Description: The death of Vébjörg at the legendary Battle of Brávellir.
In Louis Moe's retelling of the story, Óðinn decides that
it is time for Vébjörg to become a Valkyrie so he commands a
young archer to shoot her during the battle. Literal translation of the Danish text for page 86::
Quickly he approaches Vébjörg, fits his best arrow to the
bowstring, draws his bow several times to test its strength,
lets the arrow fly and – death flies from his bowstring. Vébjörg
falls. - - The rose that the shield-maiden never bore on her
breast now flames blood red on her mail coat. Shocked, the
archer turns to look for the old man who told him to shoot, but
the cloaked figure is nowhere to be seen. The tumult of battle
continues. Slaughter spreads over the huge battlefield. The
clouds of arrows darken the sky and axes are swung flashing. As
sword unceasingly meets sword, shields are cloven and thousands
of brave men fall. Editor's Note.
Source: Valkyrien: Romantisk Digtning i Billeder og
Tekst
Folio or Page: 86
Medium: Not known
Date: 1930
Dimensions (mm): 125 x 925
Provenance:
This copy of Valkyrien: Romantisk
Digtning i Billeder og Tekst was purchased by Trish Baer
from ABE Books.
Call number: PZ54.1 M65 1931
The University of Victoria Library photographed this copy of Valkyrien: Romantisk Digtning i Billeder
og Tekst at the request of Dr. P.A. Baer, Medieval
Studies, as 600 dpi tiffs with a Plustek OpticBook A300 (lrg book
scanner)
Rights:
Illustrations by Louis Moe in Valkyrien:
Romantisk Digtning i Billeder og Tekst came into the public
domain on January 1, 2017.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Moe,
Louis Maria Niels Peder
Halling. Valkyrien:
Romantisk Digtning. København:
Gyldendal, 1930.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Saxo (Grammaticus). The History of the Danes.
Translated by
Peter
Fisher,
Cambridge: D. S. Brewer,
1976.
Óðinn (non.)
Odin (en.)
The chief god of the Æsir in The Prose Edda.
However, in Heimskringla he was a mortal who
tricks the King of Sweden into believing that he was a god.
Events: Historical
Battle of Brávellir (non.)
Battle of Bravellir (en.)
A legendary battle described in Saxo's Gesta
Danorum and elsewhere in eddaic poetry and several
sagas.
Historical Persons, i.e. from Heimskringla, Saxo, sagas etc.
Vébjörg (non.)
Vebjorg (en.)
A shield maiden in Saxo's Gesta Danorum who
died at the Battle of Brávellir. She is the shield maiden in Louis Moe's
Valkyrien who becomes a
Valkyrie.
Nouns
valkyr/valkyrjur (non.)
valkyrie/valkyries (en.)
Supernatural female warriors who are closely associated with Óðinn and
decide the fate of warriors. They convey those who die in battle to
Valhöll to join the group known as einherjar who will fight on the side
of the Gods in the Battle of Ragnarök.
Source Materials:
Danmarks Kronike (da.)
Gesta Danorum (la.)
This edition of Saxo's Gesta Danorum was
translated and published by Fr. Winkel Horn and illustrated by Louis
Moe. Moe recycled some of his illustrations from Winkel Horn's edition
of Noreges konge-sagaer.
Gesta Danorum (la.)
Saxo Grammaticus's thirteenth century prose work concerning Danish
mythology and history.
Valkyrien: Romantisk Digtning (da.)
Valkyrie: An illustrated
romance (en.)
Louis Moe's illustrated retelling of the life and death of the
legendary Danish shield maiden Vébjörg.
Source Persons
Moe,
Louis (no.)
b. 1857
d. 1945
Nationality: Norwegian/Danish.
Occupation: illustrator
Residence: Copenhagen
Moe was an illustrator who was born in Norway but became a Danish
citizen in 1919.
Saxo
Grammaticus (la.)
b. 1150
d. 1220
Nationality: Danish
Occupation: cleric
Saxo wrote the Gesta Danorum, which is known
in English as The History of the Danes . His
account of mythological Norse gods and heroes is heavily
euhemerized.
