Hilda Ellis Davidson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hilda Ellis Davidson
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| Born | 1 October 1914 |
| Died | 12 January 2006 (aged 91) |
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Notable work
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| Spouse(s) |
Richard Robertson Davidson
(after 1943) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Katharine Briggs Folklore Award (1988) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions |
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| Thesis | Eschatology and Manticism in Old Norse Literature (1940) |
| Academic advisors | |
| Notable students | Jacqueline Simpson |
Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson (born Hilda Roderick Ellis; 1 October 1914 – 12 January 2006) was an English expert in folklore studies. She worked at the University of Cambridge and The Folklore Society. She was especially interested in studying the old religions and traditions of the Celtic and Germanic peoples.
Hilda Davidson graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge. For most of her career, she was a Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. She focused on combining different subjects to study Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Old Norse religion and folklore. She wrote many important books on these topics. Davidson was a key member of The Folklore Society. She helped folklore studies become a more scientific field. Throughout her career, she taught many students. She especially encouraged talented women to become scholars.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Hilda Ellis Davidson was born in Bebington, Cheshire, England, on October 1, 1914. Her father, Henry Roderick, was a stationer.
She earned a top degree in English, archaeology, and anthropology from Newnham College, Cambridge. She then got her Master's degree in 1939 and her PhD in 1940 from Newnham. Her PhD paper was about Old Norse religion. Hilda became very good at many languages. These included Old Norse, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Russian, Latin, and German.
Starting Her Career
Hilda Davidson began teaching English at Royal Holloway, University of London from 1939 to 1944. Her first book, The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature (1943), looked at how people in Norse paganism thought about death. She used archaeological findings to understand this. This was a new way of studying, as most scholars at the time only focused on old texts.
Davidson's way of combining different fields, like archaeology and literature, became a key part of her research. From 1945 to 1955, she taught at Birkbeck, University of London.
Even though some people disagreed with her approach, Davidson kept combining archaeology and language studies. She published several important books. These included The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England (1962) and Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (1964). She also wrote Pagan Scandinavia (1967) and Scandinavian Mythology (1969). With Peter Gelling, she published The Chariot of the Sun (1969). She also wrote many articles for journals. In these, she often used myths, legends, and folklore to explain archaeological discoveries.
Returning to Cambridge
From 1968 to 1971, Davidson was a research fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. After 1971, she became a lecturer and then a Fellow in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic studies at Lucy Cavendish. She was also the vice president at Lucy Cavendish from 1975 to 1980. She worked hard to help Lucy Cavendish College grow and become more modern.
During this time, she published more important books. These included The Viking Road to Byzantium (1976) and The History of the Danes: Saxo Grammaticus (1979–1980). At Cambridge, Davidson led the Cambridge Folklore Group. She was known as a lively and engaging speaker.
Work for The Folklore Society
Hilda Davidson joined The Folklore Society in 1949. She was a member of its council from 1956 to 1986. Later, she became an honorary member. As a leader in the Society, she helped bring back folklore studies as a scientific field. Davidson worked hard to make the Society more modern and open. She worked with friends like Katharine Briggs and Stewart Sanderson on these efforts.
These efforts led to Katharine Briggs being elected president in 1967. In the years that followed, Davidson managed the Society's publications. She oversaw a new book series called Mistletoe Books. She also organized conferences and helped edit the papers that came from them.
Davidson herself was the President of the Society from 1974 to 1976. During her time as president, the Society did very well. Its rules were updated, and its journal, Folklore, grew a lot in size and quality. Davidson's work to modernize the Society is remembered in her paper Changes in the Folklore Society, 1949–1986 (1987). Besides being a member of The Folklore Society, Davidson was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Later Career and Legacy
In her later career, Davidson was very interested in finding common themes and beliefs in both early Celtic and Germanic cultures. She wrote books like Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe (1988), Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe (1993), and Roles of the Northern Goddesses (1998). She received the Coote Lake Medal for Folklore Research in 1984. Davidson also helped create the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 1982. She won this award herself in 1988 for her book Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe.
Davidson also studied the history of folklore studies itself. With Carmen Blacker, she edited Women and Tradition: A Neglected Group of Folklorists (2000). In 1987, Davidson helped start the Katharine Briggs Dining Club. She organized many of its meetings and edited the papers that came from them. In 1988, she wrote a book about her friend Katharine Briggs. Her last editing project was A Companion to the Fairy Tale (2003).
Personal Life
On December 27, 1943, Hilda Davidson married Richard Robertson Davidson, who was a research scientist. They had two children. Davidson was a member of the Liberal Party and the Church of England. She was active in her church as a churchwarden and bell-ringer.
Death and Impact
Hilda Davidson passed away on January 12, 2006. Her funeral was held in St Bene't's Church in Cambridge. She was survived by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
When she died, Hilda Davidson had been a very respected scholar for many years. She helped more people, both experts and the general public, become interested in Norse, Germanic, and Celtic mythology. She played a big part in bringing back folklore studies after World War II. She also helped make the study of British folklore a scientific field. Many of her books were translated into other languages, including Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, and Japanese. Her efforts to combine different fields like archaeology, literature, folklore, and history were very important. She taught many scholars in mythology and folklore. She was especially dedicated to helping talented women succeed in their academic careers.
Images for kids
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Hilda Ellis Davidson
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The Ledberg stone, an example of archaeological evidence used by Davidson.
