Extraordinary Dogs and their Function in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature

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Since the dog was first domesticated, a uniquely close relationship has existed between dogs and humans around the world. Curiously, wherever this relationship has been present, so too has there been some association in the popular imagination between dogs and death. As benefits of canine companionship are coming into great focus, this project explores the different ways in which dogs and death became intertwined in the literature, history, art, and archaeology of Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia, and how they might have arisen. This project also seeks to place its research questions within a broader European and global context.The project thus has three core objectives: first, to address a gap in Old Norse and Viking studies by explicating the ways in which dogs and death became associated, and what this reveals about human-dog relationships; second, to determine explanations for these associations and, in doing so, demonstrate that so-called 'superstition' in the Middle Ages was often rooted in rational thinking; third, to demonstrate the universality of these associations by comparing them to other medieval cultures as well as to human-dog relationships today.The project situates itself in the burgeoning field of human-animal studies. The question of the 'animal' has been of central importance throughout the history of human thought, attaining a greater sense of urgency as environmental issues become a growing concern. From McHugh's monograph on the Dog to Haraway's Companion Species Manifesto, much work has been done across both the humanities and sciences on understanding human-dog relationships. Despite the rising significance of ecocriticism and human-animal studies in Old Norse and Viking studies, however, the Viking dog remains an underrepresented subject in literary scholarship. To address this imbalance, this project draws upon and adds to a larger body of scholarship around medieval conceptions of death and the afterlife, as well as research on Viking dogs in archaeology.The project considers in turn several aspects of the association between dogs and death in Viking Age-medieval Scandinavia - dogs dying in battle, being sacrificed, acting as psychopomps to guide humans to the afterlife, being present in versions of heaven and hell, mourning their departed owners, and being perceived as portents. Each aspect is considered as it is represented in a range of sources, underpinned by theory from literary studies, archaeology, human-animal studies, cultural anthropology, and the medical humanities.The primary focus will be literary, considering depictions of dogs and death across the genres of Old Norse literature, including eddic and skaldic poetry, sagas, and hagiographies. Comparisons with and influences from other medieval European literatures are also examined, highlighting both the pervasiveness of the dog-death association and the interconnectedness of the medieval world. These will be examined alongside the archaeological record, historical accounts, including those by Adam of Bremen, Thietmar of Merseburg, and Ibn Fadlan, and iconographical sources, including depictions of Valhöll on the Gotland Picture Stones.Throughout the project, potential explanations for these tropes are assessed, including the dog-human sentimental bond, dogs' roles on the battlefield, pre-Christian and Christian religious and political influences, and 'scientific' rationales based on rabies and dogs' extraordinary disease-detecting abilities. The last especially will be examined in the context of recent studies on domestic dog olfaction and its use in detecting diseases like cancer and COVID-19, in conjunction with ongoing medical, behavioural and psychological research. The project's conclusions about human-dog relations in Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia can therefore add to our understanding of those relations throughout history and today.