Brisingamen
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Brisingamen is said to be the (principally amber) necklace of the goddess Freyja from Norse Mythology. When she wore it no man or god could withstand her charms, which was obviously a matter of great concern to the other goddesses during springtime when she reputedly wore it. The necklace also gave support to any army which she favoured on the battlefield.
It was reputedly forged by four dwarves (Alfrik, Berling, Dvalin and Grer), and, in order to obtain it, she was obliged to spend a night with each of them in turn. Alternatively, King Alberich gave it to her.
It was worn by Thor when he was dressed up as Freyja to marry the giant Trym.
Húsdrápa relates the story of the theft of the necklace by Loki. When Freyja awakes up she enlists the help of the Heimdall to help her search for it. Eventually they find the thief, who turns out to be Loki who has transformed himself into a seal. Heimdall turns into a seal as well and fights Loki. After a lengthy battle, Heimdall wins and returns Brisingamen to Freyja.
The necklace is referred to in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf as Brosinga mene, "Necklace of the Brosings." The brief mention in Beowulf is as follows (trans. by Howell Chickering, 1977):
...since Hama bore off
to the shining city the Brosings' necklace,
Gem-figured filigree. He gained the hatred
Of Eormanric the Goth, chose eternal reward.
This seems to confuse two different stories. The Beowulf poet is clearly referring to the saga of Dietrich of Bern, in which the warrior Heimr (Hama in Old English) takes sides against Eormanric, king of the Goths, and has to flee his kingdom after robbing him; later in life, Hama enters a monastery and gives them all his stolen treasure. However, this saga makes no mention of the great necklace. Possibly the Beowulf poet was confused, or invented the addition of the necklace to give him an excuse to drag in a mention of Eormanric. In any case, the necklace given to Beowulf in the story is not the Brisingamen itself; it's only being compared to it.
Brisingamen also appears in a second euhemerized version in Sörla þáttr.
Alan Garner wrote a children's fantasy novel called The Weirdstone of Brisingamen about an enchanted teardrop bracelet.
