the Germanic tribes and the Norsemen

Lecture 17 Barbarians: the Germanic tribes and the Norsemen

The Germanic and the Norse mythologies are very similar and they reflect the harsh

environment and the fierce fighters that these people were. These are the people that the Romans

called barbarians; that’s where the word comes from. The very sophisticated Romans feared the

barbarians, who were actually able to bring down the entire Roman Empire. These are the Vikings, a

different group, because they not only were able to trade and went from Scandinavian countries all the

way down to North Africa and had trading ventures with the Muslim states, but at the same time they

were pillaging the coastlines of Europe and the Brit ish Isles. They had settled Iceland. You talk about

global warming. At the time that the Vikings were heading out, Greenland was actually green and for 75

years, the Vikings had established a community there in this very rich environment until the ice

returned. An entire village is caught under 20, 30, 40, 50 feet of snow and is now being excavated. The

Vikings even went further on, using Greenland as a base probably, and went to Nova Scotia or in that

area and established communities there. These wer e a wide ranging people who believed that the gods

were there as protectors and the gods were there as helpers, but when it came down to brass tacks,

these people believed that a person controlled his own destiny. You tried to do your best, you asked for

help, but then you play the cards, the hand, that you are dealt.

Another interesting side note about Viking culture is that generally in all the Germanic tribes,

and they were mostly tribes and clans, the succession of leader went to the strongest, the f ittest, and

the bravest. But, when some of the Vikings became extremely wealthy with their trading particularly

with the Muslims in North Africa, they wanted to keep that money within their own families, so they

changed the succession so that it went from father to son, rather than strongest to strongest. It is

interesting to note that in some of these clans where the succession had changed, the entire culture fell

apart within a couple of generations.

Even our days of the week remind us of the Norse go ds. For instance, Thor’s Day, Thursday.

Thor was the god of thunder, and the most powerful god. It is interesting that he was not the leader of

the family of gods, but by far the most powerful one. He had a magic hammer, Mjollnir, that every time

he threw it, it would return to him. Freya’s Day, Friday. Freya being the goddess of fertility and love ,

the most beautiful of all the goddesses. And Wodin’s Day, Wednesday. Wodin is also known as Odin,

depending on the pronunciation and spelling of the lo cality where it comes from. Odin was actually the

leader of the gods, the one who was able to keep the family, the loose confederation, of the gods

together. He was a one-eyed god and it is not often that we have the main god in a mythology being

what one would call deformed. But in this case he actually gave up one of his eyes, he ripped out his

own eye, and gave it up in order to gain more wisdom, so he is the wisest of all the gods.

Like the Celtic literature, the preservation of these myths is only due to the isolation of an area,

in this case, Iceland. Most of the myths and legends and sagas from the Germanic people come to us

piecemeal, except for Iceland. Particularly one man, Snorri Sturleson in the 13

th

century, wanted to

make sure that they didn’t lose all the old stories, the eddas. So he wrote down all the myths that he

Lecture 17 Barbarians: the Germanic tribes and the Norsemen

The Germanic and the Norse mythologies are very similar and they reflect the harsh environment and the fierce fighters that these people were. These are the people that the Romans called barbarians; that’s where the word comes from. The very sophisticated Romans feared the barbarians, who were actually able to bring down the entire Roman Empire. These are the Vikings, a different group, because they not only were able to trade and went from Scandinavian countries all the way down to North Africa and had trading ventures with the Muslim states, but at the same time they were pillaging the coastlines of Europe and the British Isles. They had settled Iceland. You talk about global warming. At the time that the Vikings were heading out, Greenland was actually green and for 75 years, the Vikings had established a community there in this very rich environment until the ice returned. An entire village is caught under 20, 30, 40, 50 feet of snow and is now being excavated. The Vikings even went further on, using Greenland as a base probably, and went to Nova Scotia or in that area and established communities there. These were a wide ranging people who believed that the gods were there as protectors and the gods were there as helpers, but when it came down to brass tacks, these people believed that a person controlled his own destiny. You tried to do your best, you asked for help, but then you play the cards, the hand, that you are dealt.

Another interesting side note about Viking culture is that generally in all the Germanic tribes, and they were mostly tribes and clans, the succession of leader went to the strongest, the fittest, and the bravest. But, when some of the Vikings became extremely wealthy with their trading particularly with the Muslims in North Africa, they wanted to keep that money within their own families, so they changed the succession so that it went from father to son, rather than strongest to strongest. It is interesting to note that in some of these clans where the succession had changed, the entire culture fell apart within a couple of generations.

Even our days of the week remind us of the Norse gods. For instance, Thor’s Day, Thursday. Thor was the god of thunder, and the most powerful god. It is interesting that he was not the leader of the family of gods, but by far the most powerful one. He had a magic hammer, Mjollnir, that every time he threw it, it would return to him. Freya’s Day, Friday. Freya being the goddess of fertility and love, the most beautiful of all the goddesses. And Wodin’s Day, Wednesday. Wodin is also known as Odin, depending on the pronunciation and spelling of the locality where it comes from. Odin was actually the leader of the gods, the one who was able to keep the family, the loose confederation, of the gods together. He was a one-eyed god and it is not often that we have the main god in a mythology being what one would call deformed. But in this case he actually gave up one of his eyes, he ripped out his own eye, and gave it up in order to gain more wisdom, so he is the wisest of all the gods.

Like the Celtic literature, the preservation of these myths is only due to the isolation of an area, in this case, Iceland. Most of the myths and legends and sagas from the Germanic people come to us piecemeal, except for Iceland. Particularly one man, Snorri Sturleson in the 13th century, wanted to make sure that they didn’t lose all the old stories, the eddas. So he wrote down all the myths that he knew and all the myths that others had known, and put it together in a book. So most of our knowledge about Norse mythology comes from this one man, Snorri Sturleson.

There are two basic groups of gods within Norse mythology, the Aesir, the gods of the sky, and the Vanir, the gods of the earth. At one point in the mythology these two sets of gods were fighting each other and it was very destructive to the gods, the earth and the universe due to the great fighting that was going on. But is Odin that established a peace between the two, and in a kind of brilliant formulation, he had some of the gods from Aesir move to Vanir, and vice versa. That way, they were able to maintain the peace.

Another interesting part of the mythology is that a tree is the actual center of the universe. If you look at the environment, this very harsh and bleak environment, is generally heavily wooded. Trees are very important, especially the ash tree. In the myth, the world tree, Yggdrasil, is rather a symbol of universality and the interconnectedness of all things, since its roots go all the way down to the underworld, and its branches reach up into the heavens, and all things are connected to this one tree. And even at the end of the entire universe, at that moment, the world tree is going to protect life so that it can become once again renewed, and a new universe can be constructed.

Lecture 18 – Valhalla and Ragnarok

The Germanic tribes and the Norseman considered fighting as a livelihood. Battle was very

important to them. This is not war in the sense that we consider it, where there is a principle that you

are fighting over, or there is a piece of land that one gro up wants to take away from another, or going to

war for safety. In this mentality, fighting was a skill; it showed prowess and it was indeed their

livelihood, their profession. Fighting was so important to them that there were even warriors that they

called beserkers. Where this word may have come from, one interpretation, is that these men went into

battle completely unarmed, wearing bear shirts; some others believe that the origin of the word is that

the men went into battle bare-chested, completely defenseless and yet fought. The beserkers were

what scared – actually terrified – these very professional Roman soldiers. These men would become so

enraged and bloodthirsty that they would go beserk, and that is exactly where our word comes from.

They would fight with their bare hands, and the women as well would be on the sides of the battlefield,

looking in at this combat, and they themselves would become involved in the fighting. They would go

out and start fighting as well. It is an interesting cultu re where fighting is the most important thing.

Revenge is another very important aspect. If you ever heard the saying, “Revenge is a dish best

served cold,” this actually is pulled from a saying that was prominent in the culture. You had to have

that kind of courage, but courage didn’t necessarily mean being stupid. They were very wise, so you

could fake out the enemy and allow them to think that they had gotten the upper hand, as long as later

on, even if it were years later, you managed to take your revenge.

Most cultures at some point, you find them writing down, as we have learned, their mythology,

the legends and stories. The runes that are found today in both Scandanavia and Northern Europe,

many of their inscriptions are little more than sign posts, that say such things as, “Helmet found here. He

killed 30 men.” When some people look at these runes, they think that these inscriptions are in runes,

so they must be some sort of magic inscriptions. They’re often quite simply telling what took place, like

an account of the work environment. This is where I did my job, and this is how many people I killed.

Because death is a part of fighting, death was not a frightening entity really for the warriors. No

one wanted to die, but contrary to the way we picture the Valkyries with the haunting melody from the

Nibelungenlied, the Valkyries actually were taking the bravest and they would swoop them up from the

battlefield and take them to Valhalla, which is a great palace. Here in Valhalla, they would b e able to eat

and drink – and go out and fight every day! These are the best of the warriors and the gods were

preserving all the human fighters who were the best. So the warriors who were the best were rewarded

in Valhalla, and it was Odin’s way of creating an army that would help him and the other gods fight at

the end of time. In the stories that we have from these myths the battles are fought against things that

are larger than life, like the Frost Giants from the North. Or they may even be smaller, l ike the dwarves,

but these underground dwellers were extremely powerful creatures and much to be feared because

they are such good warriors.

Lecture 18 – Valhalla and Ragnarok

The Germanic tribes and the Norseman considered fighting as a livelihood. Battle was very important to them. This is not war in the sense that we consider it, where there is a principle that you are fighting over, or there is a piece of land that one group wants to take away from another, or going to war for safety. In this mentality, fighting was a skill; it showed prowess and it was indeed their livelihood, their profession. Fighting was so important to them that there were even warriors that they called beserkers. Where this word may have come from, one interpretation, is that these men went into battle completely unarmed, wearing bear shirts; some others believe that the origin of the word is that the men went into battle bare-chested, completely defenseless and yet fought. The beserkers were what scared – actually terrified – these very professional Roman soldiers. These men would become so enraged and bloodthirsty that they would go beserk, and that is exactly where our word comes from. They would fight with their bare hands, and the women as well would be on the sides of the battlefield, looking in at this combat, and they themselves would become involved in the fighting. They would go out and start fighting as well. It is an interesting culture where fighting is the most important thing.

Revenge is another very important aspect. If you ever heard the saying, “Revenge is a dish best served cold,” this actually is pulled from a saying that was prominent in the culture. You had to have that kind of courage, but courage didn’t necessarily mean being stupid. They were very wise, so you could fake out the enemy and allow them to think that they had gotten the upper hand, as long as later on, even if it were years later, you managed to take your revenge.

Most cultures at some point, you find them writing down, as we have learned, their mythology, the legends and stories. The runes that are found today in both Scandanavia and Northern Europe, many of their inscriptions are little more than signposts, that say such things as, “Helmet found here. He killed 30 men.” When some people look at these runes, they think that these inscriptions are in runes, so they must be some sort of magic inscriptions. They’re often quite simply telling what took place, like an account of the work environment. This is where I did my job, and this is how many people I killed.

Because death is a part of fighting, death was not a frightening entity really for the warriors. No one wanted to die, but contrary to the way we picture the Valkyries with the haunting melody from the Nibelungenlied, the Valkyries actually were taking the bravest and they would swoop them up from the battlefield and take them to Valhalla, which is a great palace. Here in Valhalla, they would be able to eat and drink – and go out and fight every day! These are the best of the warriors and the gods were preserving all the human fighters who were the best. So the warriors who were the best were rewarded in Valhalla, and it was Odin’s way of creating an army that would help him and the other gods fight at the end of time. In the stories that we have from these myths the battles are fought against things that are larger than life, like the Frost Giants from the North. Or they may even be smaller, like the dwarves, but these underground dwellers were extremely powerful creatures and much to be feared because they are such good warriors.

When you go to Germany, to the town of Worms, you go down to the river and there is a statue of Siegfried. That is the place, THE place, where Siegfried tossed his treasure into the river. You down one road out of Worms, and you see caves on the side of the road, and that is THE place where Siegfried fought against the dragon. So in this mythology, these are not places that are out somewhere in the imagination, but people were living, and fighting of course, in the same areas where these gods and these superheroes walked.

One of the more unusual features from Norse mythology is that the trickster god, Loki, who may be Odin’s brother, the kind of relationship is ambiguous, but Loki is a god that, while the other gods don’t trust him, and he’s always playing malicious tricks on them, the gods protect him, and keep him in the family. But Loki’s children, which include a wolf and a serpent, are the very instruments that will bring about the destruction of the world. Odin has locked them away for the time, but eventually Loki’s children will break free, and that will bring about Ragnarok, what we would term Armageddon, the very destruction of everything in the universe. So consider that there is a god who has built-in a destruction of everything, and yet that god is protected and is part of the family of the whole pantheon of gods. This points to a fatalistic view of life. Life is what it is, deal with it. There is a twist to this fatalistic approach to Norse mythology. At the very, very end there’s a bit of optimism, when the world tree, the tree of Creation, that which sustains all life in the universe, Yggdrasil, is going to provide a sort of cocoon that protects one man and one woman, so that life again will begin, so that the entire universe will again be recreated after Ragnarok. Perhaps this optimism or perhaps, perhaps, this is Germanic self-confidence. Even the end of the universe cannot eradicate the Germanic spirit.