Clover, Carol J. Hildigunnr’s lament

• Author: Clover, Carol J.
• Title: Hildigunnr's Lament
• Published in: Cold Counsel: Women in Old Norse Literature and Mythology
• Place, Publisher: New York, Routledge
• Editors: Anderson, Sarah M., Swenson, Karen
• Year: 2002
• Pages: 15-54
• E-text:
• Reference: Clover, Carol J., Hildigunnr's Lament, in: Cold Counsel: Women in Old Norse Literature and Mythology. A Collection of Essay, Edited by Sarah M. Anderson and Karen Swenson. Routledge. New York and London. 2002

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• Key words: hvöt, female lament, goad, revenge, gender studies

Annotation

Clover analyses the pivotal hvöt scene of chapter 116 of Njál saga, in which Hildigunnr incites Flosi to avenge her dead husband Hoskuldr and which results in the burning of Njáll and his family. Hildigunnr´s incitement is compared to other Icelandic and Germanic literary figures, most notably Guðrún Gjúkadóttir in the poems Hamðismál and Þórbjörg of Harðar saga ok Hólmverja. In doing so Clover attempts to trace the role of women in mourning and vendetta cultures. Specific attention is paid to the role of ‘tokens’ as representations of the deceased, such as bloodied clothing, or weapons, and the methods by which grieving widows employ these tokens in ritualised settings. In addition, Clover examines the intersection between the performance of specific gestures related to mourning, such as weeping and the loosening of hair, and the language of the hvöt itself – that is as a performance, of language both poetic and legalistic, as in Hildigunnr’s case.

References

Chapter 116, p.291: "„Hvert eftirmæli skal eg af þér hafa,“ segir hún, „eða liðveislu?“ Her speech is somewhat unusual in its formal, almost legal quality and also in its religious reference, but in other respects – the charge of niðingr, the insistence on reciprocal obligation.

Links

• Written by: Liz Skuthorpe
• Icelandic/English translation: