CHAP. THE names of two of the Anglo-Saxon goddesses have been transmitted to us by Bede. He mentions RHEDA, to whom they sacrificed in March, which, from her rites, received the appellation of Rhed-monach; and EOSTRE, whose festivities were celebrated in April, which thence obtained the name of Єortne-monath. Her name is still retained to express the season of our great pascal solemnity: and thus the memory of one of the idols of our ancestors will be perpetuated as long as our language and country continue. Their name for a goddess was gybena; and as the word is applied as a proper name instead of Vesta 7, it is not unlikely that they had a peculiar divinity so called. THE idol adored in Heligland, one of the islands originally occupied by the Saxons, was FOSETE, who was so celebrated that the place became known by his name; it was called Foreterland. Temples were there built to him, and the country was deemed so sacred, that none dared to touch any animal which fed on it, nor to draw water from anterior to the eighth century, are involved, and partly from the wild and discordant fictions of the scalds, who have clouded the history of Odin by their fantastic mythology. The same obscurity attends the heroes of all countries who have been deified after death, and upon whose memory the poets have taken the trouble to scatter the weeds as well as the flowers of their fancy. The human existence of Odin appears to me to be satisfactorily proved by two facts: 1st, The founders of the Anglo-Saxon Octarchy deduced their descent from Odin by genealogies in which the ancestors are distinctly mentioned up to him. These genealogies have the appearance of greater authenticity by not being the servile copies of each other; they exhibit to us different individuals in the successive stages of the ancestry of each, and they claim different children of Odin as the founders of the lines. These genealogies are also purely Anglo-Saxon. 2d, The other circumstance is, that the Northern chroniclers and scalds derive their heroes also from Odin by his different children. Snorre, in his Ynglinga Saga, gives a detailed history of Sweden regularly from him; and though the Northerns cannot be suspected of having borrowed their genealogies from the AngloSaxons, yet they agree in some of the children ascribed to Odin. This coincidence between the genealogies preserved in their new country of men who left the North in the fifth and sixth centuries, and the genealogies of the most celebrated heroes who acted in the North during the subsequent ages, could not have arisen if there never had been an Odin who left such children. I have already expressed my opinion, that the Anglo-Saxon genealogies lead us to the most probable date of Odin's arrival in the North. 6 Bede, de Temporum Ratione, in his works, vol. ii. p. 81. 7 See Saxon Dictionary, voc. Gydena. a fountain which flowed there, unless in awful silence. In the eighth century, Willebrord, a converted Anglo-Saxon, born in Northumbria, who, under the auspices of his uncle Boniface, went missionary to Friesland, endeavoured to destroy the superstition, though Radbod, the fierce king of the island, devoted to a cruel death all who violated it. Willebrord, fearless of the consequences, baptized three men in the fountain, invoking the Trinity, and caused some cattle who were feeding there to be killed for the food of his companions. The surrounding pagans expected them to have been struck dead or insane.8 THAT the Angles had a goddess whom they called Hertha, or mother Earth, we learn from Tacitus. He says, that in an island in the ocean there was a grove, within which was a vehicle covered with a garment, which it was permitted to the priest alone to touch. The goddess was presumed to be within it, and was carried, by cows, with great veneration. Joy, festivity, and hospitality were then universal. Wars and weapons were forgotten, and peace and quiet reigned, then only known, then only loved, until the priest returned the goddess to her temple, satiated with mortal converse. The vehicle, the garment, and the goddess herself, were washed in a secret lake. Slaves ministered, who were afterwards drowned." THE Saxons dreaded an evil being, whom they named Faul 10; some kind of female power they called an elf, who is very frequently used as a complimentary simile to their ladies. Thus Judith is said to be elf reinu, shining as an elf. They also venerated stones, groves, and fountains. 12 The continental Saxons respected the lady 8 Alcuini vita S. Willebrord in his works, p. 1438., or in Sanct. Hist. Col. vol. vi. p. 130. Charles Martel conquered Radbod, and added the island to his dominions, ibid. Saint Liudger, who died in 809, destroyed the temples of Fosete. See his life by Altfridus, who was alive in 848, in Act. Sanct. Bolland. March. tom. iii. p. 646. 9 Tacit. de Mor. German. 10 That Faul might not hurt, was part of one of their exorcisms. See Sax. Dict. voce Faul. 11 So Judith, p. 21. 12 See Meginhard. Conrad Usperg. Wilkins, 83. Linden. Gloss. 1473. CHAP. III. III. CHAP. Hera, a fancied being, who was believed to fly about in the air in the week after their Jule, or between our Christmas and Epiphany. Abundance was thought to follow her visit. 13 We may add that Hilde, one of their terms for battle, seems to allude to a war-goddess of that name. THAT the Saxons had many idols, appears from several authors. Gregory, in the eighth century, addressing the old Saxons, exhorts them to abandon their idols, whether of gold, silver, brass, stone, or any other kind. 14 Hama, Flinnus, Siba, and Zernebogus, or the black, malevolent, ill-omened deity, are said to have occupied part of their superstitions, but we cannot be answerable for more than their names. A Saxon Venus has been also mentioned; she is exhibited as standing naked in a car, with myrtle round her head, a lighted torch in her breast, and the figure of the world in her right hand. But this description implies too much refinement in its allusions, and the authority is not decisive. 15 16 THE account of Crodus has stronger marks of authenticity; it seems to have been preserved in the Brunswick 13 Gobelin ap. Meibom. Irminsula, p. 12. We may add that Bede, in his commentary on Luke, mentions demons appearing to men as females, and to women as men, whom, he says, the Gauls call Dusii, the presumed origin of our word deuce. Hincmar, in 16 Bib. Mag. 561. But he does not say that these demons were part of the Saxon paganism. There were two personages feared in the North, whom we may mention here, as words from their names have become familiar to ourselves: one was Ochus Bochus, a magician and demon; the other was Neccus, a malign deity who frequented the waters. If any perished in whirlpools, or by cramp, or bad swimming, he was thought to be seized by Neccus. Steel was supposed to expel him, and therefore all who bathed threw some little pieces of steel in the water for that purpose. Verel. Suio-Goth. p. 13. It is probable that we here see the origin of hocus pocus, and Old Nick. 14 16 Bib. Mag. 101. 15 Fabricius Hist. Sax. p. 62. Verstigan describes the idol Flynt as the image of death in a sheet, holding a torch, and placed on a great flint-stone. He was also represented as a man in a great cloak, with a lion on his head and shoulders, and carrying a torch. His figure was sometimes more deformed, with monstrous feet. It had a crown on its head. Montf. Ant. Exp. c. 10. 16 Gyraldus says he read of this idol in the Saxon histories. Worm. Mon. Chronicle, from which more recent historians have taken their descriptions. The figure of Crodus was that of an old man clothed in a white tunic, with a linen girdle, with floating ends. His head was uncovered; his right hand. held a vessel, full of roses and other flowers, swimming in water; his left hand supported the wheel of a car; his naked feet stood on a rough scaly fish like a perch.17 It was raised on a pedestal. It was found on the Mount Hercinius, in the fortress of Harsbourg, which was anciently called Satur-bourg 18, or the fortified hill of Satur. Hence this was probably the idol of Satur, from whom our Saturday is named. 19 THAT the Saxons had the dismal custom of human sacrifices on some occasions cannot be doubted. Tacitus mentions it as a feature of all the Germans, that on certain days they offered human victims to their chief deity. Sidonius attests, that on their return from a depredation the Saxons immolated one tenth of their captives, selected by lot. 20 We have already mentioned, that for sacrilege the offender was sacrificed to the god whose temple he had violated; and Ennodius states of the Saxons, Heruli, and Francs, that they were believed to appease their deities with human blood.21 But whether human sacrifices were an established part of their superstitious ritual, or whether they were but an occasional immolation of captives or criminals, cannot be decided. Nor is the distinction material.22 17 Albinus Nov. Sax. Hist. p. 70., and Fabricius, p. 61. 18 Montfaucon Ant. Exp. c. 10. He says, that at the entrance of this fortress the place was, in his time, shown where this image stood. 19 The description of Prono, of the three-headed Trigla, of Porevith with five heads, and Svanto with four, of Radegast with a bull's head in his breast, and an eagle on his head, mentioned by Montfaucon from Grosser's History of Lusatia, seem to be more Oriental than Teutonic, and may have come into Germany from the latter Sarmatian tribes. 20 Tac. de Moribus Germ. Sid. Apoll. ep. vi. lib. 8. Herodotus says of the Scythians, the presumed ancestors of the Saxons, that they sacrificed to Mars every hundredth man of their prisoners. 21 Ennodius in Mag. Bib. Pol. 15. p. 306. Melp. 22 of the human sacrifices of the Northmen we have more express testimony. Dithmar apud Steph. 92. says, that in Seland, in January, they slew ninety-nine men, and as many horses, dogs, and cocks, to appease their CHAP. III. CHAP. Of the rites of the Anglo-Saxons we cannot learn many particulars. In the month of February they offered cakes to their deities, which occasioned the month to be called Sol monath. September, from its religious ceremonies, was denominated Halig monath, the holy month. November was marked, as the month of sacrifices, Blot monath, because at this period they devoted to their gods the cattle that they slew.23 As it was their custom to use during the winter salted or dried meat, perhaps November, or Blot monath, was the period when the winter provision was prepared and consecrated. THEIR celebrated festival of Leol, Jule, or Yule, which occurred at the period of our Christmas, was a combination of religion and conviviality. December was called eppa Leola, or before the Leol. January was exteɲa Leola, or after it. As one of the Saxon names for Christmas day was Leola, or Leohol dez, it is likely that this was the time when the festival commenced. This day was the first of their year; and as Bede derives it from the turning of the sun, and the days beginning then to lengthen 24; as it was also called mother night, and as their sun was worshipped as a female, I suspect that this was a festival dedicated to the sun. BUT the Saxon idol, whose celebrity on the Continent was the most eminent, was the IRMINSULA.25 deities. Snorre mentions a king of Sweden who immolated nine of his sons to Odin, to obtain an extension of life, i. p. 34. He also states that the Swedes sacrificed one of their sovereigns to Odin, to obtain plenty, ib. p. 56. When the famine began, oxen were offered up; in the following autumn, they proceeded to human victims, and at last destroyed their king. Dudo Quint. says, they slew cattle and men in honour of Thor. For other instances of human sacrifices in the North, see Herv. Saga, 97.; Ara Frode, 63. 145.; Kristni Saga, 93. 23 Bede, de Temporum Ratione, p. 81. See a good description of a Danish sacrifice in Snorre, Saga Hak. God. c. 16. 24 Bede, de Temporum Ratione. I see that gyl runne once occurs in a hymn, "Let the sun shine." See Dict. voc. Gyl. They who desire to see the opinions which have been given of the derivation of the Geol will be assisted by Hickes, Dissert. Ep. p. 212, &c. 25 The most complete account of this idol is in the Irminsula Saxonica, by Henry Meibomius. It is in the third volume of the Rerum German. Hist. published by the two Meibomii. |