Difference between revisions of "Volund" - New World Encyclopedia
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[[Image:Völund.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Völundr, Weyland's Scandinavian manifestation]] | [[Image:Völund.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Völundr, Weyland's Scandinavian manifestation]] | ||
| + | <rephrase around Volund> | ||
'''Weyland''' (also spelled ''Wayland'', ''Weland'' and ''Watlende'') is a mythical [[Smith (metalwork)|smith]]-[[Deity|god]] of the [[Anglo-Saxon polytheism|Anglo-Saxon religion]] brought with the [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]] settlers of [[Britain]]. He is synonymous with the [[Norse paganism|Norse]]/[[Germanic paganism|Germanic]] '''Völundr''' of the ''[[Völundarkviða]]'', a poem in the [[Poetic Edda]]. | '''Weyland''' (also spelled ''Wayland'', ''Weland'' and ''Watlende'') is a mythical [[Smith (metalwork)|smith]]-[[Deity|god]] of the [[Anglo-Saxon polytheism|Anglo-Saxon religion]] brought with the [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]] settlers of [[Britain]]. He is synonymous with the [[Norse paganism|Norse]]/[[Germanic paganism|Germanic]] '''Völundr''' of the ''[[Völundarkviða]]'', a poem in the [[Poetic Edda]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Völund in a Norse Context== | ||
| + | As a figure in the Norse mythic corpus, Völund belonged to a complex religious, mythological and cosmological belief system shared by the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples. This mythological tradition, of which the Scandinavian (and particularly Icelandic) sub-groups are best preserved, developed in the period from the first manifestations of religious and material culture in approximately 1000 B.C.E. until the Christianization of the area, a process that occurred primarily from 900-1200 C.E..<ref>Lindow, 6-8. Though some scholars have argued against the homogenizing effect of grouping these various traditions together under the rubric of “Norse Mythology,” the profoundly exploratory/nomadic nature of Viking society tends to overrule such objections. As Thomas DuBois cogently argues, “[w]hatever else we may say about the various peoples of the North during the Viking Age, then, we cannot claim that they were isolated from or ignorant of their neighbors…. As religion expresses the concerns and experiences of its human adherents, so it changes continually in response to cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Ideas and ideals passed between communities with frequency and regularity, leading to and interdependent and inter-cultural region with broad commonalities of religion and worldview.” (27-28).</ref> The tales recorded within this mythological corpus tend to exemplify a unified cultural focus on physical prowess and military might. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Within this framework, Norse cosmology postulates three separate "clans" of deities: the Aesir, the Vanir, and the Jotun. The distinction between Aesir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried and reigned together after a prolonged war. In fact, the most major divergence between the two groups is in their respective areas of influence, with the Aesir representing war and conquest, and the Vanir representing exploration, fertility and wealth.<ref>More specifically, Georges Dumézil, one of the foremost authorities on the Norse tradition and a noted comparitivist, argues quite persuasively that the Aesir / Vanir distinction is a component of a larger triadic division (between ruler gods, warrior gods, and gods of agriculture and commerce) that is echoed among the Indo-European cosmologies (from Vedic India, through Rome and into the Germanic North). Further, he notes that this distinction conforms to patterns of social organization found in all of these societies. See Georges Dumézil's Gods of the Ancient Northmen (especially pgs. xi-xiii, 3-25) for more details.</ref> The ''Jotun'', on the other hand, are seen as a generally malefic (though wise) race of giants who represented the primary adversaries of the Aesir and Vanir. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Völund, in the semi-eponymous tale from the ''Poetic Edda'', is an intriguing character. On one hand, he seems to be a (fairly immoral) human who exacts bloody revenge upon a tormentor. On the other, the mythical and archaeological record contains some elements ([[#Religious Themes|discussed below]]) that imply a divine provenance. In any case, he is one of the more ambigious (and thus intriguing)) characters in Nordic myth. | ||
==Mythic Accounts== | ==Mythic Accounts== | ||
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He is particularly associated with [[Wayland's Smithy]], a [[burial mound]] in [[Oxfordshire]]. This was named by the Saxons, but the [[megalithic]] mound significantly predates them. It is from this association that the superstition came about that a [[horse]] left there overnight with a small silver coin (a [[groat]]) would be shod by morning. | He is particularly associated with [[Wayland's Smithy]], a [[burial mound]] in [[Oxfordshire]]. This was named by the Saxons, but the [[megalithic]] mound significantly predates them. It is from this association that the superstition came about that a [[horse]] left there overnight with a small silver coin (a [[groat]]) would be shod by morning. | ||
| − | == | + | ==Religious Themes== |
| + | |||
| + | ==Notes== | ||
| + | <references /> | ||
| − | *[http://www. | + | ==References== |
| + | * DuBois, Thomas A. ''Nordic Religions in the Viking Age''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8122-1714-4. | ||
| + | * Dumézil, Georges. ''Gods of the Ancient Northmen''. Edited by Einar Haugen; Introduction by C. Scott Littleton and Udo Strutynski. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. ISBN 0-520-02044-8. | ||
| + | * Lindow, John. ''Handbook of Norse mythology''. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. ISBN 1-57607-217-7. | ||
| + | *Munch, P. A. ''Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes''. In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926. | ||
| + | * Orchard, Andy. ''Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. London: Cassell; New York: Distributed in the United States by Sterling Pub. Co., 2002. ISBN 0-304-36385-5. | ||
| + | * ''The Poetic Edda''. Translated and with notes by Henry Adams Bellows. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1936. Accessed online at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe00.htm sacred-texts.com]. | ||
| + | * Sturluson, Snorri. ''The Prose Edda''. Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916. ''Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/prose/index.php''. | ||
| + | * Turville-Petre, Gabriel. ''Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. ISBN 0837174201. | ||
| − | *[http://www.franks-casket.de/english/index.html Weland on the Franks Casket; Essay on the saga] | + | ==External links== |
| + | *[http://www.waylands.net/public/smithy/legends.htm Article on Wayland the Smith, also deals with Egil] - Accessed April 24, 2007. | ||
| + | *[http://www.franks-casket.de/english/index.html Weland on the Franks Casket; Essay on the saga] - Accessed April 24, 2007. | ||
| + | *[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe17.htm VÖLUNDARKVITHA (The Lay of Völund); A section of the Poetic Edda] - Accessed April 24, 2007. | ||
[[Category: Philosophy and religion]] | [[Category: Philosophy and religion]] | ||
[[Category: Religion]] | [[Category: Religion]] | ||
{{credit|122983741}} | {{credit|122983741}} | ||
Revision as of 00:10, 25 April 2007
<rephrase around Volund> Weyland (also spelled Wayland, Weland and Watlende) is a mythical smith-god of the Anglo-Saxon religion brought with the Saxon settlers of Britain. He is synonymous with the Norse/Germanic Völundr of the Völundarkviða, a poem in the Poetic Edda.
Völund in a Norse Context
As a figure in the Norse mythic corpus, Völund belonged to a complex religious, mythological and cosmological belief system shared by the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples. This mythological tradition, of which the Scandinavian (and particularly Icelandic) sub-groups are best preserved, developed in the period from the first manifestations of religious and material culture in approximately 1000 B.C.E. until the Christianization of the area, a process that occurred primarily from 900-1200 C.E..[1] The tales recorded within this mythological corpus tend to exemplify a unified cultural focus on physical prowess and military might.
Within this framework, Norse cosmology postulates three separate "clans" of deities: the Aesir, the Vanir, and the Jotun. The distinction between Aesir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried and reigned together after a prolonged war. In fact, the most major divergence between the two groups is in their respective areas of influence, with the Aesir representing war and conquest, and the Vanir representing exploration, fertility and wealth.[2] The Jotun, on the other hand, are seen as a generally malefic (though wise) race of giants who represented the primary adversaries of the Aesir and Vanir.
Völund, in the semi-eponymous tale from the Poetic Edda, is an intriguing character. On one hand, he seems to be a (fairly immoral) human who exacts bloody revenge upon a tormentor. On the other, the mythical and archaeological record contains some elements (discussed below) that imply a divine provenance. In any case, he is one of the more ambigious (and thus intriguing)) characters in Nordic myth.
Mythic Accounts
Weyland had two brothers, Egil and Slagfiðr (Slagfid/Slagfinn). In one version of the myth, the three brothers lived with three Valkyries: Ölrún, Alvitr and Svanhvít. After nine years, the Valkyries left their lovers. Egil and Slagfiðr followed, never to return. In another version, Weyland married the swan maiden Hervör, and they had a son, Heime; Hervör later left him. In both versions, his love left him with a ring; in the former myth, he forged seven hundred duplicates of this ring.
At a later point in time, he was captured in his sleep by King Nidud in Nerike who ordered him hamstrung and imprisoned on the island of Sævarstöð. There he was forced to forge items for the king. Weyland's wife's ring was given to the king's daughter, Bodvild. Nidud wore Weyland's sword.
For revenge, Weyland killed the king's sons when they visited him in secret, fashioned goblets from their skulls, jewels from their eyes, and a brooch from their teeth. He sent the goblets to the king, the jewels to the queen and the brooch to the king's daughter. When Bodvild took her ring to him to be mended, he took the ring and seduced her, fathering a son and escaping on wings he made.
He is particularly associated with Wayland's Smithy, a burial mound in Oxfordshire. This was named by the Saxons, but the megalithic mound significantly predates them. It is from this association that the superstition came about that a horse left there overnight with a small silver coin (a groat) would be shod by morning.
Religious Themes
Notes
- ↑ Lindow, 6-8. Though some scholars have argued against the homogenizing effect of grouping these various traditions together under the rubric of “Norse Mythology,” the profoundly exploratory/nomadic nature of Viking society tends to overrule such objections. As Thomas DuBois cogently argues, “[w]hatever else we may say about the various peoples of the North during the Viking Age, then, we cannot claim that they were isolated from or ignorant of their neighbors…. As religion expresses the concerns and experiences of its human adherents, so it changes continually in response to cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Ideas and ideals passed between communities with frequency and regularity, leading to and interdependent and inter-cultural region with broad commonalities of religion and worldview.” (27-28).
- ↑ More specifically, Georges Dumézil, one of the foremost authorities on the Norse tradition and a noted comparitivist, argues quite persuasively that the Aesir / Vanir distinction is a component of a larger triadic division (between ruler gods, warrior gods, and gods of agriculture and commerce) that is echoed among the Indo-European cosmologies (from Vedic India, through Rome and into the Germanic North). Further, he notes that this distinction conforms to patterns of social organization found in all of these societies. See Georges Dumézil's Gods of the Ancient Northmen (especially pgs. xi-xiii, 3-25) for more details.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- DuBois, Thomas A. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8122-1714-4.
- Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Edited by Einar Haugen; Introduction by C. Scott Littleton and Udo Strutynski. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. ISBN 0-520-02044-8.
- Lindow, John. Handbook of Norse mythology. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. ISBN 1-57607-217-7.
- Munch, P. A. Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes. In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926.
- Orchard, Andy. Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. London: Cassell; New York: Distributed in the United States by Sterling Pub. Co., 2002. ISBN 0-304-36385-5.
- The Poetic Edda. Translated and with notes by Henry Adams Bellows. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1936. Accessed online at sacred-texts.com.
- Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda. Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916. Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/prose/index.php.
- Turville-Petre, Gabriel. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. ISBN 0837174201.
External links
- Article on Wayland the Smith, also deals with Egil - Accessed April 24, 2007.
- Weland on the Franks Casket; Essay on the saga - Accessed April 24, 2007.
- VÖLUNDARKVITHA (The Lay of Völund); A section of the Poetic Edda - Accessed April 24, 2007.
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