00:07:40.520Lastly, there can be little doubt that they had duties in connection with public sacrifices,
00:07:46.480though this is not explicitly stated by Tacitus.
00:07:51.500The information to be derived from other authorities is slight,
00:07:57.740but does not conflict with Tacitus' account.
00:08:01.760Ammianus Marcellinus states that over the priests of the Burgundians
00:08:06.760there presided a chief priest, called Sinistus, who held office for life and was irremovable.
00:08:16.520Jourdain says that the priests of the Goths were drawn from the nobility. According to Bede,
00:08:25.000the priests of the ancient English were forbidden to carry arms or to ride except on mares.
00:08:32.840Here also we find the priests of Daira presided over by a high priest.
00:08:39.540It cannot be denied that there is a certain resemblance between the position of the German priests and that of the Druids.
00:08:48.760In both cases we find some kind of regular priestly organization under the presidency of a chief priest.
00:08:58.040though among the Germans the organization seems to be confined within the limits of the state or tribe.
00:09:05.940Among the Germans, as among the Gauls,
00:09:09.040the priests seem to have been exempt from the duty of fighting,
00:09:13.180though they were present on the field of battle.0.97
00:09:17.020Like the Druids, the German priests inhabit,
00:09:20.740or, at all events, had charge over sacred groves.
00:09:25.380Lastly, in addition to their distinctively religious functions, both the Druids and German priests have duties in connection with the administration of justice.
00:09:39.220Tacitus' information is here corroborated by the evidence of language.
00:09:45.040In Old High German, the word Ivarto, which literally means guardian of the law, is used to denote a priest of the Jews.
00:09:57.700This usage can hardly be explained, except on the supposition that the word was formally used to denote a native priest of the Germans.
00:10:07.940It is likely, therefore, that it was in their capacity of guardians of the law
00:10:15.520that the priests opened the assembly and had the right of inflicting punishment.
00:10:21.320There are, however, two important points of difference between the Druids and the priests of the Germans.0.78
00:10:28.920One, in the ministration of justice, the latter have rather the semblance of power than the reality.
00:10:37.940While among the Gauls, the whole administration of justice lay exclusively in the hands of the Druids.0.85
00:10:45.600Among the Germans, on the other hand, this power belonged to the assembled host,0.85
00:10:50.920the priests being apparently merely the officers of the latter.
00:10:56.320Two, the German priesthood seems to be exclusively concerned with public duties,
00:11:02.720and to be almost entirely bound up with the state or tribe.
00:11:07.360priests appear not to have been required for private worship.
00:11:12.300Tacitus distinctly states that the casting of lots,
00:11:16.440which on public occasions devolved on the state priest in the private household,
00:11:22.180was performed by the head of the house.
00:11:26.020It is probable that such was the case also with private sacrifices,
00:11:31.400Though from Tacitus' silence on the subject and Caesar's statement,
00:11:36.560the Germans were not zealous in offering sacrifice.
00:11:41.340It is likely that such sacrifices were not a frequent occurrence.
00:11:46.860Again, the priestly organization of the Germans seems not to extend beyond the bounds of each individual state.
00:11:54.760We hear indeed of religious festivals held in common by confederations of tribes
00:12:01.340which were supposed to be connected by blood relationship
00:12:05.180but we have no evidence for believing in any priestly organization
00:12:10.220which embraced the whole German people.
00:12:14.820The priesthood indeed seems to be an essentially tribal institution.
00:12:19.600Its public duties are primarily connected with the meeting of the tribal assembly.
00:12:24.760The sacred groves over which the priests preside appear in all cases to be tribal sanctuaries.
00:12:32.080Indeed, judging from such passages, it seems exceedingly probable that it was in these sacred groves that the tribal meetings,
00:12:42.120whether ordinary or called on emergency, were held.
00:12:46.700With the Gaulish Vates, the priests of the ancient Germans seem to have had little or nothing in common.
00:12:53.760There is no evidence that they laid claim to any gift of inspiration or prophecy.
00:12:59.720In this respect, they seem to have differed even from the Druids, for the latter combined divine inspiration with official position.
00:13:09.300We may contrast Theodorus' statement that the presence of Druids was required at sacrifices owing to their acquaintance with the nature of the gods.
00:13:19.620and Tacitus' account of the observation of the sacred horses,
00:13:24.920where it is remarked that the priest and king regarded themselves as the servants of the gods,
00:13:34.940So far as I am aware, the only passage on the strength of which any supernatural knowledge
00:13:40.320could be claimed for the priests of the ancient Germans,
00:13:43.000where it is stated that the priest of Nerthus becomes aware that the goddess is in her temple.
00:13:52.020But even here the influence is not certain, and most the inspiration claimed is but slight.
00:14:00.920Prophecy and divination were of course by no means unknown among the ancient Germans.
00:14:07.700Yet whenever we find reference to such matters in early authorities, it is always by women that we find them practiced.
00:14:17.500Tacitus makes mention of Valeda and other celebrated prophetesses,
00:14:24.100and states that the Germans believed their women generally to possess a certain inherent prophetic power.
00:14:32.200Caesar says that the matrons in Ariostas' host prophesied defeat to their own side if they fought before the new moon.0.96
00:14:45.600Strabo says that in the camp of the Chimbri there were gray-haired prophetesses who sacrificed prisoners and practiced divination from the flowing of their blood and the contortions of their bodies.
00:15:02.200In the Langobardic saga, Gambara, the mother of the chiefs, Ybor and Ayo, seems to have been regarded as a prophetess.
00:15:14.080It is noteworthy that in the north, also, in later times, it is usually women who are endowed with prophetic powers,
00:15:23.600though men also are occasionally mentioned.
00:15:26.420But the terms priest or priestess are never applied to such persons.
00:15:34.060There is no reason for supposing that among the ancient Germans also, the two classes were not kept distinct.
00:15:42.520They have no feature in common except the offering of sacrifice.
00:15:46.660This, however, could probably, in later times certainly, be performed by any person without reference to priestly office or prophetic powers.
00:15:59.280So far, therefore, as the records give us any guidance, it appears that the priest of the ancient Germans was a tribal official, who had to perform public ceremonies and preserve the traditional tribal law.
00:16:14.940they do not give us any ground for supposing that the priest laid claim to secret knowledge
00:16:34.320The apparent absence of prophetic claims on the part of the priest
00:16:38.720may be due to the poverty of our information.
00:16:42.640It must be seen, therefore, whether the view here put forward is in harmony with the evidence of latter times.
00:16:52.280Direct evidence on this point is only to be obtained in the North,
00:16:56.400for elsewhere the native literature does not begin till all reminiscence of heathen society have vanished.
00:17:05.640The northern evidence will be discussed in the next section.
00:17:09.080In the meantime, however, there is some indirect evidence which tends to confirm this view.
00:17:16.800In the subdivisions of the tribe, the temporal leader seems to have held a semi-priestly position.
00:17:25.060Among many tribes, especially the Franks, the chief subdivision was the Hundred.
00:17:30.380This body formed a unit for military purposes, and had liked the tribe itself its own meetings for the administration of justice.
00:17:41.220Each hundred had a leader of its own, who in Frankish annals is called Gentennarius, or Tribunus, and in native languages, Juno, or Cotinque.
00:17:54.800Now this last word, kotink, also known as godin, is a derivative of god, and can hardly have meant anything else than priest.
00:18:10.180How such a name could come into use may be seen from the history of the Icelandic góti.
00:18:17.480The local leader must, in heathen times, have had priestly functions.
00:18:24.400Again, the princeps, in his judicial capacity, seems to bear a semi-priestly character.
00:18:33.220We have seen that the guardianship of the tribal law was one of the chief cares of the priests,
00:18:39.480but the exposition and interpretation of the law in district and village assemblies was the business of the princeps.
00:18:49.060This custom survives in the ancient laws of the English, where it is laid down that the exposition of the secular law in the Shiremoot is the duty of the alderman.
00:19:01.520It is for ignorance of law that the alderman was rebuked by Alfred.
00:19:07.760Again, it seems likely that in the village community the head man performed priestly functions.
00:19:14.500Such is certainly the case in the north, and there is evidence at all events
00:19:19.740that the villages of the continent had similar religious festivals.
00:19:25.360In none of these bodies do we ever hear of persons of exclusively priestly character.
00:19:31.820Priestly duties appear everywhere to have been discharged by the temporal chief.
00:19:36.980The former prevalence of the patriarchal system is shown further by the use of the Old English poetical word alder, chief, prince, which in the plural means forefathers.
00:19:51.900In the sense of princeps, it has died out in prose, being displaced by the extended form, alderman.
00:20:01.740In official terminology, however, it remains in the forms,
00:20:05.460hundreds älder, chief of a hundred, or berhilder, mayor.
00:20:15.260In the smaller organizations of society, then,
00:20:19.340priestly duties seem to have been performed by the temporal chief.
00:20:24.060It was only the great organization, the tribe or state,
00:20:28.720which possesses a class with exclusively priestly functions.
00:20:33.540This fact is rendered especially important by the loose character of the bonds
00:20:39.100by which the ancient German state was held together.
00:20:43.020Caesar says distinctly that in time of peace,
00:20:46.940the state had no common magistracy, and as so far as the non-monarchical tribes are concerned,
00:20:56.580his words are amply confirmed by the evidence of Tacitus.
00:21:02.160Each district seems to have been governed by its own chief.
00:21:07.500Traditionally, no doubt, the bond of union in the tribe was held to be a community of blood,
00:21:14.120But the tangible evidences of unity seem to be only four in number, namely the law, the assembly, the sanctuary, and the priesthood, all of which are closely connected.
00:21:30.680The priests seem to be the only permanent central authority in the tribe.
00:21:38.060Section 2. The Priesthood in the North
00:21:42.420In the north, there is practically no evidence for the existence of a priestly class.
00:21:50.680The word gothi, priest, occurs frequently, but it is always, or almost always, used to denote a person who combined priestly duties with temporal power.
00:22:04.800The very rare exceptions, real or apparent to this rule, will be discussed in the following pages.
00:22:13.980It will be convenient to treat the four countries, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, separately,
00:22:21.680owing to a very different social and political conditions which they present.
00:22:28.0401. For Iceland, our information is extensive and trustworthy.
00:22:34.800In the early days of the colony, the more important settlers built temples of their own,
00:22:41.340often from the material of the temples which they had had in Norway.
00:22:46.360They exercised a kind of patriarchal authority over their followers,
00:22:51.900but bore no title of authority other than that of Goti,
00:22:57.340their office and sphere of jurisdiction being called Gotord.
00:23:03.280The smaller settlers, who had no temples of their own, gradually joined themselves to them,
00:23:10.120in order to enjoy both the use of their temples and the benefit of their protection.0.96
00:23:15.320The Goti had to keep up the temple and provide the sacrifices,0.87
00:23:20.640in a time for which the members of the Gotor paid a temple tax, half taller.0.52
00:23:27.360In the neighborhood of each temple, there was a consecrated place set apart for the thing, or assembly, of the members of the Gotthor.
00:23:39.100At first, each community was practically independent, but in the year 930, a constitution was assembled, which embraced the whole island.
00:23:51.120A general assembly, Olthingi, being held annually at Uxcara.
00:23:59.320About 965, further changes were introduced.
00:24:04.100The country was divided into four quarters, each quarter containing three thing,
00:24:09.640except the northern quarter, which contained four.0.98
00:24:16.000The number of gothort was thus limited to thirty-nine, and no temples erected after this date conveyed any magisterial rites.
00:24:27.540Every three men had to belong to some gothort, but the delimination of the gothort was not strictly geographical, and persons were free to change from one to another.
00:24:39.580The Lurgreta, or Legislative Council, was composed of the 39 Gotar, to whom nine titular Gotar, chosen from the East, South, and West Quarters, were subsequently added, and 96 assessors, two of whom were nominated by each Goti.
00:25:01.760The whole was presided over by the Logsogumata, speaker of the law, an elected official.
00:25:11.740The right of opening the assembly, however, belonged to the Goti, who possessed the temple of Kielernes, within whose jurisdiction the meeting place of the Althingi lay.
00:25:24.500He is consequently called Al-Sheri Ar-Gothi, literally, priest of the whole host.
00:25:33.680This constitution lasted with unessential modifications down to the end of the commonwealth.
00:25:41.280It is to be observed that the Gotth was inherited like any other piece of property, and could even be sold.
00:25:49.340On the introduction of Christianity, the priestly functions of the Gothi, of course, disappeared.
00:25:56.640But their political powers, and curiously, even the name, survived.
00:26:03.1002. In regard to Norway, the accounts are much less complete and satisfactory.
00:26:09.860Before the time of Harald Horfagri, the small chiefs on the west coast seemed to have been practically independent.
00:26:18.500According to the legendary sagas, kingdoms arose from time to time, but for the most part they seemed to have been short-lived, and in many districts the local community owed no external obedience.
00:26:34.300Since it was mainly from the Norwegian coast, communities that the colonists of Iceland were drawn,
00:26:40.560it must be inferred that the organization, both political and religious, of these communities was similar to,
00:26:48.400and indeed formed a model of, the system which we find in Iceland.
00:26:53.940It may be assumed, therefore, that each local chief had a temple and a thing place for his dependents,
00:27:00.740and that he himself discharged priestly duties.
00:27:04.900As a matter of fact, we find in several cases that the materials used for constructing the new temples in Iceland
00:27:11.360had been taken from the temples which the same persons had formerly possessed in Norway.
00:27:18.120Whether the Norwegian patriarchal chiefs usually bore the title Góti is uncertain.
00:27:25.000Instances, however, occasionally occur.
00:27:28.380Further inland, a similar system is found, but on a larger scale.
00:27:34.440Over the district called the Dales, there ruled in St. Olaf's days a heresier,
00:27:42.020named Gutbrander, who was that it were a king over the district.
00:27:49.220This man possessed a temple containing a figure of Thor.
00:27:53.340When St. Olaf came into the dales to enforce the acceptance of Christianity, Guthbrandr called the men of the district together, and, taking the image out of the temple, they set out to meet the king.
00:28:09.260The predecessor of this, Guthbrandr, was in alliance with Earl Hakan of Hladlthir.
00:28:16.620They had a temple in common, which contained figures of Thor and of Hakan's patron goddess.
00:28:23.340Dorgurther, and Urpa. In the saga of King Hakan the Good, Earl Sigurther of Llatyr,
00:28:32.620Earl Hakan's father, is said to have provided a great sacrificial feast at Llatyr,
00:28:40.140and to have borne the whole expense. In this passage it is stated that it was the duty of
00:28:46.460of the chief who provided the feast to consecrate the heir and all the sacrificial meat.
00:28:53.660The following chapters describe the refusal of the Christian king, Hakon, to take his
00:29:00.500part in these public feasts, and the dangerous position in which he consequently found himself
00:29:08.280The Norwegian evidence, therefore, is consistent, from the king or earl down to the village
00:29:16.020chieftain, priestly duties are everywhere combined with temporal power. We never hear
00:29:23.580of any person of exclusively priestly character during the whole history of the country.
00:29:31.460In the case where communities combined for public worship, we find the chiefs undertaking
00:29:37.960the office of priest in turn. Such was the case with the sacrifices at Maron in St. Olaf's
00:29:46.340time. They were held by twelve chiefs in turn. It is to be observed that this was during
00:29:53.720the reign of a Christian king, and at a time when none of the great heathen chiefs were
00:30:00.320left in the land. It is quite possible that it was merely the revival of an old custom which may
00:30:08.580have been in existence before the rise of the monarchy. 3. For Denmark, our materials on this
00:30:18.580subject are almost wholly wanting. It would hardly have been necessary to deal with this country
00:30:25.420had not certain writers brought forward three runic inscriptions found in Fyn as evidence for the existence of a specifically priestly class.
00:30:38.720The first inscription is that of Hylnys.
00:30:44.100Hralfur Noragoti erected the stone to the memory of Gothamunder.
00:30:54.040This stone stands in memory of Hraufel, who was Noragoti.
00:31:02.000These inscriptions evidently refer to the same person and are assigned by Wimmer to the beginning of the 9th century.
00:31:11.660The third inscription is that of Glewendrup, and dates from about 900, according to Wimmer.
00:31:20.460Rägenhildr erected this stone to the memory of Ali Solvogoti, a noble temple priest.
00:31:30.700The point in dispute is the meaning to be attached to the phrases of Norvogoti, Solvogoti.
00:31:40.460Maurer translates Nori's priest, i.e. a priest in the service of Nori,
00:31:46.620and takes the latter to be the name of Eman.
00:31:51.280This explanation is, however, unnecessary.
00:31:55.240Wimmer translates Priest of Nurel, a place name of plural form,
00:32:02.400or possibly the name of the inhabitants of a district.
00:32:06.060Sulve, he translates to be the genitive of Sulvi,
00:32:10.320a place name identical with that of Sulvi in Norway,
00:32:14.620or possibly, like Nora, a genitive plural, denoting the inhabitants of a place.
00:32:22.240If Wimmer's explanation be adopted, Hlöfer and Ali may obviously have been local chieftains,
00:32:29.880like those on the west coast of Norway.
00:32:33.200Maurer's hypothesis therefore rests on insecure foundations.
00:32:37.660Had a priestly class existed, it is curious that we should find no reference to it in Saxo, who frequently refers to laws of the heathen period.
00:32:50.2204. There is one distinct reference to the existence of the priestly officials at the Uppsala Sanctuary, namely in Adam of Bremen.
00:33:02.060Assigned to all their gods they have priests to present the sacrifices of the people.
00:33:09.520But were these officials persons of exclusively priestly character,
00:33:13.820or were they local chiefs entrusted with the performance of priestly duties,
00:33:19.640like the Norwegian chieftains at Meeren?
00:33:23.060In contrast to Norway, the land of small independent communities,
00:33:29.200Sweden is distinguished from the earliest times by centralization of government.
00:33:35.340At the beginning of the 11th century, we find the country exclusive of Skirno,
00:33:41.980provided in seven provinces, each possessing an assembly and a lawman, Lugmutter.
00:33:49.660These lawmen seem at this period to have been men of high position.
00:33:54.980The secession, at all events in Upland, was hereditary.
00:34:00.180Besides the Laman, there existed in Upland a council of twelve sages, Spökingel,
00:34:06.820whose duty it was to advise the king, especially in the administration of justice,
00:34:14.400and who likewise appeared to have been men of important position.
00:34:18.000At their head stood, during the reign of Olafur Schuttkungel, three brothers, Arnviter, Dörviter, and Freviter, the two latter being named after the great gods.
00:34:36.980Similar councils can be shown to have existed in other Scandinavian lands, examples in the Danish settlements in England.
00:34:45.120Thus Lincoln and Stamford had each a council of twelve, who inherited their jurisdiction and bore the title of lawmen.
00:34:57.000Bearing in mind the close connection which everywhere among Teutonic peoples subsists between the law and the priesthood,
00:35:07.100it seems not unlikely that these consulists are the priests mentioned by Adam.
00:35:13.140During the reign of the Christian king Olafur, their sacerdotal duties would necessarily
00:35:21.580have to cease, but they may subsequently have been resumed during the heathen reaction,
00:35:29.200which was in operation during Adam's time.
00:35:33.200As regards the number, we may compare the twelve priests who officiated in the sacrifices
00:46:40.780Is not the same explanation possible also here?
00:46:45.300Can the priesthood of the ancient Germans be due to the former existence of monarchy?
00:46:52.500In Tacitus' time, most of the tribes with which the Romans came in contact were not monarchical,
00:47:00.460but this need not always have been the case.
00:47:03.360A nation may come into existence either through the confederation of smaller communities, as in Iceland, or through their union under one head.
00:47:15.360That the ancient German tribes arose by the latter possess is more probable by the fact that many of them occupied territory which had been gained by conquest.0.68
00:47:27.820For in a state of civilization no further advanced than that of the ancient Germans, offensive
00:47:36.320warfare can hardly be carried on successfully, except under a permanent head.0.96
00:47:45.320Again the genealogies which trace the tribesmen, primarily no doubt the noble families back
00:47:53.400to a common ancestor, point to the former existence of monarchy, or at all events of
00:48:01.860patriarchal government on a large scale. Moreover, it is to be observed that kingly power seems0.79
00:48:11.940to increase in proportion to the distance we advance from the borders of southern civilization.0.97
00:48:21.080For the tribes in the neighborhood of the Roman frontier, only the Hermundari and the
00:48:29.140Marcomanni are known to have been monarchical, and of these the latter were newcomers.
00:48:38.940Of the Goths, whose position was far more remote, we are told that they were subject
00:48:47.720to somewhat more strict kingly government, though not to a degree incompatible with liberty.0.79
00:48:57.600Among the Swedes, on the other hand, the most remote people of undubitably Teutonic blood
00:49:05.360mentioned by Tacitus, the king's power is said to be subject to no reservations.
00:49:14.380The presence of a priesthood and monarchy side by side in the same state is no insuperable
00:52:44.180Describing the constitution of Ringo's army at the Battle of Blavala, he proceeds.
00:52:51.560The bravest of the Swedes were these, Arwaki, Keklu, Throk-Agratist, Guthfast, Gumi from Gislamarkaia.
00:53:08.800These were the households of the god Frey, and most faithful intermediaries of the deities.
00:53:17.320Ingi also, and Orly, Orlur, and Forky, sons of Errik, embrace Ringo's service.
00:53:28.640They also trace the origin of their race to the god Frey.
00:53:34.460Whatever may be the precise meaning of the phrase, numinum arbitri,
00:53:40.440there can, I think, be little doubt that it is the Spickinger, or priest counselors of Uppsala, who are here referred to.
00:53:54.520May not the priesthood of, for example, the Simnonis have originated in a similar manner?
00:54:02.860Although this tribe formed only an outlying portion of Marobodos' kingdom, they claim to be the oldest and nobriest branch of the Suevik race.
00:54:15.220The chief ground of this claim seems to have lain in the possession of an ancient grove sanctuary, which they believe to be the dwelling place of their god and the cradle of their race.
00:54:28.420The presence of embassies from all the kindred tribes at their national festivals testifies to the general acceptance of the claim.
00:54:39.520I do not see how such a sense can have been gained unless the Simnons had once possessed a powerful native dynasty tracing its descent to the tribal god.
00:55:01.900One of the most important elements in the law, which it was the special duty of the priest to preserve,
00:55:12.020was doubtless the tradition of the tribe's origin.
00:55:16.300We find references to these traditions even in the Germania.
00:55:21.700Indeed, from chapter 2, it would seem that the Germans had already become conscious of the unity of their race, and had been classified the various ancestors in a common genealogy.
00:55:39.000Such a genealogy necessarily presupposes the existence of many tribal traditions, and, consequentially, also of tribal cults.
00:55:52.620The question of these tribal cults has hardly received the attention it deserves.
00:55:57.440I believe that many of the difficulties of Germanic mythology are due to the combination
00:56:04.800into one system of cults which were once peculiar to different tribes and localities.
00:56:14.200In the north, the clearest case of a tribal cult is that of Thulgurter.
00:56:21.700In one respect, this cult holds a peculiar position.
00:56:30.300Thor-Göther is never mentioned as a member of the divine community,
00:56:35.420either in the mythological poems or in Gildfagening,
00:56:41.460nor does she stand in any kind of relationship to the rest of the gods.
00:56:46.580Her cults formed no part of the Orthodox religion of the North.
00:56:54.620In Skaldskalpermal, it is stated that she was the daughter of Hurling, the founder of
00:59:10.860How then is Hakon's worship to be explained? The reason is that he traces his descent from
00:59:17.440the ancient kings of Haragirland. When his ancestors migrated to the south, they must
00:59:24.180have brought their family cult with them. The persistent nature of family worship is0.72
00:59:29.820sown by the fact that we find the family settled in the neighborhood of the Thrandheimfjord,
00:59:36.880at least a century before Haken acquired the government of Norway.
00:59:43.020There is reason for believing that the cult of Frey is another and more important example
00:59:50.760of the same class. Frey was one of the great gods of the North, and his cult deserves close
00:59:58.440attention. It has been generally assumed by modern mythologists that he was a god of the sky
01:00:05.500or sun, but for this theory there is no ground beyond an isolated passage in the Gylfgening.
01:00:14.100The mythological poems throw little light on his character and need not be discussed here.
01:00:20.760But the allusions to his cult, which are fairly frequent in historical and quasi-historical works, will, I think, when carefully considered, place beyond doubt that it was originally of a local or tribal character.
01:00:38.320According to Adam of Bremen, the temple at Uppsala contained three figures, representing the gods Thor, Odin, and Frico, respectively.
01:00:52.560Of Frico, by which he certainly means Frey, he says that he was regarded as the dispenser of peace and pleasure to mortals,
01:01:05.920that his representation was phallic, and that he was invoked especially at marriages.
01:01:14.740Elsewhere, Frey is represented as the giver of fertility in general.
01:01:19.580In Sweden, his image was carried around the country, apparently in autumn, in a cart drawn by oxen, and accompanied by a young woman, who attended to his sanctuary, and was regarded as his god's wife.
01:01:37.240His cult was known also in Norway, especially in inner Thrandheim, and from Norway was carried
01:01:47.320to Iceland, where it seems to have been connected especially with the Harvest Festival.
01:01:54.060Freyr, Njordr, and Thor were the three names invoked at the opening of the Icelandic Assembly,
01:02:03.320and in the oath which was taken in courts of justice,
01:02:08.840which seems to show that they were regarded as the chief gods of the land.
01:02:14.380The Inling Saga gives the following account of Frey.
01:02:19.760Nyordal and his son Frey did not originally belong to the Isir, Odin's tribe,
01:08:28.720There can be little doubt that Skjöldr must once have occupied among the Danes a position
01:08:35.120somewhat similar to that of Frey among the Swedes.
01:08:39.460In extant documents he is not often referred to as a god, but the importance of his cult
01:08:45.480may be estimated by the long continuance of the name Sköldingar as the designation for
01:08:53.440the Danes. I suspect also that the origin of the Balder myths is to be found in a tribal
01:09:01.000cult, though it is difficult to fix its locality. At any rate, the existence of two independent
01:09:09.280traditions, the one favorable, the other hostile to Balder, seems best to be explained on this
01:09:17.880hypothesis. It is not unlikely that the cults of Urur and Heimdala have a similar origin.
01:09:28.240Cults of the same kind were known also on the continent. In the old Saxon renunciation formula,
01:09:35.340the convert is called upon to renounce Thune, Vodan, and Saxonaut.
01:09:43.320The last name is identical with the name Saxonaut,
01:09:47.860which stands at the head of the royal genealogy of Essex.
01:09:52.760We can scarcely go wrong in referring this personage as a tribal god of the Saxons.
01:10:00.560Most of the other English royal houses trace their descent through Wolden to a certain Geet, of whom Aeser says that he was worshipped long ago by the pagans as a god.
01:10:17.840He seems to be the same individual who is represented as robbed of all sleep by his passionate love.
01:10:25.780Heligoland was dedicated to a god, Fosit.
01:10:32.980This name is never met with elsewhere, and seems likely that his cult was purely local.
01:10:42.100Tacitus says that the Germans classified their race in three great divisions,
01:10:55.780According to their dissents from the three sons of Manus, it seems likely, therefore, that worship was once paid to these brothers.
01:11:06.240Perhaps the cult of Ermen may be traced.
01:11:09.240When the elder Drusus was on his expedition to the Erb in B.C. 9, he heard that there were pillars of Hercules in existence,
01:11:21.540but was prevented from obtaining more precise information by the difficulty of crossing the sea.
01:11:29.560From Tacitus' accounts, it would seem that these pillars were rumored to be in the direction of Holstein.
01:11:38.060Now this was in the 2nd century, a country occupied by the Saxons,
01:11:43.900In the time of Karl the Great, that is to say, some centuries after the westward migration of the Saxons,
01:11:53.140the chief object of their worship was a lofty wooden pillar in the neighborhood of Erisberg.
01:12:00.720This pillar, which was called Ulminsen, was destroyed by Karl in the year 772.
01:12:08.840Is it not likely that the Saxons practiced a similar cult in their earlier home, and
01:12:16.800that this was the source of the story mentioned by Tacitus?
01:12:21.840This view is especially favored by a passage of Vidukind.
01:12:26.900After describing a legendary victory of the Saxons, he proceeds.
01:12:32.940In the morning they planted their eagle at the eastern gate, and, piling up an altar
01:12:39.920of victory, they paid appropriate reverence to the objects of their worship, according
01:12:47.160to the superstition of their fathers, representing by name Mars, by the likeness of the Pillars
01:12:54.860of Hercules, by position the Sun, who is called Apollo, by the Greeks. By Mars he means Ermen,
01:13:06.540as is shown by the next sentence. Hence the view of those who hold that Saxons are descended from
01:13:14.460the Greeks has a certain amount of probability, for Mars is called Hermen or Hermes in Greek.
01:13:24.860In spite of the confusion of native and Greco-Roman mythology, this passage shows that the Erminsel was connected with the cult of a deity or hero named Ermin, and it is improbable that this was the god whom the Romans called Hercules.
01:13:45.180The cult of Hercules was known also to the Cherusci, another tribe of the Erminus, though
01:13:57.120there is no evidence that the cult here took the same form.
01:14:02.500Probably the cult of Ermin was known to all the Erminos, but its association with the
01:14:09.860sacred pillar may have been peculiar to the Saxons.
01:14:15.180In the same way it seems to me not unlikely that the cult of Frey was originally only a local form of a far more widely spread religion, it has often been remarked that Frey bears a strong resemblance to Throti, the mythical peace king of the Danes.
01:14:36.400Again, the cult has features in common with that of Nyrthus, attributed by Tacitus to certain tribes on the southwest shores of the Baltic.
01:14:48.300The word Nyrthus is identical with Njordr, the name of Frey's father, while Frey itself seems to be an abbreviation for Ingifrey or Ingunar Frey,
01:15:03.300which recall the Ingoenus of the Roman Age.
01:15:09.900It seems likely, therefore, that a similar cult was once common to all the maritime tribes.
01:15:18.540Note 2. Priestesses and Prophetesses in the North
01:15:26.280In Icelandic historical works, the word Gythia occasionally occurs.
01:15:33.300It seems to be applied to women who belong to the magisterial families.0.93
01:15:40.900In Kristni, we hear of a certain Fritgerther,
01:15:46.960who is represented as offering sacrifice, and who is called Gythia,