Representations of death and burial in the first six sagas of Snorri Sturluson's 'Heimskringla'

摘要

This thesis explores textual depictions of the burial of leaders in Snorri Sturluson’sudHeimskringla. Central to my argument is the close connection between representations ofudburial and the broader qualities of good/bad kingship, and the relationship between kingship,udChristianity, and legitimacy. Snorri himself encourages his readers to concentrate on burial,udsince his universal history is introduced by a Prologus dividing the ages of man into distinctudphases marked out by forms of burial which is then reinforced in the early chapters ofudYnglinga saga. My focus is upon the representations of burial in the pagan period – coveredudin the first six sagas of the text – because such representations, covering as they do the distantudpagan past, allowed Snorri considerable licence to comment on the qualities of good and badudrulership. I explore cremation burials and inhumation burials, noting the convergences andudambiguities within Snorri’s accounts of such practices, and I raise in particular the tensionsudbetween ‘correct’ Christian practices and pagan practices, and how to assess kingly qualitiesudof certain individuals based on their burial rites. My final chapter continues exploring suchudthemes by making a case for viewing hall burnings as a sort of ‘negative burial’, rich withudassociations of bad kinship and instability. This discussion of the representations of death andudburial practice contributes new means of assessing and reading a particularly rich, butuddifficult text.