Gripla - 20.12.2008, Blaðsíða 133

131
trickster. Snorri made every effort to increase his honor in the struggle for
power and influence,18 and naming his búð Valhöll was undoubtedly a part
of that. He would hardly have given his búð that name had it been a gener-
ally negative reference. Moreover, it is likely that Valhöll was intended not
only to refer to the positive qualities of Óðinn himself, learning, wisdom,
cleverness, and immense political abilities (Ynglinga saga offers a catalogue
of these characteristics19), but also to serve as a general reference to Snorri’s
own education, learning, and cultural capital, to use a Bourdieuian term.
Valhöll was thus a symbolic capital of Snorri’s, symbolizing his cultural
capital in the form of education and skills in fræði; the name of the búð
reminded guests at alþingi of Snorri’s mastery in fræði and ars poetica.20
Snorra-Edda itself identifies Óðinn first and foremost with the skaldic
tradition, and Ynglinga saga, most often but not indisputably assigned
to Snorri, comments that this ancient chieftain and king “[m]ælti… allt
at hendingum,” in his daily chat, “svá sem nú er þat kveðit, er skáldskapr
heitir.”21 Lastly, Valhöll refers not only to Snorri’s own cultural capital and
the mythological Óðinn but also to the euhemerized Óðinn, a man so rich
in cultural capital that it was transformed by his contemporaries and their
descendants into religious capital.22 It is perceivable that the naming was
made to evoke thoughts of deadly force as the mythological Valhöll was the
house of the dead, and that would be in rhyme with the name Grýla. Snorri
may not be known for deeds in the battlefield, but Sturlunga shows clearly
that he played the deadly game of medieval Icelandic politics as ruthlessly
as anyone, and did not hesitate in having people “removed.”
Two related instances should be mentioned before moving on to the
third type, instances where men seem to look back to the pagan past for aid
in their present struggle although no direct reference to mythology as such
18 Cf. Viðar Pálsson, “’Var engi höfðingi slíkr sem Snorri.’ Auður og virðing í valdabaráttu
Snorra Sturlusonar,” Saga 41:1 (2003): 55–96.
19 On the qualities deluding Óðinn‘s contemporaries and their descendants into deification,
see: Heimskringla I, ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson, Íslenzk fornrit 26 (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka
fornritafélag, 1941), 11–22, esp. 17ff.
20 On Snorri‘s use of skaldic poetry as cultural capital in the field of power and politics,
see: Kevin J. Wanner, Snorri Sturluson and the Edda: The Conversion of Cultural Capital in
Medieval Scandinavia, Toronto Old Norse-Icelandic Series 4 (Toronto, et al.: University
of Toronto Press, 2008).
21 Heimskringla I, 17.
22 Cf. the above reference to Ynglinga saga as well as the Edda‘s Prologue.
PAGAN MYTHOLOGY IN CHRISTIAN SOCIETY