3 Anglo-Saxon Paganism

144 Pages·2011·10.77 MB·English

Revised Edition: 2016
ISBN 978-1-283-49984-2
© All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Germanic Paganism
Chapter 2 - Germanic Neopaganism
Chapter 3 - Anglo-Saxon Paganism
Chapter 4 - Common Germanic Deities
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Chapter- 1
Introduction to Germanic Paganism

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Roman bronze figurine depicting a Germanic warrior. (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic
peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age up until their Christianization during
the Mediaeval period. It has been described as being "a system of interlocking and
closely interrelated religious worldviews and practices rather than as one indivisible
religion" and as such consisted of "individual worshippers, family traditions and regional
cults within a broadly consistent framework".
Germanic paganism took various different forms in each different area of the Germanic
world. The best documented version was that of 10th and 11th century Norse paganism,
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although other information can be found from Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic
sources. Scattered references are also found in the earliest writings of other Germanic
peoples and Roman descriptions. The information can be supplemented with archaeolo-
gical finds and remnants of pre-Christian beliefs in later folklore.
Being pagan in nature, Germanic paganism was polytheistic, with some underlying
similarities to other Indo-European traditions. Many of the deities found in Germanic
paganism appeared under similar names across the Germanic peoples, most notably the
god known to the Germans as Wodan, to the Anglo-Saxons as Woden, and to the Norse
as Odin, as well as the god known to the Germans as Donar, to the Anglo-Saxons as
Þunor and to the Norse as Thor.
History
Pre-Migration Period
The Common Germanic period begins with the European Iron Age, contemporary to the
Celtic La Tene culture to the south, growing out of earlier traditions of the Nordic Bronze
Age. Early GWermanic history remains in the prehistToric period until the earliest descript-
tions in Roman ethnography in the 1st century BC.
Caesar
The earliest forms of the Germanic religion can only be speculated on based on arch-
aeological evidence and comparative religion. The first written description is in Julius
Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico. He contrasts the elaborate religious custom of the
Gauls with the simpler Germanic traditions.
The Germans differ much from these usages, for they have neither Druids to preside over
sacred offices, nor do they pay great regard to sacrifices. They rank in the number of the
gods those alone whom they behold, and by whose instrumentality they are obviously
benefited, namely, the sun, fire, and the moon; they have not heard of the other deities
even by report. — The Gallic War (6.21)
Caesar's description contrasts with other information on the early Germanic tribes and is
not given much weight by modern scholars. It is worth mentioning his note that Mercury
(Lugus) is the principal god of the Gauls:
They worship as their divinity, Mercury in particular, and have many images of him, and
regard him as the inventor of all arts, they consider him the guide of their journeys and
marches, and believe him to have great influence over the acquisition of gain and
mercantile transactions. — The Gallic War (6.17)
The worship of deities identified by the Romans with Mercury (Woden) seems to have
been prominent among the northerly tribes.
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Tacitus
A much more detailed description of Germanic religion is Tacitus' Germania, dating to
the 1st century.
Tacitus describes both animal and human sacrifice. He identifies the chief Germanic god
with the Roman Mercury, who on certain days receives human sacrifices, while gods
identified by Tacitus with Hercules and Mars receive animal sacrifice. The largest
Germanic tribe, Suebians, also make sacrifices, allegedly of captured Roman soldiers, to
a goddess who is identified by Tacitus with Isis.
Another goddess, Nerthus, is revered by Reudignians, Aviones, Angles, Varinians,
Eudoses, Suardones and Nuithones. Nerthus is believed to directly interpose in human
affairs. Her sanctuary is on an island, specifically in a wood called Castum. A chariot
covered with a curtain is dedicated to the goddess, and only the high priest may touch it.
The priest is capable of seeing the goddess enter the chariot. Drawn by cows, the chariot
travels through the countryside, and wherever the goddess visits, a great feast is held.
During the travel of the goddess, the Germanic tribes cease all hostilities, and do not lay
their hands upon arms. When the priest declares that the goddess is tired of conversation
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with mortals, the chariot returns and is washed, together with the curtains, in a secret
lake. The goddess is also washed. The slaves who administer this purification are
afterwards thrown into the lake.
According to Tacitus, the Germanic tribes think of temples as unsuitable habitations for
gods, and they do not represent them as idols in human shape. Instead of temples, they
consecrate woods or groves to individual gods.
Divination and augury was very popular:
To the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other nations. Their method
of divining by lots is exceedingly simple. From a tree which bears fruit they cut a twig,
and divide it into two small pieces. These they distinguish by so many several marks, and
throw them at random and without order upon a white garment. Then the Priest of the
community, if for the public the lots are consulted, or the father of a family about a
private concern, after he has solemnly invoked the Gods, with eyes lifted up to heaven,
takes up every piece thrice, and having done thus forms a judgment according to the
marks before made. If the chances have proved forbidding, they are no more consulted
upon the same affair during the same day: even when they are inviting, yet, for
confirmation, the faith of auguries too is tried. Yea, here also is the known practice of
divining events from the voices and flight of birds. But to this nation it is peculiar, to
learn presages and admonitions divine from horses also. These are nourished by the State
in the same sacred woods and groves, all milk-white and employed in no earthly labour.
These yoked in the holy chariot, are accompanied by the Priest and the King, or the Chief
of the Community, who both carefully observed his actions and neighing. Nor in any sort
of augury is more faith and assurance reposed, not by the populace only, but even by the
nobles, even by the Priests. These account themselves the ministers of the Gods, and the
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horses privy to his will. They have likewise another method of divination, whence to
learn the issue of great and mighty wars. From the nation with whom they are at war they
contrive, it avails not how, to gain a captive: him they engage in combat with one
selected from amongst themselves, each armed after the manner of his country, and
according as the victory falls to this or to the other, gather a presage of the whole.
The reputation of Tacitus' Germania is somewhat marred as a historical source by the
writer's rhetorical tendencies. The main purpose of his writing seems to be to hold up
examples of virtue and vice for his fellow Romans rather than give a truthful ethno-
graphic or historical account. While Tacitus' interpretations are sometimes dubious, the
names and basic facts he reports are credible; Tacitus touches on several elements of
Germanic culture known from later sources. Human and animal sacrifice is attested by
archaeological evidence and medieval sources. Rituals tied to natural features are found
both in medieval sources and in Nordic folklore. A ritual chariot or wagon as described
by Tacitus was excavated in the Oseberg find. Sources from medieval times until the 19th
century point to divination by making predictions or finding the will of the gods from
randomized phenomena as a tradition among Germanic cultures.
While there is rich archaeological and linguistic evidence of earlier Germanic religious
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ideas, these sources are all mute, and cannot be interpreted with much confidence. Seen
in light of what we know about the medieval survival of the Germanic religions as
practiced by the Nordic nations, some educated guesses may be made. However, the
presence of marked regional differences make generalization of any such reconstructed
belief or practice a risky venture.
We do know, however, that in Tacitus' day the Germans discerned a divinity of prophecy
in women, and virgin prophetesses, such as Veleda, were honored as true and living
goddesses.
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Migration Period
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A Migration Period Germanic gold bracteate featuring a depiction of a bird, horse, and
stylized head wearing a Suebian knot sometimes theorized to represent Germanic god
Wōden and what would later become Sleipnir and Hugin or Munin in Germanic
mythology, later attested in the form of Norse mythology. The runic inscription includes
the religious term alu.
During the Migration Period, Germanic religion was subject to syncretic influence from
Christianity and Mediterranean culture.
Jordanes' Getica is a 6th century account of the Goths, written a century and a half after
Christianity largely replaced the older religions among the Goths. According to the
Getica, the chief god of the Goths was Mars, who they believed was born among them:
Now Mars has always been worshipped by the Goths with cruel rites, and captives were
slain as his victims. They thought that he who is the lord of war ought to be appeased by
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the shedding of human blood. To him they devoted the first share of the spoil, and in his
honor arms stripped from the foe were suspended from trees. And they had more than all
other races a deep spirit of religion, since the worship of this god seemed to be really
bestowed upon their ancestor. — Getica
Saint Columbanus in the 6th century encountered a beer sacrifice to Woden in Bregenz.
In the 8th century, the Germanic Saxons venerated an Irminsul. Charlemagne is reported
to have destroyed the Saxon Irminsul in 772.
The Old High German Merseburg Incantations, the only pre-Christian testimony in the
German language, contains a Sinthgunt who is the sister of the sun maiden Sunna (Sól).
She is not known by name in Nordic mythology, and if she refers to the moon, she is then
different from the Scandinavian (Mani), who is male. Further, Nanna is mentioned.
The Goths were converted to Arianism in the 4th century, contemporaneous to the
adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire itself.
Unfortunately, due to their early conversion to Christianity, little is known about the
particulars of the religion of the East Germanic peoples, separated from the remaining
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Germanic tribes during the Migration period. Such knowledge would be suited to
distinguish Proto-Germanic elements from later developments present in both North and
West Germanic.
The Franks, Alamanni, Anglo-Saxons, Saxons, and Frisians were Christianized between
the 6th and the 8th century. By the end of the Migration period, only the Scandinavians
remained pagan.
Viking age

Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor, became a badge of indigenous beliefs worn by Norse
pagans during the final stages of Norse paganism, a form of Germanic paganism.
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Early medieval North Germanic Scandinavian (Viking Age) paganism is much better
documented than its predecessors, notably via the records of Norse mythology in the
Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, as well as the sagas, written in Iceland during 1150 -
1400.
Sacrifices were known as blót, seasonal celebrations where gifts were offered to appro-
priate gods, and attempts were made to predict the coming season. Similar events were
sometimes arranged in times of crisis, for much the same reasons.
The goddess Frijja seems to have split into the two different, clearly related goddesses
Frigg and Freyja. In Nordic mythology there are certain vestiges of an early stage where
they were one and the same, such as husbands Óðr/Óðinn, their shamanistic skills and
Freyja/Frigg's infidelity.
Middle ages
In 1000 AD, Iceland became nominally Christian, although continuation of pagan
worship in private was tolerated. Most of Scandinavia was Christianized during the 11th
century. Adam von Bremen gives the last report of vigorous Norse paganism. Sometimes,
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the subjects of a lord who converted to Christianity refused to follow his lead (this
happened to the Swedish kings Olof of Sweden, Anund Gårdske and Ingold I) and would
sometimes force the lord to rescind his conversion (e.g. Haakon the Good). The attempt
of the deposed Christian monarch Olaf II of Norway to retake the throne resulted in a
bloody civil war in Norway, which ended in the battle of Stiklestad (1030). In Sweden, in
the early 1080s, Inge I was deposed by popular vote for not wanting to sacrifice to the
gods, and replaced by his brother-in-law Blot-Sweyn (literally "Sweyn the Sacrificer").
After three years of exile, Inge returned in secret to Old Uppsala and during the night the
Christians surrounded the royal hall with Blot-Sweyn inside and set it on fire. However,
Inge did not immediately regain his throne and the pagan Eirik Arsale briefly came into
power before being usurped by Inge.
In France, the French King Louis d'Outremer crushes a revolt by pagan Normans led by a
certain Thormod (Tormod, Turmod), a renegade Christian who sought to make a pagan
of the young duke Richard of Normandy (943).
During the High Middle Ages, Scandinavian paganism became marginalized and blended
into rural folklore. In folklore and legend, elements of Germanic mythology survived,
and appears in the guise of fairy tales such as those collected by the Brothers Grimm and
other folk tales and customs, as well as in medieval courtly literature (Nibelungs).
Sources
Most sources documenting Germanic paganism have presumably been lost. From Iceland
there is substantial literature, namely the Nordic Sagas and the Eddas, relating to the
pagan period, but most of this was written long after Iceland's conversion to Christianity.
Some information is found in the Nibelungenlied. The literary source closest to the pagan
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