Beowulf the Jute; His Life and Times: Angles, Saxons and Doubts

By William Pearson

The epic poem "Beowulf" has been explored by many scholars, but personal acquaintance revealed that some important aspects always seem to have been overlooked. This book's intention was to correct such omissions, but discrepancy turned out to be widespread. Rather than being solely a contribution to Scandinavia's history, the material mainly illustrates aspects of English origins as viewed by one of their own kind. A post-Roman doomed culture arose in eastern England. Largely ignored in English records, the history of this is obscure, but the geography is even more so, since reliable place-names are but few. The poem predominantly served as an allegorical tool and, laced with folklore, was used to comment on the behaviour of those in leadership roles, both in politics and religion. Synthesis even allows an identity to be suggested for the poet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jun 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524597191

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Copyright © 2017 by William Pearson.

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Contents

Part 1 - Setting the Scene

Chapters 1 to 4

Part 2 - The Historical Elements

Chapters 5 to 8

Part 3 - Tribes and Leadership

Chapters 9 and 10

Part 4 - Danes, Half-Danes and Swedes

Chapters 11 to 13

Part 5 - Vortigern, Hengest, Hamlet and Heremod

Chapters 14 to 17

Part 6 - Jutes, Saxons and Angles

Chapters 18 to 20

Part 7 - Emergence of Anglo-Saxony

Chapters 21 to 23

Part 8 - The Monster Stories

Chapters 24 to 27

Part 9 - The Poem and the Poet

Chapters 28 to 31

Part 10 - The End Is Nigh

Chapter 32

Appendix 1 - The Times of Beowulf the Jute

Appendix 2 - Other Tribes Mentioned in the Poem

Appendix 3 - Genealogical Tables

Appendix 4 - Maps

Appendix 5 - Photographs

Appendix 6 - Hard Harts and Stone Crows

Appendix 7 - Cadence and Celts:

the Date of Composition

Appendix 8 - Perceval and Hot Water

Appendix 9 - Columba and His Church

Appendix 10 - Bibliography

To June

Foreword

The work that follows is not quite as originally intended. After reading Chr. Kier’s book Beowulf, a Contribution to the History of the North, the realisation arose that some of his suggestions had validity, especially his claim that the Battle of Ravenwood took place in Angel, at the base of Jutland, rather than in Sweden. This led to the further conclusion that discrepancies in Beowulf studies were widespread, the basic cause being a general misconception as to the geography of the events in the poem. As awareness of the discrepancies grew, so did the amount of work required to cover the historical implications that lay hidden in a hitherto unexplored literary wilderness. This led to a book with many more pages than intended.

Concomitant with the general shift in location, was the opening up of literary packages that could shed light on the date of the poem’s composition and the nature and intentions of the poet.

The work has turned out to be laborious and time consuming, with results that might be described as ground-breaking. Some conclusions may appear too bold – rash even – but the work is not intended to be a historical handbook. None of it is cut and dried. Indeed, due to its exploratory nature, it invites further investigation and modification wherever proved inaccurate. Honest endeavour does not ensure that absolute truth can be assumed.

Certain conventions adopted can be mentioned. Quotation marks are used to emphasise a word, or where one has either been wrongly used or with a meaning that is contentious or dubious. Anglo-Saxon is used rather than the conventional Old English, which is too specific for the purpose here. This enables reference to the whole range of related languages in use by the Germanic invaders of Britain in the post-Roman period.

Italics are only used with words of archaic languages where their linguistic import is under scrutiny. The runic letter þ (thorn) is never used, being replaced by th. The archaic letter ð (eth – similar to the th in bathe) is retained throughout. The abbreviation aka – for also known as - is used widely. A smaller font is used to indicate passages where arguments are considered to be particularly involved or digressive.

With apologies for inconsistencies or other clear errors.

W. Pearson

Stockton-on-Tees

10th April, 2017

PART 1

Setting the Scene

Chapter 1 – Introduction

Certainty, Opinion and Doubt

The Poem

The Poet

The Characters Involved

Chapter 2 - Nordic Mythical Origins

Woden/Odin

Asa-Gods and Vana-Gods

Tiw, Thor and Taranis

The Cult of Odin: Njord

Scyld and Ull

Skjold, Njord and Frey

Chapter 3 - The Ingvaeones

The Background of the Ynglings

Chapter 4 - The Ynglings

From Gods to Kings

Start of the Yngling Kings

Descent from King Yngvi

Interaction Commences with the Danes

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CHAPTER 1

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Introduction

Certainty, Opinion, and Doubt

History has aspects that can liken it to some sort of conglomerate living being, capable of infinite growth and with prospects of total immortality. The great body of facts and theories thus comprised is sustained by a selection of human workers who attend the great bulk, this relative few being careful and diligent, while providing material that can be absorbed into the parent body to keep it growing and healthy. Many more are able to feed off the substance that history provides without diminishing it in any way. However, a few others attack the body of knowledge itself, lopping pieces off that they see to be superfluous, even though sometimes replacing them with material provided by themselves and considered more appropriate to form corporate parts of the great queen of the literate centuries.

Many are the notions held about the past that have been proved wrong in the light of later research, yet in the impenetrable world of consensus are clung to tenaciously. Even new aspects that are given reasonable coverage in the public media do not dispel impressions perpetuated in folklore and widely held; such have an inherent power to resist the results of intellectual endeavour. Against this one can set the reverse phenomenon, the inability of those holding to intellectual dogma to allow it to be modified by new evidence unless it comes from some preordained source. Any other new evidence tends to be regarded as revolutionary in the pejorative sense and hence unworthy of consideration, no matter how slender the threads on which the established view hangs; when so many have been proclaiming it authoritatively for so long, such opinion takes a lot to shift it. The perceived notion of the nature of the Dark Age character known as Beowulf would seem to fit well as an example of this second category.

Perhaps the most prominent example of the first kind in the British past is the persistent linking of Stonehenge and other stone rings with the historical Druids. When we first learn about them from Roman times their religious practices are centred on trees and wooden structures. Their only connections with stones are in certain dubious names, like the Druids’ Circle ring of stones in the English Lake District. The original error arose in the antiquarian thinking of a few centuries ago.

History emerged from a larval state that we know as prehistory. This term itself indicates the illiteracy of the folk of that earlier time. They have hence been unable to communicate directly with their now realized posterity by means of language, even though glimpses of their thought processes must be considered as persisting in genuine myths and legends, as well as in ritualistic activities of long standing. However, there are always difficulties of interpretation here that should make one wary. Various communities around the Mediterranean Sea pioneered their way into the literacy that gave birth to the classical world and the capability eventually spread into northern and western Europe. The original vehicle for this spread of writing was the Roman Empire, with its chief agent being the Christian religion that it eventually espoused, but which survived its demise, even though fractured into various parts that could be mutually hostile.

Those who have written history rarely combined it with autobiography; yet even when not conscious of behaving egocentrically, their records will inevitably be tainted by their viewpoints, so that misunderstanding will ever be present, as well as areas of complete ignorance. Written history is hence permeated and affected by large doses of opinion. Yet historians over the centuries have been constantly winnowing the received evidence, intending to isolate the grain from the chaff; but the system is far from perfect so that it is inevitable that some grain has been cast out and some chaff retained. A persistent problem is that some grains of veracity vouched for by the system are in reality rotten inside and threaten to infect the good stock to a lesser or greater degree. Once grains of knowledge have been examined and passed as good they tend to be put into stock as acceptable for consumption and then escape any further examination that we might refer to as fundamental reappraisal. Historical facts that appear to have been proved by several sources may hence be set aside confidently for eventual re-sowing to provide a new crop of firm opinions. But some of these apparent truths owe their ready acceptance as facts to constant repetition rather than to justification of the original facts and a whole mass of derived dogma can eventually depend on this. Usually the only way that any such misconception can be shed is to subject the original data to deliberate re-examination.

A classical and simple example of this is provided by the Piltdown forgery. This was brought to light by the re-examination of the skull and jaw in question using the latest techniques available. The informed opinion arrived at by the tester, Kenneth Oakley, eventually proved to be more acceptable to the scientific world than the claimed facts of the deceased hoaxer, who had formerly been lauded so excessively.

A far more complex example is provided by Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. Here he was challenging ancient accepted and venerated views, while being opposed by the formidable ranks of institutionalized opinion. This was no case of choosing between black and white, or of opinions being reversed, albeit reluctantly, by irrefutable proof. The result was basically a complex and devastating shift, with accepted opinion on origins - largely fixed by background and mindset - being upset by the sudden application of a massive counterbalance. On this matter full stability is still far from being attained.

Looking at prehistory, rather than natural history, one can indicate the work of Alexander Thom towards the end of the 20th century as providing an example of ensconced resistance by some keepers of established opinion. This was not due to any demonstrable all-pervasive weakness in the research, but rather because the work threatened the patiently built up image of the poor cultural level of the folk of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages and which was constantly being reinforced by reiteration among the custodians of authoritative opinion. The basic cause for the resistance was the assumption that, because such prehistoric folk were illiterate they were also ignorant and innumerate. Hence, despite being capable of building huge monuments in earth and stone they could neither take measurements nor make astronomical observations. From the fringes of the carpet under which efforts have been made to sweep them, these matters still persist in radiating irritation to their many doubters, especially the more fierce detractors. Even so, this is indeed an area where scepticism is especially advisable and often justifiable, since here the threat of self-deception is particularly ever present.

The work that follows has been subtitled Angles, Saxons and Doubts, since re-examination of the circumstances surrounding the invasions of England after the withdrawal of the Romans is intended to show the received history to be selectively wanting. A basic tool in this endeavour is the longest poem written in the Anglo-Saxon language. This is always referred to as Beowulf in this work, the eponymous designation having been applied after its chance discovery. This poem in the past has of necessity been primarily examined by historical linguists. However, the linguistic presentation itself has led to it being neglected as a source of English history. The fundamental conclusion that the poem deals almost exclusively with the activities of folk dwelling in the depths of Scandinavia in those dark times following the collapse of the Roman Empire has led to the actual places and characters mentioned remaining stubbornly obscure. Scandinavian researchers have tended to be only too pleased to promote these Nordic connections. Yet one should not be surprised that very little convincing evidence has been found to justify the placement of much of the various Beowulf actions in those distant locations.

The following is devoted to indicating that Beowulf is much more relevant to the history of England in this period than has been appreciated. The arrival and activities of Anglo-Saxons of necessity are often mentioned in the accounts of the first millennium by various British authors living close in time to the events and usually in disparaging terms. The Anglo-Saxons were themselves illiterate on their arrival on British shores, but when both writing and recording in Anglo-Saxon were eventually undertaken by monkish scribes, any earlier history was based on patchy oral traditions. These annalists of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles were not interested in total history, but essentially only in two aspects of it, i.e. the counting of years and the glorification of the past and present leaders of their Germanic fellows. The earliest annals are fragmentary and unreliable, or given a suspicious four-year cycle. Later ones give a more complete sequence, but a desire to fill in each year led to some fiddling; a vacant year might be allowed to borrow material from one that was more amply provided with events. Some gaps in the record have been created by racial bias: events in which the Anglo-Saxons really came off badly have tended to be suppressed. Anglo-Saxon is used here as a blanket term for the Germanic immigrants to Britain in the wake of the Romans, together with their immediate successors, whether Angles or Saxons or others, and hostile or not.

Much of the history of the period in question is dependent on the works of Bede. Yet he was writing in Latin a century or more later and often must include material from his sources that could not be checked. Much of this was biased. His interest was in the English Church and important people. He shows every indication of dislike for the historical British Church, and the Britons are virtually ignored by him, except for when they clashed with the Anglo-Saxon royal houses. Yet the impact of the Scottish Church of Columba was something that he could not ignore, given its connections with the two royal houses of Northumbria and consequent importance to those two kingdoms. His extensive coverage of the life of St. Cuthbert hence contrasts with his treatment of a British saint like Ninian.

The history of the Anglo-Saxons as recorded by themselves is thus riddled with prejudice and omission. These weaknesses can to some extent be corrected by recourse to the study of poetry, legends, historical accounts from British and other traditions, and even place-names. However, as always, these sources all hide interpretational traps peculiar to themselves. The prime task is to establish reasons for enhancing the relevance of Beowulf to English history. To do this it is necessary to challenge the notion that it is basically concerned with the main Scandinavian peninsula. After all, why should a poet writing in an Anglo-Saxon language be so interested in events in an area as remote from him as that? For that matter, assuming a sole author, who was he indeed and where did he live? And what motivated him to compose it at all?

The Poem

This can be divided into two halves. Each half contains a narrative dealing with an encounter of the hero Beowulf with monsters. In the first as a young man he kills the anthropomorphic Grendel, who has been terrorizing the hall of the Danes, and then his fearsome mother. In the second he dies as an elderly man while attempting to rid his own tribe the Geats of a dangerous dragon. He needs the help of a young companion to accomplish this. The only link between the two halves is provided by the personage Beowulf and his people the Geats. Both narratives contain extensive interruptions. These are anecdotes relating to the past of the Geats, Danes and other Germanic tribes and they have become known as digressions. There are also pious interjections that seem to be out of place in the heathen context of the poem, since they apparently refer to the God of the Christians. The poem is presented in 43 fits. The thematic division between the two halves takes place in fit 27, at which point Beowulf sails back to the land of the Geats and whereat the second scribe also takes over. However, there elapse some medial passages in which Beowulf describes his adventures at Heorot and some reminiscence takes place between him and King Hygelac about the past of the Danes. This is before the dragon raises its head at the end of fit 31.

The Poet

This was a man who had amassed a lot of material about the past of the Anglo-Saxons. Despite his various ventures into history having taken place in a completely heathen setting, he persistently makes references to God. One can safely assume that this is the deity of the Christians, even though the only direct reference to the Bible is to do with Cain, familiar to many even today as the man who slew Abel, his own brother.

This single episode from the Bible is there for a specific purpose, because it illustrates the poet’s abhorrence at kin killing, especially when it involved brothers. The monster Grendel is identified as a descendent of Cain, and hence by inference a kin killer, although without evidence. Indeed the vast bulk of the references to God occur when the text is about Grendel. It is much reduced where his mother or the dragon are involved.

As far as this work is concerned, all mention of the Christian God can be ignored. With the possible exception of the Grendel episode it could easily have been omitted without affecting the messages embedded in the poem, which are cultural rather than religious. The anomaly is emphasized after Beowulf has rid the Danes of Grendel and his mother. The heathen Danish king gives a lot of advice to the Geatish hero in the form of a moralizing speech. Here too God is mentioned much more frequently than elsewhere. This is because the poet is using Hroðgar as a mouthpiece for his own views. It is clear that his interest was in human relationships and behaviour. As elsewhere in the poem there is not a hint of liturgy. A narrow aspect of theology – grace and who was worthy of it - is obscured and complicated by the attitude of the poet and the very diction of the poem. The inference is that he was not ordained, but that his patronage probably consisted of those that were.

The Characters Involved

Although evidently a Christian, the poet concerns himself with folk who are all from a heathen culture. Yet despite their various shortcomings he usually recalls their doings without overt criticism. An obvious exception to this is Heremod, a Danish king who fell from grace. Another of this ilk, Hroðgar is apparently treated with a certain admiration, yet the same man, as found in other sources, clearly had his faults. The poet presents Hroðgar as having been a great king until he built the hall Heorot. It was this ostentation and associated activities there that attracted the murderous attention of the monster Grendel. In the end he did the right thing, he accepted help. His brother Halga is known as Helgi in Scandinavian sources, where he is shown to have been rather naughty; yet in Beowulf he bears the epithet til – the Good.

The identification of personages in early times in the North is fraught with difficulties that are due to several causes. The peoples of prehistory obviously were illiterate and their oral recollections were subject to the vagaries of human memory. Errors could also be introduced for reasons grounded in prejudice and politics. Records that have been preserved often look like genealogies, but are in effect putative lists of rulers, usually those that may have reigned in particular locations for various lengths of time and often with dubious authority. Sometimes they reflect different lists that are presented in series, but should really be in parallel. In some cases succession may not be from father to son, but to some other kinsman, close or distant, or even to someone unrelated, at least as far as this was possible among the royal kins available. While different persons possibly could bear the same name or similar names, the same person was more likely to be known by two or more names, due to ethno-linguistic reasons and location. The latter type may be either of some similarity or be totally different. Some names are fanciful, while others have been corrupted. Where a person has two or more names, one may be his true name, while any other may be a byname. This may apply with animal names like Hengest – stallion; if so, what was his real name? In some cases characters have been referred to by using place-names as personal names. While it is not to be expected that contemporaries would share the same name, occasionally a person in a kin could be named after an earlier member of it, even as close as an uncle or grandfather.

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CHAPTER 2

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Nordic Mythical Origins

Woden/Odin

It is usual for ancient Germanic royal families to trace their origins from this religious entity, who is generally regarded as the chief god. However, in those English king lists that feature Scyld, it is noticeable that his line is ostensibly continued through Woden, rather than from him. This suggests either an error of transmission or an adjustment. One might further note that while Scyld is apparently restricted to Scandinavian settings, Woden is virtually pan-Germanic, hence forms like Wotan, etc. as well as Odin.

The attributes of Odin/Woden are described in greatest detail in the Icelandic Prose Edda, but an attempt to locate his origins and follow his descent occurs in the Ynglingasaga, which claims that Odin had two brothers, Ve and Vilje, i.e. Woe and Will. All three names may once have alliterated. W- tends to be lost in the Nordic languages, but only before a back vowel. This suggests that Ve and Vilje are from pre-Viking times since the change of Wodin to Odin occurred as early as this.

Odin offered instruction and guidance with everything to do with battles and he ensured that, for men who believed in him, victory could be expected after he had laid his hand on their heads. If in need they would call out his name. He made forays abroad that could last for years and in his absence his realm was ruled by Ve and Vilje. Indeed, he was once away so long that his wife, called Frigg, took both of them in marriage. These wars were directed against the Vanas (in the west), but, being doughty opponents, they could not easily be overcome and a truce was arrived at, which was sealed with the giving of hostages.

Asa-gods and Vana-gods

A ruling dynasty known as the Ynglings emerges from descriptions of a struggle between the rival Asa and Vana gods. There was a land occupied by folk called Svitjod that had a stream round it called Tanakvisl or Vanakvisl (said to be the river Don). East of it was Asia and westwards lay Europe. Asia was associated with Asaland, whose capital was Asgard. Odin lived there, along with 12 underlings known as drotts.

According to the myths Odin was the chief of the Asa-gods, who had made war against the Vana-gods until the truce was called. After this the Vana-gods wanted to give a kingdom to Njord, whose son was Frey. The Vanas handed them over as hostages, receiving in return from the Asas someone called Höni, together with a companion called Mimir, a clever man. To balance this, the Vanas handed over their cleverest man, Kvasi.

While the Asa-gods were happy to lose Höni and Mimir, the Vanas were dissatisfied with the loss of Kvasi and the other two, and soon decided that they had got the worse part of the exchange. Becoming frustrated, they chopped of the head of Mimir and sent it back to the Asas, where Odin put it to use for consultation He decreed that the hostages Njord and Frey should become the priest-gods of sacrifice for the Asas, while Njord’s daughter Freya as a priestess was to teach the Asas the ways of sacrificial sorcery. Frey and Freya had been born to Njord by his sister, since this was allowable with the Vanas, whereas the Asas forbade such incest. The names Höni, Mimir and Kvasi appear to represent very ancient concepts, presumably relating to residual populations. It might be noted that the displaying and worship of chopped off heads is a custom more frequently associated with the Celts, so that this material may not perhaps refer to the heartland of Germanic culture.

The lands where Odin had his original estates were south of a mountain range that ran from north-east to south-west in a zone that included Tyrkland.

The Ynglingasaga divides the world into three parts. The southern one represents Africa and can be ignored here. The other two, Asia and Europe, were separated by the Black Sea and the River Tana (i.e. the Don). North of the Black Sea the land generally comprised Great Svitjod. It appears to have straddled the Don and hence was in both Europe and Asia. Land near this river was called Vanaland or Vanaheim and the stream was Vanakvisl. To the east of it the land was Asaland or Asaheim and its main city was called Asgard, with its chieftain being Odin. As already mentioned, he was often away for long periods waging war with his men.

The mountains referred to appear originally to have been those of Central Europe, the highest points of which are the Alps. However, it would seem that Snorri was unconsciously making a connection between the Norse Asa-gods (Æsir) and Asia, particularly Asia Minor. One can dismiss his Great Svitjod as an anachronism, since it most probably refers to the eventual expansion of the Swedes into Russia during the later Viking period. The Asa-realm lay east of the Don and within it was found their city of Asgard. The Vana-realm lay to the west of this. All this represents what was probably the truth only insofar as there was a large borderland river and that the Vanas represented ancient religious practices that were in conflict with intrusive Asa ones that had origins further south or south-east and with some urban connections.

While keeping this tentative view in mind one might speculate that at some time well before the Viking period, northern Europe was penetrated by various folk who had belligerent gods whose leader was eventually recognized as Wotan and in Scandinavia became the Norse Odin. The conflict between the existing gods and the newcomers ran in parallel with strife between native folk and incomers. The cult of Odin was well suited to those men who led their lives as members of warrior bands and who followed a military leader.

To the south of these people were the Romans and Odin knew that his zone of influence was restricted to the northern part of the World. He went to Gardarike and Saksland (Saxony), where he set up his sons as rulers. Snorri mentioned the Romans and their ability to subdue and occupy the lands of others. As with the Britons, it was difficult for Scandinavians to see back beyond the Romans and to accept that the biological origins of their ruling clans did not lie in the Classical world on the north shores of the Mediterranean, even if some cultural aspects actually did. Even today there are many who find it difficult to imagine that prehistoric people in northern Europe were little more than savages who painted themselves and spoke in grunts, despite the wealth of evidence to the contrary. Snorri’s suggestion of folk fleeing before Roman aggression to settle elsewhere hardly suits the northernmost parts of Europe. However, Rome may be indicative of the final aspect of the supposed location of the urban component of the Asas.

As far as it is possible to understand the circumstances, it would appear that the Vanas represent a more static religious situation comprising an accumulation of cults from the past of northern Europe, while the Asas indicate the arrival of more vigorous elements, but not always due to migration. This is a simplistic view, but it enables one to get an initial grasp on the matter. The question remains as to when did any such concepts arrive? The ideas represented by the Asas might well have flowed in as separate waves, but as far as Scandinavia is concerned it might seem that intruders of distinct culture and language were originally involved. It was c2000 BC that folk were moving into Scandinavia who buried their dead singly in modest mounds and who made slim shaft-hole stone battle-axes, often polished. There has been no recorded significant invasion of Scandinavia since these incursions. This would suggest that they represented the main carriers of languages of Indo-European type into the North. They impinged on folk whose custom had been to bury the dead in communal megalithic chambers that had been prevalent in Denmark and southern Sweden, but probably alongside residual Mesolithic elements. Eventually a brilliant Bronze Age emerged wherein the deaths of important people led to interment in large round barrows. In the light of this it seems justifiable to speculate that among the Indo-European stone battleaxe folk lay some of the origins of the Asa-gods, even if their views were to be later modified by further ideas emanating from the south.

Some scholars even believe that Indo-European speaking had its origins in Asia Minor, the bulk of modern Turkey. This might accord with the belief that the Asas built a city for themselves, known as Asgard. When Odin moved into Sweden he set up a code of laws after the pattern of Troy. However an important factor in the North was the trade that grew with the Mediterranean area and marked by the export of Baltic amber. This seems to have contributed to the northern assembly of gods in that Vulcan in Italy became Weyland there - they were both smiths.

A folk who were dominant on the Italian peninsular for much of the first millennium BC were the Etruscans, also known as Tyrrhenians. (Did the above Tyrkland refer to them rather than the Turks?) In all probability they originated in Asia Minor and came to use the Greek alphabet, but the affinity of whose inscrutable language with Indo-European is dubious. However one might note that their name for god was aisi. Their equivalent god to Vulcan was called Sethlans. (Mayani p194)

The above all suggests that Odin owed some of his origin to the Classical world of the Mediterranean and that the set-up was modelled on the gods found there. These became the Asa-gods, in Old Norse Æsir. While Weyland was equivalent to Vulcan, the basic traits of Wotan/Odin and other Asas such as Thor were modelled on the characteristics found in the south, such as the Greek gods Zeus and Ares and their eventual Roman equivalents Jupiter and Mars. This all accords with the belief that the Asa-gods inhabited a city, namely Asgard. There is a suggestion here that confusion has eventually arisen in Scandinavia between the north-south flowing Don and a west-east flowing river north of the Alps and also with its mouth at the Black Sea, namely the Danube (Donau, etc.).

However, the battleaxe folk did not come from the civilised south; they were not city dwellers and their origins were rather in the east. The Roman god Jupiter himself has an Indo-European name Jove-pater – god-father, which is reminiscent of the way that Odin was presented. But any such eventual northward Indo-European penetration was largely cultural and quite separate from the migrations that swept westwards over the north European plain and into Scandinavia. These were foot-loose folk of c2000BC, whose like were also arriving in India about this time. They had a word for god that can be found right across Eurasia from India to Britain. The Sanskrit deva is a god-name said to mean shining one. It features in the many Greek-derived personal names beginning Theo-. The tree-name deodar represents Sanskrit deva-dāru and means divine tree. One can compare dāru with Welsh derwen - oak tree and English tree (Anglo-Saxon trēow), Danish træ, etc., these being from the same root, with north Germanic substitution of d- by t-. The reference to divine trees, a shining one and some rituals associated with trees might seem to reflect certain characteristics of Odin, traits he could well have inherited from the beliefs of the migratory Indo-Europeans coming over the great plains in the east, but originally from more forested areas. Yet his warlike features seem to put him more in the same camp as the gods of the south, especially Mars/Ares. His origins were apparently composite. So the evidence persists that the beliefs from the south associated with him were hardly the result of immigration, but of those alternating activities trading and raiding. Wherever his followers became dominant it was possible to reduce the power of local gods and largely eliminate them by selectively subsuming their characteristics.

Odin’s links with trees may relate to the idea of the sil or sul, a tree trunk erected as a pillar. There are records of the Old Saxons setting up such columns, one being in honour of Mars to celebrate a victory. It was called Irmensul and the god was named as Hermind. Be this as it may, Irmen would seem to carry the same sense as the element eormen, found in the names of certain Anglo-Saxon kings and in Beowulf as a first element of compound words and carrying the sense huge, mighty. Hermind is presumably a corruption of Irmen here, but perhaps influenced by the earlier form of German Herman, whose sense is army man, warrior" and with some connection to the god Wotan.

Tiw, Thor and Taranis

The original chief god of the folk from the east or south-east would be Tîwaz in its early inflected form and related in the Indo-European sphere to the Sanskrit deva. The Norse form was Týr, while Anglo-Saxon gave Tīw. He does not occur much in mythology, but features in some personal and place-names, as well as in Tuesday. Tyr has been generally supplanted among the Asa-gods by Odin and Thor, especially as a sky god, but cult pockets devoted to him clearly survived. In this function he may mainly have given way to Thor, Odin’s son, who had a hammer that was used to make thunder and who seems to have particularly replaced Tiw/Tyr where Scandinavians prevailed. The loss of prestige by Tyr in face of the dominance achieved by Odin (Woden) is mainly evident in Scandinavian material.

The Neolithic Indo-Europeans who moved into Scandinavia c2000BC, with their polished battleaxes and individual graves contributed to the following brilliant Bronze Age which produced a profusion of much larger grave mounds. It would seem likely that they would have a god who tended to brandish an axe, but who was not necessarily linked with the sea. Stone carvings from the Bronze Age sometimes show a figure wielding a weapon, this often being broad bladed and presumably of bronze. However, he is probably not Tyr, since the figures can be both phallic and associated with boats.

Tyr appears to have been largely replaced by Thor, although the latter wields a hammer, rather than an axe, and there is even less suggestion of a connection with water. The well-known and isolated incident when he went fishing in a boat with a giant and caught the World Serpent hardly identifies him as a water god. Thor seems to have taken over some of the attributes of Tyr. His name may have been influenced by a Nordic form of thunder, but there is more to him than this. Unlike his father Odin, whose help was needed by kings, Thor was more down to earth. He went around looking for enemies of the gods to oppose and, if possible, destroy. He was the gods’ troubleshooter and became the god of pragmatic men, such as the Nordic landowning farming class, the bonds. The priesthood, royalty and especially the professional warriors turned more towards his father, Odin.

Odin also seems to have taken over attributes that were once those of Tyr. He has been described as one-eyed and wearing a broad-brimmed hat. He was a sky god in that he looked down from above and controlled things. His one-eyed description suggests that this represents the Sun. In both missile throwing and close quarter combat it was advantageous to have him on your side, i.e. shining from behind you. At this stage it is possible to perceive that the characteristics of Jupiter, Mars and Vulcan have been somewhat arbitrarily distributed between Odin, Thor and Weyland. The latter appears as Völund in Norse sources.

Thor’s main attribute is a hammer, which he uses to crush opponents and produce thunder. However, this brings to mind a smith, which might suggest that Thor superseded Weyland, especially in Scandinavia. Yet the notion of Thor perhaps stems principally from Gaul where a god existed known as Taranis the thunderer and can be depicted holding a club and a spoked wheel, as on the splendid cauldron found in a bog at Gundestrup in North Jutland, an import from further south. The suspicion arises that the object was not originally a wheel, but a disk or sheave in the tradition of Scyld Scefing (see below). A depiction of Taranis at Corbridge, Northumberland, on Hadrian’s Wall, shows him with wheel and club. The latter may be a more primitive version of Thor’s hammer, namely as a weapon rather than a tool. Taranis has been regarded as a Celtic version of Jupiter, as well as suggesting Mars.

At this point it may be apt to note that the Scyld Scefing found in Beowulf contains elements meaning shield and sheave, the former being a descendant of the latter. They both carry the sense disc.

The word tyrant is ultimately derived from Greek turannos - one who has seized power without legal right. It may ultimately be linked to the other name of the Etruscans, namely Tyrrhenians. They had a goddess called Turan who was their equivalent of Aphrodite/Venus and she was wont to spend half of the year with Adonis. The Etruscans were city dwellers and the sense may survive in the names of certain cities around the north-east corner of the Mediterranean, e.g. Tirana (Albania) and Tiryns (Greece). In post-Roman Britain a leader was referred to as a tyrant by Gildas. This may relate to his authority having come from desperate Romano-Britons who still had hopes of clinging to the urban lifestyle. This all arouses the suspicion that Taranis and Thor were male equivalents of Turan and that Thor’s hammer may reflect some derivation of this Asa-god from those top ranking artisans the masons, even though such did not exist among the Germans, except for the mythical concept Asgard.

The Cult of Odin

Odin left Ve and Vilje to rule Asgard, while he took over rule in the North. This is probably to explain why they are otherwise obscure, since northern Europe beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire still had no cities in the first millennium.

According to Snorri, Odin conquered Saxony and then set himself up on an island, Odensey on Fyn. This pinpointing is a fallacy based on the place-name Odense. There are various place-names scattered about Denmark and Sweden that refer to Odin. However, the most compelling myth involves the female figure Gefjon. Odin sent her northwards over the Sound where she received one ploughland from King Gylve and as a result marvellously created and got possession of Sjælland (now a larger island between Fyn and the Scandinavian peninsula, and on which is Copenhagen). The creation was accomplished by means of the four sons she had by a giant in Jotunheim (not necessarily the present mountainous district in Norway), who she used as oxen. Coming west (from Scandia to Zealand?), she married Odin’s son Skjold and they lived in Lejre. This single reference to Skjold in this saga is suspicious, but at least denies any claim of him being Odin’s ancestor. Odin came to terms with Gylve, who feared he could not withstand his power.

As a result of this treaty with Gylve, Odin moved up into the land now known as Sweden and took up residence at Sigtuna, north-west of Stockholm and by the large fjord called Mälaren. He had a temple there and held sacrifices as was the custom with the Asas. Nearby lies Odensala. Further north still is Old Uppsala, which remained an important cult site for the Vanas right into Viking times. He granted dwelling places to the leading gods, with Njord coming to live in Noatun and Frey near Uppsala, Heimdal near the Himmelberg hills, Thor on Trudvang and Balder on Breidablikk. These links are dubious, but Noatun at least associates Njord with Noah and hence water and boating.

Odin’s personality was pleasant enough when at home, but when abroad and at war he became gruesome. He had the ability to change his coloration and appearance, while his truth was to be regarded as the only truth.

When he spoke he used rhyme and verse, and it was his priests who brought poetry (skáldskap) to the North. He is said to have owned the ship called Skíðblaðnir that could be collapsed to fit into a pouch. However, this ship is more usually and surely associated with Frey.

There is some interest in speculating about where this interaction between Odin, Skjold, Gylve and Gefjon took place. The last exhibits traits that could identify her as a form of Mother or Earth Goddess. There is an apparent concentration here on southern Sweden and the Danish islands to the west, especially Zealand. This is the area that was central to the Neolithic passage grave culture. As in Britain, ancient structures in Scandinavia were later associated with giants and stone ones could be regarded as giants’ graves. This is evident in that megalithic passage graves are known in Danish as jætte stuer - giants’ chambers. It might thus be claimed that Scandia and Zealand are the original Jotunheim (giants’ home) and that the original giants were the Neolithic folk who built the megaliths. The folk who built such structures must surely have been giants, even though this term must in no way be taken to reflect their actual stature.

The basic myth perhaps recalls how the Indo-European battle-axe folk encroached on the megalith builders. One must suspect that over the course of time the name Odin has largely supplanted that of their original god Tyr. Thus in later belief did the folk of Tyr/Odin first come to Saxony and then settled on the main Danish islands, the route being by way of Jutland to Fyn. Eastwards over the Sound was Scandia, the sphere of influence of the pair Gylve and Gefion. Their land was overrun by those who were destined to become worshippers of Odin and the Asa-gods, whose power eventually enabled them to find their way northwards, even past Stockholm, while it can be assumed that they also moved northwards throughout the present Jutland. Yet there were areas where disparate older cults lived on and might even form and maintain pantheons of their own. Here one can think of Sweden north of Sigtuna and beyond that Norway. The importance of the lands around the great inlet now in the south-east of Norway (Viken – the Wyke) will emerge later. Apart from the above, one might consider that the battle-axe folk were not originally seafarers and that bleak, coastal areas, even with islands, were initially not attractive to them. Such a one would be Norway, but the main area to be considered in this respect is the coastal zone eventually known as Friesland.

A difficulty is that cults were being influenced by each other over the long period involved. The beliefs of new arrivals could dominate those of native folk. One way in which this was done can be perceived among the Greek myths whereby the likes of Cronus and Uranus were considered to be the forebears of the Olympian gods. At the same time they were perceived as primitive, inferior and generally past it. The arrivals of first Tyr and then Odin in Scandinavia may have had this effect. The myths suggest that after any initial conflict eventual peaceful co-existence between the battle-axe folk and the natives appears to have been arrived at by Tyr or Odin or their kins marrying into existing families of gods. Thus did Gefjon marry Skjold, but without there being any explanation as to how he became Odin’s son. Since there is no other link between Skjold and Asgard it would seem that his existence represents a contact with some folk quite separate both from the kin of Gylfe and Gefjon and the Asa-gods in general. This arrangement enabled the Skjoldungs not only to claim descent from the folk represented by Skjold, but also from those represented by Gefjon. It would appear to suggest that Skjold had his roots in areas lying west, south-west or south of Danish Zealand, but not in Sweden or southern Europe.

Odin had the power to render enemies blind or deaf, and the effects of their weapons became as of sticks. His own men became invulnerable, despite faring without coats of mail. This kind of activity became known as going berserk. On top of his mighty powers he had that ship called Skiðbladnir, even if this seaworthy vessel, which could be folded up like a cloth, was actually a borrowing from Frey. He also had the head of Mimir for consultation. He had so many ways in which people could be controlled, yet this tendency towards sorcery became regarded as unmanly by traditionalists.

The location of buried goods was known to Odin, and he had ways to open up earth, hill, stone or barrow. Any beings living inside he would curse and then take what he wanted. (Belief in Odin could hence help a grave robber to overcome his fears.) He was thus feared by enemies and trusted by friends. He taught his knowledge and sorcery to his sacrificial priests, from which source it could leak to others. Odin and his twelve drotts became known as gods.

The laws of the land were set by Odin, these being the ancient ones of the Asas. One stipulation was that the dead should be burnt and what they owned be put on the pyre with them. This ensured that they arrived at Valhalla with the riches that accompanied them on the fire. In addition they would retain buried goods. Ashes were to be taken out to sea or buried on land. A mound should be built in remembrance of important people and each courageous man should be honoured with a standing stone (bautastein). A sacrifice was to be held towards winter to ensure a good year, another at midwinter was for crop growth, while a third in summer was to secure victory. He laid taxes on the whole of Svitjod, in return for which he defended the land against unrest and made sacrifices for a good year.

Some of the above claims indicate usurpation of the functions of the Vanas. In this vein, Njord had got Skade to wife, but she left him for Odin. They had many children. The later mighty earl Hakon claimed descent from one called Sæming. Svitjod was known as Home of men, but Great Svitjod was Home of gods.

As he died of natural causes in Svitjod, Odin had himself marked with a spear point. He claimed that by this means all men killed with weapons belonged to him. Then he made his way to Gods’ Home to join his friends there. The Swedes believed he had come to the Asgard of old and would live there forever. They had faith in Odin and prayed to him. It was believed that he showed himself before a battle to decide on a victor, while others invited him to their homes. Odin was burnt when dead. The belief was that the higher the smoke from any pyre the loftier the place gained in heaven, and the deceased grew richer the more was burnt with him.

The concept of Odin as the dying god, one who could be sacrificed, does not fit well with his role as the all-father, lord of battles and his link with cremation. The notion of killing him at a tree, probably by hanging, presumably reflects later practice, and may even incorporate an element of retribution by those preferring Vana traditions.

This tree association may suggest some comparison arising between this Nordic form Odin and Greek Adonis, except that the latter otherwise bears no resemblance, since he was a beautiful youth born out of a tree, loved by Aphrodite and killed by a boar. Any connection must have been relatively late, i.e. reaching the north after the loss of the ‘W-’, i.e. as in Odin. Adonis as found in Greek is based on a Semitic word meaning lord, which would suit Odin. The Etruscan form was Atunis. With their presence in Italy and origin in Asia Minor, this might suggest the route by which any comparison with Odin, however wayward, might have travelled. The Norse form Ódinn appears to have provided a pun in that he was said to bear a spear called Gungnir. Oddinn means the spear point. Compared with the Greek tradition, Odin seems to share many of the characteristics of Zeus and Ares.

Rather than Adonis, the ultimate source for Odin could have been a Semitic word used for God and often translated into English as Lord. It is found in this sense in Anglo-Saxon poetry such as Beowulf in dryhten, which when capitalized refers to God.

In the past a name used by the Jews for God was Adonay – my Lord. This was because his real name Yahweh (Jehovah) was too sacred to be spoken. This custom would seem to make a direct connection with Odin in that, of all the Norse gods, he was the one the speaking of whose name was taboo. He was referred to by other names, such as Father of Battle. The father figure was also covered by All-Father, this being redolent of the Roman equivalent to Greek Zeus, namely Jupiter – father god. Here one might detect in Odin a fusion of Indo-European tradition with the Semitic concept embodied in Adonay and Yahweh.

Njord

Njord from Noatun became lord over the Swedes and the holder of sacrifices. They called him the drott, and he received tribute from them. His time was one of peace and prosperity. In his days most of the old drotts died and were cremated. The folk then made sacrifices to them. Before he died a natural death Njord acknowledged Odin and the Swedes cremated him with much weeping. And no wonder, for as a Vana the pyre should not have been for him.

Scyld and Ull

It is to be noted that the god Ull was known as god of the shield and a shield has been described as ship of Ull. However, Saxo relates how Ull crossed the sea on a magic bone. Snorri associated him with the bow and snow shoes. The last suggests an origin in a hunting culture, while the shield connection suggests the use of a craft like a coracle, which can be carried by one man and if need be like a shield. The floating bone is more difficult, but may relate to knowledge of tracks through wetlands, hence the sense might be bane – track, rather than bone. Substantial prehistoric timber-walks over bogs are known from various places in northern Europe.

Even so, the above suggests a correspondence between Ull and Skjold. The Skjoldungs, regarded as a culture rather than just a name, could have been descendants of folk whose boats had a resemblance to the shields of later years and ultimately they are to be located among the Mesolithic hunters of the north whose land in the wake of the Ice Age contained many estuaries and was pockmarked with many lakes. With the coming of the Neolithic Period and its megalith builders their zones of activity will have shrunk, both due to this and sea encroachment, but their cultural influence will have survived to some extent, especially in the realm of religion. The sense behind the shield concept is important to this study and will be examined in greater depth later.

Skjold, Njord and Frey

There is evidence of pairs of gods whose names were essentially the same but in masculine and feminine forms. One can thus name Njord and Nerthus, Frey (Freyr) and Freyja, Skjold and Skuld, etc. Tacitus mentions Nerthus as a goddess whose image, covered with a cloth, was transported on a cart. When not in use the cart was kept in a sacred grove on an island in the ocean. The cart could be drawn about among the folk by kine after which peace would prevail. The location is said to be to the north of Germany proper, which suggests Scandinavia, probably Denmark. Nerthus has a Latin masculine ending. It hence seems possible that the image thus suggested of a male god is in error, since the cart being drawn by bovines is reminiscent of Gefjon and her ploughing oxen and thus reinforces the image of Nerthus as a goddess. The notion of a Mother Earth goddess has always been widespread and in the North probably largely reflects the beliefs of the Neolithic megalith builders. The inference is that one Earth Mother, namely Gefjon, has been at some time replaced by another who should perhaps be called Nertha in Latin. This entity is paralleled in Norse mythology by Njord, the supposed male progenitor of the Vana-gods. The relevant matters are peculiar in that it was normal for a goddess to be static, yet images like Nertha and Gefion have been transported by cart or boat, the latter as directed by Odin. Of course a moving goddess may relate to belief that she spent some of her time in a different place (like Persephone) or that practice of her cult was spread elsewhere by migrants. Her attributes could be altered somewhat, while her identity might be completely changed with the application of a different name. As a general rule a goddess represented the earth itself that was fertilised by the movement of the god over it. In this respect one might note that Nerthus/Nertha is apparently the same word as Anglo-Saxon eorthe and German Erde – earth, but with a preposed N-, while the Nordic development Njord shows Danish jord treated in the same way.

The concept is apparently derived from early agriculture, especially in north-west Europe. An obscure word ard is used for scratch ploughs of a type found in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age settings in Denmark and elsewhere. The criss-cross results of such scratch ploughing have been discovered under buried surfaces. It takes little imagination to recognize a manifestation of the male god in this, whose name became (say) Nard. The roots of this concept can hardly lie among the migratory Indo-Europeans moving into western and northern areas. It sits far more comfortably into the sedentary megalithic cultures of the preceding Neolithic Period. Examples of their structures are particularly evident in Scandinavia, north Germany, Holland, Brittany and Spain. Outstanding examples are also widespread in Ireland and western and northern parts of Britain. A form of ard is still used in the Welsh for plough – aradr. Here one might consider that the Indo-European credentials claimed for earth are rather weak.

Njord was succeeded by Frey, who became the drott over the Swedes and received their tribute. This may represent early usurpation of the existing religion by Germanic folk, early Indo-Europeans. He carried on the work of his father and established the great cult stead called Uppsala. His time was marked by frode-fred - wisdom peace. The Swedes had never had it so good and honoured him over all other gods. His wife was called Gjerd and their son Fjolne. Frey was otherwise known as Yngvi and this became a name of honour in his kin, who were known as Ynglings. His natural death was kept a secret. A huge mound was built with three openings in it. On his death he was secretly borne into the mound and his passing kept from the Swedes for three years. Tribute was put into the openings, gold in one, silver in the second and copper coins in the third.

The Vanas may at some time also have been known in Scandinavia as the Anas, the sense being ancestors.

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CHAPTER 3

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The Ingvaeones

Beginning with this chapter, a purpose to be pursued further in those that follow is to build up background material about the Anglo-Saxons - especially the Angles, a folk after whom England is apparently named. The geography involved in the sources is generally vague, but one might still expect to uncover some references to reality.

The Background of the Ynglings

The royal house of this name mainly comprised worshippers of the Vana gods, the most prominent of whom was Frey. However, he was also known as Yngvi-Frey in the Ynglingasaga, suggesting that Yngvi and Frey can both be regarded as one god. Otherwise it might be the case that the two had attributes that could easily be merged.

Frey was the son of Njord (Nerthus), this being an indication that the former god has supplanted the latter. In doing so he has absorbed some of the other’s attributes, such as existence in both male and female forms (Frey and Freya) and the practice of incest, the latter being a point of disapproval by the Asa gods led by Odin. Yngvi-Frey had come to Uppsala from somewhere else. Ancient sources suggest that this god originated among the Ingvaeones. Pliny in 79AD claims that this group included the Cimbri, Teutones and Chauci. Tribes bearing the names of the first two are known to have moved south and harried the Roman frontiers nearly two centuries earlier. After several successes against Roman armies, the roving Cimbri were annihilated in battle. Teuton is now preserved as a term for West Germanic speakers on the Continent, but especially Germans.

The original homelands of these tribes appear to be firmly fixed in Jutland, since their names still feature there. Himmerland is a district right in the middle of the peninsula, while Thy lies on the west side, on a strip north of the Limfjord, between this and the sea. A form like *Teutish has survived as German Deutsch and English Dutch. The Germanic peoples are supposed to be descended from a god Tuisco through his son Mannus. The former still lives on as the Nordic adjective tysk - German. Early spellings of the district name Thy suggest something like Tyuth, one way of saying "the people". The survival of the Teutones suggests that they settled on the north European plain, but, like other tribes there, were eventually absorbed into greater Saxony

Another god of the Germans was known as Tiw in Anglo-Saxon and Tyr in Old Norse. His Indo-European credentials