Gripla - 20.12.2009, Side 142

GRIPLA142
14). this change in critical attitudes results in reflections such as “the
source material for old norse religion is the expression of a process and a
frozen glimpse of a vast universe in motion. It is also a picture of a religion
that was part of a much bigger cultural whirlpool and cannot be studied
separately” (Bertell 2006, 299);that Scandinavian religion was “an inherent
part of the european cultural tradition” (Clunies Ross 2006, 412). In addi­
tion, it “may have had large differences within itself” (Bertell 2006, 299).
When discussing the problem of “uniformity vs. differentiation”, one
should also keep in mind the ambivalence of the nordic archaeological
evidence, which indicates that “the burials of the social elite followed tradi­
tions that were primarily supra-regional, while the burial customs of the
vast majority of people were primarily connected to ritual traditions more
or less limited to relatively small geographical areas and human groups”
(Svanberg 2003a, 142). this suggests the dual identity of Scandinavian
aristocrats who, in addition to having ties that connected them to their
domains, “saw themselves as members of more or less well defined supra-
regional communities” with which they maintained intense contacts
(Svanberg 2003a, 180; also 2003b, 17). obviously, it is these rich burials
that have always attracted common attention, have dominated literature,
and have been the focus of exhibitions, thus obscuring the real differentia­
tion between the prevailing masses of Scandinavian peoples.
the duality of the political elite’s cultural affiliations became even more
striking and more “cosmopolitan” after the network of Christian monar­
chies was established in Europe in the late 10th century. One may observe
how royal dynasties subsequently began to promote a continental model of
rulership with its standard elements such as anointment, coinage, royal
titles, iconography, the foundation of churches and monasteries, the intro­
duction of “national” state names, and so on. It was necessary to adopt this
conformity with the pan-continental symbolism in order to become
acknowledged players on the geopolitical stage. This did not, however,
remove attachment of members of the ruling dynasties to their “own/
national” traditions that ensured the cultural coherence of their territorial
domains.
one may presume that, apart from the elitist behaviour of the top social
levels that signalled their membership in the interregional elite, quite com­
mon people too could have belonged to several cultural or symbolic com­