Children
Njord Odinsson I * King of Swedes b: ABT 0228 in Noatun, Sweden
Skjold Odinsson * 1st King of Denmark b: 0237 in Hleithra, Denmark
Beldeg Odinsson * Ancestor of Saxony b: 0243 in Ancient Saxony, Northern Germany
Overlord, Odin, also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan, one of the principal gods in Norse mythology. His exact nature and role, however, are difficult to determine because of the complex picture of him given by the wealth of archaeological and literary sources. The Roman historian Tacitus stated that the Teutons worshiped Mercury; and because dies Mercurii ("Mercury's day") was identified with Wednesday ("Woden's day"), there is little doubt that the god Woden (the earlier form of Odin) was meant. Though Woden was worshiped preeminently, there is not sufficient evidence of his cult to show whether it was practiced by all the Teutonic tribes or to enable conclusions to be drawn about the nature of the god. Later literary sources, however, indicate that at the end of the pre-Christian period Odin was the principal god in Scandinavia. From earliest times Odin was a war god, and he appeared in heroic literature as the protector of heroes; fallen warriors joined him in Valhalla. The wolf and the raven were dedicated to him. His magical horse, Sleipnir, had eight legs, teeth inscribed with runes, and the ability to gallop through the air and over the sea. Odin was the great magician among the gods and was associated with runes. He was also the god of poets. In outward appearance he was a tall, old man, with flowing beard and only one eye (the other he gave in exchange for wisdom). He was usually depicted wearing a cloak and a wide-brimmed hat and carrying a spear. [Encyclopædia Britannica, 1961 ed., William Benton, Publisher, Chicago ©1961]. The Prose Edda shows the names of other sons who became the Kings of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, but I can't find analogues for these in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles. They are Skjöldr od Denmark, Saemingr of Norway and Yngvi of Sweden. [Brian Tompsett, Directory of Royal Genealogical Data, University of Hull, Hull, UK).
Early legendary kings of Denmark.
The kings of Denmark, like the Saxon, Norwegian, and Swedish rulers, all claim descent from Odin. Odin's real name, according to the old stories, was Sigge Fridulfson, but he called himself Odin so that people would worship him.
Odin is said to have come from Asgard, the legendary home of the gods. (Interestingly, the twelth-century Danish historian Saxo identifies Asgard with Byzantium.) Traveling north from Asgard in the first century AD, Odin allegedly founded the Kingdom of the Svear in Uppsala sometime before the Christian era.
King Odin, we are told, had five sons. They reigned over various parts of Scandinavia, and at least two of them ruled in Denmark. (One must remember that Denmark at that time included Skane. Although this region has belonged to Sweden in modern times, it was Danish from legendary through medieval times.) We shall not endeavor to mention all the legendary kings of Denmark, but rather highlight some of the more famous and interesting heroes of the sagas.
The Danish kings, like those of Norway and Sweden, did not always follow a direct line of succession from father to son. But they were required to be of noble blood, and they were elected by a gathering of nobles known as the "Thing". [Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev]
A. Early legendary kings of Denmark.
The kings of Denmark, like the Saxon, Norwegian, and Swedish rulers, all claim descent from Odin. Odin's real name, according to the old stories, was Sigge Fridulfson, but he called himself Odin so that people would worship him.
Odin is said to have come from Asgard, the legendary home of the gods. (Interestingly, the twelth-century Danish historian Saxo identifies Asgard with Byzantium.) Traveling north from Asgard in the first century AD, Odin allegedly founded the Kingdom of the Svear in Uppsala sometime before the Christian era.
King Odin, we are told, had five sons. They reigned over various parts of Scandinavia, and at least two of them ruled in Denmark. (One must remember that Denmark at that time included Skane. Although this region has belonged to Sweden in modern times, it was Danish from legendary through medieval times.) We shall not endeavor to mention all the legendary kings of Denmark, but rather highlight some of the more famous and interesting heroes of the sagas.
The Danish kings, like those of Norway and Sweden, did not always follow a direct line of succession from father to son. But they were required to be of noble blood, and they were elected by a gathering of nobles known as the "Thing". [Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev]
According to the geneology of the saxon kings of Wessex, recorded in the Anglo-saxon Chronicles, their ancestor, Woden, would have lived in the second christian century. Since the saxons practised hereditary kingship, Woden was evidently one in a line of warrior chieftains whose community survived the ages, into historical times. The most likely home of Woden's family was at Gudme, on the island of Fyn, off the east coast of Jutland in the Baltic Sea. There is a settlement there called 'Odense', which is said to mean: "Woden's sanctuary".
The first century settlement at Gudme, on the isle of Fyn, was at its most prosperous in the late roman iron age, from the years of Our Lord 200 to 300 (using the calendar popularised by Bede). So, it prospered initially towards the end of Woden's stuartship, and flourished for several generations afterwards.
Excavations there yield some of the most spectacular treasures of the age. The gold and silver trade goods, gold coins, jewel encrusted weapons, and masses of bog sacrifices, testify to an exceptionally favoured community. Somehow, the era of Woden came to be known as the days at the beginning of time. Woden's name, in particular, became associated with all the great traditions which survived from that era.
He was, according to tradition, the master of all poets. In the scandinavian custom, the poets were considered able to converse with the gods of Asgaard, the home of their ancestor heros. This high esteem for great poets was typical of all primitive western cultures, where the oral history of the tribes were preserved in epic verse. Influential poets would presumably be close relations of the chieftain.
The family of the chief warrior and the chief poet were royal in the most direct sense. They were extremely important men and women, who interpreted with wisdom all the events of our lives, and directed the community with authority.
A biography of kings entitled "Heimskringla", written in the early 1200's, credits Woden with having established the rites of worship and burial observed among the early scandinavians.
"He decreed that all the dead should be burned, and put on the funeral pyre with all their possessions. He also said that everyone should come into Valholl with all the property that he had on the pyre, and he should also enjoy the use of what he himself had buried in the earth, and the ashes should be carried out to sea or buried in the earth, and mounds should be raised in memory of men of rank...
And there should be a sacrifice at the beginning of winter for a successful year, and at midwinter for regeneration, and a third in summer which was a sacrifice for victory."
By the early middle ages, the local traditions of the late roman iron age had evolved into the religious traditions which we now associate with the viking people of the Baltic. The 10th century english chronicler, Aethelweard, says of Woden, the ancestor of the anglo-saxon kings, that "the unbelieving northerners (vikings) are overwhelmed by such great temptation that they worship him as a god even today."
So, the memory of Woden had evolved from that of ancestral chieftain, as held by the english, to that of a founding god in the norse pantheon of creation myth.[JohnFaye (8 Jun 05).FTW]
Overlord, Odin, also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan, one of the principal gods in Norse mythology. His exact nature and role, however, are difficult to determine because of the complex picture of him given by the wealth of archaeological and literary sources. The Roman historian Tacitus stated that the Teutons worshiped Mercury; and because dies Mercurii ("Mercury's day") was identified with Wednesday ("Woden's day"), there is little doubt that the god Woden (the earlier form of Odin) was meant. Though Woden was worshiped preeminently, there is not sufficient evidence of his cult to show whether it was practiced by all the Teutonic tribes or to enable conclusions to be drawn about the nature of the god. Later literary sources, however, indicate that at the end of the pre-Christian period Odin was the principal god in Scandinavia. From earliest times Odin was a war god, and he appeared in heroic literature as the protector of heroes; fallen warriors joined him in Valhalla. The wolf and the raven were dedicated to him. His magical horse, Sleipnir, had eight legs, teeth inscribed with runes, and the ability to gallop through the air and over the sea. Odin was the great magician among the gods and was associated with runes. He was also the god of poets. In outward appearance he was a tall, old man, with flowing beard and only one eye (the other he gave in exchange for wisdom). He was usually depicted wearing a cloak and a wide-brimmed hat and carrying a spear. [Encyclopædia Britannica, 1961 ed., William Benton, Publisher, Chicago ©1961]. The Prose Edda shows the names of other sons who became the Kings of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, but I can't find analogues for these in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles. They are Skjöldr od Denmark, Saemingr of Norway and Yngvi of Sweden. [Brian Tompsett, Directory of Royal Genealogical Data, University of Hull, Hull, UK).
Early legendary kings of Denmark.
The kings of Denmark, like the Saxon, Norwegian, and Swedish rulers, all claim descent from Odin. Odin's real name, according to the old stories, was Sigge Fridulfson, but he called himself Odin so that people would worship him.
Odin is said to have come from Asgard, the legendary home of the gods. (Interestingly, the twelth-century Danish historian Saxo identifies Asgard with Byzantium.) Traveling north from Asgard in the first century AD, Odin allegedly founded the Kingdom of the Svear in Uppsala sometime before the Christian era.
King Odin, we are told, had five sons. They reigned over various parts of Scandinavia, and at least two of them ruled in Denmark. (One must remember that Denmark at that time included Skane. Although this region has belonged to Sweden in modern times, it was Danish from legendary through medieval times.) We shall not endeavor to mention all the legendary kings of Denmark, but rather highlight some of the more famous and interesting heroes of the sagas.
The Danish kings, like those of Norway and Sweden, did not always follow a direct line of succession from father to son. But they were required to be of noble blood, and they were elected by a gathering of nobles known as the "Thing". [Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev]
A. Early legendary kings of Denmark.
The kings of Denmark, like the Saxon, Norwegian, and Swedish rulers, all claim descent from Odin. Odin's real name, according to the old stories, was Sigge Fridulfson, but he called himself Odin so that people would worship him.
Odin is said to have come from Asgard, the legendary home of the gods. (Interestingly, the twelth-century Danish historian Saxo identifies Asgard with Byzantium.) Traveling north from Asgard in the first century AD, Odin allegedly founded the Kingdom of the Svear in Uppsala sometime before the Christian era.
King Odin, we are told, had five sons. They reigned over various parts of Scandinavia, and at least two of them ruled in Denmark. (One must remember that Denmark at that time included Skane. Although this region has belonged to Sweden in modern times, it was Danish from legendary through medieval times.) We shall not endeavor to mention all the legendary kings of Denmark, but rather highlight some of the more famous and interesting heroes of the sagas.
The Danish kings, like those of Norway and Sweden, did not always follow a direct line of succession from father to son. But they were required to be of noble blood, and they were elected by a gathering of nobles known as the "Thing". [Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev]
According to the geneology of the saxon kings of Wessex, recorded in the Anglo-saxon Chronicles, their ancestor, Woden, would have lived in the second christian century. Since the saxons practised hereditary kingship, Woden was evidently one in a line of warrior chieftains whose community survived the ages, into historical times. The most likely home of Woden's family was at Gudme, on the island of Fyn, off the east coast of Jutland in the Baltic Sea. There is a settlement there called 'Odense', which is said to mean: "Woden's sanctuary".
The first century settlement at Gudme, on the isle of Fyn, was at its most prosperous in the late roman iron age, from the years of Our Lord 200 to 300 (using the calendar popularised by Bede). So, it prospered initially towards the end of Woden's stuartship, and flourished for several generations afterwards.
Excavations there yield some of the most spectacular treasures of the age. The gold and silver trade goods, gold coins, jewel encrusted weapons, and masses of bog sacrifices, testify to an exceptionally favoured community. Somehow, the era of Woden came to be known as the days at the beginning of time. Woden's name, in particular, became associated with all the great traditions which survived from that era.
He was, according to tradition, the master of all poets. In the scandinavian custom, the poets were considered able to converse with the gods of Asgaard, the home of their ancestor heros. This high esteem for great poets was typical of all primitive western cultures, where the oral history of the tribes were preserved in epic verse. Influential poets would presumably be close relations of the chieftain.
The family of the chief warrior and the chief poet were royal in the most direct sense. They were extremely important men and women, who interpreted with wisdom all the events of our lives, and directed the community with authority.
A biography of kings entitled "Heimskringla", written in the early 1200's, credits Woden with having established the rites of worship and burial observed among the early scandinavians.
"He decreed that all the dead should be burned, and put on the funeral pyre with all their possessions. He also said that everyone should come into Valholl with all the property that he had on the pyre, and he should also enjoy the use of what he himself had buried in the earth, and the ashes should be carried out to sea or buried in the earth, and mounds should be raised in memory of men of rank...
And there should be a sacrifice at the beginning of winter for a successful year, and at midwinter for regeneration, and a third in summer which was a sacrifice for victory."
By the early middle ages, the local traditions of the late roman iron age had evolved into the religious traditions which we now associate with the viking people of the Baltic. The 10th century english chronicler, Aethelweard, says of Woden, the ancestor of the anglo-saxon kings, that "the unbelieving northerners (vikings) are overwhelmed by such great temptation that they worship him as a god even today."
So, the memory of Woden had evolved from that of ancestral chieftain, as held by the english, to that of a founding god in the norse pantheon of creation myth.
Father: Frithuwalk (Bor) Of Anglo Saxons b: ABT 190 in Asgard, Asia or East Europe
Mother: Beltsa Of Anglo-Saxons b: in Asgard, Asia or East Europe
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