Heathenism was practised over a large area, from Central Europe to Iceland, from Ireland to Russia. Sources of information on heathenism cover a large swathe of history, from the early days of the Roman Empire to the fall of the temple of Uppsala, covering over 1500 years. The various cultures that practised Germanic paganism, the tribes of ancient Germany, the early Anglo-Saxons, the Danes, the Norsefolk and the Russ, have left no substantial written records. The religious beliefs and traditions were handed down by word of mouth, and were rigorously suppressed by the Christian priests a thousand years ago. So how can we hope to reconstruct the religion as it was practised?
Lacking the words of the worshippers themselves we can draw on the following sources of information.
The best written sources of historical information are contemporary, recorded by people who actually lived in the same period and witnessed or experienced the events they described. It is important to consider who the writer was, and what their motive was? Would they have had an unhelpful bias?
One of the most valuable contemporary writers on the heathen faith was the Roman senator Tacitus. Tacitus described the culture of the Germanic tribes, including their religious beliefs, in his book 'Germania'. As a pagan himself he showed a keen interest in the religious beliefs of the various tribes and made parallels with his own faith. Another extremely useful source is the writings of an Arabic merchant Ahmad ibn Fadlan who traded with the Russ Vikings on the river Volga in the heart of what is now modern Russia. Ahmad's accounts seem to be genuinely factual and he was obviously intrigued by the religious ceremonies he was allowed to observe.
Christian writers tended to be contemptible of the old faith, but still recorded useful information. In England we have the letters between St Augustine and Pope Gregory discussing the practicalities of the conversion, while a horrified Adam of Bremen described the temple at Uppsala.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries a massive amount of mythological material was recorded. In Iceland saga writing was highly fashionable, any family worth its fish ration had its history recorded back to the very first settlers. The sagas offer tantalising glimpses of heathen life, references to festivals, descriptions of temples and the roles of the priests. However several hundred years elapsed between the formal conversion and these histories being recorded, so any information contained in them must be taken with a pinch of salt. But as the society was still largely based on oral tradition the average of accuracy is quite high. Of main interest to us are two books of this period, the Edda written by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, and the Poetic Edda, another Iceland book from this period. The first is an instruction book on traditional Norse poetry crammed with information on the gods and the ancient stories associated with them. The second book is a collection of poems, about half of which are mythological. Icelanders genuinely interested in their former culture wrote these books in a sympathetic manner. There is however considerable debate as to how old the surviving forms of the myths are. Other important sources are the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus who wrote about his pagan ancestors with obvious displeasure, but included some interesting variants of the Edda myths. A few fragments of heathen lore also survive in England, such as the story of Beowulf, and the Anglo-Saxon rune poem.
Numerous heathen monuments survive in Scandinavia, thanks to the heathen tradition of raising runic memorial stones to the dead. The inscriptions tend to be short and to the point, but the finer examples bear religious imagery, and scenes from the myths and hero sagas. Burial mounds are also common across the whole area.
The most important information provided by archaeology is the heathen method of burying the dead. Heathen graves provided all the creature comforts, food, animals, weapons, cooking gear, clothing and jewellery, showing a clear belief in an afterlife. The wealthier the deceased the more equipment they were given to maintain their expected standard of living. Various religious artefacts have been recovered, especially the Scandinavian Thor's hammer pendants, a couple of small god figures and battle gear bearing religious imagery. Several temple sites have also been excavated.
God names are very common in Scandinavian place names and the distribution shows where the various gods were most widely worshipped. The element connected with the god's name often tells us how they were worshipped, for example Freyr's grove, Thor's temple, Odin's mound etc. Although less common there are also heathen place names in England, the most obvious being Wednesbury, 'Woden's fort'.
Links to heathenism may also survive in modern languages, all the Germanic peoples still speak a language closely linked to that of their heathen ancestors, especially in Iceland where it has hardly changed. One clear example of this is the names for the weekdays which retain the names of the heathen gods. Heathen personal names have also survived such as the English Oswald (god-power) and the Norse Thorstein (Thor's stone).
Folklore covers stories, superstitions and charms that have been recorded this century but may have a bearing on the heathen period. Folklore is extremely unreliable, especially in England and Germany where 1500 years have passed since heathenism was practised openly. Examples of useful folklore included the stories about the goddess Holda in Germany, the tales of trolls and elves from Scandinavia, and the local heathen inspired myths surviving in England.
This course will be written so that no other texts are required. However we do recommend that you try and trace the lore in the original sources. Firstly we are human and capable of error, secondly you may read a different meaning in the original text to us. Please be aware that all source material available in modern English has been translated. The meaning and sentence structure may have been altered, different translators will give very different versions of the same text or poem. Here are a few basic books that would form a good core of a heathen library:
Edda, Snorri Sturluson, (trans by Anthony Faulkes), Everyman, 1996. (£5.99)
The Poetic Edda, (trans by Carolyne Larrington), Oxford Univ Press, 1996. (£6.99)
Dictionary of Northern Mythology, Rudolf Simek, D S Brewer, 1993. (about £20 in paperback)
Scandinavian Mythology, H R Ellis Davidson, Newnes 1983 (about £10 hardback)