Völuspá; Set in Stone in the Gosforth Cross: The Carvings in the Gosforth Stone Cross Explained

By Bjorn Vernhardsson

In this text the author focuses his attention to how well the old poem V?lusp? is shown in the carvings in the Gosforth Stone Cross. In my former book V?lusp?; The Holy Land in the North-East I conclude that the poem is telling the story of the old society in the North-East of Britain, known as Northumbria. The illustration in the poem refers mainly to the county south of the River Tyne and north of the River Swale. The poem tells how the society was organized, how it developed and how the people in the end lost their sovereignty to the King in the south and the Catholic church. It can be assumed that the former liberal church of St Cuthbert was not Catholic enough. The poem gave a good description of how well religious sites, established place names and other monuments relate to its centre site or the Mithgard in Hunwick in County Durham.
The likeness of the poem and the Gosforth Stone cross is striking and that makes our understanding of the poem that much deeper as it gives an unique chance to understand many of the signs used at the time. To have access to the carvings in this context opens up new ways to interpret the myth from the time of the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons from this time in the ninth century and prior to that.
There are so many similarities to Northumbria south of the River Tyne to the description given in the poem. Some of the places referred to come close to the poem that the relation can hardly be refuted and in other places deduction is needed to get the relation cleared.
This paper is philosophical in nature and the question is asked if this possible references to Northumbria can be verified in historical or archaeological research as that might shed some light on this old society and on this Anglo-Icelandic relationship. And as this paper is philosophical in nature, then there are many ideas presented here, there is no former paper indicating any of this relation of the poem to Northumberland, only the fact that some of the sites in the county do fit exceptional well to the description given in the poem and other sites and place names can also be assumed to fit to the picture given of the place and its history.
All references to the Anglo-Saxon Dictionary in this text indicate that there are new interpretations and different from earlier interpretations. It would complicate the text to go lengths to explain this difference and hopefully that will be done at a later date to compare all these translations. In this text there is interpretation of the meaning of the sites and places drawn from possibilities given by the poem.
The information that can be concluded from the Gosforth Stone Cross adds a lot to the information in V?lusp? poem and hopefully it will be verified with other artifacts and finds from this time.
This calculation of sunsets and sunrises as can be expected is the message in V?lusp? might relate to other areas in Britain or other places in the world and are possibly calculated and replicated from one area to another in Pre-Christian era. These references might possibly relate to other shires in Britain, calling for further research as it would give enhanced understanding of the old world and the names of places. Such work might enhance the understanding of the names of places in Britain which today seems to be difficult to gather and the meaning of these names are unclear and based on vague assumptions that are more often than not verified with local knowledge.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09HL55RJG
• ISBN13: 9798490460787
• Release Date: October 2021
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 102 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 8.5" x 11.0"