Magnifying and applying come I, Outbidding at the start the old cautious hucksters, Taking myself the exact dimensions of Jehovah, Lithographing Kronos, Zeus his son, and Hercules his grandson, Buying drafts of Osiris, Isis, Belus, Brahma, Buddha, In my portfolio placing Manito loose, Allah on a leaf, the crucifix engraved, With Odin and the hideous-faced Mexitli and every idol and image, Taking them all for what they are worth and not a cent more, Admitting they were alive and did the work of their days, (They bore mites as for unfledg'd birds who have now to rise and fly and sing for themselves,) Accepting the rough deific sketches to fill out better in myself, bestowing them freely on each man and woman I see…
1. The Prose _Edda_, properly known as _Edda Snorra Sturlusonar_, was arranged and modified by Snorri, but actually composed, as has been conjectured, between the years 1140 and 1160. It is divided into five parts, the Preface or _Formáli_, _Gylfaginning_, _Bragaraeður_, _Skáldskaparmál_ and _Háttatal_. The preface bears a very modern character, and simply gives a history of the world from Adam and Eve, in accordance with the Christian tradition. _Gylfaginning_, or the Delusion of Gylfi, on the other hand, is the most precious compendium which we possess of the mythological system of the ancient inhabitants of Scandinavia. Commencing with the adventures of a mythical king Gylfi and the giantess Gefion, and the miraculous formation of the island of Zealand, it tells us that the Aesir, led by Odin, invaded Svithjod or Sweden, the land of Gylfi, and settled there. It is from the _Ynglingasaga_ and from the _Gylfaginning_ that we gain all the information we possess about the conquering deities or heroes who set their stamp upon the religion of the North. Advancing from the Black Sea northwards through Russia, and westward through Esthonia, the Aesir seem to have overrun the south lands of Scandinavia, not as a horde but as an immigrant aristocracy. The Eddaic version, however, of the history of the gods is not so circumstantial as that in the _Ynglingasaga_; it is, on the other hand, distinguished by an exquisite simplicity and archaic force of style, which give an entirely classical character to its mythical legends of Odin and of Loki. The _Gylfaginning_ is written in prose, with brief poetic insertions. The _Bragaraeður_, or sayings of Bragi, are further legends of the deities, attributed to Bragi, the god of poetry, or to a poet of the same name. The _Skáldskaparmál_, or Art of Poetry, commonly called _Skálda_, contains the instructions given by Bragi to Aegir, and consists of the rules and theories of ancient verse, exemplified in copious extracts from Eyvindr Skáldaspillir and other eminent Icelandic poets. The word _Skáldskapr_ refers to the form rather than the substance of verse, and this treatise is almost solely technical in character. It is by far the largest of the sections of the _Edda_ of Snorri, and comprises not only extracts but some long poems, notably the _Thorsdrapa_ of Eilifr Guðrúnarson and the _Haustlaung_ of Thjóðólfr. The fifth section of the _Edda_, the _Háttatal_, or Number of Metres, is a running technical commentary on the text of Snorri's three poems written in honour of Haakon, king of Norway. Affixed to some MS. of the _Younger Edda_ are a list of poets, and a number of philological treatises and grammatical studies. These belong, however, to a later period than the life of Snorri Sturlason. Entry: 1
DIEKIRCH, a small town in the grand duchy of Luxemburg, charmingly situated on the banks of the Sûre. Pop. (1905) 3705. Its name is said to be derived from Dide or Dido, granddaughter of Odin and niece of Thor. The mountain at the foot of which the town lies, now called Herrenberg, was formerly known as Thorenberg, or Thor's mountain. On the summit of this rock rises a perennial stream which flows down into the town under the name of Bellenflesschen. Diekirch was an important Roman station, and in the 14th century John of Luxemburg, the blind king of Bohemia, fortified it, surrounding the place with a castellated wall and a ditch supplied by the stream mentioned. It remained more or less fortified until the beginning of the 19th century when the French during their occupation levelled the old walls, and substituted the avenues of trees that now encircle the town. Diekirch is the administrative centre of one of the three provincial divisions of the grand duchy. It is visited during the summer by many thousand tourists and travellers from Holland, Belgium and Germany. Entry: DIEKIRCH
The mythic element is practically lacking in the French legends, but in Germany some part of the Odin myth was associated with Charles's name. The constellation of the Great Bear, generally associated with Odin, is Karlswagen in German, and Charles's Wain in English. According to tradition in Hesse, he awaits resurrection, probably symbolic of the triumph of the sun over winter, within the Gudensberg (Hill of Odin). Bavarian tradition asserts that he is seated in the Untersberg in a chair, as in his tomb at Aix-la-Chapelle. His white beard goes on growing, and when it has thrice encircled the stone table before him the end of the world will come; or, according to another version, Charles will arise and after fighting a great battle on the plain of Wals will reign over a new Germany. There were medieval chroniclers who did not fear to assert that Charles rose from the dead to take part in the Crusades. In the MS. _Annales S. Stephani Frisingenses_ (15th century), which formerly belonged to the abbey of Weihenstephan, and is now at Munich, the childhood of Charlemagne is practically the same as that of many mythic heroes. This work, generally known as the chronicle of Weihenstephan, gives among other legends a curious history of the emperor's passion for a dead woman, caused by a charm given to Charles by a serpent to whom he had rendered justice. The charm was finally dropped into a well at Aix, which thenceforward became Charles's favourite residence. The story of Roland's birth from the union of Charles with his sister Gilles, also found in German and Scandinavian versions, has abundant parallels in mythology, and was probably transferred from mythology to Charlemagne. Entry: THE
It is obvious in all these cases that men accustomed to luxury and refinement were compelled, by the pressure of some great calamity, to flee for refuge to caves with whatever they could transport thither of their property. The number of spindle-whorls and personal ornaments imply that they were accompanied by their families. We may also infer that they were cut off from the civilization to which they had been accustomed, because in some cases they extemporized spindle-whorls out of fragments of Samian ware, instead of using those which were expressly manufactured for the purpose. Why the caves were inhabited is satisfactorily explained by an appeal to contemporary history. In the pages of Gildas, in the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, and in the _Annales Cambriae_, we have a graphic picture of that long war of invasion by which the inhabitants of the old Roman province of Britannia were driven back by the Jutes, Angles and Saxons, who crossed over with their families and household stuff. Slowly, and in the chances of a war which extended through three centuries, they were gradually pushed back into Cumberland, Wales and West Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. While this war was going on the coinage became debased and Roman coins afforded the patterns for the small bronze minimi, which are to be met with equally in these caves and in the ruins of Roman cities. As the tide of war rolled to the west, the English tongue and, until towards the close of the struggle, the worship of Thor and Odin supplanted the British tongue and the Christian faith, and a rude barbarism replaced what was left of the Roman civilization in the island. It is to this period that relics of this kind in the caves must be assigned. They are traces of the anarchy of those times, and complete the picture of the desolation of Britain, revealed by the ashes of the cities and villas that were burnt by the invader. They prove that the vivid account given by Gildas of the straits to which his countrymen were reduced was literally true. Entry: CAVE
Landseer was elected a Royal Academician in 1831. "Chevy Chase" (1826), which is at Woburn, "The Highland Whisky Still" (1829), "High Life" (1829) and "Low Life" (1829), besides other important works, had appeared in the interval. Landseer had by this time attained such amazing mastery that he painted "Spaniel and Rabbit" in two hours and a half, and "Rabbits," which was at the British Institution, in three-quarters of an hour; and the fine dog-picture "Odin" (1836) was the work of one sitting, i.e. painted within twelve hours. But perhaps the most wonderful instance of his rapid but sure and dexterous brush-handling was "The Cavalier's Pets" (1845), the picture of two King Charles's spaniels in the National Gallery, which was executed in two days. Another remarkable feat consisted in drawing, simultaneously, a stag's head with one hand and a head of a horse with the other. "Harvest in the Highlands," and that masterpiece of humour, "Jack in Office," were exhibited in 1833. In 1834 a noble work of sentiment was given to the world in "Suspense," which is now at South Kensington, and shows a dog watching at the closed door of his wounded master. Many think this to be Landseer's finest work, others prefer "The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner" (1837). The over-praised and unfortunate "Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time," a group of portraits in character, was also shown in 1834, and was the first picture for which the painter received £400. A few years later he sold "Peace" and "War" for £1500, and for the copyrights alone obtained £6000. In 1881 "Man proposes, God Disposes" (1864) was resold for 6300 guineas, and a cartoon of "The Chase" (1866) fetched 5000 guineas. "A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society," a dog reclining on a quay wall (1838), was succeeded by "Dignity and Impudence" (1839). The "Lion Dog of Malta," and "Laying down the Law" appeared in 1840. In 1842 was finished the capital "Highland Shepherd's Home" (Sheepshanks Gift), together with the beautiful "Eos," a portrait of Prince Albert's most graceful of greyhounds, to which Thomas Landseer added an ineffable charm and solidity not in the painting. The "Rout of Comus" was painted in the summerhouse of Buckingham Palace garden in 1843. The "Challenge" was accompanied (1844) by "Shoeing the Bay Mare" (Bell Gift), and followed by "Peace" and "War," and the "Stag at Bay" (1846). "Alexander and Diogenes," and a "Random Shot," a dead kid lying in the snow, came forth in 1848. In 1850 Landseer received a national commission to paint in the Houses of Parliament three subjects connected with the chase. Although they would have been worth three times as much money, the House of Commons refused to grant £1500 for these pictures, and the matter fell through, more to the artist's profit than the nation's gain. The famous "Monarch of the Glen" (1851) was one of these subjects. "Night" and "Morning," romantic and pathetic deer subjects, came in due order (1853). For "The Sanctuary" (1842) the Fine Arts jury of experts awarded to the artist the great gold medal of the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1855. Entry: LANDSEER
In 1537 Hawick received from Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig a charter which was confirmed by the infant Queen Mary in 1545, and remained in force until 1861, when the corporation was reconstituted by act of parliament. Owing to its situation Hawick was often imperilled by Border warfare and marauding freebooters. Sir Robert Umfraville (d. 1436), governor of Berwick, burned it about 1417, and in 1562 the regent Moray had to suppress the lawless with a strong hand. Neither of the Jacobite risings aroused enthusiasm. In 1715 the discontented Highlanders mutinied on the Common, 500 of them abandoning their cause, and in 1745 Prince Charles Edward's cavalry passed southward through the town. In 1514, the year after the battle of Flodden, in which the burghers had suffered severely, a number of young men surprised an English force at Hornshole, a spot on the Teviot 2 m. below the town, routed them and bore away their flag. This event is celebrated every June in the ceremony of "Riding the Common"--in which a facsimile of the captured pennon is carried in procession to the accompaniment of a chorus "Teribus, ye Teri Odin," supposed to be an invocation to Thor and Odin--a survival of Northumbrian paganism. Two of the most eminent natives of the burgh were Dr Thomas Somerville (1741-1830), the historian, and James Wilson (1805-1860), founder of the _Economist_ newspaper and the first financial member of the council for India. Entry: HAWICK
(6) Hugdietrich, Wolfdietrich and Ortnit, whose legend, like that of Siegfried, is of Frankish origin. It is preserved in four versions, the best of which is the oldest, and has an historical foundation. Hugdietrich is the "Frankish Dietrich" (= Hugo Theodoric), king of Austrasia (d. 534), who like his son and successor Theodebert, was illegitimate; both had to fight for their inheritance with relatives. The transference of the scene to Constantinople is a reminiscence of the events of the Crusades and Theodebert's projected campaign against that city. The version in which Hugdietrich gains access to his future wife by disguising himself as a woman has also a foundation in fact. As the myth of the Harlungen is connected with Ermanaric, so another Dioscuri myth (of the Hartungen) is combined with the Ortnit-Wolfdietrich legend. The Hartungen are probably identical with the divine youths (mentioned in Tacitus as worshipped by the Vandal Naharvali or Nahanarvali), from whom the Vandal royal family, the Asdingi, claimed descent. Asdingi ([Greek: Astiggoi]) would be represented in Gothic by Hazdiggos, "men with women's hair" (cf. _muliebri ornatu_ in Tacitus), and in middle high German by Hartungen. (7) Rother, king of Lombardy. Desiring to wed the daughter of Constantine, king of Constantinople, he sends twelve envoys to ask her in marriage. They are arrested and thrown into prison by the king. Rother, who appears under the name of Dietrich, sets out with an army, liberates the envoys and carries off the princess. One version places the scene in the land of the Huns. The character of Constantine in many respects resembles that of Alexius Comnenus; the slaying of a tame lion by one of the gigantic followers of Rother is founded on an incident which actually took place at the court of Alexius during the crusade of 1101 under duke Welf of Bavaria, when _King Rother_ was composed about 1160 by a Rhenish minstrel. Rother may be the Lombard king Rothari (636-650), transferred to the period of the Crusades. (8) Walther of Aquitaine, chiefly known from the Latin poem _Waltharius_, written by Ekkehard of St Gall at the beginning of the 10th century, and fragments of an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon Epic _Waldere_. Walther is not an historical figure, although the legend undoubtedly represents typical occurrences of the migration period, such as the detention and flight of hostages of noble family from the court of the Huns, and the rescue of captive maidens by abduction. (9) Wieland (Volundr), Wayland the Smith, the only Teutonic hero (his original home was lower Saxony) who firmly established himself in England. There is absolutely no historical background for his legend. He is a fire-spirit, who is pressed into man's service, and typifies the advance from the stone age to a higher stage of civilization (working in metals). As the lame smith he reminds us of Hephaestus, and in his flight with wings of Daedalus escaping from Minos. (10) Högni (Hagen) and Hedin (Hetel), whose personalities are overshadowed by the heroines Hilde and Gudrun (Kudrun, Kutrun). In one version occurs the incident of the never-ending battle between the forces of Hagen and Hedin. Every night Hilde revives the fallen, and "so will it continue till the twilight of the gods." The battle represents the eternal conflict between light and darkness, the alternation of day and night. Hilde here figures as a typical Valkyr delighting in battle and bloodshed, who frustrates a reconciliation. Hedin had sent a necklace as a peace-offering to Hagen, but Hilde persuades her father that it is only a ruse. This necklace occurs in the story of the goddess Freya (Frigg), who is said to have caused the battle to conciliate the wrath of Odin at her infidelity, the price paid by her for the possession of the necklace Brisnigamen; again, the light god Heimdal is said to have fought with Loki for the necklace (the sun) stolen by the latter. Hence the battle has been explained as the necklace myth in epic form. The historical background is the raids of the Teutonic maritime tribes on the coasts of England and Ireland. Entry: 6
HODENING, an ancient Christmas custom still surviving in Wales, Kent, Lancashire and elsewhere. A horse's skull or a wooden imitation on a pole is carried round by a party of youths, one of whom conceals himself under a white cloth to simulate the horse's body, holding a lighted candle in the skull. They make a house-to-house visitation, begging gratuities. The "Penitential" of Archbishop Theodore (d. 690) speaks of "any who, on the kalands of January, clothe themselves with the skins of cattle and carry heads of animals." This, coupled with the fact that among the primitive Scandinavians the horse was often the sacrifice made at the winter solstice to Odin for success in battle, has been thought to justify the theory that hodening is a corruption of Odining. Entry: HODENING
FOGELBERG, BENEDICT (or BENGT) ERLAND (1786-1854), Swedish sculptor, was born at Gothenburg on the 8th of August 1786. His father, a copper-founder, encouraging an early-exhibited taste for design, sent him in 1801 to Stockholm, where he studied at the school of art. There he came much under the influence of the sculptor Sergell, who communicated to him his own enthusiasm for antique art and natural grace. Fogelberg worked hard at Stockholm for many years, although his instinct for severe beauty rebelled against the somewhat rococo quality of the art then prevalent in the city. In 1818 the grant of a government pension enabled him to travel. He studied from one to two years in Paris, first under Pierre Guérin, and afterwards under the sculptor Bosio, for the technical practice of sculpture. In 1820 Fogelberg realized a dream of his life in visiting Rome, where the greater part of his remaining years were spent in the assiduous practice of his art, and the careful study and analysis of the works of the past. Visiting his native country by royal command in 1854, he was received with great enthusiasm, but nothing could compensate him for the absence of those remains of antiquity and surroundings of free natural beauty to which he had been so long accustomed. Returning to Italy, he died suddenly of apoplexy at Trieste on the 22nd of December 1854. The subjects of Fogelberg's earlier works are mostly taken from classic mythology. Of these, "Cupid and Psyche," "Venus entering the Bath," "A Bather" (1838), "Apollo Citharede," "Venus and Cupid" (1839) and "Psyche" (1854) may be mentioned. In his representations of Scandinavian mythology Fogelberg showed, perhaps for the first time, that he had powers above those of intelligent assimilation and imitation. His "Odin" (1831), "Thor" (1842), and "Balder" (1842), though influenced by Greek art, display considerable power of independent imagination. His portraits and historical figures, as those of Gustavus Adolphus (1849), of Charles XII. (1851), of Charles XIII. (1852), and of Birger Jarl, the founder of Stockholm (1853), are faithful and dignified works. Entry: FOGELBERG
FENRIR, or FENRIS, in Scandinavian mythology, a water-demon in the shape of a huge wolf. He was the offspring of Loki and the giantess Angurboda, who bore two other children, Midgard the serpent, and Hel the goddess of death. Fenrir grew so large that the gods were afraid of him and had him chained up. But he broke the first two chains. The third, however, was made of the sound of a cat's footsteps, a man's beard, the roots of a mountain, a fish's breath and a bird's spittle. This magic bond was too strong for him until Ragnarok (Judgment Day), when he escaped and swallowed Odin and was in turn slain by Vidar, the latter's son. Entry: FENRIR
BURI, or BURE, in Norse mythology, the grandfather of Odin. In the creation of the world he was born from the rocks, licked by the cow Andhumla (darkness). He was the father of Bor, and the latter, wedded to Bestla, the daughter of the giant Bolthorn (evil), became the father of Odin, the Scandinavian Jove. Entry: BURI
FRIGG, the wife of the god Odin (Woden) in northern mythology. She was known also to other Teutonic peoples both on the continent (O. H. Ger. _Friia_, Langobardic _Frea_) and in England, where her name still survives in Friday (O. E. _Frigedæg_). She is often wrongly identified with Freyia. (See TEUTONIC PEOPLES, _ad fin_.) Entry: FRIGG
BALDER, a Scandinavian god, the son of Odin or Othin. The story of his death is given in two widely different forms, by Saxo in his _Gesta Danorum_ (ed. Holder, pp. 69 ff.) and in the prose Edda (_Gylfaginning_, cap. 49). Entry: BALDER
She sings of the world before the gods were made, of the coming and the meeting of the Aesir, of the origin of the giants, dwarfs and men, of the happy beginning of all things, and the sad ending that shall be in the chaos of Ragnarök. The latter part of the poem is understood to be a kind of necromancy--according to Vigfusson, "the raising of a dead völva"; but the mystical language of the whole, its abrupt transitions and terse condensations, and above all the extinct and mysterious cosmology, an acquaintance with which it presupposes, make the exact interpretation of the _Völuspá_ extremely difficult. The charm and solemn beauty of the style, however, are irresistible, and we are constrained to listen and revere as if we were the auditors of some fugual music devised in honour of a primal and long-buried deity. The melodies of this earliest Icelandic verse, elaborate in their extreme and severe simplicity, are wholly rhythmical and alliterative, and return upon themselves like a solemn incantation. _Hávamál_, the Lesson of the High One, or Odin, follows next; this contains proverbs and wise saws, and a series of stories, some of them comical, told by Odin against himself. The _Vafprúðnismál_, or Lesson of Vafprúðnir, is written in the same mystical vein as _Völuspá_; in it the giant who gives his name to the poem is visited by Odin in disguise, and is questioned by him about the cosmogony and chronology of the Norse religion. _Grimnismál_, or the Sayings of The Hooded One, which is partly in prose, is a story of Odin's imprisonment and torture by King Geirrod. _För Skirnis_, or the Journey of Skirnir, _Harbarðslióð_, or the Lay of Hoarbeard, _Hymiskviða_, or the Song of Hymir, and _Aegisdrekka_, or the Brewing of Aegir, are poems, frequently composed as dialogue, containing legends of the gods, some of which are so ludicrous that it has been suggested that they were intentionally burlesque. _Thrymskviða_, or the Song of Thrym, possesses far more poetic interest; it recounts in language of singular force and directness how Thor lost his hammer, stolen by Thrym the giant, how the latter refused to give it up unless the goddess Freyia was given him in marriage, and how Thor, dressed in women's raiment, personated Freyia, and, slaying Thrym, recovered his hammer. _Alvíssmál_, or the Wisdom of Allwise, is actually a philological exercise under the semblance of a dialogue between Thor and Alvis the dwarf. In _Vegtamskviða_, or the Song of Vegtam, Odin questions a völva with regard to the meaning of the sinister dreams of Balder. _Rígsmál_, or more properly _Rígspula_, records how the god Heimdall, disguised as a man called Rig, wandered by the sea-shore, where he met the original dwarf pair, Ai and Edda, to whom he gave the power of child-bearing, and thence sprung the whole race of thralls; then he went on and met with Afi and Amma, and made them the parents of the race of churls; then he proceeded until he came to Faðir and Moðir, to whom he gave Jarl, the first of free men, whom he himself brought up, teaching him to shoot and snare, and to use the sword and runes. It is much to be lamented that of this most characteristic and picturesque poem we possess only a fragment. In _Hyndluljóð_, the Lay of Hyndla, the goddess Freyia rides to question the völva Hyndla with regard to the ancestry of her young paramour Ottar; a very fine quarrel ensues between the prophetess and her visitor. With this poem, the first or wholly mythological portion of the collection closes. What follows is heroic and pseudo-historic. The _Völundarkviða_, or Song of Völundr, is engaged with the adventures of Völundr, the smith-king, during his stay with Nidud, king of Sweden. Völundr, identical with the Anglo-Saxon Wêland and the German Wieland (O.H.G. _Wiolant_), is sometimes confused with Odin, the master-smith. This poem contains the beautiful figure of Svanhvít, the swan-maiden, who stays seven winters with Völundr, and then, yearning for her fatherland, flies away home through the dark forest. _Helgakviða, Hiörvarðs sonar_, the Song of Helgi, the Son of Hiörvarð, which is largely in prose, celebrates the wooing by Helgi of Svava, who, like Atalanta, ends by loving the man with whom she has fought in battle. Two Songs of Helgi the Hunding's Bane, _Helgakviða Hundingsbana_, open the long and very important series of lays relating to the two heroic families of the Völsungs and the Niblungs. Including the poems just mentioned, there are about twenty distinct pieces in the poetic _Edda_ which deal more or less directly with this chain of stories. It is hardly necessary to give the titles of these poems here in detail, especially as they are, in their present form, manifestly only fragments of a great poetic saga, possibly the earliest coherent form of the story so universal among the Teutonic peoples. We happily possess a somewhat later prose version of this lost poem in the _Völsungasaga_, where the story is completely worked out. In many places the prose of the _Völsungasaga_ follows the verse of the Eddaic fragments with the greatest precision, often making use of the very same expressions. At the same time there are poems in the _Edda_ which the author of the saga does not seem to have seen. But if we compare the central portions of the myth, namely Sigurd's conversation with Fafnir, the death of Regin, the speech of the birds and the meeting with the Valkyrje, we are struck with the extreme fidelity of the prose romancer to his poetic precursors in the _Sigurðarkviða Fafnisbana_; in passing on to the death of Sigurd, we perceive that the version in the _Völsungasaga_ must be based upon a poem now entirely lost. Of the origin of the myth and its independent development in medieval Germany, this is not the place for discussion (see NIBELUNGENLIED). Suffice to say that in no modernized or Germanized form does the legend attain such an exquisite colouring of heroic poetry as in these earliest fragments of Icelandic song. A very curious poem, in some MSS. attributed directly to Saemund, is the Song of the Sun, _Sólarlióð_, which forms a kind of appendix to the poetic _Edda_. In this the spirit of a dead father addresses his living son, and exhorts him, with maxims that resemble those of _Hávamál_, to righteousness of life. The tone of the poem is strangely confused between Christianity and Paganism, and it has been assumed to be the composition of a writer in the act of transition between the old creed and the new. It may, however, not impossibly, be altogether spurious as a poem of great antiquity, and may merely be the production of some Icelandic monk, anxious to imitate the Eddaic form and spirit. Finally _Forspjallsljóð_, or the Preamble, formerly known as the Song of Odin's Raven, is an extremely obscure fragment, of which little is understood, although infinite scholarship has been expended on it. With this the poetic _Edda_ closes. Entry: 2