Looking
for the Lost Gods of England
Kathleen Herbert
Kathleen Herbert sifts through the
royal genealogies, charms, verse and other sources to find clues
to the names and attributes of the Gods and Goddesses of the early
English.
The earliest account of English heathen practices reveals that
they worshipped the Earth Mother and called her Nerthus. The names
Tiw, Woden, Thunor, and Frig have been preserved in place names
and in the names given to days of the week.
The tales, beliefs and traditions of that time are still with
us and able to stir our minds and imaginations; they have played
a part in giving us A Midsummer Night's Dream and The
Lord of the Rings.
£5·95
A5 3 maps 64
pages
The Elder Gods
The Otherworld of Early England
Stephen Pollington
Inscriptions from the 1st century AD provide
the earliest physical evidence for a Germanic presence in Britain.
From at least that time until the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon
kings in the late 600s Britain had, to varying degrees, a heathen
Germanic culture. After a presence of six centuries a new group
of heathens arrived. Scandinavians brought with them beliefs,
attitudes and a world view that were much like those that survived
in Anglo-Saxon England. The Scandinavian arrival extended the
Northern European heathen period to almost a thousand years.
The purpose of the work is to bring together a range of evidence
for pre-Christian beliefs and attitudes to the Otherworld drawn
from archaeology, linguistics, literary studies and comparative
mythology. The rich and varied English tradition influenced the
worldview of the later mediaeval and Norse societies. Aspects
of this tradition are with us still in the 21st century.
70 black & white illustrations
£29 528 pages
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