Beowulf - Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia

eflection of Germanic ideals, their connection with the ideals in Beowulf, and the fact
that they were appreciated by the Merovingian nobility suffice to strengthen the meaning
of the good as a widespread Germanic ideal in the sixth century. Moreover, the
Lupus poems provide contemporary support for the authenticity of the retrospection in
the first part of Beowulf.
The section from the Martyrdom of Saint Sabas is brought into the discussion in
order to cast light on the possibility that the ideal of the poems was highly class biased.
Should this be the case then the importance of the ideal is not negated by that, but it
becomes necessary to point out the analytical difficulties that must be kept in mind
when we turn to the development of the ideal in its Scandinavian context.This context
is made up by rune-stone texts which belong to a broad social spectre.
Rune-stone research provides us with a possibility to benefit from a discussion
about the meaning of the word good, but the stones also link in with the overall analysis
and pave the way for understanding the ‘changements’ in Pagan ideals, the influence of
Christianity and the meaning of the concept outside the uppermost stratum of society.
The analysis of the texts can be expected to generate genuinely gender-bound results,
revealing very few good women. In order to illustrate this bias and its affinities
with both Pagan and Christian ideals the landnám saga fragments concerning Queen
Aud (Landnámabók, pp. 136–47; Pálsson and Edwards 1972) are brought into the
discussion. Here, as it happens, Christian and female actions are still in keeping with the
Iron Age ideal, but at the same time a symbol of their decay.
The decay of the prehistoric concept is also touched upon in the chapter concerning
the characteristics of the good which sums up the usage in a discussion of the meaning
of two Icelandic concepts, honour and friendship. Not only did these concepts survive
prehistory, they grew to become of paramount, although very specific, importance in
Icelandic society (Jones 1959, p. 7.; Meulengracht Sørensen 1993; Sigurðsson 1993,
pp. 141 ff.). In this discussion the question of development versus differences caused
by the usage within different social groups is in focus and it seems that the Sabas
example and the rune-stones make it possible to argue that although there is a difference
in the usage according to social status, there is also a general change in the
meaning and usage of the concept.
The texts describe the complexity of the ideal in general terms. Local varieties,
limited chronological differences or the attitude of the individual to the concept, are
not reflected in the texts. The texts are likely to form an interlocking pattern and the
basic justification for the analysis lies in the fact that the hall, to which the usage is
linked, is a widespread phenomenon with a number of common and changing qualities
which fit the general outline indicated by the texts.
If the practise of the research into cultural history can be seen as polarised in
order to bring about development, then it is right to say that the case-study belongs
to the one extreme and the systematic study to the other. This investigation consists
mainly of a small series of case-studies since we have no way of deciding whether
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