Sutton Hoo on Google

"Sutton Hoo: Anglo-Saxon Ship Burial" is a virtual exhibit now on display at the Google Cultural Institute. It may be viewed at this link.

Video: Heil Dir Holle

Heil Dir Holle. A song to Frau Holle by Birgit Knorr of Kindred of the Northern Hammer, San Diego CA. The song was sung during an Urglaawe rite at Trothmoot 2013 (thetroth.org).

Europe’s Wild Men

"They dress in bear heads and bells, and behave like beasts."
National Geographic photo gallery:

Swedes set up 'ultimate Viking movie'

Thanks to Eric for finding this:

"After years of ridicule and misrepresentation, the Vikings are on their way home. Plans are well under way for what the Swedish company Fladenfilm is calling "the ultimate Viking movie". The $30m version of Frans G Bengtsson's bloody Nordic saga The Long Ships (which is due to shoot in 2013) will comprise two feature films and a television series. What is different about this project is that it is being made by Viking nations – the Swedes in combination with their neighbours."

The complete article may be found at the Independent.

Searching for the Vikings on the Isle of Man

From Medievalists.net:
"The Vikings were not just the wanton marauders of popular portrayal, says a Longwood University medieval scholar who recently conducted archaeological research on the Isle of Man.

Dr. Larissa “Kat” Tracy examines a Viking-age stone monument on the Isle of Man.
“The exclusive image of rape, pillage and burning by the Vikings is probably inaccurate,” said Dr. Larissa “Kat” Tracy, associate professor of English.

Tracy spent a week photographing inscriptions on Viking-age stone monuments on the island between Great Britain and Ireland as part of a German-based research project on the ancient runic alphabet. What she found is that the Vikings, who raided and settled throughout Europe from the late eighth century through the 11th century, were perhaps more interested in winning the hearts and minds of the people they encountered than is often thought."

The full article may be read here.

The Typochronology of Sword Pommels from the Staffordshire Hoard

"This paper consists of two parts. First, Svante Fischer will discuss the question of correlating typology and chronology into typochronology. Second, Jean Soulat will discuss the typology of the Staffordshire pommels and offer a preliminary date for the hoard. The authors are of the opinion that the sword pommels of the Staffordshire date from the early 6th century to the early 8th century.

The paper has been financed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (KVHAA)."

The full text of this paper may be found at Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Veteran's Administration Now Accepts Hammer of Thor as Emblem of Faith

The US Veteran's Administration (VA) has released its latest list of  Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers. Included as number 55 on the list is Mjolnir, or the Hammer of Thor. Our understanding is that the decision comes at the request of the next of kin of  a service person recently killed in combat 

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Troth Blog and Twitter

The Troth now has its own blog for stating its position on emerging issues which impact the Heathen community. Interested parties may view the new blog at http://thetroth.blogspot.com. The Troth can also now be followed on Twitter,  @TheTroth.

”Beowulf” and the Influence of Old English on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

Thanks to Medievalists.net for this:

"It is uncommon for a popular work of art to take roots in an academic context. Many popular novels and films, possibly the two most common mediums of art we encounter nowadays, are written by talented creative writers and aim to achieve a high level of realism to help the reader connect with the work. An exception to this came to popularity nearly sixty years ago. J.R.R. Tolkien, then an Anglo-Saxon professor in the University of Oxford, published his second novel, titled The Lord of the Rings, in 1954. It is while being a full-time professor that Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, an uncommon fact for the third best-selling novel ever written at more than 150 million copies sold.

Reading The Lord of the Rings, however, it is clear that the academic context in which the novel was written contributed greatly to the complexity, depth and aesthetic prowess of the novel. Tolkien being an expert in Anglo-Saxon, nearly all of the names employed in the novel share Old English roots. Moreover, perhaps the greatest and best-known work written in Old English was the heroic epic poem Beowulf. Tolkien is often said to ‘‘have helped to rescue the poem for posterity’’1 by not only writing one of his most important essays on the subject, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, but by basing a lot of The Lord of the Rings on the Anglo-Saxon poem."

The full text of this article by Joly Morin from the 30 April, 2012 edition of Academia may be read here.