Among the early Germanic peoples, a mead hall or feasting hall was a large building with a single room intended to receive guests and serve as a center of community social life. From the fifth century to the Early Middle Ages such a building was the residence of a lord or king and his retainers. These structures were also where lords could formally receive visitors and where the community would gather to socialize, allowing lords to oversee the social activity of their subjects.

Etymology
The old name of such halls may have been sal/salr and thus be present in old place names such as "Uppsala". The meaning has been preserved in German Saal, Dutch zaal, Frisian seal, Icelandic salur , Swedish, Norwegian and Danish sal, Lithuanian salė, Finnish sali, Estonian saal, Izhorian saali, Hungarian szállás, French salle, Italian/Polish/Portuguese/Spanish/Serbo-Croatian sala and Russian зал (zal), (all meaning "hall" or "large room"). In Old English, sele and sæl were used. These words are etymologically related to the modern English words salon and saloon (both augmentative forms of 'sal'). The word as a whole ("mead-hall") is a direct cognate with the Sanskrit term "madhushala" which refers to a pub or tavern.

Archaeology
From around the year 500 A.D. up until the Christianization of Scandinavia (by the 13th century), these large halls were vital parts of the political center. They were later superseded by medieval banquet halls.

Examples that have been excavated include:
  Southwest of Lejre, Denmark. Remains of a Viking hall complex were uncovered in 1986–88 by Tom Christensen of the Roskilde Museum. Wood from the foundation was radiocarbon-dated to circa 880. It was later found that this hall was built over an older hall which was itself dated to 680. In 2004–05, Christensen excavated a third hall located just north of the other two. This hall was built in the mid-6th century, exactly the time period of Beowulf. All three halls were about 50 meters long. Ongoing excavations have helped to establish the visual characteristics of the royal halls and their location in the landscape around Lejre, circa 500-1000
 Gudme, Denmark. Two similar halls were excavated in 1993. Of the so-called "Gudme Kongehal" (King's hall) only the post holes were found. The larger of the two was 47 meters long and 8 meters wide. Gold items found near the site have been dated between 200 and 550. The Iron Age graveyards of Møllegårdsmarken and Brudager are close by. The halls may have been part of a regional religious and political center serving as royal feasting places with Lundeborg serving as harbor.
West Stow, Suffolk. A village from the 5th and 6th century has been excavated, containing several halls. The largest complete hall is approximately  wide and  long.
Yeavering, Northumberland. Several halls, of varying size and purpose, have been dated back to the late sixth century and seventh century. There are two main halls, which are larger than the others. Earlier buildings at this site were most likely constructed by Britons, while the later buildings were constructed by Anglo-Saxons. The largest hall is approximately  wide and  long. The halls of Yeavering are commonly interpreted to be real-life sources of inspiration behind the mead-hall Heorot from the story of Beowulf.

Precursor
The mead hall developed from European longhouses:
The unrelated Neolithic long house was introduced with the first farmers of central and western Europe around 5000 BC. Later longhouses did not come into use until more than a thousand years after the neolithic version ceased to be used.
Germanic cattle-farmer longhouses emerged along the southwestern North Sea coast in the third or fourth century BC and are the predecessors of the German and Dutch Fachhallenhaus or Low German house. 

The possibly related medieval longhouse types of Europe of which some examples have survived are among others:
The Scandinavian or Viking Langhus, with the variants of traditional farm house such as excavated in Vorbasse, a garrison/barracks type for warriors such as found at the Viking ring castles and the sophisticated large banquetting halls such as the mead halls.
The southwest England variants in Dartmoor and Wales
The northwest England type in Cumbria
The Scottish Longhouse, "blackhouse" or taighean dubha
The French longère or maison longue (only considering the types similar to the ones described in Dartmoor or Cumbria, possibly of Norman origin)

Legends and history

There are several accounts of large feasting halls constructed for important feasts when Scandinavian royalty was invited. According to a legend recorded by Snorri Sturluson, in the Heimskringla, the late 9th century Värmlandish chieftain Áki invited both the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair and the Swedish king Eric Eymundsson, but had the Norwegian king stay in the newly constructed and sumptuous one, because he was the youngest one of the kings and the one who had the greatest prospects. The older Swedish king, on the other hand, had to stay in the old feasting hall. The Swedish king was so humiliated that he killed Áki.

The construction of new feasting halls could also be the preparation for treacherous murders of royalty. In the Ynglinga saga part of the Heimskringla, Snorri relates how, in the 8th century, the legendary Swedish king Ingjald constructed a large feasting hall solely for the purpose of burning all his subordinate petty kings late at night when they were asleep. According to Yngvars saga víðförla, the same ruse was done by the Swedish king Eric the Victorious and the Norwegian ruler Sigurd Jarl, when they murdered Áki, a rebellious Swedish subking, at Gamla Uppsala, in the late 10th century.

It is also possible that large halls may have served as places of protection. It is speculated that, under Alfred the Great's rule, fines protecting property belonging to the king may have also applied to feasting halls. These fines prevented fighting inside of the building.

Mythology
From at least the tenth century onwards in Norse mythology, there are numerous examples of halls where the dead may arrive. The best known example is Valhalla, the hall where Odin receives half of the dead lost in battle. Freyja, in turn, receives the other half at Sessrúmnir.

In fiction
In fiction, mead halls usually appear in works that take place during the Middle Ages.
 In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Meduseld (meaning "mead hall" in Old English) was the great Golden Hall built in Rohan. Meduseld was a large hall with a straw roof, which made it appear as if it were made out of gold when seen from far off. Its walls were richly decorated with tapestries depicting the history and legends of the Rohirrim, and it served as a house for the King and his kin, a meeting hall for the King and his advisors, and a gathering hall. Also, a mead hall is the central location of Beorn's home grounds where he serves mead and food to Bilbo Baggins, the Dwarves and Gandalf in The Hobbit.
 In The Elder Scrolls by Bethesda Softworks, a race called the Nords, who resemble the Germanic peoples, build large mead halls, such as Jorrvaskr found in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
 In Shrek the Third, Prince Charming visits a mead hall in order to gather some fairytale villains in order to do the "dirty work" with him in the film.
 The film How to Train Your Dragon has a brief scene with a mead hall.
 The film Beowulf mostly takes place in a mead hall.
 In the Norwegian comedy television series Norsemen (Vikingane in Norwegian), celebrations are frequently held in the village's mead hall.

See also

 Great hall
 Moot hall

References

External links
Pictures of the hall on the Lofotr museum homepage.
 A list(pdf) of twenty large Iron Age Halls. From the book The Idea of the Good (OPIA 15.) by Frands Herschend. 1998. Uppsala: Uppsala University Department of Archaeology & Ancient History; 91-506-1276-X ISSN 1100-6358 .

House types
Germanic archaeology
Early Germanic architecture
미드 홀(mead hall) 또는 연회 홀(feasting hall)은 중세 전기의 홀이다. 초기 게르만족에서 단순한 원룸이 있던 큰 건물이었던 미드 홀은 5세기부터 중세 전기까지 영주와 그의 가신들의 거주지였으며, 동시에 영주가 공식적으로 손님을 맞이하거나 신하의 사회 활동을 감독할 수 있는 장소이자 지역 공동체가 모이는 사교의 장소이기도 하였다. 미드 홀은 일반적으로 왕의 그레이트 홀이었다.

고고학  
서기 500년경부터 스칸디나비아의 기독교화(13세기까지)까지 이 그레이트 홀은 정치 중심지의 중요한 부분이었다. 이것은 나중에 중세 연회장으로 대체되었다.

발굴된 예는 다음과 같다.

 덴마크 라일러(Lejre) 남서쪽. 바이킹 홀 단지의 유적은 로스카일드 박물관의 톰 크리스텐센에 의해 1986-88년에 발견되었다. 재단의 목재는 880년경까지 방사성 탄소로 기록되었다. 나중에 이 홀이 680년으로 거슬러 올라가는 오래된 홀 위에 지어졌다는 것이 밝혀졌다. 2004-05년에 크리스텐센은 다른 두 곳의 바로 북쪽에 위치한 세 번째 홀을 발굴했다. 이 홀은 정확히 베오울프 시대인 6세기 중반에 지어졌다. 세 개의 홀은 모두 약 50미터 길이였다. 진행중인 발굴은 왕실의 시각적 특성과 500-1000년경 Lejre 주변 경관의 위치를 확립하는데 도움이 되었다.
 덴마크의 구드므(Gudme). 1993년에 두 개의 유사한 홀이 발굴되었다. 소위 "왕의 홀"(Gudme Kongehal)에서 기둥 구멍만 발견되었다. 둘 중 더 큰 것은 길이 47미터, 너비 8미터였다. 유적 근처에서 발견된 금 항목의 날짜는 200년에서 550년 사이이다. Møllegårdsmarken과 Brudager의 철기 시대 묘지가 가까이에 있다. 홀은 룬데보그가 항구로 사용되는 왕실 축제 장소로 사용되는 지역 종교 및 정치 센터의 일부일 수 있다.
 잉글랜드 서퍽주의 웨스트 스토우. 5세기와 6세기경의 마을이 발굴되었으며 여러 개의 홀이 있다. 가장 큰 전체 홀은 폭이 약 7m, 길이가 14m이다.
 잉글랜드 노섬벌랜드주의 예버링. 크기와 목적이 다양한 여러 홀은 6세기 후반과 7세기로 거슬러 올라가며, 다른 것보다 큰 두 개의 메인 홀이 있다. 이 부지의 초기 건물은 브리튼인이 지었고 후기 건물은 앵글로색슨인이 지었을 가능성이 높다. 가장 큰 홀은 폭이 약 11미터, 길이가 약 25미터이다. 예버링의 홀은 일반적으로 《베오울프》에 등장하는 헤오르트 미드 홀의 실제 모티브로 추정된다.

전설과 역사 

스칸디나비아 왕족이 초청되었을 때 중요한 연회를 위해 지어진 대규모 연회홀에 대한 몇 가지 묘사가 있다. 스노리 스투를루손이 구전한 전설에 따르면, 헤임스크링글라에서 9세기 후반 베름란드 족장 아키는 노르웨이 왕 하랄드 하르파그리와 스웨덴 왕 에릭 에이문드손을 모두 초대했지만 왕 중 막내이자 가장 큰 전망을 가진 사람이었던 노르웨이 왕은 새로 지어진 호화로운 곳에 머물렀다. 반면에 나이 든 스웨덴 왕은 오래된 연회홀에 머물러야 했다. 스웨덴 왕은 너무 굴욕적이어서 아키를 죽였다.

새로운 연회홀의 건설은 또한 왕족의 위험한 살인을 위한 준비일 가능성이 있다. 헤임스크링글라의 윙글링 사가에서 스노리는 8세기에 전설적인 스웨덴 왕 윙갈드가 밤늦게 잠들었을 때 그의 모든 부하 왕들을 불태울 목적으로 큰 연회홀을 지은 방법을 설명한다. 《장거리 여행자 잉그바르의 사가》(Yngvars saga víðförla)에 따르면, 스웨덴 왕 에이리크 인 시그르셀리와 노르웨이의 왕 호콘 시구르손이 10세기 후반 감라 웁살라에서 반역적인 스웨덴 정복자 아키를 살해했을 때 동일한 계략을 펼쳤다.

큰 홀이 보호의 장소로 사용되었을 수도 있다. 앨프레드 대왕의 통치하에서 왕의 재산을 보호하는 벌금이 연회홀에도 적용될 수 있다고 추측된다. 이 벌금은 건물 내에서의 싸움을 막았다.

신화 
적어도 10세기부터 북유럽 신화에서 죽은 자들이 도착할 수 있는 홀의 예가 많이 있다. 가장 잘 알려진 예는 오딘이 전투에서 잃은 죽은 자의 절반을 받는 홀인 발할라이다. 프레이야는 세스룸니르에서 나머지 절반을 받는다.

《베오울프》에서는 흐로드가르가 속한 헤오르트에 미드 홀이 포함되어 있으며 이곳에서 일어난 소음이 너무 큰 나머지 그렌델이 침입하여 소음을 일으키는 사람들을 학살했다.

같이 보기 

 그레이트 홀
 모트 홀

각주

외부 링크 

 Lofotr 박물관 홈페이지 의 홀 사진 .
 20 개의 대형 철기 시대 회관 목록 (pdf) . Frands Herschend의 "The Idea of the Good"(OPIA 15.) 책에서 발췌. 1998. 웁살라 : 웁살라 대학 고고학 및 고대 역사학과; 91-506-1276-X ISSN 1100-6358
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