{"id":302,"date":"2023-05-17T12:56:42","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T16:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/makingvikings\/?page_id=302"},"modified":"2023-07-10T11:23:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T15:23:46","slug":"females-and-the-supernatural-old-english-analogues","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/makingvikings\/female-narratives\/females-and-the-supernatural-old-english-analogues\/","title":{"rendered":"Females & the Supernatural: Old English Analogues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Briefly, I will discuss two Old English works in which females are either granted some form of agency\u2014such as in the case of the \u201cAngel of Death\u201d\u2014or in some way intertwined with the notion of death. To begin, \u201cThe Grave\u201d is an Old English found at the bottom margin of MS Bodleian 343, f. 170v (Figure 8). Within the poem, the narrator actively describes the process of birth, beginning with one\u2019s \u201cmother,\u201d to the time of an individual\u2019s death, where they are sealed beneath the earth. The poem details a process by which a subject is inside of an underground grave, gradually transitioning to an existence that is not quite \u201cliving\u201d and ending with: \u201cFor soon your head is bereft of hair, all the fairness of your hair is scattered, and never, no one will stroke it softly with their fingers\u201d (For sone bi\u00f0 \u00fein h\u00e6fet faxes bireued; al bi\u00f0 \u00f0es faxes feirnes forsceden; n\u00e6le hit nan mit fingres feire stracien<\/em>) (trans. Oberman 2017). As with the case of the \u201cAngel of Death\u201d in Ibn Fadlan\u2019s account of the Rus\u2019, we may observe a distinct role of the female entity. In the case of \u201cThe Grave,\u201d\u00a0it is at the beginning of one\u2019s life, while according to Ibn Fadlan, it is at the end.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Grave.
Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 343, fol. 170r.
(source: Bodleian<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

The funerary tradition in which the Viking Age \u201cAngel of Death\u201d performs also parallels that of the Old English poem Beowulf<\/em>. This ninth-century poem is contained within Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, otherwise known as the Nowell Codex (Figure 9). Within lines 2821-3182 of Beowulf<\/em>, a \u201cmeowle\u201d (woman) is described as singing a \u201csorrow-song,\u201d which details her uncertainties and fears now that the male warrior, Beowulf has died. The focus on a female figure within these lines suggests that this \u201cGeatish woman\u201d comprised an essential performative component of Beowulf\u2019s funerary service. While the mention of the \u201cGeatish woman\u201d within Beowulf<\/em> is fleeting, it is possible that she functioned as an Old English moirologia\u2014a professional mourner\u2014rather than as an arbitrarily chosen individual. While the true importance of the \u201cGeatish woman\u201d in the construction of militaristic practices remains obscure (just as that of \u201cthe Angel of Death,\u201d her mention is worth taking note of, nonetheless.<\/p>\n

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Beowulf
British Library Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, fol. 132r.
(source: Wikimedia<\/a> and British Library<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Briefly, I will discuss two Old English works in which females are either granted some form of agency\u2014such as in the case of the \u201cAngel of Death\u201d\u2014or in some way intertwined with the notion of death. To begin, \u201cThe Grave\u201d is an Old English found at the bottom margin of MS Bodleian 343, f. 170v<\/p>\n

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