FOOTNOTES:
[586] These are the three gods mentioned in the solemn oath which, according to Landnámabók, IV 7 (Hauksbók), had to be sworn on the sacred bracelet at all legal proceedings: hialpi mér svá Freyr ok Niörðr ok hinn almáttki Áss, etc. In the later Melabók (a compilation of the seventeenth century) it is suggested that Áss here means Othin; but I do not think this explanation is generally accepted. It is scarcely credible that Thor should be ignored on such an occasion.
[587] The description in Grímnismál, str. 23, curiously recalls what is said of Egyptian Thebes in Il. IX 383 f. The nearest approach to Valhalla to be found among Northern kingdoms is Ibn Fadhlan's account of the Russian court; cf. Frähn, l.c. (p. 367, note).
[588] Frey's connection with Sweden appears in Saxo's History (frequently) as well as in sagas, but not in the Edda.
[589] The full form, Yngvifreyr or Ingunarfreyr, is clearly connected with Ingwina frea, a title borne by the king of the Danes in Beowulf; cf. p. [367] and note.
[590] The two conceptions are sometimes confused, e.g. in Völuspá, str. 34. But the eschatological conception involved by the story of Balder is that of the 'house of Hel'; and there can be no doubt that this conception itself is ancient, although the description of Hel in Gylf. 34 is probably quite late.
[591] The text does not say (as is stated in several works on Northern mythology) that Thor occupied the central position, but merely that he was robbed after Thórgerðr and before Irpa. This is the only mention, so far as I am aware, of a cult figure of Thor in his car—a feature which occurs in Hýmiskviða and Gylfaginning and may possibly have some ethnological significance. It is somewhat remarkable that in the tract Frá Fornióti (in Hrafn's Fornaldar Sögur, II p. 6 f.) the ancestry of Guðbrandr is traced to the giant Thrymr, Thor's antagonist.
[592] Cults peculiar to certain families appear to have been common among the Lithuanians and kindred peoples; cf. Lasicius, De diis Samogitarum (Respublica ... Poloniae, etc.; Leyden, 1642, p. 280): sunt etiam quaedam ueteres nobilium familiae, quae peculiares colunt deos, ut Mikutiana Simonaitem, Micheloviciana Sidzium, Schemietiana et Kiesgaliana Ventis Rekicziovum, aliae alios.
Et nunc ille ubi sit qui uulgo dicitur Othin
armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello,
dic mihi, Ruta, precor, usquam si conspicis illum.
* * * * * * *
si potero horrendum Frigge spectare maritum,
quantumcunque albo clypeo sit tectus et altum
flectat equum, Lethra nequaquam sospes abibit.
fas est belligerum bello prosternere diuum.
[594] Cf. Adam of Bremen, IV 26: colunt et deos ex hominibus factos, etc. (with reference to the passage from the Vita Anscharii quoted on p. 255 f.). It is not clear whether Grímr Kambann, the great-great-grandfather of Thórsteinn Sölmundarson who settled in Iceland (cf. Landnámabók, I 14), was deified; but the worship paid to him is evidently regarded as something exceptional. Some scholars hold that Bragi, the god of poetry, is no other than the poet Bragi Boddason.
[595] Proue(n); cf. Helmoldus, Chron. Slavorum, I 53, 70, 84.
[596] I have discussed this subject (also Niörðr and Freyia) in detail in The Origin of the English Nation, chapters IX-XI.
[597] I do not think that Aethelweard's substitution of Balder for Baeldaeg (the first part of which is certainly bǣl-) in the genealogy of King Aethelwulf (III 3) can be held to prove the existence of the cult of Balder in England. The theory that the word baldor, 'prince,' arose out of the god's name is open to still more serious question.
[598] Cf. Olrik, Gefion (Danske Studier, 1910), p. 21 ff.
[599] There is no reason for supposing that the cult of Thórgerðr was first introduced by Earl Haakon. In the Flateyiarbók, p. 408, it is stated that she had been worshipped by successive rulers of the land. Her cult too was not unknown in Iceland; according to Harðar Saga, cap. 19, Grímkell, the son of a settler from Orkadal (to the south of Trondhjem), had a temple dedicated to her.
[600] The Cult of Othin, p. 75 ff. Cf. R. M. Meyer, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, p. 474 ff.
[601] Irminsul ... quod Latine dicitur uniuersalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia, Mon. Germ., II 676.
[602] Jaffé, Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, III 71 ff.: neque enim contraria eis de ipsorum, quamuis falsorum, deorum genealogia astruere debes.... utrum autem adhuc generare deos deasque alios aliasque suspicantur? uel, si iam non generant, quando uel cur cessauerunt a concubitu et partu; si autem adhuc generant, infinitus iam deorum effectus numerus est, et quis tam inter tot tantosque potentior sit, incertum mortalibus est; et ualde cauendum, ne in potentiorem quis offendat.
[603] This explanation would not hold of course if Fosite is to be identified with Forseti the son of Balder. But the identification seems to me extremely problematical.
[604] Cf. Bede, H. E., I 15: Voden, de cuius stirpe multarum prouinciarum regium genus originem duxit. From these genealogies and Bp Daniel's letter (quoted above) it would seem that such compositions (including theogonies) were much in vogue among the heathen Teutonic peoples in the period immediately following the Heroic Age. It is to the same period that I would ascribe the development of the theology of the Edda, though I do not mean to suggest that the poems which have come down to us were composed then.
[605] There is an unfortunate ambiguity about the history of the word Áss. In Old Norse it is applied both to Thor and Othin, as well as other gods, while Aesir (pl.) denotes the gods collectively and Ásgarðr their home (quite distinct from Valhalla). In Gothic however the same word (pl. ansis) seems to have meant a dead hero (cf. p. [172], note). If this was its original meaning—a view somewhat favoured by Skr. asu, Av. anhu, 'spirit,'—we must conclude that the terms Ásgarðr and Aesir (also Áss, as applied to Thor) have undergone a complete change of meaning in Old Norse. Such a change could be explained satisfactorily by the (poetic) inclusion of θεοὶ οὐράνιοι and θεοὶ νέρτεροι in one pantheon; but in that case the doctrine of Valhalla, or something very much like it, must be of great antiquity. This explanation is perhaps favoured by the popular use of Aasgaardsreia for the Wild Hunt in Norway.
[606] Cap. quae de partibus Saxoniae constituta sunt, No. VII (Mon. Germ., Leg. I 49). Whether the practice was common I do not know. References to the cult of manes occur in the same Capitula, as well as in the Indiculus Superstitionum, etc.
[607] Cremation is sometimes accompanied by a cult of the dead, e.g. among the heathen Prussians; cf. Matthias a Michov (Grynaeus, Novus Orbis, etc., Basel 1537, p. 520): Habebant praeterea in syluis praefatis focos, in familias et domos distinctos, in quibus omnibus charorum et familiarium cadauera cum equis, sellis et uestimentis potioribus incendebant. locabant etiam ad focos huiusmodi ex subere facta sedilia, in quibus escas ex pasta in casei modum praeparatas deponebant, medonemque focis infundebant, ea credulitate illusi quod mortuorum suorum animae quorum illic combusta fuerant corpora nocte uenirent escaque se exsatiarent. Inhumation however was also practised by the same nation; cf. Erasmus Stella (Grynaeus, op. cit., p. 582): Statuit (sc. Viduutus) et dies natalitios et funera pari modo celebranda, mutuis scilicet commessationibus et compotationibus, tum lusu et cantu, absque moerore cum summa hilaritate et gaudio, utque alterius uitae spem prae se ferrent. illo saltem ostenderunt quod exutos spiritu armatos uestitosque ac magna supellectilis parte circumposita humarunt. quo more usque nunc sepeliuntur, etc. Both these notices of course refer to a late period—the fifteenth century.
[608] Cf. p. [397] f. We may refer also to the funeral of Sigurðr Hringr, as described in Arngrim's epitome of the lost Skiöldunga Saga, cap. 26 (Aarbøger f. nord. Oldkynd., 1894, p. 132): Hinc post acerrimam pugnam ... Siguardus etiam male uulneratus est. qui, Alfsola funere allato, magnam nauim mortuorum cadaueribus oneratam solus uiuorum conscendit, seque et mortuam Alfsolam in puppi collocans nauim pice, bitumine et sulphure incendi iubet: atque sublatis uelis in altum, ualidis a continente impellentibus uentis, proram dirigit, simulque manus sibi uiolentas intulit; sese tot facinorum patratorem, tantorum regnorum possessorem, more maiorum suorum, regali pompa Odinum regem (id est inferos) inuisere malle quam inertis senectutis infirmitatem perpeti, alacri animo ad socios in littore antea relictos praefatus, etc.
[609] In the glossaries the word is used to translate Eurynis, Herinis (i.e. Erinys), Tisifone, Allecto, Bellona. The first three cases occur in the Corpus glossary; hence the suggestion that the word walcyrge is borrowed from Norse is inadmissible.
[610] From the inscription of Rök it appears probable that the conception of Valkyries found in the Edda was familiar in the south-east of Sweden before the end of the ninth century. This is by no means the only point in which the same inscription bears witness to a highly developed interest in antiquarian lore.
[611] An interesting analogy is furnished by the Servian belief that sunstroke is due to arrows shot by Vile (cf. p. [317], note; and Krauss, Slav. Volkforschungen, p. 372 ff.).
[612] I have not attempted to give a complete list of the mythical beings mentioned in the records. In general we find the same classes of such beings as in the North—elves, dwarfs, giants (Ang.-Sax. eoten, þyrs), etc.
[613] It will be observed that here (as commonly in the Edda) Wodan's character as god of the dead (slain) is entirely lost sight of.
[614] We may note especially the two speeches of Coifi, the chief priest: Nihil omnino uirtutis habet, nihil utilitatis religio illa quam hucusque tenuimus.... Iam olim intellexeram nihil esse quod colebamus; quia uidelicet quanto studiosius in eo cultu quaerebam, tanto minus inueniebam.
[615] Ita haec uita hominum ad modicum apparet; quid autem sequatur, quidue praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus.
[616] Artemis in the Homeric poems seems to be chiefly a women's deity (cf. Od. XX 59 ff.). The same may have been the case with Gefion; cf. Gylfaginning, cap. 35: "She is a maiden, and those who die in maidenhood serve her."
[617] In origin however Freyia, the daughter of Niörðr (Nerthus), corresponds probably rather to Persephone, the daughter of Demeter; cf. p. [400].
[618] Even beings such as these are sometimes affiliated to Zeus; cf. Il. VI 420.
[619] So also with the ceremonial drinkings, which in both sets of records form so prominent a feature in the life of human and divine communities alike. Among the Greeks the libation corresponds to the Northern 'toast' (full) in honour of the gods. A good example may be found in Saga Hákonar Góða, cap. 16.
[620] Reference may be made to the boar which was sacrificed to Frey (or Freyia) in Hervarar Saga, cap. 10, and on which oaths were sworn. It is not made clear however what was done with the body of the boar.
[621] With the punishment of perjurers by the Erinyes in Il. XIX 259 f. we may compare what is said regarding the fate of such persons in Völuspá, str. 39.
[622] Reference may be made to Procopius' account of the Heruli (cf. p. [411]) and more especially to the stories of Ibn Dustah and Ibn Fadhlan, quoted by Thomsen, The Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia, etc., pp. 30 f., 34. Native records preserve only somewhat vague traditions relating to such a custom; cf. The Cult of Othin, p. 41 f.
[623] Cf. especially Ridgeway, The Early Age of Greece, p. 512 ff.
[624] Reference may be made to the story of Haraldr Hilditönn and Sigurðr Hringr; cf. The Cult of Othin, p. 22 f.
[625] The existence of a tradition to this effect is perhaps implied by Aristotle, Meteorolog., I 14, 21 f.; cf. p. [437], note.
[626] In addition to the examples cited by Prof. Ridgeway we may refer to the account of the Livonians given by Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietatibus Rerum, XV 88: mortuorum cadauera tumulo non tradebant, sed populus facto rogo maximo usque ad cineres comburebat. post mortem autem suos amicos nouis uestibus uestiebant et eis pro uiatico oues et boues et alia animantia exhibebant. seruos etiam et ancillas cum rebus aliis ipsis assignantes una cum mortuo et rebus aliis incendebant, credentes sic incensos ad quandam uiuorum regionem feliciter pertingere et ibidem cum pecorum et seruorum sic ob gratiam domini combustorum multitudine felicitatis et uitae temporalis patriam inuenire. This record dates from the thirteenth century (probably about 1260); so that Northern influence is not impossible.
[627] This contrast is all the more noteworthy in view of the fact that the two chief 'heroic' deities, Woden (Othin) and Zeus, are of essentially different origin. The affinities of the former lie rather with Hades—not as a chthonic being, properly speaking, but as lord of the spirit world.
[628] The characterisation of the home of Hades resembles rather that of the Northern abode of Hel (cf. p. [400], note). There can be little doubt that the latter conception is founded upon a belief of considerable antiquity, though, except in the North, all our information relating to it comes from sources affected by Christian influence. From references in early poetry, as well as from popular belief in later times, it seems probable that the early Teutonic conception of Hell (Goth. halja, etc.) involved something more than a survival of the soul in or about the place of sepulture, though there is nothing to show that it was identical with Valhalla. For the personification of Hell definite evidence is wanting; yet note should be taken of the fact that such beings as Holda and Berhta (like Freyia and Gefion) were connected with the spirit world.