T
he pre-Christian myths of
northern Europe are less well
recorded than those of the
Greeks and Romans. Unlike those
classical civilizations, the peoples of
northern Europe did not have literate
cultures until after they became
Christian in the early Middle Ages.
In its zeal to impose the new faith,
the Christian Church did not
sanction the recording of old myths
and practices; much, perhaps most,
has therefore been lost. Those
Christian writers who did record
pre-Christian myths were frequently
unsympathetic toward them and
often lacked any understanding of
their original religious significance,
so their meanings are now obscure.
Even writers who were not
hostile, such as the 13th-century
Icelander Snorri Sturluson, were
careful to present the old myths inways that would be acceptable to
the Church, to protect themselves
from accusations of heresy. Other
myths went underground and
continued to be passed on among
the people. Over time, as myths lost
their original pagan significance,
they evolved into folkloric tales.The old religions
Before they became Christians,
the peoples of northern Europe
were mostly divided into tribes and
chiefdoms. They lacked centralized
political and religious institutions
that could impose uniformity of
belief. Consequently, there was
considerable regional diversity. At
their peak in the last centuries BCE,
the Celts inhabited Britain, Ireland,
and large swathes of western and
central Europe. They had no
common pantheon of gods; whilethe worship of some deities, such
as the thunder god Taranis and
the horse goddess Epona, was
widespread, none were universally
worshipped by all Celtic peoples.
Across northern Europe, only
the Celts are known to have had
a professional priesthood. These
priests, called Druids, served long
apprenticeships during which they
were expected to memorize all of
their tribe’s laws, history, myths,
and religious practices. Among
the pre-Christian Norse, on the
other hand, religious rituals were
conducted by local chiefs and
kings. These old Norse religions
lacked systematic theologies,
and instead focused on ritual
sacrifices—of treasure, animals,
or sometimes humans—in order
to win the favor or avert the
wrath of the gods.INTRODUCTION
7 TH-8TH CENTURY CE
10 TH–11TH CENTURY CE 113 6 CE
12 TH CENTURY CE
The Cattle Raid of
Cooley tells the
story of the legend
of Cúchulainn.Geoffrey of
Monmouth’s History
of the Kings of Britain
popularizes the
Arthurian legend.Anglo-Saxon and
German missionaries
convert the people of
Scandinavia
to Christianity.The Four Branches
of the Mabinogi, a
collection of early
prose tales, is
written in Wales.128
476 CE 8 TH–11TH CENTURY CE
The fall of the Roman
Empire heralds
the beginning of the
Middle Ages.St. Augustine goes to
Britain, beginning
the conversion of the
Anglo-Saxons
to Christianity.597 CE
The Poetic Edda
records oral
tradition about the
Norse gods.US_128-129_Europe_Chapter_3_Intro.indd 128 05/12/17 4:16 pm
CA. 116 0 CE
CA. 115 0 CE CA. 1220 CE
The Saga of the
Völsungs, written
in Iceland, details
the history of the
Völsung clan.The Renaissance
marks the end of the
Middle Ages.The Book of the Taking
of Ireland collects
prose and poems about
the mythological
history of Ireland.Elias Lönnrot
publishes the
Finnish national
epic, the Kalevala.In Ireland, the
scribe Áed Ua
Crimthainn and his
pupils write the
Book of Leinster.Snorri Sturluson writes
the Prose Edda—stories
about the Norse gods,
based on the earlier
Poetic Edda.Historical origins
Some of the best-known myths and
legends from northern Europe are
set, and probably originated, in the
years after the fall of the Roman
Empire in the 5th century CE. The
earliest legends of King Arthur, for
example, presented him as a heroic
warlord defending the Celtic Britons
against the Germanic Anglo-
Saxons, who invaded Britain after
the withdrawal of Roman forces in
410 CE. After the Norman conquest
in 1066, Arthur was appropriated
by French and English writers who
depicted him as an idealized and
chivalric king of all England.
The Norse legend of the dragon-
slaying hero Sigurd includes real
historical figures, testifying to its
origins in the 5th or 6th century CE.
While the Irish myths and legends
have much more ancient origins,many of these, too, can be placed
in a historical context. The Ulster
Cycle of myths, which features the
hero Cúchulainn, centers on Emain
Macha, a hill fort near Armagh,
which was a major power center in
the Iron Age (500 BCE–400 CE).
The appeal of the Norse and
Celtic legends, with their tales of
heroes and dragon-slayers, remains
strong in the modern world. They
have inspired many works of art,
music, and literature, from pre-
Raphaelite paintings of Arthurian
tales to Richard Wagner’s The Ring
of the Nibelung operas and J. R. R.
Tol kein’s The Lord of the Rings.Nationalist purpose
While what we know of the Celtic
and Norse myths and legends was
written down during the Middle
Ages, Finland’s mythology was notrecorded until the 19th century.
For most of their recorded history,
the Finnish people were ruled by
outsiders—first the Swedes, then
the Russians—and literacy in the
Finnish language was very limited
until the early 19th century.
Compiling Finnish mythology
and folklore began in the 1820s and
was closely linked to the growth of
Finnish nationalism. Under Russian
rule starting in 1815, the Finns
found their national identity
increasingly threatened by policies
of “Russification” and reacted by
developing distinctively Finnish
schools of art, music, and literature.
One of the greatest achievements
of this cultural movement was Elias
Lönnrot’s Kalevala, which wove
together Finnish myths and
legends to create a defining
national epic for his people. ■NORTHERN EUROPE
CA. 1260 CE
1835 CE
129
Sir Thomas
Malory’s
Le Morte d’Arthur is
published by printer
William Caxton.1485 CE
14 TH CENTURY CE
Revolutions in
Europe fuel nationalism
and revive interest
in Celtic, Norse, and
other myths.1848 CE
US_128-129_Europe_Chapter_3_Intro.indd 129 05/12/17 4:16 pm