Abstract
This article borrows from the field of cognitive psychology to add nuance to Jan Assmann’s notion of a prospective cultural memory of death. Whereas Assmann’s view accounts primarily for those cultures that tend to rely upon external honor and social status to formulate a sense of prospective memory of death, those cultures that tend to rely upon internal conceptions of righteousness or culpability have little representation in Assmann’s theory. For more than two decades, the field of cognitive psychology has been developing its own theory of prospective memory. There, prospective memory is the memory of (typically mundane, everyday) tasks an individual must accomplish at some point in the future (e.g., buying milk, meeting someone, or running an errand). Certain memory aids (e.g., a note in a calendar or a string tied around a finger) might assist individuals in the retrieval of prospective memories. So too might material, literary, or folkloric aids be culturally employed to assist a culture in remembering its prospects for death, dying, and the afterlife. This article explores ways that cognitive prospective memory might be useful in understanding how prospective cultural memories of death and the afterlife might have changes in Old Norse-Icelandic sources as the region’s religious landscape developed during the transitions from pre-Christian to Christian, and then from Catholic to post-Reformation, worldviews.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Assmann’s view does not clearly distinguish prospective memory from what may be called “future retrospective memory,” which is retrospective memory that will take place in the future. Assmann describes the acts of an individual who remembers (both retrospectively and presently) that their culture prioritizes external honor and face. The individual then views their own death accordingly by preparing for other members of the society to experience a positive retrospective memory. In my view, that the group will have their retrospective memory in the future, after his death, does not change the fact that it will be a retrospective memory; it is simply a retrospective memory that has not yet happened. In only one sense does Assmann’s view of death imply a prospective element: the individual remembers that death is eminent, but of this Assmann says little.
In the event of canceled prospective memories, the cognitive activation given to intentionality likewise decreases (Marsh et al. 1999).
Whereas Assmann would look to individual memorable acts, which themselves possess a variety of motivations that may or may not be discernible by the outside observer, the examination of cognitive prospective memories of death suggested here will look rather at the cultural memory aids whose specific purpose is to prompt the prospective cultural memory that Assmann’s view only implies. It likewise allows for the study to proceed with fewer a priori assumptions about the culture’s prioritization of shame or guilt (or whatever else). In other words, memory aids indicate what type of culture dominates a particular prospective cultural memory of death.
Assmann’s theory comes close to a cognitive prospective memory, since, if the individual in question intends to prepare for their legacy, they must (prospectively) remember that death will invariably come. However, a clear view of cognitive prospective memory ought to focus on the mourners rather than the one being mourned. In other words, mourners reflect on the loss of a comrade, but they also consider prospectively their own inevitable demise.
“This stone is raised for Sibbi “goði” (chieftain), son of Foldar, and his retinue (followers) set on… ???
“Hidden lies the one whom followed/(most knew it) the greatest of/deeds, Þrúð’s warrior/(battle-tree) in this howe;/never again/shall such a/battle-hardened sea warrior/rule unsurpassed over/land in Denmark” (Karlevi Rune Stone: Öl 1). Translations are my own.
There is also a non-runic inscription on the back of the stone that reads either “INONIN HE” or “INONIN IE,” the meaning of which is up for debate. See footnote 9 below for more on this inscription and how it might be suggestive of the prospective memory of death represented by the stone. For a thorough study of the Karlevi stone, see Olsen (1957) and Jansson (1987).
Sawyer conducts a thorough review of these prayers and other Christian elements, including regional differences (Sawyer 2003, pp. 133–145).
In accordance with Icelandic custom, Icelandic names are referenced and alphabetized according to first name.
Despite these strong, apparently heathen indications of cultural memory of death, we cannot ignore the second, non-runic inscription on the opposite side of the stone. It might be transcribed “INONIN IE,” which could be an abbreviated form of the phrase IN NOMINE JHESU, “In the Name of Jesus.” We cannot know for sure what this inscription means, but if it is a reference to the name of Jesus, then the Karlevi stone becomes a fascinating example of the tension between heritable and cognitive prospective memories of death. It is remarkable also that two engravings appear next to the words and are sometime interpreted as Þórr’s hammer and the Christian cross, but speculation on these symbols is tenuous. See Nottingham Runic Dictionary entry for Ö1: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/skaldic/db.php?id=569&if=runic&table=mss&val=&view=.
This observation has traction in medieval European sources as well (Ariès 1981).
See G. Turville-Petre’s discussion of draumamenn and draumkonur in “Dreams.” He states, “the dream-man or woman often gives good advice, telling the dreamer where lost objects are to be found, or where to look for straying sheep. In the end the dream-man may begin to lie, and that is a sign that the dreamer’s days are numbered” (Turville-Petre 1958, p. 101).
Arguably, there are problems with freely associating Gísli’s good dream-woman with Christianity and his bad one with paganism. For one thing, there is simply not much room for Christianity in the obviously pagan setting of Gísla saga, as the afterlife described by the good dream-woman seems as likely to be pagan as Christian in nature. There is a great hall with much gold and couches and fires, and all of Gísli’s friends and kinsmen wait for him there. Furthermore, the good dream woman beckons Gísli to rule over the wealth of the hall and to have dominion over her. On these details, H.R. Ellis-Davidson makes a good point by saying that the good dream-woman’s suggestion is “hardly in keeping with Christian teaching, and it seems probable that we have here a literary elaboration of an earlier traditional motif” (Ellis Davidson 1988, p. 140). Nevertheless, it is clear that Gísli’s well-being in the afterlife is at stake.
“With his death he put death/to death and won the victory./Its strength and power destroyed,/Nevermore can it hurt me./Though my body be laid in the earth/My soul lives on free./She will never meet with harshness,/In blissful eternity” (Hallgrímur Pétursson 1944, p. 230).
This quotation from En nij Psalmabok is most accessible in Driscoll (1996, p. 14). See, however, En nij Psalmabok at http://baekur.is/is/bok/000603210/0/23/Ein_ny_Psalma_Bok__Bls_23. My translation, as is Driscoll’s, is based on Guðbrandur Vigfússon 2: 388, although note several small changes I have made to bring the translation closer to the original, if less agreeable aesthetically.
I discuss these cultural and historical factors more fully elsewhere (Bryan 2017).
See also the international tale type designated ATU 808A: The Death of the Good and Bad Man (according to Uther 2004). Jacqueline Simpson notes that similar events accompany the demise of Michael Scot and the magician Jack O’Kent. See also O. Swire (1963, p. 48) and Leather (1912, p. 166), as referenced in Simpson (1975, ftn. 19), and more recently Bek-Pedersen (2012).
Elsewhere, I discuss the possible connection between this group of tales and the international tale type ATU 365: The Dead Bridegroom Carries off his Bride (Bryan 2017).
“‘All was quite restless as the night dragged on./Dreary is cold death./I was/taken there where many are/To the land of the living’” (Jón Árnason 1954–1961, vol. 1, p. 224).
“‘Death handled me roughly,/against death there is no defense;/death is sour and sweet,/yet he is surely in good condition/who dies in the Lord/and afterward endure the judgment’” (Jón Árnason 1954–1961, vol. 1, p. 223).
References
Annálar. (1400–1800). Hið Íslenzka Bókmentafélag (Reykjavík, 1922-27).
Ariès, P. (1981). The hour of our death (H. Weaver, Trans.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Assmann, J. (2011). Cultural memory and early civilization: Writing, remembrance, and political imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bek-Pedersen, K. (2012). Black and white dísir: From Þiðrandi to Michael Scot. Cosmos, 28, 1–15.
Benedikz, B. S. (1975). Introduction. In J. Simpson (Ed.), Legends of Icelandic magicians (pp. 1–17). Cambridge: D. S. Brewer and Rowman and Littlefield for the Folklore Society.
Brandimonte, M., Einstein, G. O., & McDaniel, M. A. (1996). Prospective memory: Theory and applications. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publisher.
Bryan, E. S. (2017). The moon glides, death rides: Pejoration and aborted otherworldly journeys in ‘The dead bridegroom carries off his bride’ (ATU 365). Intégrité, 16(1), 13–30.
Cormack, M. J. (1993). Saints and sinners: Reflections on death in some Icelandic sagas. Grípla, 8, 187–218.
Davidson, H. R. E. (1988). Myths and symbols in pagan Europe. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Dodds, E. R. (1962). The Greeks and the irrational. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Driscoll, M. (1996). The unwashed children of Eve: The production, dissemination and reception of popular literature in post-Reformation Iceland. Middlesex: Hisarlik Press.
Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. (2003). Folk-stories of Iceland, revised by (Einar G. Pétursson, Benedikt Benedikz, Trans.). & A. Faulkes (Ed.). London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
Goschke, T., & Kuhl, J. (1993). Representation of intentions: Persisting activation in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 996–1007.
Graf, P. (2005). Prospective memory retrieval revisited. In N. Ohta, C. M. MacLeod, & B. Uttl (Eds.), Dynamic cognitive processes (pp. 305–332). Tokyo: Springer.
Graf, P. (2012). Prospective memory: Faulty brain, flaky person. Canadian Psychology, 53(1), 7–13.
Graf, P., & Uttl, B. (2001). Prospective memory: A new focus for research. Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal, 10, 437–450.
Gunnar Karlsson. (2000). Iceland’s 1100 years: The history of a marginal society. London: C. Hurst.
Guðbrandur Þorláksson. En nij Psalmabok. http://baekur.is/is/bok/000603210/0/23Ein_ny_Psalma_Bok__Bls_23. Accessed 29 October 2018.
Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, F. (1883). Corpvs poeticvm boreale. The poetry of the old northern tongue, from the earliest times to the thirteenth century (Vol. 2). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hallgrímur Pétursson. (1944). Hallgrímskver: Sálmar ok kvæði. Reykjavík: Leiftur.
Íslendinga saga. (2010). In Sturlunga saga. Örnólfur Thorsson and Bergljót Kristjánsdóttir (Eds.) Reykjavik: Mál og Menning.
Jansson, S. B. F. (1987). Runes in Sweden. Stockholm: Gidlunds.
Jesch, J. (2001). Ships and men in the late Viking Age: The vocabulary of runic inscriptions and skaldic verse. Suffolk: Boydell Press.
Jón Árnason. (1954–1961). Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og ævintýri. New edition. Árni Böðvarsson and Bjarni Vilhjálmsson (eds.), 6 vols. Reykjavík: Þjóðsaga.
Jón Espólín/Einar Bjarnason. (1977). Saga frá Skagfirðingum 1685–1847. 2 vols. Reykjavík: Íðunn.
Jón Þorkelsson Vídalín. (1995). Vídalínspostilla: Hússpostilla eður einfaldar predikanir yfir öll hátíða og Sunnudagaguðspjöll árið um kring. Gunnar Kristjánsson & Mörður Árnason (Eds.), Reykjavík: Mál og Menning.
Kliegel, M., et al. (2012). Age effects in emotional prospective memory: Cue valence differentially affects the prospective and retrospective component. Psychology and Aging, 27(2), 498–509.
Kvavilashvili, L. J. (1987). Remembering intention as a distinct form of memory. British Journal of Psychology, 78, 507–518.
Leather, E. M. (1912). The folklore of Herefordshire. Hereford: Jakeman & Carver.
Loftur Guttormsson. (2000). Frá Siðaskiptum til Upplýsingar, vol. 3, Kristni á Íslandi, Reykjavík: Alþingi.
Marsh, R. L., & Hicks, J. L. (1998). Event-based prospective memory and executive control of working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24(2), 336–349.
Marsh, R. L., Hicks, J. L., & Bink, M. L. (1998). The activation of completed, uncompleted, and partially completed intentions. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24, 350–361.
Marsh, R. L., Hicks, J. L., & Bryan, E. S. (1999). The activation of unrelated and canceled intentions. Memory and Cognition, 27(2), 320–327.
Nedkvitne, A. (2009). Lay belief in Norse society, 1000–1350. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.
Nottingham runic dictionary. https://www.abdn.ac.uk/skaldic/db.php?id=569&if=runic&table=mss&val=&view.
Nordal, S. (1990). Icelandic culture. Ithaca: Cornell University Library.
Oexle, O. G. (1983). Die Gegenwart der Toten. In H. Braet, W. Verbeke, & W. Verbeke (Eds.), Death in the middle ages (pp. 19–77). Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Olsen, M. (1957). Karlevi-stenen. Det norske videnskaps-akademi i Oslo. Avhandlinger, historisk-filosofisk klasse. Oslo: Aschehoug.
Páll Vídalín. (1904). Aldarfarsbók Páls lögmanns Vídalíns 1700-1709. Reykjavík: Sögufélag.
Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls. (1953–1954). In Guðni Jónsson (Ed.). Íslendinga sögur. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan Haukadalsútgáfan. 10: 371–378.
Sawyer, B. (2003). The Viking-Age rune-stone: Custom and commemoration in early medieval Scandinavia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Simpson, J. (1975). Legends of Icelandic magicians. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer and Rowman and Littlefield for the Folklore Society.
Swire, O. (1963). The highlands and their legends (p. 1963). Edinburough: Oliver & Boyd.
Thompson, S. (1989). Motif index of folk literature: A classification of narrative elements in folk-tales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest books, and local legends. Helsinki [u.a.]: Suomalainen Tiedeakat. [u.a.].
Turville-Petre, G. (1958). Dreams in Icelandic tradition. Folklore, 69, 93–111.
Úlfar Bragason. (1991). The art of dying: Three death scenes in Íslendinga saga. Scandinavian Studies, 63(4), 453–463.
Uther, H. (2004). The types of international folktales: A classification and bibliography, based on the system of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. 3 vols. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica.
Winograd, E. (1988). Some observations on prospective remembering. Practical Aspects of Memory: Current Research and Issues, 1, 348–353.
Acknowledgements
Much of the research for this article was complete with the assistance of research grants from the American Scandinavian Foundation (2012) and the University of Missouri Research Board (2012). I am also grateful to the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík, Iceland, who kindly granted me access to their invaluable resources during the spring of 2012. Finally, special thanks go to Terry Gunnell for commenting on an early draft of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bryan, E.S. Prospective Memory of Death in Old Norse and Icelandic Sources. Neophilologus 103, 543–560 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-019-09609-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-019-09609-6