Dear Fellow Listmembers
Some of us who were at Leeds had the good fortune to hear a fascinating paper
about Sunniva and her cult from Alf Tore Hommedal of the Norwegian Institute
for Cultural Heritage Research, Bergen.
A close look at the photo of the Selje monastery on the web page brought to our
attention by Ingegerd will reveal a series of stepped platforms in the
foreground, with (on the topmost level) the outline of the earliest church.
Alf told us that excavations disclosed, beneath the (?tenth-century) (?lowest)
platform, an earlier bank with charcoal fragments on its surface.
This bank obviously precedes the formal Christianisation of Norway. While its
orientation, towards the setting sun, may well be fortuitous, and while not
discounting the possibility of a immigrant community as the Vita suggests,
which conceivably could have been Christian, is a pre-Christian ritual function
out of the question? Maybe Ingegerd can answer that.
In this connection, Sunniva's name intrigues me. It seems that some scholars
tend to derive it from Old English Sungifu. This is an attested name, though
perhaps not common, and we are encouraged _not_ to 'translate' OE dithematic
names so as to 'read' them literally. The two elements in such names had no
necessary relevance to each other.
Nonetheless, 'sun-giver' would be a most apt name in this situation. Unless,
that is, sun-cult ritual never faced west... Comments, please!
Graham Jones
Leicester
> > For a nice view of Selje monastery and a short version of
thestoryofStSunniva, see thisURL:>http://www.griegforlag.no/touristmagazine/FN/Selje.html.> > Best wishes,
> Ingegerd H.
>
> -----Opprinnelig melding-----
> Fra: CA Muessig <[log in to unmask]>
> Til: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Dato: 8. juli 1999 19:24
> Emne: FEAST 8 July
>
>
> >Today, 8 July, is the feast of ...
> >
> >
> >* Sunniva and companions (tenth century?) - after shipwreck on island of
> >Selje (near Norway), they were trapped in a cave after a landslide
> >
> >******************
> >Dr Carolyn Muessig
> >Department of Theology and Religious Studies
> >University of Bristol
> >Bristol BS8 1TB
> >UK
> >phone: +44(0)117-928-8168
> >fax: +44(0)117-929-7850
> >e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
>
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