The myth of Baldr in the North is one of the most beautiful and striking in the whole compass of their mythology: it is to be lamented that no trace of it remains in our own poems. Still Baldr’s lay may not have been entirely without influence upon the progress of Christianity among the Saxons, if, as is probable, it resembled in its main features the legend of the Scandinavians. For them he was the god of light and grace, of splendour, manly excellence and manly beauty. A prophecy that Baldr would perish afflicted the gods; Frigga took an oath from all created nature that no individual thing would harm the pride of the Æsir, the darling of the Asyniar. A sprig of mistletoe, at that time too young to enter into so solemn an obligation, was alone, and fatally, excepted. The invulnerability of the god induced him to offer himself as a mark for the practice of his relatives and friends. Maces, axes and spears fell innocuous from his sacred frame; but Loki placed a sprig of mistletoe in the hand of the blind Haudr[[687]], and with this, the sole thing that could not be forsworn, he slew his brother. An effort still remained to be made. Oþinn himself descended to the abode of Hel, in hopes of persuading the goddess of the dead to relinquish her prey. He was successful, and returned with the joyful intelligence that Baldr would be restored to the gods, if all created nature would weep for him. All nature did weep for the loss of the god of beauty, save one old crone. When called upon to do her part in his restoration she answered, “What have the gods done for me, that I should weep for Baldr? Let Hel keep her dead!” It is thought that it was Loki who had assumed the old woman’s form. Thus Baldr’s fate was sealed. The faithful Nanna[[688]] would not survive her beautiful lord, and the gods and goddesses attended round the pile on which their two cherished companions were reduced to dust together. But the slain god could hope for no resurrection: his throne was placed in the shadowy realm of Hel, and weeping virgins spread the eternal pall that was to give dreary honour to the god of light in the cold kingdom of darkness and the invisible. The posthumous son, or more likely re-birth, of the god, avenged his father upon the wretched instrument of Loki’s wiles. Yet those who had fathomed the deeper mysteries of the creed knew well enough that Baldr was to rise again in triumph: after the twilight of the gods and the destruction of the ancient world, he was to return in glory and joy, and reign in a world where there should be neither sin nor sorrow, nor destruction.
Of these details, the Anglosaxon mythology knows nothing, in the forms which have survived: and perhaps in this peculiar myth we may recognize something of an astronomical character, which can certainly not be attributed to other Northern legends. However this may be, we must content ourselves with the traces here given of Pol, as one form of Baldr, and with the genealogical relation which has been noticed. Meagre as these facts undoubtedly are, they are amply sufficient to prove that the most beloved of the Northern gods was not altogether a stranger to their children in this island. Perhaps the adoption of another creed led to the absorption of this divinity into a person of far higher and other dignity, which, while it smoothed the way for the reception of Christianity, put an end for ever to even the record of his sufferings.
GEÁT, in Old-norse GAUTR, in Old-German KÓZ.—A cursory allusion has already been made to Geát, probably only another form of Wóden, since in the mythology of the North, Oþinn is Gaútr, but certainly the eponymus of the Geátas, that tribe of whom Beówulf was the champion and afterwards the king. Geát appears in the Westsaxon genealogy as a progenitor of Wóden, but this collocation is unimportant in mythological inquiries. It is probable that Gapt, whom Jornandes places at the head of the Gothic genealogy, is only a misreading of Gavt, which is the equivalent Gothic form of Geát, and that Sigegeát, Angelgeát, Waðelgeát, which occur in other Anglosaxon genealogies, are identical with him[[689]]. His love for Maðhild, a legend unknown to all the nations of the North, save our own forefathers, is noticed in the Exeter Book: it is there said,
| We ðæt Mæðhilde monge gefrunon wurdon grundleáse Geátes frige ðæt him seó sorglufu slǽp ealle binom. | To Mǽðhild, we the tale have heard, that endless was the love of Geat, so that the pain of love took all sleep from him[[690]]. |
It is much to be regretted that this is all we learn on this subject, which becomes very interesting when we remember how little trace there is of phallic gods in the Northern mythology. But that Geát was a god, and not merely a hero, is not left entirely to inference: it is distinctly asserted by various and competent authorities: Nennius has declared him to have been filius dei, not indeed the God of Hosts, and God of Gods, but of some idol[[691]]. But Asser, who was no doubt well acquainted with the traditions of Ælfred’s family, says[[692]], “Quem Getam dudum pagani pro deo venerabantur,” which is repeated in the same words by Florence of Worcester[[693]] and Simeon of Durham[[694]], and is contained in a Saxon genealogy preserved in the Textus Roffensis, “Geáta, ðene ða hǽðenan wurðedon for God.” We can therefore have no scruple about admitting his divinity; and a comparison of the Gothic and Scandinavian traditions proves the belief in it to have been widely held. The name, which is derived from geotan, to pour, most probably denotes only the special form in which Wóden was worshipped by some particular tribes or families; and the occurrence of it in the genealogies, only the fact that such tribes or families formed part of the national aggregates, to whose royal line it belongs. But nevertheless we must admit the personality attributed to him by those tribes, and the probability of his having been, at least for them, the national divinity. The circumstance of his name having left such deep traces as we perceive in the quotations given above, proves not only the especial divinity of the person, but perhaps also the political power and importance of the worshippers[[695]].
SÆTERE.—Among the Gods invariably mentioned as having been worshipped by our forefathers is one who answered to the Latin Saturnus, at least in name. From the seventh week-day we may infer that his Anglosaxon name was Sætere, perhaps the Placer or Disposer[[696]]; for Sæteresdæg seems a more accurate form than Sæternesdæg which we sometimes find. There are both names of places and of plants formed upon the name of this god: as Satterthwaite in Lancashire, Satterleigh in Devonshire and Sæteresbyrig[[697]] in the same county, of which there appears to be no modern representative; while among plants the Gallicrus, or common crowfoot, is called in Anglosaxon Satorláðe. The appearance of Saturnus as an interlocutor in such a dialogue as the Salomon and Saturn[[698]] is a further evidence of divinity; so that, taking all circumstances into account, it is probable that when Gregory of Tours, Geoffry of Monmouth and others, number him among the Teutonic gods, they are not entirely mistaken. Now there has been a tradition, in Germany at least, of a god Chródo, or Hruodo, whose Latin name was Saturn, and whose figure is said to have been that of an old man standing upon a fish, and holding in one hand a bundle of flowers, while the other grasps a wheel. Grimm imagines herein some working of Slavonic traditions[[699]], and following the Slavonic interpreters connects this Chródo with Kirt or Sitivrat, and again with some Sanskrit legend of a Satjavrata[[700]]. But the reasoning seems inconclusive, and hardly sufficient to justify even the very cautions mode in which Grimm expresses himself about this Slavo-Germanic godhead[[701]]. More than this we cannot say of the Anglosaxon Sætere, whose name does not appear in the royal genealogies; nevertheless we cannot doubt the existence of some deity whom our forefathers recognized under that name.
From the Gods we pass to the Goddesses: of these we have indeed but scanty record in England. Of the great and venerable goddess Fricge, Wóden’s wife, we are only told that she gave her name to the sixth day of the week; and we must admit that this is all we know of her, unless she be implied under some other name, which is possible.
Beda in acquainting us with the ancient names of the Anglosaxon months tells us of four which were called from their especial reference to the gods: these are Solmónað or February; Hréðmónað, March; Eóstermónað, April; and Blótmónað, November. Solmónað he says received its name from the cakes which were offered to the gods at that time[[702]]; Blótmónað from the victims (cattle) that were vowed for sacrifice; of the others he says[[703]], “Hréðmónað is called from a goddess of theirs,—Rheda, to whom they sacrificed in that month. Eóstermónað[Eóstermónað], which is now interpreted by the ‘Paschal month,’ had its name of old from a goddess of theirs named Eostre, to whom in this month they offered celebrations.”
The Scandinavian and German mythology are alike destitute of these names; although among the many goddesses they recognize some two may perhaps be identical with ours. The name Hréðe may possibly mean severe, fierce, and denote a warlike goddess; but still I am more inclined to connect it with the adjective Hróð, glorious, famous, and to see in it the meaning of the great or glorious goddess, that is, in some form or other, Fricge, Wóden’s wife: it is however not to be forgotten that the German Chrodo, in Anglosaxon Hróð or even Hréðe, is now admitted, and that this god was in fact Saturn. It is true that we have more than one fragmentary legend in which the name of Saturn survives, but in a heroic rather than a godlike form, and this may have been the cause of its preservation: the Church found Saturn useful, and kept him; nor is it at all surprising that a change of sex should have taken place: the same thing happened with the German goddess Nerthus, who reappears in the Norse god Niördr, and the classical scholar will at once remember the god Lunus, as well as the goddess Luna[[704]]. Whatever explanation we may attempt to give of Hréðe, it is clear that she was a Saxon goddess to whom at stated periods sacrifice was offered. The same thing may be said of Eóstre or Eástre, whose name must be etymologically connected with Eást, oriens, and who therefore was in all probability a goddess of brightness and splendour, perhaps also a Beorhte or Bright goddess: she may have been a goddess of light, of the morning beams, of the newly awakening year, when the sun first begins to recover power after the gloom and darkness of winter. That she was deeply impressed upon the mind and feelings of the people follows from her name having been retained for the great festival of the church: it may also be fairly argued that she was a mild and gentle divinity, whom the clergy did not fear thus to commemorate.