Heathen Gods in Old English Literature
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''Heathen Gods in Old English Literature'' is a historical study of the literary references for several pagan deities in
Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...
. Written by the
English studies English studies (usually called simply English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries; it is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which ...
scholar Richard North of
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
, it was first published by
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
in 1997. The book was released as the twenty-second monograph in the Press' series ''Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England'', edited by
Simon Keynes Simon Douglas Keynes, ( ; born 23 September 1952) is a British author who is Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon emeritus in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Trinity College.< ...
, Michael Lapidge and Andy Orchard. Prior to the book's publication, North had previously authored other studies of Anglo-Saxon paganism, such as ''Pagan Words and Christian Meanings'' (1991). ''Heathen Gods in Old English Literature'' details North's theory that the god
Ing Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 1992 ...
played a prominent role in the pre-Christian religion of Anglo-Saxon England, and highlights references to him in such texts as ''
Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
'' and the sole surviving Anglo-Saxon copy of the ''
Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...
''. The book received a mixed reviewed in peer reviewed journals such as '' The Modern Language Review''. Critics argued that North's interpretations of the evidence were too speculative.


Synopsis

In the opening chapter, entitled "Nerthus and Terra Mater: Anglian religion in the first century", North begins by describing the approach that he has taken in this particular study of Anglo-Saxon paganism. Highlighting how little information regarding pre-Christian beliefs was recorded in the surviving
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
literature, all of which was produced in the Christian period, he argues that scholars must approach the subject by looking at the literary evidence produced by related Germanic-language societies elsewhere in Europe. He argues that by studying both the 1st-century accounts of
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...
regarding religion in continental
Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
and the Late Medieval accounts from
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and
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, scholars can shed further light on lost aspects of Anglo-Saxon heathenism. Chapter two, "Ingui of Bernicia" looks at the concept of an Anglo-Saxon god named Ing. He discusses the existence of the '' Ingvaeones'', a tribe in first-century Germania, arguing that they may have been devoted to Ing. Drawing comparisons from the cult of
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
in the Classical world, North argues that "''Ing-'' was first a functional term for a human embodiment of Nerthus, then for a man representing Nerthus." Proceeding to discuss the role of the Vanir in Norse mythology, he deals with Ingvi-Freyr of
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
in Sweden and then Ingui of
Bernicia Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...
in Northern England, ultimately concluding that in early Anglo-Saxon history, a deity named Ingui was believed to be the progenitor of Anglian kings. The third chapter is entitled "Ingui's cult remembered: Ing and the ''ingefolc''" and deals with the literary evidence for a figure called Ing in Anglo-Saxon England.


Arguments


Ing-

North spends much of his book devoted to the argument that there was a god known as ''Ing'' in Anglo-Saxon England. He highlights the fact that this ''Ing''-
hypostasis Hypostasis, hypostatic, or hypostatization (hypostatisation; from the Ancient Greek , "under state") may refer to: * Hypostasis (philosophy and religion), the essence or underlying reality ** Hypostasis (linguistics), personification of entities ...
appears in various different contexts within Germanic-speaking Europe; it appears in the name of the Ingvaeones, a tribal grouping referred to in
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...
' ''
Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
'', while in the later records of
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
, the son of the god Njǫrð is known as Ignvi-freyr. From an examination of Tacitus' account, North argues that the Ingvaeone tribe would have worshiped the deity Nerthus, whom Tacitus described as an earth goddess. Although Tacitus never explicitly stated that the Ingvaeone worshiped Nerthus, North considers it likely because they lived ''proximi Oceano'', near the sea, while Tacitus located the temple of Nerthus ''in insula Oceani'', within the land of the
Suebi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
tribe; North believes that these are sufficiently close to one another that they would have worshiped the same deity. North 1997. p. 27. North translates "Ingvaeone" as meaning "friends of Ing-".


Reception and recognition


Academic reviews

North's work was reviewed by T.A. Shippey of
Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...
for '' The Modern Language Review''. Taking a critical approach to the book, Shippey was of the opinion that the author's arguments relied "very heavily on assumptions about the precise (one might say
gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...
) meanings of sometimes rather common words." He argues that many will not accept some of North's "more complex arguments" and that North's interpretation of ''Deor'', 11. 14-6, via ''Hdvamdl'', stanzas 96-102 as a political satire on
Æthelwulf of Wessex C3, C-3, C.3, C03, C.III or C-III may refer to: Life and biology * C3 carbon fixation in plants * C3-convertase, an enzyme * Complement component 3, a protein of the innate immune system * Apolipoprotein C3, a human very low density lipoprotein ...
was "especially strained". However, on a more positive note Shippey accepted the "intrinsic plausibility" of North's presentation of Anglo-Saxon paganism as a "natural religion" which posed little threat or opposition to the incoming Christianity.


Wider influence

In his book, ''The Elder Gods: The Otherworld of Early England'' (2011), the English Anglo-Saxonist
Stephen Pollington Stephen Pollington is an English author who specialises in Anglo-Saxon England and the Old English language who has written a number of books on the subject, most of which have been published by the company Anglo-Saxon Books. In 2010, Pollington ...
noted that North's book had been criticised for being "too free" in the interpretation of sources, but felt that it nonetheless "relieved the researcher from the emasculating fear of making an assumption or two and testing them against the evidence." Pollington 2011. p. 26.


References


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * * {{refend 1997 non-fiction books Academic studies of ritual and magic Cambridge University Press books History books about England