Beowulf - Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia

Figure 9. A proposed schematic development of the position of the prominent seats in
the house, hásæti or undvegi. The stages (a–d) probably covered some thousand years.
Elevation and thus also centrality can be maintained also with the high settle in an
elevated corner position, but obviously the effect of the elevated short end position,
which, moreover, goes together with the shift in the position of the fireplace and the
addition of doors to secure the seclusion in the upper part of the hall, is much more
effective. The hall in Vallhagar could be used both ways, and that may have been
practical in some situations, but the hall in Lejre is an example of a hall designed to
point out the exclusiveness of the hall or high settle owner.
Discussions on the position of the high settle (cf. Birkeli 1932, pp. 10 ff.; Hauglid
1941; Schramm 1956; Holmqvist 1962; Steinsland 1991, pp. 66 ff.) in terms of
alternatives like either side-aisle or nave, either corner or long side, are not so rewarding.
First of all, the hall is not a substitute for the traditional dwelling, it is an
addition to the living quarters. Secondly, the hall is a search for a new type of dwelling,
a search for a tradition rather than the application of a sharply defined new way
of life. We cannot expect the development of the farmer’s seat to proceed stepwise
from undvegi to hásæti nor expect the high settle to be totally unrelated to an earlier
concept of the seat. The introduction of the high settle in the upper part of the hall is
a matter of splitting the connotation of the concept ‘the hall owner’s seat’ without
introducing a clear differentiation among the denotations. It seems that the hall and
even more so its prominent seat emerge from an egalitarian Iron Age society and like
a vade-mecum the seats and their positions follow the development of the hall owner’s
personal power and preferences matched by his possibilities of displaying them.
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