VII. BOOK century, Willebrord, a converted Anglo-Saxon, born in Northumbria, who, under the auspices of his uncle Boniface, went missionary to Friesland, endeavoured to destroy the superstition, though Radbod, the fierce king of the island, devoted to a cruel death all who violated it. Willebrord, fearless of the consequences, baptized three men in the fountain, invoking the Trinity, and caused some cattle who were feeding there to be killed for the food of his companions. The surrounding pagans expected them to have been struck dead or insane. That the Angles had a goddess whom they called Hertha, or mother Earth, we learn from Tacitus. He says, that in an island in the occan there was a grove, within which was a vehicle covered with a garment, which it was permitted to the priest alone to touch. The goddess was presumed to be within it, and was carried, by cows, with great veneration. Joy, festivity, and hospitality were then universal. Wars and weapons were forgotten, and peace and quiet reigned, then only known, then only loved, until the priest returned the goddess to her temple, satiated with mortal converse. The vehicle, the garment, and the goddess herself, were washed in a secret lake. Slaves ministered, whom the waters ingulphed." 10 The Saxons dreaded an evil being, whom they named Faul; some kind of female power they called an elf, who is very frequently used as a complimentary simile to their ladies. Thus Judith is said to be elf scinu, shining as an elf." They also venerated stones, groves, and fountains." The continental Saxons respected the lady Hera, a fancied being, who was believed to fly about in the air in the week after their Jule, or between our Christmas and Epiphany. Abundance was 8 Alcuini vita S. Willebrord in his works, p. 1438, or in Sanct. Hist. Col. v. vi. p. 130, Charles Martel conquered Radbod, and added the island to his dominions, ib. St. Liudger, who died in 809, destroyed the temples of Fosete. See his life by Altfridus, who was alive in 848, in Act. Sanct. Bolland. March. tom. iii. p. 616. 9 Tacit. de mor. German. 10 That Faul might not hurt, was part of one of their exorcisms. See Sax. Dict. voce Faul. u So Judith, p. 21. 12 See Meginhard. Conrad Usperg. Wilkins, 83. Linden. Gloss. 1473. thought to follow her visit." We may add that Hilde, one of their terms for battle, seems to allude to a war goddess of that name. That the Saxons had many idols, appears from several authors. Gregory, in the eighth century, addressing the old Saxons, exhorts them to abandon their idols, whether of gold, silver, brass, stone, or any other kind." But we cannot give an authentic description of their figures. Hama, Flinnus, Siba, and Zernebogus, or the black, malevolent, ill-omened deity, occupied part of their superstitions, but we cannot be answerable for more than their names.'s A Saxon Venus has been also mentioned: she is exhibited as standing naked in a car, with myrtle round her head, a lighted torch in her breast, and the figure of the world in her right hand. But the description is suspicious, and the authority questionable." The account of Crodus has stronger marks of authenticity; it seems to have been preserved in the Brunswick Chronicle, from which more recent historians have taken their descriptions. The figure of Crodus was a reaper, clothed in a white tunic, with a linen girdle; his right hand held a vessel, full of roses and other flowers, swimming in water; his left hand supported the wheel of a car; his naked feet stood on a rough scaly fish like a perch." Gobelin ap. Meibom. Irminsula. p. 12. We may add that Bede, in his commentary on Luke, mentions demons appearing to men as females, and to women as men, whom, he says, the Gauls call Dusii, the presumed origin of our word deuce. Hincmar, in 16 Bib. Mag. 561. But he does not say that these demons were part of the Saxon paganism. There were two personages feared in the North, whom we may mention here, as words from their names have become familiar to ourselves; one was Ochus Bochus, a magician and demon, the other was Neccus, a malign deity who frequented the waters. If any perished in whirlpools, or by cramp, or bad swimming, he was thought to be seized by Neccus. Steel was supposed to expel him, and thereVOL. II. fore all who bathed threw some little pieces 14 16 Bib. Mag. 101. 15 Fabricius Hist. Sax. p. 62. Verstigan 16 D СНАР. -BOOK VII. That the Saxons had the dismal custom of human sacrifices on some occasions, cannot be doubted. Tacitus mentions it as a feature of all the Germans, that on certain days they offered human victims to their chief deity." Sidonius attests, that on their return from a depredation the Saxons immolated one tenth of their captives, selected by lot." We have already mentioned, that for sacrilege the offender was sacrificed to the god whose temple he had violated;" and Ennodius mentions of the Saxons, Heruli, and Francs, that they were believed to appease their deities with human blood." But whether human sacrifices were an established part of their superstitious ritual, or whether they were but an occasional immolation of captives or criminals, cannot be decided. The latter is most probable." Of the Anglo-Saxon idolatry we cannot learn many particulars. In the month of February they offered cakes to their deities, which occasioned the month to be called Sol monath. September, from its religious ceremonies, was denominated Halig monath, the holy month. November was marked, as the month of sacrifices, Blot monath, because at this period they devoted to their gods the cattle that they slew." As it was their custom to use during the winter salted or dried meat, perhaps November, or Blot monath, was the period when the winter provision was prepared and consecrated. many horses, dogs, and cocks, to appease their deities. Snorre mentions a king of Sweden who immolated nine of his sons to Odin, to obtain an extension of life, i. p. 34. He also states that the Swedes sacrificed one of their sovereigns to Odin, to obtain plenty, ib. p. 56. When the famine began, oxen were offered up; in the following autumn, they proceeded to human victims, and at last destroyed their king. Dudo Quint. says, they slew cattle and men in honour of Thor. For other instances of human sacrifices in the North, see Herv. Saga, 97; Ara Frode, 63. 145; Kristni Saga, 93. 23 Bede, De Temporum Ratione, p. 81. See a good description of a Danish sacrifice in Snorre, Saga Hak. God. c. 16. III. Their celebrated festival of Geol, or Jule, which occurred CIA P.. at the period of our Christmas, was a combination of religion and conviviality. December was called erra Geola, or before the Geol. January was eftera Geola, or after it. As one of the Saxon names for Christmas day was Geola, or Geohol deg, it is likely that this was the time when the festival commenced. This day was the first of their year; and as Bede derives it from the turning of the sun, and the days beginning then to lengthen;" as it was also called mother night, and their sun was worshipped as a female, I suspect that this was a festival dedicated to the sun. But the Saxon idol, whose celebrity on the continent was the most eminent, was the IRMINSULA.25 The name of this venerated idol has been spelt with varying orthography. The Saxon Chronicle, published at Mentz in 1492, calls it Armensula, which accords with the pronunciation of modern Saxony. The appellation adhered to by Meibomius, the most elaborate investigator of this curious object of Saxon idolatry, is Irminsula." It stood at Eresberg, on the Dimele." This place the Saxon Chronicle above mentioned calls Marsburg. The Rhyming Chronicle of the thirteenth century writes it Mersberg, which is the modern name." Its temple was spacious, elaborate, and magnificent. The. image was raised upon a marble column.” The predominant figure was an armed warrior. Its right hand held a banner, in which a red rose was conspicuous; its left presented a balance. The crest of its helmet was a cock; BOOK VII. on its breast was engraven a bear, and the shield depending from its shoulders exhibited a lion in a field full of flowers." The expressions of Adam of Bremen seem to intimate that it was of wood, and that the place where it stood had no roof. It was the largest idol of all Saxony, and, according to Rolwinck, a writer of the fifteenth century, whose authorities are not known to us, though the warlike image was the principal figure, three others were about it." From the chronicle called the Vernacular Chronicle, we learn that the other Saxon temples had pictures of the Irminsula." Priests of both sexes attend the temple. The women applied themselves to divination and fortune-telling; the men sacrificed, and often intermeddled with political affairs, as their sanction was thought to insure success. The priests of the Irminsula at Eresberg appointed the gow graven, the governors of the districts of continental Saxony. They also named the judges, who annually decided the provincial disputes. There were sixteen of these judges: the eldest, and therefore the chief, was called Gravius; the youngest, Frono, or attendant; the rest were Freyerichter, or free judges. They had jurisdiction over seventy-two families. Twice a year, in April and October, the Gravius and the Frono went to Eresberg, and there made a placatory offering of two wax lights and nine pieces of money. If any of the judges died in the year, the event was notified to the priests, who out of the feventy-two families chose a substitute. In the open air, before the door of the person appointed, his election was seven times announced to the people in a loud voice, and this was his inauguration. In the hour of battle, the priests took their favourite image from its column, and carried it to the field. After the conflict, captives, and the cowardly of their own army, were immolated |