THE BOAR’S HEAD
There is a feature in the Alfred Jewel which appears to support the
theory propounded in the last chapter. I mean the Boar’s Head, which
is so wrought into the composition of the piece as to represent a
subordinate, or even a servile, relation to the saintly Figure which
is seen through the window of crystal.
About the creature indicated by this head there has been some
diversity of opinion. It has been spoken of as the head of a serpent,
of a fish, of a dolphin, and strangest of all, it has been called the
head of a griffin. Of these notions the last is the one that has been
oftenest repeated, and yet it is the most absurd. No doubt the griffin
has been variously described, nevertheless it is generally agreed that
the head of this fabulous animal is either that of an eagle or that
of a lion.
Many years ago, as I happened, in company with Dr. Liddon, to be
passing the entrance of the Ashmolean Museum—the old original building
by the Sheldonian Theatre—I asked him whether he had ever seen the
Alfred Jewel. He had not, and he manifested some alacrity and we went
in. It was naturally my part to act the showman, and I did it with
a will, which was quickened by an interested motive. I set forth
all my best exegesis of every part, except one—I left the animal’s
head unnoticed. The old doubt about the nature of this head had been
recently revived, and I lay in wait for testimony undesigned. I had
the satisfaction of hearing my companion remark interrogatively, ‘That
appears to be a boar’s head?’
Between the wild boar and the helmet there existed a close and
recognized association, as is well attested by the _Beowulf_, which
is our chief voice from the heroic age of Teutonic antiquity. In the
course of that poem there are no less than five passages in which
this habitual association of ideas stands out prominently. The first
passage is where Beowulf and his companions have reached the Danish
coast and stepped ashore and parleyed with the coast-warden, and
obtained his approval of their visit and his offer of guidance to
Hrothgar’s Court. As they set forth on their march inland, the poet
notices the play of the sunlight glancing from the boar-figures on
their helmets:
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Gewiton him þâ fêran Forth on the march they fared
—flota stille bâd, —the floater reposing,
seomode on sæ̂le, wearing on her cable,
sîd-fæðmed scip, the wide-bosomed ship,
on ancre fæst. at anchor fast.
Eoferlic scionon Boar-figures shone
ofer hleor-bergan; over the cheek-plates;
gehroden golde as chequered with gold
fâh and fŷr-heard defiant and fire-hard
ferh wearde heold. the farrow kept ward.
The second passage occurs in the course of the Lay of Hnæf, which is
inserted among the festivities that follow Beowulf’s success against
Grendel, as being sung by the minstrel in Hrothgar’s hall. In the
story of the Lay there is a fight, and that is followed by the burning
of the dead, and here the poet notices the arms which are consumed
with their owners. In the short quotation which follows, the coat of
mail is called a sark, and the helmet is indicated by its crest, which
was a boar of hard iron plated with gold:
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æt þæm âde wæs At the place of the pile
êð-gesŷne was plain to behold
swât-fâh syrce, the sark blood-stained,
swîn eal-gylden, the gilded swine-crest,
eofer îren-heard. the boar of hard iron.
The third passage presents us with an incidental description of the
terrors of a hand-to-hand fight between armed champions, and it
pictures a trial of strength between the tough steel of the flashing
sword and the hard iron of the boar on the helmet:
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þonne heoru bunden When the hafted halberd
hamere geþuren, hammer-toughened,
sweord swâte fâh, the sword battle-spotted,
swîn ofer helme at the swine on the helmet
ecgum dyhtig with urgent edge
andweard scîreð. smites importunate.
The first success of Beowulf having left an avenger alive, it becomes
necessary for the hero, in pursuance of his pledged war against the
monster brood, to dive all-armed to the bottom of an awful mere. In
our fourth quotation he is seen arming himself and preparing to plunge
into the abyss; the main pieces of his armour are described, and of
his helmet it is said as follows:—
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ac se hwîta helm But the burnished helmet
hafelan werede, his head to protect,
se þe mere-grundas in the murky mere
mengan scolde, was now to be merged,
sêcan sund-gebland in the swirl of the swimmer
since geweorðad, all its sumptuous array,
befangen frea-wrasnum fringed with lordly filigree
swa hine fyrn-dagum as in far-away days
worhte wæpna-smið, by weapon-smith ’twas wrought,
wundrum teode and wondrously dight,
besette swîn-lîcum beset with figures swine-like
þæ̂t hine siððan nô that on it ever since
brond nê beado-mêcas no brand or blade of war
bîtan ne meahton. had any power to bite.
These closing lines recall the remarkable passage of Tacitus, where
he says that the Æstii (Esthonians) venerate the mother of the gods,
and that they wear figures of the wild boar as the emblem of her
cult, and that this observance alone suffices without arms offensive
or defensive to make her votary feel secure even in the midst of
enemies[15].
The mother of the gods may be identified, or at least proximately
equated, with FRIGE, the consort of Woden, whose name survives in
the sixth day of the week, Friday; FRIGE-DÆG. A survival of her cult
is seen in the festive ceremony of the Boar’s Head, which is kept up
in Queen’s College, Oxford, adding a mystic incident to the mirth of
Christmas.
Caput apri defero,
Reddens laudes Domino.
The boar’s head in hand bring I,
With garlands gay and rosemary.
Our fifth example occurs in a passage eminently characteristic of the
heroic age, when the institutions of monarchy rested upon the personal
devotion of the thane to the king. This relation is one of great
historical consequence; it was to grow into the later institution
of knighthood; it had been matured by that immemorial tradition of
sacred confidence and fidelity between the war-chief and his companion
in arms, which is signalized by Tacitus in words familiar to the
modern historian. The passage which I am about to quote exhibits this
devotion in concrete act. Beowulf, the hero of the poem, has returned
successful from his adventure, and he is fulfilling his first duty by
rendering a report to Hygelac his king. His speech is closing with
mention of rich guerdon he had received from the king whom he had
delivered, namely, Hrothgar, son of Halfdan; and then he produces the
noblest of these prizes as a dutiful offering to his lord. This scene
constitutes a frame to our last instance of the boar-figure as the
most signal feature in a warrior’s headgear:
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“Swa se þeod kyning “So in fair customs lived
þeawum lyfde; the imperial king;
nealles ic þam leanum nor of fitting guerdon I
forloren hæfde, was aught forlorn,
mægnes mêde— of meed for service—
ac he me mâdmas geaf, yea, mighty things he gave,
sunu Healfdenes, did Halfdan’s son,
on minne sylfes dôm; myself withal to please;
þâ ic þê, beorn-cyning, which I to thee, brave prince,
bringan wylle, by choice do bring,
êstum geŷwan. in willing homage.
Gên is eall æt þê All my wealth proceeds
lissa gelong: of thy good lordship:
ic lŷt hafo nor is my lot to have
heafod-mâga, kinsman of chief account,
nefne Hygelâc þec!” king Hygelac, but thee!”
Hêt þa in beran Then bade he in to bear
eafor heafod-segn, the wild-boar crest,
heaðo-steapne helm, the helm in fight so high,
hâre byrnan, the hoary mail-coat gray,
gûð-sweord geatolic— the sword seigneurial—
gyd æfter wræc: and he said withal:
“Mê þis hilde-sceorp “To me this battle-harness
Hrôðgâr sealde, Hrothgar gave,
snotra fengel...” the sapient monarch” &c.
In the evidence above given we see indications that this traditional
choice of the wild boar for a crest was of high antiquity, and had
its origin in a religious sentiment, and our fourth passage (1449
ff.) certainly conveys the idea that the armourer who wrought at the
furniture of the helmet did so with a mind still under the spell of
the old persuasion that a mystic sanction clung to the figure of the
wild boar, and qualified it for its time-honoured post as guardian of
the warrior’s head.
In the Alfred Jewel the Boar’s Head appears to discharge a double
function: one subservient, as affording a base or pedestal to the
frame of the sacred effigy; the other servile, as a socket for the
shaft whereby the elaborate and composite design is to be fixed in its
destined place.
[15] ‘Matrem deûm venerantur. Insigne superstitionis formas aprorum
gestant: id pro armis omnique tutelâ securum deæ cultorem etiam
inter hostes præstat.’ _Germania_, 45.