Chapter XII: Heathendom (1)

An account of the Saxons which should entirely exclude the peculiarities of their heathendom, would be deficient in an important degree. Religion and law are too nearly allied, particularly in early periods, for us to neglect either, in the consideration of national institutions. The immediate dependence of one upon the other we may not be able to show in satisfactory detail; but we may be assured that the judicial forms are always in near connexion with the cult, and that this is especially the case at times when the judicial and priestly functions are in the hands of the same class.

The Saxons were not without a system of religion, long before they heard of Christianity, nor should we be justified in asserting that religion to have been without moral influence upon the individual man in his family and social relations. Who shall dare to say that the high-thoughted barbarian did not derive comfort in affliction, or support in difficulty, from the belief that the gods watched over him,—that he did not bend in gratitude for the blessings they conferred,—that he was not guided and directed in the daily business of life by the conviction of his responsibility to higher powers than any which he recognized in the world around him? There has been, and yet is, religion without the pale of Christianity, however dim and meagre and unsatisfactory that religion may appear to us whom the mercy of God has blessed with the true light of the Gospel. Long before their conversion, all the Germanic nations had established polities and states upon an enduring basis,—upon principles which still form the groundwork and stablest foundation of the greatest empires of the world,—upon principles which, far from being abrogated by Christianity, harmonize with its purest precepts. They who think states accidental, and would eliminate Providence from the world, may attempt to reconcile this truth with their doctrine of _barbarism_; to us be it permitted to believe that, in the scheme of an all-wise and all-pervading mercy, one condition here below may be the fitting preparation for a higher; and that even Paganism itself may sometimes be only as the twilight, through which the first rays of the morning sun are dimly descried in their progress to the horizon. Without religion never was yet state founded, which could endure for ages; the permanence of our own is the most convincing proof of the strong foundations on which the massive fabric, from the first, was reared.

The business of this chapter is with the heathendom of the Saxons; not that portion of it which yet subsists among us in many of our most cherished superstitions, some of which long lurked in the ritual of the unreformed church, and may yet lurk in the habits and belief of many Protestants; but that which was the acknowledged creed of the Saxon, as it was of other Germanic populations; which once had priests and altars, a ritual and ceremonies, temples and sacrifices, and all the pomp and power of a church-establishment.

The proper subjects of mythological inquiry are the gods and godlike heroes: it is through the latter—for the most part, forms of the gods themselves—that a race connects itself with the former. Among the nations of our race royalty is indeed _iure divino_, for the ruling families are in direct genealogical descent from divinity, and the possession of Wóden’s blood was the indispensable condition of kingship. In our peculiar system, the vague records of Tuisco, the earth-born god[608], and Man, the origin and founders of the race, have vanished; the mystical cosmogony of Scandinavia has left no traces among us[609]; but we have nevertheless a mythological scheme which probably yielded neither in completeness nor imaginative power to those of the German or the Norwegian.

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Footnote 608:

“Celebrant carminibus antiquis.... Tuisconem deum terrâ editum et
filium Mannum, originem gentis conditoresque.” Germ. ii. So sung the
earliest Greeks:

ἀντίθεον δὲ Πέλασγον ἐν ὑψικομοῖσιν ὅρεσσι
γαῖα μέλαιν’ ἀνέηκεν ἵνα θνήτων γένος εἴη.

Footnote 609:

There is no better account of this than Geijer gives in his History of
Sweden, vol. i. _passim_.

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In the following pages I propose to take into consideration, first the Gods and Goddesses, properly so called: secondly, the Monsters or Titanic powers of our old creed: thirdly, the intermediate and as it were ministerial beings: and lastly the god-born and heroic personages of the epopoea.

The prudence or the contempt of the earliest Saxon Christians has left but sparing record of what Augustine and his brother missionaries overthrew. Incidental notices indeed are all that remain in any part of Teutonic Europe; and on the continent, as well as in England, it is only by the collation of minute and isolated facts,—often preserved to us in popular superstitions, legends and even nursery tales,—that we can render probable the prevalence of a religious belief identical in its most characteristic features with that which we know to have been entertained in Scandinavia. Yet whatsoever we can thus recover, proves that, in all main points, the faith of the island Saxons was that of their continental brethren.

It will readily be supposed that the task of demonstrating this is not easy. The early period at which Christianity triumphed in England, adds to the difficulties which naturally beset the subject. Norway, Sweden and Denmark had entered into public relations with the rest of Europe, long before the downfall of their ancient creed: here, the fall of heathendom and the commencement of history were contemporaneous: we too had no Iceland[610] to offer a refuge to those who fled from the violent course of a conversion, preached sword in hand, and coupled with the loss of political independence; still the progress of the new faith seems to have been on the whole easy and continuous amongst us; and though apostasy was frequent, history either had no serious struggle to record, or has wisely and prudently concealed it.

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Footnote 610:

Thus was Iceland colonized, by men who would neither relinquish their
old belief, nor submit to the growing power of a king. The Old-saxons
had no such place of refuge, and the arms of Charlemagne prevailed to
destroy their national independence and their religion together.

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In dealing with this subject, we can expect but little aid from the usual sources of information. The early chroniclers who lived in times when heathendom was even less extinct than it now is, and before it had learnt to hide itself under borrowed names, would have shrunk with horror from the mention of what to them, was an execrable impiety: many of them could have possessed no knowledge of details which to us would be invaluable, and no desire to become acquainted with them: the whole business of their life, on the contrary, was to destroy the very remembrance that such things had been, to avoid everything that could recall the past, or remind their half-converted neophytes of the creed which they and their forefathers had held. It is obvious that, under such circumstances, the greater and more powerful the God, the more dangerous would he continue to be, the more sedulously would all mention of him be avoided by those who had relinquished his service or overthrown his altars. But though this may be the case with the principal deities, there are others whose power, though unacknowledged, is likely to be more permanent. Long after the formal renunciation of a public and national paganism, the family and household gods retain a certain habitual influence, and continue—often under other names, nay perhaps engrafted on another creed—to inform the daily life of a people who are still unconsciously acted upon by ancient national feelings. A spell or a popular superstition may yet recall some traces of the old belief, even as the heathen temple, when purified with holy water and dedicated in another name, retained the holiness which had at first been attached to the site of its foundation.

What Paulus Diaconus, Jonas of Bobbio, Jornandes, Adam of Bremen, Alcuin, Widukind, and the monks of St. Gall, assert of other German races, Beda asserts of the Anglosaxons also, viz. that they worshiped idols[611], _idola_, _simulacra deorum_; and this he affirms not only upon the authority of his general informants and of unbroken tradition, but of Gregory himself. Upon the same authority also he tells us that the heathen were wont to sacrifice many oxen to their gods[612]. To Beda himself we owe the information that Hréðe and Eostre, two Saxon goddesses, gave their names to two of the months; that at a certain season cattle were vowed, and at another season cakes were offered to the gods[613]. From him also we learn that upon the death of Sǽbeorht in Essex, his sons restored the worship of idols in that kingdom[614]; that Eádwini of Northumberland offered thanks to his deities for the safe delivery of his queen[615]; that Rǽdwald of Eastanglia sacrificed victims to his gods[616]; that, on occasion of a severe pestilence, the people of Essex apostatized and returned to their ancient worship[617], till reconverted by Gearoman, under whose teachings they destroyed or deserted the fanes and altars they had made; that incantations and spells were used against sickness[618]; that certain runic charms were believed capable of breaking the bonds of the captive[619]; that Eorcenberht of Kent was the first who completely put down heathendom in his kingdom, and destroyed the idols[620]; lastly that at the court of Eádwini of Northumberland there was a chief priest[621], and, as we may naturally infer from this, an organized heathen hierarchy.

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Footnote 611:

What Tacitus says of the Germans (Germ, ix.) not having temples or
images is to be taken with great caution. It is clear from other
passages of his own work that some tribes had such, even in his time;
yet if rare then, they may easily have become universal in the course
of two or three centuries, particularly among those tribes whom
military service or commerce had gradually rendered familiar with the
religious rites of Rome.

Footnote 612:

These facts are stated in a letter from Gregory to Mellitus, in the
following words: “Cum ergo Deus omnipotens vos ad reverentissimum
virum fratrem nostrum Augustinum episcopum perduxerit, dicite ei quid
diu mecum de causa Anglorum cogitans tractavi, videlicet, quia fana
idolorum destrui in eadem gente minime debeant; sed ipsa, quae in eis
sunt, idola destruantur, aqua benedicta fiat, in eisdem fanis
aspergatur, altaria construantur, reliquiae ponantur. Quia, si fana
eadem bene constructa sunt, necesse est ut a cultu daemonum in
obsequium veri Dei debeant commutari; ut dum gens ipsa eadem fana sua
non videt destrui, de corde errorem deponat, et Deum verum cognoscens
ac adorans ad loca, quae consuevit, familiarius concurrat. Et quia
boves solent in sacrificio daemonum multos occidere, debet eis etiam
hac de re aliqua solemnitas immutari; ut die dedicationis, vel
natalitii sanctorum martyrum, quorum illic reliquiae ponuntur,
tabernacula sibi circa easdem aecclesias, quae ex fanis commutatae
sunt, de ramis arborum faciant, et religiosis conviviis solemnitatem
celebrent, nec diabolo iam animalia immolent, sed ad laudem Dei in esu
suo animalia occidant, et donatori omnium de satietate sua gratias
referant; ut dum eis aliqua exterius gaudia reservantur, ad interiora
gaudia consentire facilius valeant.” Bed. H. E. i. 30.

Footnote 613:

De Natura Rerum, cap. 15.

Footnote 614:

H. E. ii. 5.

Footnote 615:

H. E. ii. 9.

Footnote 616:

H. E. ii. 15.

Footnote 617:

“Coeperunt fana, quae derelicta erant, restaurare, et adorare
simulacra; quasi per haec possent a mortalitate defendi.” H. E. iii.
30.

Footnote 618:

H. E. iv. 27.

Footnote 619:

H. E. iv. 22.

Footnote 620:

H. E. iii. 8. Malmesbury says that he destroyed also their chapels,
“sacella deorum.” De Gest. Reg. lib. i. § 11.

Footnote 621:

H. E. ii. 13.

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The poenitentials of the church and the acts of the witena-gemóts are full of prohibitions directed against the open or secret practice of heathendom[622]; from them we learn that even till the time of Cnut, well-worship and tree-worship, the sanctification of places, spells, philtres and witchcraft, were still common enough to call for legislative interference; and the heavy doom of banishment, proclaimed against their upholders, proves how deeply rooted such pagan customs were in the minds of the people. Still in the Ecclesiastical History of Beda, in the various works which in later times were founded upon it and continued it, in the poenitentials and confessionals of the church, in the acts of the secular assemblies, we look in vain for the sacred names in which the fanes were consecrated, or for even the slightest hint of the attributes of the gods whose idols or images had been set up. Excepting the cursory mention of the two female divinities already noticed, and one or two almost equally rapid allusions in later chronicles, we are left almost entirely without direct information respecting the tenants of the Saxon Pantheon. There are however other authorities, founded on traditions more ancient than Beda himself, from which we derive more copious, if not more definite accounts. First among these are the genealogies of the Anglosaxon kings: these contain a multitude of the ancient gods, reduced indeed into family relations, and entered in the grades of a pedigree, but still capable of identification with the deities of the North and of Germany. In this relation we find Wóden, Bældæg, Geát, Wig, and Frea. The days of the week, also dedicated to gods, supply us further with the names of Tiw, Ðunor, Fricge and Sætere; and the names of places in all parts of England attest the wide dispersion of their worship. These, as well as the names of plants, are the admitted signs by which we recognize the appellations of the Teutonic gods.

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Footnote 622:

See these collected in the Appendix at the end of this Volume.

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1. WÓDEN, in Old-norse OÞINN, in Old-german WUOTAN.—The royal family of every Anglosaxon kingdom, without exception, traces its descent from Wóden through some one or other of those heroes or demigods who are familiar to us in the German and Scandinavian traditions[623]. But the divinity of Wóden is abundantly clear: he is both in form and in fact identical with the Norse Oþinn and the German Wuotan, the supreme god of all the northern races, whose divinity none will attempt to dispute[624]. Nor was this his character unknown to our early chroniclers; Malmesbury, speaking of Hengest and Hors, says: “They were the great-great-grandsons of that most ancient Wóden, from whom the royal families of almost all the barbarous nations derive their lineage; whom the nations of the Angles madly believing to be a god, have consecrated unto him the fourth day of the week, and the sixth unto his wife Frea, by a sacrilege which lasts even unto this day[625].” Matthew of Westminster[626] and Geoffry of Monmouth[627] repeat this with characteristic variations, both adding, apparently in the words of Tacitus[628], “Colimus maxime Mercurium, quem Wóden lingua nostra appellamus.” Æðthelweard, an Anglosaxon nobleman of royal blood, and thus himself a descendant of Wóden, had previously stated the same thing after the fashion of his own age,—the tenth century; he says of Hengest and Hors: “Hi nepotes fuere Uuoddan regis barbarorum, quem post, infanda dignitate, ut deum honorantes, sacrificium obtulerunt pagani, victoriae causa sive virtutis[629].” Again, he says: “Wothen, qui et rex multarum gentium, quem pagani nunc ut deum colunt aliqui.” Thus, according to him, Wóden was worshiped as the giver of victory, and as the god of warlike valour. And such is the description given by Adam of Bremen of the same god, at Upsala in Sweden: “In hoc templo, quod totum ex auro paratum est, statuas trium deorum veneratur populus, ita ut potentissimus eorum Thór in medio solum habeat triclinium, hinc et inde locum possident Wódan et Fricco. Quorum significationes eiusmodi sunt: Thór, inquiunt, praesidet in aere, qui tonitrus et fulmina, ventos imbresque, serena et fruges gubernat. Alter Wódan, id est _Fortior_, bella regit, hominumque ministrat virtutem contra inimicos. Tertius est Fricco, pacem voluptatemque largiens mortalibus. Cuius etiam simulachrum fingunt ingenti Priapo. Wódanem vero sculpunt armatum, sicuti nostri Martem sculpere solent. Thór autem cum sceptro Jovem exprimere videtur.” The Exeter book names Wóden in a similar spirit:

Hǽðnum synne
Wóden worhte weohs,
wuldor alwealda
rúme roderas[630],

that is, “For the heathen Wóden wrought the sin of idolatry, but the glorious almighty God the spacious skies:” and an early missionary is described to have thus taught his hearers: “Wóden vero quem principalem deum crediderunt et praecipuum Angli, de quo originem duxerant, cui et quartam feriam consecraverant, hominem fuisse mortalem asseruit, et regem Saxonum, a quo plures nationes genus duxerant. Huius, inquit, corpore in pulverem resoluto, anima in inferno sepulta aeternum sustinet ignem[631].”

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Footnote 623:

Roger of Wendover appears however to have made a distinction, which I
do not remember to have found in any other author, in the case of Ælli
of Sussex. He says: “Wodenus igitur ex antiquorum prosapia Germanorum
originem ducens, post mortem inter deos translatus est; quem veteres
pro deo colentes, dedicaverunt ei quartam feriam, quam de nomine eius
Wodenesday, id est diem Wodeni, nuncuparunt. Hic habuit uxorem, nomine
Fream, cui similiter veteres sextam feriam consecrantes, Freday, id
est diem Freæ, appellarunt. Genuit autem Wodenus ex uxore Frea septem
filios inclytos, ex quorum successione septem reges traxerunt
originem, qui in Britannia potenter, expulsis Britannis, postea
regnaverunt. Ex filio Wodeni primogenito, nomine Wecta, reges
Cantuariorum; ex secundo, Frehegeath, reges Merciorum; ex tertio,
Baldao, reges Westsaxonum; ex quarto, Beldago, reges Northanhumbrorum,
sive Berniciorum; ex quinto, Wegdego, reges Deirorum; ex sexto,
Kasero, reges Orientalium Anglorum; ex septimo, Saxnad, reges
Orientalium Saxonum originem habere dicuntur; octavus vero, id est,
rex Australium Saxonum, ex eadem gente, sed non ex eadem stirpe,
originem sumpsit.” Flor. Histor. i. 346.

Footnote 624:

It is a peculiarity of the Old-norse to omit the initial W; thus ormr
for wyrmr, a dragon or serpent: ulfr, for wulfr, a wolf: hence Oþinn
is literally Wóden. The identity of Wuotan is clearly shown in Grimm’s
Deut. Mythol. p. 120, _seq._

Footnote 625:

Will. Malm. De Gest. 1 § 5.

Footnote 626:

Mat. Westm. Flor. Hist. p. 82 (Ed. 1601).

Footnote 627:

Galf. Monum. lib. vi. p. 43 (Ed. 1587).

Footnote 628:

“Deorum maxime Mercurium colunt.” Germ. ix.

Footnote 629:

Æðelw. Chron. lib. ii. cap. 2.

Footnote 630:

Cod. Exon. p. 341.

Footnote 631:

Legend. Nova, fol. 210, b.

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To Wóden was dedicated the fourth or mid-day of the week, and it still retains his name: this among other circumstances tends to the identification of him with Mercurius[632]. The Old-norse Rúnatale þáttr which introduces Oþinn declaring himself to be the inventor of runes[633], is confirmed by the assertion in the dialogue of Salomon and Saturn, which to the question “Who invented letters?” answers, “I tell thee, Mercury the giant”—that is, “Wóden the god:” and this is further evidence of resemblance. A metrical homily in various collections, bearing the attractive title _De falsis diis_, supplies us with further proof of this identification, not only with Wóden, but with the Norse Oþinn: it says,

Sum man was geháten A man there was, called Mercurius on life, Mercury during life, se was swíðe fácenful who was very fraudulent and swícol on dǽdum, and deceitful in deeds, and lufode eác stala and eke loved thefts and leásbrednysse: and deception: ðone macodon ða hǽðenan him the heathen made him tó mǽran gode, a powerful god for themselves, and æt wega gelǽtum and by the road-sides him lác offrodon, made him offerings, and tó heágum beorgum and upon high hills him bróhton onsægdnysse. brought him sacrifice. Ðæs god wæs árwurða This god was honourable betwux callum hǽðenum, among all the heathen, and he is Oþon geháten and he is called Odin óðrum naman on Denisc. by another name in Danish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ðone feorðan dæg hí sealdon him tó frófre ðám foresædan Mercurie heora mǽran gode[634].

. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The fourth day
they gave for their advantage
to the aforesaid Mercury
their great god.

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Footnote 632:

This probably was the case even before any German settlement was made
in Britain. But no argument can be raised on this ground against the
genuineness of the Wóden worship here; because, if the continental
Germans worshiped him, they probably carried his rites with them to
England. We know that he is one of the gods named in the celebrated
formulary of renunciation, which the missionary Christians prepared
for the use of the Saxon converts. Why the _interpretatio Romana_
(Tac. Germ. xliii.) fixed upon Wóden as the corresponding god to
Mercury we do not clearly see: but we are not acquainted with the
rites and legends which may have made this perfectly clear to the
Romans.

Footnote 633:

Namek úpp rúnar: Grimm seems to have some doubt of the accuracy of
this translation. Deut. Myth. p. 136 (edition of 1844), but I think
unnecessarily. At all events the invention of the Hugrúnar, or Runes,
the possession of which makes men dear to their companions, is
distinctly attributed to him in the Edda:

þær of hugdi Hroptr
af þeim legi
er lekiþ hafdi
or havfi Heiddravpnis
ok or horni Hoddropnis.
(Brynh.-qu. i. 13.)

But this is an additional point of approximation to the deities whom
we consider identical with Hermes, and in some respects with Mercury,
as for instance Thoth.

Footnote 634:

MS. Cotton, Julius E. vii. 237, b. etc. See the author’s edition of
Salomon and Saturn, p. 120, _seq._

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Thus we have Mercurius, Wóden and Oþinn sufficiently identified. A careful investigation of the inner spirit of Greek mythology has led some very competent judges to see a form of Hermes in Odysseus. This view derives some corroboration from the Teutonic side of the question, and the relation in which Wóden stands to Mercurius. Even Tacitus had learnt that Ulixes had visited Germany, and there founded a town which he called Asciburgium[635]; and without insisting on the probability that Asciburgium grew out of a German Anseopurc or a Scandinavian Asgard, it seems not unreasonable to suppose that some tales of Wóden had reached the ears of the Roman, which seemed to him to resemble the history of Odysseus and his wanderings. Such a tale we yet possess in the adventures of Thorkill on his journey to Utgardaloki, narrated by Saxo Grammaticus, which bears a remarkable likeness to some parts of the Odyssey[636]; and when we consider Saxo’s very extraordinary mode of rationalizing ancient mythological traditions, we shall admit at least the probability of an earlier version of the tale which would be much more consonant with the suggestion of Tacitus, although this earlier form has unfortunately not survived. Wóden is, like Odysseus, preeminently the _wanderer_; he is Gangradr, Gangleri, the restless, moving deity. Even the cloak, hood or hat in which Oþinn is always clad[637] reminds us both of the _petasus_ of Hermes and the broad hat which Odysseus generally wears on ancient gems and pottery. That Wóden was worshiped _æt wega gelǽtum_, and that he was the peculiar patron of boundaries, again recalls to us this function of Hermes, and the Ἔρμαια. When we hear that offerings were brought to him upon the lofty hills, we are reminded that there was an ἄκριος, or Mountain Hermes too, though little known; and the Ἑρμῆς προμάχος, perhaps as little known as his mountain brother, answers to the warlike, victory-giving deity of our forefathers in his favourite form.

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Footnote 635:

“Ceterum et Ulixen quidam opinantur longo illo et fabuloso errore in
hunc Oceanum delatum adiisse Germaniae terras, Asciburgiumque, quod in
ripa Rheni situm hodieque incolitur, ab illo constitutum nominatumque.
Aram quinetiam Ulixi consecratam adiecto Laertae patris nomine eodem
loco olim repertam, monimentaque et tumulos quosdam Graecis litteris
inscriptos in confinio Germaniae Rhaetiaeque adhuc exstare. Quae neque
confirmare argumentis, neque refellere in animo est; ex ingenio suo
quisque demat vel addat fidem.” Germ. iii.

Footnote 636:

Saxo Gram. Hist. Dan. lib. viii.

Footnote 637:

Oþinn is called heklumaðr, _the man with the cloak_. Forn. Sög. i.
325. “Kom þar maðr gamall, miök orðspakr, einsýnn [Oþinn was
_one-eyed_ only] ok augdapr, ok hafði hatt sídan.” Fornman. Sög. ii.
138. “Sá hann mann mikinn með síðum hetti ... ók þotti konúngi gaman
æt ræðum hans, þviat hann kunni af öllum löndum tiðindi at segja.”
Fornman. Sög. v. 250. He is called Síðhöttr even in the Edda. Through
this cloak or _Hackle_, Wóden becomes _Hacleberend_ or _Hackleberg_,
who rides at the head of the Wilde Jagd or wild hunt.

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From the godlike or heroic sons of Wóden descend all the races qualified to reign, and some of those whose names are found in the Anglosaxon genealogies may be easily recognised in the mythological legends of the continent. In some one or other of his forms he is the _eponymus_ of tribes and races: thus, as Geát or through Geát, he was the founder of the Geátas; through Gewis, of the Gewissas; through Scyld, of the Scyldingas, the Norse Skjoldungar; through Brand, of the Brondingas; perhaps through Bætwa, of the Batavians[638]. It seems indeed not wholly improbable that every name in the merely mythical portion of the genealogies represents some particular tribe, under the distinctive appellation of its tutelar god or hero; and that we may thus be led in some degree to a knowledge of the several populations which coalesced to form the various kingdoms.

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Footnote 638:

The MS. lists read Tætwa, but as the alliteration which prevails in
those pedigrees fails in this instance, Grimm threw out the suggestion
that the original reading was Bætwa. Selden, in the English Janus, p.
9, cites Heuter de vet. Belgio, lib. ii. cap. 8, for Bato (Bætwa) the
eponymus of the Batavians, but this does not appear to rest upon any
sound authority. On the subject of the names of Wóden, and the
Anglosaxon genealogies, the reader may consult a tract of the
author’s, Die Stammtafel der Westsachsen, Munich 1836, and Beówulf,
vol. ii., the Postscript to the Preface: together with a review of the
first-named book by Jacob Grimm, in the Göttinger Gel. Anz. for 1836.

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Legends describing the adventures of Wóden either in a godlike or heroic form were probably not wanting here, or in Germany; it is only in Scandinavia that a portion of these have been preserved, unless the tales of Geát and Sceaf, to be hereafter noticed, are in reality to be referred to him. Equally probable is it that he had in this country temples, images and religious rites, traces of which we find upon the continent[639]; and that trees, animals and places were consecrated to him[640]. So numerous indeed are the latter, so common in every part of England are names of places compounded with his name, that we must admit his worship to have been current throughout the island: it seems impossible to doubt that in every quarter there were localities (usually rising ground) either dedicated to him, or supposed to be under his especial protection; and thus that he was here, as in Germany, the supreme god whom the Saxons, Franks and Alamans concurred in worshiping. The following names of places may all be unhesitatingly attributed to this cause, and they attest the general recognition and wide dispersion of Wóden’s influence.

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Footnote 639:

The ancient Germans sacrificed human victims to him. “Deorum maxime
Mercurium colunt, cui certis diebus humanis quoque hostiis litare fas
habent.” Tac. Germ. xxxix. “Victores diversam aciem Marti ac Mercurio
sacravere, quo voto equi, viri, cuncta victa occidioni dantur.” Tac.
Annal. xiii. 57. King Ane or Avn the old, offered up in succession
nine of his sons to Oþinn, to increase the length of his own life.
Yngling. Sag. cap. xxix.; Geijer, Gesch. Schwed. i. 416. “Sunt etenim
inibi vicinae nationes Suevorum; quo cum moraretur et inter
habitatores illius loci progrederetur, reperit eos sacrificium
profanum litare velle, vasque magnum, quod vulgo cupam vocant, quod
viginti et sex modios amplius minusve capiebat, cerevisia plenum in
medio habebant positum. Ad quod vir dei accessit et sciscitatur, quid
de illo fieri vellent? Illi aiunt: deo suo Wodano, quem Mercurium
vocant alii, se velle litare.” Ion. Bobbiensis Vita Columbani. Compare
also what Saxo Grammaticus says of the immense tub of beer which
Hunding prepared to celebrate the obsequies of Hadding. Hist. Dan. p.
19. On festal occasions it was usual to drink to the health, _love_ or
_minne_ of the gods. Oþinn was generally thus honoured: the custom was
preserved among Christians, who drank _minne_ to St. John, St. Martin,
St. Gertrude and other saints. Grimm, Myth. p. 53 _seq._

Footnote 640:

Wolves and ravens appear to have been Oþinn’s sacred animals: the
Saxon legends do not record anything on this subject; but here and
there we do hear of _sacred_ trees, which may possibly have been
dedicated to this god: thus the Wónác (Cod. Dipl. No. 495), the
Wonstoc (Ibid. Nos. 287, 657), “ad quendam fraxinum quem imperiti
sacrum vocant.” Ibid. No. 1052. Respecting the sacred character of the
ash see Grimm, Myth. p. 617.

-----

_Wanborough_, formerly _Wódnesbeorh_, in Surrey, lat. 51° 14´ N., long. 38´ W., placed upon the water-shed which throws down streams to north and south, and running from east to west, divides the county of Surrey into two nearly equal portions, once perhaps two petty kingdoms; the range of hills now called the Hog’s-back. It is a little to the north of the ridge, nearly on the summit; the springs of water are peculiarly pure and never freeze. In all probability it has been in turn a sacred site for every religion that has been received in Britain. _Wanborough_, formerly _Wódnesbeorh_ in Wiltshire, lat. 51° 33´ N., long. 1° 42´ W., about 3½ miles S.E. of Swindon, placed upon the watershed which throws down the Isis to the north, and Kennet to the south. _Woodnesborough_, formerly _Wódnesbeorh_, in Kent, lat. 51° 16´ N., long. 1° 29´ E., throwing down various small streams to north and south, into the Stour and the sea. _Wonston_ (probably _Wódnesstán_) in Hampshire, lat. 51° 10´ N., long. 1° 20´ W., from which small streams descend to north and south, into the Test and Itchen. _Wambrook_ (probably _Wódnesbróc_) in Dorsetshire. _Wampool_ (probably _Wódnespól_) in Cumberland. _Wansford_ (probably _Wódnesford_) in Northamptonshire. _Wansford_ in the East Riding of Yorkshire. _Wanstead_ (probably _Wódnesstede_) an old Roman station in Essex. _Wanstrow_, formerly _Wódnestreów_ _Wanborough_ or _Warnborough_, formerly _Wódnesbeorh_, two parishes in Hampshire. _Wembury_, formerly _Wódnesbeorh_, in Devonshire. _Wonersh_ (probably _Wódnesersc_), a parish at the foot of the Hog’s-back, a few miles from Wanborough. _Wansdike_, formerly _Wódnesdíc_, an ancient dike or fortification, perhaps the boundary between different kingdoms: it extended in a direction from east to west through more than one of our southern counties. Its remains are visible three or four miles W.S.W. of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, and it crosses the northern part of Somerset from the neighbourhood of Bath to Portshead on the Bristol Channel, where it ends in lat. 51° 29´ N., long. 2° 47´ W.

In addition to these references, which might be made far more numerous, if necessary, we have many instances in the boundaries of charters, of trees, stones and posts set up in Wóden’s name, and apparently with the view of giving a religious sanction to the divisions of land. In this, as in other respects, we find a resemblance to Hermes. It is also to be borne in mind that many hills or other natural objects may in fact have been dedicated to this god, though bearing more general names, as Ósbeorh, Godeshyl and so forth.

One of the names of Odin in the Old-norse mythology is _Osk_, which by an etymological law is equivalent to the German _Wunsch_, the Anglosaxon _Wisc_, and the English _Wish_. Grimm has shown in the most convincing manner that _Wunsch_ may be considered as a name of Wuotan in Germany[641]; and it is probable that _Wúsc_ or _Wísc_ may have had a similar power here. Among the names in the mythical genealogies we find Wúscfreá, _the lord of the wish_, and I am even inclined to the belief that Oisc, equivalent to Ésk, the founder of the Kentish line of kings, may be a Jutish name of Wóden in this form,—ésc, or in an earlier form óski, _i. e._ Wunsch, Wýsc[642]. In Devonshire to this day all magical or supernatural dealings go under the common name of _Wishtness_: can this have any reference to Wóden’s name Wýsc? So again a bad or unfortunate day is a _wisht_ day: perhaps a diabolical, heathen, accursed day. There are several places which appear to be compounded with this name; among them: _Wishanger_ (_Wíschangra_ or Wóden’s meadow), one, about four miles S.W. of Wanborough in Surrey, and another near Gloucester; _Wisley_ (_Wíscleáh_) also in Surrey; _Wisborough_ (probably _Wíscbeorh_) in Sussex; _Wishford_ (probably _Wíscford_) in Wiltshire.

-----

Footnote 641:

Deut. Myth. p. 126 _seq._

Footnote 642:

Oisc in the form in which the earliest authorities give this name. Æsc
is certainly later, and may have been adopted only when the original
meaning of Oisc had become forgotten.

-----

2. ÞUNOR, in Old-norse ÞORR, in Old-german DONAR.—The recognition of Ðunor in England was probably not very general at first: the settlement of Danes and Norwegians in the ninth and following centuries may have extended it in the northern districts. But though his name is not found in the genealogies of the kings, there was an antecedent probability that some traces of his worship would be found among the Saxons. Thunar is one of the gods whom the Saxons of the continent were called upon to renounce, and a total abnegation of his authority was not to be looked for even among a race who considered Wóden as the supreme god. That the fifth day of the week was called by his name is well known: Thursday is Ðunres dæg, _dies Jovis_; and he is the proper representative of Jupiter, inasmuch as he must be considered in the light of the thundering god, an elemental deity, powerful over the storms, as well as the fertilizing rains[643]. His peculiar weapon, the mace or hammer, seems to denote the violent, crushing thunderbolt, and the Norse myth represents it as continually used against the giants or elemental gods of the primal world. In a composition whose antiquity it is impossible to ascertain, we may still discover an allusion to this point: in the Christian Ragna Ravk, or _Twilight of the Gods_, it was believed that a personal conflict would take place between the divinity and a devil, the emissary and child of Satan: in the course of this conflict, it is said: “se Ðunor hit þyrsceð mid ðǽre fýrenan æxe,” the thunder will thresh it with the fiery axe[644]; and I am inclined to see a similar allusion in the Exeter Book, where the lightning is called _rynegiestes wæpn_, the weapon of Avkv Ðórr, the _car-borne god_, Thunder[645].

-----

Footnote 643:

See the quotation from Adam of Bremen, p. 337.

Footnote 644:

Salomon and Saturn, pp. 148, 177.

Footnote 645:

Cod. Exon. p. 386. l. 8.

-----

The names of places which retain a record of Ðunor are not very numerous, but some are found: among them _Thundersfield_, Ðunresfeld, in Surrey[646]; _Thundersley_, Ðunresleáh, in Essex, near Saffron Walden; _Thundersley_, Ðunresleáh, also in Essex, near Raylegh, and others in Hampshire[647]. Near Wanborough in Surrey is _Thursley_, which may have been a Ðunresleáh also: it is unlikely that it was ever Ðóresleáh, from Ðórr (the Norse form of Ðunor), but it might have been Ðyrsleáh, the meadow of the giant or monster. Very near Thursley is a hill called _Thunder hill_, probably Ðunres hyl. A similar uncertainty hangs over _Thurleigh_ in Bedfordshire, _Thurlow_ in Essex, _Thursby_ in Cumberland, _Thursfield_ in Staffordshire, and _Thursford_ in Norfolk[648]. The name of Ðunor was, to the best of my knowledge, never borne by any man among the Anglosaxons, which is in some degree an evidence of its high divinity. The only apparent exception to this assertion is found in an early tale which bears throughout such strong marks of a mythical character as to render it probable that some legend of Ðunor was current in England; especially as its locality is among the Jutish inhabitants of Kent. According to this account, Ecgbert the son of Eorcenberht, the fourth Christian king of Kent, had excluded his cousins from the throne, and fearing their popularity determined on removing them by violence. The thane Thuner divined and executed the intentions of his master. Under the king’s own throne were the bodies concealed; but a light from heaven which played about the spot revealed the crime: the king paid to their sister the wergyld of the slain princes: a hind, let loose, defined the boundaries of the grant which was to make compensation for the murder: forty-eight hides of land thus became the property of Domneva, and the repentant king erected upon them a monastery. The assassin Thuner, however, added to his guilt the still higher atrocity of sneering at the king’s repentance and its fruits: the earth suddenly opened beneath his feet and swallowed him; while the church placed the names of his victims, Æðelred and Æðelberht, on the list of its martyrs. Any comment upon this, as a historical transaction, would be perfectly superfluous, but it may possibly contain some allusion of a mythological nature; for it seems that the very fact of Ðunor’s not being a god generally worshiped in England, would render him likely to form the foundation of heroic stories. I will not absolutely say that the dragon-slaughter of Beówulf is a direct reference to the myth of Ðunor, though this is possible. Another hero of Anglosaxon tradition bears the name of the “Wandering Wolf;” he slew five-and-twenty dragons at daybreak, “on dæg-ræd;” and fell dead from their poison, as Thórr does after slaying Midgard’s orm, and Beówulf after his victory over the firedrake. The wolf however is a sacred beast of Wóden, and these names of Wandering wolf, Mearcwulf, etc. may have some reference to him, especially as we learn from Grimm that in some parts of Denmark the wild huntsman, who is unquestionably Wóden, bears the name of the flying Marcolf[649]. The heathen character of the whole relation is proved by the fact of the “famous sailor on the sea,” the “wandering wolf” being represented as the friend of Nebrond, probably Nimrod[650].

-----

Footnote 646:

Cod. Dipl. Nos. 270, 314, 363, 413.

Footnote 647:

Cod. Dipl. Nos. 450, 781, 784, 1022, 1038. Some of these are not in
Essex, but Hampshire.

Footnote 648:

The analogy of Thursday, which was unquestionably Thundersday, must be
allowed its weight in considering these local names. Even Ðyrs itself,
at one period of Anglosaxon development, might represent Ðunor, and
the resemblance of names thus lead to a little straining of the true
one.

Footnote 649:

Deut. Myth. p. 530 (ed. 1835).

Footnote 650:

Sal. Sat. p. 156.

-----

One of the names by which Ðunor is known in Germany is Hamar[651], which was perhaps originally derived from his weapon. This has become almost synonymous with _devil_. Perhaps the same allusion lurks in one or two names of places in England: in the immediate neighbourhood of Thursley in Surrey, and at a short distance from Thunderhill, are some ponds known by the name of the _Hammer-ponds_. It is remarkable that within two or three miles of Thursley and the Hammer-ponds, three singular natural mounds which form most conspicuous objects upon a very wild and desert heath, should bear the name of the Devil’s Jumps, while at a short distance a deep valley is known by that of the Devil’s Punchbowl, probably at some early period, the Devil’s Cup, Ðunres-cup or the Hamar-cup. The word Hamarden occurs in the boundaries of charters[652]; and other places recall the same name: thus _Hameringham_ in Lincoln, _Hamerton_ in Huntingdon, _Homerton_ in Middlesex (hardly _Hammersmith_ in Middlesex), _Hamerton Green_ in Yorkshire, _Hamerton Kirk_ in Yorkshire, _Hammerwick_ in Staffordshire.

-----

Footnote 651:

Deut. Myth. p. 166.

Footnote 652:

Cod. Dipl. Nos. 999, 1039, 1189.

-----

3. TIW, the Old-norse TYR, and Old-german ZIU.—The third day of the week bears among us the name of the god Tíw, the Old-norse Týr. In like manner we find him also giving his name to places. In the neighbourhood so often referred to in this chapter, and which seems to have been a very pantheon of paganism[653], not far from Thursley or from Wanborough, we find _Tewesley_, which I have no scruple to pronounce the ancient Tíwesleáh. Tísleáh[654] seems to denote the same name, and it is probable that even a race acknowledged this god as its founder,—the Tiwingas, who gave their name to _Tewing_ in Herts. Tiwes mére[655] seems to be the _mere_ or lake of Tiw, and in another charter we have also Teówes þorn[656], which goes far towards substantiating the German form Ziu.

-----

Footnote 653:

In a circuit of a few miles (taken from Elstead with a radius perhaps
of not more than four) we have Wanborough, Polstead, Thursley, the
Hammer-ponds, Waverley, Tewesley, Thunderhill, Dragonhill, Wonersh,
the Devil’s Jumps, the Devil’s Punchbowl, Wishanger, Eshing, Loseley
(Loces leáh ?), Godalming (Godhelminghám), and—as I believe, in close
connexion with these—Gyldhill, Guildford, Guilddown, Frensham
(Fremeshám), Tilford, Tilhill, Markwick, Ash, and Unstead.

Footnote 654:

Cod. Dipl. No. 739.

Footnote 655:

Ibid. No. 262.

Footnote 656:

Ibid. No. 174.

-----

The Anglosaxon glossaries are perfectly accurate when they give the rendering _Mars_ for Tíw[657], and Tíwesdæg is rightly _dies Martis_. It cannot be doubted that our forefathers worshiped this god, as a supreme giver of victory, and especially a god of battle, in some parts of Scandinavia and Germany; whether or not in England appears doubtful. In the mythology of the North he is the bravest of the gods, the one who did not scruple to place his hand in the mouth of the wolf Fenris, when he demanded a pledge that the gods would unbind the chain they had forged for him, and on their breach of faith Týr paid the penalty[658]. The Roman historian tells of the Hermunduri having vowed to sacrifice the beaten Catti to Mercury and Mars, by which vow the whole of the horses and men belonging to the defeated force were devoted to slaughter. Jornandes says of the Goths, “Martem semper asperrima placavere cultura; nam victimae ejus mortes fuere captorum, opinantes bellorum praesulem aptius humani sanguinis effusione placatum[659].” Procopius tells the same tale of his Θουλίται, that is the Scandinavians: τῶν δὲ ἱερείων σφίσι τὸ κάλλιστον ἄνθρωπος ἐστιν, ὅνπερ ἂν δοριάλωτον ποιήσαιντο πρῶτον· τοῦτον γὰρ τῷ Ἄρει θύουσιν, ἐπεὶ θεὸν αὐτὸν νομίζουσι μέγιστον εἶναι[660]. The Norse traditions, although they acknowledge Oþinn as the giver of victory, are still very explicit as to Týr: he is particularly Wígaguð, _deus praeliorum_, and an especial granter of success in battle, “rǽðr miöc sigri í orostom[661].” Perhaps the Tencteri may be added to the number of those who paid an especial honour to Týr (in German Ziu), since Tacitus makes them say, “communibus deis et praecipuo deorum Marti grates agimus[662],” where it is not at all necessary to suppose Wóden is meant; and Grimm has good reason to number the Suevi among the worshipers of Ziu[663].

-----

Footnote 657:

Mone’s Epinal Glosses gives Tiig, _Mars_, No. 520, and Lye does the
same without a reference, but no doubt from some MS. glossary. The
form is in the same relation to Tiw as Higan to Hiwan, or gesegen
(_visus_) to gesewen; but the long vowel is assured by the double _i_.

Footnote 658:

Hence in Norse he is called the _one-handed_ god, as Oþinn is the
_one-eyed_. The Teutonic gods, unlike the Indian, have not a
superfluity, but on the contrary sometimes a lack, of limbs. It is
otherwise with their horses, etc.

Footnote 659:

Hist. Goth. cap. v.

Footnote 660:

Bell. Goth. ii. 15.

Footnote 661:

Grimm, D. Myth. p. 179.

Footnote 662:

Hist. iv. 64.

Footnote 663:

Deut. Myth. pp. 180, 181.

-----

The Anglosaxon runic alphabet, which in several letters recalls the names or attributes of the ancient gods, uses Tír for T: the German runes wanting a Z = T, apply Ziu: there is however another rune, similar in shape to the runic T, but having the power of EA; this bears the name of Ear, but sometimes also in MSS. that of Tír: there are etymological grounds on which the word Tír, _gloria_, must be connected with Tíw, and we are hence led to the supposition that Ear may have been another name for that god. This gains a great importance when we bear in mind that in some parts of south Germany, the third day of the week is called, not Zistag, but Ertag, Eritag, Erichtag, for which we should indeed have expected Erestag: and when we find in Saxon Westphalia an undeniably heathen spot called Eresburg, _Mons Martis_, now Mersberg, i. e. Eresberg, the hill of Er, Ziu or Mars.

Now the Anglosaxon poem on the runic characters has something to tell us of Ear. It says of him,

Ear bið égle
eorla gehwylcum,
ðonne fæstlíce
flǽsc onginneð
hrá cólian,
hrúsan ceósan
blác to gebeddan.
Blǽda gedréosað,
wynna gewítað,
wera geswícað[664].

that is, “Ear is a terror to every man, when fast the flesh, the corpse beginneth to become cold and pale to seek the earth for a consort. Joy faileth, pleasure departeth, engagements cease.” It is clear that Ear, _spica_, _arista_, will not explain this, and we may believe that our forefathers contemplated the personal intervention of some deity whose contact was death. This may have been Tíw or Ear, especially in the battle-field, and here he would be equivalent to the Ἄρης βροτολοιγός μιαιφόνος of Homer.

-----

Footnote 664:

On the Runes of the Anglosaxons, by J. M. Kemble. Archaeologia, vol.
xxviii.

-----

More than this we shall hardly succeed in rescuing: but there yet remains a name to consider, which may possibly have tended to banish the more heathen one of Tíw. Among all the expressions which the Anglosaxons used to denote a violent death, none is more frequent than wíg fornam, or wíg gesceód, in which there is an obvious personality, Wíg (_War_) ravished away the doomed: here no doubt _war_ was represented as personally intervening, and slaying, as in other similar cases we find the feminines Hild, Gúð, which are of the same import, and the masculines Swylt, Deáð, _mors_. The abstract sense which also lay in the word _wíg_, and enabled it to be used without offence to Christian ears, may have been a reason for its general adoption in cases where at an earlier period Tíw would have been preferred. Old glossaries give us the rendering Wíg _Mars_, and Hild, _Bellona_: it is therefore not at all improbable that these words were purposely selected to express what otherwise must have been referred to a god of perilous influence: Wíg was a more general, and therefore less dangerous name than Tíw, to recall to the memory of a people prone to apostasy. That the latter survived in the name of a weekday serves only to show that it was too deeply grounded to be got rid of; perhaps its very familiarity in that particular relation rendered it safe to retain the name of any deity, as was done by five out of the seven days. But Christianity was tolerant of heathen names in other than heathen functions, and in the genealogy of the kings of Wessex, Wíg is the father of Gewis, the eponymus of the race. I have already expressed my belief that this name represented either Wóden or Tíw, and think it very likely that it was the latter, inasmuch as the paganism of the Gewissas seems to have been remarkable, beyond that of other Anglosaxon tribes: “Sed Britanniam perveniens, ac primum Gewissorum gentem ingrediens, cum omnes ibidem paganissimos inveniret,” etc.[665] “Intrante autem episcopo in portum occidentalium Saxonum, gentem qui antiquitus Gewisse vocabantur, cum omnes ibidem paganissimos inveniret,” etc.[666] The events described are of the year 634. We find that Tíw enters into the composition of the names of a few plants[667]; on the other hand it is never found in the composition of proper names, any more than Tír; although _now_ Tírberht or Tírwulf would seem quite as legitimate compounds as Eádberht, Sigeberht, Eádwulf, Sigewulf.

-----

Footnote 665:

Beda, Hist. Ecc. iii. 7.

Footnote 666:

Johann. Tynem. Legend. Nova, fol. 38.

Footnote 667:

Thus Old-norse Týsfiola, Týrhjalm, Týsviðr.

-----

FREÁ, in Old-norse FREYR, in Old-german FRO.—The god whom the Norse mythology celebrates under the name of Freyer must have borne among us the name of Freá. It is probable that he enjoyed a more extensive worship in all parts of Europe than we can positively demonstrate. At present we are only enabled to assert that the principal seat of his worship was at Upsala among the Swedes. In general there is not much trace in the North of phallic gods; but an exception must be made at once in the case of Freyr. One of the most beautiful poems of the Edda[668] tells how Freyr languished for desire of the beautiful Gerdr; it was for her love that he lost the sword, the absence of which brings destruction upon him in the twilight of the Gods. The strongest evidence of his peculiar character is found in the passage already cited from Adam of Bremen[669], and what he says of the shape under which Frea was represented at Upsala: “Tertius est Fricco, pacem, voluptatemque largiens mortalibus; cujus etiam simulachrum fingunt ingenti Priapo.” The fertilizing rains, the life-bringing sunshine, the blessings of fruitfulness and peace were the peculiar gifts of Freyr[670]; and from Adam of Bremen again we learn that he was the god of marriage: “Si nuptiae celebrandae sunt, sacrificia offerunt Fricconi.” In his car he travelled through the land, accompanied by a choir of young and blooming priestesses[671], and wherever he came plenty and peace abounded. The beast sacred to Freyr was the boar, and it is not improbable that various customs and superstitions connected with this animal may have had originally to do with his worship. It is not going too far to assert that the boar’s head which yet forms the ornament of our festive tables, especially at Christmas, may have been inherited from heathen days, and that the vows made upon it, in the middle ages, may have had their sanction in ancient paganism. But it is as an amulet that we most frequently meet with the boar in Anglosaxon. Tacitus says of the Æstyi, that, in imitation of the Suevish custom, “Matrem deum venerantur; insigne superstitionis, formas aprorum gestant. Id pro armis omnium que tutela; securum deae cultorem etiam inter hostes praestat[672].” The relation between Freá and the _Mater deorum_ is a near one. Now the Anglosaxon poems consider a boar’s form or figure so essential a portion of the helmet, that they use the word eofor, _aper_part of the armour:

hét ðá inberan he commanded them to bring in
eofor heáfordsegn, the boar (i. e. helmet) the
heaðosteápne helm. ornament of the head,
the helmet lofty in battle[673].

And still more closely, with reference to the virtues of this sign:

eoforlíc scionon the forms of boars they seemed
ofer hleor beran above their cheeks to bear
gehroden golde, adorned with gold,
fáh and fýrheard various and hardened in the fire
ferhwearde heóld. it held the guard of life[674].

And again:

ac se hwíta helm but the white helmet
hafelan werede, guarded the head,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
since geweorðad, adorned with treasure,
befongen freawrásnum, set about with lordly signs,
swá hine fyrndagum as it in days of yore
worhte wæpna smið, the armourer made,
wundrum teóde, wondrously produced,
besette swínlícum, set it about with shapes of
ðæt hine syððan nó boars,
brond né beadomecas that afterwards neither
bítan né meahton. brand nor warknife
might penetrate it[675].

Grimm citing this passage goes so far as even to render “freá wrasnum” by _Frothonis signis_, and thus connects it at once with Frea[676]; and we may admit at all events the great plausibility of the suggestion. But though distinct proof of Freá's worship in England cannot be supplied during the Saxon period, we have very clear evidence of its still subsisting in the thirteenth century. The following extraordinary story is found in the Chronicle of Lanercost[677], an. 1268. “Pro fidei divinae integritate servanda recolat lector quod, cum hoc anno in Laodonia pestis grassaretur in pecudes armenti, quam vocant usitate Lungessouth, quidam bestiales, habitu claustrales non animo, docebant idiotas patriae ignem confrictione de lignis educere et simulachrum Priapi statuere, et per haec bestiis succurrere. Quod cum unus laicus Cisterciencis apud Fentone fecisset ante atrium aulae, ac intinctis testiculis canis in aquam benedictam super animalia sparsisset, ac pro invento facinore idolatriae dominus villae a quodam fideli argueretur, ille pro sua innocentia obtendebat, quod ipso nesciente et absente fuerant haec omnia perpetrata, et adiecit, et cum ad usque hunc mensem Junium aliorum animalia languerent et deficerent, mea semper sana erant, nunc vero quotidie mihi moriuntur duo vel tria, ita quod agricultui pauca supersunt.”

-----

Footnote 668:

För Skirnis. The legend of Geát and Mæðhild however must have been of
this character: and thus Wóden may have been in some sort a phallic
Hermes.

Footnote 669:

M. Adami Bremensis lib. de situ Daniae. Ed. 1629, p. 23. Ihre, in his
Gloss. Sueogoth. mentions forms dug up in the North which clearly
prove the prevalence of phallic rites.

Footnote 670:

See Grimm, Mythol. p. 193 _seq._

Footnote 671:

Fornman. Sög. ii. 73 _seq._