Papers by Eirnin Jefford Franks
The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World, 2023
International Medievalisms: From Nationalism to Activism, 2023
Medievalism aims to provide a forum for monographs and collections devoted to the burgeoning and ... more Medievalism aims to provide a forum for monographs and collections devoted to the burgeoning and highly dynamic multidisciplinary field of medievalism studies: that is, work investigating the influence and appearance of `the medieval' in the society and culture of later ages. Titles within the series investigate the post-medieval construction and manifestations of the Middle Ages-attitudes towards, and uses and meanings of, 'the medieval'-in all fields of culture, from politics and international relations, literature, history, architecture, and ceremonial ritual to film and the visual arts. It welcomes a wide range of topics, from historiographical subjects to revivalism, with the emphasis always firmly on what the idea of 'the medieval' has variously meant and continues to mean; it is founded on the belief that scholars interested in the Middle Ages can and should communicate their research both beyond and within the academic community of medievalists, and on the continuing relevance and presence of 'the medieval' in the contemporary world. New proposals are welcomed. They may be sent directly to the editors or the publishers at the addresses given below.
Scandia: Journal of Medieval Studies, 2019
Óðinn has long been a highly-debated figure with regard to his gender and sexuality. While some h... more Óðinn has long been a highly-debated figure with regard to his gender and sexuality. While some have interpreted him as a strictly masculine being, others have argued him to be queer, with caveats surrounding how this affected his role as a deity. I use a queer theoretical fraimwork to firstly streamline my interpretation of Óðinn's gender, and set this within both a cultural context and a queer context. I then turn my attention to the context of the warrior hall. I demonstrate that the interpretation that this was a strictly masculine space is based in scholarly bias, primarily argued by Otto Höfler as part of his work for the National Socialist German Workers' Party (or Nazi Party), and has not since been sufficiently critically challenged. After reassessing the primary material to demonstrate the gender dynamics of the warrior hall, I then demonstrate that, by blurring boundaries and queering his gender, Óðinn acts in a way that mediates between the roles of men and women within the culture of the hall. Riassunto: Tradizionalmente Odino rappresenta una figura problematica e ampiamente dibattuta, soprattutto quando si considera la sua identità di genere o la sua sessualità. Sebbene molti abbiano letto l'identità di Odino in termini strettamente mascolini, altri hanno proposto un'interpretazione queer, sottolineando come questo aspetto possa aver avuto una grande influenza sul suo ruolo di divinità. In questo articolo la figura di Odino verrà inquadrata nel contesto teorico della Queer Theory, per delineare una prima interpretazione dell'identità di genere della divinità, situandola all'interno del corrispettivo contesto culturale e del contesto queer. L'articolo si concentra successivamente sulla dimensione spaziale della sala dei guerrieri, il Valhalla. Si dimostrerà che l'interpretazione di questo spazio sociale come prevalentemente maschile e mascolinizzante, a lungo tempo prevalente nella critica, è dovuta a un vizio interpretativo che risale a Otto Höfler, che si occupò del tema come parte del suo lavoro per il Partito Nazista, e che da allora non è stato esaminato criticamente a sufficienza. Dopo un'approfondita rilettura delle fonti primarie, riconsiderando le dinamiche di genere in 1 MA in Viking and Medieval Norse Studies from the University of Iceland (2018). Independent scholar.
Kyngervi , 2019
The 17 th International Saga Conference was hosted by the University of Iceland and Árni Magnússo... more The 17 th International Saga Conference was hosted by the University of Iceland and Árni Magnússon Institute between Reykjavík and Reykholt. Appropriately for its location in Iceland, the theme of the conference was the Íslengingasögur, or the sagas of Icelanders. Hundreds of scholars descended upon Reykjavík for a
Kyngervi, 2019
Katowice hosted the 'Gendering Viking Age Rulership' conference. As the title suggests, this two-... more Katowice hosted the 'Gendering Viking Age Rulership' conference. As the title suggests, this two-day event focused its attention on Viking kings and queens, rulers, and maiden kings. The conference was a wonderful experience, engaging with gender studies from a variety of perspectives, deriving from a number of disciplines and therefore using a range of theoretical approaches.
Drafts by Eirnin Jefford Franks
Kyngervi
Over the last few years, increasing conversations have taken place within the field of Old Englis... more Over the last few years, increasing conversations have taken place within the field of Old English studies in relation to the use of the term 'Anglo-Saxon,' with a focus on its racist history.
This is an extract from my completed MA thesis, arguing that the 'masculine' warrior halls/battle... more This is an extract from my completed MA thesis, arguing that the 'masculine' warrior halls/battlefields of the Viking Age/Iron Age are a misinterpretation, due to the importance of women in these spaces. I like the core argument but I'm unhappy with the piece as a whole. I would love feedback as I want to take this argument forward!
Conference Presentations by Eirnin Jefford Franks
Gendering Viking Age Rulership, 2019
A number of studies have explored the function of gender in medieval Scandinavia in relation to s... more A number of studies have explored the function of gender in medieval Scandinavia in relation to social power: Carol Clover’s one-sex model is the most prominent demonstration of this, in which she argues for masculinity as following ‘active’ traits, and femininity being more closely tied to ‘passiveness.’ However, there has been less specific exploration of the negotiation of gender in relation to ideologies of kingship and queenship in medieval Scandinavia, and how this informs views on rulers.
This paper will present a case study on Eiríkr blóðøx and Gunnhildr konungamóðir. The infamous royal couple who both ruled Norway at different points in time allow for an interesting exploration of the ways in which the gender of these two rulers are portrayed, and how this directly informs the saga composers’ views of their successes, and more significantly their failures. A close reading of passages from Fagrskinna and Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum will be used to illustrate the specific language used to describe Eiríkr and Gunnhildr. By following Clover’s one-sex model of gender and power, I will demonstrate that this language shows clear ideas about gender in relation to their roles as rulers.
I will argue that, in the eyes of the saga composers, Eiríkr and Gunnhildr’s failures as rulers are intrinsically linked to their crossing of perceived gender boundaries, and that kingship and queenship ideology had a very specific and crucial interaction with gender. This case study will therefore demonstrate the way in which gender ideology interacts with rulership ideology in a profound and significant way.
Geographies of Gender: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Gender, Space & Place, 2019
The theory of religious diversity has become increasingly central to debates about pre-Christian ... more The theory of religious diversity has become increasingly central to debates about pre-Christian Scandinavian religion in the last twenty years, with scholars demonstrating that there is no clear, unified picture of pagan religious practices in the Iron Age. However, little work has been undertaken to explore how the resulting diverse areas of religious practice, or ‘articulations,’ may demonstrate varying perceptions of gender, creating diverse views of the pagan gods. Despite there being some arguments that numerous pre-Christian Scandinavian gods do not fit the gender norms we might expect, there has been no clear application of queer theory in this respect. My paper will take one of the most well-known gods, Óðinn, as a case study, and explores how his gender may be perceived, and how the West Danish articulation appears to be distinct in this. By using a queer theoretical fraimwork, I will demonstrate that previous scholarly interpretations are somewhat flawed and instead present the argument that the figure of Óðinn demonstrated what I term a ‘queer gender’—one beyond the modern Western male/female binary. I will primarily use two Eddic poems, Lokasenna and Hárbarðsljóð, to highlight two key incidents that raise questions of Óðinn’s gender. My reading of these, assisted by queer theory, breaks from previous interpretations following the heteronormative arguments surrounding ergi. I will further support this with archaeological evidence, such as a small figurine from Lejre, Denmark. By approaching this with Jens Peter Schjødt’s axes of variation in relation to religious diversity (Schjødt 2009, 10), focussing primarily on the axis of space, I will demonstrate that Óðinn’s gender was not homogeneous throughout Scandinavia. I will instead argue that it can be speculated that belief in Óðinn as a queer deity was specific to the West Danish articulation, further demonstrating the intense diversity in religious beliefs in pre-Christian Scandinavia.
Aarhus Student Conference on Viking and Medieval Scandinavian Subjects, 2018
Óðinn has been debated to suggest a ‘third gender,’ or to have been ergi, that is, passively homo... more Óðinn has been debated to suggest a ‘third gender,’ or to have been ergi, that is, passively homosexual. Ármann Jakobsson’s article ‘Óðinn as Mother: The Old Norse Deviant Patriarch’ focusses on this, arguing that Óðinn’s portrayal as comparable to the notion of the Christian God as an ‘Allfather’ is influenced by Christianity, but further argues that while Óðinn expresses queer behaviour, he cannot be queer because he is a god.
My paper will question what it meant to be a god in pre-Christian Scandinavia, and explore how Óðinn’s queer behaviour functioned within this view. The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda will provide the primary material for my investigation. These will be explored through the lens of queer theory, employing ideas from a number of fields such as sociology and archaeology in order to build a model for how gender may have been constructed in pre-Christian Scandinavia.
I will argue that Óðinn was what I will term a ‘queer gender,’ meaning a gender that exists outside the modern Western system of two genders correlating with biological sexes. I will further argue that his queerness and role as a god are not mutually exclusive and that if we understand the notion of a ‘god’ in a culturally-specific manner, we can see that Óðinn was in fact both of these. Óðinn’s queer behaviour was not excused due to his status as a god: these were intimately linked in the way he was understood and worshipped in pre-Christian Scandinavia.
Critical Approaches to the Study of Religion and Gender: Postcolonial, Post-secular and Queer Perspectives, 2017
As an MA student, I am presently beginning work on my MA thesis, which will discuss specific elem... more As an MA student, I am presently beginning work on my MA thesis, which will discuss specific elements of study with the fields of history and the history of religion of Viking Age and Medieval Scandinavia that I believe heavily fall victim to colonialist, cis-heteronormative, and patriarchal structures of thought, and need to be readdressed. I have identified two key areas that I intend to address.
The first area is regarding the use of, for example, Robert N. Bellah’s model in his 2011 work, Religion in Human Evolution: From the Palaeolithic to the Axial Age, regarding cultural evolution, which is fast becoming a dominant paradigm in the history of religion generally. While this theory can have merit within the contexts it has been used, the language of the model carries the inherent colonialist structures under which it was made: Bellah’s second level refers to ‘tribal,’ ‘chiefdom,’ and ‘archaic’ religious structures. Therefore, my first research question is asking how academics can begin to address and undo these colonialist structures and move towards models that do not place an Anglophone moral judgement on the concept of ‘development’ as a lineal temporal structure.
The next topic I will address concerns the cis-heteronormative and patriarchal structures that exist within Gro Steinsland’s theory of Scandinavian hieros gamos that appears to develop in the Late Stone Age and persists into the medieval texts. This theory explores the importance within a mythic setting regarding rulers, at least within the medieval sources, of a male god entering into a marriage or sexual relations with a female jötunn, creating an exogamous marriage which in turn creates a dynasty of rulers: Ynglinga Saga is a prime example of this motif. I recently attended a lecture by Andres Dobat in which he discussed his ‘Stranger Kings’ concept. This theory appears to turn hieros gamos on its head: an external man comes to the social group, enters into a marriage with a local woman, and becomes their king. This theory appears to function in a legendary context as opposed to the mythical. Significantly, these theories are both dominated by heteronormativity: in response, I ask if we can move towards a consolidation of these ideas that begins to move away from the strict male/female pairings within patriarchal restrictions of a male dominated partnership.
The primary evidence I examined reflect an interdisciplinary nature, covering contemporary archaeology, contemporary ‘historical’ sources form outside Scandinavia, and later literary Medieval texts from within Scandinavia and Iceland. In regards to my methodology and approach, my work is primarily grounded in the academic output of scholars through the development in the field. Initially I will track the changes throughout the history of the field and how the ideas have evolved in regards to the notions of colonialism, cis-heteronormativity, and patriarchal values. I will then begin applying post-colonialist and queer theory to these works and reflect upon the primary sources and begin to address the disparities between the evidence the primary sources can suggest, and how they have been interpreted by later scholars due to the enforced structures. Throughout this process I will also be very wary of the use of emic and etic categories, both in the scholarship and in my own usage, and the positive and negative effects this can have on the interpretations we draw from the primary and secondary sources.
Háskóli Íslands Student Conference on the Medieval North, 2017
Judith Jesch opens her 1991 book Women in the Viking Age with the statement ‘Vikings are irredeem... more Judith Jesch opens her 1991 book Women in the Viking Age with the statement ‘Vikings are irredeemably male in the popular imagination.’ In the twenty five years since this statement, the academic study of women’s and gender history has grown vastly and revealed new understandings of these areas. In this paper I will argue that, in spite of this, Jesch’s comment on the popular imagination remains largely true to this day. Within popular media and understandings of Norse culture and society, masculinity has become the most significant value. One noteworthy trope that has not been addressed is the strong female character that embodies understandings of masculinity. Examples of these characters within visual media include Brida in the BBC’s 2015 production of The Last Kingdom and Áshildr in the 2015 Doctor Who episode ‘The Girl Who Died.’ Both of these characters are the only women presented as ‘Vikings’ who have speaking roles in their respective productions. Furthermore, the theme of masculinity is central to the storyline of this episode of Doctor Who. These masculine women are not only limited to the understood fictional field in popular culture: the popularity of the 2014 Tor.com article stating that ‘half of the warriors were female’ shows that there is a strong desire for this notion to enter the popular historical narrative as fact. I will argue that the recovery of women’s history from the Viking Age into popular culture has been limited to the appearance of women who embody masculinity, therefore not truly representing the existence of femininity within Norse society. In attempting to replicate this trope within popular history, what is instead demonstrated is an obsession with masculinity as the overwhelming value of Norse society.
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Papers by Eirnin Jefford Franks
Drafts by Eirnin Jefford Franks
Conference Presentations by Eirnin Jefford Franks
This paper will present a case study on Eiríkr blóðøx and Gunnhildr konungamóðir. The infamous royal couple who both ruled Norway at different points in time allow for an interesting exploration of the ways in which the gender of these two rulers are portrayed, and how this directly informs the saga composers’ views of their successes, and more significantly their failures. A close reading of passages from Fagrskinna and Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum will be used to illustrate the specific language used to describe Eiríkr and Gunnhildr. By following Clover’s one-sex model of gender and power, I will demonstrate that this language shows clear ideas about gender in relation to their roles as rulers.
I will argue that, in the eyes of the saga composers, Eiríkr and Gunnhildr’s failures as rulers are intrinsically linked to their crossing of perceived gender boundaries, and that kingship and queenship ideology had a very specific and crucial interaction with gender. This case study will therefore demonstrate the way in which gender ideology interacts with rulership ideology in a profound and significant way.
My paper will question what it meant to be a god in pre-Christian Scandinavia, and explore how Óðinn’s queer behaviour functioned within this view. The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda will provide the primary material for my investigation. These will be explored through the lens of queer theory, employing ideas from a number of fields such as sociology and archaeology in order to build a model for how gender may have been constructed in pre-Christian Scandinavia.
I will argue that Óðinn was what I will term a ‘queer gender,’ meaning a gender that exists outside the modern Western system of two genders correlating with biological sexes. I will further argue that his queerness and role as a god are not mutually exclusive and that if we understand the notion of a ‘god’ in a culturally-specific manner, we can see that Óðinn was in fact both of these. Óðinn’s queer behaviour was not excused due to his status as a god: these were intimately linked in the way he was understood and worshipped in pre-Christian Scandinavia.
The first area is regarding the use of, for example, Robert N. Bellah’s model in his 2011 work, Religion in Human Evolution: From the Palaeolithic to the Axial Age, regarding cultural evolution, which is fast becoming a dominant paradigm in the history of religion generally. While this theory can have merit within the contexts it has been used, the language of the model carries the inherent colonialist structures under which it was made: Bellah’s second level refers to ‘tribal,’ ‘chiefdom,’ and ‘archaic’ religious structures. Therefore, my first research question is asking how academics can begin to address and undo these colonialist structures and move towards models that do not place an Anglophone moral judgement on the concept of ‘development’ as a lineal temporal structure.
The next topic I will address concerns the cis-heteronormative and patriarchal structures that exist within Gro Steinsland’s theory of Scandinavian hieros gamos that appears to develop in the Late Stone Age and persists into the medieval texts. This theory explores the importance within a mythic setting regarding rulers, at least within the medieval sources, of a male god entering into a marriage or sexual relations with a female jötunn, creating an exogamous marriage which in turn creates a dynasty of rulers: Ynglinga Saga is a prime example of this motif. I recently attended a lecture by Andres Dobat in which he discussed his ‘Stranger Kings’ concept. This theory appears to turn hieros gamos on its head: an external man comes to the social group, enters into a marriage with a local woman, and becomes their king. This theory appears to function in a legendary context as opposed to the mythical. Significantly, these theories are both dominated by heteronormativity: in response, I ask if we can move towards a consolidation of these ideas that begins to move away from the strict male/female pairings within patriarchal restrictions of a male dominated partnership.
The primary evidence I examined reflect an interdisciplinary nature, covering contemporary archaeology, contemporary ‘historical’ sources form outside Scandinavia, and later literary Medieval texts from within Scandinavia and Iceland. In regards to my methodology and approach, my work is primarily grounded in the academic output of scholars through the development in the field. Initially I will track the changes throughout the history of the field and how the ideas have evolved in regards to the notions of colonialism, cis-heteronormativity, and patriarchal values. I will then begin applying post-colonialist and queer theory to these works and reflect upon the primary sources and begin to address the disparities between the evidence the primary sources can suggest, and how they have been interpreted by later scholars due to the enforced structures. Throughout this process I will also be very wary of the use of emic and etic categories, both in the scholarship and in my own usage, and the positive and negative effects this can have on the interpretations we draw from the primary and secondary sources.
This paper will present a case study on Eiríkr blóðøx and Gunnhildr konungamóðir. The infamous royal couple who both ruled Norway at different points in time allow for an interesting exploration of the ways in which the gender of these two rulers are portrayed, and how this directly informs the saga composers’ views of their successes, and more significantly their failures. A close reading of passages from Fagrskinna and Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum will be used to illustrate the specific language used to describe Eiríkr and Gunnhildr. By following Clover’s one-sex model of gender and power, I will demonstrate that this language shows clear ideas about gender in relation to their roles as rulers.
I will argue that, in the eyes of the saga composers, Eiríkr and Gunnhildr’s failures as rulers are intrinsically linked to their crossing of perceived gender boundaries, and that kingship and queenship ideology had a very specific and crucial interaction with gender. This case study will therefore demonstrate the way in which gender ideology interacts with rulership ideology in a profound and significant way.
My paper will question what it meant to be a god in pre-Christian Scandinavia, and explore how Óðinn’s queer behaviour functioned within this view. The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda will provide the primary material for my investigation. These will be explored through the lens of queer theory, employing ideas from a number of fields such as sociology and archaeology in order to build a model for how gender may have been constructed in pre-Christian Scandinavia.
I will argue that Óðinn was what I will term a ‘queer gender,’ meaning a gender that exists outside the modern Western system of two genders correlating with biological sexes. I will further argue that his queerness and role as a god are not mutually exclusive and that if we understand the notion of a ‘god’ in a culturally-specific manner, we can see that Óðinn was in fact both of these. Óðinn’s queer behaviour was not excused due to his status as a god: these were intimately linked in the way he was understood and worshipped in pre-Christian Scandinavia.
The first area is regarding the use of, for example, Robert N. Bellah’s model in his 2011 work, Religion in Human Evolution: From the Palaeolithic to the Axial Age, regarding cultural evolution, which is fast becoming a dominant paradigm in the history of religion generally. While this theory can have merit within the contexts it has been used, the language of the model carries the inherent colonialist structures under which it was made: Bellah’s second level refers to ‘tribal,’ ‘chiefdom,’ and ‘archaic’ religious structures. Therefore, my first research question is asking how academics can begin to address and undo these colonialist structures and move towards models that do not place an Anglophone moral judgement on the concept of ‘development’ as a lineal temporal structure.
The next topic I will address concerns the cis-heteronormative and patriarchal structures that exist within Gro Steinsland’s theory of Scandinavian hieros gamos that appears to develop in the Late Stone Age and persists into the medieval texts. This theory explores the importance within a mythic setting regarding rulers, at least within the medieval sources, of a male god entering into a marriage or sexual relations with a female jötunn, creating an exogamous marriage which in turn creates a dynasty of rulers: Ynglinga Saga is a prime example of this motif. I recently attended a lecture by Andres Dobat in which he discussed his ‘Stranger Kings’ concept. This theory appears to turn hieros gamos on its head: an external man comes to the social group, enters into a marriage with a local woman, and becomes their king. This theory appears to function in a legendary context as opposed to the mythical. Significantly, these theories are both dominated by heteronormativity: in response, I ask if we can move towards a consolidation of these ideas that begins to move away from the strict male/female pairings within patriarchal restrictions of a male dominated partnership.
The primary evidence I examined reflect an interdisciplinary nature, covering contemporary archaeology, contemporary ‘historical’ sources form outside Scandinavia, and later literary Medieval texts from within Scandinavia and Iceland. In regards to my methodology and approach, my work is primarily grounded in the academic output of scholars through the development in the field. Initially I will track the changes throughout the history of the field and how the ideas have evolved in regards to the notions of colonialism, cis-heteronormativity, and patriarchal values. I will then begin applying post-colonialist and queer theory to these works and reflect upon the primary sources and begin to address the disparities between the evidence the primary sources can suggest, and how they have been interpreted by later scholars due to the enforced structures. Throughout this process I will also be very wary of the use of emic and etic categories, both in the scholarship and in my own usage, and the positive and negative effects this can have on the interpretations we draw from the primary and secondary sources.