Finding Odin: A Twenty Century Search

By Merriam Fields Bleyl PhD

Genealogical research has never been more accessible than in this age of digitized information. Learning about one’s ancestors bestows a sense of who we are and our place in the world. Finding Odin was born from the author’s curiosity and search for wisdom as she explored for Scandinavian ancestors. Surprisingly, she found Odin (surmised to be a mortal sixtieth great-grandfather) in her genealogical quest. Finding Odin describes many family connections discovered in twelfth- and thirteenth-century manuscripts, Old Norse sagas, and the work of contemporary researchers reaching back to the first century of the common era and up to the present. We inherit gifts from our ancestors that we often take for granted. Each of us contains within us this inheritance of soul. We are links between the ages, including past and present expectations, sacred memories, and future promises. Finding Odin explores those links.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9798369414880

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Copyright © 2024 by Merriam Fields Bleyl, PhD.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 02/09/2024

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Contents

Prologue

Introduction

1 Beginning with Odin

2 Who Came Next?

3 The Yngling Dynasty

4 The Vikings

5 Conquer or Be Conquered

6 Increasing in Power

7 Harald I (Fair Hair) Halvdansen

8 Branching Out

9 End of the Vikings

10 Leaving the Palaces

11 The Last 400 Years

12 Conclusions

Acknowledgments

References

Grandchildren give us a second chance to do things better, for they bring out the best in us.

—Unknown

Kelsey

Erika

Chase

Mikelle

Sean

Bo

Kristena

Michelle

Connor

Alice

Derek

Lucas

Amelia

Oliver

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Human beings look separate because you see them walking about separately. But then, we are so made that we can see only the present moment. If we could see the past, then of course it would look different. For there was a time when every man was part of his mother, and (earlier still) part of his father as well, and when they were part of his grandparents. If you could see humanity spread out in time, as God sees it, it would look like one single growing thing–rather like a very complicated tree. Every individual would appear connected with every other.

—C. S. Lewis

Prologue

After another long day of honing their skills with sword, spear, ax, and arrow at one another’s expense, the very great (and very dead and resurrected) Viking warriors have once again doffed their armor and gathered at Valhalla—the hall of slain—for their nightly glut of food, songs, stories, and other arrangements. There is great merriment and lively conversation, for even those who have lost an arm or a leg during the daily war games will find their absent limbs magically restored by dawn. The mead is flowing like a river, and thick slabs of roasted boar disappear almost before the comely serving girls can set the meat-laden platters on a dining table so long one could barely see from one end to the other. A festive spirit pervades every corner of the great hall except at the head of the table. Here, Odin, the Father of the Gods, sits brooding on his throne, his two wolves Geri (the ravenous) and Freki (the greedy one) feasting on the meal he himself never eats, while his two ravens—Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory)—report to him on the various happenings throughout the nine great realms below.

Odin rarely smiles during these evening feasts. He is too preoccupied planning for Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods, that inevitable day when the Frost Giants and the other forces of evil throughout the universe will rise up against the gods for one great and final battle that will end in the mutual annihilation of everything. Instead of focusing on this fatalistic prophecy, Odin devotes every ounce of energy and every waking hour to better preparing his people for this great and dreadful day. And thus he is obsessed with the accumulation of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, all of which can be converted into power—to defend, deflect, and delay.

So, when his two ravens once again report that Mimir, the wisest of the gods, has been drinking liberally from the spring that bears his name, Odin correctly deduces that the water is the source of Mimir’s wisdom. And the next day Odin embarks on a journey to the Spring of Mimir. He travels alone, wearing his favorite disguise—a shabby old cloak and a wide-brimmed hat that conceals half his face. Limping along with a gnarled old walking stick, he looks more like a street beggar than the indomitable Father of the Gods.

He arrives at midday and catches Mimir in mid drink. The elderly god spits out a mouthful and cries, Who are you, stranger? And what business have you here?

Odin says he is but a tired and thirsty traveler sorely in need of a drink.

The old traveler looks innocuous enough, but Mimir has earned his title of the wisest of the gods. He can smell a rat, and he can certainly sense the presence of a god. You may drink, he says, but there is a small price. You must deposit one of your eyes into the spring.

This is hardly a trifle. Odin ponders the consequences of this sacrifice for a moment before turning his back to the old god. He dips his head as he lifts one hand to his face. The old man smiles even as he grimaces at the sight of the floppy black hat briefly shaking. He hears the muted sound of pain as the traveler’s hand jerks and then trembles. There is shock on Mirmir’s face as the traveler pivots around, revealing a gaping, coin-sized hole in his face and blood dripping from his clenched and extended fist. Mimir will never forget the sound as the traveler opens his fingers and the little orb plops into the water. I will have my drink now, the traveler says.

Odin is willing to sacrifice almost anything to gain more intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom. It is a trait that runs deep in the veins (and the heart and the soul) of his posterity.

Michael Fillerup

(Educator, Author, and Friend)

Introduction

When we illuminate the road back to our ancestors, they have a way of reaching out, of manifesting themselves … sometimes even physically.

—Raquel Cepeda

Like the mythological Odin, I have felt the pull toward finding wisdom, especially as a graduate student contemplating wisdom as a research topic. That pull led me around the world in a search for wise individuals. My first book was the result: Finding Wisdom: Learning from Those Who Are Wise.

Finding Odin was born from my search for wisdom and my curiosity about my Scandinavian ancestors—those individuals who came before me, particularly those from Norway. Surprisingly, I discovered Odin in my ancestral charts. As a mortal man, Odin is my fifty-ninth or sixtieth great-grandfather in at least five branches of my family tree, and he appears as the sixty-first great-uncle in others. If you are of Northern European heritage, Odin may also be found in your family genealogical chart. Whether true or not, it is surmised that almost all those of Norwegian descent can claim Odin as their distant relative.

Learning about one’s lineage comprises more than finding names and dates that fill a genealogical chart or a family tree. It involves discovering the stories—the triumphs and failures—of ancestors who lived interesting, often stressful, yet meaningful lives. It reveals the stories of family history and heritage that can positively motivate anyone. Even flamboyant or adverse reports can be thought-provoking and inspiring. In fact, the term negative presupposes a point of view—the ancestor who bucked tradition may have been viewed as a rapscallion then but can exemplify courage and independence today.

Although a person’s ancestors don’t predict their destiny, all human beings are impacted in some way by those who have preceded them on earth. Similar physical characteristics and inherited personality qualities can often be identified as we look at our genealogical heritage. Learning about our ancestors gives us a sense of who we are and our place in the world.

We inherit from our ancestors gifts that we often take for granted. Each of us contains within us this inheritance of soul. We are links between the ages, containing past and present expectations, sacred memories, and future promise. ¹

Genealogical research has never been more accessible than in this age of digitized information. The surprising connections I found when searching for Norwegian ancestors in twelfth- and thirteenth-century manuscripts, Old Norse sagas, and the work of contemporary researchers reach back to the first century of the common era (CE). Before 1200 CE, only some Scandinavian records exist. Thus, one is led to the archeological data and remembered stories going back to the earliest of times. Of course, separating myth from fact is nearly impossible when deciphering connections from that long ago. However, there is no need to fret. As Rufus Fears, a classical historian, has noted:

All too often, we tend to equate the word myth with falsehood. But many of the world’s greatest mythological stories contain a kernel of historical truth. Perhaps more importantly, they convey universal truths—that is, they are the vehicle by which cultures throughout human history have passed their most important values and beliefs on to future generations … Myths often have historical kernels. ²

Since the life histories of Scandinavian peoples living millennia ago are wrapped in mystery and otherworldliness, theories and speculations abound about them. The myth of Odin is connected with much of ancient Scandinavian history.

Most of what is known about the people who lived so long ago in the lands known now as Scandinavia was presented in stories that were eventually written down and preserved in Iceland. The concepts introduced within these pages are based on the historical research of many individuals, including the medieval Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson.

According to Jon Gunnar Jørgensen, a noted professor in Old Norse philology at the University of Oslo, Iceland produced significant history and literature in the thirteenth century. ³ At that time, the country was uniquely positioned to produce religious and secular writings. Literature flourished, and saga writing ranged from realistic historiography to pure fiction, usually in a premeditated mixture. ⁴

Snorri Sturluson wrote his manuscripts more than eight hundred years ago. He faced a formidable task, especially in the first half of the thirteenth century. Snorri was mainly known throughout his native Iceland as a chieftain and politician. In addition, he wrote poetry and attempted to reconstruct the early history of Scandinavia and its rulers. Centuries later, Snorri would be called the Homer of the North and the most influential writer of the Middle Ages.

Icelandic researcher Nancy Brown described Snorri Sturluson as follows:

Snorri was not only a poet and lover of books. He was one of the richest men in Iceland, holder of seven chieftaincies, owner of five profitable estates and a harbor, husband of an heiress, lover of several mistresses, a fat man soon to go gouty, a hard drinker, a seeker of ease prone to soaking long hours in his hot tub while sipping stout ale, not a Viking warrior by any stretch of the imagination, but clever, crafty, cunning, and ambitious. A good businessman. So well versed in the law that few other Icelanders could out-argue him … His secret ambition was to rule Iceland—and he almost succeeded. ⁵

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Snorri and a scribe, created by the Norwegian artist Christian Krohg (1852–1925) for the 1899 version of the Heimskringla. ⁶

Snorri Sturluson was born in Hvammur, Iceland, in 1178 or 1179, to an affluent and privileged family. The events that occurred in his early life and his subsequent education placed him in close contact with individuals from the Norwegian and Swedish royal families. ⁷ For instance, in 1218 Snorri traveled to Norway and met the fourteen-year-old king of Norway, Haakon Hakonsen. Snorri told the young king stories that Haakon had not heard before—stories of King Arthur and knights of the Round Table. Snorri realized that the stories of the Scandinavian peoples were just as important and exciting (or more so) as the English tales of valor. He knew those stories well. Consequently, Snorri decided to write them down for King Haakon. His writings are still available in the Prose Edda and the Heimskringla, written originally in Old Norse. ⁸

Snorri Sturluson’s familiarity with the Norse tales has inspired many authors, poets, artists, and ordinary people. His writings have led to numerous publications and movies and a worldwide fascination with the early Scandinavians. His work has informed writers like J. R. R. Tolkien, who borrowed many of the well-known characters from Snorri’s tales (for instance, Gandalf in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings); C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia); and even J. K. (Jo) Rowling, the author of the famous Harry Potter series of books. Snorri’s writings have also heavily influenced many of the chapters in this text.

In his writings, Snorri presented the idea that Odin, whom most of the medieval population viewed as a Norse god, was an actual human man, a revered leader who led his people from their original homeland to the northern lands of Scandinavia.

Following Odin’s death, the people believed that if they prayed to Odin and offered sacrifices, he would still be able to influence their lives. According to Snorri, Odin and his family members were eventually transformed into Norse gods simply because of the legends and stories generated by the people’s beliefs, oral stories, sagas, and poems.

Snorri gave an indication of his sources of information in his preface to the Heimskringla:

In this book I have had old stories written down, as I have heard them told by intelligent people, concerning chiefs who have held dominion in the northern countries, and who spoke the Danish tongue; and also concerning some of their family branches, according to what has been told me. Some of this is found in ancient family registers, in which the pedigrees of kings and other personages of high birth are reckoned up, and part is written down after old songs and ballads which our forefathers had for their amusement. Now, although we cannot just say what truth there may be in these, yet we have the certainty that old and wise men held them to be true. ⁹

The Heimskringla and Snorri’s first book, the Prose Edda, have become the best-known collection of sagas and stories of the Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish kings. ¹⁰

Snorri’s work and the tales of Odin also influenced the modern explorer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl. ¹¹ On one occasion, Iceland’s president, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, invited Heyerdahl to visit Iceland and to stay in the presidential residence. While visiting, Heyerdahl found a copy of Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla and the Old Norse sagas on the nightstand in his room. As a child growing up in Norway, Heyerdahl had read these thirteenth-century sagas. Perusing these stories once again, he wondered: Was Odin an authentic historical person, as implied in Snorri’s Edda, Heimskringla, and Ynglinga Saga?

Heyerdahl eventually concluded that Odin had indeed existed as a mortal and was the founding leader of the Scandinavian peoples. He also reasoned that Snorri’s account of Odin as a man who later became a god was correct. (It should be noted here that many qualified Norwegian historians and academics question and refute Snorri’s conclusion.) ¹²

Because Thor Heyerdahl was an expert on the migration patterns of humankind, he immediately recognized the connection to the ancient migrations described by Snorri in the Heimskringla. Heyerdahl began to develop his own theory of Odin, based somewhat on Snorri’s account and other available scripts. He also wanted to answer the question Where did the Scandinavian peoples come from?

Thor Heyerdahl died in 2002. His last project was a book entitled Jakten på Odin (The Search for Odin). The book (written originally in Norwegian) was coauthored by Per Lillieström, a Swedish artist and cartographer. Vibeke Roggen, a professor of philology at the University of Oslo, described Heyerdahl’s theory:

The main line of the theory was simple: Odin and his companions are historical people. They emigrated from their settlements around the mouth of the river Don [in the Caucasus and the Black Sea] and settled in Scandinavia where they became the new rulers. After death, they were deified, and the stories about them were combined with other stories in Norse mythology. They became the ancestors of the royal lines in what was to become the Scandinavian kingdoms and also the