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Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson (1914-2006) was a British antiquarian and academic, writing in particular on Norse mythology. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (Penguin Books, 1964) is considered one of the most thorough and reputable sources on Icelandic, Norse and Germanic mythology. Davidson uses literary, historical and archaeological evidence to discuss the stories and customs of northern Europe. She was also known as Hilda Roderick Ellis, as demonstrated by the title page of the 1943 edition of The Road to Hel.

• 1914: born Bebington, Cheshire (now in Merseyside)
• education
  • Park High School for Girls, Birkenhead
  • Newnham College, Cambridge: Firsts in English and Archeology
• 1940: Ph.D.: pagan beliefs of Scandinavia under Professor and Mrs Chadwick
• 1939-1944: Assistant Lecturer in English at the Royal Holloway College
• part-time lecturer in English at Birkbeck College
• Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
• member of the Council of the Folklore Society
• held a Calouste Gulbenkian Research Fellowship at the Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge
• January 2006: died

• The Road to Hel (1943)
• The Golden Age of Northumbria (1958)
• The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England: its archaeology and literature (1962)
• Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (1964)
• Pagan Scandinavia (1967)
• Scandinavian Mythology (1969)
• The chariot of the sun, and other rites and symbols of the Northern Bronze Age (with Peter Gelling) (1969)
• The Viking Road to Byzantium (1976)
• Patterns of Folklore (1978)
• The History of the Danes/ Saxo Grammaticus (editor) (1979-1980)
• Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: early Scandinavian and Celtic religions (1988)
• Myths and Symbols of Pagan Europe (1989)
• The Seer in Celtic and other traditions (1993)
• The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe (1993)
• Boundaries and Thresholds: papers from a colloquium of the Katherine Briggs Club (editor) (1993)
• Roles of the Northern Goddess (1998)
• Supernatural Enemies (editor with Anna Chaudri) (2001)

• Tribute page

This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

• E. O. James, review of Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, Folklore (1965).
• Michael Tucker, review of Myths and Symbols of Pagan Europe, Journal of Design History (1989).

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