Woden is one of the most important characters in Anglo-Saxon tradition, associated with the Norse god Odin, but adopted into English culture to become a distinct character. Dr. Orton investigates his legacy in English folklore…
Woden has been relatively overlooked in popular culture when compared to other English figures like King Arthur, which is a shame as Woden is so charismatic! Historical evidence regarding Woden is patchy, but with close examination, it is possible to build a picture of him as a shamanic character, sometime leader of the ferocious Wild Hunt and Allfather of the English people.
The Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain in the fifth century A.D. and settled in much of what is now England in the following centuries. England became a land of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, incorporating elements of the language, religion and customs of these new settlers.
A lot of the evidence we have for the earliest Anglo-Saxons comes from the writings of later Christians, but we can supplement this with place name evidence and archaeology. That Woden is important in England is illustrated by widespread place name evidence: Wednesbury and Wednesfield in Staffordshire, Woodnesborough and Wormhill in Kent, Wenslow and Wensley in Bedfordshire and Wensley in Derbyshire. Our week day, Wednesday, is named after him.
Woden, sometimes called Wotan in Germany, as well as his Roman equivalent Mercury and his Norse equivalent, Odin, was associated with knowledge and death, writing, healing and the underworld.
Odin reigns in Valhalla, the Hall of Slain Warriors. He is known for making personal sacrifices in exchange for secret wisdom and using ecstatic trances to shapeshift. How similar is our English Woden to his Norse equivalent?
Woden means “lord of wod,” wod being an excited mental state: ecstatic trance, battle frenzy, rage, rapture and drunkenness. In the words of eleventh-century German medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen, “Woden id est furor” (Woden, that is, frenzy).
Odin’s cult animals were the raven and the wolf, animals that feature strongly in Anglo-Saxon art, like the early seventh century Sutton Hoo hoarde, one of the richest archaeological findings from Anglo-Saxon England.
Odin has one eye, having sacrificed the other eye in the well of Mimir’s well before throwing himself on his spear and hanging himself in Yggdrasil, the tree of life, in exchange for knowledge of other worlds and the runes.
We don’t have surviving evidence of the same story for Woden, but some English depictions of him do hint at a parallel tradition. For instance, archaeologists Neil Price and Paul Mortimer argue that the decoration on the helmet from Sutton Hoo is meant to give the impression of a one-eyed wearer, an intentional association with Woden.
Woden, Allfather of the English People
In early medieval Scandinavia, Odin was called the Allfather – father of gods and men. In England, Woden was considered to be an ancestral chieftain from whom the Anglo-Saxon kings were descended.
Eighth century monk Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People writes, “From the first their leaders (the Anglo-Saxons) were held to be two brothers, Hengest and Horsa…They were sons of Wictgils, whose father was Witta, whose father was Wecta, whose father was Woden.”
The idea of royal lineages descending from Woden is reiterated in the 9th century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s twelfth century Historia Regum Britanniae. The 12th-century Historia Anglorum by Henry of Huntingdon explicitly connects Woden with Henry II. In the 12th century text, De primo Saxonum adventu, the royal lineages of the kingdoms of Kent, Mercia, Deira, Bernicia and Wessex are all said to claim descent from Woden and Ernulf, Bishop of Rochester’s 12th century Textus de Ecclesia Roffensi makes the same claim for the kings of East Anglia.
Some texts even go as far as to claim that Scandinavian pagans have mistakenly deified Woden, rather than seeing him as an ancestral chieftain. The twelfth century Chronicon Æthelweardi, a Latin translation of a lost version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, is one such text.
This does not mean that Woden was never worshipped as a god in England; rather, association with him was used to legitimise royal lineages. Early leaders of Anglo-Saxon England had a spiritual connection, often serving as priests, healers and mediators with the divine.
The Wild Hunt
In the depth of winter, amid ferocious winds and bitter cold, a menacing band of ghostly hunters sweeps over the night’s sky. This is the “Wild Hunt” and there are accounts of it in folklore from Britain, Scandinavia and the Germanic lands of northern Europe.
The Leader of the Wild Hunt varies among narratives across Europe. Walter Map in his twelfth century De nugis curialium suggests that it is ancient British King Herla. Sometimes the Hunt has a female leader: Frau Holle, the Germanic wood spirit or, as Shropshire folklore would have it, the fairy queen Lady Godda with her husband Wild Edric. Other accounts from England even suggest that it is the mythical King Arthur who leads the Hunt.
One of the most commonly mentioned leaders of the Hunt is Woden. In Scandinavia, Odin rides through the Nine Worlds that feature in the cosmology of pre-Christian Germanic peoples on Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse. It is he, in Scandinavian accounts, who leads the Wild Hunt. In southern England, Woden’s role was taken by Herne the Hunter, who was said to haunt Windsor Forest. Herne is mentioned in Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor.
According to archaeologist Neil Price, two of Odin’s many names show his association with midwinter: Jólnir and Jauloherra, meaning, “Master of Yule.” Often, accounts of the Hunt are associated with the Yule period – the twelve days following the winter solstice - but it is also said that the Hunt may be seen all through the winter months that follow.
In England, February 6th has an association with the Hunt, due to an event in Peterborough deer park in 1127. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes a pack of huntsmen on black horses and black bucks that ran through the woods as far as Stamford. Their hounds were pitch black with hideous staring eyes.
Religious Studies scholar Rudolf Simek points out that, for ancient Germanic people, midwinter was a time in which the worlds of the living and the dead were permeable. In the words of Claude Lecouteux, “[T]he Wild Hunt fell into the vast complex of ancestor worship, the cult of the dead, who are the go-betweens between men and the gods.”
In the English context, there are many variations on the identity of the Hunt’s leader, but its association with spiritual trances, chaos and the dead make Woden a seemly choice.
The arrival of the Hunt was said to herald misfortune such as plague or war; even the death of anyone who witnessed it. Only skilled magical practitioners might join the Hunt voluntarily, taking a soul flight while their bodies remained in their beds.
Beware if you are caught outside at this time of year: if you see the Wild Hunt, or are seen by it, you might be taken up and carried miles away – or worse.
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Dr. Orton explores another English folk figure in her blog post Secrets of St. Cuthbert, Durham’s Patron Saint. If you’d like to learn more about the history of medieval England, take a look at our intellectual and cultural history course, The Medieval Period. Alternatively, if you’re interested in religion and folklore, take a look at our Anthropology or Religious Studies courses.
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