THE REMAINING GODS AND OTHER OBJECTS OF WORSHIP
The third god mentioned by Adam of Bremen as worshipped at Upsala
is (Fricco or) Frey, a name which appears to be identical with the
Teutonic word represented in Old English by _fréa_, lord or king.
Adam's statement is fully confirmed by the Icelandic sources, and
there are also general references to the prevalence of the cult in
Sweden.[3] In a somewhat legendary source it is even stated that an
image of Frey, which was worshipped at Thrandheim in Norway, had been
sent there from Sweden. The story of Gunnar Helming also makes mention
of an image of Frey in Sweden which was carried about the country,
and to which sacrifices were offered, but the value of the statement
is very doubtful. Saxo Grammaticus, speaking of a sacrifice of black
oxen offered to Frey by the mythical hero Hading, adds that this had
continued to be a yearly custom, and 'the Swedes call it _Fröblod_,'
_i.e._ Frey's sacrifice. The frequent occurrence of _Frey-_ in Swedish
(and Danish) place-names has been already mentioned, and indicates the
prevalence of the cult in both of these countries.
The worship of Frey, however, must also have been very popular in
Norway, from which it passed to Iceland with the early settlers. As
late as 998 the men of Thrandheim are represented as refusing to break
their image of Frey at the command of King Olaf, 'because we have long
served him and he has done well by us. He often talked with us, and
told us things to come, and gave us peace and plenty.' At the great
festivals it was customary to drink to Frey (along with Njörd) in
order to secure peace and prosperity. A talisman on which the image of
Frey was 'marked in silver' is mentioned as having been owned by one
of the petty kings of Norway about 872; this was given by King Harald
to Ingimund, and tradition associated it in a mysterious way with the
place where the latter finally settled in Iceland.
In Iceland itself the traces of a popular cult of Frey are very clear,
and more than one prominent person mentioned in the sagas bears the
title of _Freys-goði_, or 'priest of Frey.' Of one of these, Thorgrím,
brother-in-law of Gísli Súrsson, the saga says that 'he intended to
hold a festival at the beginning of winter, and greet the winter, and
sacrifice to Frey.' When Thorgrím was murdered, and had been laid in
a grave-mound, it was noticed that snow never lay on the south or
west sides of the mound, and the ground never froze there: 'and it
was supposed that he was so highly esteemed by Frey for the offerings
he made to him, that the god did not wish it to freeze between them.'
Great attachment to this deity also appears in the story of Hrafnkel,
who loved no other god more than Frey, and gave to him joint possession
with himself of all his most valuable things. Among these was a horse,
which on that account bore the name of _Freyfaxi_. Another Freyfaxi
belonged to Brand in Vatnsdal, and most people believed that he had
a religious reverence for the horse. Horses owned by Frey are also
mentioned as existing in Thrandheim in the days of Olaf Tryggvason
(about 996).
At Eyafirth in Iceland there was a temple of Frey, which is mentioned
several times in the saga of Víga-Glúm. Thorkel, says the story, went
to Frey's temple, taking with him an old ox, and addressed the god
thus: 'Frey,' said he, 'you have long been my confidant, and have
received many gifts from me, and repaid me well. Now I give you this
ox, so that it may come to pass that Glúm will leave this land as much
under compulsion as I do now. And show me now some token whether you
receive this or not.' Thereupon the ox bellowed, and fell down dead,
and Thorkel then believed that Frey had accepted his gift. The saga
also mentions that Frey would not allow outlaws to make his temple
there a sanctuary. Glúm himself afterwards had a dream that many men
had come there to see Frey. He asked who they were, and they said, 'We
are your departed kinsfolk, and are making intercession with Frey that
you may not be driven away from this ground; but Frey answers shortly
and angrily, and recalls the ox that Thorkel gave him.' Then Glúm
awoke, and had less liking for Frey all the rest of his life.
According to the mythological accounts, Frey was the son of Njörd and
brother of Freyja. He had great personal beauty in addition to his
divine powers. 'He rules over rain and sunshine and the produce of the
earth, and it is good to call on him for peace and plenty. He also has
power over the prosperity of men.' He was believed to own the ship
_Skíðblaðnir_, and to ride on the boar _Gullinbursti_ (Golden-bristle).
This association of Frey with the boar appears also in the following
passage of one of the mythical sagas (_Hervarar Saga_): 'King Heidrek
sacrificed to Frey; he should give to him the largest boar that could
be got. They considered it so holy, that over its bristles they took an
oath about all important matters. That boar was sacrificed by way of an
atonement; on Christmas eve it was led into the hall before the king,
and men then laid their hands on its bristles and made their vows.' In
another and earlier mention of the _sónargöltr_ (boar of atonement),
however, it is not stated that the practice was connected with the cult
of Frey, and in the absence of direct historical evidence the reality
or significance of the rite remains doubtful.
As mentioned above, the mythology regarded Frey as the son of Njörd
(_Njörðr_), a god of whom very little is really known. It has been
supposed that the _Nerthus_, mentioned by Tacitus as being worshipped
in common by a number of Germanic tribes, is the same as Njörd, but the
fact that Tacitus speaks of Nerthus as a goddess and explains the name
as meaning Mother Earth, makes the identification a very doubtful one.
According to Snorri, Njörd 'rules over the course of the wind and calms
the sea and fire. He is to be called on for voyaging and fishing. He
is so rich and wealthy that he may give lands and treasure to whom he
will.'
The worship of Njörd in Sweden and Norway is implied in the fact that
places named after him are found in certain parts of these countries.
When he is mentioned in the Icelandic writings, it is usually in
conjunction with Frey. The practice of drinking the second toast to
Njörd and Frey 'for peace and plenty' has been already mentioned. In
the old heathen form of oath, taken by suitors and others at the legal
assemblies, the deities invoked were 'Frey and Njörd and the Almighty
God' (probably Thor). The two names are also combined by Egil in a
verse (of 934) in which he prays that Frey and Njörd may be angry with
King Eirík, while in one of his poems (about 962) he refers to them
as the givers of wealth. With this may be compared the proverbial
expression 'as rich as Njörd,' which occurs in old Icelandic. In one of
Hallfred's verses (of 996) Frey and Njörd, Odin, Thor, and Freyja, are
all mentioned together in contrast with God and Christ: in another (of
the same time) the poet says, 'I am forced away from Njörd's offspring
and made to pray to Christ.' These passages are sufficient to show that
the cult of Njörd was closely connected with that of Frey, and make it
probable that he was a deity of some importance even in the popular
religion, but at best he remains a somewhat vague figure among the
Scandinavian gods.
Of the remaining gods known to us from the mythology there are only the
faintest traces in the historical sources. Even the original war-god Ty
was so completely supplanted by Odin, that no distinct evidence is to
be found for his worship in any part of Scandinavia, although Snorri
describes him as 'the bravest and stoutest-hearted of the gods,' who
had a great share in deciding the victory in battle; 'on him it is good
for men of valour to call.' His name was, however, retained in poetic
appellations of men (sometimes even of Odin), and was used in the
epithets _tý-hraustr_ for a very brave man, and _tý-spakr_ for a clever
one.
Still more uncertain is the question how far such deities as Heimdall,
the wakeful warder of the gods, Bragi, the special god of poetry,
and some others, really held a place in ordinary religious belief
as distinct from the myth-creating fancy of the poets. Even such a
striking mythological figure as the peace-maker Baldr, the most
beautiful and lovable of all the gods, is strikingly ignored in all
historical references to the old worship (the statements in Frithjof's
saga being of no value in this respect). This is also the case with
nearly all the goddesses, not excepting Frigg herself, the wife of
Odin, the mother of Baldr, and the highest of them all, according
to Snorri. It would appear, however, that Frigg had to some extent
retired into the background before another goddess Freyja, the sister
of Frey. We have already seen that when the days of the week received
their Germanic names it was Frigg who was equated with the Roman Venus;
but in the Scandinavian mythology it is Freyja, not Frigg, who is
the goddess of love. Snorri describes Freyja as riding in a chariot
drawn by two cats, 'and wheresoever she rides to battle, she has half
the slain and Odin the other half.' This association of Freyja with
Odin, which seems to imply that Frigg was almost on the point of being
displaced by a rival goddess, also appears in the verse for which
Hjalti Skeggjason was found guilty of blasphemy. It is implied, too, in
a passage in Egil's saga, in which Thorgerd is represented as saying,
'I have had no supper, and will have none, until I come to Freyja. I
know no better counsel for myself than my father's: I will not live
after my father and brother.' The fact, too, that in the mythical sagas
Freyja is almost the only goddess mentioned, indicates that her name
had been remembered as one of special note in the old religion.
To their chief deities the ancient Scandinavians gave the general
name of _goð_ (equivalent to the English _god_), or _æsir_ (plural of
_áss_). Both of these appellations were in common use as the first
element in personal names, such as _Goðmundr_ (later _Guð-_) or
_Ásmundr_. In the Edda, however, the _æsir_ are distinguished from
another race of gods, the _vanir_, to whom Njörd and Frey belonged.
Whether this distinction had any bearing on the popular religion does
not appear. Other names which occur in the poetic or mythological
sources are _regin_ or _rögn_, denoting their decisive or guiding
powers, and _bönd_ or _höpt_, which imply a binding or constraining
might; the goddesses are usually known by the name of _ásynjur_. The
Edda speaks of twelve chief gods, but it may be doubted whether the
number was ever definitely fixed, or that it was uniform in all parts
of Scandinavia.
In addition to the greater gods various supernatural powers were
recognised by the Scandinavians as having influence for good or evil
upon human fortunes, and to some extent at least worship was paid to
these. This is clearest in the case of the _dísir_, female guardian
spirits of individuals or families, to whom formal sacrifice was made
under the name of _dísablót_. It is less certain that the belief in
the _nornir_, or Fates, usually thought of as three sisters, can
properly be regarded as belonging to religion, though its influence was
evidently a powerful one. A belief in the _valkyrjur_, or war-maidens,
who were present at battles and sometimes appeared to the combatants,
naturally connects itself with the cult of Odin, but here also the
evidence for a religious feeling accompanying the belief is lacking.
It is not quite clear what place is to be assigned to the _landvættir_,
who were supposed to watch over and protect various parts of the
country, and whose presence and favour were reckoned to be of so much
importance, that the old heathen law of Iceland (framed about 930)
began with a provision relating to them. It enacted that 'men should
not have ships with heads on them, or if they did, they should take
them off before they came in sight of land, and not approach the shore
with gaping heads or yawning snouts by which the _landvættir_ might
be scared.' When Egil was incensed against King Eirík of Norway, he
set up a _níðstöng_, or insulting post, and declared that he directed
it not only against the king and queen, but also against 'those
_landvættir_ who inhabit this land, that they may all go astray and
none of them find his home, until they drive Eirík and Gunnhild out of
the country.' Of the son of a settler in the south-west of Iceland it
is said that second-sighted men saw the _landvættir_ accompany him when
he went to the assembly, while they followed his brothers in hunting or
fishing. The _landvættir_ were also credited with having appeared to a
wizard whom the Danish king sent to Iceland about 980, and with having
prevented him from landing on its shores. In view of all this, it is
extremely probable that these supposed beings may have been actually
worshipped, but of this there is no positive evidence.
A somewhat mysterious place among the minor deities is held by two
sisters named Thorgerd and Irpa, the former of whom also bears the
epithet of _Hölgabrúðr_, apparently meaning 'Hölgi's bride.' All that
is known of these is that they are alleged to have been worshipped by
Earl Hákon of Norway, in the latter half of the tenth century. It is
not improbable that their worship may have been confined to that part
of Norway (in Thrandheim) in which Hákon lived, or that they were
_dísir_ connected with the family to which he belonged. In the very
legendary account of the battle which Hákon fought against the vikings
of Jómsborg in 985, it is told that when he found the battle going
against him 'he called upon his confidant Thorgerd, but she was angry
with him and would not hear him.' It was only when propitiated by the
sacrifice of Hákon's own son that she consented to aid him. She and
her sister Irpa were then seen by second-sighted men fighting on the
earl's side. The great reverence which the earl was believed to have
felt for the sisters also appears strongly in the accounts relating to
the images of them which he had in his temples; to that of Thorgerd he
prostrated himself in prayer and made offerings of silver.
Among the Scandinavians, as among other branches of the Aryan race, the
practice of hero-worship appears to have been known. Adam of Bremen
records it as occurring among the Swedes, who in the life of St.
Ansgar are also said to have paid divine honours to one of their kings
(Erik), assigning to him a temple and special priests. In Norway it is
mentioned that offerings were made on the grave-mound of Olaf, at one
time king in Vestfold; and probably some kind of religious feeling
towards the deceased person is implied in the worship of grave-mounds,
which was sufficiently prevalent to be specially forbidden in the early
Christian law of Norway. One of the early settlers in the Færöes, Grím
Kamban, is also said to have been worshipped after his death on account
of his popularity.
Not only human beings, but even animals, were perhaps occasionally
worshipped by individuals. An old tradition related that a King Ögvald,
in the west of Norway, chiefly worshipped a cow, and took it about with
him wherever he went; and at a later and more historical date Hárek
of Rein is said to have worshipped an ox. When Floki set out to look
for Iceland he sacrificed to three ravens, which he then took on board
with him that they might show him the way. It may also be noted that,
if a very curious legend can be depended on, there were even traces of
phallic worship in Norway as late as the days of Olaf the Saint (about
1020).
An old account of the heathen period in Gotland (off the eastern coast
of Sweden) begins with the words, 'before that time and long after men
believed in groves and grave-mounds, holy places and enclosures, and in
the heathen gods.' The prominence here given to sacred places appears
to be in accordance with the facts recorded elsewhere. In the early
Christian law of Norway, for example, cairns (_hörgar_) as objects of
worship are condemned along with grave-mounds, and sacred cairns are
also named in some Icelandic sources. In these also a single stone is
sometimes mentioned as being worshipped, the most notable instance
being that in _Kristni Saga_, where it is said, 'At Giljá,' in the
north of Iceland, 'stood the stone that the family had worshipped, and
alleged that their _ár_-man lived in it. Codran declared that he would
not be baptized until he knew which was the more powerful, the bishop
or the _ár_-man in the stone. The bishop then went to the stone, and
chanted over it till it broke asunder. Then Codran considered that the
_ár_-man was vanquished.' (The precise meaning of '_ár_-man' here is
uncertain: usually the word means 'steward,' but in this case it may
be derived from _ár_ in the sense of good or plentiful years.) Of an
Icelandic settler in the tenth century it is also told that he 'took
Flateydale up to the War-stones (_Gunnsteinar_), and worshipped them.'
Close beside him was another settler who worshipped a grove, while one
in another part of the island, who is described as a great sacrificer,
paid his devotions to a waterfall, into which all remains of food were
thrown.
In connection with this worship of natural objects may be noticed the
curious belief in Iceland that certain families passed after death
into hills or hillocks in their district. This is told, for example,
of Thorolf who settled Thorsness and had great reverence for the hill
there: 'He called it Holy-fell, and believed that he would go there
when he died, and all his kinsmen on the ness.' Even the kinsmen of
Aud, who was a Christian, had great religious faith in some hillocks on
which she had erected crosses: 'They believed that they should die into
these hillocks, and Thord Gellir was led into them before his sons took
their place among men, as is told in his saga.'