutton, Tacitus. Gormania 7, p. 274. Bruder is skeptical about this reference: Germanische Frau, p, 143f. On the whole, however, considering that women were sometimes present during tribal engagements to encourage the warriors, it hardly seems incredible.

61 Mommsen,

ed. Jordanes ..Getica (MGH AA 5), XXIV, p. 121; Herwig Wolfram, Geschichte der Goten .. Vim den Anjangen bis zur Mitte des sechsten Jahrhunderts: Entuurf einer historischen Ethnographie (1980), p. 124. De Vries speaks here of a "pan-germanic concept" for the same word appears in OE as hellerune with the meaning "pythonissa, Zauberin" and in Beowulfis used to describe Grendel. See his Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte I, p. 231.

68

Lady with a Mead Cup

case are less formal and secure; it would be speculative to place too much reliance on the passage. Nevertheless, when added to the doss~er already compil~d, the cultural associations do seem significant and encouraging smce, once agam, the constantly recurring pattern of warfare, women's service and warrior rank seem discernible. It is, therefore, utterly simplistic to label the heroic code a "male ideology" for women were crucial to its maintenance and propagation; that i~~ne , of the reasons for Wealhtheow's participation in the oaths of men and the grvmg of advice in the comitatus. Such a world view is not easy to appreciate in an era of industrial production and mass warfare but it is typical of the Early Middle Ages when neither were present to detract from the sheer joy of conflict and story. One concludes that Wealhtheow's role in the comitatus, exemplified by her acts of Praise , warning , incitement and prophecy, is part of the warband institutionalk . f tradition itself. While such acts may well occur outside the comitatus ramewor , they lack the frequency, intensity and structural necessity that occurred within it. Consider the force of the fact that it is always the same woman who performs these acts for the same men. The pressure to respond appropriately must have been profound.

III

THE LIQUOR RITUAL AND THE BASIS OF THE LORDLY POWER TO COMMAND FOLLOWERS

A partial review of major findings to this point may be helpful. Tho mutually supportive, apparently independent, Old English sources, one of which is anecdotal and the other prescriptive, establish that aristocratic wives frequently executed a particular service ritual during which they named their husbands as heads of the household and confirmed their status by serving them liquor before others. Although the dating of these documents is controversial, I investigation :has shown that the acts described are not; they are traditional and widely practiced and thus the early and long-term existence of the ritual seems assured. While seeking to establish the actuality and presence of the pattern, an attempt has also been made to explain its broader significance and the reasons for the concentrated focus on the woman who conducted it. This 'approach has achieved some significant results. We have seen that the lord's wife is closely identified with his authority and, moreover, with the concept of authority itself in that she helps to affirm it in various ways among the group. The lady's symbolic status is both ancient and widely recognized. Hence, many different genres of sources as far back as the migration period refer to the capture of the queen as a technique for gaining legitimacy: Even then it appears as traditional. Although Germanic . candidates had other ways of expressing claims to the throne, those which appear to be most frequently present are cohabitation with the former ruler's wife and the capture of his thesaurus. The universality of these motifs in historical sources is a datum of such importance that it can hardly be overemphasized; it describes a fundamental and consistent mode of thought. Moreover, even after capture of woman and treasure, the relevance of the lord's wife does not sharply decline for legitimacy is the quality which is aimed at. We have seen that she is sometime regarded as the guardian of the royal insignia which make up an important part of the treasure and have great emblematic significance. True, from what little
See, for example, the variety of opinions offered by various contributors in Chase, Dating of Beowulf. 2 Schneider, Kiinigswahl, p. 246f.; Kestler, "Raub-, Kauf- und Friedelehe", p. 92f.; Much,]ankuhn and Lange, Germania, pp. 282-94; Wenskus, Stammesbildung, pp. 17-32; Hans K. Schulze, Grundstrukturen der Verfassung im Mittelalter II (1986), p. 9; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte I, p. 18f.
I

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71

concrete evidence we have of actual behavior, the queen had to share her control with the camerarius/ and thus the exercise of her prerogative depends on her husband, but it is also the case that she is the one who often distributes gifts and in theory, it seems, was the one expected to do so under these conditions. All of this fits in well with her delegatory role in the comitatus described earlier. Based, then, on the commonalty and significance of data--which alone might ,suggest antiquity for the liquor-service ritual-it now seems worthwhile to ask if it does not, in fact, go back even before the migration period and reveal something about the development of lordship among the early Germans. This is an extremely complex question about which certainty can hardly be achieved but ' it is also a fundamental one which must be posed. It may be that the introduction of the ceremonial elements outlined above can help us place the matter in a clearer light and to focus on relevant aspects hitherto overlooked. We must first briefly review the early evidence for the sources of lordly power over companies. It is primarily but not exclusively philological. Leaving aside all other related but not (arguably) immediately relevant matters (although many of these are indeed important), the basic question is this: should one view the comitatus of the first three or four centuries as essentially a military institution based on voluntary entry, overall reciprocity and trust or, contrariwise, more as a domestic one based on command, hierarchy and obedience? If the former, which is in fact the majority opinion,' then one must perforce take up and defend certain positions regarding lordship, feudalism, the role of the church in influencing the Germans and so forth. If the latter, then contrasting interpretations must be expected.' The way in which one approaches this fundamental dilemma of constitutional scholarship will eventually affect every aspect of historiography (if held consistently) for it is, ultimately, a question about the nature of authority and the origins of the state in central and western Europe." A word on terminology is also important. The terms "military" and "domestic" here assume untoward significance which require some clarification for they point to two different spheres of lordly authority-on the one hand, that of the leader over followers who voluntarily join his warband and who grant obedience
3 Ewig, "Klosterpolitik", p. 577 and n. 89; Nelson, "Queens as jezebels", p. 47· 4 Anne Kristensen, Tacitus' germanische GeJolgschaft; Green), Carolingian Lord; Walter Schlesinger, "Herrschaft und Gefolgschaft", pp. 9-52; Idem, "Uber germanisches Heerkonigtum" (1963), pp. 53-87; Idem, "Randbemerkungen", pp. 296-3X6; Kroeschell, Haas und Herrscbaft. 5 Kuhn "Grenzen", pp. x-83. Wenskus takes a position which draws on both Kuhn and Schlesinger in his Stammesbildung, p. 346f. A helpful summary discussion will be found in Schulze, Grundstrukturen I, pp. 39-53. 6 The warband attracts attention because it seems to be the crucial instrument of early political differentiation and hierarchy. In his article on GeJolgschaft, Kroeschell writes: "Gefolgschaft erscheint noch heute als der Prototyp aller politischen Herrschaft im Mittelalter, die mittelalterliche Verfassung als auf dem gefolgschaftlichen Prinzip, vor allem auf Treue, aufgebaut". elm. 1436.

because it is their unfettered will to do so and, on the other, that of the head of the household who exercises patriarchal authority over wife, minor sons, daughters, slaves and dependents whose desires need not be taken into account since they are not themselves free to make decisions but depend on him for protection and are, therefore, under his guardianship or munt.7 The difference between these ' two forms may not always be clear and the opposition proposed is consciously somewhat exaggerated for the sake of lucidity. Nevertheless, one of these two alternative explanations is likely to be the more nearly correct one. The sources testify to both kinds of power from at least the time of Tacitus whose Germania is the origin and locus classicus for some of the formulations. I shall refer to crucial passages from this work below. Bin it will now be necessary to examine some linguistic evidence which is central to the problem and has assumed an important role in the debate. The word druh: (. druhtiz, OE dryht, ON dratt) is recognized as the most widespread and most important vernacular name for the comitatus.8 As the root is also present in Gothic driugan, "to perform military service", it cannot be a new formation but must reflect primitive Germanic usage. The first extant example of druht appears in Lex Solica around 500 where, however, and this is most remarkable, it does not mean warband at all but "marriage procession" and appears in a chapter which describes the various forms of the kidnapping of women: "If anyone follows a betrothed girl in a wedding procession [dructe ducente] who is on her way to be married and assaults her on the road and rapes her, what is called gangichaldo in the malberg, let him be held liable for 8000 denarii, which makes 200 solidi"." Kuhn has noted in an important critical monograph that this marital and festive meaning is supported by Lombard troctingus, OHG truhting and truhti-goma, OS druhting, OE dryht-guma, dryht-ealdor, and dryht-ealdorman, all of which mean Brautfiihrer, "bridesman", or in modern usage, "best man". 10 He argues that one of the very old meanings of druht
7 Werner Ogris, "Munt, Muntwalt" (x980), elm. 750-6x; Schulze, Grundstrukturen IT, p. 28f. 8 Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand, "Frankisch Druht und Druhten: Zur historischen Terminologie im Bereichder Sozialgeschichte"(1974),pp. 524-35; eadem, Bezeichnungen, p. 16£;Green, Carolingian Lord, pp. 270-397; Von Olberg, Gefolgsleu'te, p. 208f.; Wenskus, Stammesbildung, p. 351f.; Kroeschell, Haus und Herschaji, p. 251; Schlesinger, "Heerkonigtum", p. 76f.; Alan Crozier, "The Germanic Root *dreug- 'to follow, accompany'" (1986), pp. 127-48; idem, "Old West Norse iprottand Old Englishindr:yhtu" (X986),pp. 3-10; Lars G. Hallander, "Old EngIishdryht and its Cognates" (1973), pp. 20-31; David Green, "Old English 'Dxyht'-ANew Suggestion" (1968}, pp. 392-406; Kuhn, "Grenzen", p. 23f; Dick, Ae. Dryht; Lindow, Comitatus, p. 17f. 9 Karl August Eckhardt, Pectus Legis Salicae: 6S Titel Text (x955), p. x60: Si quis puella sponsata dructe ducente [ad maritum] et eam in via aliquis adsallierit et cum ipsa violenter moechatus fuerit, mallobergo gangichaldo, sunt denarii VllIM qui faciunt solidos cc culpabilis iudicetur. The text is also available in MGH LL IV, r, p. 63 and a new edition by Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand is forthcoming. 10 Kuhn, "Grenzen", p. 24.

7.2

La~v with a Mead Cup

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must be "festive procession", or "wedding procession" and that at an early stage it must also have meant "festive gathering", "festival", "festival meal". This is demonstrated by several OHG and OE words all of which translate Latin dapifer and discophorus, he who carries the food and drink. "The conclusion is that all of these meanings could have evolved from a single (primitive) Germanic lifdruht, "drink." One notes immediately how very closely this cluster of ideas-marriage procession, drink, festival meal-accords with the discussion above of the wife who gives drink to her husband and proclaims his leadership of the warband. Between the meaning "armed band" and "marriage procession" one is compelled to seek a tertium comparatioms which might lie in the fact that a marriage procession would include armed men even though many participants would be non-weapons-bearing women and children. Another lies in the observation, as Green pointed out, that there need be no real conflict between the meanings of festive group and warrior retinue since the comitatus which Tacitus describes also does double-duty; in time of war it serves the leader in the field and in time of . peace it serves him in the hall where most effort is expended in getting drunk and in staying drunk for as long as possible: "if Tacitus, when describing the comitatus, so explicitly treats of it in its twofold aspect, then there is surely no reason why the one stem druht- should not have developed two specialized meanings (military and festive) from a common starting point." ,. To this one might add that in line 1231 of Beowulf, Wealhtheow casually refers to the followers as druncne ·dryhtguman, a fact which has unduly embarrassed some modern commentators who view the description as unfortunate or pejorative and who translate with "carousing" or "wine-glad"." Evidence for another derivation has been offered by Ernst Dick. In his recent study of the word family of OE dryht, this scholar took up the idea of "marriage procession" and followed it through a variety of fascinating byways. In his view, there is no necessary original connection with the warband but a "far greater probability" oflink with indryhtu, "Wachstumsheil", growth magic, and he would interpret dryht as primarily meaning "Kultschar" or cult-group. '4 His central concept is that of fertility. Ruth Schmidt-Weigand seems to have accepted at least
jilllow' ", p, 137 who writes of OHG truhtsazzo that "it probably denoted originally the man responsible for seating the " druhtiz, which in this compound can mean both 'bridal escort' and eking's comitatus'." 12 Green, Carolingian Lord, p, 271. Schmidt-Wiegand, Bezeichnungen, p. 18 appears to favor this opinion also and writes that druhtiz. "ist eine Gruppe, die unter gemeinsamen Anstrengungen etwas ausfiihrt. Ihr Zusammenwirken kann sich - das zeigt die geschichte des Wortes-lluf Kult und Brauch, auf Krieg und Waffendienst beziehen." 13 Magennis, "druncne d~vhtguman", pp. 159-64. The phrase in question is not used pejoratively but "suggests powerfully through allusion to feasting her [Wealhtheow] belief in the harmony of the Danish court. In their carefree enjoyment of drinking together the Danes express their sense of loyalty and trust." 14 Dick, Ae. Dryht, pp. 396-464.
II Ibid., p. 24f. See further Crozier, "dreug-'to

part of this analysis, for in her study of the druhtreferences in early Frankish sources she concludes that they have" agrarische Verhiiltnisse zur Voraussetzung". '5 A recent commentary is that of Gabriele von Olberg who shares this view and refers to Dick's explanation." Nonetheless, both Schmidt-Weigand and von Olberg hold that the primary common denominator is that of an armed band. Wenskus supports this also but is more skeptical of Dick's conclusions and also doubts that the "festive" meanings derive from the wedding procession," The mixture and variety of philological opinion on this topic is daunting. Viewed from the ritual perspective, however, it may be possible to develop other persuasive reasons for associating the comitatus with Germanic marriage custom and also for linking the bride in the procession-she is the only one normally left out of the discussion-with cultic practices within the warband. Some ways of doing so have been discussed in previous sections where we saw that the lord's wife must be accepted as part of the comitatus for many purposes and where she plays a crucial role in successions. It may be possible to build on these findings and add greater precision to the meaning of druht within the context of the overall problem of authority and subordination. OE dryht means a "troop of retainers", a warband, ,8 but it is fascinating to note that many compounds containing this element, which would naturally seem to be at home in the comitatus, are actually used of participants in marriage ceremonies. Words like dryht-ealdor, dryht-ealdorman, dryht-guma, dryht-man, dryht-wemend and dryht-wemere can all be used in OE to gloss terms like paranymphus, "best man", who leads the marriage procession, and architriclinus, "master of the feast"-in this case the marriage feast." As Roeder pointed out in an important 2D study of I909, such is also true of the important comitatus term tacn-bora. This compound usually glosses the Latin signifer, uexillifer and refers to the man who walks ahead of the band and carries its banner or field-emblem. It is a highly honorable position. Bede provides an excellent example of usage in his early eighth-century Historic eaclesiastica: "So great was his majesty in his realm [king Edwin] that not only were the banners carried before him in battle, but even in time of peace, as he rode about among his cities, estates and kingdoms with his
IS Schmidt-Wiegand, Bezeichnungen, p, 18. 16 Von Olberg, Gefolgsleute, p. 209£ 17 Wenskus, "Druht" (1986), p. 202. See also Heike Grahn-Hoek, Die ftankische Oberschich: im 6. Jahrhundert: Studien zu ihr rechtlichen und politichen Stellung (1976), pp. 276-83. 18 See note 8. A particularly helpful summary discussion is provided by Crozier in the first article cited. 19 Dick, Ae. Dryht, pp. 229-44; idem, "The Bridesman in the Indo-European Tradition: Ritual and Myth in Marriage Ceremonies" (1966), pp. 338-47. The studies from note 8 onwards discuss this meaning also. 20 Fritz Roeder, Zur Deutung der angelsiichsischen glossierungen von "paranymphus" und "paranympha". ("pronuba"): Bin Beitrag zur Kenntnis des ags. Hochzeitsrituells: Nachrichten v. d. Kongl. Gesellschajt d. Wiss. zu Giittingen: Phil.-hist Kl. (1907), p. 25£

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thegns, he always used to be proceeded by a standard-bearer. Further, when he walked anywhere along the roads, there used to be carried before him the type of standard which the Romans call a tufa and the English call a thuf.""' This same word could also mean paranymphus.:U In both types of groups, a specific man must have carried a banner. Thus, we conclude not only that tacn-bora designated a member of the comitatus, but also can conclude that it could mean "best man" in the marriage procession. In case of a lordly or royal marriage, then, the individual in each case would probably be the same. One thinks of all those widowed queens under the control of the warband and sought after by claimants to the throne. Although this connection is a welcome hint that we are on the right track, it also serves to emphasize the point that something is missing from the equation and that the common denominator of arms-bearers (which Wenskus notes is "actually very broad")" may be somewhat superficial. There must be something else which explains the truly astonishing fact that the Germans applied the same word to both a warband and a marriage procession. The hitherto most widely accepted linkage may be questioned. In a society where many armed men would often have traveled together and where in any case all free men carried weapons, a single such linguistic usage could only have developed (it seems to the present author at least) if the community also perceived a single concept to have applied to both the married women and the retainer in the comitatus. The key concept, I suggest, one which can be shown to fit both criteria, is that of entry into an organization, a family; in the bride's case it is a true family; in that of the warrior it is fictive." In each case there would be a festival and common meal and, although I have not searched the literature on this point, a procession is clearly a high probability as well. Recall Bede's description of the king and his retainers on the road. What we are pointing to, then, is a common contractual joining, in one case of man and wife and in the other of lord and man. Perhaps the word which comes closest to expressing both forms of union is "adoption" for such a concept seems to be present in each institution. At the same time, however, it is not adoption in the full technical sense. As Hans Kuhn has demonstrated, " examples of "true adoption", are hard to find in Germanic sources and seem to be consistently linked with the Christian concept of a spiritual relationship (which does create strict mutual obligations) in the rites of baptism and confirmarion." As in Beowulf (11.946-949), however, where Hrothgar declares his wish to treat the hero like a son and bids the hero to hold to his niwe sibbe, "new family",
Colgrave and Mynor, Bede, II, 16, p, 19z. zz Roeder, ''paranymphus'', pp. 14-41. z3 Wenskus, "Druht", p. zoz. Z4 Among other studies, see Green, Carolingian Lord, p. 315f.; Roeder, Die Familie bei den Angels/khsen: Eine kultur und literarhistorische Studie auf Grund gleicbzeitiger Quellen (1899), p. 83f.; Alfred Schultze, Das Eherech: in den iilteren angelsiichsischen Kiinigsgesetzen (1941), p. 38f. Z5 Hans Kuhn, "Philologisches zur Adoption bei den Gerrnanen" (1971), p, 415.
ZI

the more general concept of drawing someone into the kin does exist andactually lies at the core of the warband ethos. It is in that sense that the term will be used here. Let us now examine the idea of adoption (drawing into the kin) in marriage and then to that of adoption in the comitatus. " In all Indo-European societies marriage was viewed as a hazardous undertaking, perilous for both the. bride's family and the groom's," The bride's family and her relatives Were giving up a member for the sake of gifts, alliance and expected reciprocity:' All were valuable commodities which needed protection and guarantees. The groom's family, on the other hand, was accepting a stranger into its home and councils who had blood-ties to someone else and, therefore, could not be fully trusted. The bride was a serious potential threat to its well-being and security. Nonetheless, because she was necessary for the continuation of the family, she had to be accepted regardless of risk. The question was how to integrate this liminal individual into her new family. The solution was to immerse her departure from one home and arrival at another with powerful religious rites which would cauterize the loss for her natal family and safely and certainly graft her onto that of her husband." Such activities, always regarded as sacred, are often thousands of years old so that, for example, the marriage-by-capture ritual (in which the bride seems to refuse the groom whom she had earlier ardently accepted and hides in her family home only to be removed by the groom's friends with much show of hostility) is an age-old practice not only common in Europe but to scores, if not hundreds, of different cultures elsewhere. This is a typical separation rite. The entire deliberately complicated process, like that of all rites de passage, is analogous to that of death and rebirth." The bride "dies" to one group and is reborn, that is "adopted", into another. The religious rituals involved clearly establish this pattern. Typical adoption rites include a cutting of the hair, a sitting on the knee, an investment with weapons, a stepping into a new shoe, new ritual clothing, a ritual purification bath, a sprinkling with water or liquor, a common meal, and so on." In one form or another, sometimes clearly, sometimes vaguely, all these rituals are found again in marriage. It could hardly be otherwise for the underlying concept is the same. The domum deductio, for example, the
z6 z7 z8 z9 30 Dick, Ae. Dryht, pp. 146-243. Ibid. Ibid. p. 150f.; Friedrich Kauffmann, "Braut und Gemahl" (1910), pp, lz9, 153. Dick, Ae. Dryht, pp. 146f., 191f. Kauffinann, "Braut und Gemahl", pp. 143-51; Adalbert Erler, "Das Ritual der nordischen Geschlechtsleite" (1944), pp. 86-111; Max Pappenheim, "'Ober kunstliche Verwandtschaft im germanischen Rechte" (1908), pp. 304-33. For general and more modern discussions of Germanic marriage, see M. Rouche, "Des mariages patens au mariage chretien" (1987), pp. 835-'73; Peter Buchholz, "Die Ehe in germanischen, besonders altnordischen Literaturdenkmalern" (1977), pp. 887-900; Karl Schmid, "Heirat, Familienfolge, Geschlechterbewusstsein" (1977), pp, 103-37; Paul Mikat, Dotierte Ehe-rechte Eke. Zur Enttsicklung des Eheschliessungsrechts in fi'iinkiscller Zeit (1978); Ritzer, Eheschliessung.

Lady with a Mead Cup

The liquor ritual and the basis of the lordly power to command [ollotoers

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taking home of the bride in the wedding procession, ends when the bride is symbolically reborn by being carried over the threshold into her new home. There, other' rituals of integration await her but we need not examine these beyond remarking that their clear purpose is to bind her, thoroughly to her new family, a process which may not be viewed as completed until she has borne a child and thereby repaid her in-laws for the gifts with which they bought her. In .short, marriage for the Germans was a sacred drama of death and rebirth which ended for the bride in adoption into a new family. It should also be added that weapons often played a role in this process for they were undoubtedly part of the ritual hostilities between the bride's family and the groom's friends but they were also important for other reasons as can now be shown. If the idea of adoption was necessary to the Germanic family who took in a "daughter", it is true to say that it was equally indispensable to the early comitatus which was extra-tribal in nature and hence accepted non-kinsmen as members. Already in the first century Tacitus reports the custom whereby "noble youths", tired of peace, seek out nationes waging war and attach themselves to other chiefs for the sake of renown (Germania 14). But how, given the universal conviction that only a relative could really be trusted and the only man one could truly call friend was a kinsman, could these other warrior bands have welcomed them, or the youths have expected a welcome? It seems unlikely that any leader would have done so unless he could make the stranger a "son"-a subordinate relative-and other members have made him a brother. Such must have been the case since the comitatus took its form and organizational concept from the institution of the family. As emphasized earlier, linguistics can only support this view. So, for example, the persons who collectively form the kin-group can be called propinqui or parentes but can also be referred to as amici, "friends." As in Beowulf, the members of the warband can be called magas, "kinsmen", maguthegnas, "young kin retainers", and the group as a whole can be called a sibbegedryht, "band of kinsmen" .31 How was this fictive kinship-a-this adoption-achieved? By the same means that' Hrothgar made Beowulf his sunu at Heorot, by presenting him with weapons in the ritual of Waffinsohnschaft.3' Tacitus refers to this in Germania 13 although the passage is not always recognized as such: ... in the presence of the council one of the chiefi, or the young man's father, or some kinsman, equips him with a shield and a spear. These arms are what the "toga" is with us, the first honour with which youth is invested. Up to this
31 Schlesinger, "Herrschaft und Gefolgschaft" , p. ZOj Donald Bullough, "Early Medieval Social Groupings: The Terminology of Kinship" (1969), p, 1Zj Karl Leyser, "Maternal Kin in Early Medieval Germany. A Reply" (1970), pp. 1z6-34. An important recent contribution is that of Murray, Germanic Kinship Structure. 3Z Brunner, Rechtsgeschichte I, p. l03f. with further references in notes. Kuhn, "Adoption", pp. 410-19.

time he is regarded as a member of a household, afterwards as a member of the commonwealth .... Such lads attach themselves to men of mature strength and oflong approved valor. Once made a "son", the new member also becomes the brother of his companions and, as detailed above in chapter one, his status and condition is sealed with a ritual drink with his "family." He is doubly bound by the sacred symbols of his new life, by holy bonds of weapons and liquor. Such ties must be religiously and ritually sanctioned since the new member of the comitatus is just as potentially dangerous to that "family" as the new bride is to hers. Weapons and liquor bind the follower in the comitatus; weapons and liquor, I suggest, also bind the new wife to the family. This hypothesis has not hitherto been fully argued in a comparative manner but it seems to follow ineluctably once one accepts adoption as the operative common denominator between the possible meanings of druht, It can be checked against the marriage pattern in Germania 18. Here we are told that the suitor brings gifts to his prospective bride whose parents and relatives are present to pass judgement on them. They are not, says Tacitus, meant to appeal to a woman's taste nor her desire for adornment but are composed of "oxen, caparisoned steed, a shield, a lance, and a sword. With these presents", he continues, "the wife is espoused, and she in her turn brings some piece of armor to her husband. This they count as their strongest bond of union, these their sacred mysteries, these their gods of marriage. " If the donation of arms is understandable for the follower-they are given by a leader in an act which obviously imitates a father's gift of weapons to a son on coming of age-what can be said of the astonishingly inapt gift of weapons to a bride who cannot wield them? Tacitus goes on to say that they demonstrate to a woman that she is not immune to the perils of war. The context is surely correct but the explanation is naive; one doubts that Germanic women needed any such reminder," Scholars are united in this view but have not been able to offer any sustained specific explanation-a condition reflected in the confused discussion which appears in Much's otherwise excellent commentary;" Under present construction, however, the puzzle is solvable: the groom gave a present of weapons to his bride amidst parents and relatives because it was part of an adoption rite, a drawing into the kin which was common to both family and comitatus. The cultural consensus held that a fictive blood-relationship, at least, was necessary before gaining admission to the guarded inner workings, secrets, rites and machinations of the group. Ties to the natal family were regarded as so powerful that the one way they could be effectively countered was through a cultic
33 A good introduction to discussions of Germanic Bruder, Germanische Frau. 34 Much, Jankuhn and Lange, Germania, p. z8Sf. women by classical authors is contained in

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, duplication of the original affiliation. The nature of the bond is suggested by the kinds of gifts exchanged. Nor do we need to rely on Tacitus alone for this conclusion, for it is certain that a gift of weapons also played ~.role in the establishment of legal marriage among the Visigoths. In his study Uber westgotisch-spanisches Eherecht, Schultze fixed renewed attention on a formula dated to the fourth regnal year of king Sisebut (615-616) which prescribes the presents to be given to a noble Gothic bride as her morgingeba or "morning gift", that is, the things to be given by her husband after her wedding night." These include ten boys, ten girls, ten stallions and, among others, a gift of weapons, arma. In the verse which describes it, this is called Ordim's ut Getici estmorgingeba vetusti, "part of the ancient Gothic order" , as Schultze translates." The use of the folk-name Getici as well as the express reference to ancient custom clearly carries us back to a far earlier period, in fact back to the Germania with its horse and weapons which the warrior gives to his ' bride. The modern reader cannot but be struck by this surprising example of retention, evidence of a very specialized form of continuity," Apparently the Visigoths thought it old-fashioned themselves for scarcely a generation later king Chindasvind issued a new decree in which the traditional arma was replaced by the word ornamenta, although the horse would continue to show up in later 8 Spanish legislation. 3 One can also point to supportive evidence from the Anglo-Saxon side where, if the weapons are no longer mentioned, the concept of the wife as follower of her husband is certainly present. In the OE poem called the Wife's Lament, for example, the abandoned woman laments the passing of freondscipe between her hlaford and herself. 39 The language is that of the warrior retinue and we may compare OE with OHG where friunt can mean "husband" .40 Witness also the Husband's Message which refers to an oath whereby the man will always keep the
35 Alfred Schultze, Uber westgotisch-spanisches Eherecht (1944), p, 45f.; E.A. Thompson, The Goths in Spain (1969), p. 255f. 36 Walter Kienast, "Gefolgswesen un d P atrocnuum im sparusc h en '" Ibid. .., . . 37 westgorenrerc h" ( 198) p. 4, 52f. 38 Schultze, Westgotisch-spanisches Eherecht, P.47. 39 Roeder, Familie bei den Angelsai:/lSen, p. II2f. .. . 40 Wolfgang Fritze, "Die frankische Schwurfreundschaft der Merowingerzeit. Ihr Wesen und ihre politische Funktion" (1954), p. 81f.; Reinhard Schneider, Briidergemeine und Schwurfreudschaft (1964), pp. 80r, II5f. Amicitia between Alaric II and Clovis, according to Gregory of Tours, was created when they ate and drank together: coniunctique in insula Ligeris, quae erat iuxta vicum Arnbaciensim terretorium urbis Toronicae, simullocuti, comedentes pariter et bibentes, promissa sibi arnicitia, paxifici discesserunt. Buchner, Gregor van Tours I: II, 35, p. 128. See further Dietrich Claude, "Untersuchungen zum friihfrankischen Comitat" (1964), p. 74f, and Alfred Schultze, "Zur Rechtsgeschichte der germanischen Briidergemeinschaft" (1936). The power of Tischgemeinschafi is well illustrated in Franz Irsigler, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte desfriihfrankischen Adels (1981), p. 248f.

"covenant of companionship", winetreowe, with the wife." Similarly, the much later (eleventh century) little tract Be wifmannes beweddunge refers to the presents which the groom must give the maiden in returnfor her acceptance of his will,--:his willan geaeose:" As Roeder pointed out, this phrase is a terminus technicus to be used by a man who takes service with a lord-ic ... his willan gecea$.43 Across the channel in ninth century Francia, the noblewoman Dhuoda would suggest something similar when she refers toher husband as her dominus and senior." The terminology is that of vassalage." Even the, weaving of textiles, often described as feminea opera, can also be referred to by the typical vassalage term of obse-

qusum.

46

Such evidence casts new light on Walter Schlesinger'S insight that the concept oflordship over a retinue helped to structure the Germanic law of marriage," It seems to confirm the view that the wife stands in the same relation to her husband as the husband does to his lord; she is a follower just as he is. One must recognize, however, that the complete explanation is more complicated than this for marriage (as Schlesinger was certainly well aware) is by far the older institution just as it now seems dear that the comitatus lord is simply imitating the father of the family when he bestows weapons on his new sunu. What seems most probable, therefore, is that both types of weapon transfers have their home in the family. This is not to say that the comitatus did not exert influence but it is well to remember that the original "follower" is the biological son of his own sire. The warband imitates this relationship but is not the original model; rather, the overwhelming importance of the model is shown by its imitation and such copying then returns again to influence the marriage pattern. Consideration of the common denominator of adoption makes this conclusion more probable and so does the family organization of the leader's troop. Consequently, while the profound cultural significance of weapons as a binding element is conclusively demonstrated by these texts, one is under no compulsion to acknowledge that such weapon-rites are only .to be associated with the warband. Every free head of household was armed and so was every non-minor son, as well as many dependents. So indeed, in a symbolic sense at least, was every free mother of a family. The examination of grave-goods by archaeologists has shown that many Germanic women carried very small knives
41 Roeder, Familie be; den Angelsachsen, pp. 112-18. 42 Ibid., pp. 25f., 83. 43 Ibid. Schlesinger ("Herrschaft und Gefolgschaft", p. 23) and Schultze reach the same conclusion. See the latter's, Aiteren angelsa'chsischen Kiinigsgesetze, p. 38: "In der gleichen Art, wie in der Gefolgschaft, der man den Willen seines Herren zu seinem eigenen macht, wird die Frau in der Ehe den Willen ihres Eheherrn zu ihrem eigenen machen, "erkiest sie" bei der Heirat "seinem Willen". See further Idem, Westgotisch-spanisches Eherecht, p, 50f. 44 Pierre Riche, ed. Dhuoda. Manuel pour monfils (1975), pp, 84, 86. 45 Heinrich Fichtenau, Lebensordnungen des IO. Jahrhunderts: Studien iiber Denhart and Existenz. im einstigen Kamlingerreich (1984), p. 141 and n. 34. 46 Ibid., p. 149, n. 73 referring to Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium I, 117.

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hanging from their girdles which seem to have been unusable for practical purposes. They probably served as tokens of free birth.48 Again, there is no necessary connection with the comitatus as such but there is an undisputable link with status. Not the warband but the warlike worldview determined this symbolism. I argued above that the integration rites in question included not just weapons but weapons and liquor. This was partly based on the interpretation of historical practices centering on the queen's service ritual and the role which liquor played in comitatus life. It is all the more intriguing, therefore, that, on the basis of philological evidence, Kuhn could reach the conclusion that druht originally meant "drink". Although his findings have not found wide acceptance, Green does allow that his derivation "may well be theoretically possible" in some cases" and it is surely indicative of the force of his arguments that five philologically competent scholars who have taken up the problem (Green, Dick, Schmidt- Weigand, von Olberg, Crozier) should each, in different ways, make room for the association with festivity and marriage. 50 One may venture the opinion that the under-investigated element in each case (family, marriage and comitatus) is the power to command followers based on paternal authority. We have already seen that the wife's condition approximated that of a follower too. Let us, therefore, now seek for a more specific way-beyond the concept of festivity-in which the offering of an intoxicating beverage could act to symbolize authority in both marriage and warband. Any scholar who seriously studies the drinking rites of the Germans will quickly be impressed by the way in which women are frequently linked with liquor in all of the sources. So common and internally consistent is this pattern as to be practically impossible to overlook. Poets of the North Germans, for example, very often refer to a woman by giving her the name of a goddess, Freya, Gefion, Hlokk, etc., and then adding, of the cup, horn, beaker, or ale, mead, wine and the like. 51 Although it is true to say that this is a poetic device, it is more important to note that the incidence of usage (along with the many casual mundane references) is so high as to indicate that it reflects a deep-seated attitude, a pattern of thought which lies at the basic core of the culture. Simply stated, the general concept "woman" is repeatedly associated with the general concepts of liquor service and "contract service." That act which seems to most thoroughly express and encapsulize the related notions of service and contract is the presentation of drink which also appears in literature as a powerful metaphor for the
47 Schlesinger, "Herrschaft und Gefolgschaft", p. 23. 48 A religious significance in some cases is not unlikely. Robert Koch, "Waffenfcirmige Anhanger aus merowingerzeitlichen Frauengrabern" (1970), pp. 285-93. 49 Green, Carolingian Lord, p, 27I. 50 See the studies cited in note 8. 51 Rudolf Meissner, Die Kenningar der Skalden: Bin Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetic (1921), p. 401; Gudbrand Vigfusson and R York Powell, ed. Corpus Poeticum Boreale (1883), p. 476.

ritual establishment of relative status in the Germanic world. Such emphasis will naturally show itself in a variety of ways. Einarsson (among others) has demonstrated that making oaths over liquor was a prevalent practice and that the act of drinking was considered a means to "add .weight and authority to the spoken word"." Not surprisingly, examples are scattered throughout the sources. What is surprising, however, is the fact that not only do women commonly serve the drink but they are often the subject of the promise itself. Thus, in the saga of the Jomsvikings, when the men: began to make vows over drink, ~agn swore to "kill Thorkel Leira and get into the bed of his daughter Ingeborg WIthout the consent of her kinsfolk". 5.1 In the Lay oj Helgi Hjorvard's Son, Hedin tells his brother that: on holy beaker in banquet hall thy bride I chose me, the child of kings. In Heruarar saga: One Yule even in Bolm Angantyr swore at the Bragi cup, as then was customary, that he should get the daughter of Y ngvi ... king at Uppsalir, Ingibjorg by name, the fairest and wisest maiden within the Danish speaking world, or else fall [in battle]. In LandnamabOk: At that feast Holmsteinn vowed that he should marry Helga, the daughter of Orn or else no other woman.

In Svarfdoela saga:
Klaufi took for his [drinking] mate a-and vowed that he should go to bed with Yngvildr fogrkinn (faircheek) against the will of Lj6t6lfr godi. These instances are culled from sources of varying date and reliability, of course, and it might fairly be asked if the practice described is really that frequent. The answer is found in the Snorra Edda poem M(£/shattakvaedi where it is stated that the "maidens are chosen over the ale" .54 In other words, this is the method by which the vow to procure a woman is normally expressed. Such is only one example of the numerous ways in which the woman/liquor association affected the thinking of warriors. A woman, then, may be referred to by the beverage name, usually serves the drink, sometimes incites the oath, frequently is the .subj.ect of it and, as we shall see, is also bound to her mate by the same act of servmg hquor.
52 Einarsson, "Old English Beot", p. 103. 54 Ibid., p. II4· 53 Ibid. Citations are drawn from p. 108f.

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. No marriage it seems was fully legal without a feast at which intoxicating drink was served, and there are many references to the "bridal ale" (but not the "groom's ale") in the sources. 55 More significant for present purposes is the fact that a specific ritual took place in which the woman presented her future husband with a drink. This was the formal symbolic statement by which she indicated that . he was to be her husband. His acceptance of the cup signified his agreement as .well as being a major part of the formal completion of the alliance. This ritual seems to be an extremely old one. The earliest non-Mediterranean example that I know of dates from the fourth centuryBC and describes a Celtic custom observed in the south of Gaul: Phocean traders from Ionia founded Marseilles. Now Euxenos the Phocean was guest-friend of the king, whose name was Nanos. When Nanos was preparing his daughter's wedding feast Euxenos happened to arrive by accident and Nanos invited him to the banquet. The marriage came about as follows. After the meal the girl had to come in and give a bowl which she had mixed to the one she chose among the suitors present. The suitor to whom she would give it was to be her bridegroom. When the girl, whose name was Petta, came in, she gave it to Euxenos, whether by chance or for some other reason. And then Euxenos took her, changing her name to Aristoxene; for even her father considered it right that he should have her on the grounds that the girl had been divinely prompted to give the cup to him." Euxenos was "guest-friend" to Nanos. This was an important institution and can be found amongst many Indo-European peoples. It was an alternative device to marriage for the creation of alliances and, as in marriage, was symbolically created by mutual drinking. On any other occasion, Petta might have served liquor to Euxenos in much the same way as she offered it in the citation but, in this case, because of the special purpose of the feast, the gesture was taken to symbolize a marriage contract between Petta and Euxenos rather than the friendship contract which she might otherwise have mediated between her father and his visitor. By offering the bowl to Euxenos, however, she chose him to be her husband i.e., expressed abstractly, she chose him to be her lord and to accept his lordship over her. Her father allowed this because she seemed to be divinely inspired. Although the Greek anecdote about Petta and Euxenos describes the cup offering within a marriage context, it also demonstrates the antiquity of the association between such offering and authority in transalpine Europe. We have already seen that warband authority is to be linked with the domestic power of the husband and father. Celtic scholars tend to interpret the episode as an early
55 Cahen, Libation, p. 52f.; Roeder, Familie bei den Angelsiichsen, p, 33f. 56 Ioannes Zwicker, Fontes historiae religionis celticae (1934), p. 2. Translation is by James Carney in his review in Bealoideas 1 (1937), p. 143.

and partial continental example of the traditional "king and goddess" theme whereby a supernatural woman bestows kingship on a candidate by offering him a drink ofliquor in the banais rigi, "marriage feast of kingship" , in which the ruler ritually marries the fertility goddess (or "sovereignty goddess") of his territory. The religious background of the Petta/Euxenos episode is suggested by Nanos' reference to divine prompting. and the conceptual linking of the rite with authority is made manifest by the subsequent power of Euxenos to change his wife's name. A connection with Germanic culture is likely as well, although that will not become clear until later when much other material has been reviewed and when it will then be possible to outline the pattern of Germanic adaptation of Celtic status rituals and related practices. The present point to be emphasized is that the early Germans do not appear to have really distinguished very much between husbandly authority over wives and lordly authority over followers. That is why the husband can be refered to as the "lord" of his wife and the same term can be used for both warband and wedding procession. The Petta/Euxenos episode may be the earliest extant non-Mediterranean example of this archaic pattern. The completed cup-offering among the Germans signifies the sealing of a contract between lord and man but it is ambiguous in that the same rite, when the presentation is by an unmarried woman, can also create marriage. Although we know comparatively little about the specific actions of the Germanic bride in the wedding ceremony, evidence from Paul's Historia Langobardorum suggests that a cup-offering was essential. In the story of Authari's marriage to Theudelinda cited above, it was related how the king disguised himself as an ambassador and asked to be allowed to take a cup of wine from her hand "as she will offer it to us hereafter". The girl's father interprets this to mean that the ambassador is a follower of Authari to whom his daughter will later attend and so he allows it. Authari, however, is actually surreptitiously alluding to the marriage rite in which the girl will serve him as bride and queen, as shown by his subsequent behavior. And when the king had assented to this that it should be done, she took the cup and gave it first to him who appeared to be the chief. Then, when she offered it to Authari, whom she did not know was her affianced bridegroom, he, after drinking and returning the cup, touched her hand with his fingers when no one noticed, drew his right hand from his forehead along his nose and face. Covered with blushes, she told this to her nurse, and her nurse said to her: Unless this man were the king himself and thy promised bridegroom, he would not dare by any means to touch thee. But meanwhile, lest this become known to thy father, let us be silent, for in truth the man is a worthy person who deserves to have a kingdom and be united with thee in wedlock. 57
57 Waitz, Historia LangllbardlJrum III, 30, p. 133f. Translation is by Foulke, p, 138f.

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Anglo-Saxon sources convey the same message. That section of Maxims I which states that a wife must always serve her lord first begins by declaring "a king shall pay brideprice for a queen, with rings and goblets". The goblets in this citation probably have symbolic significance since, as Roeder pointed out, a late AngloSaxon manuscript painting of a marriage scene suggests that the bride has just given a cup to her husband or future husband." What Hugh Magennis has recently noted of the significance of the cup in biblical imagery can also be applied to these OE data: "the cup metonymically represents the wine which it contains, and it shares the metaphoric associations of this wine." 59 Another revealing example occurs in Saxo's Historia Danorum. He recounts the tale of a certain high-spirited Erik who shamelessly cadges food and drink at king Frothi's hall: "I've never met a more shameless request for food or drink," Frothi replied, to which Erik rejoined, "Few value or calculate the needs of a man who keeps' quiet." The king's sister was then told to offer drink from a large bowl to Erik, who seized her right hand together with the extended vessel and said, "Didn't your generosity, noble sovereign, intend this as a present for me? Won't you agree to let me have what I'm holding as a permanent gift?" The king thought that by "gift" he meant only the bowl, and assented, but Erik then drew the girl to him as though she had been included in the donation." Although Frothi tried to escape from the consequences of his promise, he was unable to do so and Erik kept his prize. None of these actions are fully explainable unless one posits an essential identity of purpose between the liquor offering within the comitatus and the liquor
58 Roeder, Familie bei den Angelsiichs~~, p. 3 If. Schultze notes the association with cups as well and points to Icelandic parallels: Alteren ange/siichsische Kiinigsgesetzen, p. 6Sf. 59 Magennis, "Cup", p. 518. Some other studies by this scholar are also relevant. See his "druncne dryhtgf4man", pp. IS9-Q4j "The Exegesis oflnebriation: Treading Carefully in Old English" (1986), pp. 3-Qj "Water-Wine Miracles in Anglo-Saxon Saint's Lives" (1986), pp. 7-9; "The Treatment of Feasting in the Heliand" (1985), pp. 126-33. See also Russom, "Drink of Death" , pp. 17S-90j Stephen Glosecki, "Beowulf769: Grendel's Ale-Share" (1987), pp. 1-9. On brewing, utensils and linguistic usage, see Christine Fell, "Old English Bear" (1975), pp. 76-<)Sj eadem, "Some Domestic Problems" (1985), pp. 59-82; H.E. Kylstra, "Ale and Beer in Germanic" (1974), pp. 7-14; Daniel Binchy, "Brewing in Eighth Century Ireland" (1981), pp. 6-9. On matters of cult and status, see Karl Kromer, "Das Situlenfest; Versuch einer Interpretation der Darstellungen auf figural verzierten Situlen" (1980), pp. 225-40; Georg Kossack, "Trinkgeschirr als Kultgerdt der Hallstattzeit" (1964), pp. 98-105; Ake V. Strom, "Die . Hauptriten des wikingerzeitlichen nordischen Opfers" (1966), p. 337f.; Gronvik, 'Funeral Feast'; Aaron J. Gurevich, "Edda and Law: Commentary upon HyndluIi6!!" (1973), pp. 72-101; M. Rouche, "Les repas de rete l'epoque carolingienne: Manger et boire au moyen age" (1984), pp. 265-'79. An excellent discussion of overall context is Otto Gerhard Oexle, "Haus und Okonomie im friiheren Mittelalter" (1988), pp. 101-'22. 60 H.R. Ellis Davidson and Peter Fisher, eds. Saxo Grammaticus: The History ofthe Danes I(1979),

offering at marriage. The only noteworthy difference seems to be the touching of the server's hand mentioned by both Paul the Deacon and Saxo Grammaticus for different societies four centuries apart. Evenhere, however, ther~ are signifi- . cant parallels for the "giving of the hand" and the formal kiss are common symbolic actions for both institutions. Formula 1,18 of Marculf in the first half of the seventh century refers to swearing fidelity "in our hand", in manu nostra trustem etjidelitatem and the Visigothic retainer, among others at later times, swore loyalty by kissing his lord's right hand. A vassal might then be termed a "man of mouth and hands". 6. The osculum over liquor was probably present in the early warband as well, although the sources (like Layamon's description of the continental Saxon wassail ceremony, II. 7I49~I57) are late and thus subject to question." Nonetheless, such conjecture is rendered plausible by other evidence. Consider, for example, the very valuable "ring-swords" of certain early Germanic warriors recently studied by Heiko Steuer." These weapons, fitted with a ring to the upper guard, are found in Northern Europe, Scandinavia and England with a chronological horizon from c.500 to qoo and are widely understood to signify: as with the ring in marriage, the close bond between leader and most honored followers. Removal of the ring thereafter, attested archaeologically, seems to have signified the sundering of that bond. Once again, a parallel experience for wife and follower! Even the apparent exception of the touching of the girl's hand therefore, is not a major departure from the conceptual framework and it now seems likely that a trace of the ancient Roman association between manus and potestas was also familiar to the Germanic tribes of the same period. The presence of the woman in the comitatus is further clarified by this analysis as well. As we have seen, women were inseparably linked with notions of liquor and service and in both types of feasting, marital and martial, the outcome was the creation of a contract between principals mediated by a woman who was herself a binder and who carried the liquid which perfectly symbolized the pledge of unity because all drank from the same store and were served by the same hands. On formal occasions, as at Heorot, all seem to have drunk from the same actual CUp64 that it is clear that the ritual linking lord to man is a close approximation so
61 Zeum;;, ed. Fllrm.lv!arc. MGH Formulae Merowingici et karolini aevi I, 19, p. 55; Jacques Le Goff, The Symbolic Ritual of Vassalage" (1980), pp, 237-87. 62 The connection between good fortune, mutual drinking and the kiss of peace is noted by Glosecki, "Grendel's Ale-Share", p. 4f. 63 Heiko Steuer, "Helm und Ringschwert: Prunkbewaffnung und Ringabzeichen germanischer Krieger. Eine Ubersicht" (1987), pp. 189-'236j Vera Evison deals more fully with the English evidence in: "The Dover ~ng-sword and Other Sword-rings and Beads" (1967), pp. 63-u8. On the burial of weapons In general, see now the very interesting study of Heinrich Harke " 'Warrior ~raves'? The Background of the Anglo-Saxon Weapon Burial Rite" (1990), pp. 22~3. The most Important recent study in this field is Steuer, Suzialstrukturen, 64 Crepin, "Wealhtheow's Offering" , p. 52. We also saw this in the case ofTheudelinda and Agilulf Bill Griffiths, "The Old English Alcoholic Vocabulary-c-a Re-examination" (1986), p. 236, cites

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, to the marriage rite (in which bride and groom share the same cup) which seems to have existed among the Celts at least, already, in the fourth century Be. The importance of this latter point will later become clear for it. can be shown that much Germanic thinking about marriage and warbands derived from the Celts of Gaul and southern Europe. It should be added, however, that the pattern described is normally a triangular one: it is usually the bride's father who "gives" or "sells" his daughter to the groom and thereby directs her offering just as it is the warlord who directs his wife to serve his sodality of "sons". We now see that entry into marriage and entry into the comitatus are both initiations into a similar form of contract created by mutual drinking and female presentation. Once aware that the foundation of each is ~e idea of f~ily unity, the occasional exploitation of the ritual by those who WIshed to fashio~ legal or social ambiguity is easily interpreted. Such also makes for a goo~ story wl~'plenty of dramatic appeal and writers, such as Paul and Saxo, could enjoy de~cnbmg the ' equivocal by-play because they were perfectly aware of the underlying cultural assumptions and could expect their readers to understand too. ~odern scholars usually mention the familial organization of the warband ~s well. 5 ~~vertheless. while noting it as significant, they do not always recognize that It IS ~uly the decisive socio-political fact which explains the warband's internal workings ~nd hence have neglected to analyze the mentality evidenced in the passages. CIted above. A possible explanation, it seem to me, is this: the early German~ did not use druht for both warband and marriage procession because each consisted of a band of armed men but, rather, they perceived the armed men ~o be a band. of adopted sons belonging to the family of the warlord just ~ they ~lewed the brt?e to be the adopted daughter of a new family lor~. !n each m~tltutl~n, the e.ssentIal acts of entry and integration are the same but It 1~th~ family ~hlCh provides the model for the comitatus. It is, then, from the dominating pOSItIOnof father of the ritually created fictive family that the warlord derives legitimacy for his power to command. It is the theoretical basis for his power over followers. Although a certain' amount of reciprocity and affection is inherent in the giving ?f we.apons and beer to sons it is clearly far outweighed by the command authority WIelded by the father over his household, the bestower .over the rec~iver, for it is he who engenders sons and gives away daughters. It IS around hIS table that the sons gather and their mother serves first her "lord"-husband and-then her sons, both real and symbolic. A good example of the theory in practice actually occurs. at Heorot where Hrothgar seats Beowulf with his children, publicly names him "son" and gives him gifts of horses and weapons. Drink is served thereafter. Wealhtheow thereby becomes a metaphoric "mother" to the hero although she
the late Saga IIfThllrgi/s Skarthi: "First they drank in comp~nionship, passing the hom around; but then they began to drink individually, each draining hIS own horn; some of the men were by then quite drunk." 65 See note 30•

i· :1

1 1
1

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hardly wishes it and fears the consequences. Even if Beowulf's case be thought special, however, it is really only because of the extravagance of the gifts and the explicitness of statement. The other retainers are bound in essentially the same manner for all drink with Hrothgar from his table, live with him as a "band of kinsmen" and, as was normal upon entry into the comitatus, each had received a spear or sword' from Hrothgar's hand. While the aura of warfare hangs heavy in the background, the burden of the evidence also suggests that Kuhn was at least partly correct in arguing for a close connection between druht and "drink" even though the analysis he presented was not then sufficiently detailed to fully convince other scholars. Since both institutions established an hierarchical contractual relationship by weapon transfers and drink offering together, the underlying concept of relationship is likely to have been similar in each. The munt exercised by lord over follower approximated that exercised by husband over wife. While a variety of terms for "warband" may have existed, it can be suggested that the druht, both warband retainers and members of a wedding procession, were conceptually joined because of a common basis in festival and warband contract. They may occasionally' have been called "the drinkers", a word which signified that they belonged to a familia and might, indeed should, sit together at table without fear of attack. ' These findings add further nuance to the argument advanced on other grounds in chapter one, where it was suggested that a royal succession was regarded by the comitatus as analogous to the case of a family which had lost its father and which might, therefore, if the sons had reached majority, exercise their control over their mother by giving herin marriage to another husband who would then become king because, on the same theoretical basis, he would also become father; Such would seem to be the ultimate rationale behind Paul's story of the succession of Agilulf which will now repay further examination. Recall that upon Authari's death, the prudentes of the Lombards allowed Theudelinda to continue as queen because she pleased them. They also allowed her to "choose" a husband as long as he met the established criteria. Despite the element of exaggeration in the narrative, Theudelinda's subsequent ritual actions must be regarded as highly significant: And she, taking counsel with the prudent, chose Agilulf, duke of the people of Turin as her husband and king of the nation of the Langobards, for he was a man energetic and warlike and fitted as well in body as in mind for the government of the kingdom. The queen straightway sent word to him to come to her and she hastened to meet him at the town of Laumellum (Lumello). And when he had come to her, she, after some speech with him, caused wine to be brought, and when she had first quaffed it, she handed the rest to Agilulf to drink. And when he had taken the cup and had reverently kissed her hand, the queen said smiling, with a blush, that he should not kiss her hand who

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ought to imprint a kiss upon her lips. And straightway raising him up to kiss her, she unfolded to him the subject of marriage and of the sovereign dignity. Why say more? The nuptials were celebrated with great rejoicing and Agilulf, who was a kinsman of king Authari on the mother's side, assumed the royal dignity at the beginning of the month of November. Later, however, in the month of May when the Langobards had met together in one place, he was raised to the sovereignty by all at Mediolanum." The taking of the cup is here accompanied with a kiss and the queen acts as mediatrix of authority. More graphically displayed in this text, one witnesses again the relationship between kingship, marriage and drink-offering (which is depicted in Anglo-Saxon ritual in Beowulfwhere it functions as a declaration of the lord's authority over his men). It is, ultimately, an assertion of his fatherly authority over his household and all of his familia, his band of "sons". The complex of ideas surrounding marriage, authority, fatherhood and lordship seem inextricably intertwined and royal succession, apparently, can thus be based on the concept of the remarriage of the widow in Germanic tradition. It is the "mother's" widowhood which explains her apparent "free" choice-but only in the medieval meaning of that term. We have already noted that Theudelinda does not act freely in the modern sense, although she may be free in the medieval sense of possessing the liberty to act appropriately under circumscribed conditions with the consent of her relatives. The inability of some commentators to appreciate this difference, despite Tellenbach's now classic exposition long since translated into English, Il7 lies at the root of much incoherence in the literature, in that nineteenth century liberal ideas of personal freedom are often superimposed on sources to which they have no real relation since medieval thought is thoroughly grounded on the principles of status, counsel and assent. Barbarian law is even less amenable to such interpretation. But in nearly all cases, self-interest and political policy will be determinative and must often be given pride of place even where the, word "freedom" is explicitly used. Schneider was in no way wrong to speak of die Dominanz der Macht amongst the Franks and Lombards in these situations" and when all is considered, it is the authority of the leader, which devolves on the prudentes during an interregnum, which counts most strongly. No family will allow a widow to remarry if it endangers the inheritance just as no group of powerful men with many hundreds of dependents will allow the king's
66 Waitz, Historia Langobardorum, Ill, 35, p. 141). The crucial lines are these: Quae cum prior bibisset, residuum Agilulfo ad bibundum tribuit. Is cum regina, accepto poculo, manum hororabiliter osculatus esset, regina cum robore subridens, non deberi sibi manum osculit, ait, quem osculum ad os iungere oporteret. Moxque eum ad suum basium erigens, ei de suis nuptiis deque regni dignitate aperuit. 67 Gerd Tellenbach, The Investiture Contest (1948), pp. 1-37. 68 Schneider, Klj'nigswahl, p. 240.

wife to choose a husband who might jeopardize its future. Theudelinda's apparent freedom of choice is necessary, however, because the theoretical basis for succession is marriage and adoption and the liquor ritual is an indispensable sign of both in all periods of the tradition until, at least, the ninth century when the influence of the Christian clergy becomes decisive in many regions. Note, however, that even in the citation above, the cup-offering and marriage are not enough and that Agilulf's status as king had to be confirmed in a second ritual at Milan. The dual nature of Agilulf's initiation is itself significant and worthy of comment since it seems to ultimately derive from a concept which separates the sacral king from the military leader. Let us look at the ritual aspect of this more closely. One scholar has recently commented as follows: There is very little evidence concerning royal inauguration rituals among Germanic peoples before the church became involved here. It is possible that in many cases, regular ritual procedures did not exist, in the absence either of permanent political communities or of permanent kingships. The Merovingian dynasty, as Grierson has pointed out, was atypical in its relative stability, and yet, sacral features notwithstanding, it seems to have lacked a fixed ritual for the transmission of royal power. More relevant is the absence of any barbarian inauguration ritual exclusive to kingship: rather, the rex was a household-lord writ large, whose succession to his inheritance was thus aptly signified when' he took his place on the high-seat in the paternal hall or beat the bounds of the paternal property. Similarly, the dux was set up through rituals of shield-raising and investiture with weapons which were common to all lords ofinilitary followings," The distinction between rex and dux, or sacral king and warleader, would seem to be a crucial one and, based on Schlesinger's analysis of 1954, has since been adopted by nearly all students of medieval kingship. But the evidence assembled here now seems to suggest that at least one "regular ritual procedure" for royal inaugurations did exist among the Germans prior to Christianity even if it were not exclusively royal. In fact, this latter aspect of non-exclusivity is a good argument in its favor. The wife's cup-offering symbolically expresses the ideas of both marital contract and lordship over the household and, because it also satisfies the requisite criteria of simplicity, antiquity and applicability to both house-lord and territorial ruler, also becomes a likely candidate for the earliest royal inauguration ritual within the comitatus. If the domestic ruler was recognized as such when his wife served him before others, then it seems to follow that in any formal gathering of such men the preeminence of the leader of the assembly would be established by the same action. In other words, the status of the rex would be
69 Janet Nelson, "Symbols in Context: Ruler's Inauguration Rituals in Byzantium and in the West in the Early Middle Ages" (1976), p, 264f.

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shown to lie above that of the dux by the service itself. Although sacral elements may well have been present in both cases, they will have been more pronounced for the former. While the nature of the Germanic evidence is such that the distinction is difficult to draw for the continent, the likelihood of its existence will be shown below in chapter five where comparative Celtic material is examined. It will be seen that the cup-offering is made to both kinds ofleaders but the 'mythic background is more clearly described and the difference between king of the tribe and "king" of the warriors is made clear. The claim to authority remained rooted in the domestic sphere and the contrasting qualities conferred at accession were manifest to participants through variances in speech-like the bestowal of the name of king in Beowulf-or by gesture or associated behaviors. Such an explanation would account for a great many inconsistencies which bedevil the study of barbarian succession rites. The warlord did not have to change the ritual upon becoming king; he simply claimed priority of service and the tribal rights and religious associations which went with it while at the same time maintaining the ceremonies which made him dux. The element of continuity clearly stands out in these acts. Shield-raising, taking the high-seat or investing with weapons are rituals which frequently appear over many centuries. For two reasons, however, because of its intimate familial basis and its association with marriage, the offering of drink based on precedence is likely to be older than any of them. It must have been an expected and perennial feature of every formal gathering. Hence, in the case of the cup-offering, it makes no crucial difference whether one refers to the first or ninth century warlord because the act and much of the conceptual background would have been familiar to both and the basic institutional context remained the same despite some shifts in its modality," As one approaches the material from this viewpoint, much else in the early sources takes on new meaning. Although the pre-migration evidence is scarce, we do know that inauguration to leadership was normally connected with a feast. While many scholars have referred to this in the past, it has hitherto proven impossible, to explain why and in what way the feast was constitutive. One can now make that attempt. In Historic 4, 14 of Tacitus, Julius Civilis is described as one of the leaders of a rebellion. It is said that he collected the chiefs of the Batavians at a holy site where he had prepared a banquet. After they were "warmed with the festivities", i.e. after they had drunk a great deal, he began to encourage them with speeches to rebel against the Romans. When they had listened "with great approval", he "bound the whole assembly with barbarous 1 rites [barbaro ritu] and the national forms of oath" .7 This feast is presented as the
71 On early oath-taking and associated matters, see Uwe Eckhardt, Untersuchungen zu For~ und Funktion der Treueidleistung im merotaingischen Frankenreicb (1976), pp, 24-34; Schlesinger, "Herrschaft und Gefolgschaft", p. 24. 70 It is, of course, precisely because the family provided the model for warband authority that the cup-offering seems so appropriate a choice. For discussion of other rites, see Nelson, "Inauguration Rituals", pp. 259-307; Hauck, "Randkultur", pp. 1-91.

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key starting point of the rebellion and also as the source of Civilis' dominance during the course of the rebellion. Indeed, Schlesinger interprets the oath sworn as a comitatus oath and goes on to stress that the entire procedure has strong sacral overtones which Civilis himself emphasizes and exploits in order to legitimize his leadership," We may note in addition that Civilis is a member ofa royal.family, the main speaker and convener of the feast and it looks as if he selects the "sacred grove" where those who pledge support bind themselves with oaths. That the nature of Civilis' lordship is different from that of others is made clear several sentences later where a reference is made to Brinno, dux of the Canninefati, who became such when he was raised on a shield by his followers," He is a warlord, but of a single tribal group, and clearly not one of the same type as Civilis who may, however, also have been dux of the Batavians. Exactly what form did these barbarous rites of pledging take? Unfortunately, we have no direct evidence beyond the facts that they occurred during a feast where liquor was drunk and in an atmosphere charged with the supernatural. Based on this information, however, and on the results of the foregoing discussion, several deductions seem admissible: first, the liquor itself played a significant role in the deliberations (we note that Civilis did not begin speaking to the chiefs until after they had been drinking for some time). Tacitus must personally have believed this of the liquor for he wrote in Gormania 22 that "it is at their feasts" that the Germans decide on peace and war and "on the choice of chiefs" since "they think that at no time is the mind more open to simplicity of purpose or more warmed to noble aspirations .... They disclose their hidden thoughts in the freedom of the festivity." Tacitus also seems to think that they do not make a final decision until the following day but that is less likely since, as with Civilis, the major choices were clearly taken at the feast itself. Tacitus seems to have been right to emphasize the combined political and religious significance of such gatherings. Second, we may also deduce that where liquor is served there must be a server, one who is not a member of the ass.embly since that might be beneath his dignity or viewed as otherwise inappropriate. Third, the server in any formal instance is likely to have been a woman, perhaps a woman held to be endowed with the power of prophecy. Although one might argue that a priest would be the probable celebrant at a ritual oath-taking in a sacred grove (and that would have been my opinion prior to undertaking this study) we have already seen that, in later times at least, oaths were usually made over liquor distributed by a woman. If Schlesinger (and others) are right in interpreting these Batavian oaths as belonging to the sphere of the comitatus, then the hypothesis becomes even more likely. Even
72 Ibid. 73 Schlesinger, "Herrschnft und Gefolgschaft", p. 24: "Im Stamm werden rex und dux unterschieden, der Heerkonig dagegen ist rex und dux zugleich."

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assuming for the sake of argument that this evidence is insufficient, however, other grounds urge the same conclusion, We saw in chapter two that Germanic warlords of the period were usually accompanied by prophetesses. Tacitus mentions several examples while noting that the Germans frequently turned to them for advice and pointing out by his emphasis that Civilis in particular valued this method of winning support. The fact that Ganna, "successor" to Veleda, accompanied king Masyos of the Semnones to Rome indicates that the warlord wished such women to be present on important occasions, especially since, as we have seen, ancient rulers often kept sibyls' at their sides. For the Germans, we might suppose that the sibyl became the server who sanctified oaths when the warlord employed her in an institutional capacity. Consider also that a primary reason for the feast in the Batavian holy grove was a decision on the question of war or peace. In such a case the presence of a prophetess might well have been thought to be necessary, perhaps even normal in view of the setting. Ariovistus, for example, turned to the matres familia before making a decision while many tribes sought the visions ofVeleda. Even as far away as Egypt there is evidence that Germanic troops required the presence of a sibyl. Who then was better placed to prophesy victory, serve the liquor and witness the oaths? All the evidence points to a woman under the control of Civilis. It was only some months later that Civilis and Veleda were together asked to decide another question of war and peace so that we know that their joint action was approved of in these contexts. Finally, we may also deduce that Civilis was elected as the foremost leader at this feast. In Historia 4, 13, Tacitus says that he and Julius Paulus were reckoned "very high above the rest of their nation" but in 4, 14 that it was" he", Civilis, who "bound the whole assembly with barbarous rites." Thereafter, it was Civilis also who seems to have taken the decision to send messengers to the Roman garrison at Mainz who would attempt to suborn the loyalties of the Celtic-British auxiliaries and Batavian cohorts serving with the legions. These directives affected the entire people and no other princeps seems to have exercised this level of power. Itis a point explicitly recognized in Historia 4, 16 where Tacitus states that the true leader of the war was Civilis. Consequently, the feast where Civilis "bound them" must have been constitutive and it is not unlikely that the prophetess would have hailed Civilis in a special manner when, as the elected leader, he was served first. It would have been a key ritual or part of the ritual and would have been his warrant for headship of the rebellion, even if not for a right to exclusive rule or to rule beyond the time of the war, (although we also know that that is what he aimed for). Further clues supporting this hypothesis will be discussed hi chapters four and five. Until then, at least, a certain amount of skepticism seems appropriate for it cannot be denied that the distance between the Roman and early medieval sources is great and thus one cannot claim an identity of interpretation for each element discussed. A considerable amount of continuity has been demonstrated, however, and the accumulation of numerous clues makes it reasonable to argue

'j

,I'

that the Wealhtheow episode in Beowulf does reflect the force of early Germanic tradition. One aspect of this tradition emphasizes the creation of brotherhood in a rite which has decidedly sacramental overtones. Literally hundreds of scholars have referred to it in this manner without realizing that it is only part of the story, for the liquor ritual is perhaps even more significant as a device for the maintenance of lordship and authority and the allocation of status within a group. The "brothers" are also made subordinate "sons". We must, however, be clear about the significance of the Batavian gathering in the groves. Although, for the reasons offered, one may argue that Veleda is likely to have been present, it can neither be securely demonstrated nor claimed as a fact. The association between the warlord. and the woman who helps him govern the warband must have come into being at an. early date, however, because it is a feature of that organization in the widely separated Lombard and Anglo-Saxon sources and also appears in texts concerning the Celts. Although it is not impossible that it existed for the Germans before the Batavian rebellion, the available evidence, such as it is, suggests that it was not created much before that time. When Ariovistus needed aprophecy about warfare in the preceding century, he had consulted the tribal matrons and not a single prophetess. On the other hand, we do know that Veleda had a "successor" named Ganna who traveled with king Masyos of the Semmones to Rome where both were honorably received by the emperor Domitian in 91 or 92 (Cassius Dio 67, 5). On important occasions, the prophetess travels with the warlord. In other words, her position was, or had become, an institutional one in which warlord and prophetess acted together. Considerably more subsequent analysis will be required to depict the full pattern. Even at this point in the discussion, however, it is striking, considering the overall paucity of the sources, that a tentative conclusion may be drawn. The line seems to run from Ariovistus with multiple prophetesses in the mid-first century Be to Civilis and Veleda in 69/70 AD and then to Masyos and Ganna in 91/92. All these leaders turned to prophecy at pivotal times which is, of course, another reason for thinking ofVeleda at the oath-taking in the groves. A hint of continuity is also provided in Germania 8, although Tacitus is there speaking more of the prestige of the prophetess. He states that "even earlier", i.e. before Veleda, the Germans "showed a similar reverence for Aurinia and a number of others". Although this observation is insufficiently specific to cite as direct evidence, it does show that a fairly large number of prophetesses existed while also providing circumstantial support for the linkage posited. It seems reasonable to conclude, therefore, that in the century and a half or so from Ariovistus to Masyos, roughly the same period during which the Germanic comitatus came into existence as we shall see later, the warlord developed the technique of attaching a prophetess to his band in order to bolster his own status and further his military endeavors. The chronological convergence is not coincidental. Given the great utility of the prophetess in the binding, morale building and

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governing of the comitatus, there is every reason to think that the warlord/ prophetess pairing (which surely required a ritual affirmation) continued for as long as the pagan warband lasted. Under Christianity, belief in the supernatural powers of the prophetess must have declined but the fact is, as recent studies of early medieval magic and the process of Christianization have shown, religious change was not usually thoroughgoing and so it probably only slowly diminished, or marginalized her standing without effacing her usefulness. Although unlikely to be provable, it would not be surprising if the newly Christianized warlord married his prophetess and thereby maintained a resource while reducing the chance of challenge or scandal. Various of her aspects and talents lingered, however, because the very makeup of the institution required them, even if, as I have suggested for Beowulf, they are only barely revealed in the mostly, one-sided sources. The military chaplain eventually replaced the prophetess. Of that, there is no doubt. But it probably happened at widely different times in different regions, earlier at the core and later at the periphery of the Merovingian and early Carolingian era "states". By way of conclusion, a few more general reasons may be offered for insisting on the great significance of the liquor ritual for the warband. Recall that the Anglo-Saxon lord is called hlaford and his followers hlafoeta. The former means "loaf-giver" and the latter "loaf-eater". This points to the supreme importance of food in archaic thinking and it has a long history. Speaking of a king of a firstcentury BC Gaulish tribe, Athenaeus says that "in an attempt to win popular favor", he made a large square enclosure "within which he filled vats with expensive liquor and prepared so great a quantity of food that for many days all who wished could enter and enjoy the feast prepared, being served without a break by the attendants." 74 Since Tacitus says that the Germans chose their kings during feasts, it might be appropriate to envision a similar lavishness for them. One might, on the other hand, suppose that it was the ordinary tribesman and not the noble who was influenced by this type of generosity with food. But such . does not seem to be the case. In discussing the skeletal evidence for malnutrition in a large-scale survey of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, Heinrich Harke recently pointed out that in spite of the wealth differential signaled by grave-dimensions , and the presence or lack of weapons, "the risk of starvation seems to have been
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the same in b?th groups, indicating that no group in Anglo-Saxon society was shielded from the consequences of the inefficient system of food production and storage. "7S He goes on to note the following interesting correlation: "in the analyzed sample, fifty of 363 male adult weapons burials (13.8 percent) contained drinking vessels (including so-called "buckets" of various sizes) whereas only six of 337 male adult burials Without weapons (1.8 percent) had drinking vessels." 76 The association of weapons with warrior graves seems clear but a link between drinking utensils and weapons is significant as well. Recall again the semantics of druht and, the associations of marriage. A glance at Old English poetry enables us to grasp something of the mentality behind the practice. In the thought world of the Early Middle Ages, ale, beer, wine and mead are constantly associated with love and companionship and, indeed, function as metaphors for delight and satisfaction. Their removal be. comes a statement of poverty, alienation and reduced status," As a whole, Germanic literature equates sharing out of drink with joy and prosperity while bitterness and loss are described as the distribution of a poisonous drink, the poculum mortis.7s The motif is not uncommon. Even inspiration and the ability to speak well are associated with liquor while status is sometimes depicted in terms of types of liquor. Not surprisingly then, references to some kinds of drink signify profoundly felt emotions. As Christine Fell points out, the Beowulf poet's naming of Heorot as a medoheal seems partly functional but what are we to make of a pattern of thought which describes the path to Heorot as a medostig or which describes a victory as a winning of mead-seats in a hall (medosetla ofteah l. 5) or describes the wounds of warriors as payments for mead? As Fell suspects, "the strongly emotive terminology of medu is very closely linked with the loyalties and patterns of the heroic code" .79 As far back as anyone can trace the tradition, Germanic concepts of contract, lordship, marriage, loyalty and community are all directly linked to the provision and distribution of liquor. Even if slight variations-be suspected, the continuity of this conceptual structure, from the first through the ninth century at least, seems plausible. Specifics of ritual behavior are more difficult to discern. Nonetheless, when we find that Hrothgar is recognized as lord and king with a
75 Harke, "Weapon Burial Rite", p. 38. 76 Ibid., n. 31. In his dissertation, Harke points out that the weapon burial rite was itself a "symbolic action" which must be treated separately from the reality of warfare. It was, he argues, part of ritual behavior linked to warrior status. See jankuhn's favorable discussion in "Neue Erkenntnisse zur Sozialstruktur germanischer Stiimme im frUhen Mittelalter auf Grund von Grabfunden" (1988), pp, 29-35. 77 Magennis, "druncne d~vhtguman", pp, 159-64; Glosecki, "Grendel's Ale Share", p. 4f.; Fell, "Old English Bear", pp. 76-95. . 78 Magennis, "Cup", p. 522f.; Carlton Brown, "Poculum Mortis in Old English" (1940), pp, 389-99; Russom, "Drink of Death", pp. 175-89. 79 Fell, "Old English Belir", p. 80.

J.J. Tierney,

"The Celtic Ethnography of Posidonius" (1960), p. 248. Of course, many of the concepts expressed here would have been familiar to Romans as well. Suetonius notes (Dom. 5) that "Domitian himself was the first to eat" at a feast given for all orders d~ring the festival of the Septimontium. D' Arms perceptively comments: "when the commumty sees that the dominus has begun to feast they may also join in the meal, thus transforming themselves from witnesses of. to participants in, a spectacular ceremony-a ceremony which symbolizes the orderly and harmonious functioning of society." See his "Control; Companionship and Clientela: Some Social Functions of the Roman Communal Meal" (1984), p. 344. The importance of the 'place of honor (1IICUS cllnsularis) at Roman cllnvivia is stressed at length by Plutarch

(Moralia, 619f.)·

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cup-offering and when a husband is recognized as lord of a family in the same way, it seems difficult to believe that the people who originated the n:adition, who chose their kings while drinking at feasts, did not follow the same ritual pattern. Although the sources are late, and hence I have not referred to them in detail, the North Germans seein to have preserved important aspects of this rite in matters of inheritance of property. At the heir's feast, the inheritor was not reckoned in , full possession of an estate until he sat in the high-seat and drank a cup of liquor," The Celts maintained a comparable ritual for king and king's "champion" at a much earlier period. A full discussion of this background will be delayed until the archaeological evidence for the mead cup motif has been examined.

IV

THE ARCHAEOLOGY THE CONTINUITY

OF INTOXICATION

AND

OF TRANSALPINE

HISTORY

80 See Gronvik, 'Funeral Feast', p. 9; Gurevich, "Edda and Law", pp. 72--84.

The three previous chapters are based mostly on literary sources of varying quality and reliability. They -are indispensable to any study of barbarian ritual from the early Roman imperial period to the Early Middle Ages of the Beowulf poem, that is, very roughly, from Augustus to about 800 AD. But every historian will immediately recognize the problems inherent in their usage. Classical sources like Caesar, Tacitus and Ammianus must be used for the early period but they are beset with technical problems of bias and the application of generalized topoi applied willy nilly to all barbarians who, viewed by the urban Mediterranean elite, were frequently seen as being all equally dim-witted and repulsive or else naive and childish in their appropriately primitive milieus. They were peoples without respectable histories whose customs and attitudes were mainly worthy of note for their entertainment value. An occasional noble exception merely demonstrated the rarity of the type. Five hundred years later, the nature of the biases had changed but the fact of extreme bias remained. Works like BeowulJwere written, or recorded and modified, by Christian clerics out of sympathy with pagan ideas and customs which they often misrepresented, excluded or only briefly mentioned in order to condemn. The benighted barbarians had now become something even worse, the benighted non-Christians. And what of those who had lived outside of the empire in the vast regions of Germania libera or in the post-Roman Britain of the fifth and sixth centuries? For these areas, the literary sources are late and usually cursory at best. Although some reliable information is available and reasonable guesses can occasionally be made, the overall picture to be painted is unprepossessing and especially unimpressive to scholars accustomed to working in later periods with far richer literary remains. Fortunately for the present study, one which seeks to explore the history and significance of the status-creating liquor ritual within the warband, a valuable control is available to be applied to the literary sources. They can be checked in a general way, and sometimes in very specific individual ways, by drawing upon archaeological data. The material is incredibly rich and varied and covers a much broader geographical area and chronological span than theone outlined above. Unlike other archaic rites which might be discussed, the liquor ritual is unique in that it has left bits and pieces of evidence throughout Europe. In parts of
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modern France, for example, peasants have been carting Roman amphorae away from their fields for over three centuries. These had originally been traded to the Gauls. Some fields are still difficult to plow because so many shards remain embedded in the soil. 1 A similar kind of trade occurred later with Britain and with some Germanic peoples and, outside of such zones of Roman occupation or strong influence, there is much related evidence for Germania libera. Consequently, although the interpretation of this material is not always easy-archaeological remains are "silent" by nature and thus require analysis-the evidence is undeniably present and available for the testing of hypotheses drawn from literary sources. It is accompanied by a huge, scattered and frequently highly specialized modern archaeological literature. I do not pretend to have surveyed more than a fraction of this expanse but I have constantly attempted to seek out the most relevant studies and to rely on the interpretations of respected specialists. I have occasionally questioned them. I am acutely conscious of the problems raised by doing so for I am not a trained archaeologist but rather an historian attempting to interpret material remains in the light of both text and artifact together. As Richard Warner has said, however, echoing remarks by Colin Renfrew on the relations between archaeologists and historians as "dialogues of the deaf"," I can only plead the best intentions and hope that archaeologists will forgive the amateur foray into their territory and the mistakes made while doing so. Contrary to what might be expected, a reasonably reliable investigation of the early history of the drinking ritual is indeed possible and is, in fact, a major desideratum in the study of the Early Middle Ages. It is true that a number of works of various kinds dealing with drinking practices have appeared over the past few decades. Valuable as some of them are, many tend to be repetitive or derivative.' Gronbech's important work on the culture of the Teutons or Schucking's on Old English oath-making and drinking rituals have far too frequently been mined or paraphrased to produce pot-boiler essays of negligible value and less originality. Some other studies are very helpful but are often confined to individual personalities or groups during a restricted period. The literary sources are thus now in need of a somewhat more broad-based contextual discussion; they require placement in the Gediichtniskultur, that is, in the oral or memorial culture of early Europe which, with some exceptions, was largely disdained both by the
1 Andre Tchernia, "Italian Wine in Gaul at the end of the Republic" (1983), p. 90. 2 Richard B. Warner, "The Archaeology of Early Historic Irish Kingship" (1988), p. 47. 3 These remarks do not apply to a number of recent works which seek to go beyond traditional approaches. See, for some examples in this category, the insightful studies by D.A. Bullough, "Friends, Neighbors and Fellow-Drinkers: Aspects of Community and Conflict in the Early Medieval West" (1990); Gerd Althoff, Ve17Pandte,Freunde und Getreue: Zum politischen Stellentuert der Gruppenbindungen im }Tiiheren Mittelalter (1990); Hayo Vierck, "Hallenfreunde: Archaologische Spuren Friihmittelalterliche Trinkgelage und mogliche Wege zu ihrer Deutung" (1990).

classical commentators and their ecclesiastical successors. Once this memorial context is understood, then it will also be possible to show why and how some peoples better preserved it than others. We will thereby have formed an approach towards demonstrating the important level of continuity which existed in European culture outside of, or aside from, the Christian literary tradition. Archaeology will provide a valuable perspective. The section which foll~ws presents a descriptive and analytic sketch of the famous Liibsow and Hasleben/Leuna graves together with some discussions of the row-graves of the Merovingian period and the continuity of some practices into the Viking Age. In the course of analysis, I will indicate some of the ways in which the surviving material suggests the existence of a carefully organized geographically extensive drinking ritual. Since the nature of the evidence will point to an originally strong Germanic dependence on things Celtic, I will repeat the process for Celtic culture in the next section beginning with the late Hallstatt period, continuing through La 'Iene and eventually providing some reference to the Celts of the islands. Section three will present a brief discussion of the nature of the oral culture highlighting some comparative Germanic and Celtic aspects. A broader purpose will also be evident. This chapter seeks, in addition, to elucidate the continuity of the material cultures of the peoples discussed over a long period; to illustrate some relevant aspects of the interplay between them; to demonstrate the way in which the archaeological evidence supports the literary sources and hence the age and durability of the mead cup motif in European history.
1.

FROM

i.unsow

TO THE VIKINGS

Numerous cemeteries from the first century BC, the late pre-Roman Iron Age, have puzzled archaeologists by the fact that they contain either exclusively male or female burials. Stretching from Holstein to central Germany, these sex-segregated cemeteries include graves in which a sizable minority of men were buried with weapons and military equipment as well as bronze containers and Roman imports,' Many female graves contain ornaments such as items of jewelry. Puzzlement has arisen because no certain explanation for this novel segregation practice can be offered. Religious change, the coming of the comitatus, the creation of large-scale men's clubs (Miinnerbunden), have all been suggested as causative agents.' It is rather certain, however, that this burial custom points to
4 Malcolm Todd, "Germanic Burials in the Roman Iron Age" (1977), p. 40. 5 Steuer, Sozialstrukturen, pp. 157f., 190-8. See further Heiko Steuer, "Interpretstionsmoglichkeiten archsologischer Quellen zum Gefolgschaftsproblem" (1992), p. 230f. The most recent anthropological analysis of the skeletal remains show that some women and children were indeed buried in these cemetaries, Actually, this might seem to strengthen the warband connection since women in some numbers, probably as slaves or concubines, can easily be

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significant trans-regional social change. The importance of kinship, ~ primary organizational concept of tribal societies, must have declined in these areas for otherwise the more common practice of burial with family and relatives would not have been superseded. In the next century (outside of Holstein, the Altmark and some associated areas) this custom gives way to others but it remains an important and not fully explained indicator of widespread social ferment in Germania. It is in the next century, however, beginning about the time of the birth of Christ and lasting int~ the mid-second century, that the clearest indication of strong class differentiation emerges. This is the period of the "princely graves" of the Liibsow type investigated by H.J. Eggers," They are named after the Pomeranian cemetery ofLiibsow where five such burials have been found. Their distribution stretches from Bohemia in a north-westerly direction up along the Baltic coast into Jutland and the Danish islands with an outlier in southern Norway. They are not numerous. Eggers identified thirty-two but recent research suggests that more could be added.' These exceptionally rich graves are linked by a number of characteristics only the most important of which will be mentioned here. Most are inhumation burials and that alone makes them markedly different for cremation burial had been the rule among Germans for many centuries. Unusual care was also exercised in grave construction. Many of these "princes" were buried in coffins or in specially built chambers under barrows. An interest in the creation of political dynasties is also evident from the Liibsow site itself where three graves belong to the early imperial period and two to the later. Although Liibsow graves are normally weaponless, they do contain a broad range of imported Roman goods, especially very rich drinking vessels in bronze, silver and glass. One of the most impressive is the Hoby find from the Danish island of Lalland which can be dated to about the time of the birth of Christ. K It was the grave of a middle aged man who was buried with two joints of pork for his journey to the next world. His grave contained an astonishingly luxurious series of drinking vessels which included two silver cups on a bronze tray, a silver ladle, a bronze situla or bucket, a patera and a jug with two bronze-mounted drinking horns. There were also brooches of gold, silver and bronze, bronze belt-fittings and knife together with locally manufactured pottery. One might compare this grave with that of a woman from Juellinge on the
envisioned as having been present and the appearance of children in these cemetaries would seem to follow. 6 H.J. Eggers, "Liibsow, ein germanischer Fiirstensitz der alteren Kaiserzeit" (1950). 7 M. Gebiihr, "Zur Definition alterkaiserzeirliches Fiirstengraber vom Liibsow-Typ" (1974); Steuer, Sozialstrukturen, p. 52. 8 Mortimer Wheeler, Rome Beyond the Imperial Frontiers (1955), 36f.

same island towards the end of the Liibsow horizon." She was in her thirties and had been buried with a joint of lamb for sustenance in the next life. Among her ornaments were two gold-headed silver hairpins and a gold pendant with two gold beads at her neck. Four silver brooches were found at her breasts and shoulders, beads of amber and glass under her right hand. Also in her right hand, she held a long-handled bronze wine-strainer. Among other grave goods were found glass beakers and drinking horns together with a ladle into which the strainer held by the dead woman fit. Both instruments were commonly used in ladling drink from a cauldron (also found in the grave) into beaker or horn since the various liquors of the time was thick, much like soup, often containing berries, seeds, nodules of spice or other kinds of additions. These might also be added to wine as well as to mead or beer. Analysis of the cauldron showed that it had contained a fermented liquor made from barley and fruit. Here, surely, is an early example of our lady with a mead cup (holding a strainer for a barley/fruit liquor in this case) who was buried in such a way as to suggest both her respected functions as distributor of drink as well as her high social status. There is no doubt that the drinking assemblies buried in all the Liibsow type graves mirror the lifestyle of the contemporary Germanic upper class or nobility. A person's level of status was indicted by the very expensive and difficult to obtain imported goods while the fact that they were placed in the grave suggests not only a particular form of religious belief but also a necessity or desire on the part of the family for prestigious display at a time when many gathered together. I. Luxury drinking vessels were not only appropriate objects to be associated with high rank, their very possession seems to have been a sign of elevated status throughout their broad range of distribution. "Princely graves" similar to those of Liibsow also appear in the later Roman period with the designation "Hassleben-Leuna type" and are most common in the two or three decades on either side of AD 300. II Like Liibsow burials, they are widely distributed but now with concentrations in central Germany, the western Baltic shore and the Danish islands. They are mostly inhumations although that is no longer so unusual among Germans as it had been three
9 Ibid., p. 41f. 10 Excellent overviews, although often differing in matters of interpretation, will be found in the following works: Heiko Steuer, "Archaeology and History: Proposals on the Social Structure of the Merovingian Kingdom" (1991); Heinrich Harke, "'Warrior Graves'? The Background of the Anglo-Saxon Weapon Burial Rite" (1990); Herbert jankuhn, "Neue Erkenntnisse zur Sozialstruktur germanischer Stiimme im friihen Mittelalter auf Grund von Grabfunden" (1988); Bailey K. Young, "Exemple aristocratique et mode funeraire dans la Gaule merovingienne" (1986); Edward James, "Burial and Status in the Early Medieval West" (1989), Donald Bullough, "Burial, Community and Belief in the Early Medieval West" (1983); Bergljot Solberg, "Social Status in the Merovingian and Viking Periods in Norway from Archaeological and Historical Sources" (1985). II Steuer, Sozialstrukturen, pp. 220-9.

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'centuries earlier. It seems clear that the inhumation custom, begun by the nobles or wealthy, had now become the model for the next lower social category who thereby distinguished themselves in death from the population as a whole who still retained the predominant practice of cremation." Also copied was the lifestyle display. As in the Liibsow series, expensive imported bronze and silver drinking assemblies are prominent in graves of the Hassleben-Leuna type. The vessels are of the same kind as those used on the Rhine and Danube frontiers and it seems likely that many were taken in warband raids to the west and-south. Although weapons are not normally present, silver arrowheads were placed in some graves, presumably as a sign of rank. From the late fifth century onwards, in the wake of migration, Germanic service in Roman armies, conquest, Christianization and the establishment of barbarian successor states, the nature of burial customs change and fluctuate to such a degree in transalpine Europe that it would take a long disquisition to even partly describe them. I shall not attempt to do so here but will confine myself to a brief survey of a few selected themes. The custom of inhumation, now aided by Roman, Gallo-Roman and Christian influence, begins a phase during which it will spread ever more widely to largely replace the older varieties of cremation types. Burial with weapons will become exceedingly important and widespread. Among the Germans, this practice had begun in a small way in the first century BC and was then taken up and abandoned numerous times in various cemeteries and in various regions. It was known to the Alemanni in the fourth century, for example, but not to the contemporary Franks in the homeland." Both customs will come together in the eventually far-flung "row grave civilization" (Reihengriiberzivilization) which begins in northeastern Gaul and reflects Galle-Germanic origins," Bodies are now buried in individual trenches without coffins and are disposed neatly in rows. Men are frequently buried with one or more weapons and women with ornaments and other items of dress. The number, jypes and quality of weapons frequently seem to reflect social differentiation but one cannot always confidently generalize since other features impinge and make it clear that weapon deposition alone does not determine social status." Burials which must be described as "aristocratic" are not uncommon. Such graves are often earlier in date than others within the same cemetery which are oriented in various ways with regard to them and, as the collective evidence from many different cemeteries suggest, indicate the existence
12 Malcolm Todd, The Northern Barbarians 100 Be-AD 300 (1987), P.49f. . 13 Edward James, "Cemeteries and the Problem of Frankish Settlement in Gaul" (1979), p. 71f. 14 Ibid. Bailey K. Young, "Le probleme franc et l'apport des pratiques funeraires (Ill-V" siecles)" (1980); Steuer, Sozialstrukturen, pp. 342-404.; G, Halsall, "The Origins of the Reihengriiberzivi/isation: Forty Years On" (1990). 15 Many of the works already cited refer to this point. See, for example, Steuer, "Archaeology and History'Lrofif

of a lord/follower 'relationship in death as in life." A good example of a rich aristocratic burial is grave 1782 of Krefeld-Gellep, 17 The warrior was buried with a full panoply of weapons including helmet, ring-handled long-sword (often taken to indicate a comitatus bond at the highest level)," lance, throwing axe and long knife. Other grave goods included a bronze jug, glassware, two small eating knives, a bronze hanging bowl and a wooden bucket with bronze fittings used for the distribution ofliquor. This early sixth century grave is unusual for its richness but the overall pattern is typical of sixth and seventh century warrior burials which very frequently demonstrate links between weapons, social status and drinking utensils. The same is true of Anglo-Saxon England." Modifications occurred over time. Among seventh century Franks, for example, the burial of drinking vessels was gradually phased out, a development suggestive of Christian influence, and in the eighth century the deposition of grave goods ceases completely in much of western and central Europe." There .'are exceptions. Saxony, northern German areas and the Scandinavian countries continue the older forms. Overall, however, it is reasonable to suppose that in the governing centers of the eighth century Frankish empire the lady with a mead cup had lost much of her original significance." Greater complexity and bureaucracy would quickly have rendered her old-fashioned although certain of her aspects, titular control of the treasury, for example, or the yearly distribution of gifts to retainers, may have lasted longer;" Some retention of earlier practices is to be expected among contemporary local nobilities of the continent and England and the lady never really disappears among the Celts. The Vikings will maintain her for a long time too, just as they will continue the warband connection with drinking vessels and weapon burial. In Viking Age cemeteries, the combination of the bucket-container for distribution together with long-handled sieve and
16 Heiko Steuer, "Helm und Ringschwert, Prunkbewaffnung und Rangabzeichen germanischer Krieger, Eine Ubersicht" (1987); Idem, "Interpretationsmoglichkeiten", pp. 225-240. 17 Renate Pirling, Das riimisch-jTiinkische Griiberfold von Kre/eld-Gellep 1960-63 (1974); James, "Cemetaries", pp. 79-83. 18 See the works cited in note 16. 19 Harke, « 'Warrior Graves' ", p. 37f.; Idem, "Early Saxon Weapon Burials: Frequencies, Distributions and Weapon Combinations" (1989). 20 Frauke Stein, Adelsgriiber des achten Jahrhunderts in Deutschland (1967). 21 As D.A. Bullough pointed out, her presence seems to be "conspicuously lacking" in the Carolingian royal and imperial family. "Friends, Neighbors and Fellow-drinkers", p. 16f. Bureaucracy, the influence of churchmen with their own ideas of appropriate ritual, more complex notions of rank and the presence of many different leaders of varying status and relationships to the ruler, will all have played a role in her decline. The complexities of empire encourage other kinds of approaches to representations of authority and precedence although a concern for older types of ceremony may well linger for a long period. 22 For the yearly gift, s.ee Timothy Reuter "Plunder and Tribute in the Carolingian Empire" (1985). One also wonders as to how long she was regarded as "nurse to the young men" in the palatium. Janet Nelson, "Queens as Jezebels", P.47f.

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drinking horn or cup remains very common as earlier on the continent. >3 Iconography makes this association especially clear. Beginning with the fourth or fifth century drinking horn from Gallehus and continuing to the end of the eleventh century, one of the most favored Scandinavian depictions is that of a female figure presenting a warrior (often on a horse) with a drinking horn." One of her hands . is usually shown raised in the offering gesture and in the other she sometimes . carries a bucket. Woman, drinking horn and bucket containing a long-handled sieve all appear on the Halla Broa XVI picture stone, for example, a depiction which suggests that she had just passed a horn to a seated figure. The recent discovery of 2,300 stamped gold foils (guldgubber) from Sorte Muld (Bornholm) also offers significant new support for the present interpretation. Some of these small foils, roughly datable to circa 600~ depict an aristocratic female in special costume bearing a drinking horn as attribute and a male figure sometimes holding a Frankish style drinking glass and sometimes a "long scepter". Although a complete archaeological analysis of this find has not yet been published, it has already attracted the attention of a number of scholars and a consensus is building which links the foils to "organized cult" and "ceremony" at royal and religious centers, sites whose politico-religious importance has only recently come to be recognized." In all of the regions of the Germanic world, from northern Scandinavia to Lombardy, a similar kind of rich or upper class lifestyle centered on the hall and its Hallenfreude, the "delight" of the hall, seems to have existed. This can be documented in various ways but the late Hayo Vierck did so through a survey of the costly glass remains found in and around some eight different halls of the late Iron Age and Viking periods," A good example of such a site is that from the second to fifth century settlement of Westick, Kreis Unna. A large hall, fortyeight meters long and eight to twelve wide, was erected here, probably in the middle of the fifth century. At its front end, it also contained an installation for a ruler's high-seat. The remains of numerous expensive glasses were also found in the area, a-pattern which remained consistent for the other halls. Not all of these buildings were (or were continually) warband halls. Some seem to have been used by merchants joined in a protective group in which cultic drinking rituals reinforced solidarity and vows of allegiance. It is clear, however, that the fortunate
23 Detlev Ellmers, "Zum Trinkgeschirr der Wikingerzeit" (1964/65). 24 Discussed in Birgit Arrhenius, "Zum symbolischen Sinn des Almandin im friiheren Mittelalter" (1969). 25 Ellmers, "Trinkgeschirr", p. 26; Margarethe Watt, "Die Goldblechfiguren ("guldgubber'~ aus Sorte Muld" (1992); Idem, "Sorte Muld. Hovdingesaede og kultcentrum fra Bomholms yngre jemalder" (1991); Karl Hauck, "Frtihmittelalterliche Bildiiberlieferung und der organisierte Kult" (1992); Per O. Thomsen, "Die Goldblechfiguren ("guldgubber") der vierten Lundeborg-Grabung 1989" (1992); Karl Hauck, "Altuppsalas Polytheismus examplarisch erhellt mit Bildzengnissen des 5.-?Jahrhunderts" (1994) esp. pp, 245-84. 26 Vierck, "Hallenfreunde".

lifestyle displayed by the material remains was very similar over many tribal areas and territories so that it may justifiably be described as trans-regional. and, although somewhat anachronistically, international. Even this very brief sketch of selected aspects of the archaeological evidence indicates the historical reliability of many of the central themes discussed in the first three chapters-even when the literary works themselves are later than the period described. The material evidence is critically important for it demonstrates the continuity of certain organizational and life modes over an entire millennium and in regions and at times for which there is no literary evidence whatsoever. The culture of the Viking period in the North is the tail end of a process which began for Germans in the late pre-Roman Iron Age. Consider, for example, that something very much like comitatus organization probably existed in certain areas of Germania in the first century Be as Karl Peschel and others have argued." The sex-segregated cemeteries of the period containing weapons demonstrate quite clearly that the concept of biological kinship as an organizational concept had been replaced for many with something else. Some have argued against warband influence because these cemeteries are very large and contain too many burials. But the contrasting possibility, that of men's clubs, does not seem completely convincing since such groups are usually closely connected with tribal concepts of kinship and not commonly with a deliberate and drastically separate type of association and burial which, in this case, would also seem to be intended as a means of separating kin in the afterlife. Nothing, on the other hand, forbids a combination of the two ideas or, probably more likely, a combination of more egalitarian warband burial with the burial of larger numbers of lower status clients heavily dependant on a particular patron who is also a comitatus leader. Both types of organization were well known and clearly defined in contemporary Gaul and other Celtic territories where powerful men might control a large warband but also be capable of assembling far larger numbers of clients. As a corollary, one would need to posit a high degree of control over such clients on the assumption that they would otherwise have chosen to be buried with relatives. As far as can be determined, both the warband principle and the appearance of sex-segregated cemeteries are contemporaneous developments and that supports the view of a connection between them. As we shall see in the following section, the warband form of organization is more flexible than many historians (and the archaeologists who have followed them) have supposed. So far we have seen that the warrior lifestyle, connected with drinking displays, hierarchy, luxury containers and warband organization is a phenomena which
27 Karl Peschel, "Die Sueben in Ethographie und Archaologie" (1978); "Friihe Waffengraber im Gebiet der siidlichen Elbgerrnanen" (1977); Anjiinge germanischer Besiedlung im Mittelgebirgsraum. Sueben-Hermunduren-Markomannen (1978); Reinhard Wenskus, "Die neuere Diskussion urn gefolgschaft und Herrschaft in Tacitus' Germania" (1992); Steuer, "Interpretationsmoglichkeiten"; Dieter Timpe, "Der Sueben-Begriff bei Tacitus" (1992).

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lasts for more than a millennium among some cultures of the Germanic Northalthough it loses ground much earlier at the continental core. But what about the lady with her status ritual whom we have posited as belonging at the center of all of this? It is, of course, very difficult to prove her kind of ceremonial behavior from material remains alone. Nonetheless, some persuasive clues are available. In a recent discussion of assemblies of objects appearing in women's graves, Max Martin called attention to the way in which small objects, like keys of iron, bronze and silver, usually attached to a ring at a woman's belt, served as status symbols." He pointed out that the same principle applied to spoon-sieves or spoon-strainers carried on the same ring or chain. These instruments were well known in the Mediterranean world where they might be carried by servers of either sex at feasts or even brought by the guests themselves. In Germania, the situation was different. The spoon-sieve there was an exclusively female object and is never found in men's graves," It also must have been an important status symbol for it is only found in richer female graves. This radical difference in cultural mentality is worth emphasizing. Whereas Romans did not assign the object to either sex, the Germans did, and whereas the Romans thought of it as a simple table instrument, the Germans, who associated liquor with rank and aristocratic lifestyle, make it a status symbol for the upper class. The spoon-sieve appeats in burials from the late Roman period through the seventh century when the upper class avidly took to the drinking of wine. The most beautifully decorated example comes from Kent in southeastern England." A different form of the object was known earlier in the North, however. Attention has already been drawn to the aristocratic woman's grave at Juellinge from the Liibsow horizon. As we now recognize, the connection there between strainer and female rank was made doubly manifest by those who buried her by placing it in the woman's right hand. Similar long-handled sieves, sometimes made partly or completely of wood, also appear in Viking Age graves and iconography," The spoon-sieve, therefore, is a peculiarly upper class female symbol of rank which has virtually no meaning unless we accept a close link between women and the control and distribution of drink. It is, in itself, a sign of prestige and another example of the continuity between early Germania and the age of Beowulf.
28 Max Martin, "Bernerkungen zur Ausstattung der Frauengraber und zur Interpretation der Doppelgraber und Nachbestattungen im fruhen Mittelalter" (1990); "Weinsiebchen und Tollettgerat" (1984); Birgit Dubner-Manthey, "Zum Amulettbrauchtum in friihmittelalterlichen Frauen- und Kindergrabern (1990). 29 Martin, "Frauengraber", p. 94f.; "Weinsiebchen", p, n6. Larger examples of this symbolic instrument were well known in the Hallstattand La Tene periods where they frequently appear with drinking vessels of various kinds. In the early medieval period, their distribution reaches from Britain through Northern Gaul, the Rhineland, southern Germany and Switzerland to Bohemia, Hungary and Italy. They appear to have been less common in middle and northern Germania where more perishable types were probably used. 30 Martin, "Weinsiebchen", p. 108. 31 Ellmers, "Trinkgeschirr", p.26f.

A close link between women, the serving of liquor and the creation of fictive kinship is also demonstrable through the analysis of some peculiar drinking vessels called Ringgefosse.32 These have a very long but obscure tradition in the Mediterranean world, especially the eastern Mediterranean, where they have been connected with fertility cults and the idea of a mystic marriage with a goddess," Roman examples from the first century onwards have been found in the Rhineland and Britain." They are rarer in the migration period but are found often enough in widely distributed graves of the Thuringians, Alemanni and Franks to demonstrate that they had a specific and well understood purpose." Appropriately named, the Ringgefosse are characterized by a hollow ceramic ring which serves as both container and base. Upon this ring are mounted three (usually) cup-shaped containers with openings on the bottom so that liquor poured into anyone cup will fill both the hollow ring and the cups on top of it as well. This type of vessel has a number of relatives worth mentioning. Among them are Drillingsgefosse, triple cup assemblies, in which the cups, steins or various kinds of containers are joined together and whose handles may occasionally intertwine." Many have internal drilled holes to ensure that the same liquor mingles in each. Another type is the open circular vessel whose outer circumference extrudes three further containers at equidistant points," A more distant cousin is the jug with three spouts for pouring instead of one." All of these are known from the early medieval period or earlier. Some, like the Drillingsgefosse, are found among many different cultures throughout the world and were already being crafted in the late Neolithic. They continued to be produced in Central and Eastern Europe through the nineteenth century. Neither Ringgefosse nor Drillingsgefosse were easy to manufacture and are far too unusual and complicated to have ever been suitable for ordinary usage. This explains their relative scarcity; they were preserved for special occasions and, one should note, many kinds were fragile and easily broken so that the small numbers that remain are only an indication of what once existed. In fact, they were ritual vessels used in the creation of fictive brotherhood and sisterhood. One sees this
32 A very useful, although now somewhat dated, discussion is that of Ernst Grohne, Die Koppel-, Ring- und Tiillengejiise: Bin Beitrag zur Typologie und Zweckgeschichte keramischer Formen (1932). 33 The eastern Mediterranean types were not meant for cultic drinking, however, whereas the northern examples were. See Elizabeth Ruttkay, "Ein urgeschichtliches Kultgefass vom jennyberg bei Miidling/Niederiisterreich" (1974). 34 Waldemar Haberey, "Ein riimisches Ringgefass aus Karlich, Landkreis Koblenz" (1952); P. Kupka, "Zwei germanische Tonlampen aus der A1tmark" (1910). 35 GUnter Behm-Blancke, "Trankgaben und Trinkzeremonien im Totenkult der Volkerwanderungszeit" (1979), p. 180f.;Pirling, Krejeld-Gellep, p. 99f. 36 Grohne, Koppel-, Ring- und Thllengejiisse, p, 32f. 37 For a seventh century example, see GUnter Behm-Blancke, "Das Priester- und Heiligengrab von Schlotheim. Zur Strategie und Mission der Franken in Nordthuringen" (1989), p. 217. 38 Or see the photo of the fourth century glass jug depicted in Renate Pirling, Rltmer und Franken am Neiderrhein (1986), p. 87.

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most readily in the case of the Drillingsgefosse for they were not especially unusual during the late medieval and modern periods when they were used by some DutzbriiderschaJten, brotherhood 'groups in which arms were sometimes linked while drinking, a practice recalled by the intertwined handles of some of the modern triple-cup examples," From the High Middle Ages, they were also linked to trinitarian symbolism and iconography in which Christ might be depicted as ...triple-headed or triple-faced." The association was made possible by the vessel symbolism itself and also by the fact that God the Father was regarded as the patron of potters since he made man from clay. Both kinds of associations are indicated for the Ringgefosse of the sixth and seventh centuries and earlier. The ritual brotherhood aspect is clearest in a Roman example from Britain where a human arm is shown rising from the foot of one of the ring-cups to grasp the center of the adjacent cup, a process which is repeated." The trinitarian emphasis was also present in this period although it was not Christian. This is shown by the discovery of three Ringgefosse in the late Roman stratum of a small temple to the Celto-Germanic triple mothers near Mayen (Rheinland-Pfalz) ..p Only a fragment is preserved of one of these; the second is an especially elegant work (assignable to the third century) with an inscription pointing to a friendship between two women." The third is unusual also since the hollow ring of the base is in the form of a four-spoked wheel, a Celtic symbol of godhood and sacrality, and it is surmounted by five cups, four at the circumference at the end of each spoke and a fifth in the center. It is difficult to understand the reason for the two extra cups in the last example but W. Haberey is probably right to regard it (along with the others) as an instrument belonging to some particular cult practice." Such linkage with women which we find here in the mothers' cult (always linked to three figures) continues into the migration period. With perhaps one or two exceptions, all of the Germanic Ringgefosse come from women's graves," This seems to confirm the interpretation frequently made in earlier chapters that women among the Germans were regarded as having a special responsibility for the public ritual creation of brotherhood. The religious significance of that act has already been pointed out. Similarly, all of the modern
39 Haberey, "Ringgefass",
40 Grohne,

p. 8z. Koppel-, Ring- und Tullengejasse, p. 3zf.

41 4z 43 44 45

Haberey, "Ringgefass", p. 81. Ibid., p. 8z. Ibid. Ibid. Renate Pirling refers to an example from a man's grave near the end of the sixth century from Hugstetten, Kreis Freiburg/Br. but notes also that most come from women's graves. Their presence in female graves, she suggests, reduces the possibility of a relationship with the creation of brotherhood but she accepts the association with "magical" behavior. Actually, as I have argued here, the presence of these vessels in women's graves indicates that women were viewed as the proper creators of brotherhood. Pirling, Krejeld-Gellep, p. 100.

authors who have studied the Ringgefiisse are agreed that they possess a pronounced religious or magical significance." The ring, of course, is the most perfect symbol of completion. By analogy, the drink which it contains, the identical drink in each of the three cups, symbolizes the same perfection of unity to be achieved by those who share it together. The ultimate justification for the three cups is.the same stress on unity again, only this time expressed through the concept of the separate aspects of a triune deity or deities, an indication of the way in which three might function as one." The Drillingsgefosse seem not to have had the same personal identification with women but appears nonetheless to have possessed.it at some times and places. Perhaps the same can be said with regard to association with a triplicate or triune deity. Such would seem to be a fair interpretation of the evidence from the grave of an aristocratic woman of the Alemanni from Giittingen (Kreis Konstanz) from the end of the sixth century" The rich grave of this middle aged female occupied a special place in the cemetery in that a number of other graves were oriented in a half moon around it. The deceased wore a valuable necklace which included three gold bracteates (coin-like amulets) each of which depicted the likeness of an identical or near identical male head. According to Gerhard Fingerlin, from whose complete catalogue the present partial description is drawn, each amulet was created from the same model with slight differences ensuing because oflater touch-up." From a chain attached to the woman's belt hung a small knife, a number of other amulets and objects and an especially ornate spoon-sieve which showed clear signs of long usage. At her pelvis were found two unusually large disc broaches which seem to have originally been cut from late Roman silver plates. One shows an imperial head in flat relief; the second depicts a rider carrying a long cross on his right shoulder. Below the woman's feet lay a Drillingsgefoss, three grouped cups joined by short pipes. Among other grave goods were more conventional drinking implements and a ladle for serving. A spindle whorl used in weaving was found on her chest and the remains of some woven fabric (now completely decayed) was found over a bronze pan which also lay at her feet. The Giittingen grave is especially significant for several reasons. It draws together a number of pertinent themes presented above but it also provides valuable clues to an underlying mentality which is only found in bits and pieces, the shards of a tradition, in a few later Christian literary sources. For one thing,
46 See the views expressed by Grohne, Haberey, Pirling and Behm-Blancke in the works cited above and, in addition: Tone Knez, "Neue Hallstattzeitliche Pseudokernoi aus Novo Mesto" (1974). Knez describes these as "emphatically cultic vessels" designed "very probably" for ritual drinking. He wonders if the buried woman should not be described as a "priestess". 47 This is essentially Haberey's formulation: :'Ringgefass", p. Ba. 48 Gerhard Fingerlin, "Grab einer adligen Frau aus Guttingen" (1964). 49 Ibid., p. 38.

IlO

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the lady's high status is unmistakable; it is shown by the conjunction of luxury grave goods with placement in the cemetery. That this status should also be associated with liquor service and' fictive brotherhood is suggested by the spoonsieve, ladle and Drillingsgefoss. In addition, however, the religious element, actually the peculiarly female religious element, is very strong in the find so that it may be justifiable to go beyond Fingerlin's description of her as an "aristocratic , woman" and suggest the possibility that she also fitted, although probably only in part, into a much older religious as well as social pattern. No single objectfrom her grave leads ineluctably in this direction-except perhaps the Drillingsgefiiss -but the presence of bracteate amulets, Drillingsgefiiss, cross-bearing rider, spindle whorl, and woven material together do point to that possibility, for all seem to belong to a cuItic context which has never been fully explained. This hypothesis will require a demonstration so that we may now turn to an examination of the cultural connections of these Giittingen artifacts as a means toward more fully explaining their historical implications. Although bracteates are also found in men's graves, they appear to have been worn far more often by women." As amulets, they serve the religious purpose of warding evil or drawing supernatural support. The presence of the three "identical" male head bracteates in conjunction with the three cups of the Drillingsgefoss is difficult to accept as coincidence, however, for each seems to emphasize the same concept of triune unity. 51 The presence of the cut-out disc brooch depicting a rider bearing a long cross makes it possible to see this as evidence of Christian influence but that view requires nuance for the associational background and meaning of such objects in southern Germanic culture of the time is not what it was for the Mediterranean. Both bracteates and triple vessels antedate Christianity in northern Europe and neither plays much of a role in the only superficially understood mixed conversion-era mentality of sixth-century Germania. The trinitarian doctrine is especially troublesome here for it is the most esoteric of all Christian beliefs and its integration and effect on the Germanic cultures of different regions is a matter of guesswork. It is clear, on the other hand, that the remarkable concept of triune deities was well known in Iron Age Europe for triplicate heads and figures have been found scattered in many areas of La Tene culture on the continent and the British Isles," We have already seen that this concept may be associated with the Ringgefosse of the late Roman period in the
50 Karl Hauck, Die Goldbrakteaten der Viilkerwanderungszeit 1. Einleitung (1985), p. 15f. Some further commentary in my review of this work in Speculum 63 (1988), P.405f. 51 G. Behm-Blancke, "Heiligengrab von Schlotheim", p, 214f., prefers to regard the possible trinitarian conception as unproven even when theDrillingsgefoss is added to the evidence. Since both bracteates and vessel have undoubted religious significance, however, it seems to me that the triune concept in one form or another was meant to be understood. 52 See Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain: Studies in Iconograplry and Traditilln (1968~), pp. 61-127; Pierre Lambrechts, L'Exaltation de la lete dans la Pensee et dans l'art des Celtes (1954).

Celto-Germanic cult of the triple mothers. From the Christian viewpoint, therefore, the most judicious deduction would seem to be that a conceptual evolution may have taken place which maintained a connection with-women, bracteates and triple cup vessels while otherwise moving towards religious syncretism. Consider, for example, the ways in which a "cross" can be depicted in Alemannic culture and the way in which it can be associated with a prophetic goddess who appears on bracteate amulets which, as in the Giittingen case, are more commonly found in women's graves. One of these in the so-called category of "Furstenberg type?" bracteates derives from an unknown site in southwestern Germany where it was originally found before 1855.54 It depicts an enthroned, large breasted female figure with skirt wearing a crown-like hairstyle and with an Echoform of Byzantine diadem. In each hand she carries two very curious cross-like objects which resemble the cross-staff and globus cruciger carried in formal portraiture by the Byzantine emperor," The ultimate model for these amulets clearly lies in the East but the iconographic message has been adapted to Germanic culture where the emperor has been replaced by a woman. This is also shown by the fact that the long "cross" carried in the female figure's right hand has' crossbars on both top and bottom of the staff and such placement is completely irreconcilable with orthodox thinking. The bracteate craftsman who had originally seen the Byzantine depictions of the emperor's cross-staff did not understand their significance but had reworked them to fit a familiar context with a religious non-commercial meaning. It may be suggested that what the female figure is actually carrying is not a long cross, however, but rather a weaving beam, the shaft at the top of the warp weighted loom from which hangs the warp of wool or flax to be woven into cloth." Such looms were commonly used in Iron Age and Early Medieval Europe and continued to be used in Scandinavian countries into the twentieth century. 57 Larger weaving beams were sometimes equipped with crossbars at one or both ends in order to facilitate the raising or lowering of work frequently made quite heavy by scores of dangling loom weights. As far as one can tell, peoples of Germanic culture always associated such looms with the warp and woof of fate and the women who worked them were often associated with magic. 58 Weaving implements like distaffs, spindles and whorls
53 Michael Enright, "The Goddess Who Weaves: Some Iconographic Aspects ofBractates of the Fiirstenberg Type" (1990). Photos of these appear in the article but the fullest analysis will be found in the relevant volumes of Morten Axboe, Klaus Diiwell, Karl Hauck, Lutz von Padberg et al., Die Goldbrakteaten der Viilkerwanderungszeit. Ikonographischer Katalog (= IK 1-.1). Enleitungsband sotaie je I Text und je I Tajelband (I985ff.). 54 I refer to Enright, "Goddess who Weaves", p. 55f., for convenience but Hauck's catalogue, as noted above, must be consulted for finer details. 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid., p. 62f. 57 Full discussion in Marta Hoffmann, TIle Warp-Weighted Loom. Studies in the History and Technology of an Ancient Instrument (1964). 58 Enright, "Goddess who Weaves", p. 65f. with notes.

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were thereby associated with prophecy and prophetesses in the Germanic tradition (and in the Celtic as well) and such women are often described as carrying them. S9 A weaving beam is therefore an appropriate symbol of divine prophetic talent although it does not always need to have crossbars. A variant of this bracteate type from Gudme, Fiinen, shows the same figure carrying a long staff without bars. 60 Here, then, in southern Germania, we find "crosses" associated with golden amulets, women, prophecy and magic so that it is clear that the religious context is quite different from what one might expect if one approached the question from the viewpoint of the Mediterranean tradition alone. The bracteate craftsman who saw portraits of the cross-bearing emperor on Byzantine coins transformed this depiction into that of a prophetic goddess carrying a weaving beam with cross-bars. At Giittingen, it may be suggested, we see another variation of the same process. Another craftsman has snipped the late Roman silver plate portraits of imperial head and cross-bearing rider to be made into brooches for a woman's clothing but that hardly means that she actually worshipped the emperor any more than the three bracteate heads, which may represent the Christian trinity, means that she was a convinced and knowing Christian. She was simply trying to ward evil and bring good luck by using symbols which are commonly interpreted within a purely Christian framework but which, since we know how other contemporary imperial portraits were interpreted in traditional Alemannic religion, may no longer be routinely explained in such a manner. The cross-bearing rider, as suggested by the imperial head for the other brooch, is closeenough to the cross-bearing emperor to make sense. It seems clear, on the other hand, that the Giittingen female had been exposed to Christian ideas and knew something about them. More than anything else, she seems to have been a figure living in a syncretistic conversion period which easily gave rise to confused situations and surprising interpretive cross currents. She was certainly deeply interested in cultic paraphenalia. A similar conceptual scheme is deducible from the "globus cruciger" in the Southwest Germany bracteate since it is not really a cross-surmounted globe at all but rather a flat-bottomed hemisphere which seems to resemble a swift, a common tool used by weavers for the winding of yarn." One was buried with the "queen" of the famous Osberg ship." This Furstenberg type bracteate seems to be a sixth century product and comes from the same general region as the Giittingen burial. Another sixth century variant comes from the same Kreis
59 Ibid., p. 66£ 60 Morten Axboe, "Die Brakteaten von Gudme U" (1987), Tafel XIll, XIV. 61 On swifts, see Hoffmann, Warp-Weighted Loom, pp, 288-95. The late OE text Gereja calls this tool garnvinda. 62 Thorleif Sjovold, Der Oseberg-Fund und die anderen Wikingerschijfijunde (1958).

Konstanz in which Giittingen lies so that, considering the Gudme find, it now seems correct to speak of an actual widespread cult which emphasizes reverence for a staff-bearing prophetic goddess. All of the other hundreds of known bracteates feature divine and non-human figures, as Karl Hauck has shown, so thatit is highly unlikely that these are exceptions. The presence of spindle whorl and cloth in the Gtittingen grave are further indications that it belongs to the context outlined above. Another Furstenberg bracteate from the north-east, from Oberwerschen,' Kreis Hohenmolsen, for example, shows the goddess standing with both hands raised." The right is open in a gesture which can be identified as a signal for epiphany while the other holds a weaving sword, an implement used to manipulate threads on the 100m.64 Once again, it appears justifiable to connect this figure with prophecy, an act which is symbolized in Germanic culture by the carrying of weaving tools. In all of the cases cited, however, the "cross" is also present in some form or another and that is why one can make the connection with Guttingen, But it is not understood as a Christian symbol. In the Oberwerschen bracteate, for example, two "crosses" appear on the lower right perimeter but they seem unconnected with the goddess and look more like starfish than anything else. No convinced Christian would have depicted them in this way and it appears probable that the craftsman is working in an entirely different tradition. The fact that Furstenberg type braeteates are only found in women's graves supports this view-for such would hardly be the case in Christianity-as also does, to a lesser extent, the Drillingsgefliss. One cannot maintain of course that this prophetic women's cult possessed the same attributes in all regions of Germania. Although the goddess seems much the same in the examples cited, she is sometimes depicted seated with staff and swift and sometimes shown standing with weaving sword or with upraised hands. The contours of the cult are unclear and subtleties escape us. A few literary sources help us to understand the mentality underlying the religious conceptions but they are completely silent on the cult itself and it is only through the analysis of the most diverse kinds of clues that any explanation becomes possible. It may, on the other hand, be suggested that certain aspects of this cult may have had a long tradition in southern German regions although the evidence lies far back in early La Tene, that is, nine hundred to one thousand years earlier. The connection between women and various peculiar looking staffs and containers goes back at least that far in European prehistory, however, so that no matter how one interprets the evidence, the pattern of continuity between the southern
63 Enright, "Goddess who Weaves", p. 57. The woman's grave in which this bractate was found must also be connected with ritual and cult. See Berthold Schmidt, "Opferplatz und Gr1iberfeld des 6. jahrhunderts bei Oberwerschen, Kreis Hohenmolsen" (1966). 64 Karl Gross, Menschenhand und Gotteshand in Antike und Christentum (1985), p. 19£ On weaving swords and their symbolism, see Max Martin, Das friinkische Griiberjetd von Basel-Bernerring (1976), p. 91£; Wilfried Menghin, Die Langobarden. Archaalogie und Geschichte (1985), P.72.

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. German bracteate depictions and drinking vessels and the material of the earlier period is demonstrably present. As evidence, let us examine grave 118 of the Durrnberg near Hallein, Austria." This rich female grave of the fifth century BC contained a large number of amulets, among them various kinds of animal teeth, stones and no less than a dozen snail shells.f In addition to brooches, rings and pots, it also contained a staff with hanging chains and a peculiar Ringgefiiss. The wooden staff, 48.5 em long and 0.7-1.1 cm in diameter, has small bronze knobs at top and bottom. A small loop is attached just beneath the upper knob and from it hang two 14.2 ern long chains. These are joined in turn to a flat half moon pendant from which hang three more chains (to about 21 cm long) tipped with three identical little club-like danglers. Two such staffs may once have existed at the cemetery of Hallstatt but it is difficult to be sure because of the disappearance of the wood. This staff type, however, together with a related type with ornamented top but without chains, derives from Italy and spread from there into southern Alpine regions and then eastward." Others of these types, in whole or part, are known from such sites as Bologna, Este-Alfonsi, Padua, Montebelluna, Caversano, Albate (Como), Belmonte (Ascoli P.) while several others come from Slovenia and four from Hungary." A staff of the second type was also found in grave 59 of the Diirrnberg and is comparable to one from Bargen, Kreis Konstanz--once again Konstanz-and Miinsingen (Bern)." Although von Duhn and Messerschmidt have called them "scepters", the connotation of political power seems unwarranted and Ludwig Pauli has rightly opted for "cult staff"." Apart from two children's graves (a four to five year old girl might also be buried with one of these staffs) and one of uncertain sex, such staffs "are always found in very rich female graves" and scholars appear to be agreed that "a cultic meaning must also be ascribed to them". 71 But the exact significance of the staff is unclear. It obviously serves no practical purpose but must nonetheless have had a symbolic association with leading women. Pauli thinks in terms of communal ritual and festival while E. Jerem has proposed links with a Venetie fertility goddess, an hypothesis which seems consonant with the
65 Ludwig Pauli, Der Durrnberg bei Hallein IlL Aussertung tier Grab/untie (1978), pp. 530-2. 66 Ibid. There seems to be a correlation between women's graves, the occasional presence of snail shells and ideas of driving off hostile influences. See Ludwig Pauli, Keltischer Volksglaube. Amulette und Sonderbestattungen am Diirrnberg bei Hallein und im eisenzeitlicher Mitteleuropa (1975), p. 138f., 179f. 67 Ibid., pp. 531, 269-'73. 68 Ibid., 270; Friedrich von Duhn, Franz Messerschmidt, Italische Griiberkunde (1939), p. 53f. 69 Pauli, Diirrnberg, p. 270. 70 von Duhn, Messerschmidt, Griiberkunde, p, 53f.; Pauli, Diirrnberg, p. 270. 71 See the works cited in note 70 and also E.Jerem, "Spateisenzeitliche Grabfunde von Beremend (Komitat Baranya)" (1973), p, 82; Idem, "The late Iron Age Cemetery ofSzentliirinc" (1968), P·187·

accumulated evidence even if one is doubtful about identification with any one particular divine figure." Some type of religious or magical usage is indicated, particularly when one looks at the well-preserved Libna example (Slovenia) with its six hanging chains and diverse hanging amulets," Once again, the weaving context provides the most satisfactory interpretive scheme. The unique thing about these staffs, as with those' on. the bracteate depictions, is that they are nearly always found in female graves but also show up among various peoples at various times. Any answer must therefore fulfill the following criteria: it must find a common denominator linking women, staffs and magic over a very broad cross-cultural context lasting more than a thousand years. So stated,the only sufficient solution appears to be weaving. David Herlihy collected scores of supportive references from Middle Eastern cultures, from Greeks, Romans, Celts and Germans," The earliest depictions north of the Alps seem to. be the sixth-century BC pottery designs from Sopron in northwest Hungary," One shows a woman working at an upright loom, while the other depicts a woman holding a long skein of wool from which dangles a spindle with whorl. The association with prophecy and the magical arts also seems constant. It might seem difficult to associate these phenomena with such perishable materials as wool, cloth and wooden weaving tools but the literature is actually quite rich in supportive clues. In his sixth-century In Gloria Confossorum, Gregory of Tours refers to a pagan sacred lake on Mons Helarius in the Gevaudan. The surrounding populace used to gather there for a three day festival which included animal sacrifice and offerings thrown into the lake. These offerings included tufts of unspun wool. and woven cloth," very probably a practice of considerable age. It also seems natural to associate weaving with "binding" and "loosing" spells, for example, and that principle might be applied to medicine: "For cheek disease, take the whorl, with which a woman spinneth, bind on the man's neck with a woolen thread";" or in other instances when "linen cloth" or "yarn thread" appear in the magical charms of Anglo-Saxon England." Other studies support this view. In a recent paper, P. Scardigli observed that most of the runic inscriptions of the Suebic-Alemannic region derive from women's graves and appear on brooches, boxes or other feminine objects. One interesting example
72 73 74 75 76 jerem, "Szentlorinc", p. 187 n. 103; Idem, "Beremend", p. 82 n. 78. Pauli, Ddrrnberg, p. 271. David Herlihy, Opera muliebria: Women and Work in Medieval Europe (1990), pp. 25-48. These are often reproduced. See, for instance, Stuart Piggot, Ancient Europe (19732), p. 198. Ad quem certo tempore multitudo rusticorum, quasi libamina lacui iIIi exhibens, lenteamina proieciebat ac pannos, qui ad usum vestimenti virile praebentur .... Gregory of Tours, Liber in gloria conjCssorum. MGH SS rer. Meror. 1(2)(1885), p. 299. 77 For examples and discussion, see Valerie I.J. Flint, The Rise of'.Magic in Ear{y Medieval Europe (1991), p. 286f.; Audrey L. Meaney, Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones (1981), p, 8f., 46f., 181-9. 78 Flint, Magic, p. 303.

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comes from a loom fragment-in a sixth century grave. Scardigli associates this with a widespread practice of consulting female diviners and so does S. Flowers in his recent book on runes." Oneis also reminded of another weaving tool, a sley made of yew wood from Westeremden (Groningen) which probably dates to the late eight century. It bears two names in runic script and the context of yew wood, runes and weaving would seem to associate it with magic. 80 It all becomes more .likely when one considers the many clerical condemnations recently discussed by David Herlihy and Valerie Flint. St. Eligius objected to women who sought supernatural power at the loom, in dying and in textile work, while Hincmar of Rheims associated weaving skills, colored threads and garments with the equipment of witches," The penitential literature frequently forbids female "observances" while weaving, or making "consultations" of "woolen work" or the "vanities" and "incantations" of the "threads of the warp and of the woof" .83 As a small but indicative detail of the kind of continuity under discussion, one can also point to the fact that Hincmar of Rheims speaks of witches using snail shells in their work, a point which recalls the presence of a dozen snail shells in grave 118 of the Diirrnberg. Considering the relatively small size of the Diirrnberg staffs, however, they do not represent the far larger weaving beam but rather the simple distaff. And the narrow chains, similar to hanging skeins of wool or flax in any case, are durable signs of hanging threads. Even those with ornamented erids and without the chains are a variant perfectly fitted to this milieu since distaffs were often provided with hooks, knobs, eyelets or projections to anchor the ball of wool from which hung the spindle with its whorl as flywheel and weight.t' A further clue, mentioned by von Duhn and Messerschmidt but not followed up by them, is the fact that whorls and spindles may be found in conjunction with the staffs in Italian graves," The two scholars interpreted this as an indication of the sex of the deceased without realizing that it also says something about the function of the
79 Piergiuseppe Scardigli, "Das Problem der suebischen Kontinuitat und die Runeninschrift von Neudingen/Baar" (1986), p. 51; Stephen E. Flowers, Runes and Magic: Magical Formulaic Elements in the Older Runic Tradition (1986), p. 241f. Valerie Flint (Magic, p. 250) notes that the female magicians seem to appear "quite often" in Germanic areas. 80 R.W.V. Elliot, "Runes, Yews and Magic", (1991), p. 256. Elliot is cautious but I agree with Flint's opinion in Magic, p. 226 and n. 92. 81 Herlihy, Opera muliebria, p. 39£.;Flint, Magic, pp. 226-8. 82 Flint, Magic, pp. 226-8. 83 Ibid. 84 Many illustrations will be found in the photo section of Karl Schlabow, Textilfunde der Eisenzeit in Norddeutschland (1976). See especially Abbildungen, p. 22-8. In these early cultures in which distaffs and spindles were the most common tools possessed by women and known to all, the sight of a woman carrying a small staff would probably immediately bring both the weaving and magical contexts to mind. 85 von Duhn, Messerschmidt, Gra;herkunde, p. 54f..

staff. But this proposed solution does not invalidate Jerem's fertility-goddess argument. Although it would take us too far afield to discuss the evidence here, and hence it will be investigated in the following chapter, late ancient Romans, Celts and Germans made very direct and graphic connections between weaving, sexuality and magic. It is, on the other hand, now convenient to pause in our discussion of the genealogy of the Giittingen objects in order to note a significant relationship between weaving, prophecy and warfare in Germanic thinking. One does not need to repeat what has been said about tribal matrons choosing the time of battle or of Veleda's ceremonial predictions of victory although the improbability of Roman commentators understanding the background of these actions should be emphasized. Part of the background, at least, would seem to be described in the tenth century east Frankish magical formula known as the First Merseburg Charm: Once the women sat; sat here and there. Some made fetters; some restrained the hostile army; Some loosed the fetters. Free yourself from the fetters, escape the warriorsl" This charm is much disputed for it may refer to actual physical battle but may also, alternatively, refer to a warding off of the hordes of disease invading the body. In either case, warfare is the central concept and women are involved because the binding and loosing of knots in the sunken weaving hut are interpreted as the magical equivalent of the binding and loosing of warriors on the battlefield. This religious notion of "fettering" must have been very important in Germanic culture for it already appears in Tacitus' laconic description of worship in the sacred groves (Germania 39). It appears again in Bede's story (HE IV, 22) of the captured thegn Imma whose fetters kept falling off, leading his captors to suspect that he possessed "loosing spells such as are described in stories". The "spells" turned out to be masses said for him by his brother, a priest. But the vocabulary of weaving has further connotations applied to both the physical and supernatural worlds of conflict. Old English wigspeda gewiofu occurs in Beowulf and means "web of battle luck" while a woman married off to create an alliance is called freo71uwebbe, "peace weaver". H7 The idea of women weaving fate is present in both contrasting metaphors. Old Norse, as in sigruefr, "web of battle", extends the concept even further since the entire weaving loom can be compared to weapons and the act of weaving to the process of slaughter. The poem Darra7Jarljt571 refers to the role of the "women's bower" and to weaving by valkyries in the Battle of Clontarf, fought between Scandinavians and Irish in 1014:

86 H.D. Schlosser, Althnchdeutsch. Laeratur (1970), p. 252. 87 Enright, "Goddess Who Weaves", p. 66.

,lIS Blood rains , From the cloudy web On the broad loom Of slaughter The web of man, Grey as armour, Is now being woven; The Valkyries Will cross it With a crimson weft The warp is made Of human entrails; Human heads Are used as weights; The heddle-rods Are blood-wet spears; The shafts are iron-bound, And arrows are the shuttles. With swords we will weave. This web of battle. 88

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After the battle, the valkyrie women ripped their woven cloth from the loom "each keeping the shred she held in her hands". This reference to keeping a piece of the spelled cloth is, apparently, connected with the magic itself and helps to explain the appearance of bits of cloth in graves, as well as that of threads in amulet boxes and remarks about them in written charms. Although she does not cite DarraiJarljoiJ, Audrey Meaney's research in the amulet usage of the Anglo-Saxons led her to a similar conclusion: "Scraps of textiles could have been preserved because of the magic powers within them". Kg That is why the church advocated a watch on weaving women; spells were being worked into the fabric. Actually, this category of magic appears to have been very nearly routine. It seems natural to assume that the woman of the house would seek to imbue the clothing made for her husband and children with whatever kinds of protection were available. Even more significantly, the examples cited in the previous paragraph verify the archaic rationale for consulting women in the men's work of warfare and for the warrior sodality of the comitatus in maintaining a prophetess. The man's role was to fight; the woman's role was to protect him with the magic that was peculiarly hers and not accessible to him because it came from the gynaeceum. In addition, of course, Bede's story ofImma, long seen as a picturesque example of
88 The translation is by Magnusson, Palsson, Njals Saga, p. 349f. 89 Meaney, Amulets, p, 185.

Christian thaumaturgy, can now be seen in a new light, as a very precisely tailored substitution for female magic In warfare. Although the prophetess who would have been familiar to the thegn is not mentioned-deliberately not mentioned it would now seem and perhaps even slighted by the reference tojabula-'it appears probable that the Christian priest is being presented as her proper substitute in the act of military binding and loosing In the same way as a new kind of Christian royal inauguration ritual will soon thereafter be substituted for her traditional liquor offering. I am emboldened to offer this interpretation because Bede's chapters surrounding the Imma story seem consciously designed to offer alternatives to the pagan warband system. Chapter 21' of book IV describes how archbishop Theodore brought peace to warring kings "by his wholesome advice". The new peaceweaver is the bishop. Iv, 22 recounts the Imma incident; the priest replaces the prophetess. Iv, 23 tells the story of Hild, a woman of high birth who might normally have offered the mead cup in secular life. Indeed, it seems quite probable that she did so for Bede says that "she spent her first thirty-three years very nobly in 'the secular habit". Thereafter, she abandoned the worldly life to become the revered abbess of Whitby. IV, 24 then recounts how Caedmon became a Christian poet through the intervention of abbess Hild; the new type of hall scop creates wonderfully pious songs but rejects all pagan ones and becomes a monk. The follower, the lady and the poetall appear in these artful chapters and it seems too curious a coincidence not to have been planned since the appearance of the three together indicates both an awareness of the pagan warband framework and the existence of a technique designed to modify its traditions. Except for the nuanced spells "described in stories" of the Imma chapter, however, no disquieting references to overt paganism mar the text so that the technique appears to be a variant of the subtle strategy of "exchanges" recommended by pope Gregory in his famous letter to Mellitus. Bede's approach, a damning by exclusion with a substitution remaining as the principle historical clue to the writer's purpose, is also comparable to the description ofWealhtheow in Beowulfwhere only hints of her full character and function are discernible. In this latter text, the magical background of the comitatus prophetess is largely submerged in Christian coloring to become part of the deodorized pagan memory of the monastic replacement program. Grave 118 of the Diirrnberg also contained a Ringgefoss . The body of the vessel consists of a hollow ring about 17.2 em in diameter and 22.7 em in height. It clearly belongs to the same family of containers described earlier but it is a highly unusual variant (Ludwig Pauli called it "singular in all of La Tene culture") lacking cups or additional spouts," The American reader can easily envision it by imagining a vertical doughnut on a stand surmounted by a conical spout resembling a funnel. Considering both context and form, its affinities also lie with the
90 Pauli, Diirrnberg, p. 296.

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various kinds of "cult vessels" which, according to E. Ruttkay, are most frequently found in rich graves of the Celtic Hallstatt culture although they are known for long before that." Some of these, like the three "pseudokernoi" found in a rich woman's grave from Novo Mesto are quite close to both the ring vessels and several of their relatives from early medieval Germanic graves." . It may be concluded, therefore, that the manifold links between women, staffs and cultic drinking vessels are not at all peculiar to the Vdlkerwanderungszeit but go back a millennium earlier, sometimes even to the same region of Europe. The Giittingen lady with her spoon-sieve, spindle whorl, Ringgefiiss, woven cloth and trinitarian bracteates may be considered as a point on a continuum. She seems to look backward to early La Tene and forward to the already vague perhaps fading tradition ofWealhtheow in the Beowulfpoem. We must, however, further clarify this observation. It can be done by asking the following question: in view of the clearly mixed signals from the Giittingen grave, in view also of the only passing reference to binding spells in Bede and the late date of the Beowulf poem, are we still on solid ground in positing continuity in the area of magical weaving tools and textiles after several centuries of Christianization when, presumably, such pagan practices would have been constantly attacked? This may well be the crux of the matter. A passage from the Vita Leobae, written or completed in 836 by Rudolf of Fulda, provides indisputable evidence. Leoba, an Anglo-Saxon woman and relative of St. Boniface, was abbess of Bischofsheim in the diocese of Mainz in the later eighth century. One night, after "she had succeeded in fixing her attention on heavenly things", she had a dream. She saw a purple thread issuing from her mouth. It seemed to her that when she took hold of it with her hand and tried to draw it out there was no end to it; and as if it were coming from her very bowels, it extended little by little until it was of enormous length. When her hand was full of thread and it still issued from her mouth she rolled it round and round and made a ball of it." Leoba knew that there was "some mystery" hidden in this dream and so she sent for explanation to one of her sisters in the convent, "an aged nun who was known to possess the spirit of prophecy, because other things which she had foretold had always been fulfilled", According to the monastic prophetess

these things were revealed to the person whose holiness and wisdom made her a worthy recipient, because by her teaching and good example she will confer benefits on many people. The thread which came from her bowels and issued from her mouth signifies the ~ise counsels that she will speak from the heart. The fact that it filled her hand means that she will carry out in her actions whatever she expresses in her words. Furthermore, the ball which she made by rolling it round and round signifies the mystery of the divine teaching, which is set in motion by the words and deeds of those who give instruction and which turns earthwards through active works and heavenwards through contemplation, at one time swinging downwards through compassion for one's neighbor, again swinging upwards through the love of God. By these signs God shows that your mistress [Leoba] will profit many by per words and example, and the effect of them will be felt in other lands afar off whither she will go. Here, against the background of the clerical prohibitions of the sixth and seventh centuries and of pagan sources like the First Merseburg Charm and Darra'lJarljoC1,we find a clear Christian statement as to what threads and balls of threads (as well as whorls or spindles) signified in the ninth century. All are still directly linked to prophetic utterances by women. A Christian.veneer has been placed over the pattern in that Leoba's thread is said to signify "wise counsels", "divine teaching" and "profit" to others but the fundamental assumptions are hardly modified at all. We thereby see how an apparently innocuous term like freorJuwebbe, when applied to women like Wealhtheow, really carries a heavy freight of magical thinking. Note too that the weaving context is extended. The writer is actually internally comparing the "swinging" ball to the thread hanging from the distaff and weighted by whorl and spindle. This passage seems to be unique in that it actually presents us with something of great value-a reliable non-hostile exegesis of an old and widespread European practice. It provides, so to speak, a pagan based (but still acceptably Christian) theological explanation for a traditional but largely hidden world view and the instruments associated with it. Recall again Gregory of Tours and the wool and woven cloth thrown into the sacred lake or the fact that Hincmar of Rheims associated colored thread with the equipment of witches. Because it was accompanied with the right switch in emphasis, ancient suspect usages had been made acceptable to pious monks and nuns. Is the monastic prophetess much different from the bracteate figure with her weaving implements? If we now turn from the continent to England, from Giittingen and Bischofsheim to Bidford-on-Avon, we find that the trend of the evidence relating to women, liquor, weaving and prophecy remains much the same despite the shift in location. If the spoon-sieves from Kent and elsewhere serve as symbolic designators for the upper end of the aristocracy, there are other potent symbols

91 Ruttkay, Kultgejliss, p. 47. Related vessels are known from as far back as the Neolithic so that
it is clear that we are dealing with long established and widespread cultic conceptions. See further Z. Sochacki, "The Radical-decorated Pottery Culture", (1991), p. 325. 92 Knez, "Pseudokemoi", p, 53. 93 George Waitz, ed. Vita Leoba MGH SS 14 (I BB7), p. 129. The translation is that of C.H. Talbot,

The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany (1954), p. 212f.

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·equally revealing although, perhaps, they may in certain cases be more common somewhat lower down on the social hierarchy. One thinks of the evidence discovered in grave HBz from the mixed Anglo-Saxon cemetery of Bidford-onAvon. Some 200 burials were recovered from this site in the 1920S and some twenty more in recent years. 1971 saw the discovery of a young adult female buried at the extreme northern edge of the cemetery with grave goods which point to a date of deposition "probably within the first three-quarters of the sixth century"." This matches the Giittingen horizon fairly well as it also does that of the prophetic goddess of the Fiirstenburg bracteates. The Bidford woman was buried with two brooches, a small knife and a woolen garment under her neck. Several dozen glass and amber beads, perhaps originally ornamenting a cord or textile belt, were found in her grave. A damaged triangular "spangle" on a ring and four small alloy tubes were found at her neck area while a disc-shaped pendant and twelve small bucket pendants were found underneath the left shoulder blade. According to Tania Dickinson," these bucket pendants seem to have been contained within a cloth-lined bag or to have been sewn to the cloth exterior of a leather bag. The decayed bag also appears to have originally contained two rings, one of heavy copper alloy and a second of iron, bearing remains of woven animal fiber. A deer antler cone and a stud were also present. As Meaney and Dickinson point out, "such collections of objects hung from the girdle, with or without a bag, are an established feature of female graves throughout the Germanic world", in Bavaria, Austria, Francia, Thuringia, Iceland and elsewhere." They point to a pan-Germanic set of ideas about females and their spheres of interest and competence. Such bags and similar collections of objects are also known from the Celtic world (as in the La Tene cemetery at Miinsingen for example) so that here too there is congruity between Celts and Germans. The contents of such bags lack any clear utilitarian purpose and are normally associated by archaeologists with magic, prophecy and with the "cunning women" of Germanic societies. The twelve miniature bucket pendant amulets from HB2 share this magical character. They contained "remains of spun animal fiber thread" surrounded by a dark brown substance. At least twenty English finds containing bucket pendants can now be catalogued; Most are similar to the Bidford examples and are frequently found in clusters, sets of seven to twelve but occasionally considerably more. They appear to have most often hung from a women's necklace or from her girdle but in other cases might be placed within an attached bag or purse. The English bucket amulets are always found in womens' (or in a few cases
94 Tania M. Dickinson, "An Anglo-Saxon 'Cunning Woman' from Bidford-on-Avon" in Martin Carver, ed. In Search (if Cult: Archaeological Investigations in Honour (if Philip Rahtz (1993), pp. 45-54 at p. 53· 95 Ibid., p, 51. 96 Dickinson, "Bidford-on-Avon", p. 51; Meaney, Amulets, p. 249f.

girls') graves and appear primarily in sixth century Anglian cultural contexts although a late seventh century example comes from Updown, Eastry, Kent. This amulet type is not English alone however; it is found in many regions of the continent and dates from the late Roman Iron Age. It was known in the Przevorsk culture and also to third and fourth century Goths of the Cernjachov culture." Schach-Dorges points out that bucket amulets appear among all three Germanic groupings, East, West, and North Germans," They occur in no less than fifteen graves from the fourth century cemetery at Preetz, Kreis PIon, Schleswig-Holstein (where they seem to have been a more typical item of female costume than elsewhere) but other contemporary examples have been found in Niedersachsen and on the Danish islands of Fyn and Sjaelland," They can thus be used to document not only an extensive kind of religious belief but also its persistence over a long span of centuries. What did the bucket amulets signify in Germanic society? Meaney and Dickinson share a common view. In her discussion; Dickinson points out that "a simple iconographic explanation equates miniature buckets with full-sized ones, and in turn to drink; they might then symbolize the role of alcohol socially and perhaps ritually (as a means of prophetic communication) and women's role within this". She suggests that such interpretation could also be supported by the presence of the antler cone from the bag in HB2 which 'might symbolize a drinking horn. She notes, however, an objection to this view in the fact that the Bidford amulets contained textile fragments (at least three other examples of this textile in bucket pendant pattern are known) and finds it difficult to explain how they could be related to drink. Nonetheless, she concludes that the bag with miniature buckets and with cloth objects contained within them was a highly potent item which may have conferred or represented specific magical or symbolic functions and probably also have indicated by its emblematic appearance a special role or status foi: those women who wore them. Martin Carver agrees. He describes HB2 as providing "an exciting and credible confrontation with an Anglo-Saxon 'cunning woman' of the pagan period". He refers to her as a "local priestess" .100 Whatever terminology is used, the "ideology" which surrounded the bucket-with-textile pendants "was highly complex and unlikely to be easily explained" . Hopefully, the previous discussion of symbolic containers, weaving and weaving tools makes this "ideology" more intelligible even if more remains to be done before all aspects are explained. It seems to the present author that it reveals a
97 Ibid., p. 167· , 98 Helga Schach-Dorges, Die Bodenjunde des 3. his 6. Jahrhunderts nacb Chr. zwischen unterer Elhe und Oder(1970), p. 84. 99 John Hines, The Scandinavian Character of Anglian Eng/and in the Pre-Viking Period (1984), P·13· 100 In his introduction to In Search ofCult, p. vii.

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hitherto half-submerged wealth of interpretative possibilities (for both paganism and Christianity) which only a few scholars have ventured to tackle. Both Meaney and Dickinson also make the potentially important observation that graves with large amulet bag collections often occur only once per cemetery.'" This suggests the possibility that some sizable communities may have maintained their own spaewomen. If so, it provides further reason to believe that each warlord in the 'developing comitatus would have wanted his own. We might here recall that Leoba's monastery of Bischofsheim housed an aged woman "who was known to possess the spirit of prophecy". How often might this have been the case? The vita indicates that the nun's exercise of her prophetic talents was not a suspect occupation. On the contrary! It was clearly approved and frequently performed. The very pious Leoba consulted her about a dream "because other things that she had foretold had always been fulfilled". It begins to look as if an approach on this basis might have some consequence for an understanding of early medieval religiosity. Further support for this view comes from Denmark where Lotte Hedeager has surveyed the archaeological materials from about 500 Be to AD 700/800 in order to form a comprehensive picture of socio-political development. As she points out, a new class of warriors and chieftains to be associated with the comitatus developed in Denmark during the later pre-Roman Iron Age. The prestige goods found in their graves are mainly Celtic and signify an evolving pre-eminence in relation to the community and the gods. Both society and religion were profoundly affected by the new institution. The processcontinued into the Roman Iron Age. Roman prestige goods now replace those of the Celts and the comitatus system becomes more dominant and complex over wide regions. A significant point is that warlords with their retinues "are geographically distributed at relatively even distances, so that each of them appears to have controlled an area the size of a herred [parish]"."" In fact, a geographical and chronological survey of grave goods and settlements in several parts of the country can plausibly be interpreted as showing the development of a tiered ranking system from herred warlords to those of petty kingdoms. The pattern of change in votive finds are complementary so that it is clear that the new formations in both politics and cult go hand in hand. What now seems more likely is that the geographical pattern of warband distribution in Denmark (and in some parts of northern Germany) should be read in relation to Meaney and Dickinson's observations about the distribution of amulet bags and "cunning women" in Anglo-Saxon England. It all makes sense if one supposes that the warlord/warband/prophetess organization has replaced that of the sacral king, tribal troops
101 Meany, Amulets, 102 Lotte Hedeager, (1992), pp. 161, this is a valuable p. 249; Dickinson, 243. Although, work. "Bidford-on-Avon", p. 53.
500 Be

Iron Age Societies: From Tribe tu State in Northern Europe,

til AD

700

and tribal matrons of earlier communities. It also suggests that Christian writers like Bede did need to create some form of substitution policy for pagan aspects of the comitatus in transalpine Europe. For the present investigation, these findings also add considerably more force' to the picture presented of Wealhtheow in the Beowulf poem. Neither the antiquity, continuity, intensity nor popularity of the woman/liquor/prophecy complex can now be seriously doubted. The fact that it seldom clearly appears in the surviving literature says a great deal about the nature of the literature but says nothing useful about the prevalent acceptance of the paradigm among the population groups of the Early Middle Ages. Scrutiny of the archaeological remains suggests that we must be very careful in evaluating evidence from clerically influenced sources; the religious and social reality mustoften have been considerably different than that. which they ~uggest. In the' case of Beowulf, however, this judgement may be overly strong. Perhaps it is only to us, unaware of the clues and subtleties, that the author appears to be concealing more than revealing. Or perhaps he was trying to find a via media between the censorious opinion of committed ecclesiastics and the more mixed and varied opinions of the laity. It is difficult to reach a conclusion here; the only thing certain is that the image of the lady with a mead cup possessed an incomparably richer and more heterogeneous message for contemporaries than it does.for us. It played a far more significant role in archaic Europe than has hitherto been known or suspected. But why should this now demonstrated chain of associations with females have arisen in the first place? It would be possible here to draw on a large literature of "soft" evidence on the "mysteries of women", menstruation, phases of the moon, childbirth, notions of creation and so on. All of this deserves to be considered and undoubtedly played a certain role although it is often routinely used to explain everything from pimples to patriarchy. It is wanting as an explanation of specifics. The association of women with the technology of weaving and brewing, on the other hand, can clarify a great deal about early European attitudes and religiosity over millennia. The-constants are these, that as far back as the evidence can take us, weaving was always considered women's work in transalpine Europe and analogies between the choosing of threads and the choosing of paths of life seem equally as old if not more so. The belief lasted as long as the technology and the division of labor and that was much the same in the age of Beowulf as it had been in the age of Civilis and Veleda. Although I have not checked the literature on this question, it would not be surprising to find, for example, that the triplicity of the triple mothers, one of whom is sometimes depicted with a distaff, might not only be related to purely religious concepts but that one should also think of the commonest operations of the almost superstitiously regarded gynaeceum,'03 the spinning, weaving and cutting of threads. This is not simple reductionism which
103 Herlihy, Opera muliebria, pp. 39f., 84f.

in my opinion, overly reliant on Marxist historical categories,

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I do not favor as an explanatory tool; religious belief is a complex thing springing from too many sources to be easily isolated and pinned on the wall. At the same time, however, the pattern outlined here seems to me to be persuasive. Consideration of the link between women and liquor leads to the same conclusions. It was a task normally performed away from men in separate buildings or environs. Although the evidence here is not as encompassing, the cultural attitudes already outlined in earlier chapters speak volumes, as do the hanging keys, spoon-sieves, ladles and containers of aristocratic women's graves. Doubtless also one should think of the cottage gardens worked by women and of their role i~ agriculture which, observed Tacitus, men tended to avoid."! According to Herlihy, the brewing of ale was "the peculiar task of women" 105 in medieval Europe and, from the archaeological side, G. Behm-Blancke agrees that the preparation of mead and beer in the migration period lay in the hands of women.!" Although neither discuss the reasoning behind the practice, it seems most probable that it was seen as analogous to cooking and the preparation of food-easy to understand since the liquor of archaic Europe was often thick and resembled soup. A previous chapter has outlined the way in which the preparation of the table constituted a symbolic speech for women over many centuries and the way in which the offer of liquor and containers might signify an offer of marriage. One late Norse saga refers to a quarrel between the two wives of a king as to which of them could brew the best mead for her husband. Odin himself, the god who gained mantic knowledge by stealing the beer brewed by Gunnlod, was the judge of the contest. 107 We now see that a survey of the archaeological evidence can provide striking and substantial support for the literary sources written down many centuries afterwards. One may confidently maintain that the concept of the aristocratic liquor-dispensing woman who confirms rank and creates brotherhood in the comitatus-what I have called the lady with a mead cup motif-derives from early La Yene and was already current among Germans during the Liibsow horizon from 0-1 SO AD at the latest. In other words, the evidence of the combined types of sources show that the concept was present during the first clearly demonstrable period of hierarchical differentiation among the Germans-roughly the time of the spread of the comitatus-and continued to influence political culture until its reshaping and realignment at the end of the Viking Age. The archaeological evidence also demonstrates that prophecy, although it is only weakly associated with the Wealhtheow figure, is indeed a crucial part of the mead- cup motif. Although a passage from Beowulfseems to imply that the queen might have, prophetic ability, it is certainly subtle and one ma~ decline to accept it un~l evidence like that from Bidford-on-Avon and the Vita Leobae demonstrates Its
104

Germania, eh. IS.

"Trankgaben",

106 Behm-Blancke,

p, 209f.

105 Herlihy, Opera muliebria, p. 54· 107 Ibid., p. 189.

cogency. That is a central message of the conjunction of weaving tools and liquor containers in women's graves. Historians have overlooked the significant coupling because they are unaware of the archaeological pattern; archaeologists are aware but are insufficiently attuned to the full implications of the literary references and ecclesiastical prohibitions over the full span of the Early Middle Ages. The frequent allusions to weaving magic in the latter genre clearly indicate cultural continuity even when works like Beowulf only hint at its existence. As we shall see in part three of this chapter, such an approach by monastic scribes to unpleasant aspects of secular tradition is likely to have been part of an actual religious replacement policy. The finding that the mead cup motif is present in northern Germania during the Liibsow horizon, and in southern Germania for centuries before it, fits well with previous discussions ~f the relationships which existed between Civilis and Veleda in AD 69, almost 'the exact middle of Liibsow. Against this background, the present state of the thesis can be further clarified. At the end of chapter three, it was possible to conclude that the warlord/ prophetess link was ari institutional one which probably developed between the time of Ariovis,tus and Masyos. We may now pose the question if, in the same institutional context of the Germanic warband, the prophetess also acted as a dispenser ofliquor. Despite the nearly complete absence of relevant literary sources, the answer is sufficiently demonstrable in the positive because of the nature of the archaeological remains. The evidence on the La Tene Celtic side is perhaps plainer for here we have the conjunction of the weaving rod symbolism with the ritual vessel and magical paraphernalia in Diirrenberg grave lIS and there are ways to connect these with the partial literary hints from the Euxenos/Petta episode. The nature of the continuity in this case will become clearer in the following chapter in our discussion of the goddess Rosmerta and of several insular texts. The evidence indicates that a very strong correlation existed between the concept of aristocratic femininity among the Germans and the ability to distribute liquor. In the Liibsow graves, the first series to provide indisputable evidence of hierarchic demarcation, we find a certainly high-status woman buried in a new type of way and with a wine strainer in her hand. These graves depict a dramatically changed conception of rank which many archaeologists. now associate with foreign influence and the comitatus. Hence, it will not do to describe the strainer as simply a sign of generalized notions of open hospitality which might be connected with women. The strainer is not there to suggest commensality and an altruistic willingness to share good things. It is a notable cultural artifact which indicates an ability to provide the best for the best, a token of status but not hospitality. The secondary derivative notion must not be confused with the primary one. This is the clear message of the spoon strainers of the migration/Merovingian period, of Central Europe and England. Serving the same function as the larger strainers, they hung on rich women's belts with keys. They were, at least, the female equivalent of the long swords in warriors' graves. Some

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.of the Bornholm gold foils and later woman-with-horn depictions can be interpreted in much the same light and we have also seen that high status women are the ones who normally wear the Furstenberg type bracteates indicating some type of allegiance or participation in the cult of a prophetic goddess. Nor can the evidence be easily separated from the comitatus organization which formed the lifestyle that animated so many of the halls of barbarian Europe. Archaeologists frequently find large amounts of broken drinking vessels in and around these halls. As we saw earlier, the multi-tribal membership component of the warband made a formalized religiously sanctioned drinking ritual necessary in order to create the binding element of fictive kinship and such ritual would probably have been even more necessary in the earliest period of the comitatus. This correlates well with the fact that a woman who carries a spoon strainer might also be buried with a multiple cup vessel in the high status part of the cemetery. As many archaeologists have commented, such positioning is very frequently to be associated with warband organization in which the followers' graves are oriented with regard to the lord, his wife and their family. The multiple cup vessels may have had several meanings but the clearest one is the creation of a sense of unity among drinkers. As many are to be found in high status female graves of the migration/Merovingian period, the correlation with the comitatus and with the idea of female created unity among men would seem to be quite strong. Such concept of female created brotherhood is clearly expressed for the comitatus in literary texts like Beowulf although we have to wait until then to actually see it in action and even then only see it infrequently. Consequently, it is only when one applies a number of widely scattered and sometimes disparate appearing clues that we can hope to reasonably depict the elusive earlier barbarian thoughtworld but that attempt must be made unless we wish to resign ourselves to a permanently partial picture of the Middle Ages. If the ability to provide food can be a decisive criterion oflordship, as attested by the term hlaford, then surely, from what we have seen, ladyship is to be linked with the provision of drink. As the OE text says, the noblewoman must serve her husband first but the clear implication is that she then serves his followers. It is difficult to imagine that rule being a new one. The burden of the archaeological and literary evidence thus indicates that liquor distribution was conceptually related both to aristocratic femininity and to the comitatus from the Liibscw period onwards. The prophetess, the companion of kings, warlords and warbands, must be located within the ambit of both constructs for her relations are most obviously tied to the military sphere. As will be seen in chapter five, a prophetess like Veleda can be linked to the very origins of warband religion and that discussion will further strengthen our conclusions here. On the other hand, the clearly defined linkage of drink provision with the actual possession of political rank cannot have developed until the crystallization of a solidly rooted functionally hierarchic society in Germania. A great many

archaeologists and historians see this as a feature of the Liibsow period with tendencies in that direction in the immediately preceding century. It is at this point, therefore, that attention must be turned to the Celts since they had many earlier centuries of experiences with religiously sanctioned hierarchical modes and the Germans would adopt a great deal of Celtic La Tene culture. It must continually be emphasized that a strong religious element pervaded the lady's character from La Tene through Christianization. A concept of such importance could not have existed in the transalpine Europe of the period without the aura of divine approval and mundane patronage together. It should be easily possible to connect the lady with a goddess of the Germanic pantheon. Here nonetheless, one is confronted with the proverbial brick wall. As far as can be determined, no Germanic goddess fits the lady's precise bill of particulars until the Viking period and that is too late since no confident association on which we can build can be made with any of these female divinities for thefirst century AD. Only one contemporary goddess with suitable attributes is available and that is the goddess Rosmerta. Her cult is known from late La Tene and she was established in the central Rhineland by the mid first century. Her cult was then carried to Britain by Rhineland troops serving in the Roman army. 108 Although Rosmerta had achieved multiple citizenship by this time, her cult is Celtic in origin and not Germanic. Its spread in the Rhineland (a topic to be discussed later) is a perfect example of the religious and cultural fluidity so typical of that region in antiquity. More immediately relevant, however, it indicates that the cultural connections involved in the study of the mead cup theme must be quite complex. The evidence must also be examined from a Celtic perspective. Although historians (and archaeologists) frequently refer to Celtic precedents, products and ideas when discussing early Germanic culture, the common tendency has been to look elsewhere when seeking explanation. Strongly influenced by classical thought, the knowledge of Roman conquest and subsequent Romanization has influenced many scholars to undervalue the vitality and staying power of Celtic culture. Classicists have often been interested in Gaul but mainly with the Romans in Gaul. Germanists know that little reliable historical material is known before Tacitus and generally work from Tacitus to the migration period when the ethnogenesis of the medieval Germanic peoples occur. Celticists have generally been preoccupied with linguistic problems-most who study the early period are linguists or archaeologists-and devote most of their time to the British Isles. All scholars, moreover, have been made somewhat gun shy by the great Celt vs. German debates of the early part of this century. Many students of the Middle Ages are therefore only vaguely aware that the Celts had been familiar with Mediterranean cultures for centuries and were especially knowledgeable in

108 Rosmerta

will be discussed in detail in chapter five.

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the two hundred years before Caesar's conquest. Moreover, because of the geographic range of early Celtic culture which separated North from South in a great swath from the Atlantic coast through southeastern Europe, Celts had been the recipients of a great deal of material of Mediterranean origin and had transmitted much else to the Germans. All of the objects-relatively new to the Germans--which we have discussed for the Liibsow and Hassleben/Leuna 'burials, had been used in much the same way by the Celts in previous centuries and their territories adjoined those of the Germans and were sometimes mixed among them. This is true even of lesser associations like those between women and keys as gravegoods, a topic usually related only to Germanic culture of the Early Middle Ages. log The question which archaeologists do not seem to ask about the luxury wares of the first century BC in Germania is this: is it clear that the Germans were imitating faraway Romans or is it not more likely, considering their previous history and the Celtic examples of importation, production and usage, that they were originally imitating Celts who were imitating Romans, or indeed, the practices of other Mediterranean elites who had long since influenced the Romans as well? Thus stated, the point may seem overly subtle; it is not. Despite the fact that both trans-Alpine peoples ultimately borrowed much from the South, the differences involved in chronology, as well as in modes and behaviors, may be very important for the interpretation of cultural history in northern Europe. Consider, for example, the cultural pattern displayed in the customs of inhumation and weapons burial. Both practices were long familiar to Celts but were not known to Germans prior to the first century BC In his 1950 survey of the evidence for origins of the inhumation rite in the North, Ole Klindt-jensen concluded that it was a borrowing from the Celts and had occurred in much the same way as the borrowing of certain types of pottery, weapon-turning techniques, some brooch types and, among women, a Celtic clothing fashion.!" Berta Stjernquist argued against this interpretation in 1955. III Although conceding the possibility, of Celtic influence, she maintained a case for the Sarmatians of Hungary as transmitters. Her evidence was scanty, however, and her views do not seem to have won acceptance. The material was re-examined in 1963 by Johannes Brondsted who concluded, along with Klindt-jensen, that the Germans took up this practice as a result of contact with the Celts of Silesia. ria Diffusion seems to have proceeded in two waves, "the first in La Tene III from Celto-Germanic Middle Silesia with offshoots toward the north, then in early Roman times, from
109 Heinrich Jacobi, "Der keltische Schliissel und der Schliissel von Penelope, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des antiken Verschlusses" (1930)j Heiko Steuer, "Schliisselpaare in frlihgeschichtlichen Griibern-Zur Deutung einer Arnulett-Beigabe" (198z). llO Ole Klindt-jensen, Foreign Influences in Denmark's Ear(y Iron Ag« (1950), pp. 176-9. III BertaStjernquist,Simris. On Cultural Connections ofScaniain the Roman IrtlnAge (1955), pp. 65-9. lIZ Johannes Brondsted, Nordische Vorzeit III. Eisenzeit in Diinemark (1963), pp. 63, ll8, 156.

Celto-Germanic Bohemia via the Elbe, Oder and Vistula to Denmark and its neighboring countries". 113 Brondsted went on to interpret the placing of food and drink in graves in the same way and concluded also that the custom of weapons burial is "doubtless" derived from Celtic influence."! More recently, Heiko Steuer has surveyed these questions against a broad chronological background and has agreed in essentials with Brondsted."! The first phase of the Liibsow rite can be associated with Celtic practice and so too with weapon burial. Since both of these customs are critically important ones in terms of religion and warrior culture, the degree of Celtic influence must have been substantial. It is, finally, worth noting, considering the point made in the previous paragraph, that up until fairly recent times archaeologists typically regarded the Romans as the ultimate initiators of the inhumation rite in the North. 116 The first century BC was an unusual time of social turmoil in Central Europe, one in which Germans were abandoning long-standing religious and social attitudes and adopting Celtic (not Roman) ones in their place. It is important to emphasize this because it is often assumed that Germans adopted Roman drinking styles as they imported luxury Roman wares. It was in this way, for example, that Joachim Werner interpreted in 1950 the paired apP,earance of silver cups and glass vessels in some of the Liibsow graves and that view is often repeated in the literature,"? It is not clear that it is correct. The Celts had been importing huge amounts of Mediterranean luxury wares for centuries and had apparently followed the same pairing practice which Werner assumed to be Roman. Referring to the early La Tene princely grave from Kleinaspergle, Baden- Wurttemberg, for example, Franz Fischer commented: "What stands out is how things are paired, from the two drinking horns, usually found in Celtic tombs, to the two Attic kylixes"."8 In his recent study of Roman imports in Germania libera, Jurgen Kunow reached a similar conclusion. Close examination of materials indicated

II3 ll4

Klindt-jensen, Foreign Influences, p. 179. See note IIZ. lIS Steuer, Sozialstrukturen, pp. 186, 199, z03. See further Peschel, "Friihe Waffengraber", pp. Z61-SljJan Lichardus, Korpergriiber derJi-iihen Kaiserzeit im Gebiet der siidlichen Elbgermanen (1984), pp. 59-69. For further discussion of the variety of Celtic influences in these areas, see Kasimierz Godlowski, "Die Przeworsk-Kultur", (199z), pp. 10, IS, 19, 52-6. For evidence that it lasted up to and including Liibsow, i.e., that Celtic influence did not cease during the two generations after Caesar, see Otto-Hermann Frey, "Einige Uberlegungen zu den Beziehungen zwischen Kelten und Germanen in der Spatlatenezeit", (1986), pp. 45-S0. 116 Malcolm Todd, "Germanic Burials" ,p. 39j and see the convenient summary in Glenys Davies, "Burial in Italy up to Augustus" (1977). II7 Joachim Werner, "Romische Trinkgefasse in gerrnanischen Grabern der Kaiserzeit" (1950); Jiirgen Oldenstein, "Die Zusammensetzung des romischen Imports in den sogennanten Liibsow Grabern als moglicher Hinweis auf die soziale Stellung der Bestatteten" (1975). u8 Franz Fischer, "Kleinaspergle near Asperg, Kreis Ludwigsburg (Baden-Wiirttemberg)" (1991), p. 178f.

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that upper class Germans had little notion of actual Roman practice. "9 They sometimes used Roman cooking utensils as drinking ware and used drinking ware to cook in. Kunow commented that it is difficult to imagine them knowing or copying the carefully planned formal process of a Roman co~issat~o. The lif~~tyles of Germans and Romans was very different. So were their basic mentalities-seven after hundreds of years of contact. One can more easily conceive of the difference by simply recalling the ways in which the two cultures made use of small spoon-strainers during the late empire. What was common table ware for one was an insignia of status for the other. The way of thinking about things in each case is a world apart-even in the fourth century. In the earlier Liibsow phase, a time of very superficial contact, the two peoples will have understood only the most basic things about each other. That was not the case between Germans and Celts who had a long history of relations. The differences between them were marked but were demonstrably bridgeable as we have already seen and shall see again in greater detail below. As Steuer noted in his monumental study of early European social structure, changes in religious perceptions are critical to the introduction of new burial practices.!" In such times, old cults are abandoned and new ones are developed to fit a changing scheme of things. In this case, it was the emerging upper class of Germania that sought to differentiate themselves from their ethnic fellows by adopting the religious and social modes of a more sophisticated neighboring people. At the same time, they introduced (imported, as I shall argue later) a new organization, the warband, and used it to undermine tribal bonds. Such kinds of transformations have happened many times in the past. It is a phenomenon which has its own rules. In his study of luxury graves, (Prunkgraber) G. Kosack commented: Contact with higher cultures and certain political constellations motivate an upper class to an identification with the partners viewed as culturally dominant. Through the borrowing of notably different customs or material culture
Il9 jurgen Kunow, Der riimische Import in der Germania liberia his zu ~en Markllmannenkriegen. Studien zu Bronze- und Glasgejiissen (1983), pp. 77-430. Clara Redhch analyzes some of the same material in "Politische und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Bronzegefasse an Unterelbe
und Saale zur Zeit der Riimerkriege" (1980). One culture's misunderstanding and misuse of the peculiar containers of another's is now demonstr.ated for the ~iking pe.rio? as wel~. See Egon Warners, "Pyxides imaginatae. Zur Ikonographie und ~un~tton kar?hngIscher S.tlb.erbecher" (1991). Liturgical vessels in one area can become dnnking cups III anoth~r. Similar usage and similar understanding of symbolism can only be reasonably assumed, It seems to me after a long period of association between cultures when it can also be shown that one seeks to imitate the other in a variety of ways. That is demonstratable for the Celts and Germans in the last three centuries lie but the same level of interaction is not demonstrated for Romans and Germans until much later and even then, as the spoon-sieves show, the interpretative contrasts can be remarkable. 120 Steuer, Snzielstrukturen. p. 203.

and techniques, the new upper class seeks to demonstrate its own prestige, to create a sense of respect and greater social distance from. tribal comrades. It seeks to show an aristocratic primacy both in this world and in the next. The means are constant ones: imposing ceremony on festive occasions ... ; perennial feasting while adopting the highly regarded drinking customs of the foreigner; expensive clothing with stylishly artistic forms; ornaments with symbolic meaning; luxury products as indicators of an ability to gain and distribute riches. '%1

! II,
i!

Let us now look to the people with whose leaders this new Germanic upper class sought to identify.
2.

I:· n
ii
I:

FROM HOCHDORF TO THE GAELS

Ii

\i,

Named after the site of Hallstatt in Austria, Hallstatt culture, from the eighth to the first quarter of the fifth century BC, is the earliest phase of the European Iron Age and the first phase of Celtic culture.' Hallstatt D, roughly its last century or so, is of special interest here for two reasons: one is the foundation of the Greek colony of Marseilles in southern France near the mouth of the Rhone for it established an important and highly influential trading network: Second, and apparently directly related to the first in its later phase at least, is the more rapid evolution of a stratified hierarchical society characterized by massive tumulus graves for rulers, timber lined graves and wagon burial, centrally defended sites, large numbers of gold objects and bronze vessels sometimes accompanied by exotic objects like silk from faraway China.' ' From about 600 onwards, the Hallstatt culture in certain regions, like eastern France and southern Germany, was heavily dependent on relations with the Mediterranean world and trade was largely in the hands of Greeks. By providing luxury goods to leaders, Mediterranean trade encouraged social differentiation since it provided added authority bolstered by the ability to maintain retinues of armed men eager to serve for the promise and fact of distribution.' Political and
121 Georg Kossack, "Prunkgraber, Bemerkungen zu Eigenschaften und Aussagewert"

(C974), p.

1 See, among many works,John Collis, The European Iron Age (1984), pp. 66-102. The best interpretive discussion that I know of is Barry Cunliffe, Greeks, Romans and Barbarians: Spheres 0/ Interaction (1988), pp. 13-33. A more technical discussion in Peter S. Wells,

31f.

Culture Contact and Culture Change: Early Iron Age Central Europe and the Mediterranean World

(1980). Excellent overviews in K. Bittel, W. Kimmig, S. Schiek, eds., Die Kelten in Baden-Warttemberg (1981); Jan Filip, Celtic Civilization and its Heritage (19772). 3 See now the beautiful illustrated massive catalogue by Sabatino Moscati, Otto Hermann Frey, Vencesles Kruta, Barry Raftery and Miklos Szabo, eds. The Celts (1991), pp. 75-126. 4 Ludwig Pauli, "Early Celtic Society: Two Centuries of Wealth and Turmoil in Central Europe" (1985); Peter S. Wells, "Mediterranean Trade and Culture Change in Early Iron Age Central Europe" (1985).

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i:nilitary leadership would come more easily to those able to provide access to Mediterranean wealth, prestige objects, diplomatic contacts and protection. In such a society: aristocratic rivalries would flourish, contractual bonds between leaders and followers could develop and armed bands of warriors would necessarily be maintained. A closely organized warrior society might th.ereby ?evelop more quickly. It is important to add, however, that control of agricultural land, animals and clients remained fundamental throughout Hallstatt culture' and that Mediterranean trade and prestige goods may have simply encouraged or accelerated a process of social differentiation already present. .. . An idea of the wealth and lifestyle of those at the top of this tiered society-eof those like the Liibsow "princes" of later times who sought more radical social separation-can be conveyed by glancing at some of the burials of the period. The most recently discovered is that of the wealthy "Celtic prince" ofHochdorf, a site located about ten km west of the famous oppidum of Hohenasperg in 6 Baden- Wurttemberg. Found under a tumulus some sixty meters in diameter was the body of an impressively tall man of about forty,' He was buried in a timber lined chamber whose walls and floor were covered with multi-hued fabrics. A gold tore, the customary insignia of high rank, had been placed around his neck, two gold brooches on the right side of his chest, a golden armring on his right arm. He wore a dagger with a gold-wound grip hanging from a leather belt to which a strip of sheet gold had been fastened and his shoes had gold mounts. Toilet articl:s accompanied him in the grave. He must have been a fervent sportsman for so did fishing hooks and a quiver of arrows. He had been laid on an unusual 2.75 meter long (possibly Etruscan) bronze couch decorated with scenes of armed warriors fighting (or dancing) and riding in chariots. A disassembled four wheeled wagon with harness for two horses lay nearby. His drinking service may be even more noteworthy. At the foot of the body lay a huge Greek bronze cauldron, 80 cm high, 104 em in diameter and with a vo~u~e of 500 liters. Three large handles are attached to the top of the cauldron which IS decorated with three small reclining lions. When placed in the grave, the cauldron had been three quarters full of thick honey mixture for making honeymead.
5 See the impressive analysis in Daphne Nash, "Celtic Territorial Expansions and the Mediterranean World" (1985). Francoise Audouze, Olivier Biichsenschtitz, Towns, Villages. and Countryside of Celtic Europe: From the Beginning of the Second Millennium to the end of the First Century
BC(1992), pp. 177-8· . . . . 6 JorgBiel,Der Keltenforstvon Hochdorf(1985)· Helpful contextual discussions in S, FrankeI_tStel?, ' M.J. Rowlands, "The Internal Structure and Regio~al ~ontext of Early Iron Age Socle~ In South-Western Germany" (1978); J. Biel, "The Celtic Princes of Hohenasperg (Baden-Wurttemberg)" (1991); W. Kimmig, "The Heuneburg Hillfort and the Proto-Celtic P~incely T~mbs of Upper Rhineland" (1991); A. Hoffner, "The Princely Tombs of the Celts In the Middle Rhineland" (1991). 7 Biel, Keltenforst, pp. 52,61-91.

Chemical analysis showed that it had been mixed with at least 58 different herbs which could be identified and a number which could not. Jorg Biel reckoned that more than one hundred plants-some brought from distant places-had originally been used in creating the concentrated mixture," From this analysis, we gain some idea of the enormous expenditure of time; effort and wealth needed to create such potently symbolic liquor. It must have been viewed with supernatural or quasi-magical veneration," Such interpretation is further supported by the presence of a huge iron drinking horn in the grave which can only have' belonged to the "prince" himself," Made from nine different pipe-sections, this imposing artifact measures 97.5 em long and tapers from a 14.5 em diameter mouth to 3 em at the foot. It could hold 5.5 liters of liquor. Originally attached to the base of the horn was a long complexly decorated finial so that the full length of the object was 123 em. Various sections of the horn were wound with decorated strips of sheet gold. ' All three of these artifacts, cauldron, mead-mixture and iron drinking horn must surely be identified as status symbols in themselves, The cauldron was worth a small fortune, the mead mixture took expeditions to create andthe size of the iron horn means that it cannot have been designed for normal use. We get a partial idea as to what all of this might have meant by the fact that eight other (only partly preserved) normal sized drinking horns had originally been hung on the grave wall next to the one of iron. The nine horns were matched by nine bronze platters, with two large knives for cutting meat and with a hemispherical bowl of beaten gold which had been placed in the cauldron and must have been used for serving the drink (note that handles on such vessels were rare in Hallstatt times so that servers were probably always present)." What is preserved here, in other words, is a banqueting service but it is one of a highly ceremonial type meant to portray the acme of aristocratic prestige and self-representation. Indeed, it may well have been even more than that for the outrageously complex liquor and the oversized iron horn would seem to indicate some kind of sacral gathering in which
II

8 Ibid., p. 130. 9 There is a long documented history of such attitudes among Celts and Germans and it will be discussed more fully in chapter five. See, for example, Hanscarl Leuner, "Uber die historische Rolle magischer Pflanzen und ihre Wirkstoffe" (1970); Renate Doht, Der Rauschtrank im

germanischen Mythos (1974).

10 Biel, KeitenJiirst, p. II4f. I I Ibid., p. 117. Karl Peschel argues strongly that the smaller drinking horns would have belonged to the closer members of the princely warband: "Zur kultischen Devotion innerhalb der keltischen Kriegergemeinschaft" (1989), p. 277f., and see further his "Kriegergrab, Gefolge und Landnahme bei den Latenekelten" (1984). 12 As is pointed out by Georg Kossack, "Trinkgeschirr als Kultgerat der Hallstattzeit" (1964), p. 99. For analysis ofHallstatt period feasts, see Karl Kromer, "Das Situlenfest: Versuch einer Interpretation der Darstellungen auf figural verzierten Situlen" (1980); Idem, "Gift Exchange and the Hallstatt Courts" (1982).

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the prince (he may be the only one so far to actually merit the title), served with a golden bowl, conducted some special procedure with his eight advisors or favored followers. One will probably not be too far wrong in hazarding the guess that this festal apparatus is so unusual that it is likely to have had some link with ideas of government or kingship themselves and that the ceremonial banquet in which it was used was one with the utmost significance for the elite of this society. , It was probably a sacral as well as communal gathering. Although Hochdorf is unique because of the large iron horn and 'the chemically analyzed cauldron contents, all of the other forty or so rich graves from this period in west-central Europe display more or less similar characteristics." They contain large quantities of impressive grave goods which frequently include gold torcs, luxury Mediterranean imports and many valuable cauldrons, vats, situla and drinking services. One thinks of the famous "princess" grave from Vix (Mt. Lassois, Cote d'Or). Along with the richly ornamented body of a woman about thirty five, it contained the largest Greek krater in existence, an astonishing work 1.64 m high, weighing 208.6 kg and surmounted by a strainer-lid decorated with the standing figure of a woman." The neck of the krater has a large frieze of armed hop lites and charioteers. Two large gorgon-shaped handles are attached. As with the Hochdorf cauldron, this vessel must have been of marked social and cultic importance. It probably originated in Magna Graecia but is far too heavy to have been imported whole. The figures on the frieze around the neck have Greek letters scribed on them which correspond to letters on the body of the vessel but which were hidden when the figures were soldered on. The work must have been transported in parts along with at least one Greek craftsman to assemble them." The strainer-lid also suggests that the krater was meant to contain specially prepared liquor since it would have been unnecessary for simple mixing. One scene from the situla art of the period shows a figure dropping nodules of some substance into such a container," Both liquor and vessels must have had extraordinary significance. It seems, therefore, that the mentality of the elite of the widely separated-sites of Hochdorf and Vix was quite similar and we may safely posit much the same pattern for this early Celtic culture as a whole. Whence came the banqueting customs requiring these remarkably ceremonial and luxurious utensils? The possibility of Roman influence can be discounted here for the dates of the Hallstatt princely burials are too early and that suggests that we must look to the cultures of Magna Graecia and Marseilles, to Etruria or

to Scythia," The Greeks ultimately seem the most likely originators although some aspects may have been mediated by the Etruscans. As recent research indicates, the practice of drinking from costly gold-decorated drinking horns is first demonstratable for central Europe in the late Hallstatt period although it was a contemporary long-standing custom at the Greek and Etruscan komos symposium." Dirk Krausse points out that drinking horns frequently appear on Greek black-figure vases of the sixth, century BC where they are held by the symposiasts or depicted as hung on the walls as originally at Hochdorf," The drinkers holding them sometimes recline on couches, a Greek custom taken up by the Etruscans," In some areas of Greek or partly Greek culture, reclining at the feast was the privilege of the tested warriors. In Macedonia, for example, Athenaeus relates (Diepnosophistae I, 18) that no one could ,"recline at dinner unless he had speared a wild boar without using a hunting-net. Until then they must eat sitting." Such Greek notions surrounding the-ideas of reclining, drinking and hunting (the Hochdorf ruler was also a huntsman) help' explain the usages ofCeltica. Much of the rest of the festal pattern discussed for Celts and Germans also appears among the Greeks - the hierarchical seating arrangement, first service to the ruler and a formal cup-offering to a visiting dignitary for example. They are discussed at great length and with a multitude of historical and literary examples in the works of Athenaeus and Plutarch (Qgaestiones convivales I, 2-3) among others. Similarly, Greek cauldrons and kraters like that of Vix were common diplomatic gifts and the typical reward for an outstanding warrior or athletic victor among the Greeks was an ornate cup or drinking vessel of precious metal." Their reception was surrounded with elite formality and ritual as with the drinking of the gerousios oinos, the wine of honor, offered by the king of the city to the kings of the tribes," As among the Celts, the Greeks honored the best warrior at a feast with a special cut of meat and a placement calling attention to his achievements. It may be that the already mentioned pairing of vessels in some high-status burials of transalpine Europe (as at Kleinaspergle) also has Greek antecedents,

13 Discussed by Wells, "Mediterranean Trade", p. 72f. 14 Jean-Pierre Mohen, "The Princely Tombs of Burgundy" (1991); Nadine "The Vix Settlement and the Tomb of the Princess" (1991), p. u6f. IS Collis, Iron Age, p. 95f. 16 Kromer, "Situlenfest", p. 237.

Berthelier-Ajot,

17 Bernard Boulournie, "Le symposion greco-etrusque et I'aristocratie celtique" (1988); Franz Fischer, "Thrakien als Vermittler iranischer Metallkunstan die friihen Kelten" (1983); Ludwig Pauli, "Zu Gast bei einem keltischer Fiirsten" (1988/89). 18 Dirk Krausse, "Trinkhorn und Kline. Zur griechischen Vermittlung orientalischer Trinksitten an die friihen Kelten" (1993); On the symposium, see Klaus VierneiseI and Bert Kaeser, eds. Kunst der Schale-Kultur des Trinkens (1990), pp. 216-303. 19 Krausse, "Trinkhorn und Kline", p. 190f. 20 Burkhard Fehr, Orientalisahe und griechische Gelage (1971); Jean-Marie Dentzer, Le motif du banquet coucM dans le Proche-Orient et le monde grec du VIle au IVt: sie'cle avant J-G. (1982). 21 VierneiseI and Kaeser, Kunst der Schale-Kultur des Trinkens, pp. 130-3. 22 Dentzer, Le motifdu banquet coucM, p. 445.

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possibly relating them to the worship of the gods or the honoring of high-status guests. The very beautiful Vaphio gold cups found at a site in Laconia not far from Sparta and dating to about I500 BC are a famous example." Athenaeus (Diepnos. XI, 482) refers to one individual who owned two drinking vessels: "the first was for the use of men, whereas he had acquired possession of the second in order to honor the gods." The vessels were apparently of dissimilar types, however, and , so the answer may lie in another sphere. At some formal gatherings, ordinary guests were served only an allotted portion of wine. But heroes and rulers might be singled out, as in the Iliad (XII, 3IO) with the privilege of "seats" and "full cups." In Iliadrv, 257, Agamemnon proclaims that he wishes to honor Idomeneus "beyond all the Danaans" and so "even though the other long-haired Achaeans drink an allotted portion, thy cup standeth ever full, even as for mine own self, to drink whensoever thy heart biddeth thee. " Could there bea hint here that the cups would be paired since the privilege was of the same kind as Agamemnon enjoyed? Something like this was done with food. Athenaeus (Diepnos. I, I4) says of the early Greeks that "they used also to present a part of their own portion to anyone they liked, just as Odysseus cuts off for Demodocus some of the chine which they had served to him". If this notion were applied to wine, might not a ruler be supplied with an extra cup in order to single out a friend? Herodotus says of the Spartan kings (VI, 57) that they "shall be first to sit down to the banquet, and shall be first served, each of them receiving a portion double of what is given to the rest of the company; theirs shall be the first libations, and theirs the hides of the sacrificed beasts". This was also their right when they "are bidden by private citizens to dinner". N.R.E. Fisher points out that after election to the gerousia, the victor is given king-like honors, a double set of rations at a feast, "the second of which he would give to the woman he honored most highly"." Although I am aware of no citation which can explicitly prove the point, it seems reasonable to suppose that the practices of "double portions" to kings and the giving of shares to friends provides a sound context for the Hallstatt pairing of-festal vessels and might perhaps even have something to do with the prince's large drinking horn at Hochdorf. Since Herodotus says that the "hides and the chines of all sacrificed beasts" are taken by the kings, one might also speculate as to a connection with the butcher's tools discovered at Hochdorf, one specifically designed for the skinning of animals," It may be suggested that the numbers of Greek drinking utensils in aristocratic graves of the Hallstatt and La 'Iene periods indicate some knowledge and imitation of Greek custom. The evidence from Hochdorf is particularly persua- . sive. The impressive symmetry between Greeks and Celts in this regard will not
23 J.T. Hooker, The Ancient Spartans (1980), p. 34f. . 24 N.R.E. Fischer, "Drink, Hybris and the Promotion of Harmony in Sparta" (1989), p. 40. 25 Pauli, "Zu Gast", p. 294f.

become clear until the next chapter, however, although Petta's cup-offering referred to earlier indicates a context 'and so of course do Caesar's remarks about the Gaulish knowledge of written Greek. The significant point here is the identification of a misapprehension among some historians and archaeologists who study the Germans of the Roman period and the Early Middle Ages and who frequently assume much Roman influence on both Germans and Celts with only a few generations difference in terms of initial impact. The evidence discussed here points to a different pattern: it indicates considerable Greco-Etruscan influence in the late Hallstatt and in the early La 'Iene although it declines thereafter. Roman influence among the Celts did not begin to make much headway until the later second century out Romans had by then borrowed consistently from the Greco-Etruscan pattern themselves. Since Roman export only begins after several centuries of Celto-Germanic interaction, the assumption that Germanic elites of the Liibsow period were imitating Roman manners in their use of costly Mediterranean ware is highly questionable. Absent from all this is the lady with a mead cup who does not appear among either Greeks or Romans at a time when she might have entered the historical record. References to girls and women pouring wine do appear in early Greek literature but the increasing preoccupation with fashioriable aristocratic pederasty in the later archaic period means that they are ousted by adolescents and boys," The evidence from Latium may indicate a somewhat different emphasis for certain kinds of vessels used for the mixing of wine "have only been found in connection with women" and thus suggest a more significant role for them in the feasts of early Italy," The Etruscans are worthy of particular regard although, unfortunately, we know very little about them. It is certain that Etruscans exported massive amounts of material to the Celts during the seventh, sixth and fifth centuries acuntil they gradually lost out in competition with the Greeks. They decisively influenced the development ofHallstatt art." Apparently, the Celts of northern Italy-the most important tribes being the Boii, Senones, Cenomani and Insubres-reciprocated since the Etruscans later adopted the motif of the severed head and the wearing of torcs amongst them in the fourth century has been described as "ubiquitous"." Here too we find a marked cultural concern with omens and prophecy, what the Romans who adopted it called the "Etruscan discipline", and it is clear that Etruscans women, like the famous Tanaquil who predicted and promoted the rise of her husband, Tarquinius Priscus, to the kingship played a critical role. She did
26 Jan Bremmer, "Adolescents, S.vtnposion and Pederasty" (1990), p. 140f. 27 Annette Rathje, "The Adoption of the Homeric Banquet in Central Italy in the Orienta1izing Period" (1990), p. 283. 28 Otto-Hermann Frey, Die Entstehung der Situlenkunst (1969); 29 Larissa Bonfonte, "Daily Life and Afterlife" (1986), pp. 259. 262.

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the same for her son-in-law, Servius Tullius, passing over her own sons in the process when she chose and presented him before an unwilling assembly. Tullia, the wife of Tarquinius Superbus, did much the same when she presented her husband before an indecisive crowd of men and was "the first to call him king," regemque prima appellavit, a phrase with a technical meaning (Livy, I, 34, 39, 48). These associations with prophecy and the giving of the royal name by women , would seem to be significant. Roman historians like Livy condemned such past behavior (which seems much like euhemerized myth a la Dumezil) as they also did the morals of the Etruscans but that has a strangely familiar ring to anyone knowledgeable about reportage on the Celts and so it is not clear that modern scholars should accept it at face value. Although we cannot now be sure, the Etruscans may have contributed in important ways to Celtic political religiosity just as they did in the fields of art and aristocratic display. The" feudal" Hallstatt world came to a turbulent finish not long after 500 BC.3D The princely courts were plundered and from Burgundy to Bohemia the aristocratic practice of burial under a tumulus ceased. Hallstatt was now replaced by the vigorous and highly creative La Tene. It emerged first with two foci on the periphery ofHallstatt, one in the Marne region of northern France and the other in the Hiinsruck-Eifel region of Germany. It spread thereafter in a broad band to include all of Gaul, northern Italy and much of central and eastern Europe. But the peoples of La Tene, especially those of the Hallstatt periphery, had developed along different lines and are best characterized as warrior societies in which leadership was based on military prestige and the ability to guarantee reward and plunder," Such type of organization became characteristic of the entire Celtic world in the fourth and third centuries BC. One notes parenthetically that when La Tene culture succumbed in its turn to Roman conquest, that a similar process of transition occurred: it was the warlike peoples of the periphery, the Germans, strongly influenced by La 'Iene, who continued many of its traditions. Expanding first into northern Italy in order to be near the source of luxury goods, the Celts now began a series of migrations, invasions and campaigns which would take them all over temperate Europe and beyond. In 387 BC, they took and occupied Rome, invaded Greece and sacked Delphi in 279 and established kingdoms in Thrace and Asia Minor thereafter. (Many centuries later, St. Jerome, who had lived in both Ancyra and Trier, would relate that the Galatians of Asia Minor and the Treveri of Gaul spoke the same language). 32 In these centuries the
30 Cunliffe, Greeks, Romans and Barbarians, pp. 32-5. 31 O.H. Frey, "The Formation of the La Tene Culture" (1991)j V. Kruta, "The First Celtic Expansion" (199 r); A. Duval, "Celtic Society" (1991)j Wolfgang Dehn, "Einige Uberlegungen zum Charakter keltischer Wanderungen" (1979). 32 Miklos Szabo, "The Celts and their Movements in the Third Century

Celts also became the best regarded mercenaries of the Mediterranean world serving in large numbers with Philip of Macedon, Alexander, Hannibal and with the forces of most Hellenistic states and lordlings at one time or another," The desire for conquest, travel, booty and payment all played a role. So characteristic was this long-lasting tradition of military service abroad that various groupings of Celts of the Alps and upper Rhine came to be called gaesatae by Greek and Roman writers who understood the term to mean "mercenary troops". It is actually a Celtic word meaning "spearman"which survived in early medieval Ireland as gaiscedach, a spear-bearing warrior," Although the fully developed comitatus with its accompanying religion emphasizing warlike gods and the warrior virtues may well have existed in Hallstatt culture, it can certainly be associated with La Tene in the fifth and fourth centuries when vast migrations, plundering expeditions and mercenary service combined to weaken the bonds of tribe and family. As .. . Peschel and S. DegerK Jalkotzy point out, the former from the archaeological perspective and the latter from the historical and linguistic, the Celtic forces which attacked Italy, the Balkans and Asia Minor appear to have been organized according to the warband principle." Brennus, for example, who led an army into Greece seems almost like a prototype warlord of the later Germanic type, an Ariovistus or Maroboduus," with great numbers following him in the search for new land and plunder. The classical sources call him regulus or basilius but, like Julius Civilis of the Batavi, he seems to have actually been chosen as warlord at a public assembly by decision of the warriors present. Other contemporary leaders were chosen in the same way (pausanius 10, XIX, 5-8). His power depended upon military reputation and achievement. After his forces were defeated and he himself wounded, although not mortally, he committed suicide. In the fighting, he had been surrounded by a special company of men, "the tallest and bravest of the Gauls", who killed all of the wounded unable to retreat with the disabled leader. Deger-Jalkotzy views their collective behavior as resembling that of a sworn brotherhood like the soldurii of Caesar's time." These chosen followers would vow to share all benefits with their comrades "while if any violent fate befalls their fellows, they either endure the same misfortune along with them or take their own lives" (B.G. 3, 22).Caesar
33 Miklos Szabo, "Mercenary Activity" (1991)j Daphne Nash, Coinage in the Celtic World (1987), pp. 13-18j G.T. Griffith, The Mercenaries ofthe Hellenistic World (1935), p. 78f. 34 Nash, Coinage, p. 14. Somewhat belied by the title, this work is actually an excellent guide to Celtic society and to politico-military activities as a whole in relation to the economy. 35 For Peschel's views, see the works cited in note II and Sigrid Deger-jalkotzy, E-QE-TA: Zur Rolle des Gejolgschajtswesens in der Sozialstruktur mykenischer Reiche (1978), pp. 157-65. Again, this work is far wider-ranging than the title suggests. 36 The basic work is Walter Schlesinger, "Uber germanisches Heerkonigtum" now in his Beitrage, pp. 53-87. On the Celtic side, see John T. Koch, "Bran, Brennos: An Instance of Early Gallo-Brittonic History and Mythology" (1990). 37 Deger-Jalkotzy, E-QE-TA, p. 158.

lie" (1991).

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also related that Gaulish custom regards it as a crime for clients to desert their patrons "even in desperate case" (B.G. 7, 40). These remarks add depth to the observation of Polybius, writing about 140 Be, who noted the way in which the Celts ofItaly formed hetaeria, the common Greek term for warband (Histories II, 17, rz): "They treated comradeship as of the greatest importance, those among them being the most feared and most powerful who were thought to have the largest number of attendants and associates". He too provides an example like that of Brenn us (II, 31, z), After the defeat of the paramount ruler of the Gaesatae, the subordinate king, Aneroestes, escaped with "a few followers to a certain place where he put an end to his life and to those of his friends". It must be emphasized that this kind of thinking, which vowed to loyalty and victory and to the collective death of the band upon defeat, continued to be typical of the Celtic elite long after the Roman conquest. In the year ZI AD, the nobles Julius Florus of the Treveri and Julius Sacrovir of the Aedui, led a revolt of some of the Treveri, Aedui and Turones. At this time, as Edith Wightman writes, "Gaul was still uneasily balanced between old and new traditions" .38 Certainly Sacrovir and his followers adhered to the former for, as Tacitus relates (Annals III, 47), after their defeat, he and his comrades committed suicide by mutually inflicted wounds. The warband was probably a common aspect of Celtic culture from the fifth century onwards at the latest. Classical sources refer to all the typical behaviors and qualities of that form of organization: the extra-tribal grouping, the search for land and booty, the absolute bond to the leader, the sharing of his fate to death and beyond, the appearance of all together as a retinue, the hierarchy among followers, the communal drinking, the choosing of the best followers as counsellors. Strangely enough, however, the great similarity between the warbands of Celts and later Germans was not recognized until recently and is still very little known among medievalists. The essential barrier to understanding was that Caesar's linguistic usage had muddied the waters. As Gerhard Dobesch points out in his important study of the Celts of Austria (a book which deserves to be. more widely known for its excellent analysis of Celtic society and politics in general), Caesar's ability to describe complex Gaulish conditions using mostly Roman terms is little short of astonishing," With the exception of a few words like soldurii and ambacti, both terms for members of the comitatus, he constantly analyses Gaulish society using Latin concepts like principatus, imperium, auctoritas, cliens, socius.fides, amicitia, equites, boni, and so on." He strives to explain the complex structures of a foreign society using language and categories familiar to his readers and unlikely to place any burden on their intellectual capacity. At.
38 Edith Mary Wightman, Gallia Belgica (1985), p, 64. 39 Gerhard Dobesch, "Caesar als QueUe fUr keltische Verhaltnisse" in his Die Kelten in Osterreicb nach. iiltesten Berichten der Antike: Das norische Kdnigreich' und seine Bezeihungen zu Ram. im 2. Jahrhundert v. ChT. (1980), pp, 406-'7. 40 Ibid.

bottom, as Dobesch observes, he wishes his readers to know only as much about Gaulish life as will enable them to follow his story of conquest. 41 Caesar constantly simplifies the variety and complexity of Gaulish politics; lifestyles and sociological relationships. His usage of the word aliens, "client", has been especially misleading. Although early Romans were quite familiar with warband organization, they had long since abandoned the comitatus for the patron-client relationship with its stress on obedience, subjection and lack of reciprocity. 42 Caesar's use of the word cliens for the soldurii suggests that they were of low status and had very few enforceable rights against the warlord. This is completely incorrect. As Dobesch's analysis shows,' the soldurii belonged to the political and military elite and frequently came from powerful noble families. The degree of SUbjection present in the Roman clintela is impossible to envision for them. Actually, Tacitus uses both terms, clientes and comites, when describing the Germanic warband as well but some scholars have wished to deny the implied relational verticality for the Germans while affirming it for the Celts," In part, this is due to the fact that earlier specialists like Camille Jullien and his followers identified the ambacti as the normal members of the Gaulish comitatus in Caesar's time. The relationships between the warlord, ambacti and soldurii were complex and are unlikely to have been understood by most Roman commentators who, like Festus, commonly glossed Gaulish-Latin ambactus with serous, "slave" .45 The literal meaning of the word is "those who go around". To understand the true status of the ambactus and his cohorts-the point is an important one with ramifications for the Germanic warband as well-we need to look more closely at Gaulish political and economic structure over time. Daphne Nash, among others, has done important work in this area and some of her findings will be drawn upon below. Celtic warrior societies of the fourth and third centuries Be seem to have been led by wealthy district chiefs who shared a tribal identity with others but recognized, or at least obeyed, no central ruler. As described by Polybius and Livy (referring to the time of Hannibal's invasion in z18 Be) these chiefs were called principes castelli or reguli, "lords of strongholds" or "kinglets" and Hannibal had to negotiate with each one separately;" Many would have been interested in mercenary leadership for their lifestyles were luxurious and their expenditures great. Take Dumnorix, for example, a noble among the Aedui, whom Caesar says was "unequaled in boldness" and "strong in the influence that his generosity gave
Dobesch, Die Kelten, p. 408. Green, Carolingian Lord, pp, 64-'79. Dobesch, Die Kelten, p. 419£ Ibid., 417£; Green, Carolingian Lord, p. 71£ The Roman glosses are analyzed in Alain Daubigney, "Reconnaissance des formes de la dependance gauloise" (1979). 46 Nash, Coinage, p. 49. 41 4Z 43 44 45

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him over the common folk" .47 Since he wished to become a king of his people, he distributed large bribes both at home and to neighboring states. He maintained a large body of cavalry "permanently at his own charges and kept them about his person". He had thus to feed, support and endow some hundreds of warriors of the upper class and this also required that he maintain craftsmen, druids, entertainers, guests and "men of art" of all kinds. But of what did his public generosity consist? We get some idea of what his status required and ambition encouraged by Posidonius' description of the great feast of Louerius, a Gaulish nobleman of about two generations earlier.48 In an attempt to win popular favor, Louerius rode in a chariot over the plains distributing gold and silver to the thousands who followed him. Then he set up an enclave one and one half miles square filled with food and vats of expensive liquor so that "for many days" all who wished could enter and enjoy the feast while being served by his own attendants. A poet who came late, on the day that had been fixed for ending the feast, bemoaned his hard luck in verse. Louerius was so pleased at his song that he threw him a bag of gold from his chariot whereupon the poet proclaimed that the very tracks of his chariot provided largesse for mankind. Poets had to be maintained tool They traveled freely among the various states (along with druids but unlike others) and were indispensable tools for propaganda. Caesar mentions many such leaders who thrive amidst their imposing retinues. Gaulish nobles, he states (B.G. 6, IS), are constantly engaged in military campaigns and "according to the importance of each of them in birth and resources, so is the number of liegemen and dependents that he has about him (ita plurimos circum se ambactos clientesque habet)". A powerful nobleman like Orgetorix has 10,000 circum se. Many of these would be of the common folk who are described as being "treated almost as slaves": The greater part of them "oppressed as they are either by debt, or by the heavy weight of tribute, or by the wrongdoing of the more powerful men, commit themselves in slavery to the nobles, who have, in fact, the same rights over them as masters over slaves"." From remarks like this, . we would have to conclude that the great majority of Gaulish men, together with their families, were slaves-either that or, assuming honest reportage, that the word "slave" was being very loosely used. Compare from this perspective what Tacitus has to say about slavery among the Germans about a century and a half later. He is clearly puzzled about the whole question. German slaves, he says, "are not employed after our manner with distinct domestic duties assigned to them, but each one has the management of a house and home of his own. The master
47 BGI, 18. 48 J.J. Tierney, "The Celtic Ethnography ofPosidonius" (1960), p. 248. 49 On various forms of dependance and slavery,see Karl Peschel, "Archaologisches zur Frage der Unfreiheit bei den Kelten wahrend der vorromischen Eisenzeit" (1990); Alain Daubigney, "Forme de I'asservissement et statut de la dependance preromaine dans l'aire gallo-germanique" (1985).

requires from a slave a certain quality of grain, of cattle, and of clothing, as he would from a tenant, and this is the limit of subjection". 50 He goes on to say that slaves are rarely punished with bonds or hard labor, although they are often killed "on the impulse of passion". . In saying that "slaves" are like tenants, Tacitus is closer to the mark than Caesar who, nonetheless, also refers to debt and tribute. Both of them are actually" groping towards the concept of the tenant farmer who also owes military service to the man who has given him land-a situation roughly analogous to that in a number of European regions up until recent times. Such explanations would account for the number of clients around Orgetorix. The full answer to the problem is to be found in early medieval Ireland which, comparable to Viking Age Scandinavia for the early Germans, preserved, only more faithfully, some of the customs and relationships of the early Celts. Irish law texts of the seventh and eighth centuries show that society was thoroughly hierarchical with a variety of long-established forms of contractual clientships," Broadly speaking, Irish jurists distinguished between two types of client or cele, the free client (soercMile) and base client (doercheile). These in turn are distinguished from the semi-freeman or tenant-at-will (foidir), the hereditary serf (sencltfithe) and the slave (mug, "male slave" and cumal, "female slave"). Clientship was established when the lord handed over a fief or "favor", frequently cattle, in return for which the client was bound to certain services and renders. These differed for each type of clientship. The free client was bound to return one third of the grant each year so that if he had received thirty cows, ten must be returned at the end of twelve months. If, after three years, the relationship was to be maintained for another three year period, the free client had to pay inmilk and calves up to one third of their value and, upon continuance for a seventh year, no renders were required." The contract also went beyond this. By accepting a man as his free client, the lord undertook to protect him against others and defend his rights while the client undertook personal and military service, as well as formal public demonstrations of respect. He must, for example always rise from his seat when his lord appears," Free clientage was regarded as "the best of fiefs" because either party could terminate the contract at any time without penalty by returning the original grant or renders. That is unlikely to have been common practice since the immaterial benefits of the contract were often more valuable than the material because of the social and political bonds created. Hence, a man of equal rank to another might also wish to become his client. This was true of nobles and kings as well as free men so that clientship was spread throughout this
50 Germania,25· 51 See now Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irislt Law (1988), pp. 29-35· 52 A useful analysis of socio-economic detail in Gearoid Mac Niocaill, Ireland Before the Vikings (1972), pp. 59-66; Donncha 0 Corrain, Ireland Before the Normans (1972), p. 42f. 53 Kelly, Guide, p, 32.

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society from top to bottom with lesser kings the clients of more powerful ones. The debt involved in these multiple cases was permanently maintained and periodically reaffirmed because its real importance lay in the fact that it was an expression of ongoing affiliation and loyalty and not simply of economic depend-

ence."
The base client was also a free man but his obligations were more onerous. . Although the actual renders were much smaller - less than one sixth those of the free client-the base client could not terminate his contract when he wished although his lord could. If the base client wished to withdraw, he must return twice the amount of the fief and, under certain conditions of ill will, also pay a fine of half of his lord's honor price or wergild." In all such cases the lord was in a superior position for he was also the judge of any real or purported failures on his client's part whereas the client would probably have encountered great difficulty in legally attributing failure to his lord. Nonetheless, despite outlays and obligations, real benefits accrued to each party. The lord achieved increased status, military power and labor sources by the number of his clients. He also gained a guaranteed food supply because of various kinds of renders and might also guest with each of his clients for a night during part of the year. 56 The client gained a serviceable means of making or increasing his living, protection from depredation and a one time payment equal in value to his honor price. While remaining a free man, he was, however, bound to his lord's service for good or bad and for all practical purposes for the rest of his life. The Irish warlord also possessed a special retinue or dam which would have been largely made up of specially sworn free men of ability and status. 57 It is difficult to envision anything else since the retinue was the primary instrument of pr~stigious display and public rank. His richer free clients will have been a part of this, In case of need, however, as with Orgetorix who faced criminal charges, the lord could create a powerful array by drawing his retinue and all of his clients together. Other kinds of warbands existed too although, most interestingly, they are associated from the seventh century onwards with pagan practices and are universally excoriated by the Christian clergy. 58 The evidence, such as it is, suggests that wherever the warband existed, it was the last holdout against Christianity. Undoubtedly, this was because of its collective sense of identity created by oaths, rituals and undertakings. 59 In sum, it seems probable that the
54 Robin C. Stacey, "Ties that Bind: Immunities in Irish and Welsh Law" (1990), p. 49. Further on background: Marilyn Gerriets, "Kingship and Exchange in pre-Viking Ireland" (1987). S5 Mac NiocaiIl, Ireland Before tile Vikings, p. 62. 56 Ibid., p. 64f. 57 Deger-Jalkotzy, E-QE-TA, p, 165. 58 Richard Sharpe, "Hiberno-Latin Laicus, Irish Laech and the Devil's Men" (1979); Kim Mc Cone, "Wer~wolves, Cyclopes, Dlberga and Flanna: Juvenile Delinquency in Early Ireland" (1986). 59 To this one must add the strong familial emphasis in the warband discussed in chapter one.

two types ofIrish clients correspond to the devoted soldurii and ambacti of earlier Celtic society although an emphatic kind of bond is suggested for the soldurii by the very term "devoted" .60 A special kind of oath, a sacrat,nentu11Jsuch asTacitus mentions in association with the Germanic warband; is likely. Also notable. is the way in which Irish clients could be identified by the act of sitting or standing, a situation indicative of attitudes and socio-political arrangements very close to those outlined in chapter one for early medieval Germanic comites. The ranking arrangement of the Gaulish warband antedated both. As with Beowulf, it tells us much about lord/ follower relationships and is worthy of remark. Citing the lost work of Posidonius, written in the early first century BC, Athenaeus describes the Celtic feast as follows: When a large number dine together, they sit around in a circle with the most influential man in the centre, like the leader of the chorus ... Beside him sits the host and next on either side the others in order of distinction. Their shieldsmen stand behind them while spearsmen areseated in a circle on the opposite side and feast in common like their lords. Three distinct circles are described, two concentric and one separate from the others. The most significant inner circle has a specially honored place and (possibly aside from the host) rank proceeds from that point "in order of distinction". Not all may sit. The exterior circle is composed of men who stand and one may identify them as the ambacti, It is clear that they accompany the lords to war for they bear their shields but they are not regarded as troops of the first caliber and their lower status is indicated by the fact of permanent standing. The peculiar name of ambactus is thereby clarified as well for they are indeed those "who go around" or, in Caesar's reference to the warlord, those who are circum se.6• The word does not refer to their general movements when the lord is underway but to their formal place at the feast. In contrast to the ambacti, the higher rank of the soldurii is indicated by the fact that they sit and eat separately and are described as the actual bearers of offensive weapons. They are the trusted fighters and comrades. It seems probable that they too must rise when their lord enters but, unlike the ambacti, they may sit and partake of the feast thereafter. We can conclude, therefore, that the festal hall of armed and sworn men was a microcosm of transalpine society for a thousand years before the Beowulfpoem, a work which provides eloquent evidence for the continuity of an ancient warband pattern. The placement of warriors and the geography of the hall profoundly influenced language, social mores and attitudes. It was probably for feasts like these that the lord of Hochdorf brought forth his ceremonial mead-cauldron, iron horn and golden serving bowl.
60 See the discussion by Dobesch, Die Kelten, p. 251f. and p. 420 n, 7· 61 Tierney, "Celtic Ethnography", p. 247· 62 Daubigney, "Reconnaissance", p. 173f.

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From what has been said above about Irish society, it can be suggested that the remarks about "slavery" by both Caesar and Tacitus are considerably wide of the mark. Caesar starts from the concept of Roman style clientage (which does not' fit) and works from there to semi-slavery; Tacitus begins from Roman slavery (which does not fit either) and approaches the idea of tenant farming which is somewhat closer but lacks the military element. Both are applying Roman concepts to try and describe something which is foreign to Roman society and each seems to be describing something different when in fact they are probably describing the same thing-the institution of base clientage which, one may now suggest, would have been common to both Celts and Germans for some considerable time before Tacitus. Such clients would have belonged at the lower end of those several ranks which Tacitus said make up the Germanic comitatus, a point which draws the two institutions and the two societies even closer together and further clarifies their differences from the Mediterranean pattern. This conclu- . sion would seem to support the earlier skepticism of G. Walser and R. Wenskus about Caesar's emphasis on extreme dependence within the Gaulish warband and is consistent with the more recent research of Dobesch and Deger-Jalkotzy which rejects that view completely;" The contractual grant of cattle, sometimes. of land and cattle, indicated and reinforced status and was a crucial medium for the articulation of military and hierarchical relationships at every socio-political level." None of this should be construed as a statement that slavery was uncommon, however. It was probably familiar all over Gaul and Germania but it is likely to have been more prevalent in areas closer to the Mediterranean. All early Celtic class societies were alike in many respects and often evolved in similar ways over time. Political and military leadership were the exclusive preserve of an equestrian nobility among whom weaker nobles paid allegiance and tribute to stronger ones," The same pattern followed all the way down the social pyramid. Both nobles and richer freemen were landowners and there was an unusually large pastoral component in the economy." Each social grade sought clients among equals and inferiors. In such a society, aristocratic rivalries were constant and ordinary freemen must often have been threatened, in need of protection and in search of the means to grease social mobility. Entering the followings of powerful lords and/or mercenary service in distant lands would make a difference. Bec~use the society was a dynamic one, some would flourish
63 Gerold Walser, Caesar und die Germanen: Studien zur politischen Tendenz riimischer Feldzugsbericht« (1956), p. 75; Reinhard Wenskus, Stammesbildung und Verjassung, p, 359; DegerJalkotzy, E-QE-TA, pp. 157-66; Dobesch, Die Kelten, pp. 417-32. There does, however, seem to have been a slow decline in the status of the ambacti in Gaul from the period of Celtic expansion to that of Caesar but the soldurii are a different case. 64 Nash, "Celtic Territorial Expansion", pp. 46-9. 65 Ibid. 66 For the interaction between the social and pastoral components of such a way of life, see A.T. Lucus, Cattle in Ancient Ireland (1989).

and others decline. It is possible, therefore, perhaps even likely in view of Mediterranean influence, that some devolution of status had occurred for the ambacti by Caesar's time as it certainly did for base clients in Ireland by the High. Middle Ages," Conditions during early and mid La Tene were different than those of the second and first centuries BC when the commercial economies of the South strongly affected Celtic institutions and values. Witness' to this slow process is found in the beginnings and spread of Gaulish coinages in the various states and the creation of oppida, "the first towns north of the .I\lpS,,/8 in many regions of the Celtic world-a series of developments which heavily influenced some Germanic peoples of the periphery who drew on Celtic culture and products in the same way as the Celts drew on the Mediterranean. Slavery brought changes, too. The demand for slaves in the Roman world "increased sharply in the mid-second century to reach unprecedented levels by the mid-first" so that Celtic warfare and slave-raiding to pay for Mediterranean imports was constantly stimulated from outside." According to one estimate, some 30,000 of those who joined Spartacus in his Italian slave revolt were Celts," Traditional kingship was another victim. It declined along with the status of the base clients. Among Celtic states closer to republican Rome, like those of the Arverni, Aedui and Helvetii, aristocratic oligarchies rose to overthrow kings and to rule in their own interests," Again, as we shall see in the following chapter, these events would have reverberations in the Germanic world. The pattern is hard to overlook. Mediterranean influence wrought significant changes among the Celts of the second and first centuries BC. These were modified by Celtic interpretations, institutions and the stylistic approach of La Tene artists and craftsmen. Broadly speaking, it was in this Celtic guise that some aspects of the Mediterranean spirit eventually reached the pre-Lubsow Germans. Of course, some Romans and some Germans did have personal contact during the late Republic. These would become more significant in the first century AD but hardly before that. Something more must now be said about some of the cultural changes of late La Tene, the products that resulted and the influences that travelled beyond the Celtic world for that will make the mixed pattern of cultural transference clearer. In keeping with our central theme, one way to begin is by examining some remarks of classical commentators on the then proverbial Gaulish love of wine. Drawing on Posidonius, both Athenaeus and Diodorus Siculus observe that the
67 6 Corrain, Ireland Before the Normans, p. 44. 68 The phases of coinage introduction and the social context are discussed by Nash, Cllinage, pp. 4B-sS. See also Hans-jorg Kellner, "Coinage", pp. 451-9; John Collis, Oppida: Earliest Trlwns Nllrth IIf the Alps (1984). 69 Nash, Coinage, p. 20f. 70 Tchernia, "Italian Wine", p. 98. 71 Nash, Cllinage, pp. 53f., 94-9.

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Celtic nobility prefers wine to other drinks," One is reminded of Kossack's analysis pointing out that the upper class of one culture will adopt the tastes of another in their search for self-glorification. "The drink of the wealthy upper classes", writes Athenaeus, "is wine imported from Italy or from the territory of Marseilles. This is unadulterated, but sometimes alittle water is added. The lower classes drink wheaten beer prepared with honey, but most people drink it plain. They use a common cup, drinking a little at a time ... ".73 The wine trade seems to have become important to Roman merchants from the second half of the second century BC.74 The Gauls of the time, according to Diodorus, were extremely fond of wine and would drink themselves into a stupor whenever they had it. Italian merchants capitalized on this fondness and looked on it as a treasure trove. They transported their cargo by boat and wagon and received incredible prices for it; "for one jar of wine they receive in return a slave, a servant in exchange for the drink"." It is worth pausing to assess this observation for it is often cited but usually misinterpreted. While it may very well be true that Italian merchants sometimes received a slave in return for a jar of wine, the context is not, as Diodorus believed, that of economic exchange or, better stated perhaps, it is an economic transaction only from the viewpoint of the merchant. The Gaul involved probably saw it as something entirely different. It is now more difficult to think otherwise as we have seen that the Celts were well acquainted with Mediterranean values, particularly the value of money, since they had served for so long as mercenaries. We know from Livy (44, 26) that king Perseus of Macedonia (179-168 BC) offered Claodicus of the Danubian Bastarnae five gold staters apiece for infantry warriors, ten each for cavalrymen and one thousand for himself for a campaign. We also know that Greek coins were in use by communities close to the Mediterranean and that inspired by Greek prototypes, some Celtic states began issuing their own coinages by about 300 BC.76 Some two hundred years later, the Gaulish elite were operating mines, collecting state taxes and investing in the building of towns and factories for the mass production of goods. They were acutely aware of
72 Socialand economic commentary in Tchernia, "Italian Wine", pp. 87-104; Christian Goudineau, "Marseilles, Rome and Gaul from the Third to the First Century BC", (1983), pp. 76--36; Michael G. Fulford, "Roman Material in Barbarian Society C.200 IlC~.AD 400", (1985), pp. 91-108. There is much relevant material in all of the essays in Sarah Macready and RH. Thompson, eds., Cmss-Channe! Trade Between Gaul and Britain in the Pre-Roman Iron Age (1984). 73 Tierney, "Celtic Ethnography", p. 247· . 74 Aside from the essays by Tchernia and Goudineau cited in note 72, see Franz Fischer, "Der Handel der Mittel- und Spdt-Latene-Zeit in Mitteleuropa aufgrund archaologischer Zeugnisse" (1985); Dieter Timpe, "Der keltische Handel nach historischen Quellen" (1985). 75 Tierney, "Celtic Ethnography", p. 249· 76 Kellner, "Coinage", p. 451, states that "the first imitations date from the very beginning of the third century BC" Nash, Cllinage, p. 48, refers to the mid-third century IIC.

economics and finance and of the huge disparity between the value of a slave and that of a jar of wine; conservatively estimated, the former was. worth sixty times the latter," It was with this elite group that merchants dealt. Ordinary folk were unable to afford wine-may not evenhave had a taste for it--and so it can only have been a nobleman who could afford to give a merchant a slave. The correct interpretation of the remark of Diodorus lies in the realm of culture, in the peculiar value placed on certain kinds of drink and ritual exchanges in the Celtic world. We have already noted the astonishing amount. of labor and expense that early nobles might invest in specially prepared liquor and the great social and political value placed on cauldrons and vats. Such a mentality was not unfamiliar to the early Greeks who sealed personal friendships (also ofa military nature) and diplomatic alliances by the gift of a drinking vessel, and to later Romans who gave gifts of silver vessels to German envoys and chiefs," But the Gauls (quite apart from any propensity to drunkenness which upper class Romans exhibited to an even greater degree at their feasts) associated rare drink with honor, status and authority. It possessed for them a different kind of symbolism, a religious or quasi-religious significance which closely tied it to kinship, the warrior mentality and the heroic code. The transaction was not an economic one precisely because it concerned wine; the object to be exchanged transformed the nature of the exchange so that it became part of the gift-giving nexus wherein the concept of honor played the decisive role." In order to maintain status and demonstrate appropriate regard, a "gift" of this kind had to be repaid with a greater counter-gift in keeping with the donor's rank and the receiver's desires-in some cases, apparently, with that of a slave, a human commodity known to be greatly in demand by Romans. This approach to certain kinds of exchanges is now difficult to fully appreciate but is aptly illustrated by some

77 Tchernia, "Italian Wine", p. 99. 78 As referred to by Tacitus, for example, in Germania 5. The full significance of these kinds of gifts is best explained by Franz Fischer, "KEIMHIA: Bemerkungen zur kulturgeschichtlichen Interpretation des sogenannten Siidimports in der spaten Hallstatt- und friihen LateneKultur des westIichen Mitteleuropa" (1973). See further David Braund, "Ideology, Subsidies and Trade: The King on the Northern Frontier Revisited" (1989); Paul Marie Duval, "Sources and Distribution of Chieftaincy Wealth in Ancient Gaul" (1986). The broader perspective in William J.H. Willems, "Rome and its Frontiers in the North: The Role of the Periphery" (1991); Michael Parker Pearson, "Beyond the Pale: Barbarian Social Dynamics in Western Europe" (1989). 79 Alain Daubigney, "Relations marchandes Mediterraneennes et proces des rapports de dependance (magu-et ambactes) en Gaule protohistorique" (1983); C. Feuvrier-Prevotat, "Echanges et societes en Gaule independante: a propos d'un texte de Poseidonios d' Apamee" (1978). To better understand this kind of thinking, consider the fact that Celtic tribes (like the Tectosages) would sometimes maintain huge mounds of sacred temple treasure never used in trade or, for that matter, consider tile great wealth buried in Germanic graves of tile Early Middle Ages. Economic considerations played little role in such an approach to life.

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.Gaulish coins which depict ceremonial cauldrons and wine amphorae. Bo Such transactions cannot have continued for long. According to Andre Tchernia, the wine trade was just beginning to expand during the time of Posidonius, the writer upon whom Diodorus drew for his information about the Celts," It is unlikely that Gaulish nobles would have continued to consistently react in this way with Italian merchants although that kind of behavior would have lasted longer outside of the nobility and in northern and eastern Gaul. It is a good example of the clash of two world-views, the status and prestige mentality of the warrior aristocrat and the commercial one of the merchant entrepreneur. Urbanization, commerce and evolving production techniques and artistic styles are part of the structural mutations oflate La Time which not only affected Celtic societies but those around them. By the time of Caesar's conquest there were some 170 fortified oppida settlements scattered across Europe from the Germanic northeast through Gaul, Bohemia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Britain and Bavaria. s. The inhabitants of these towns were primarily engaged in trade and manufacturing which provided for their own needs and those of other regions. Oppida like Bibracte and Manching, Stradonice and Stare Hradisko maintained wide commercial relations with both North and South while continuing the Celtic foundation of the European iron-working tradition." Such oppida : produced over ninety different kinds of iron artifacts and high quality weapons, vast amounts of glass, vases and ornaments, amphorae, pots, locks, toiletry articles, gold, silver and bronze jewelry, frames for writing tablets and brooches of many types. B4 Thefirrum noricum was praised by ancient writers while probably the largest number ofbrooches ever discovered in Europe, around 1300 examples, . were discovered at Stare Hradisko," Everything from luxury helmets to surgeon's tools, saddler's equipment and agricultural implements were made and traded while Italian products were also being imported and then exported elsewhere." It is not surprising to find that it was during this period that the customs of inhumation and weapon burial were adopted by the Germans, that forms of organization like the comitatus came into being amongst them and that La Tene art styles became widely diffused. Although traces of cultural influences can be found at many sites in numerous areas of the continent and Britain, some areas, as Klindt-jensen demonstrated for Denmark, were particularly affected (and the
80 Nash, Coinage, plate I. 81 Tchernia, "Italian Wine", p. 99. 82 Ferdinand Maier, "The IIppida of the Second and First Centuries HC" (1991), p. 417; Collis, Oppida, pp. 8-14. 83 On iron working, see Collis, Oppida, pp. 87~2. 84 Susanne Sievers et aI., "Handicrafts" (1991); Karl Horst Schmidt, "Handwerk und handwerker im Keltischen und Germanischen. Beitrage zu einem historischen Vergleich" (1983), pp. 265-85. 85 Jiri Meduna, "The Oppidum of Stare Hradisco" (1991), p. 546f. 86 For merchant activities, see Timpe, "Der keltische Handel", pp. 272-'78.

same is very likely to be true of the Rhine- Weser Germans although the evidence is not always clear since they lacked the grave deposition practice). "Celtic taste", as F. Kaul comments, "become dominant far from the Celtic world". B7 One has only to think of the Bra cauldron, Dejbjerg carts or Gundestrup cauldron to realize the ways in which both products and ideas helped Celticize European culture in the century before Roman occupation." Matters of religion were little different. M. Gorman's recent study of the religiously related artifacts of southern Scandinavia during the first millennium BC concluded that belief in this region "had obvious Celtic traits" .B9 Nor indeed may one conclude that Roman culture quickly or consistently changed all of this in the areas beyond southern Gaul. Assemblages from the Augustan period atthe.late Celtic horsemen's graves at Goeblingen-Nospelt "demonstrate that a long time after the conquest of Gaul, customs were still markedly Celtic in the territory of the Treveri". 90 Beyond the continent, Britain and Ireland shared in the Celtic La Tene culture of the time but in varying degrees and with varying emphases. Fine metalwork is a prominent feature of the late centuries BC and the very impressive hillforts of Britain and the linear earthworks and promontory forts of Ireland testify to the presence of a military aristocracy, often fighting in chariots and carrying finely wrought weapons, who dominated a highly stratified society," The evidence is particularly good for Britain which drew increasingly close to the continent during the first century BC when there was heavy immigration from Belgic regions as well as extensive cultic ties linking both parts of Celtica. 9' A very heavy maritime traffic also existed in the second and first centuries BC as is shown by the great quantities of the Dressel 1A type of amphorae which can be traced from the ports of Quimper, Quiberon and St. Servin to those of central: southern Britain and elsewhere." The Roman occupation of the next century brought changes but not w~thout rebellion and accommodation and it was never complete, even though Collmgwood would mourn the situation of the Celtic artist in a vibrant tradition confronted by the "uniform and sordid ugliness of drab Romano-British daylight"." Nor, four hundred years later, was the Anglo-Saxon
87 Flemming Kaul, "The Dejbjerg Carts" (1991), p. 537. 88 As note 74, and see P. Mortensen, "The Bra Cauldron" (1991), p. 375; Flemming Kaul, "The Gundestrup Cauldron" (1991), p. 538f. 89 Marianne Gorman, "Nordic and Celtic. Religion in Southern Scandinavia During the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age" (1990). 90 Jeannot Metzler, "Late Celtic Horsemen's Graves at Goeblingen-Nospelt" (1991) p. 521' Gustav Mahr, Die Jiingere Latinekultur des trierer Landes (1967). 91 Barry Raftery, "The Island Celts" (1991). "

92 Barry Cunliffe, "Relations Between Britain and Gaul in the First Century BC and the Early First Century AD" (1984); Daphne Nash, "The Basis of Contacts between Britain and Gaul in the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age" (1984); I.M. Stead, "The Belgae in Britain" (1991). 93 Barry Cunliffe, "Maritime Traffic Between the Continent 94 Cited from Piggott, Ancient Europe, p. 243. and Britain" (1991).

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conquest any more complete for the north and west of Britain remained independent and the Anglo-Saxons borrowed extensively from the more adva?ced cultures which they encountered," Ireland, of course, was conquered by neither people although it had many and fruitful contacts with both which may have had important consequences for the vitality of its society," Therein lies the unique- . ness ofIreland; it was able to develop more naturally as a Celtic society free from outside threat and coercion. Unfortunately, the archaeological evidence for Iron Age Ireland is weak by continental or British standards and a great deal more remains to be done before a confident picture of prehistoric society can be created. Nonetheless, many beautiful artifacts of La Tene style are known so that it is clear that the continuity of La Tene art was unbroken and it remained to flourish, evolving and extending, throughout the first Christian millennium.
3. ASPECTS OF CONTINUITY AND ORAL CULTURE

How much continuity existed in the Celtic world from La Tene Gaul to early Christian Ireland and why did it exist? Up until very recently a strong consensus among scholars maintained that the answer to the first question was "a great . deal", and to the second, "because of the teachings, conservative traditions and memories of the poets". In his well known survey of Ancient Europe, Stuart . Piggott wrote that we should be cautious in comparing Manching with Emain Macha but also stated his view "that the picture of the structure and nature of Celtic society as given in early Irish literature is consonant with that contained in the classical writers, notably the Stoic philosopher and ethnographer Posidonius, writing in the first century BC, and upon whose account of Celtic customs Athenaeus, Diodorus, Strabo and Caesar all draw. It is also in accord with such inferences as we can make from the archaeological evidence".' He held that "the conservatism of barbarian Europe, as in other comparable groups of societies, led to retention and transmission of tradition, either orally, or by the handing on of 2 skills by the direct precept of master to apprentice, or from priestto pupil". His broad vantage point led him to conclude that, once certain not very ambitious demands had been adequately met, "innovation and radical change were exceptional" in Europe and accustomed modes could be "preserved and transmitted intact down the generations" .J In arguing in this manner, Piggott drew extensively and eloquently on archaeological evidence but also on literary sources. He
95 Lloyd and Jennifer Laing, Celtic Britain and Ireland, AD 200-800 (1990), pp. 67-,]0, 81-95; Patrick Wormald, "Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Kingship: Some Further Thoughts" (1986), pp, 151-83. 96 Harold Mytum, The Origins o/Ear{y Christian Ireland (1992), pp. 21-52. I Piggott, Ancient Eurllpe, p. 226f. 2 Ibid., p, 259. 3 Piggott, Ancient EUTlJpe, p. 259·

frequently cited the Ulster cycle of tales, works preserved in eleventh and twelfth century manuscripts but containing references and very archaic linguistic passages widely regarded as reflecting a period four to six centuries earlier. He was particularly influenced by Kenneth Jackson's famous lecture on "a window on the Iron Age" in which Jackson argued that Irish texts, the earliest vernacular literature in Europe north of the Alps, preserved a reasonably accurate although fragmentary picture of earlier La 'Iene culture.' Both Piggott and Jackson drew on a wide 'variety of evidence from material culture, linguistics, law, literature and' religion. In recent years, an important modification of their perspective' has been offered by J.P. Mallory and some discussion will help to clarify the state of scholarly .opinion.' The most recent commentary by Mallory and McNeill, summarized below, appears in their book on the archaeology of Ulster published in 1991.6 In the early Irish annals, the events of the Ulster cycle are assigned to the first centuries BC and AD so that it is clear that chroniclers regarded the heroes and heroines of their stories (CU Chulainn, Conchobur Mac Nessa,Fergus Mac Roig, Conall Cernach, Queen Medb) as living in the distant past, what to us is the Iron Age. "The behaviour and some of the descriptions of the Ulster warriors seem to accord well with that of the early Celts".' These include (although one may parenthetically note that the list is incomplete) fighting from chariots, a method of warfare that had disappeared on the continent by the first century AD and from Britain by the second century AD. Typical behaviors in Gaul and Ireland also include headhunting, worship of the severed head, feasting with "the champion's portion", pagan oaths by the gods of the tribe and the existence of druids and their primacy in prophecy and advice. Similarly, the Ulster cycle records the Ulaid capital of Emain Macha as having fallen in the fourth or fifth centuries AD. After this collapse, the kingdom of Ulster constricted to little more than the counties Antrim, Down and north Louth, "a small fraction of the area of Ulster regularly depicted in the Ulster tales", 8 so that the political geography of the texts recall an earlier period. Placed against this evidence (of which more could be adduced) is the fact that the artifacts found do not closely fit the literary picture but seem to belong to the Early Middle Ages," CU Chulainn, for example, regularly applies a long sword to chop and decapitate his enemies. But Iron Age Irish swords were much shorter
4 Kenneth H. Jackson, The Oldest Irish Tradition: A Windot» 1111 the Iron Age (1964). 5 J.P. Mallory, "Silver in the Ulster Cycle ofT ales" (1986), pp. 31-']8; "The Sword in the Ulster Cycle" (1981), pp. 99-II4. 6 J.P. Mallory and T.E. Me Neill, The ArchacIIIIlb.'JIIIf Ulster: From Colonization til Plantation (1991). 7 Ibid., p. 168. 8 Mallory, Mc Neill, Ulster, p. 168. 9 Ibid.

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and could hardly be used with the same elan. Similar discrepancies arise with spears and with silver ornaments which were not used as described in the tales until the early Christian period. Generally speaking, the archaeological artifacts of the Irish Iron Age rarely fit the descriptions of the tales but closely match those of the seventh to tenth centuries. The evidence for chariots is meager and the material on Emain Macha ambiguous. Although all of this is important evidence that modifies the consensus, it leaves' critical parts of the continuity argument intact. The authors do not comment, for example, on the druidai, vates and bardoi of the continent and their Irish equivalents of druid, poet and bard except to say that the large body of Irish material on the druids is untrustworthy" That is true in some cases but false in others. The Irish monks who wrote down much of this material were not as ignorant of paganism as Mallory and Me Neill suppose and, in cases where they were overtly hostile, their very antagonism is a useful sign of the druids' continuing influence. Actually, the two authors appear to be conscious of this and other approaches for they are by no means dogmatic and offer a nuanced conclusion which separates artifact and text: "We may imagine that the early Irish writers may have taken tales that were very ancient in structure but dressed them up in the clothes and weapons of their Early Christian contemporaries since they had no idea what Iron ' Age man looked like"." What the two authors seem to maintain is that the, description of artifacts has been modernized to accord with current practice but authentic memories existed nonetheless "because both some of the practices and words used to describe them are not only found among the medieval Irish but also their Celtic neighbors and other related peoples of Eurasia" .12 Mallory and Me Neill go on to note that both tradition and artifact "indicate that the Laigin, the people who gave their name to [the Irish province of] Leinster, were British and Gaulish in origin" and that "artistic inspiration directly from the continent, possibly northern France", would seem to have influenced the makeup of swords and scabbards in Ulster from about 300 BC.13 They also suggest continuity with La Tene in political geography, kingship and royal ritual, in the sacred marriage of the king and the ritual drink presented to him by the goddess of the territory. In warfare, they are prepared to accept the antiquity and continuance of warbands who frequently adopt the names and behaviors of wolves and who sometimes fight virtually naked in battle, "the Irish equivalent of the Viking berserkers" .14 The druids may have been responsible for the preservation of many of the techniques and traditions of La Tene culture in the Early Middle Ages. Their institutional importance as mobile repositories of native lore and sentiment is conspicuously demonstrated, as Piggott pointed out, by Roman legislation
10 Mallory, Me Neill, Ulster, p. 170. 12 Mallory, Me Neill, Ulster, p. 170. 14 Mallory, Me Neill, Ulster, p. I70f.
II

against them in first century Gaul and, in the comparable case of the poets, by the savage English extermination policy ~n sixteenth and seventeenth century Ireland. The problem for organizers of conquest was not so much the fact that druids were priests but rather that they were teachers. There are explicit statements by Pomponius Mela and Caesar which' there is no reason to doubt. 15 The former tells us that druids "teach many things to the nobles of Gaul in a course of instruction, lasting as long as twenty years, meeting in secret in a cave or in remote places". Caesar declares that "a large number of young men flock to them for training" and adds that their learning was orally transmitted (even though evidence suggests that some were literate): "It is said that they commit to memory large' amounts of poetry". A similar system of aristocratic education seems to have existed in both Britain and Ireland where Cathbad, a druid often mentioned in the Ulster cycle, is depicted as teaching young noblemen, one hundred in one instance and eight in another," In all three of these related cultures the druids possessed great authority and acted as judges of disputes. Their society was a pan-Celtic institution. It is worth noting that Cathbad is also associated with warbands in Irish tradition. 17 We know more about the filid or poet-seers who found it easier to co-exist with Christianity. Possessed of sacral status and supernatural power, they regularly composed praise-poems, satires and elegies. They were also repositories of sacred knowledge, the senchas, i.e., history, genealogy, the meaning of names and placenames. According to one tenth and eleventh century tract containing materials of diverse origin and date, the poets were divided into a seven-grade system based on knowledge and training. "In its earliest form ", according to P. Mac Cana, "the curriculum envisaged the student poet as passing through these grades in a period of seven years", an additional grade for each increase of knowledge. In theory at least, the course of study was lengthened to ten years at a later stage and in its final form the tract refers to a twelve year course of study. Aside from a broad palette of knowledge to be committed to memory, the ollam filed or "chief poet" must have learnt by heart at least eighty full tales although it is possible that more were demanded. Slips of memory were scorned and modifications of tales although that did occur over time, were regarded as unworthy and illegitimate: "He is no poet", says the tract, "who does not preserve coimgne or all the stories". coimgne, according to Mac Cana, may have meant something like "knowledge held . In common ""or compre hensi ensrve know Ied ge."IK "A t al I events, it seems probable that initially it had general reference to learned knowledge of the past, as narrated by those persons whose proper function it was to preserve it intact by the power
IS· Analyzed in Stuart Piggott, The Druids (1991\ p. 108t: 16 Ibid. 17 See Kim Me Cone, Pagan Past and Christian Present in Ear(y Irish Literature (1991), p, 223. All of his chapter on "Druids and Outlaws" is relevant here. 18 Proinsias Mac Cana, The Learned Tales IIfMedieval Ireland (1980), p. t rzf

Ibid., p. 169. 13 Ibid., p. 173.

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of memory ... ".'9 Such knowledge affected many aspects oflife but was particularly relevant to kingship, status, property rights and law. "What has preserved the legal tradition of the men ofIreland?" asks the old introduction to the Senchas Mor [the great compilation of medieval Irish law] and goes on to answer "the common [i.e., concordant] memory of the elders, transmission from ear to ear, the chanting of the poets ... ".20 The collectors and compilers of .t~e l~w codes were eminently literate men but their reverence for the oral tradition IS wor~ emphasizing. . An exceedingly bitter controversy has recently erupted m the small world of Celtic scholarship concerning the manner in which the m~~astic scribes ?f the early medieval Irish were influenced by the pagan oral traditions ?f the fiM ~nd the degree to which they exercised literary creativity and perso?al mterpretatlon. It is likely to be a topic of debate for years to come smce ~~th sl~es agree that t~; monks "were influenced by and drew upon an oral tradition With pagan roots , and it is the extent of monastic originality which is at issue. Much ink will be expended before the matter is settled, if at all, and I do not wish to become embroiled in the controversy here. Rather, I wish to look at the larger picture and to briefly sketch the undeniable pattern of acco~m~da~on rea~hed. by Irish Christians with pre-existing educational and legal mst~tutl0ns. ~t IS this acc~~modation which contributed to the preservation of earher matenals whereas It ~s the lack of it, and the lack of an institutional base, which affected the Germamc cultures of the continent outside of Scandinavia. Unlike the continent where learning in the crucial period of the seventh and eighth centuries was pr~dominantly in the hands of the church, Irish society was unique in northern Europe in that it possessed separate l~arned gro~~s, some of which had their own organized schools and arduous curncula of trammg. These were the elite of the aes dano, the "learned men" or "men of art" , of whom the most important were the poets (filii) and jurists (brithemi?)." Each of the~e honored groups had a long tradition of native pagan learmng. Many of their members had a status equal to that of a noble lord and the most learned amongst them had an honor-price equal to that of a petty king." They belonged to the . which is nemed class (cf. Gaulish nemeton), the meaning 0 f w c IS " sacre d" ~r "hI" y , 0 and their standing was sustained by religious feelings as well as wealth. 3 It seems

correct to call them a "mandarin class" Such status was well recognized by the church in its legislation. Indeed, in the seventh and eighth centuries, it Was the church which had to strive for equal recognition with the learned orders and not the other way around. Partly as a consequence, perhaps, the Irish church sought to accommodate, and succeeded in accommodating, a great deal of traditional vernacular learning and associated attitudes which, on the continent, would have seemed highly exotic and redolent of paganism. Of all the learned orders, the Irish monks were most closely drawn to thefilid, the poet-seers, and it is probably no accident that the great sixth century abbot, Columba of Iona, wa~ closely connected with them in early medieval legend." The association of churchmen and poets went further than is widely recognized. The grades of rank of the poetic hierarchy, for example, were synchronized with those of the church by 700 or so. Moreov.er, it is certain that many monks wrote poetry in both Latin and the vernacular. Large numbers of poets were actually attached to monasteries. One eighth century legal text declares that many of the learned professions could be practiced in both lay and monastic society without change of status," Another makes clear that some churchmen were expected as a matter of course to be versed in both poetry and history;" According to one Middle Irish legal tract, each monastery was to have its own poet and jurist," Evidence like this has caused more than one scholar to recently conclude that "the syllabus of the ideal or exemplary Irish monastic school comprised three interacting subjects-leigenn 'ecclesiastical learning', filidecht 'poetry or native lore' and flinechas 'native law'." 29 It is no surprise to find that the great and thoroughly pagan saga, rain Do Cuailnge, "The Cattle-Raid of Cooley", one or another version of which existed around 700, was either produced or written down in a monastery." To understand the way in which secular learning and tradition influenced Irish monks, one must know something more about the filid. As we have seen, the sources reveal the poet's order to have been organized in various grades depending upon skill." They were greatly revered for they had the power to bless and to praise but were also feared since their contrasting ability to curse and satirize was
24 As does Donnchadh 6 Com lin who makes some perceptive observations in his "Nationality and Kingship in pre-Norman Ireland" (1978). 25 As in Whitley Stokes, "The Bodlein Amra Choluimb CiIle" (1899). A recent discussion of this work is Maire Herbert, "Amra Coluim Cille" (1989). 26 Mc Cone, Pagan Past (1991), p. 22. 27 Ibid., p. 26. 28 Mc Cone, Pagan Past, p. 23. . 29 Padraig 0 Riain, "Conservation in the Vocabulary of the Early Irish Church" (1989), p. 363. 30 The two main recensions have been edited and translated by Cecile O'Rahilly, Tdin Brl Cuailnge. 31 Liam Breatnach,

:4

19 Ibid., p. 125. .. . 20 For the place of the poets in the legal tradition, see Kelly, GUld:, pp. 43-49· .. 21 Discussion of both in KelIy, Guide, pp. 43-57. Among .many studies, se;l~' Caerwyn Willtan:s, "The Court Poet in Medieval Ireland" (1971); Richard Sharpe, Dispute Settlement m Medieval Ireland: A Preliminary
22 On social classification and

Inquiry" (1986). rank, see Thomas Charles-Edwards, "Crith Gablach ~d the L~w of Status" (1986). Crith Gablach was edited by D.A. Binchy and translated by EOI~ Mc Neill as "Ancient Irish Law. The Law of Status or Franchise" (1923). See further Kelly, GUIde, p. 7f.

23 Kelly, Guide, p. 43f.

Recension 1(1976); Tain Brl Cuailnge From the Book ofLeinster (1967). Uraicecht Na Riar: The Poetic Grades in Ear{y Irish Law (1987).

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universally acknowledged." In fact, medieval Irish li~erature from the sev~nth century onwards is replete with examples of magical contests and flytings between poet/ druid (the two are not easily distinguishablej'" and saint, in which the saint only wins by trickery or great effort and does not always emerge unscathed. Like the saints, the poet/druids could successfully bless and curse, raise contrary winds, darken the sky and afflict with disease." The cooperation between the two nemed groups, on the other hand, is again emphasized in the late seventh century Vita Patricii where it is the king's poet who rises as a mark of 35 respect to the saint and becomes a witness to the new faith in Tara. Also of special interest in the present context is the peripatetic or itinerant nature of the poets since they are depicted in the sources as constantly underway, moving from one lordly hall to another all over the island. Their status entitl:d them .to expect and receive hospitality and reverence. Such travel was otherwise rare m Ireland for beyond one's own kingdom one became an endangered foreigner or exile, a deoraid of low status who was fair game without kin or protectors. In fact, the only two groups who normally traveled in this way were poets and religious peregrini, a point which again draws attention to the association and interaction of the church with the learned orders," . Some aspects of the learning of the Irish monks also seem to have derived from the traditions of the jilid. It is otherwise difficult to account for the pronounced love of exotic vocabulary, allusion and word play which is so im~ressively :vident in Irish culture. It helps to explain why the Etymologies of ISIdore received so welcome a reception in Ireland even before 650 and why it achieved such great prestige thereafter," It also helps us to understand the develop~ent of the remarkable Sondersprache of the Hisperica Famina and other related hterature. The jiU's love of subtle speech, hieratic language and public scholarly disputation to achieve rank is surely reflected there." A similar melange of pride and delight in language is displayed in Auraicept na nEces, or the "Poet's Primer", a text much read in the

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'\I

eighth century and later," This has been described as "the first medieval grammar of a European vernacular"." What is most surprising about it, however, is the mentality of the scribe. He regards Irish as superior to all other forms of speech, including the three sacred ones of Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Anders Ahlqvist views this opinion as likely to have been a native idea for no other early medieval tradition dared to challenge the supremacy of the biblical and patristic Ianguages." Although the author was surely a: monk, the manuscript tradition of the Auraicept demonstrates that it was the product of a school specializing in poeticolegal material." Again, even allowing for the triumphalist tone of the prologue to Lex Salica,43 it is difficult to imagine a Frankish monk maintaining that his language is superior to that of the bible. As we shall see' below, it is a concept that would have shocked him to the core. Perhaps the most revealing of all citations about learned Christian attitudes towards the materials of the jiM is contained in the Book of Leinster recension of Ttiin Bo Cuailnge. The twelfth century monastic scribe who recorded the text was perfectly aware that it glorified the pagan past. Writing in Latin, he criticized the work he had just performed by stating that he gave no credence to the fable: For some things in it are the deceptions of demons, others poetic figments; some are probable, others improbable; while still others are intended for the delectation of foolish men. Writing in Irish, however, in a wonderful example of linguistic and cultural diglossia, a more intense and warmly emotional feeling comes to the fore: A blessing on everyone who shall faithfully memorize the rain as it is written here and shall not add any other form to it." This is an extraordinary statement! Here is a man who believed so strongly in the universal religion of Christianity that he had dedicated himself to a severely ascetic life of pious devotion. Once he elected to think in Irish categories, however, a switch indicated by language, he felt so committed to his demon deceived text that he regarded it as a semi-holy work which should be memorized in the same way that his colleagues might memorize the psalms or books of the bible. Like these works, the words of the rain might not be altered. Such an attitude is
39 Anders Ahlquist) ed. and trans., The Early Irish Linguist: An Edition of the Canonical Part of the Auraicept Na nEces (1983). 40 Jack Fellmann, "The First Medieval Grammar of a European Vernacular" (1978), p. 55f. 41 Ahlquist, Auraicept, p. raf., 19f. 4Z Ibid., p. 13. 43 Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand, "gensfiancorum indita: Zu Gestalt und Inhalt des langeren Prologs der Lex Salica" (1955), pp. z33-'70' 44. His attitude is discussed in Proinsias Mac Cana, "Early Irish Ideology and the Concept of Unity" (1985), p. 56f.

3Z Tomas Cathasaigh, "Curse and Satire" (1986), pp. 10-15· . .' .. 33 Liam Mac Mathuna, The Desingation, Functions and Knowledge oj the Irisb Poet: A Preliminary Semantic Study (198z). .' ., 34 For some discussion with comparisons to continental hagiography, s.eeJean-Micl~el Picard, "The Marvellous in Irish and Continental Saints' Lives" (1981). Even In the Late Middle Ages the power of the poets was so feared that it might be incorporated among the formal sanctions of a treaty. See Charles Plummer, ed., Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (19682), p. cii with notes. 35 Ludwig Bieler, ed. and trans., The Patrician Texts in the Book of Armag~ (1979), p. 9z. On ~e significance of this incident, see Kim Me Cone, "Dubthach maccu Lugair and a Matter of Life and Death in the Pseudo-Historical Prologue to the Senchas Mar" (1986); John Carey, "The Two Laws in Dubthach's Judgement" (1990). 36 T.M. Charles-Edwards, "The Social Background to Irish Peregrinatio" (1976), p. 5zf. 37 Michael Herren, "On the Earliest Irish Acquaintance with Isidore of Seville" (1980), pp. z43-50. 38 Michael W. Herren, ed. and trans., The Hisperica Famine 1. The A-Text (1974)·

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consistent and understandable against the background of the Irish tradition as I have sketched it here but who can imagine a continental monk bestowinga blessing on everyone who would memorize the Vijluspa or the Merseburger Zauberspruch? Even the act of recommending memorization is itself worthy of note when it is done by a monk literate in two languages. It suggests that the oral and written cultures co-existed in an atmosphere of respectful interaction as late as the twelfth century. The Tain is also a long work, about one hundred and fifty pages or so in a modern translation, and the fact that a scribe might think of a (fairly large?) number of readers prepared to memorize it says much about the status and appeal of oral learning among the Irish literati. Of course, many of the filid may have themselves. become literate as time went on but that hardly means that they abandoned their familiar repertoire. Ireland is that place in early medieval Europe where heathen myth and ritual is recorded more fully than anywhere else and where the links with Indo-European material ' are strongly attested. Christian monks would make many efforts to domesticate the most egregious aspects of all this but it looks very much like an effort to partially contain that which they could not control. As we shall see below, a high percentage of the continental clergy enjoyed the diverse lore of the past as well but they were mostly brought to heel by official policy by about 900 or so. But the multitude of kings, lay abbots and tribal particularism made any attempts at such an approach more difficult in Ireland. In addition, the influence and patronage power of the institutional learned orders, each of which wished to preserve a full account of their own experience, meant that the church could not develop an encompassing interpretative monopoly on the history of the past or the senchas of the bards andfilid. The imposition of any official scheme or policy in early medieval Ireland would be hindered by the same conditions which frustrated later invaders seeking to conquer the country-too much dispersal of power and influence, too few resources available to enforce uniformity, too strong a veneration for the person and knowledge of the filid. The Germanic peoples of the continent also possessed a powerful oral tradition documentable from scattered remarks by classical authors and by early medieval writers like Gregory of Tours, Bede, Paul the Lombard and Alcuin. In the migration period the songs and recitation of professional poets were closely associated with the aristocratic lifestyle, as were the instruments which they played in accompaniment. In Koln, in Alemannia, in north Francia, harps and lyres have been found in aristocratic graves along with weapons, ornaments and drinking vessels so that it is clear that all were part of a flourishing upper class culture," One is reminded of ancient Greece when Achilles strummed his lyre and sang of the glorious deeds of warriors. As in the Beowulf poem, where the hero was called upon several times to speak publicly in the hall, the skills taught by poets
45 Joachim Werner, "Leier und Harfe im germanischen Friihmittelalter" (1954), pp. 9-15.

I
1

The archaeology of intoxication and the continuity of Transalpine History

were valued by young aristocrats, the future advisors of kings, who might gain in reputation by a knowledge of the past and a skill in repartee and rhetoric. Initially, at least, the clergy did not oppose these aspects of the inherited conventions. In the eighth century, the professional performers of the tradition were still well regarded by the literate clergy who distinguished between high-status poetae and lowly scurri, the scop and the joker or mime. It is probably the former who is mentioned in a mid-ninth century vita (describing a scene from c.790) by bishop Altfrid of Hildesheim. He was a blind singer named Bernlef who lived on the estate of a noble Frisian woman and was greatly. favored by the inhabitants of the area for he knew how to accompany "the deeds ofthe ancients and the battles of kings" with the music of his lyre." Bernlef was a pagan, converted by St. Luidger of Miinster, who cured him and thereafter taught him the psalms. There is no mention here of any antagonism between bishops and poets, indeed it looks more like an alliance existed between the two carriers of different traditions. It was the kind of association that could give rise to literary records. Among the schoolbooks of a Reichenau book catalogue of8211 22 appears the title De carminibus theodiscae vol[ umen] I, "Of Songs in the German Language, One Volume", and in the next generation XII carmina Theodiscae linguaformata, "Twelve Songs Composed in the German Language", and carmina diuersa ad docendam Theodiscam linguam, "Diverse Songs for Teaching the German Language". 47 We do not know the genre of these songs which may well have been a mixture of various types. All of this is sad to recall since a fragment of the Hildebrandslied is the only sizable surviving piece of Germanic heroic poetry south of Scandinavia. The answer to the apparent contradiction - a flourishing oral tradition but few written remains-appears to lie in the increasing hostility of the Christian clergy. Over the course of the ninth century, the poets and wandering minstrels of the Carolingian Age are constantly criticized for their crudity and morals. Before 900, as W. Haubrichs notes, the' word scop was frequently glossed with vates, psalta, psalmista.48 Thereafter, it is usually glossed with ioculator, mimus, tragicus, satyricus and so on, occupational terms for individuals considerably lower down on the social scale. The idiota et illerati, the unlettered multitude, are now more rigidly distinguished from the docti et cauti, the Christian clergy, who had abandoned the simplex natura of the rustics and possessed eruditio, Latin learning. Even the
46 Wolfgang Haubrichs, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur uan den Anjlingen bis zum Beginn der Neuzeit I: Vim den Aujlingen zum hahen Mittelalter (1988), p. 84. See further Egon Werlich, "Der westgermanische Skop: Der Ursprung des Sdngerstandes in semasiologischer und etymologischer Sicht" (1967). 47 Ibid., p. I03f. 48 Haubrichs, Anfang, p, 89. Michael Richter is currently preparing several new works in the area and I wish to thank him for allowing me to see in advance of publication a draft of his The Oral Tradition in the Ear~'Y Medieval west to appear soon in the series l}polllgie des sources du tn~'Yen-age occidental. See now his The Formation of the Medieval west. Studies in the Oral Culture of the Barbarians (1994).

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165

vernacular itself is criticized as an unworthy tool for learned expression. Writing in the first half of the ninth century, Walahfrid Strabo speaks in the most contemptuous tones, likening Germanic speech to that of monkeys in comparison with that of the Latin speaking children of Augustus. Terms like inculta, "unkempt", indisciplinabilis, "untamable" and agrestis lingua, "peasant speech", are frequent in the literature," This is not to say that continental clergy were immune to the charms of native learning. In 802, repeating a prohibition of 789, Charlemagne admonished abbots and abbesses against maintaining entertainers, and the renewed warnings of succeeding generations show that churchmen found it difficult to live up to the ordinance. so A deep cleft existed between public and private attitudes. Nonetheless, the drumbeat of official condemnation did succeed in attaching the taint of crudity, sinfulness and paganism to the carriers of Germanic carmina- not so much in driving their material underground for it remained popular outside official purview-but in degrading the status of the poets and in excluding their works from the affirming literary record. Largely deprived of monastic support and increasingly of the patronage of secular lords, vernacular learning which did not serve a religious purpose came to reside largely in the Volk rather than the hierarchy. Even though we know of the continuity of oral tradition on the continent, ecclesiastical reluctance to dignify it by recording it deprives scholars of the most central evidence. One way to attempt recovery is through a combination of archaeological and art-historical research of the type that Karl Hauck has conducted over the past generation. This has proven to be immensely fruitful. In the case of the motifs and scenes of migration period gold bracteates, for example, it has been possible to show in minute and specific detail a close relationship with the picture stones of Scandinavia and with the content of scaldic and eddie poetry. 51 These studies, apparently, are little known to literary scholars and many archaeologists are insufficiently aware as well since so much of the work deals with the art-historical field of iconography. It must be stressed, however, that cultural continuity for the Germanic periphery has already been demonstrated in many areas and much of this is directly relevant to conditions at the core for it illuminates in a completely novel way the conditions and clues that do exist there. Most importantly, it demonstrates the power of the oral or Gediichtniskultur in all of Europe to the High Middle Ages and clarifies the role of the periphery as a repository of tradition. Although the scalds of the North lacked the established educational base of the filid, their persons and their craft were held in high honor
49 Haubrichs, Anjang, pp. 43f., 61f. 50 See Richter's discussion in Formation, pp. 1205-80. 51 Amidst a flourishing literature, see now the conference papers in Karl Hauck, ed., Der historische

by the leaders of society who might also be trained in poetry themselves. Indeed, it is highly probable that the two cultures, Irish and Scandinavian, mutually reinforced and affected each other. The Vikings maintained strongholds and then petty kingdoms in Ireland for over two centuries so that there was frequent intermarriage, bilingualism, mixed lordships and cultural exchange. One famous scald, Kormakr Ogmundarson, bears an Irish name and plenty of others have Irish, Welsh or Scottish contacts and associations," The literature of all these peoples demonstrate a history of diverse interaction. Purists of all groups dislike the implications but the interaction is there nonetheless. Similarly, the compilers of North Germanic oraltradition might demonstrate attitudes much like that of the copyist of Tain Cilailnge. At the end of the second poem of Helgi Hundingsbani,· the thirteenth century scribe reveals his divided allegiance: .

Bo

It was a belief in heathen times that men could be reborn, but that is now called old women's foolishness. Helgi and Sigrun are said to have been reborn. He was named Helgi, Prince of the Haddings, and she was Kara, the daughter of Halfdan, as is told in the poem Karuljod, and she was a Valkyrie."
As R. Kellogg remarks, the scribe wants to tell the story but also to dissociate himself from it." HIS references to "heathen times" and "old women's foolishness" sound like condescension but are more probably a tactical device which allows him to go on writing about that which he clearly loves without incurring censure: it is part of an uneasy cultural synthesis which tolerates a certain amount of contradiction in dealing sympathetically with explicit paganism. The scribe cannot bless anyone who memorizes his pagan poems but it does seem likely that he has memorized them himself. The surviving literature of Anglo-Saxon England is unique in one instance in that it provides us with a relatively detailed description of the creation of an early medieval poet. It is the story of Caedmon found in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica (IV, 24) completed in 731. Caedmon bears an anglicized Celtic name indicating a bi-cultural background. His career may be placed between 660 and 680. As Bede describes him, he lived a secular life as a simple worker near abbess Hild's monastery of Whitby and "had never learned any songs". Even at a feast, when
52 E.O.G. Turville-Petre, Scaldic Poetry (1976), pp. xxiv, 45f. 53 Cited in Robert Kellogg, "Literacy and Orality in the Poetic Edda" (1991), P.94f. 54 Ibid. Many questions can be raised here. For background discussions, see D.H. Green, "Orality and Reading: The State of Research in Medieval Studies" (1990); Michael Richter, "Kommunikationsprobleme im lateinischen Mittelalter" (1976); Lars Liinnroth, "Hjalmar's DeathSong and the Delivery of Eddie Poetry" (1971); Joseph Harris, "Eddie Poetry as Oral Poetry: The Evidence of Parallel Passages in the Helgi Poems for Questions of Composition and Performance" (1983); Jurgen von Ungern-Sternberg and Hansjorg Reinau, eds., Vergangenheit in mundlicher Uherlieferung (1988); Morton W. Bloomfield and Charles W. Dunn, The Role of

Horizant der Gouerbikl-Amalette am der Ubergangsepache van der Spatantike zum Fruhmittelalter
(19920).

the Poet in Early Societies (1989).

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and the continuity of Transalpine History

'''it had been decided that they should all sing in turn, when he saw the harp approaching him, he would rise up in the middle of the feasting, go out, and return home". After one such occasion, he fell asleep in a cattle byre and had a dream in which God appeared to him and told him to sing. Caedmonsuddenly found it possible to do so marvelously well and "when he awoke, he remembered all that he had sung while asleep". After describing his experience to the reeve, Caedrnon was passed on to the abbess and then to a panel of doctores who "read to him a passage of sacred history of doctrine, bidding him make a song out of it, if he could, in metrical form". He returned next morning when he had turned the passage "into excellent verse". Recognizing that he was inspired by the grace of God, abbess Hild instructed him to renounce his secular habit and to take monastic vows. She and all her people received him into the community of the brothers and, ordered that he should be instructed in the whole course of sacred history. He learned all he could by listening to them and then, memorizing it and ruminating over it, like some clean animal chewing the cud, he turned it into the most melodious verse ... He sang about the creation of the world, the origin of the human race, and the whole history of Genesis ... and of many other of the stories taken from the sacred Scriptures. A number of biblical epics have been ascribed to Caedmon and the short vernacular lyric known as Caedmon's Song was exceptionally popular for centuries. There are also many analogues, Celtic and Germanic, to his story-the dream inspiration, the night of rumination and memorization, the recital thereafter. Jeff Opland is reminded of Egil Skallagrimsson laboring through the night- to compose a drapa for Erik" but the story sounds suspiciously like a description of a poetic test of the type one might expect for a novice fi.li in an established curriculum before examiners, perhaps then, another example of substitution. Caedmon's Celtic name may be a significant clue. In any case, we note again a phenomenon referred to earlier: Caedmon is illiterate and seems to have remained so throughout his life; he composes, memorizes what he has composed and literate monks write down his verses. They are then memorized by others so that an almost natural commingling and symbiosis of the oral and literate modes comes into being. The attitudes surrounding Old English literature seem comparable to those of the continent in that considerable hostility existed to the usage of non-Christian themes of the pagan past and the partially Christianized early medieval present. Bede says that none could compare with Caedmon because "he received the gift of song freely by the grace of God. Hence he could never compose any
55 Jeff Opland, Anglo-Saxon Oral PCletry: A Stu4v of the Traditions (1980) p, 114i Margaret C. Ross, "The Art of Poetry and Figure of the Poet in Egil's saga" (1989).

foolish or trivial poem but only those which were concerned with devotion ... ". His songs inspired others to "despise the world and to long for the heavenly life". In all of his works "he sought to turn his hearers away from delight in sin" and, submitting himself to monastic discipline, "he opposed all those who wished to act otherwise with a flaming and fervent zeal". It looks again as if "a deliberate replacement programme" is underway. In comparing English and Irish modes of literary expression, Hildegard Tristram writes: "The Christianizing policy in England seems to have been a wholesale replacement of pagan mythology by Christian doctrine, whereas the Irish strategy was to harmonize the two. By rendering it inoffensive and legitimizing it by synchronisms with Old Testament history a la Eusebius they [the Irish] were able to preserve large parts of their pre-Christian heritage" .S6 As J.D. Niles has argued, how eyer, some kinds of integration with the' past did take place in Anglo-Saxon England-in the remaking of'Wodaninto a descendant of Noah, in the reinterpretation of runic letters, in the reworking of tradition so that the Beowulf poem recognizes some aspects of paganism while at the same time overlaying the work as a whole with a Christian consciousness and a strong "Christian coloring". 57 The result is a less offensive and bowdlerized (one might almost say. "politically correct") form of understanding which, nonetheless, mediates between the Germanic heritage and Christianity-but only in a few works deemed worthy of placement on expensive monastic vellum. Even then, Beowulfsurvived in only one manuscript. The oral tradition continued to flourish outside of the monastery, it simply wasn't written down. As for the "harmonizing" strategy of the Irish, it seems unclear as yet that it operated in that way, or worked consistently in that way, although Kim Me Cone has convincingly demonstrated the existence of many carefully developed techniques to make it 8 do SO.5 Some of these will have worked. But what are we to make of the Jain scribe who directly links part of the opus to the deception of demons while blessing those who memorize it, or of the druids who might be sympathetically described even while battling Christian saints? There is so much of this that it seems difficult to speak of a real symmetrical "fit" between approaches. Another possibility is equally valid: it is that, in the case of both Ireland and Iceland of . ' conservative cultures drawing on a millennium of experience and willing to harbor incompatible concepts as long as ultimate allegiance goes to Christianity. The perspective is not unlike that of a twice married man who retains an affection for his first wife and her children. The second wife may well tolerate visits in order to prevent strife and disaffection. Anything more than a surface harmony
56 Hildegard L.C. Tristram, "Early Modes of Insular Expression" (1989) p, 431. 57 John D. Niles, "Pagan Survivals and Popular Belief" (1991). See further Craig R. Davis "Cultural Assimilation in the Anglo-Saxon Royal Geneologies" (1992). ' 58 That is a central theme of his Pagan Past.

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between the women is unlikely but that is perfectly acceptable under the circumstances and is really all that is necessary. Anthropologists tell us that cultures often behave like individuals and can be just as ambivalent. It is because of these qualities of ambivalence and tenacity that the Randkulturen preserved much of the thought-world that was largely omitted from the written records of the continent and England. Armed with this knowledge-the continuity of material remains, the archaeological evidence for the mead cup motif, the long continental history of La Tene cultural interaction, the conserving traditions of the insular Celts and northern Germans--we may now return to the lady and the warlord in the comitatus tradition.

WARBAND

RELIGION

AND THE CELTIC

WORLD

Analysis in previous chapters suggests that the warlord! consort behavior pattern described by the Beowulfpoet originates in the Germanic past and is parallelled in surprising ways by Tacitus' descriptions-of similar duos contained in the Germania and Historia. A comparison of Wealhtheow with Veleda has proven to be particularly instructive in that both women have been found to be delegates of a warlord who help him to control his followers and achieve his goal of greater hierarchically based solidarity. While the fact that one is a wife and the other a virgin prophetess might seem to be a noteworthy difference at first glance, the delegatory status of each in relation to the warlord is surely a weightier datum especially when joined to the finding that Wealhtheow exhibits hints of vacinatory 'power as well. Moreover, the association of each woman with the ritual-political sphere is quite clear. Wealhtheow's proclamation of kingship during her cup-offering is a momentous ritual act for the warband and something similar may also have occurred with the early Germanic sibyls for we have seen that they could be the companions of kings during embassies, that is, on formal occasions, and links with regard to promises of victory and oaths seem probable. Despite the intervening centuries and scarcity of detailed references-a gap which now looms less formidably because of the demonstrated continuity of the archaeological evidence -the warlord's need to bolster his position and influence the morale of his troops through control of the supernatural provides a convincing logical connection for the activities of both women since this need is a perennial one which operates regardless of chronology and geography. It may not, however, be separate from the sphere of comitatus warfare and may well be tied to it since frequent reassurance will naturally be more important for those groups often in harm's way and less so for those who are not commonly raiders and who are more or less peaceful orsedentary, The kind of binding performed by the prophetess! consort may also be less necessary outside of the war band where the fictive kinship element declines in importance. Building on previous discussion, the present chapter seeks to deepen our understanding of the relationship between women like Veleda and Wealhtheow and the warleader by shifting focus to the evidence of personal names, by drawing on comparative material relating to the Celts and by a discussion of the origin of the comitatus and comitatus religion. Instudies of the present type in which results
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are inevitably based on scattered clues, all avenues must be explored before reaching conclusions. As we shall see, one type of evidence, that of names, leads ineluctably to the other, that of comparative institutions, and both can profitably be interpreted against the background of evolution in military organization from about the third century BC to the time of Tacitus. The rise of the 'warlord/ prophetess team in northern Europe, it will be argued, is closely related to changes in technology; warfare and kingship which, in turn, are due to a long period of intense interaction between Celts and Germans in the Rhineland and elsewhere.
I.

DRUIDS, FEMALE MAGIC AND WEAVING BEAMS

We may begin by stating that Veleda, the first female companion of a warlord of whom we know, is a remarkable name to be borne by a woman of the Germanic tribe of the Bructeri, living east of the Rhine in the area of the Lippe.' It is remarkable because it is not readily explainable on the basis of Germanic culture and is probably not a personal name at all but rather a "cult-name" or the name for a particular occupation or office. A long list of scholars, Holder, Vendryes, Dottin to name a few, interpret the name as Celtic while others like Miillenhoff, Krahe and Meid, treat it as more likely to be Germanic: Krahe, for example, holds it to be a Germanic "inherited word", as "a common form (isogloss) with Celtic, but not a borrowing from it". He, nevertheless, concludes with the observation that "it is impossible to escape from the fact that 'Veleda' is isolated in Germanic". and notes a similar isogloss in nimidas, "sacra silvarum", in the Indiculus Superstitionum which corresponds to Gaulish nemeton and Old Irish nemed.: The problem recognized by most scholars of the latter group is that only faint signs of the relevant root word are present in Germanic but, as MuchJankuhn notes, the name Veleda corresponds "exactly to Irishfili derived from velet_}poet,' actually 'prophet,' which belongs to Middle Welsh gtaelet, now gweled".4 Krahe and Meid share this view as well. The conclusion follows that "Veleda therefore now means 'prophetess' and is thus an epithet (Beiname)"." Guyonvarc''h also maintains this opinion and so does Helmut Birkhan, the most recent commentator, who agrees that Veleda is not the actual name of the
I A good discussion of the first century Bructeri with full bibliography is contained in Wolfgang Will, "Riimisch 'K1ientel-Randstaaten' am Rhein? Eine Bestandsaufnahme" (1987), pp, 38-44. See further Ludwig Schmidt, Geschichte der Deutschen Stamme bis zum Ausgang der Vtjlke17fanderung. Die Westgermanen IT (19402), p. 200ff.; Much, Jankuhn and Lange, Gormania, p. 397f. 2 A summary of views will be found in Gerold Walser, "Veleda" (1955), elm, 617-11.1. See further: Hermann Reichert, Thesaurus Paleagermanicus: Lesikon der altgermanischen Namen I (1987), p. 770; Helmut Birkhan, Germanen und Kelten (1970) pp. 553-'7; Moritz Schonfeld, Wrirterbuch der altgermanischen Personen- und Vtilkernamen (19U), p. 102f. 3 Hans Krahe, "Altgermanische Kleinigkeiten" (1961), p. 43; Wolfgang Meid, "Der germanische Personenname TlCletla" (1964), p. 256f. 4 Much, Jankuhn and Lange, Germania, p. 169. 5 Ibid.

prophetess but is instead a "sacred name" or "cultic epithet"." He associates it with the very close relations between Celts and Germans in the Rhineland where , as he points out, ancient authors have often referred to the existence of druidesses and dryadae.' The 01 evidence shows that female druids, called banfilid, banfathi, bandrui, did have an established place in society. The Gaulish name for such a woman may have been ·ueleta or ·ueleta.8 This interpretation which emphasizes that Veleda was not actually the personal name of the prophetess and which explains its existence by reference to cognate Irish and Welsh terms for poet, seer and prophet is almost certainly correct. One may point out, however, that these linguists seem to have reached their conclusions in default of a key piece of evidence which clinches the Celtic link but which has not to my knowledge hitherto been adduced. In order to understand its significance, we must first pause to clarify the relationship between Celtic druid and poet-seer, the fili whose designation best explains the name Veleda. This is necessary not only because it strengthens the overall trend of the modern communis opinio but also because it modifies it slightly-and offers a further clue regarding the relationship obtaining between prophetess, warlord and warfare. Thereafter, we shall see that it also contains some implications for the study of Wealhtheow. Posidonius (c.135-c.50 BC), who had himself traveled in southern Gaul, was the great authority on the Celts for the ancient world." Book 23 of his History was dedicated to them. Although the work is no longer extant, much of his material survives in summary form (with some changes and additions) in three later Greek authors, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and Athenaus. As is well known, Posidonius divided the learned classes in Gaulish society into three groups: "druids", druidai, "seers", ouateis and "poets", bardoi. Words cognate with each of these exist in 01 and MI: drui, "druid" ,faith, later faidh, "seer, prophet", and bard, "poet". IOThe termfili might seem to interrupt this symmetry but it is actually to be equated with faith and, as Mac Mathuna points out in his illuminating semantic study of
6 Christian J. Guyonvarc'h, "A propos de la vr,J.LEDA des Bructeres et du mot irlandais FILE "poete, prophete voyant" (1969), pp. 321-5; Christian]. Guyonvarc'h and Francoise Le Roux Les Druides (1986), p. 438f.; Birkhan, Germanen und Kelten, p. 557. ' 7 Ibid. Further discussion below. 8 Birkhan, Germanen und Kelten, p. 557. 9 Tierney, "Celtic Ethnography", pp. 189-11.75. Daphne Nash, "Reconstructing Posidonius' Celtic Ethnography: Some Considerations" (1976), pp, lu-I1.6; T.C. Champion, "Written Sources and the Study of the European Iron Age" (1985), pp. 9-'22; Norden, Urgeschichte, pp. 59f., I05f., 116f., 142f. et passim; H.D. Rankin, Celts and the Classical World (1987), pp. 259~4. 10 There are many studies to draw upon. Most helpful in the present context are Liam Mac Mathuna, The Designation, Functions and Knllwledge ofthe Irish Poet: A Preliminary Study (1982), pp. 225-38;].E.C. Williams, "Celtic Literature: Origins" (1986), pp. 123-44; Idem, "The Court Poet in Medieval Ireland" (1971); Proinsias Mac Cana, "Conservation and Innovation in Early Celtic Literature" (1972), p. 89f.

cr.

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the Irish wordfield dealing with poetry and knowledge, its emergence before the fifth century in Ireland reflects a realignment of the dynamic intellectual classes whose functions were not as sharply divided as has often been supposed. II Female seers existed among the Gauls on the continent and are also known from early Irish texts, although in both areas they do not appear. to have been .very common. The best known example is Feidelm, mentioned in both Recension I and II of the preface to Tdin Do Cuailnge." She is characterized by the inter. changeable terms banfoith and banfili, "seeress". 13 The passag~ in question describes the gathering of queen Medb's army for a great cattle raid on Ulster. The army was forced to delay its departure, however, because "their ~rophets. ~nd druids did not permit them to go thence, but kept them for a fortnight awaiting an auspicious omen". 14 On the day on which M~d~ finall~ decide.d to depart~ she was still worried about the outcome of the expedition (WhIChwas mdeed destined to be ill-fated) and her charioteer suggested that they turn right -handwise in order to strengthen their luck. It was on doing so that they saw before them a grown "maiden" who proclaimed that she was Feidelm, the banfili of Connacht, Medb~s own kingdom. She was dressed in rich garments wi~ a g~~den broo.ch and a hl?IC with red embroidery. Her shoes had golden fastenings; m her hand she carried a weaver's beam of white bronze, with golden inlay". IS Medb questioned her and was told that she possessed the art of divination or filidecht (the corresponding abstract noun of fill) part of which was imbas forosnai, "the great knowledge which illuminates". 16 Recension II of the Tdin belongs to the twelfth century and is thus about two to three centuries younger than Recension I. It preserves, or adds, a few other details to this passage while modifying in a number of places. In Recension II, for example, Medb turns to a druid for a prophecy of the outcome and recei~es an unsatisfactory answer. It is then that the charioteer performs the turn and Feidelm approaches. She is now described as "weaving a fringe, holding a weaver's beam of white bronze in her right hand with seven stripes of red gold on its points". 17 She tells Medb that she is "promoting your interest and prosperity" and, when asked why, 'replies: "I have good reason to do so. I am a bondmaid [banchumal] of your people". 18 While the weaving rod is mentioned in both texts, the second recension thus adds the interesting information that Feidelm serves Medb's
11 Mac Mathuna, Irish Poet, p. 237f. . 12 Cecile O'Rahilly, ed., Tain Bo Cuailnge. Recension I (1976), pp. 2, 126; Idem, Tiiin Bli Cuailnge

ii

From the Book of Leinster (1970), pp. 5, 143· 13 For these terms, see Mac Mathuna, Irish Poet, p, 227f.; Guyonvarc'h
438f. 14 O'Rahilly, lain. Recension I, p. 125. IS Ibid., p. 126. 16 Ibid., pp. 2, 126. 17 O'Rahilly, Tain From the Balik of Leinster, p. 143· 18 Ibid.

. and Le Roux, Druides, p.

interests because she is expected to do so; she is a slave of her people who is also a prophetess. Several aspects of this portrait are relevant to the present analysis and will be discussed below. Most immediately instructive is the occasion of the meeting in Recension II for Medb only encounters the banfili after first consulting a druid. Although an apparently insignificant detail, this seems to underline the fact that in both Gaulish and Irish traditions the prophets serve as the mouthpieces of the druids since the latter are mostly occupied with religious knowledge, the judgement of quarrels and legal cases and the teaching of the young. Whereas the druids are more like professors in that they study "the science of nature" and "moral philosophy", the vates are more like "interpreters" of sacrifice and we know that the great sacrifices were performed by druids." The distinction may not always be a clear one but it did exist. In the Irish tradition the distinction is easier to draw because the prophets are also poets. Mac Mathiina cites and translates several MI texts which illustrate the point; "the seven druids to bewitch (?) them through spells, the seven poets [filM] to lampoon them and to proclaim them". Or: "and their druids chanted a charm and their poets [filidh] extempore incantations for them" /0 Feidelm does the same in Recension I of the Tdin in that her prophecy is given in verse and in Recension II she "began to prophesy and foretell CU Chulainn to the men of Ireland, and she chanted a lay". The druids, apparently, "are thought of as wielding supernatural power by means of stereotyped spells; the poets would verbalize the process using newly composed satires and formal proclamations"." This relationship between druid and fili, in which the former searches for knowledge and the latter proclaims it in a special manner, seems to illuminate a small but significant detail in Tacitus' discussion ofVeleda's modus operandi. The occasion of his report was a quarrel between the Tencteri and the people of Koln in which the latter, most of whom were Ubii who had allowed Roman veterans to settle amongst them, were called upon to kill the foreign settlers. The Ubii protested that they could not do so because the veterans had intermarried with them and became their parents, brothers and children. They proposed instead a compromise solution by asking that Civilis and Veleda act as arbiters "before whom all our agreements shall be ratified": arbitrum habebimus Civil em et Veledam, apud quos pacta sancientur," With this proposal the Tencteri were "calmed" and a delegation was sent with gifts to Civilis and Veleda who "settled everything". But the embassy was "not allowed to approach" Veleda directly:
21

19 Tierney, "Celtic Ethnography", pp. 251, 269; Guyonvarc'h 425-44. 20 Mac Mathuna, Irish Poet, p. 227. 21 O'Rahilly, Tain From the Balik of Leinster, p. 144. 22 Mac Mathiina, Irish Poet, p. 227. 23 Moore, Tacitus. Histories, IV, 65, p. 126f.

and Le Roux, Druides, pp. 14-44,

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In order to inspire them with more respect, they were prevented from seeing her. She dwelt in a lofty tower, and one of her relatives chosen for the purpose, conveyed, like a messenger of a divinity, the questions and answers," Scholars have not hitherto devoted much attention to the peculiar connection between Veleda and her relative who conveys her answers "like the messenger of a divinity". He has been neglected, perhaps, because his function seems to be little more than that of an errand-boy, a simple carrier of the sibyl's oracles. But examination of the Gaulish, and especially the Irish, evidence suggests otherwise for the Veleda/ messenger link reproduces that of druid/ 'fili. Introduction of this material-an explanatory foray perfectly justified by the name of the prophetess herself-suggests that the Bructeri messenger's position may have been an established institutional one which also existed at other times for other prophetesses. Although Tacitus does not say so (for him the allusion was casual) the "messenger" was probably expected to deliver the oracles in a particular way, no doubt expounding and interpreting them in formal verse as did the Irishftli, who was also a poet. The conclusion is justified for other reasons too. If Veleda was at all like other prophets, then her answers were seldom clear and she may also have used exotic devices, gestures or phraseology to express her meaning," A grunt, a glance, a movement, a word, might all have had special import and have required an interpreter to translate them into understandable language which, because of its source in divine revelation, would naturally require an appropriately eloquent style of delivery and locution. If correct, this may be a significant clue to the nature of early Germanic religious practice. The question is too involved to enter into here. For present purposes it is enough to note that the analysis offered would seem to confirm the view that Veleda is not a personal name. Instead, it would seem to be a Germanic borrowing of a Celtic appelative for a special type of religious practitioner. This confirmation of the linguistic evidence by a separate route is doubly important because it shows that some Germanic peoples at least had adopted a Celtic word to describe the general category of office of the "prophetess". Regardless of personal name, each would be called "ueleda". A problem arises with this interpretation. In Irish tradition it is the messenger
24 Ibid: sed coram adire adloquique Veledam negatum: arcebantur aspectu quo venerationis plus inesset. Ipsa edita in turre; delectus e propinquis consulta responsaque ut internuntius numinis portabat. 25 Plutarch speaks, for example, of the Pythia's mania which he compares to a turbulent sea: "incapable of remaining passive and offering herself, still and tranquil, to him who moves her, she roils inwardly like a stormy sea, for within her, movements and passions rage. Think of bodies that rotate as they fall: they do not move in a regular or certain manner, but rather, owing to the circular impetus they receive and because of their tendency to fall, exhibit an irregular and disorderly turbulence". A recent extended discussion in Giulia Sissa, Greek Virginity (1990), pp. 15-32. Two useful essays on mantic techniques are Francoise Le Roux, "La divination chez les Celtes" (1968), pp. 233-56, and Derolez, "Divination chez les Germains", pp. 257-302.

period."

who would have been calledftli, not Veleda, and this discrepancy might seem to suggest that the comparative evidence is misleading. But such is probably not the case for there are at least two likely appropriate explanations at hand. In its migration from one culture to another such an occupational title might well have been mistakenly applied to the druidess rather than to the druidical interpreter and then. have become institutionally established as the designation for a holder of a p~rticular office. Another possibility is that the functions of druid and ftli were SImply not always clearly differentiated. Mac Matlnina's discussion of the medieval evidence de~onstrates a certain fluidity of usage and, in his opinion, the types of practitioner may not always have been easy to distinguish in any

»:

Recourse to Celtic evidence can also help us to better understand the Tacitean passage as a whole. "Ve recall that the Veleda reference occurs within the context of con~ict and threatened warfare between Tencteri a~d Ubii and that it is purely to arbitrate the quarrel that Veleda and Civilis are caned upon. Both sides are sa?sfied with the notion and each accepts the subsequent decision. Although such might seem to be a reasonable bargain to moderns, and doubtless that is the reason for t?e la~k of scholarly commentary, it is not at all a common Germanic way of settling disputes among peoples. While vaguely related instances probably could be found some~~ere in the corpus, I. know of no clear early medieval parallel. The matresfon:tltae, for example, certainly advised on omens but did not normally operat~ as ~rblters. On the other hand, the Gaulish druids constantly did so. ~osldomus relate~ that "the Celts have in their company even in war (as well as l~ peace) companions whom they call parasites. These men pronounce their ~rals~~ before the whole assembly and before each of the chieftains in turn as they ~lsten . They are, however, separate from the bards ("poets who deliver eulogies in song") a~d. seem to have had an association with oratory and wisdom. As Caerwyn WIlliams has shown, the Greek word parasitos did not simply mean a hanger-on or sponger but also designated an honored "companion at a sacred feast" who h~d sacr~ficial a~d religious duties:' In the Celtic context, they reseI?ble druids, ~t IS especially noteworthy that these druids accompanied warriors on campaigns, Drawing on Posidonius, Diodorus Siculus wrote of the Celts: Their custom is that no one should offer sacrifice without a philosopher; for ~ey say that thanks should be offered to the gods by those skilled in the divine nature, as though they were people who can speak their language, and through them also they hold that benefits should be asked. And it is not only in the needs of peace but in war also that they carefully obey these men and their
26 Mac Mathuna, Irish Poet, p. 237f. 27 J.E. Williams, "Posidonius's Celtic Parasites" (1980), p. 314f.

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song-loving poets, and this is true not only of their friends but also of their enemies. For oftentimes as armies approach each other in line of battle with their swords drawn and their spears raised for the charge these men come forth between them and stop the conflict, as though they had spellbound some kind of wild animals," Similarly, in a famous phrase, Strabo calls the druids "the most Just of men" who often "arbitrated in war"." Citations like these of course cannot prove that Germanic prophetesses might not have sometimes have performed the same type of acts but it is still true to say that Germanic tradition does not demand it of them, whereas the Celtic one does require it of their equivalents. The Celtic tradition also sanctioned a certain amount of female participation. Writing in the early second century AD, Plutarch (De virtute mulierum 6) recalled an earlier incident of women negotiating between armies which resonated down to his own

in the bible of Ulfilas. As Wenskus commented, "the borrowing must lie further back since the ending has been dropped from Gothic as in true Germanic

words"."
Nor does the evidence for an institutional link between the sibyl and her interpreter conflict in any way with what has been. said earlier about Civilis' influence on the same individual. Indeed, it may thereby be corroborated. . Whatever may have been the relationship between druids and kings in Gaul, and the texts certainly deserve further study, Irish druids andjilid often took orders from the warlord. They were not necessarily subservient but the pivotal facts are that a ruler could keep one or dismiss one, raise a rival if he wished or follow a different prophecy if he chose. One sees this quite clearly in a number of texts concerning the coming of Christianity to Ireland in which the ruler of Tara judges a contest of magic between St. Patrick and the druids of the court," On the other hand, the early high status of the druid is reflected in the not infrequent naming of a Christian saint as drui or in the similar description of Christ: is e mo drui Crist mac De, "Christ the son of God is my druid". 3' A number of texts also suggest the existence of rivalry and/or resentment between the learned orders and this may be a hint that we might expect the same between veledas and "messengers". Bethu Phatraic, for example, contrasts the spiteful sustained opposition of the druids to the saint with the surprisingly speedy support. given by Dubthach moccu Lugair, rigfile ind rig, "the kingly jiU of the king", who was "the first man who believed in God in Tara" .33 Mac Matlnma's comments are apropos: . Whatever the likelihood of an importantjili of the mid-fifth century actually embracing the new religion with such alacrity, one is justified in assuming that by about AD 900, the date of composition of this text, the jilid wished that such had been the case and knew that such a claim would not be dismissed out of hand by their public. In other words, whereas the druids had resolutely
30 Wenskus, Stammesbildung, p. 408. The origins of this word continues to be debated, however. See Winfred P. Lehmann, "Linguistic and Archaeological Data for Handbooks of Proto-languages" (1987), pp, 72-87; Edgar C. Polome, "Who are the Germanic People?" (1987), pp. 216-44. Lehmann is convincing when he argues that the debate is sterile in view of the way in which archaeological finds, and the history of technology and linguistics combine to indicate that the Celts were "givers" in this and other areas. As he points out (pp. 80, 82): "It is scarcely a large intellectual leap to conclude that the Germanic borrowers, as of Gothic reiks, had a less highly developed political organization than the Celts. When we compare the archaeological evidence for the late Hallstatt and La Tene cultures with that of areas inhabited by the Germanic speakers, it seems almost willful to deny for the Celts political superiority in much of the millenium before our era, espically since this is a period of documented expansion by Celtic speakers, as into the Balkan, Anatolian, Iberian and Italian peninsulas .... Archaeology provides the evidence to give solid support for hypotheses drawn from linguistics". 31 The late seventh century Vita S. Patricii of Muirchu devotes several chapters to such contests. See Ludwig Bieler, ed. Patrician Texts in the Book of Armagh (1979), pp. 84-99. 32 Cited in Mac Marhuna, Irish Poet, p. 233. 33 Ibid., p. 228. Muirchu makes a similar statement. Bieler, Patrician Texts, p. 92.

time:
... a dire and persistent factional discord broke out among them which went on and on to the point of civil war. The [Celtic] women, however, put themselves between the armed forces, and, taking up the controversies, arbitrated and decided them with such irreproachable fairness that a wondrous friendship ... was brought about between both states and families. As a result of this, they continued to consult with the women in regard to war and peace, and to decide through them any disputed matters in their relations with their allies ... in their treaties with Hannibal they [the Celts] wrote the provision that, if the Celts complained against the Carthaginians, the governors and generals of the Carthaginians in Spain should be the judges; and if the Carthaginians complained against the Celts, the judges should be the Celtic women. Plutarch notes that the Celts "continued" to act in this way. But he is vague when he speaks of "women" since, just as it was only the "governors and generals" of the Carthaginians who might settle disputes, it must also have been only a certain small number of women of recognized honor and experience who might intervene for the Celts. Any large body is unlikely. Considering what we now know, it appears probable that the females in question were druidesses or associated with druids. In other words, they were veledas. It is therefore, not simply Veleda a1'!d the "messenger" who recall the Celtic world but also the peculiar manner of arbitration itself. Finally, it is interesting to note that Veleda communed with the divine in a tower. On the basis of what we now know, can this easily be separated from the fact that the Gothic word for tower, kelikn, is derived from Gaulish celicnon, "tower"? The borrowing cannot be classed as a late one simply because it appears
28 Tierney, "Celtic Ethnography", p. 251f. 29 Ibid., p. 269.

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opposed Christianity and subsequently been deprived of their power and status by its success, the filid had adjusted to the new order, and perhaps actually collaborated with it. 34 Especially worthy of note is the fact that the trio of warband, druid and fili frequently appear together in early Irish sources. From the seventh, eighth and ninth century texts, most recently examined by Richard Sharpe and Kim Mc Cone," it is apparent that such association represents the continuation of an established pre-Christian (i.e. pre-fifth century) social institution which ecclesiastical writers sought to denigrate and eliminate whenever possible; it was too much a stronghold of paganism. The term for warband was fian but the wild young bachelors who belonged to it were often called diberga "brigands" maic Mis, "sons of death" or, more reflective of the aristocratic co~ponent mdic rig " sons 0fki" ngs. A num b er 0f passages and glosses refer to their practice of, ' wearing "diabolical marks" and to a "vow of evil" while their banquet is referred . to as aJled demundae, "devilish feast", attended by beggar-poets, "bandits pagans and whores". Similarly, the cainte, the poet who typically accompanies the band is described as a base "satirist", an "intolerable" insulter of virtue. His barbs must often have been aimed at the clergy. One text derives cainte from canis "hound" "on account of the head of a hound on a cainte as he bays (satirizesi)"," ' Of great interest to Celticists, the value of this material for the present analysis is twofold: it confirms the institutional context of the dispersed Tacitean reportage by showing that the trio was conceived as a unit. Although classical reference to a "successor" to Veleda who is the companion of a king on an embassy is a strong hint of this, the clearest corroboration of the nature of the link comes from Irish sourc.es which, as will be seen below, can themselves be supplemented by recently discovered first century Gaulish texts. At least as significant is the indication that it is not simply warlord and druidess who belong to the early ~er~anic.warband but warlor~, druidess and poet whom we can now plausibly Identify with the apparently mmor figure described by Tacitus as Veleda's "messenger", 'the transmitter of her prophecies. Once again we see that while the Roman hist?rian provides the essential information for an interpretation, his own understanding of discrete events and personages is vitiated by an incomplete knowledge of the institutional milieu from which they spring. The essential context is the warband with its leader and his delegates, the magico-religious prac~tioner and ~he 'publici~t-poet. ~ach exercises a function essential to 'group survival and continuity and It seems likely that we can perceive them again in the
34 Mac Matlnina, Irish Poet, p, 228. 35 .Sharpe, "Hiberno-Latin Laicus", pp, 75-92. Citations in this paragraph are drawn from Kim Me Cone, ,:'P?et and Satiri~t", pp. 122-43 at p. 125f. See further his "Juvenile Delinquency", pp. 1~2j AIded CheltehalT Male Uthechair: Hounds, Heroes and Hospitallers in Early Irish Myth and Story" (1984), pp. 1-30. 36 Me Cone, "Poet and Satirist", p. 128.

figures of Hrothgar, Wealhtheow and Unferth, the pyle, the cainte as he may be called, who insults Beowulf in the service of his master. This latter individual is less important than the prophetess but is worthy of some remark in our discussion because of his place in the organizational pattern. In Old English, pyle.is glosse~ as both orator and scurra37 and Unferth the pyle, the follower who occupies a special seat before the king, who questions and insults Beowulf but who yet has Hrothgar's approval, is a figure who has aroused even more controversy that Wealhtheow. It would be fruitless to review all of the literature concerning his actions in the hall since no agreement has ever been 8 reached. In German scholarship he is oftencalled a: Kultredner,3 Eliason has suggested that he is the person called Hro~ga;'es SCOj!,39 Opland excluded him from his discussion of poet-words in OE for he believes the lYle to have been an orator alone," and Hollowell has argued that he is a pagan religious practitioner with a special connection to the utterance of gnomic wisdom, a man like the Norse pulr who also holds a particular hall-seat and is often involved in Odinic sacrifice. 41 Others suggest he is more like a jester or mime. . There is something to be said for all of these interpretations but each seems incomplete in one way or another and none adequately deals with the requirements of the historical warlord concerned to maintain organization and morale. Another lacuna, of course, is that the comparative evidence from Irish texts on warbands and poets has never been discussed at all. These two contexts however ' provtid e th e essential key to understanding. It is significant that the cainte is often, described in Early Medieval Ireland as the lowest of the seven or more grades of poets and is frequently excluded from the poetic company altogether," Mc Cone has recently pointed out that there is considerable variation and inconsistency in the terminology applied to humbler bards and low-status poets and that much of this should be related to clerical hostility," An important contrast is between those who operated within the respectable confines of the more Christianized tribal kingdoms and those associated with warbands within which pagan traditions seem to have been assiduously maintained; the former were often praised and their high status recognized but the latter were uniformly disparaged. This situation seems relevant to the pyle in Beowulfin light of Brodeur's observation that there is a "complete cleavage between Beowulf's attitude toward Unferth and that of the poet"." Whereas Beowulf accepts Unferth's friendship and gift: .
For discussion, see Baird, "Unferth the lvle", p. 4f.; Hollowell, "Unferth", De Vries, Altgermanisehe Religionsgesehiehte 1, P.403. Eliason, "The lyle and Scop", pp. 267-84. Jeff Opland, Anglo-Saxon Oral Poetry: A Study of the Traditions (1980), p. Hollowell, "Unferth", p. 243f. . Liam Breatnach, Uraicecht na rlar: The Poetic Grades in Early Irish Law "Poet and Satirist", p. 127f. ." 43 Me Cone, "Poet and Satirist", p. 128f. 44 Arthur G. Brodeur, The Art of Bellwulf(1959), p. 150f. . 37 38 39 40 41 42 p. 252f. . 232. (1987)' M~ Cone

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the poet's attitude is antagonistic and calculated. Although the hostility is artfully depicted in Beowulf, it is certainly there. Similarly, Opland's exclusion of pyle from his list of poet-words like scop, gleoman, wopbora and leopwyrhta seems challengeable on the same grounds, but is more worrisome because of the very large number of Irish words for poet, for types of poetry and for the fine distinctions that are often made between them. Granted a divergence in cultural approaches, the widespread acceptance of an association between poetry and "gnomic wisdom", a form of discourse frequently poetic, would seem to indicate some such background for the pyle. The connection of pyle withpulrpoints in the same direction. So, perhaps, does his seat before the king for a poet, or at least a harpist, is described as having the same place in The Fortunes of Men. It is also hard to imagine a more apt description ofUnferth, a name which means either "Mar-peace" or "Hun-spirited", 4S than that applied to the cainte, a figure who belongs to an extra-tribal band of predators, attends "devilish feasts" and is notable on account of the "virulence and the fieriness of 6 the words from him" .4 Irish texts tell us that the cainte is destined for Hell "unless God himself curtail it", a view which is hardly different from that of the Beowulf poet who depicts the pyle as a traitorous fratricide who will suffer damnation. All of these insular Christian references are alike in that they seem to denigrate the , status and character of pagan-connected officials. The two figures need not, of course, be alike in all ways; that is not the purpose of a cultural comparison. Their similarity is, nonetheless, remarkable. Finally, it should be noted that the same kinds of strictures are applied by clerics to druids who are frequently linked with both warband and cainte. Applying these findings, mutatis mutandis, to the Germanic context, it is immediately clear that they may well have a bearing on the strange name given to Hrothgar'S queen, Wealhtheow. The -theots element, signifying baseness and servility, has always been a great puzzle to scholars and, like "Unferth", has generated much dispute in itself. We shall examine it more closely later. Progress towards understanding the two names can be made, however, provided that one assigns each holder a role in an earlier more overtly pagan warband and accepts that the Beowulf poet is both as cognizant and disapproving as his Irish colleagues. Historians seem to have consistently misread the evidence on those figures whom I have called the warlord's delegates," Hence, Veleda is normally examined as a member in the category Seherin or the pyle in the hall as a member in the
45 John D. Niles, Beowulf.: The Poem and its Tradition (1983), p. 82 with further references in notes. 46 Mc Cone, "Poet and Satirist", p. 128. 47 As do Niles and Damico. The most obvious problem is that scholars have failed to interpret them as delegates at all even though neither are actual fighters (such, at least, does not seem to be Unferth's main role) and both minister to the warband under Hrothgar's direction. Their places and actions are ultimately dependant on his patronage. Under such circumstances, what they could do and say was limited.

category scop, orator, or scurra while the other associations are treated as more or less incidental, episodic or temporary. In some cases, or for some individuals, that approach may be justified, but it is not one which aids much in comprehending the nature of the comitatus in which the roles of each are interlocking. Indeed, one important part of such traditional association is demonstrated by the course of the Beowulf poem itself for Wealhtheow does not come forth to distribute liquor until immediately after Unferth's attack on Beowulf and the hero's response. It is then that she begins to serve drink and provokes Beowulf's vow. The hero has obviously been "double-teamed" and the poet depicts it in a wonderfully subtle fashion-so well in fact that it has gone unrecognized. Whereas the poet and his audience intimately understood the operation of the warband, most modern literary critics have been more interested in other topics and have failed to see that Wealhtheow and Unferth are working in shifts to forward Hrothgar's policy of finding someone to defeat Grendel. That is one of the ways in which they pay for their mead. The prominence of the aspect tMatral in the Unferth/Wealhtheow episodes in the poem is unmistakable once it is recognized. A delightful symmetry emerges upon analysis. In one sense, the behavior of the characters before the high-seat is a piece of pure entertainment, a way to enliven the tedium of life in the camp between bouts of brawling and drunkenness. Like the seating arrangements discussed in chapter one, however, it also nicely epitomizes a critical social function which goes far beyond the practiced duet between blamer and praiser. The concept of group survival is the foundation of the scene. The challenge, provocation, seating and service of the visitor are all ways of drawing him out and thereby assessing and appraising an intrusive influence. His performance can be enjoyed by all while simultaneously providing time and a tool of judgement to the leader and seniores of the retinue who may then develop some preliminary lines of policy based on the level of the visitor's skills and connections. These episodes of the poem are not mere literary embellishments but are unique testimony to an actual contemporary survival strategy. We are here privileged to witness the operation of a customary extended greeting ritual to an eminent stranger to the

comitatus.
But no single tool is sufficiently formable to delve through every strata and expose all of the qualities and intentions requiring assessment. Hence every warlord must have other instruments at his disposal and the male/ female duo is the combination which is most flexible. The lyle, who otherwise serves as the mouthpiece of the prophetess, also acts as the speaker of the warlord. In both cases, his office requires that he' possess a full repertoire of linguistic skills including the important one of composing poetry, a skill greatly valued in his society for it indicates a divinely endowed creative capacity. His sacral status enables him to legitimately give voice to the reservoir of doubt, envy or hostility which may well flow beneath the surface of hospitality to a stranger but cannot

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easily be publicly vented by others. If handled properly, the lYle's interrogation provides useful information for decision-making. The obligation to avenge insult does not apply to him and neither guest nor kin-group member in the hall or elsewhere can rightly take umbrage. His badinage is a palpable service to the band although it probably often included scurrilous commentary at least partly as a means of unmasking and exposing character. Even if the pyle be severely insulting, however, he is protected by other considerations of importance in his milieu: first, everyone in the warband must sometime or another undergo his public questioning and it is a matter of pride and reputation to do well but a sure loss of face to resort to weapons, Second, the entire affair is a ritual which everyone wishes to preserve. It partakes of all of the emotional and protective qualities which ritual entails and is thereby robbed of much of its apparently malignant intent. Third, the ritual also possesses a safety valve in the subsequent soothing ministrations of the woman of the hall. Like the Jyle, she too is protected in-a variety of ways which are necessary because she will often need to manipulate the guest in another manner and provoke in other fashions. The ways in which she acts will be determined by her sense of the pyle's encounter and the warlord's wishes. Because she is a woman, it is unmanly to insult her and discourteous to defy her. She can cajole, antagonize or placate in ways which the Jyle cannot and she is probably also the lord's wife or chief wife. Finally, and most significantly, she is the prophetess of the warband who has persuaded the followers that she has direct access to the supernatural and is thus peculiarly qualified to proclaim kingship and provoke oaths, to witness them and in some way to "bear" them. Thereby, she becomes a part of every warrior's destiny, a key to his future. It is worth remembering that if she can prophesy, then it is also likely that she can curse and bless. She is part of a socially indispensable pattern. Between the necessarily coordinated attentions of pyle and prophetess, the visitor is clearly at a disadvantage. Ifhe is boxed-in, however, he is not completely without resources. If he is anything like Beowulf, he has been raised in the comitatus and knows perfectly well what to expect. Part of his education has been directed at achieving excellence in exactly these kinds of confrontations. Better than anyone else, he knows his own strengths and weaknesses and has developed flexible strategies to exploit them. He too can manipulate the tableau if he is capable of doing so. Indeed, he is now presented with a wonderful chance to take center stage and apply the kinds of pressures allowed him by status, reputation and experience. A talented man can do much with this opportunity; an inferior one can do less. But that is exactly what the greeting ritual is meant to elicit, an understanding of the talents, temper and intentions of the stranger. The coordinated ballet of the warlord's delegates is a superb unmasking mechanism. It cannot be omitted if the band is to be long successful. If the association between Civilis/Veleda and Hrothgar IWealhtheow might previously have seemed somewhat daring, the fact that a third member can now

be assigned in each case drastically affects the hypothesis. We may more properly describe the linkages as Civilis/Veleda/"messenger" and Hrothgar/Wealhtheow Ijyle. In each case, the latter two members of the trio are employed in a politico-religious manner to carry out the policies of the former. Civilis wishes to defeat the Romans; Hrothgar wishes to defeat Grendel. The high probability of continuity because of institutional form has now been demonstrated in a way which helps to explain the durability of the Germanic comitatus in the first millennium. To govern the warband, the warlord must control and direct the prophetess and her interpreter. The differences in this regard in Beowulf are not minor but they are explainable on the basis of institutional evolution and poetic hostility to overt paganism. It is the citation of comparative evidence which makes the pattern clear and enables us to glimpse the reality of relationships upon which the poem is founded. One fascinating point, of course, despite certain observable- discrepancies, is that the essential constellation of these relationships has been found among each of the groups discussed, Celts and Germans in the Roman period and AngloSaxons and Irish in-the Early Middle Ages. Additional witness was provided by the Lombards in earlier chapters and the Scandinavian evidence, although much has remained uncited because of its late date, provides many other parallels, Of course these peoples are different in significant ways. No one denies it. During the Early Middle Ages, however, they are all joined by the common denominators of the figure of the weaving prophetess, the warband organizational form and participation in the memorial culture discussed earlier. In each area, the sources which survive describe only part of the whole which I am here attempting to elucidate. It derives from the Iron Age of La Tene, That aspects of Celtic culture affected both Civilis and Veleda can also be demonstrated by several other means. Before 69 AD, that is before Civilis took over leadership of the Batavian revolt, it is likely that he spent some undetermined period of time in Britain. Tacitus says that Batavian cohorts gained renown by their service in that land. They were, he adds, "commanded according to ancient tradition by the noblest men in the nation". A few sentences later he initiates a summary of Civilis' early career by describing him and his brother as "ranking H very high above the rest of their nation". 4 Chances are very good, therefore, that the warlord and some of his followers served in the northern island campaigns. We know that he was commander of a cohort and that no less than eight cohorts ofBatavians, who were attached to legio XIV gemina, were withdrawn from there in 67.41) Indeed, other members of his family may have served as well for his sister's son, Julius Briganticus, bears a cognomen which might well recall the northern

48 Moore, Tacitus. Histories, IV, 13, p. 22f. 49 Geza AlfOldy, Die Hiljstruppen der tiimischen Proomz Germania inferillr (1968), p. 36f.

Lady with a Mead Cup

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British tribe of the Brigantes," M.W.C. Hassel has argued that the Batavians probably served in Britain from AD 43 and that Civilis, who claimed to have been a friend ofVespasian before he became emperor, would have met him then.t' The same author regards it as "very likely" that Batavian cavalry served under Suetonius Paulinus in 60 when they attacked the island of Anglesey which contained a sacred site and was a refuge for druids. s: If so, then, they would also have encountered "a troop of frenzied women" , priestesses who accompanied the druids and who encouraged the Celtic forces during a battle. Tacitus declares that the Roman soldiers were so shocked by the curses of the druids and the wild dashing-about of the women that they had to be rallied by their general's appeals before regaining courage and attacking. 53 The Batavians, if involved, might well have learned something useful from all this. In any case, whether or not Civilis was present, it would be surprising if he did not hear of an account of this famous battle from his friends. We also know that Civilis was intimately aware of Gaulish custom, little different in broad terms from that of the British. A full discussion of this topic will be reserved for subsequent analysis but it may be mentioned in advance that Civilis may have traveled in Gaul, at least in 68, and that this was also the year in which a contingent of Batavians served in Arvernian territory against the Gaulish leader Julius Vindex, then in revolt against Nero. The same. contingent would follow Civilis into rebellion." During the revolt, of course, the Gaulish tribes of the Treveri and Lingones were crucial allies of Civilis. It is important to emphasize that druidic activity was on the upsurge in the late 60'S and played a significant, perhaps even a pivotal role, in the rebellion." Recent archaeological finds indicate the possibility that some women might have been involved, as they also were on Anglesey. In the course of excavation at Sources des Roches near the village of Chamalieres between 1968 and 1971, a ritual site was discovered containing literally thousands of wooden ex votos.56The village of Chamalieres is in the arrondisement of Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne, that is, the same general area in which a detachment of Civilis' Batavian troops served in 68. The chronology seems to fit also for the deposition of ex votos
50 M.W.C. Hassall, "Batavians and the Roman Conquest of Britain" (1970), p. 134. 51 Ibid., p. 133. 52 Hassall, "Batavians", p. 132. See, however, Will, " 'Klientel--Randstaaten' ", p. 19 and n. 132. On Roman recruitment of auxiliaries, see Alfcildy, Hiljstruppen, pp, 81-136. For site and provincial background, see Christoph B. Ruger, Germanic Inferior (1968), especially pp. 32--92; and for Rhineland relations, Harald von Petrikovits, Rheinische Geschichte: Altertum I (1978), pp. 57-']6. For Anglesey and the British background, see Graham Webster, Rome Against Caractacus. The Roman Campaigns in Britain AD 48-58 (1981); idem, Boudica and the British Reoolt Against Rome AD 60 (1978), pp. 83, 86f.; Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain, p, 56f. 53 Jackson, Tacitus. Annals: XIV, 30, p. 154f. 54 Alfcildy, Hiljstruppen, p. 14· 55 Tacitus is quite certain of this. See The Histories IV, 54. 56 Claude Vatin, "Wooden Sculpture From Galle-Roman Auvergne" (1972), pp. 39-42; idem, "Ex-veto de bois galle-remains a Chamaliers" (1969), pp. 103-14.

ceased roughly about the time of the reign of Nero," The abandonment of the sanctuary during this period has seemed suspicious to several scholars for it may be associated with the Gaulish revolt in 68 and would thus have suffered from reprisals against the druids," . One especially important find at the site was a small inscribed leaden tablet co?taining 3~6 ch~r~cters in Roman cursive but in the Gaulish language. 59 The object of t?e inscnpnon seems to be the attestation of a group oath by the god of the fountain, 'One o~ these oath-takers, a man called Asiatic( os), bears a rare name and may be, according to Leon Fleuriot, identical with a Gaulish leader mentioned by Tacitus (Hist. 2, 94) who fought with Vindex. 60 The tablet makes clear ~at these men were engaged in a major endeavor from which they expected an Important result. The oath may have been a military one for the events of the time woul.d have calle~ for it a~d o~ly ~en are mentioned, We canno~ be sure of any of this, however, smce the mscnpnon presents numerous linguistic problems and the interpretation of formulas is a matter of controversy," Nonetheless, it should be noted that the most recent translation of the tablet takes the second sentence t? be an attempt to draw on the magical power of women: "through the incantanons of women expedite us ... ". According to P.L. Henry, the formula in question, BRIXTIA ANDERON, is the Gaulish equivalent of OI brichta ban "the enchantments of women", which can be directly related to the druidesses and se~re~ses of early medieval tradition." If correct, then, we have again a peculiar C01?Cldenc~of events in which warfare, rebellion and femalemagic are combined. This rebellion of 68, of course, is the one which helped to inspire Civilis in 69. In any case, .partic~la.r attention should 'probably be focused on the magical role of wom~n in fortIfYI~g groups of warriors since female magicians are again referred to m a newly discovered lengthier tablet from the village of Larzac (Aveyron, canton de Nant).63 It was found in a grave dating to about 100 AD and
57 Vatin, "Wooden Sculpture", p. 40.

58 Leon Fleuriot, "Not~additionnellesur l'inscription de Chamalieres" (1979), p. 139; idem, "La Tablet~e de Chamal!eres: Nouveaux commentaires" (1980), p. 158; idem, Deux inscriptions ~UI01Ses, p. 107; ~Ierr~- Yves Lambert, "La tablette gauloise de Charnalieres" (1979), p. 164. 59 Aside from.;vor~ Cited 10 note 56, see Patrick L. Henry, "Interpreting the Gaulish Inscription of Chamalieres (1984), pp. 141-:;0; Pierre-Yves Lambert, "A Restatement on the Gaulish Tablet ~~om"Chamalieres" (1987), pp. 10-I ; Karl Schmidt, "The Gaulish Inscription of Z Chamalieres (1980), pp. 256-68; Michel Lejeune and Robert Marichal "Textes gaulois et galle-romaine en cursive latine" (1976), p. 156f.; Leon Fleuriot "Le vocabulaire de l'Inscription Gauloise de Charnalieres" (1976), pp. 173--90. ' 60 Fleuriot, "Vocabulaire", p. 183. 61 Lamber~, for example, now believes that "there is no political background behind the Cham~lieres table~" ("Restatement", p. 17). He alludes to a variety of opinions among experts regarding translations. 62 Henry, "Gaulish Inscription", p. 145f. ' 63 Michel Lejeune et al., "Textes gaulois et galle-romaine (1985), pp, 95-177. en cursive latine: Le plomb du Larzac"

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. seems to be an example of hostile magic or counter magic. The names of a "troop of female magicians" are mentioned." Both of these inscriptions are currently undergoing intensive study but it is already clear that the Irish references to female druids and seeresses can now be certainly regarded as related evidence. For present purposes, the most significant points are these: we now know that some rather unclear connection existed between druids and female practitioners of magic in the Celtic world and that the sphere of warfare and/ or hostility was involved. It also seems probable that Civilis and some Batavians were aware of this. An enlarged contemporary context for a Bructeri prophetess bearing a Celtic title is thereby provided. Taken individually, none of the clues from the sources appears to explain very much. Examined as a whole, they seem to fit a pattern which consistently recalls the Celtic world even when the practitioners are Germanic. This closely fits the archaeological evidence which shows Rhineland Germans to have adopted the entire panoply of La Tene material culture by the first century BC.65 A brief analysis of one further characteristic of the prophetess will help confirm the validity of the present methodology. We have already alluded to several Tacitean passages concerning the presence of prophetesses amongst the Germans and the veneration accorded them. We know the names of several as well as the significant datum that Ganna, a woman who accompanied king Masyos to Rome, was Veleda's "successor" .66 As with Veleda, a glance at these names can be revealing. Ganna, for example, is widely recognized as deriving from Germanic Gand-no to be compared with ON gandr, "magical staff". The name would thus mean something like "she who carries the magical staff" or, according to Krahe, "she who controls the magical staff or something similar"." So too with Balouburg, rectified to Walburg or Waluburg, the prophetess of the Semnones who accompanied troops to Egypt in the second century. Her name also contains 68 the word for "staff': Gothic malus, ON vplr. It has been suggested that Gambara, the name of the famous wise woman of the Lombards described by Paul the Deacorras "most prudent in counsel among her people", should be interpreted
64 Ibid., pp. 96, 133f. 152f. The six women mentioned in the text seem to belong to an organized group and can be compared to several in insular Celtic literature or, for that matter, to the Furies at Anglesey mentioned by Tacitus. 65 Karl Peschel, "Die Kelten als Nachbarn der Germanen" (1970), pp. 1-36; Idem, "Kelten und Germanen wiihrend der jiingeren vorrdmischen Eisenzeit (2.-1. Jh. v. u. Z)" (1988), pp. 241-63; Ernst Wahle, Zur ethnische« Deutungfriihgeschichtlicher Kulturprovinzen (1941); Hermann Ament, "Der Rhein und die Ethnogenese der Germanen" (1984), pp. 37-47; Waldtraut Schrickel, "Die Nordgrenze der Kelten irn rechtsreinischen Gebiet zur Spatlatenezeit" (1964), pp. 138-53. There are, of course, many statements of this point, The linguistic evidence will be discussed below along with aspects of technology. 66 "Masyos, king of the Semnones, and Ganna, a virgin who was priestess in Germany, having succeeded Veleda, came to Domitian and after being honoured by him returned home". Cary, ed. Cassius Dio: Roman History (1955), LXVII, 12, p. 347. 67 Krahe, "Kleinigkeiten", p. 41• 68 Ibid.

as Gand-bara, "carrier of the magical staff" /"1 The same term is found in ON Vlilva, "prophetess". and, as von Amira pointed out early in this century, a staff was possessed by the Icelandic spakona of the sagas," All of these women, therefore, including Veleda, must have carried a staff as a sign of their abilities or as a symbol of office. But what kind of staff are we to imagine them carrying? The answer has already been provided by the discussion of weaving beams, distaffs and weaving magic in chapter four. It seems to be confirmed by Irish sources in which a prophetess bearing a weaving beam appears in a military context and advises on warfare. We may thus conclude that the evidence linking Celts and Germans in the field of magical and prophetic practice is quite strong: Both peoples possessed sibyls who advised rulers on warfare, who carried weaving beams as attributes and who even bore the same occupational titles. Similarly, Veleda and her "messenger" seem to reproduce the druid/ 'fili association of the warbands of Ireland and Gaul while her act of arbitration appears to be one of the traditional Gaulish priestly functions. Finally, the way in which women of the Celts and Germans played a role in judging conflicts among men provides another broader context for interpreting, as was discussed in chapter two, the provoking and peacemaking functions of females in archaic cultures. It begins to look as if some Germanic peoples borrowed a variety of Celtic practices at the same time as they were adopting the material culture of La Tene. Such pattern may have continued to exercise an influence in the mid first century. Although it is in no way necessary to the present thesis, one may also consider the possibility that previous episodes of anti-Roman activity might have affected the plans and techniques of control exercised by Civilis and Veleda. Like revolutions, revolts often follow noticeable patterns. In two recent papers, S.L. Dyson has argued that the Batavian War, which he compares to those of Vercingetorix, Arminius and Boudicca, was a typical "nativist" revolt against colonial domination by an overbearing foreign power," In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such episodes typically involved charismatic leaders (significantly, these are often members of upper class society regarded as acculturated to the conqueror's ideals) and are further marked by a re-emphasis on traditional religion and prophecy. The prevailing mood amongst Gauls and Germans in the sixties of the first century seems conducive to such an interpretation. One thinks, for example, of the case of Mariccus whom Tacitus describes (Hist. II, 61) as a low-born member of the Boii, a tribe settled on the middle Loire. Sometime in 69, Mariccus
69 Ibid., p. 41f. 70 Von Amira, Stab, p. 8f. In general, see Hans Volkmann, Oermanisch« Seherinnen in riimischen Diensten (1964), pp. 5-18; Hans Naumann, "Der Konig und die Seherin" (1938), pp, 347-58; De Vries, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte I, pp. 319-33; Schroder, Walburg, pp. 60-4. 71 Stephen L. Dyson, "Native Revolts in the Roman Empire" (1971), pp. 239-'74i idem, "Native Revolt Patterns in the Roman Empire" (1975), pp. 138-'75.

188

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Warband Religion a1}d the Celtic World

2.

189
WEALH'l'HEOW

began "pretending to divine inspiration" and "ventured to thrust himself into fortune's game and to challenge the arms of Rome". Calling himself "the champion of Gaul and a god (for he had assumed this title)", he raised the considerable force of 8000 men and took possession of villages of the Aedui. The Aedui counterattacked with the help of Roman cohorts sent by Vitellius but for a time, at least, Mariccus was believed "by the senseless multitude to be invulnerable". In comparison with the Batavian rebellion, this local uprising is of little consequence and may have had an entirely different set of goals." Given the terse stylistic report of Tacitus, the only writer to me~tion it, o~e can h~~dly.dra~ gr~nd conclusions. The Boian's charismatic leadership and claim of divine mspirauon, on the other hand, are eminently comparable to those of Civilis for who~, as we shall see in more detail later, the evidence is considerably clearer. Two views are possible. The similar techniques may be coincidc:ntal, no more ~an a chance array of like methods to achieve related ends. Casting the net Wider, one can also interpret the evidence otherwise: of the three rebellions ag~inst Roman ~ule between AD 60 and 69 which Tacitus finds noteworthy and which were certainly known to the Batavians (Boudicca and the Iceni, Vindex and the Arverni, Mariecus and the Boii), all three were by Celtic peoples while the fourth, that of the Batavians, was joined by the Treveri and Lingones. The Celts may well have influenced Germanic upper class concepts of, for lack of a better term, the decorum of revolt. Religious belief probably played a lesser role in the case of Vindex than in the others but even here scholars concede it some relevance." Religious belief was crucially important, according to Tacitus, in the other three. In two of the cases, moreover, the first and fourth, the Roman-prohibited but otherwise revered druidic priesthood (leading families three centuries later would still claim druids as ancestors) played a central propagandistic role. The Batavian revolt was no simple affair. The lengthy comparative analysis above demonstrates the presence of non-Roman and non-Germanic influence; so too a discussion of other contemporary revolts. Hence, any discussion of Civilis and Veleda in terms of Romano-Germanic conflict alone can only result in a partial understanding of what was, in reality, a very complex weaving of cultural, religious and political interactions involving the Gauls as a third major force.
72 G.E.R Chilver, A Historical Commentary. lin Tacitus' !listories I and II (1979), p. 223, declares that Mariccus "was of the people, hostile to the aristocracy, and of a different stamp from either Vindex or Classicus". This seems speculative. It is not, for example, impossible that Mariccus was a druid. We simply do not know. . 73 P.A. Brunt, "The Revolt ofVindex and the Fall of Nero " (1959), p. 549;J.R .Drmkwater, Roman Gaul. The Three Provinces, 58 BC-AD 260 (1983), p. 43; Ronald Syrne, Tacitus I (1958), p. 458£ Syme's remarks, p. 462, seem apropos: "What impelled !uli~s Vindex will never be kno~n . . . . The protest against the tyranny of Nero.at onc~ and inevitably to?k the for~ of ~na~ve insurrection against the Roman power, recalling Juhus Florus a~d J~hus Sacrovlr,. chle~tatns of the Treveri and Aedui who raised war in Gaul in the days of'Tiberius Caesar.J uhus Vindex was not only a Roman senator-e-he was the descendant of kings in Aquitania",

We may now turn to the vexed question of Hrothgar's queen. Having already traced aspects of Wealhtheow's behavior back to a similar institutional model in Tacitean Germania, it may not be surprising to findthat the operation can also work in reverse in another area, that of name studies. To students familiar with this complex field, however, (the present author claims only amateur status) this statement requires justification and some brief reference to previous opinion is necessary in order to highlight the current state of'research and the need for an ' innovative approach "where angels fear to tread", Scholars have not always been inclined to accept personal appellations as important since we live in an age in which they have largely lost their meaning and in which etymology is a rarefied field for specialists. An antidote for this view can be found in Robinson's impressive study on the.significance of names in Old English literature in which, following- Curtius in part, he demonstrates that literary onomastics was "a dominate mode of thought" for the Anglo-Saxons, I Quite simply, the giving of a name was an act of profound import because the givers understood it to provide a 'key to character, to the inner workings of the receiver's soul, so that even in literary works where the selection of a name might be dictated by tradition, the poet can, as in Beowulf, focus on the latent etymological sense through the setting or the words or the actions of the person named. As Heusler remarked many years ago, names had a "hypnotic power" for the Germans' and for an eighth-century example one need only think of that passage, much loved by contemporaries, in which Bede recalls Gregory the Great's prophecy concerning the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons achieved by a series of "onomastic inspirations" involving the names Angle, Aella and Deira.' Wealhtheow, more correctly Wealh :peow, is by all accounts the most puzzling and surprising, not to say shocking, name in Old English literature. Among the host of scholars who have referred to it are Miillenhoff who regarded it as a purely Anglo-Saxon invention because the name is emphatically "nicht altnordisch",4 Klaeber who described it as "strange"," Bjorkmann who called it "extraordinary"," and Damico, the latest commentator, who views it as "perplexing" and
1 Robinson, "Names", pp. 14-58; Curtius, "Etymology as a Category", pp. 495-500. 2 Heusler, "Gelehrte Urgeschichte", P.39£ 3 Colgrave and Mynors, Bede, II, 1, p. 133£ A variant form will be found in the Whitby tnta. of St. Gregory. 4 Mullenhoff, "Beovulf", p. 26: "Die Gemahlin ist sicherlich nur eine angelsachsische Erfindung, denn der Name, der 'welsches Weib' bedeutet, ist gar nicht altnordisch". 5 Klaeber, Beowulf; p. xxxiii: "the strange name of Hrosgar's queen, Wealhpeow (i.e. 'Celtic servant') indicates that she was considered of foreign descent". 6 Erik Bjorkman, "Zu einigen Namen in Beowulf: Breen, Brondingas, Wealhtheow" (1919), p. 177£ "Man konnte sich deshalb denken, dass er vorn Dichter erfunden war, obgleich es nicht recht ersichtlich ist, wie dieser zu dem ganz sonderbaren Namen gekommen ware. Bei der Beurteilung von Wealhpeow miissen wir von der Tatsache ausgehen, dass der Name weder mit