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134-578: The Merseburg charms are the only known surviving relics of pre-Christian, pagan poetry in Old High German literature . The charms were recorded in the 10th century by a cleric, possibly in the abbey of Fulda , on a blank page of a liturgical book, which later passed to the library at Merseburg . The charms have thus been transmitted in Caroline minuscule on the flyleaf of a Latin sacramentary . The spells became famous in modern times through

268-571: A "Lösesegen" (blessing of release), describing how a number of " Idisen " freed from their shackles warriors caught during battle. The last two lines contain the magic words "Leap forth from the fetters, escape from the foes" that are intended to release the warriors. Eiris sazun idisi, sazun hera duoder; suma hapt heptidun, suma heri lezidun, suma clubodun umbi cuoniouuidi: insprinc haptbandun, inuar uigandun.   Once sat women, They sat here, then there. Some fastened bonds, Some impeded an army, Some unraveled fetters: Escape

402-573: A Germanic "national spirit" ( Volksgeist ), as expressed in Otto Höfler 's "Germanic continuity theory". As a result, the use of folklore as a source went out of fashion after World War II, especially in Germany, but has experienced a revival since the 1990s in Nordic scholarship. Today, scholars are cautious in their use of folkloric material, keeping in mind that most was collected long after

536-497: A cast of saints rather than rude warriors; a mastery of historical technique incomparable for its time; beauty of form and diction; and, not least, an author whose qualities of life and spirit set a model of dedicated scholarship." Goffart also feels that a major theme of the Historia is local, Northumbrian concerns, and that Bede treated matters outside Northumbria as secondary to his main concern with northern history. Goffart sees

670-481: A certain captive's chains fell off when masses were sung for him ") has been noted by Jacob Grimm . In this Christianized example, it is the singing of the mass, rather than the chanting of the charm, that effects the release of a comrade (in this case a brother). The unshackled man is asked "whether he had any spells about him, as are spoken of in fabulous stories", which curiously has been translated as "loosening rune (about him)" ( Old English : álýsendlícan rune ) in

804-422: A consensus text from the earliest manuscripts, Bertram Colgrave counted 32 places where there was an apparent error of some kind. However, 26 of these are to be found within a transcription from an earlier source, and it is apparent by checking independent copies of those sources that in such cases Bede copied the mistake into his own text. Manuscripts written before 900 include: Copies are sparse throughout

938-467: A continuity between Tacitus's account of Tuisto and Mannus and the Gylfaginning account of the creation of the world. The name Tuisto , if it means 'twin' or 'double-being', could connect him to the name of the primordial being Ymir, whose name probably has a similar meaning. On the other hand, the form "Tuisco" may suggest a connection to Tyr . Similarly, both myths have a genealogy consisting of

1072-546: A full account of his conflict with Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury , or his ambition and aristocratic lifestyle. Only the existence of other sources such as the Life of Wilfrid make it clear what Bede discreetly avoids saying. The omissions are not restricted to Wilfrid; Bede makes no mention at all of the English missionary Boniface , though it is unlikely he knew little of him; the final book contains less information about

1206-526: A grandfather, a father, and then three sons. Ymir's name is etymologically connected to the Sanskrit Yama and Iranian Yima , while the creation of the world from Ymir's body is paralleled by the creation of the world from the primordial being Purusha in Indic mythology, suggesting not only a Proto-Germanic origin for Ymir but an even older Indo-European origin (see Indo-European cosmogony ). There

1340-405: A horse suffering from a fit or equine distemper ) and another invoking Frygg for a sheep's ailment. He also quoted one Dutch charm for fixing a horse's foot, and a Scottish one for the treatment of human sprains that was still practiced in his time in the 19th century (See #Scotland below). Grimm provided in his appendix another Norwegian horse spell, which has been translated and examined as

1474-408: A horse. Comparing Norse mythology , Wodan is well-attested as the cognate of Odin . Frija is the cognate of Frigg . Balder is Norse Baldr . Phol is possibly the masculine form of Uolla . According to Jacob Grimm , the context would make it clear that it is another name for Balder. The identification with Balder is not conclusive. Modern scolarship suggests that Freyr might be meant. Uolla

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1608-523: A major turning point in English history. The fourth book begins with the consecration of Theodore as Archbishop of Canterbury , and recounts Wilfrid 's efforts to bring Christianity to the kingdom of Sussex . The fifth book brings the story up to Bede's day, and includes an account of missionary work in Frisia , and of the conflict with the British church over the correct dating of Easter. Bede wrote

1742-521: A monastic rather than secular ministry, and Thacker argues that Bede's treatment of St Cuthbert is meant to make Cuthbert a role-model for the role of the clergy advocated by Gregory the Great. The historian Walter Goffart says of the Historia that many modern historians find it a "tale of origins framed dynamically as the Providence-guided advance of a people from heathendom to Christianity;

1876-460: A parallel by Thorpe . Grimm had recopied the spell from a tome by Hans Hammond, Nordiska Missions-historie (Copenhagen 1787), pp. 119–120, the spell being transcribed by Thomas von Westen c. 1714. This appears to be the same spell in English as given as a parallel by a modern commentator, though he apparently misattributes it to the 19th century. The texts and translations will be presented side-by-side below: The number of Norwegian analogues

2010-604: A parallel to the Merseburg horse charm by both of them: Another example (from Kungelf's Dombok, 1629) was originally printed by Arcadius: Vår herre red ad hallen ned. Hans foles fod vrednede ved, han stig aff, lagde leed ved leed, blod ved blod, kiöd ved kiöd, ben ved ben, som vor herre signet folen sin, leedt ind igjen, i naffn, o.s.v. Our Lord rode down to the hall. His foal's foot became sprained, he dismounted, laid joint with joint, blood with blood, sinew with sinew, bone with bone, as our Lord blessed his foal, led in again, in

2144-403: A preface for the work, in which he dedicates it to Ceolwulf , king of Northumbria. The preface mentions that Ceolwulf received an earlier draft of the book; presumably, Ceolwulf knew enough Latin to understand it, and he may even have been able to read it. The preface makes it clear that Ceolwulf had requested the earlier copy, and Bede had asked for Ceolwulf's approval; this correspondence with

2278-708: A rebirth of the world. The notion of the world's destruction by fire in the Southern Germanic area seems confirmed by the existence of the word Muspilli (probably " world conflagration ") to refer to the end of the world in Old High German; however, it is possible that this aspect derives from Christian influence. Scholarship on Ragnarök tends to either argue that it is a myth with composite, partially non-Scandinavian origins, that it has Indo-European parallels and thus origins, or that it derives from Christian influence. Information on Germanic cosmology

2412-436: A strong belief in fate and chance to the followers of Germanic religion. Similarly, Old English, Old High German, and Old Saxon associate a word for fate, wyrd , as referring to an inescapable, impersonal fate or death. While scholarship of the early 20th century believed that this meant that Germanic religion was essentially fatalistic, scholars since 1969 have noted that this concept appears to have been heavily influenced by

2546-662: Is an aggressive emendation of the original text, and its validity as well as any suggestion to its ties to the Merseburg charm is subject to skepticism. Many analogous magic incantations to the Second Merseburg Charm (horse-healing spell) have been noted. Some paralleling is discernible in other Old German spells, but analogues are particularly abundant in folkloric spells from Scandinavian countries (often preserved in so-called " black books "). Similar charms have been noted in Gaelic, Lettish and Finnish suggesting that

2680-621: Is cognate with Old Norse Fulla , a goddess there also associated with Frigg. Sunna (the personified sun) is in Norse mythology Sól . Sinthgunt is otherwise unattested. Phol ende uuodan uuorun zi holza. du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit. thu biguol en sinthgunt, sunna era suister; thu biguol en friia, uolla era suister; thu biguol en uuodan, so he uuola conda: sose benrenki, sose bluotrenki, sose lidirenki: ben zi bena, bluot zi bluoda, lid zi geliden, sose gelimida sin   Phol and Wodan were riding to

2814-457: Is divided into two parts: a preamble telling the story of a mythological event; and the actual spell in the form of a magic analogy ( just as it was before... so shall it also be now... ). In their verse form, the spells are of a transitional type; the lines show not only traditional alliteration but also the end-rhymes introduced in the Christian verse of the 9th century. The first spell is

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2948-457: Is evidence of a myth of the end of the world in Germanic mythology, which can be reconstructed in very general terms from the surviving sources. The best known is the myth of Ragnarök , attested from Old Norse sources, which involves a war between the gods and the beings of chaos, leading to the destruction of almost all gods, giants, and living things in a cataclysm of fire. It is followed by

3082-431: Is good; if it records evil of wicked men, the devout reader is encouraged to avoid all that is sinful and perverse." One of the most famous sections is the parable of the sparrow. In 627 King Edwin of Northumbria was converted to Christianity. In Bede's account, the king held a meeting of his council to discuss acceptance of the new religion. The chief pagan priest, Coifu, declared that he had not had as much favour from

3216-404: Is independent of it and so the two are a valuable check on correctness. They are thought to have both derived from an earlier manuscript, marked "c2" in the diagram, which does not survive. A comparison of K and c2 yields an accurate understanding of the original c-text, but for the first three books, which are not in K, it is sometimes impossible to know if a variant reading in C and O represents

3350-483: Is itself controversial, Bernhard Maier noting that it "implies a specifically modern point of view, which reflects the modern conceptual isolation of 'religion' from other aspects of culture". Never a unified or codified set of beliefs or practices, Germanic religion showed strong regional variations and Rudolf Simek writes that it is better to refer to "Germanic religions ". In many contact areas (e.g. Rhineland and eastern and northern Scandinavia), Germanic paganism

3484-417: Is no doubt that Bede did believe in miracles, but the ones he does include are often stories of healing, or of events that could plausibly be explained naturally. The miracles served the purpose of setting an example to the reader, and Bede explicitly states that his goal is to teach morality through history, saying "If history records good things of good men, the thoughtful reader is encouraged to imitate what

3618-457: Is no longer accepted, and debate centres on how far it owes its origins to the patronage of Alfred and/or his associates. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , the earliest tranche of which was composed/compiled around the same time as the translation was made, drew heavily on the Historia , which formed the chronological framework of the early parts of the Chronicle. The Historia Ecclesiastica

3752-588: Is not always immediately obvious. Archaeological evidence is also extensive, including evidence from burials and sacrificial sites. Ancient votive altars from the Rhineland often contain inscriptions naming gods with Germanic or partially Germanic names. Most textual sources on Germanic religion were written by outsiders. The chief textual source for Germanic religion in the Roman period is Tacitus's Germania . There are problems with Tacitus's work, however, as it

3886-400: Is only provided in Nordic sources, but there is evidence for considerable continuity of beliefs despite variation over time and space. Scholarship is marked by disagreement about whether Snorri Sturlason's Edda is a reliable source for pre-Christian Norse cosmology, as Snorri has undoubtedly imposed an ordered, Christian worldview on his material. Midgard ("dwelling place in the middle")

4020-512: Is over the precise date of Easter , which he writes about at length. It is here, and only here, that he ventures some criticism of St Cuthbert and the Irish missionaries, who celebrated the event, according to Bede, at the wrong time. In the end he is pleased to note that the Irish Church was saved from error by accepting the correct date for Easter. Bede's stylistic models included some of

4154-442: Is quite large, though many are just variations on the theme. Bishop Anton Christian Bang compiled a volume culled from Norwegian black books of charms and other sources, and classified the horse-mending spells under the opening chapter "Odin og Folebenet", strongly suggesting a relationship with the second Merseburg incantation. Bang here gives a group of 34 spells, mostly recorded in the 18th–19th century though two are assigned to

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4288-430: Is severed, O herb..., etc. This parallelism was first observed by Adalbert Kuhn , who attributed it to a common Indo-European origin. This idea of an origin from a common prototype is accepted by most scholars, although some have argued that these similarities are accidental. The Rohani (Rōhaṇī Sanskrit : रोहणी ) here apparently does not signify a deity, but rather a healing herb; in fact, just an alternative name for

4422-499: Is sometimes applied to practices dating to as early as the Stone Age or Bronze Age , but its use is more generally restricted to the time period after the Germanic languages had become distinct from other Indo-European languages (early Iron Age ). Germanic paganism covers a period of around one thousand years in terms of written sources, from the first reports in Roman sources to the final conversion to Christianity. Because of

4556-616: Is spurred on to imitate the good". It also was no part of Bede's purpose to describe the kings who did not convert to Christianity in the Historia . In 725 Bede wrote The Reckoning of Time ( De Temporum Ratione ), using something similar to the anno Domini era (BC/AD dating system) created by the monk Dionysius Exiguus in 525, continuing to use it throughout Historia Ecclesiastica , becoming very influential in causing that era to be adopted thereafter in Western Europe. Specifically, he used anno ab incarnatione Domini (in

4690-525: Is the need to minimize the conflict between Wilfrid and Theodore of Tarsus , the Archbishop of Canterbury , who was involved in many of Wilfrid's difficulties. The Historia Ecclesiastica includes many accounts of miracles and visions. These were de rigueur in medieval religious narrative, but Bede appears to have avoided relating the more extraordinary tales; and, remarkably, he makes almost no claims for miraculous events at his own monastery. There

4824-560: Is torn, what of thee is inflamed (?), what of thee is crushed (?) in thyself may Dhātar excellently put that together again, joint with joint. 3. Let thy marrow come together with marrow, and thy joint together with joint; together let what of your flesh has fallen apart, together let thy bone grow over. 4. Let marrow be put together with marrow; let skin grow with skin; let thy blood, bone grow; let flesh grow with flesh. 5. Fit thou together hair with hair; fit together skin with skin; let thy blood, bone grow; put together what

4958-623: Is unclear how much he really knew about the Germanic peoples he described and because he employed numerous topoi dating back to Herodotus that were used when describing a barbarian people. Tacitus' reliability as a source can be characterized by his rhetorical tendencies, since one of the purposes of Germania was to present his Roman compatriots with an example of the virtues he believed they lacked. Julius Caesar, Procopius , and other ancient authors also offer some information on Germanic religion. Textual sources for post-Roman continental Germanic religion are written by Christian authors: Some of

5092-574: Is used to refer to the inhabited world or a barrier surrounding the inhabited world in Norse mythology. The term is first attested as midjungards in Gothic with Wulfila 's translation of the bible (c. 370 CE), and has cognates in Saxon, Old English, and Old High German. It is thus probably an old Germanic designation. In the Prose Edda , Midgard also seems to be the part of the world inhabited by

5226-639: Is usually attributed to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson (13th century CE), Skaldic poetry , poetic kennings with mythological content, Snorri's Heimskringla , the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus (12th-13th century CE), Icelandic historical writing and sagas , as well as outsider sources such as the report on the Rus' made by the Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan (10th century),

5360-477: The Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum by bishop Adam of Bremen (11th century CE), and various saints' lives. Germanic religion has been influenced by the beliefs of other cultures. Celtic and Germanic peoples were in close contact in the first millennium BCE, and evidence for Celtic influence on Germanic religion is found in religious vocabulary. This includes, for instance, the name of

5494-520: The Anglo-Saxon translation of Bede, as has been pointed out by Sophus Bugge . Bugge makes this reference in his edition of the Eddaic poem Grógaldr (1867), in an attempt to justify his emending the phrase "Leifnir's fire (?)" ( Old Norse : leifnis elda ) into "loosening charm" ( Old Norse : leysigaldr ) in the context of one of the magic charms that Gróa is teaching to her son. But this

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5628-604: The Merseburg Charms and heroic texts that may date from pagan times, but were written down by Christians. The poems of the Edda , while pagan in origin, continued to circulate orally in a Christian context before being written down, which makes an application to pre-Christian times difficult. In contrast, pre-Christian images such as on bracteates , gold foil figures , and rune and picture stones are direct attestations of Germanic religion. The interpretation of these images

5762-496: The matronae . Early medieval sources identify a pantheon consisting of the gods *Wodanaz ( Odin ), *Thunraz ( Thor ), *Tiwaz ( Tyr ), and *Frijjō ( Frigg ), as well as numerous other gods, many of whom are only attested from Norse sources (see Proto-Germanic folklore ). Textual and archaeological sources allow the reconstruction of aspects of Germanic ritual and practice. These include well-attested burial practices, which likely had religious significance, such as rich grave goods and

5896-594: The 10th century and for much of the 11th century. The greatest number of copies of Bede's work was made in the 12th century, but there was a significant revival of interest in the 14th and 15th centuries. Many of the copies are of English provenance, but also surprisingly many are Continental. The first printed copy of the Historia Ecclesiastica appeared from the press of Heinrich Eggestein in Strasbourg , probably between 1475 and 1480. A defect in

6030-460: The 17th (c. 1668 and 1670), and 31 of the charms are for treating horses with an injured leg. The name for the horse's trauma, which occurs in the titles, is Norwegian : vred in most of the rhymes, with smatterings of raina and bridge ( sic. ), but they all are essentially synonymous with brigde, glossed as the "dislocation of the limb" in Aasen 's dictionary. From Bishop Bang's collection,

6164-548: The Christianized Greco-Roman notion of fortuna fatalis ("fatal fortune") rather than reflecting Germanic belief. Nevertheless, Norse myth attests the belief that even the gods were subject to fate. While it is thus clear that older scholarship exaggerated the importance of fate in Germanic religion, it still had its own concept of fate. Most Norse texts dealing with fate are heroic, which probably influences their portrayal of fate. In Norse myth, fate

6298-706: The Continent, and in Bede's day the monastery was a renowned centre of learning. For the period prior to Augustine's arrival in 597, Bede drew on earlier writers, including Orosius , Eutropius , Pliny , and Solinus . He used Constantius 's Life of Germanus as a source for Germanus 's visits to Britain. Bede's account of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain is drawn largely from Gildas 's De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae . Bede would also have been familiar with more recent accounts such as Eddius Stephanus 's Life of Wilfrid , and anonymous Lives of Gregory

6432-629: The Elizabethan Archbishop of Canterbury, also utilized the Historia , and his works were used by both Protestant and Catholic sides in the Wars of Religion. Some historians have questioned the reliability of some of Bede's accounts. One historian, Charlotte Behr, asserts that the Historia's account of the arrival of the Germanic invaders in Kent should be considered as current myth, not history. Historian Tom Holland writes that "When, in

6566-766: The English People The Ecclesiastical History of the English People ( Latin : Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England , and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between the pre-Schism Roman Rite and Celtic Christianity . It was composed in Latin , and is believed to have been completed in 731 when Bede

6700-517: The English People (c. 731). Other sources include historians such as Jordanes (6th century CE) and Paul the Deacon (8th century), as well as saint lives and Christian legislation against various practices. Textual sources for Scandinavian religion are much more extensive. They include the aforementioned poems of the Poetic Edda, Eddic poetry found in other sources, the Prose Edda , which

6834-447: The Germanic peoples, including those living at some distance from the Roman frontier. In later centuries, Germanic religion was also influenced by Christianity. There is evidence for the appropriation of Christian symbolism on gold bracteates and possibly in the understanding of the roles of particular gods. The Christianization of the Germanic peoples was a long process during which there are many textual and archaeological examples of

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6968-621: The Great and Cuthbert . He also drew on Josephus 's Antiquities , and the works of Cassiodorus , and there was a copy of the Liber Pontificalis in Bede's monastery. Bede had correspondents who supplied him with material. Albinus , the abbot of the monastery in Canterbury , provided much information about the church in Kent, and with the assistance of Nothhelm , at that time a priest in London, obtained copies of Gregory

7102-521: The Great and illustrates it in his work by showing how Christianity brought together the native and invading races into one church. Farmer cites Bede's intense interest in the schism over the correct date for Easter as support for this argument, and also cites the lengthy description of the Synod of Whitby, which Farmer regards as "the dramatic centre-piece of the whole work." The historian Alan Thacker wrote in 1983 that Bede's works should be seen as advocating

7236-517: The Great's correspondence from Rome relating to Augustine's mission. Almost all of Bede's information regarding Augustine is taken from these letters, which includes the Libellus responsionum , as chapter 27 of book 1 is often known. Bede acknowledged his correspondents in the preface to the Historia Ecclesiastica ; he was in contact with Daniel , the Bishop of Winchester, for information about

7370-714: The Holy Ghost's name! Alexander Macbain (who also supplies a presumably reconstructed Gaelic "Chaidh Criosd a mach/Air maduinn mhoich" to the first couplet of "The Lord rade" charm above) also records a version of a horse spell which was chanted while "at the same time tying a worsted thread on the injured limb". Chaidh Criosda mach Sa' mhaduinn mhoich 'S fhuair e casan nan each, Air am bristeadh mu seach. Chuir e cnaimh ri cnaimh, Agus feith ri feith, Agus feòil ri feòil, Agus craicionn ri craicionn, 'S mar leighis esan sin Gu'n leighis mise so. Christ went forth In

7504-557: The Picts and Northumbrians, but disapproved of the failure of the Welsh to evangelize the invading Anglo-Saxons. Bede was a partisan of Rome, regarding Gregory the Great, rather than Augustine, as the true apostle of the English. Likewise, in his treatment of the conversion of the invaders, any native involvement is minimized, such as when discussing Chad of Mercia 's first consecration, when Bede mentions that two British bishops took part in

7638-499: The Roman period cannot be related to a later Norse god; many names attested in the Nordic sources are similarly without any known non-Nordic equivalents. The much higher number of sources on Scandinavian religion has led to a methodologically problematic tendency to use Scandinavian material to complete and interpret the much more sparsely attested information on continental Germanic religion. Most scholars accept some form of continuity between Indo-European and Germanic religion, but

7772-958: The Second Merseburg Charm may well have deep Indo-European roots. A parallel has been drawn between this charm and an example in Vedic literature , an incantation from the 2nd millennium BCE found in the Atharvaveda , hymn IV, 12: 1. róhaṇy asi róhany asthṇaç chinnásya róhaṇî róháye 'dám arundhati 2. yát te rishṭáṃ yát te dyuttám ásti péshṭraṃ te âtmáni dhâtấ tád bhadráyâ púnaḥ sáṃ dadhat párushâ páruḥ 3. sáṃ te majjấ majjñấ bhavatu sámu te párushâ páruḥ sáṃ te mâmsásya vísrastaṃ sáṃ ásthy ápi rohatu 4. majjấ majjñấ sáṃ dhîyatâṃ cármaṇâ cárma rohatu ásṛk te ásthi rohatu ṃâṇsáṃ mâṇséna rohatu 5. lóma lómnâ sáṃ kalpayâ tvacấ sáṃ kalpayâ tvácam ásṛk te ásthi rohatu chinnáṃ sáṃ dhehy oshadhe 1. Grower (Rohani) art thou, grower, grower of severed bone; make this grow. O arundhatī 2. What of thee

7906-627: The Viking Age, there is evidence for continued Irish mythological and Insular Celtic influence on Norse religion. During the Roman period, Germanic gods were equated with Roman gods and worshipped with Roman names in contact zones, a process known as Interpretatio Romana ; later, Germanic names were also applied to Roman gods ( Interpretatio Germanica ). This was done to better understand one another's religions as well as to syncretize elements of each religion. This resulted in various aspects of Roman worship and iconography being adopted among

8040-400: The aim of all his scholarship, a belief common among historians in the past, is no longer accepted by most scholars. The Historia Ecclesiastica has given Bede a high reputation, but his concerns were different from those of a modern writer of history. His focus on the history of the organization of the English church, and on heresies and the efforts made to root them out, led him to exclude

8174-540: The amount of time and space covered by the term "Germanic religion", controversy exists as to the degree of continuity of beliefs and practices between the earliest attestations in Tacitus and the later attestations of Norse paganism from the high Middle Ages. Many scholars argue for continuity, seeing evidence of commonalities between the Roman, early medieval, and Norse attestations, while many other scholars are skeptical. The majority of Germanic gods attested by name during

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8308-605: The appreciation of Jacob Grimm , who wrote as follows: The spells were published later by Jacob Grimm in On two newly-discovered poems from the German Heathen Period (1842). The manuscript of the Merseburg charms was on display until November 2004 as part of the exhibition "Between Cathedral and World - 1000 years of the Chapter of Merseburg," at Merseburg cathedral. They were previously exhibited in 1939. Each charm

8442-541: The bonds, flee the enemy! Phol is with Wodan when Balder's horse dislocates its foot while he is riding through the forest ( holza ). Wodan intones the incantation: "Bone to bone, blood to blood, limb to limb, as if they were mended". Figures that can be clearly identified within Continental Germanic mythology are "Uuôdan" ( Wodan ) and "Frîia" ( Frija ). Depictions found on Migration Period Germanic bracteates are often viewed as Wodan (Odin) healing

8576-475: The borders of Northumbria and Mercia. As a result, there are noticeable gaps in his coverage of Mercian church history, such as his omission of the division of the huge Mercian diocese by Theodore in the late 7th century. Bede's regional bias is apparent. There were clearly gaps in Bede's knowledge, but Bede also says little on some topics that he must have been familiar with. For example, although Bede recounts Wilfrid's missionary activities, he does not give

8710-412: The burial in ships or wagons. Wooden carved figures that may represent gods have been discovered in bogs throughout northern Europe, and rich sacrificial deposits, including objects, animals, and human remains, have been discovered in springs, bogs, and under the foundations of new structures. Evidence for sacred places includes not only natural locations such as sacred groves but also early evidence for

8844-403: The c-text and m-text are as follows. The letters under the "Version" column are identifying letters used by historians to refer to these manuscripts. With few exceptions, Continental copies of the Historia Ecclesiastica are of the m-type, while English copies are of the c-type. Among the c-texts, manuscript K includes only books IV and V, but C and O are complete. O is a later text than C but

8978-422: The church in his own day than could be expected. A possible explanation for Bede's discretion may be found in his comment that one should not make public accusations against church figures, no matter what their sins; Bede may have found little good to say about the church in his day and hence preferred to keep silent. It is clear that he did have fault to find; his letter to Ecgberht contains several criticisms of

9112-649: The church. The Historia Ecclesiastica has more to say about episcopal events than it does about the monasteries of England. Bede does shed some light on monastic affairs; in particular, he comments in book V that many Northumbrians are laying aside their arms and entering monasteries "rather than study the arts of war. What the result of this will be the future will show." This veiled comment, another example of Bede's discretion in commenting on current affairs, could be interpreted as ominous given Bede's more specific criticism of quasi-monasteries in his letter to Ecgberht, written three years later. Bede's account of life at

9246-428: The co-existence and sometimes mixture of pagan and Christian worship and ideas. Christian sources frequently equate Germanic gods with demons and forms of the devil ( Interpretatio Christiana ). It is likely that multiple creation myths existed among Germanic peoples. Creation myths are not attested for the continental Germanic peoples or Anglo-Saxons; Tacitus includes the story of Germanic tribes' descent from

9380-478: The consecration, thus invalidating it. No information is presented on who these two bishops were or where they came from. Also important is Bede's view of the conversion process as an upper-class phenomenon, with little discussion of any missionary efforts among the non-noble or royal population. Another view, taken by historian D. H. Farmer, is that the theme of the work is "the progression from diversity to unity". According to Farmer, Bede took this idea from Gregory

9514-461: The construction of structures such as temples and the worship of standing poles in some places. Other known Germanic religious practices include divination and magic, and there is some evidence for festivals and the existence of priests. Germanic religion is principally defined as the religious traditions of speakers of Germanic languages (the Germanic peoples ). The term "religion" in this context

9648-531: The controversy between the British and Anglo-Saxon church over the correct method of obtaining the Easter date. One of the important themes of the Historia Ecclesiastica is that the conversion of Britain to Christianity had all been the work of Irish and Italian missionaries, with no efforts made by the native Britons. This theme was developed from Gildas' work, which denounced the sins of the native rulers during

9782-578: The conversion and the advent of writing. Areas where continuity can be noted include agrarian rites and magical ideas, as well as the root elements of some folktales. Sources on Germanic religion can be divided between primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources include texts, structures, place names, personal names, and objects that were created by devotees of the religion; secondary sources are normally texts that were written by outsiders. Examples of primary sources include some Latin alphabet and Runic inscriptions, as well as poetic texts such as

9916-523: The court of the Anglo-Saxon kings includes little of the violence that Gregory of Tours mentions as a frequent occurrence at the Frankish court. It is possible that the courts were as different as their descriptions make them appear but it is more likely that Bede omitted some of the violent reality. Bede states that he wrote the work as an instruction for rulers, in order that "the thoughtful listener

10050-453: The date of completion of the Historia Ecclesiastica , with the latest entry dated 766. No manuscripts earlier than the twelfth century contain these entries, except for the entries for 731 through 734, which do occur in earlier manuscripts. Much of the material replicates what is found in Simeon of Durham 's chronicle; the remaining material is thought to derive from northern chronicles from

10184-497: The death of King Ecgfrith in fighting the Picts at Nechtansmere in 685. Bede attributes this defeat to God's vengeance for the Northumbrian attack on the Irish in the previous year. For while Bede is loyal to Northumbria he shows an even greater attachment to the Irish and their missionaries , whom he considers to be far more effective and dedicated than their rather complacent English counterparts. His final preoccupation

10318-457: The degree of continuity is a subject of controversy. Jens Peter Schjødt writes that while many scholars view comparisons of Germanic religion with other attested Indo-European religions positively, "just as many, or perhaps even more, have been sceptical". While supportive of Indo-European comparison, Schjødt notes that the "dangers" of comparison are taking disparate elements out of context and arguing that myths and mythical structures found around

10452-471: The deity * Þun(a)raz ( Thor ), which is identical to Celtic * Toranos ( Taranis ), the Germanic name of the runes (Celtic * rūna 'secret, magic'), and the Germanic name for the sacred groves , * nemeđaz (Celtic nemeton ). Evidence for further close religious contacts is found in the Roman-era Rhineland goddesses known as matronae , which display both Celtic and Germanic names. During

10586-489: The early morn And found the horses' legs Broken across. He put bone to bone. Sinew to sinew, Flesh to flesh. And skin to skin; And as He healed that, May I heal this. Macbain goes on to quote another Gaelic horse spell, one beginning "Chaidh Brìde mach.." from Cuairtear nan Gleann (July 1842) that invokes St. Bride as a "he" rather than "she", plus additional examples suffering from corrupted text. There have been repeated suggestions that healing formula of

10720-547: The eighth century. The Historia was translated into Old English sometime between the end of the ninth century and about 930; although the surviving manuscripts are predominantly in the West Saxon dialect , it is clear that the original contained Anglian features and so was presumably by a scholar from or trained in Mercia . The translation was once held to have been done by King Alfred of England , but this attribution

10854-469: The end of the work, Bede added a brief autobiographical note; this was an idea taken from Gregory of Tours ' earlier History of the Franks . Bede's work as hagiographer , and his detailed attention to dating were both useful preparations for the task of writing the Historia Ecclesiastica . His interest in computus , the science of calculating the date of Easter, was also useful in the account he gives of

10988-509: The existence of one or more origin myths, the existence of a myth of the end of the world, a general belief in the inhabited world being a " middle-earth ", as well as some aspects of belief in fate and the afterlife. The Germanic peoples believed in a multitude of gods, and in other supernatural beings such as jötnar (often glossed as giants), dwarfs , elves , and dragons . Roman-era sources, using Roman names, mention several important male gods, as well as several goddesses such as Nerthus and

11122-604: The first attempts to evangelise Northumbria. These encountered a setback when Penda , the pagan king of Mercia, killed the newly Christian Edwin of Northumbria at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in about 632. The setback was temporary, and the third book recounts the growth of Christianity in Northumbria under kings Oswald and Oswy . The climax of the third book is the account of the Council of Whitby , traditionally seen as

11256-457: The first being was the giant Ymir , who was followed by the cow Auðumbla , eventually leading to the birth of Odin and his two brothers. The brothers kill Ymir and make the world out of his body, before finally making the first man and woman out of trees ( Ask and Embla ). Some scholars suspect that Gylfaginning had been compiled from various contradictory sources, with some details from those sources having been left out. Besides Gylfaginning ,

11390-467: The following is a list of specific formulas discussed as parallels in scholarly literature: It might be pointed out that none of the charms in Bang's chapter "Odin og Folebenet" actually invokes Odin . The idea that the charms have been Christianized and that the presence of Baldur has been substituted by "The Lord" or Jesus is expressed by Bang in another treatise, crediting communications with Bugge and

11524-456: The formula is of ancient Indo-European origin. Parallels have also been suggested with Hungarian texts. Some commentators trace the connection back to writings in ancient India . Other spells recorded in Old High German or Old Saxon noted for similarity, such as the group of wurmsegen spells for casting out the "Nesso" worm causing the affliction. There are several manuscript recensions of this spell, and Jacob Grimm scrutinizes in particular

11658-424: The generations that followed Alfred , a united kingdom of England came to be forged, it was Bede's history that provided it with a sense of ancestry that reached back beyond its foundation." Manuscripts of the Historia Ecclesiastica fall generally into two groups, known to historians as the "c-type" and the "m-type". Charles Plummer , in his 1896 edition of Bede, identified six characteristic differences between

11792-455: The gods Tuisto (or Tuisco), who is born from the earth, and Mannus ( Germania chapter 2), resulting in a division into three or five Germanic subgroups. Tuisto appears to mean "twin" or "double-being", suggesting that he was a hermaphroditic being capable of impregnating himself. These gods are only attested in Germania . It is not possible to decide based on Tacitus's report whether

11926-649: The gods of the Lombards are described in the 7th-century Origo gentis Langobardorum ("Origin of the Lombard People"), while a small amount of information on the religion of the pagan Franks can be found in Gregory of Tours 's late 6th-century Historia Francorum ("History of the Franks"). An important source for the pre-Christian religion of the Anglo-Saxons is Bede 's Ecclesiastical History of

12060-581: The gods was originally subterranean as well. The Norse imagined the inhabited world to be surrounded by a sort of dragon or serpent, Jörmungandr ; although only explicitly attested in Scandinavian sources, allusions to a world-surrounding monster from southern Germany and England suggest that this concept may have been common Germanic. Some Christian authors of the Middle Ages, such as Bede (c. 700) and Thietmar of Merseburg (c. 1000), attribute

12194-410: The gods. The dwelling place of the gods themselves is known as Asgard , while the giants dwell in lands sometimes referred to as Jötunheimar , outside of Midgard. The ash tree Yggdrasill is at the center of the world, and propped up the heavens in the same way as the Saxon pillar Irminsul was said to. The world of the dead (Hel) seems to have been underground, and it is possible that the realm of

12328-414: The grave, a world of the dead in the sky, and reincarnation. Beliefs varied by time and place and may have contradictory in the same time and place. The two most important afterlives in the attested corpus were located at Hel and Valhalla , while additional destinations for the dead are also mentioned. A number of sources refer to Hel as the general abode of the dead. Ecclesiastical History of

12462-542: The herb arundathi mentioned in the same strain. Germanic paganism Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to

12596-480: The history of England, beginning with Julius Caesar 's invasion in 55 BC. A brief account of Christianity in Roman Britain , including the martyrdom of St Alban , is followed by the story of Augustine 's mission to England in 597, which brought Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons. The second book begins with the death of Gregory the Great in 604, and follows the further progress of Christianity in Kent and

12730-527: The history of the church in Wessex, and also wrote to the monastery at Lastingham for information about Cedd and Chad . Bede also mentions an Abbot Esi as a source for the affairs of the East Anglian church, and Bishop Cynibert for information about Lindsey. The historian Walter Goffart argues that Bede based the structure of the Historia on three works, using them as the framework around which

12864-518: The invasions, with the elaboration by Bede that the invasion and settlement of Britain by the Angles and Saxons was God's punishment for the lack of missionary effort and the refusal to accept the Roman date for celebrating Easter. Although Bede discusses the history of Christianity in Roman Britain, it is significant that he ignores the missionary work of St Patrick . He writes approvingly of Aidan and Columba , who came from Ireland as missionaries to

12998-474: The king indicates that Bede's monastery had excellent connections among the Northumbrian nobility. Divided into five books (totalling about 400 pages), the Historia covers the history of England, ecclesiastical and political, from the time of Julius Caesar to the date of its completion in 731. The first twenty-one chapters cover the time period before the mission of Augustine ; compiled from earlier writers such as Orosius , Gildas , Prosper of Aquitaine ,

13132-531: The king or success in his undertakings as many other men even though no one had served the gods more faithfully, so he saw that they had no power and he would convert to Christianity. Then a leading councillor spoke: Bede apparently had no informant at any of the main Mercian religious houses. His information about Mercia came from Lastingham , now in North Yorkshire , and from Lindsey , a province on

13266-415: The letters of Pope Gregory I and others, with the insertion of legends and traditions. After 596, documentary sources that Bede took pains to obtain throughout England and from Rome are used, as well as oral testimony, which he employed along with critical consideration of its authenticity. The monastery at Jarrow had an excellent library. Both Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith had acquired books from

13400-463: The manuscript, is "about lame horses again" And the "transitions from marrow to bone (or sinews), to flesh and hide, resemble phrases in the sprain-spells", i.e. the Merseburg horse-charm types. Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie , chapter 38, listed examples of what he saw as survivals of the Merseburg charm in popular traditions of his time: from Norway a prayer to Jesus for a horse's leg injury, and two spells from Sweden, one invoking Odin (for

13534-503: The model for his history of the Anglo-Saxon church. Bede quoted his sources at length in his narrative, as Eusebius had done. Bede also appears to have taken quotes directly from his correspondents at times. For example, he almost always uses the terms "Australes" and "Occidentales" for the South and West Saxons respectively, but in a passage in the first book he uses "Meridiani" and "Occidui" instead, as perhaps his informant had done. At

13668-400: The modern day reflect a continuity with earlier Germanic religion. Earlier scholars, beginning with Jacob Grimm , believed that modern folklore was of ancient origin and had changed little over the centuries, which allowed the use of folklore and fairy tales as sources of Germanic religion. These ideas later came under the influence of völkisch ideology, which stressed the organic unity of

13802-450: The most important sources on Nordic creation myths are the Eddic poems Vǫluspá , Vafþrúðnismál , and Grímnismál . The 9th-century Old High German Wessobrunn Prayer begins with a series of negative pairs to describe the time before creation that show similarity to a number of Nordic descriptions of the time before the world, suggesting an orally transmitted formula. There may be

13936-499: The mountain did ride; sprained his foot in the joint. He sat down for a blessing, and so said he: I bless tendon to tendon vein to vein, flesh to flesh, and blood to blood! So he set his hand down on the ground below, and bonded were his joints together! In the Name, etc. Grimm also exemplified a Scottish charm (for people, not horses) as a salient remnant of the Merseburg type of charm. This healing spell for humans

14070-543: The myth was meant to describe an origin of the gods or of humans. Tacitus also includes a second myth: the Semnones believed that they originated in a sacred grove of fetters where a particular god dwelled ( Germania chapter 39, for more on this see "Sacred trees, groves, and poles" below). The only Nordic comprehensive origin myth is provided by the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning . According to Gylfaginning ,

14204-597: The name of, etc. A spell beginning "S(anc)te Pär och wår Herre de wandrade på en wäg (from Sunnerbo hundred, Småland 1746) was given originally by Johan Nordlander . A very salient example, though contemporary to Bugge's time, is one that invokes Odin's name: Oden rider öfver sten och bärg han rider sin häst ur vred och i led, ur olag och i lag, ben till ben, led till led, som det bäst var, när det helt var. Odin rides over rock and hill; he rides his horse out of dislocation and into realignment out of disorder and into order, bone to bone, joint to joint, as it

14338-550: The original state of the c-text, or is a variation only found in c2. One long chapter, book I chapter 27, is also found in another manuscript, Rh. 95 at the Zürich Zentralbibliothek; this is another witness to the c-text and appears to be independent of c2, and so is useful as a further cross-check on the c-text. The m-text depends largely on manuscripts M and L, which are very early copies, made not long after Bede's death. Both seem likely to have been taken from

14472-448: The original, though this is not certain. Three further manuscripts, U, E, and N, are all apparently the descendants of a Northumbrian manuscript that does not survive but which went to the continent in the late 8th century. These three are all early manuscripts, but are less useful than might be thought, since L and M are themselves so close to the original. The text of both the m-type and c-type seems to have been accurately copied. Taking

14606-648: The precise degree and details of this continuity are subjects of debate. Germanic religion was influenced by neighboring cultures, including that of the Celts, the Romans, and, later, by the Christian religion. Very few sources exist that were written by pagan adherents themselves; instead, most were written by outsiders and can thus present problems for reconstructing authentic Germanic beliefs and practices. Some basic aspects of Germanic belief can be reconstructed, including

14740-569: The same authors from whom he drew the material for the earlier parts of his history. His introduction imitates the work of Orosius, and his title is an echo of Eusebius's Historia Ecclesiastica . Bede also followed Eusebius in taking the Acts of the Apostles as the model for the overall work: where Eusebius used the Acts as the theme for his description of the development of the church, Bede made it

14874-622: The secular history of kings and kingdoms except where a moral lesson could be drawn or where they illuminated events in the church. In the early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , Historia Brittonum , and Alcuin 's Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis Eboracensis ecclesiae all drew heavily on the text. Likewise, the later medieval writers William of Malmesbury , Henry of Huntingdon , and Geoffrey of Monmouth used his works as sources and inspirations. Early modern writers, such as Polydore Vergil and Matthew Parker ,

15008-710: The so-called "Contra vermes" variant, in Old Saxon from the Cod. Vindob. theol. 259 (now ÖNB Cod. 751). The title is Latin:       Contra vermes (against worms) Gang ût, nesso,       mit nigun nessiklînon, ût fana themo margę an that bên,       fan themo bêne an that flêsg, ût fana themo flêsgke an thia hûd,       ût fan thera hûd an thesa strâla.                 Drohtin, uuerthe so! As Grimm explains,

15142-507: The spell tells the nesso worm and its nine young ones to begone, away from the marrow to bone, bone to flesh, flesh to hide (skin), and into the strâla or arrow, which is the implement into which the pest or pathogen is to be coaxed. It closes with the invocation: "Lord ( Drohtin ), let it be". Grimm insists that this charm, like the De hoc quod Spurihalz dicunt charm ( MHG : spurhalz ; German : lahm "lame") that immediately precedes it in

15276-473: The story of the English, but to advance his views on politics and religion. In political terms he is a partisan of his native Northumbria , amplifying its role in English history over and above that of Mercia , its great southern rival. He takes greater pains in describing events of the seventh century, when Northumbria was the dominant Anglo-Saxon power than the eighth, when it was not. The only criticism he ventures of his native Northumbria comes in writing about

15410-777: The text allows the identification of the manuscript Eggestein used; it subsequently appeared in a catalogue of the Vienna Dominicans of 1513. Eggestein had also printed an edition of Rufinus 's translation of Eusebius 's Ecclesiastical History , and the two works were reprinted, bound as a single volume, on 14 March 1500 by Georg Husner, also of Strasbourg. Another reprint appeared on 7 December 1506, from Heinrich Gran and S. Ryman at Haguenau . A Paris edition appeared in 1544, and in 1550 John de Grave produced an edition at Antwerp . Two reprints of this edition appeared, in 1566 and 1601. In 1563, Johann Herwagen included it in volume III of his eight-volume Opera Omnia , and this

15544-452: The text. Colgrave points out that the addition of a couple of annals is a simple alteration for a copyist to make at any point in the manuscript history; he also notes that the omission of one of Oswald's miracles is not the mistake of a copyist, and strongly implies that the m-type is a later revision. Some genealogical relationships can be discerned among the numerous manuscripts that have survived. The earliest manuscripts used to establish

15678-543: The three main sections of the work were structured. For the early part of the work, dealing with the time up to the Gregorian mission of Augustine of Canterbury , Goffart asserts that Bede used Gildas 's De excidio . The second section, detailing the Gregorian mission, was framed on the anonymous Life of Gregory the Great written at Whitby. The last section, describing events after the Gregorian mission, Goffart says

15812-599: The time of the incarnation of the Lord). However, the latter was not very influential—only this isolated use was repeated by other writers during the rest of the Middle Ages . The first extensive use of "BC" (hundreds of times) occurred in Fasciculus Temporum by Werner Rolevinck in 1474, alongside years of the world ( anno mundi ). Some early manuscripts contain additional annalistic entries that extend past

15946-719: The traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples . With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germany, the Netherlands, and at times other parts of Europe, the beliefs and practices of Germanic paganism varied. Scholars typically assume some degree of continuity between Roman-era beliefs and those found in Norse paganism , as well as between Germanic religion and reconstructed Indo-European religion and post-conversion folklore , though

16080-452: The two manuscript types. For example, the c-type manuscripts omit one of the miracles attributed to St Oswald in book IV, chapter 14, and the c-type also includes the years 733 and 734 in the chronological summary at the end of the work, whereas the m-type manuscripts stop with the year 731. Plummer thought that this meant the m-type was definitely earlier than the c-type, but this has been disputed by Bertram Colgrave in his 1969 edition of

16214-517: The woods, and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained So Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, conjured it; and Frija, Volla's sister, conjured it; and Wodan conjured it, as well he could: Like bone-sprain, so blood-sprain, so joint-sprain: Bone to bone, blood to blood, joints to joints, so may they be glued. The First Merseburg Charm (loosening charm)'s similarity to the anecdote in Bede 's Hist. Eccles. , IV, 22 ( [REDACTED] " How

16348-535: The work of Grimm in the matter. Jacob Grimm had already pointed out the Christ-Balder identification in interpreting the Merseburg charm; Grimm seized on the idea that in the Norse language, "White Christ ( hvíta Kristr )" was a common epithet, just as Balder was known as the "white Æsir -god" Another strikingly similar "horse cure" incantation is a 20th-century sample that hails the name of the ancient 11th-century Norwegian king Olaf II of Norway . The specimen

16482-409: The world must be Indo-European just because they appear in multiple Indo-European cultures. Bernhard Maier argues that similarities with other Indo-European religions do not necessarily result from a common origin, but can also be the result of convergence. Continuity also concerns the question of whether popular, post-conversion beliefs and practices ( folklore ) found among Germanic speakers up to

16616-400: The writing of the Historia as motivated by a political struggle in Northumbria between a party devoted to Wilfrid, and those opposed to Wilfrid's policies. Much of the "current" history in the Historia is concerned with Wilfrid , who was a bishop in Northumbria and whose stormy career is documented not only in Bede's works but in a Life of Wilfrid . A theme in Bede's treatment of Wilfrid

16750-426: The year from the incarnation of the Lord) or anno incarnationis dominicae (in the year of the incarnation of the Lord). He never abbreviated the term like the modern AD. Bede counted anno Domini from Christ's birth, not from Christ's conception . Within this work, he was the first writer to use a term similar to the English before Christ . In book I chapter 2 he used ante incarnationis dominicae tempus (before

16884-444: Was approximately 59 years old. It is considered one of the most important original references on Anglo-Saxon history, and has played a key role in the development of an English national identity . The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum , or An Ecclesiastical History of the English People , is Bede's best-known work, completed in about 731. The first of the five books begins with some geographical background and then sketches

17018-511: Was best, when it was whole. A Danish parallel noted by A. Kuhn is the following: Imod Forvridning (Jylland) Jesus op ad Bierget red; der vred han sin Fod af Led. Saa satte han sig ned at signe. Saa sagde han: Jeg signer Sener i Sener, Aarer i Aarer, Kiød i Kiød, Og Blod i Blod! Saa satte han Haanden til Jorden ned, Saa lægedes hans Fodeled! I Navnet o.s.v. against dislocations (from Jutland ) Jesus up

17152-452: Was collected in Møre , Norway, where it was presented as for use in healing a bone fracture: This example too has been commented as corresponding to the second Merseburg Charm, with Othin being replaced by Saint Olav . Several Swedish analogues were given by Sophus Bugge and by Viktor Rydberg in writings published around the same time (1889). The following 17th-century spell was noted as

17286-530: Was copied often in the Middle Ages, and about 160 manuscripts containing it survive. About half of those are located on the European continent, rather than in the British Isles. Most of the 8th- and 9th-century texts of Bede's Historia come from the northern parts of the Carolingian Empire. This total does not include manuscripts with only a part of the work, of which another 100 or so survive. It

17420-445: Was created by supernatural female beings called Norns , who appear either individually or as a collective and who give people their fate at birth and are somehow involved in their deaths. Other female beings, the disir and valkyries , were also associated with fate. Early Germanic beliefs about the afterlife are not well known; however, the sources indicate a variety of beliefs, including belief in an underworld , continued life in

17554-401: Was modelled on Stephen of Ripon 's Life of Wilfrid . Most of Bede's informants for information after Augustine's mission came from the eastern part of Britain, leaving significant gaps in the knowledge of the western areas, which were those areas likely to have a native Briton presence. The Ecclesiastical History has a clear polemical and didactic purpose. Bede sets out not just to tell

17688-522: Was practiced in Shetland (which has strong Scandinavian ties and where the Norn language used to be spoken). The practice involved tying a "wresting thread" of black wool with nine knots around the sprained leg of a person, and in an inaudible voice pronouncing the following: The Lord rade and the foal slade; he lighted and he righted, set joint to joint, bone to bone, and sinew to sinew Heal in

17822-430: Was printed for the first time between 1474 and 1482, probably at Strasbourg . Modern historians have studied the Historia extensively, and a number of editions have been produced. For many years, early Anglo-Saxon history was essentially a retelling of the Historia , but recent scholarship has focused as much on what Bede did not write as what he did. The belief that the Historia was the culmination of Bede's works,

17956-556: Was similar to neighboring religions such as those of the Slavs , Celts , or Finnic peoples . The use of the qualifier "Germanic" (e.g. "Germanic religion" and its variants) remains common in German-language scholarship, but is less commonly used in English and other scholarly languages, where scholars usually specify which branch of paganism is meant (e.g. Norse paganism or Anglo-Saxon paganism ). The term "Germanic religion"

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