Heathen Gods in Old English Literature

Richard North

Cambridge University Press, Dec 11, 1997 - Literary Criticism - 374 pages

Heathen Gods are hard to find in Old English literature. Most Anglo-Saxon writers had no interest in them, and scholars today prefer to concentrate on the Christian civilisation for which the Anglo-Saxons were so famous. Richard North offers a complete revision of our view of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian paganism and mythology in the pre-Viking and Viking age. He discusses the pre-Christian gods of Bedeís history of the Anglo-Saxon conversion with reference to an orgiastic figure known as Ingui, whom Bede called ëgod of this ageí. Using expert knowledge of comparative literary material from Old Norse-Icelandic and other Old Germanic languages, Richard North reconstructs the slender Old English evidence in a highly imaginative and wholly original treatment of poems such as Deor and The Dream of the Rood. Other gods such as Woden are considered with reference to Odin and his family in Old Norse-Icelandic mythology, with the aid of the latest historical and archaeological research. In conclusion, it is argued that the cult of Ingui was defeated only when the ideology of the god Woden was sponsored by the Anglo-Saxon church. The book will interest a range of scholars in departments of Old English, Old Norse-Icelandic and Germanic literatures, Anglo-Saxon history and archaeology.

What people are saying

Review: Heathen Gods in Old English Literature

User Review  - Neil - Goodreads

This is a highly speculative interdisciplinary approach to Anglo Saxon Paganism that explores some of the more curious passages in Old English literature that are thought to contain references to the ...

Review: Heathen Gods in Old English Literature

User Review  - Jönathan - Goodreads

I'm not sure what Dionysis has to do with Anglo-Saxon Heathenism, but I understand the background of Tolkien's Ents better after reading this book.

Contents

• Anglian religion in: 1
• Ingui of Bernicia: 26
• Ing and the ingefolc: 44
• Wodens witchcraft: 78
• the role of Woden in royal: 111
• geot and Geat: 133
• The cult of Ingui in Beowulf: 172
• natural phenomena: 204
• the worldtree sacrifice: 273
• the AngloSaxon: 304
• Bibliography: 343
• Index: 355

About the author

Richard North was made to read old English at oxford and now teaches it for a living in UCL. He would like to be known for writing fiction. Publications include "Heathen Gods" "in old English Literature" (1997), "The Origins of 'Beowulf' "(2006), and some poems and short stories in "Undertow," the UCL English students' literary magazine. Hobbies include piano, reading the sagas and collecting students.

Joe Allard discovered Iceland almost by chance in the mid-eighties and has never looked back. He translates and publishes (mares' Nest Publishers, festival Books) contemporary Icelandic poetry and fiction. He also writes about and teaches medieval Icelandic prose and poetry. He eats shark, puffin and whale and enjoys 57% Icelandic spirits. Hobbies include piano and watching volcanoes.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Heathen Gods in Old English Literature; Volume 22 of Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England, ISSN 1747-311X
• Author: Richard North
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1997
• ISBN: 0521551838, 9780521551830
• Length: 374 pages
• Subjects: History / General; Literary Criticism / Ancient & Classical; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh