Grimm citing this passage goes so far as even to render “freá wrasnum” by Frothonis signis, and thus connects it at once with Frea[[676]]; and we may admit at all events the great plausibility of the suggestion. But though distinct proof of Freá's worship in England cannot be supplied during the Saxon period, we have very clear evidence of its still subsisting in the thirteenth century. The following extraordinary story is found in the Chronicle of Lanercost[[677]], an. 1268. “Pro fidei divinae integritate servanda recolat lector quod, cum hoc anno in Laodonia pestis grassaretur in pecudes armenti, quam vocant usitate Lungessouth, quidam bestiales, habitu claustrales non animo, docebant idiotas patriae ignem confrictione de lignis educere et simulachrum Priapi statuere, et per haec bestiis succurrere. Quod cum unus laicus Cisterciencis apud Fentone fecisset ante atrium aulae, ac intinctis testiculis canis in aquam benedictam super animalia sparsisset, ac pro invento facinore idolatriae dominus villae a quodam fideli argueretur, ille pro sua innocentia obtendebat, quod ipso nesciente et absente fuerant haec omnia perpetrata, et adiecit, et cum ad usque hunc mensem Junium aliorum animalia languerent et deficerent, mea semper sana erant, nunc vero quotidie mihi moriuntur duo vel tria, ita quod agricultui pauca supersunt.”
Fourteen years later a similar fact is stated to have occurred in a neighbouring district, at Inverkeithing, in the present county of Fife.
“Insuper hoc tempore apud Inverchethin, in hebdomada paschae [Mar. 29-Ap. 5], sacerdos parochialis, nomine Johannes, Priapi prophana parans, congregatis ex villa puellulis, cogebat eas, choreis factis, Libero patri circuire; ut ille feminas in exercitu habuit, sic iste, procacitatis causa, membra humana virtuti seminariae servientia super asserem artificiata ante talem choream praeferebat, et ipse tripudians cum cantantibus motu mimico omnes inspectantes et verbo impudico ad luxuriam incitabat. Hi, qui honesto matrimonio honorem deferebant, tam insolente officio, licet reverentur personam, scandalizabant propter gradus eminentiam. Si quis ei seorsum ex amore correptionis sermonen inferret, fiebat deterior, et conviciis eos impetebat.”
It appears that this priest retained his benefice until his death, which happened in a brawl about a year later than the events described above; and it is very remarkable that the scandal seems to have been less at the rites themselves than at their being administered by a person of so high a clerical dignity. Grimm had identified Freyr or Frowo with Liber: it will be observed that his train of reasoning is confirmed by the name Liber Pater, given in the chronicler’s recital. The union of the Needfire with these Priapic rites renders it proper to devote a few words to this particular superstition.
The needfire, nýdfýr, New-german nothfeuer, was called from the mode of its production, confrictione de lignis, and though probably common to the Kelts[[678]] as well as Teutons, was long and well known to all the Germanic races at a certain period. All the fires in the village were to be relighted from the virgin flame produced by the rubbing together of wood, and in the highlands of Scotland and Ireland it was usual to drive the cattle through it, by way of lustration, and as a preservative against disease[[679]]. But there was another curious ceremony connected with the lighting of fires on St. John’s eve,—probably from the context, on the 23rd of June. A general reference for this may be made to Grimm’s Mythologie, pp. 570-592, under the general heads of Nothfeuer, Bealtine and Johannisfeuer; but the following passage, which I have not seen cited before, throws light on Grimm’s examples, and adds some peculiarities of explanation. It is found in an ancient MS. written in England and now in the Harleian collection, No. 2345, fol. 50.
“Eius venerandam nativitatem cum gaudio celebrabitis; dico eius nativitatem cum gaudio; non illo cum gaudio, quo stulti, vani et prophani, amatores mundi huius, accensis ignibus, per plateas, turpibus et illicitis ludibus, commessationibus, et ebrietatibus, cubilibus et impudicitiis intendentes illam celebrare solent.... Dicamus de tripudiis quae in vigilia sancti Johannis fieri solent, quorum tria genera. In vigilia enim beati Johannis colligunt pueri in quibusdam regionibus ossa, et quaedam alia immunda, et insimul cremant, et exinde producitur fumus in aere. Faciunt etiam brandas et circuunt arva cum brandis. Tercium de rota quam faciunt volvi: quod, cum immunda cremant, hoc habent ex gentilibus. Antiquitus enim dracones in hoc tempore excitabantur ad libidinem propter calorem, et volando per aera frequenter spermatizabantur aquae, et tunc erat letalis, quia quicumque inde bibebant, aut moriebantur, aut grave morbum paciebantur. Quod attendentes philosophi, iusserunt ignem fieri frequenter et sparsim circa puteos et fontes, et immundum ibi cremari, et quaecumque immundum reddiderunt fumum, nam per talem fumum sciebant fugari dracones.... Rota involvitur ad significandum quod sol tunc ascendit ad alciora sui circuli et statim regreditur, inde venit quod volvitur rota.”
An ancient marginal note has bonfires, intending to explain that word by the bones burnt on such occasions. Grimm seems to refer this to the cult of Baldr or Bældæg, with which he connects the name Beltane; but taking all the circumstances into consideration, I am inclined to attribute it rather to Freá, if not even to a female form of the same godhead, Fricge, the Aphrodite of the North. Freá seems to have been a god of boundaries; probably as the giver of fertility and increase, he gradually became looked upon as a patron of the fields. On two occasions his name occurs in such boundaries, and once in a manner which proves some tree to have been dedicated to him. In a charter of the year 959 we find these words: “ðonne andlang herpaðes on Frigedæges treów,”—thence along the road to Friday’s (that is Frea’s) tree[[680]]; and in a similar document of the same century we have a boundary running “oð ðone Frigedæg.” There is a place yet called Fridaythorpe, in Yorkshire. Here Frigedæg appears to be a formation precisely similar to Bældæg, Swæfdæg, and Wægdæg, and to mean only Freá himself.
BALDÆG, in Old-norse BALDR, in Old-german PALTAC.—The appearance of Bældæg among Wóden’s sons in the Anglosaxon genealogies, would naturally lead us to the belief that our forefathers worshiped that god whom the Edda and other legends of the North term Baldr, the father of Brand, and the Phœbus Apollo of Scandinavia. Yet beyond these genealogies we have very little evidence of his existence. It is true that the word bealdor very frequently occurs in Anglosaxon poetry as a peculiar appellative of kings,—nay even as a name of God himself,—and that it is, as far as we know, indeclinable, a sign of its high antiquity. This word may then probably have obtained a general signification which at first did not belong to it, and been retained to represent a king, when it had ceased to represent a god. There are a few places in which the name of Balder can yet be traced: thus Baldersby in Yorkshire, Balderston in Lancashire, Bealderesleah and Baldheresbeorh in Wiltshire[[681]]: of these the two first may very likely have arisen from Danish or Norwegian influence, while the last is altogether uncertain. Save in the genealogies the name Bældæg does not occur at all. But there is another name under which the Anglosaxons may possibly have known this god, and that is Pol or Pal.
In the year 1842 a very extraordinary and very interesting discovery was made at Merseberg[Merseberg] upon the spare leaf of a MS. there were found two metrical spells in the Old-german language: these upon examination were at once recognized not only to be heathen in their character, but even to contain the names of heathen gods, perfectly free from the ordinary process of Christianization. The one with which we are at present concerned is in the following words:
| Phol endi Wódan vuorun zi holza, da wart demo Balderes volon sin vuoz birenkit; thu biguolen Sinthgunt, Sunná era suister, thu biguolen Frúá, Vollá era suister, thu biguolen Wódan, só he wola conda: sosé bénrenki, sóse bluotrenki, sosé lidirenki; bén zi béna, bluot zi bluoda, lid zi geliden, sóse gelímida sín. | Phol and Wódan went to the wood, then of Balder’s colt the foot was wrenched; then Sinthgunt charmed him, and her sister Sunna, then Frua charmed him, and her sister Folla, then Wóden charmed him, as he well could do: both wrench of bone, and wrench of blood, and wrench of limb; bone to bone, and blood to blood, limb to limb, as if they were glued together. |