H.R. Ellis Davidson

I picked the Book “Gods and Myths of Northern Europe” because my interest is in the Norse Pantheon. It really helped close my knowledge gap in the Anglo-Saxon and Norse History.

The book starts out by going over the source of our knowledge of the Old Gods and their history. Majority of the stories in the book are from the Prose Edda, which gives us stories about the Gods and Goddess. The book talks about the Creation of the world going into detail about the tree forming a link between the worlds, and how Ymir’s skull made the sky. After the creation story it goes into talking about Ragnarok, the great battle. In which all the fallen warriors will go to Valhalla and fight with Odin against his ancient enemy, the wolf. The book, Gods and myths of Northern Europe, goes over a plentiful amount of the Gods and goddess which the author tries to mention all the popular ones. The book talks mainly about Odin, Thor, Freyr, and Loki, as they were the more popular ones with chapters splitting off on their Lore and traits. Odin has a lot of written history on him because he was the God of most emperors and important positions such as Clergy and Scribes, so they recorded more in history.

In chapter two, the author talks about my patron God, Odin. Odin who was known by different names such as Wodan, and countless others. He was the God of battle, inspiration, and it was from Odin where we received the Runes. It is said that Odin would hand out weapons to a chosen few. Those that received these weapons were bound to give him service. The moment they received the blessed weapons and afterwards in Valhalla. One of the more interesting things a learned is that the Romans version of Odin was Mercury. The more disturbing things a learnt from the book was how human sacrifices were so common to Odin and the other Gods during this period. With a double death being the most highly reverence, involving being stabbed and choked at the same time. Thankfully, we do not offer these sacrifices during our current era, as all life is sacred.

They talked Thor about in chapter three, with the title of the chapter being “The Thunder God”. Characterized as a defender of Asgard with the Mjölnir, his iron gloves, and the girdle of strength. I think about Thor as not quite thinking clearly before just rising to a challenge and dealing with it, usually by hitting things with the Mjölnir. There were Temples set up for Thor where the Mjölnir was held in high regard as a symbolic Hallow. The author also mentions gold or silver rings, named the “ring of Thor”.  Worshippers would swear oaths upon the ring, this would come to be known as an oath ring which were worn on the arm. The wearer believed the oath ring would protect them from a blow of a sword, among other boons.

The author talked about Freyr in chapter four with the title “The Gods of Peace and Plenty”. From the writings, I learnt that Freyr and Freyja were twin deities.  Freyr was said to have owned a ship. This ship was supposed to be able to hold all the Gods but be able to be shrunk down to fit into a person’s pocket. They held Freyja in high regards, with many places named after this fertility goddess in Sweden and Norway during this period. Freyja was known as a goddess of Love affairs and was called upon to help people with these matters of love. Loki Accused her of taking all the Gods and Elves as lovers.

Chapter 5 the author talks about the Gods of the Sea.  Because of the location of Northern Europe, much of the traveling was done by water. When they would die, it was a great honor to be burned at sea on a ship. High regarded people being the only person on a single ship to be burned at sea, and common or less important people being cremated ten to a ship.

In Chapter Seven, the author talks about the “Enigmatic Gods” . In this chapter, the author talks about Bragi and Idun. Bragi being the god of poetry and Idun as the wife of Bragi who guarded the apples of immortality, keeping the gods and goddess forever young. Much of the Prose Edda contains stories of Loki, who was a jokester. Loki seems to have been known by all the Gods and Goddess, with Freyr being the exception the author notes. He could change his shape, or what characteristics his body will be. Be it a bird, horse, or fly, Loki could change into them. Thor’s hammer Mjohmr was said to have been so short because Loki stung the dwarves eyelid who was crafting it. The blood dripping into the Dwarves’ eyes blinded him causing him to make a error in the crafting. I loved reading about the stories of Loki’s exploits, he seem to have been a fun and crafty person to have around, at a arms length i would say.

This will be my first book I read from H.R Ellis Davidson, but I look forward to more. The author is knowledgeable about what they write, using multiple sources for her writings. Some sources included Historical writings from that period. Pictographic, iconographic, and archaeological are among the sources for writing this book. In the back of the book, it includes an easy to follow index to quickly find what you are looking for. This book will make an outstanding reference book because of this. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the book. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe filled in some gaps in what I did not know about some of the Gods and Goddess of Northern Europe.

Ellis, Davidson Hilda Roderick. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Penguin Books, 1986.