The Wanderer Anglo Saxon History, mythology, Folklore and religion

Archaeological sites such as Sutton Hoo have given us an insight to the historical information of the Anglo-Saxon period. Sutton Hoo is the site of two 6th and 7th century cemeteries near Woodbridge, Suffolk. It first began to be excavated in 1939, and was found to contain many Anglo-Saxon wonders, including an undisturbed ship burial. This site, among others, has given us an interesting insight i...

Monsters abound in Anglo-Saxon literature. One type of monster that shows up again and again is the cannibal. Heroes such as Beowulf and Andreas face humanoid monsters that threaten to literally consume their victims. This Monster is based on Grendel.

English in the Byzantine Armed Forces: The Varangian Guard and Anglo-Saxon Ethnic Consciousness One of the most interesting episodes in Byzantine military history and in medieval English history is the Anglo-Saxon participation and service in the Varangian Guards regiment from the late 11th to the early 13th century. Byzantine army became increasingly dependent upon mercenary forces. into service...

In the days of King Alfred the Great, when the moon was full and its pale light bathed the land in an eerie glow, a terror stalked the kingdom of Wessex. The people whispered tales of bloodthirsty creatures, half-human and half-beast, that roamed the countryside under the curse of the werewolf. As the legend grew, fear gripped the hearts of villagers, and they dreaded the coming of the full moon.

n the annals of history, the swords of the Anglo-Saxons stand as both artifacts of exquisite craftsmanship and vessels of profound symbolism. These blades, hailing from a time when metallurgy was an art form and weaponry held cultural significance, offer a gateway into the values, warfare techniques, and societal norms of the early Germanic tribes that inhabited England from the 5th to the 11th ce...

Medieval Mallorca 1346Jaume Ferrer, Mallorcan navigator set sail on 10th August to sail along the coast of Africa to Senegal and, perhaps, even to Niger. His journey is depicted in the Catalan Atlas. 1348 Palma was devastated by one of the most virulent of all strains of the Black Death that erupted during the Middle Ages and there were more than 5,000 deaths in the town.1375The Catalan Atlas, one...

The Anglo-Saxons believed in supernatural creatures such as Elves and Dwarves and giants ("Etins") who often brought harm to men. It is likely that they believed in  Wyrd  (German "werden"), usually translated as "fate," although the modern term fate does little justice to the true meaning of Wyrd. Being a Germanic people, the Anglo-Saxons worshiped the same gods as t...

Eadric Streona ,  (“The Acquisitor”)  Eadric also spelled  Edric , (died 1017), ealdorman of the Mercians, who, though a man of ignoble birth, was advanced to the revived office of ealdorman by the English king Ethelred II whose daughter Eadgyth Eadric married. Little is known of Eadric’s origins. His appointment to the office of ealdorman in 1007 was probably an attempt by Ethelred to unite south...

Hel and her kingdom In Germanic mythology, Hel is a figure associated with the realm of the dead, also known as Helheim. Hel is the daughter of the trickster god Loki and the giantess Angrboda. She is described as having a half-living, half-dead appearance, with one side of her body appearing normal and the other side being decaying or skeletal. Helheim, or "Hel's realm," is one of t...

I realise tat Loki isnt part of the Anglo Saxon Pantheon, but I felt is is only right to remember him when we can. The Fenris wolf is also a good subject to talk about, as ihe is one of the most destructive beings in the cosmos, and can bring about chaos. The world tree, Yggdrasil is also an important part of Germanic mythology and goes through more than just Germanic Myths, It has also been compa...

Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, also known as Anglo-Saxon paganism or Anglo-Saxon polytheism, is a modern reconstructionist pagan religion that seeks to revive and reconstruct the pre-Christian spiritual beliefs and practices of the Anglo-Saxon people. This form of Heathenry is based on the historical records of the Anglo-Saxons, including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Beowulf, and other literary and archaeol...

Anglo-Saxon Heathenry and the future Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, also known as Anglo-Saxon paganism, is a modern revivalist movement that seeks to reconstruct the religious and cultural practices of the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon people. It is based on historical research and archaeological evidence, as well as personal experiences and spiritual insights. As a modern religious movement, Anglo-Saxon Heat...

The most famous Old English battle poem, The Battle of Maldon , commemorates a very different sort of conflict: a battle that took place in 991 during which the ealdorman of Essex, Byrhtnoth, allowed his ofermod (‘pride’ or ‘overconfidence’) to get the better of him. Byrhtnoth, the leader of his loyal veterans and local Anglo-Saxon troops, permitted a raiding Viking army to take up a position on l...

Muspelheim is a realm in Norse and Germanic mythology and is one of the Nine Worlds that make up the universe. It is located in the south and is often described as the world of fire. The name Muspelheim comes from the Old Norse words "mus" meaning "fire" and "pel" meaning "world". In Norse and germanic mythology, Muspelheim is the land of the fire giants and was created by the primordial being, Su...

In Anglo-Saxon mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, one of the Nine Realms. It is ruled over by the god Woden, and is the destination of the souls of warriors who die in battle, known as einherjar. The einherjar is chosen by Woden and his valkyries, who are female figures who decide who shall live and who shall die in battle. The einherjar train in Valhalla during th...

Founded by nut the great, the Danish ruler of England in the early 11th century, the Huscarls were modelled upon the Joms Vikings although new research has found that the Joms Vikings weren't as disciplined as was thought, and the Saga was probably embellished. Cnut established them as a permanent body of professional warriors, They were 3000 strong. They attended the king and were maintained in 3...

Apart from high policy and legislation, the business of government lay with the local authority, and the local authority was the local assembly of freemen. The local unit was the tun or township, the village, the group of households whose members occupied the surrounding land and settled such of their affairs - as a required settlement in the town's meeting. The townships were grouped in hundreds,...

Saxnot also appears in the Old Saxon Baptismal Vow of the 9th century alongside Woden and Thunear. "I renounce all the deeds and words of the devil, Thunear, Wōden and Saxnōt, and all those fiends that are their companions." Based on the date of the Baptismal Vow it appears that Saxnot remained an important deity to the Saxons.

The Theft of Mjolnir Thor's Hammer Of all the strange Norse tales that survived, the theft of Mjolnir Thor's hammer must be the funniest and somehow awkward. Many questions might come to mind, like who dared to steal Mjolnir or how Thor retrieved Mjolnir back. This blog post on BaviPower would retell the story in the most concise way. One day, Thor woke up from h...

The Fortification of Asgard A certain smith arrived at Asgard one day and offered to build the gods a high wall around their home to protect them from any who might wish them ill. The smith (certainly a giant himself) said he could complete his work in a mere three seasons, but demanded a steep compensation: the hand of the goddess Freya in marriage, as well as the sun and moon. The gods took coun...

Ragnar Lodbrok(Old Norse Ragnarr Loðbrók , also anglicized as Ragnar Lodbrok), whose epithet means 'Hairy-breeches' or 'Shaggy-breeches', was a legendary Viking king, with Old Norse sagas, poetry, and medieval Latin sources telling of his accomplishments in Scandinavia, Francia, and Anglo-Saxon England during the 9th century CE. Commonly occurring elements in these stories are his marriages to Tho...

The pub name “The Green Man,” then, seems to have originated in the 17th century and to have referred in its earliest forms to the leaf-covered Green Man common in 16th-century pageantry . As we've seen, Lady Raglan was drawing on this tradition when she named the foliate head “Green Man.” Glance upwards as you approach or enter many of Britain’s great Cathedrals and churches, and it is more than...

Reasonable Force A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances for the purposes of (in the alternative): - self-defence; defence of another; defence of property; prevention of crime; lawful arrest. In assessing the reasonableness of the force used, prosecutors should ask two questions: was the use of force necessary in the circumstances, i.e. Was there a need for any force at a...

A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse contains the Old English texts of all the major short poems, such as 'The Battle of Maldon', 'The Dream of the Rood', 'The Wanderer', and 'The Seafarer', as well as a generous representation of the many important fragments, riddles and gnomic verses that survive from the seventh to the twelfth centuries, with facing-page verse translations. These poems are the wellspr...

Robin Hood was the legendary bandit of England who stole from the rich to help the poor. The stories about Robin appealed to common folk because he stood up against—and frequently outwitted—people in power. Furthermore, his life in the forest—hunting, and feasting with his fellow outlaws, coming to the assistance of those in need—seemed like a great and noble adventure. Early Sources. The earliest...