Odin’s Ravens reigned the southern shores. Not the Hammer of Thor

When re-enactors bring to life early-medieval Frisia, you regularly see them wearing a little iron hammer on a leather cord around their neck, representing Mjölnir. The mighty weapon of the Norse god Thor. We regret to inform you that Mjölnir was not at all trendy along the southern shores of the North Sea. Not on both sides of the Southern Bight. Instead, Huginn and Muninn were the real pop idols here. These names belong to the two black ravens of the also Norse god Odin. The continental equivalents of Thor and Odin were Donar and Woden respectively. In this post, we will clarify why wearing a flattened kidney of precious metal is to be preferred to hanging a sledgehammer on those played pagan chests. Indeed, it was Woden who took precedence over Donar on the south shore.

Sixth-century lineages of Anglo-Saxon kings, the close neighbours of the Frisian kings on the other side of the Northeff ‘North Sea’, have Woden as their progenitor (Fahey 2015). Whether it was the king of Bernicia, Deira, Mercia or Wessex, all Anglo-Saxon royal families possessed divine genetic material which legitimized them to rule, protect, levy taxes, and be rich (see image of Woden below). Also, the oldest of them all, the royal house of the kingdom of Kent, claimed Woden as one of their illustrious forefathers. A lineage that included the Frisian warrior Hengist and his son Oisc, and the Frisian King Finn too. Read our blog post Hengist and Horsa – Frisian horses from overseas that founded the Kentish Kingdom.

Fascinatingly, despite the Anglo-Saxons being converted to Christianity at the end of the sixth century, Woden was not crossed out of these royal pedigrees (Breay & Story 2018). The same is true for the days of the week. Contrary to the Christianization, Germanic cultures stuck to the old names of the weekdays. And so it is that Woden’s day is still Wednesday, woansdei and woensdag in successively the English, Mid-Frisian, and Dutch languages. In the Old Frisian language, its earlier form was wédnesdei (Van Renswoude 2021), identical in the English language. Only in Germany Wodanesdag disappeared and was replaced by the slightly odd and uncreative Mittwoch, meaning ‘mid week’. This was under pressure of the church to ban this, apparently, more than average important idol from daily life as much as possible (Van Eerden & Nicolay 2023).

Not only the Anlo-Saxon rulers had supra-natural lineages. Godfather of the Franks, King Merovech (ca. 411-458), was born out a sea monster (Kuiper, Jensma & Vries 2011). A creature named Quinotaur which name that translates as ‘five-horned bull’. Quinotaur had raped the wife of King Chlodio.

Who was Woden?

Ancestor of kings. Wanderer (Gangari). Twister (Gagnráðr). The one-eyed seer. The one who rode Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse. Lord of the ghosts (draugadróttinn) and of the hanged (hangadróttinn). God of poetry and of all mystic wisdom. The one who shifted between worlds and Gestalten. Between the present world and the underworld. Between the world of humans and the world of animals. Woden could even assume the identity of an animal, notably that of a snake and an eagle.

Woden surrounded by the royal lineages of Wessex, Bernicia, Deira, Mercia and Kent – Libellus de primo Saxonum uel Normannorum aduente (‘tract on the first arrivals of the Saxons’), twelfth century

We can write a whole library about who Woden was. But don’t worry, we won’t. Instead, we will highlight one of the theories on his origins (Bourns 2012). According to this theory, the figure of Woden (or Odin) has his roots in the Old Norse shamanic belief system. And one species fulfilled a crucial function, namely the raven. Below a quote from Snorri Sturluson’s work Gylfaginning ‘the beguiling of Gylfi’, which is part of the thirteenth-century Prose Edda:

Hrafnar tveir sitja á Ǫxlum honum ok segja í eyru honum Ǫll tíðindi, þau er þeir sjá eða heyra. Þeir heita svá: Huginn ok Muninn. Þá sendir hann í dagan at fljúgja um allan heim, ok koma þeir aftr at dǪgurðarmáli. Þar af verðr hann margra tíðinda víss. Því kalla menn hann hrafna guð.

Two ravens sit on his [Odin] shoulders and speak into his ears all the tidings, that they see or hear. They are called thus: Huginn and Muninn. He sends them out at day-break to fly over all the whole world, and they come back at undern-meal. Thus he knows of many tidings. Therefore men call him the raven-god.

Medieval sagas tell that Huginn and Muninn sat on Woden’s shoulders (remember ‘his shoulders’ because we will come back to it below when discussing brooches) and were sent into the wide world to bring him knowledge. Raven Huginn embodied ‘thought’ and raven Muninn embodied ‘mind/memory’. Woden possessed the gift of speaking with birds and, therefore, was able to receive the intelligence the ravens collected each day. Not only did they gather information from the living, but also from the hanged and the slain left behind on the battlefield, whose spirits floated between worlds (Glauser et al 2019). Ravens that were the embodiment of Woden and that feed on the dead; the hanged criminals and the corpses left on the battlefield. Perhaps, like Valkyries, ensuring their absorption into the other world (read also our blogpost How to bury your mother-in-law). Explaining too why a warrior poetically was referred to as a hrafngrennir ‘feeder of raven’.

Below the last couplet from the late eighteenth century (or older) Scottish ballad ‘The Twa Corbies’ (the two ravens). It is about two ravens who are talking to secretly feed on a slain knight for dinner.

Mony a one for him makes mane,

But nane sall ken where he is gane;

Oer his white banes, when they are bare,

The wind sall blaw for evermair.

Many a one for him makes a moan, | But none shall know where he is gone; | Over his white bones, when they are bare, | The wind shall blow evermore.

It is the transcendent nature of Woden, moving between worlds, assuming different forms, and speaking the language of animals, that points to shamanism as his origins. Huginn and Muninn, therefore, should not be seen as separate creatures from Woden, but as an integral part of him. Ravens flying away over the world to gain wisdom, are a metaphor for the ecstatic trance of the shaman. It is the moment when the shaman, perhaps assisted with music, dance and other stimulants, leaves his/her body and travels to the other world to gain mystical knowledge.

In addition to the above, the etymology of Woden can be explained as stemming from the Old Germanic word wōdanaz which meant ‘ecstasy, possessed, raging’. The modern Dutch word woede, which translates to ‘rage’, stems from it (Van Renswoude 2013), like Wut in the German language too. This etymological explanation of the name Woden fits more than a little with the shaman origins theory. Lastly, in Germanic folklore Wodan is associated with leading the so-called, in the German language, Wütendes Heer ‘raging army’. Also known as the Wild Hunt in the English language. But there are an awful lot more names in the northwest of Europe. The Wütendes Heer is a chase of hunters, who are dead souls of warriors, raging through the skies during storms and thunder. Check also our blog post Make way for the dead! to learn about the raging army of dead Frisians who once populated the Alps of Switzerland.

Kidney-shaped ornaments

May 2020, detectorist Robbert Velt made a startling discovery with a big, eleven centimeters long brooch found near the village of Swichum in the province of Friesland. The ends of both the head- and footplate of this brooch are adorned with mirrored, bowed bird heads. In November 2023, archaeologist Jan-Willem de Kort kindly informed one of the bastards of the Frisia Coast Trail about the publication of the results of the archaeological research into the hoard of Springendal near the village of Hezingen in the province of Overijssel (De Kort, Groenewoudt & Heeren 2023). One of the pieces of this hoard concerned a golden pendant depicting again eingerollte Vogelköpfe ‘curled bird heads’. The pendant was previous to the field excavations discovered in 2019, by a detectorist as well: Gerben ten Buuren.

This made us wonder: what are these early-medieval birds trying to tell us? Twice already! Knowing the importance of avoiding the moment a rooster crows for a third time, we started digging.

some pieces of the Springendal hoard, including the kidney-shaped pendant in top center

Besides dresscodes in clothing and hair, pendants, finger rings, neck rings, bracelets, brooches, but also adorned weapon belts and the (decorated) swords and knives themselves, were attributes that (also) communicated messages. They informed others about the social status and skills of the individual concerned, and about his or hers religious and cultural group identity (Nicolay 2023).

One word of warning before we continue.

Because nearly nothing is written down about it at the time, understanding religious, magical, and cultural meanings of representations depicted on early-medieval brooches, pendants, belts, coins, etc., is not much more than modern reconstructions (Nicolay & Van Eerden 2021), or educated guesses. Only about half a millennium later, and then predominantly in Scandinavia, sagas containing information about the Germanic belief system, have been codified. Famously, the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson written in the twelfth century. On top of all this, add up our Frisian bias when writing our blog. So, everything we say below about the meaning of representations on jewellery ought to be viewed with a lot of suspicion, or taken with a few grains of salt at least.

kidney brooches

Let’s take us back to southern Scandinavia in the second half of the fifth century AD. Then and there, brooches, also called fibulae among scholars, were crafted with representations of animals and animal-like creatures. It is the so-called Animal Style I, and as such inspired by Roman (animal and plant) representations. Probably introduced in the Germanic culture by the auxiliary forces serving in the Roman imperial army. These animals and animal-like creatures are often intertwined with human heads. Regularly, the human figure is flanked by animals.

In the course of the sixth century, tribes living in the southern North Sea area developed a regional brooch type which was inspired by the southern Scandinavian animal-style smithing as described. One of the earliest examples is the Achlum brooch, dated to ca. 550 and found at the village of Achlum in the province of Friesland. These were high-end brooches, often silver plated, and we may assume worn by the elite. The northwest of the province of Friesland is where Achlum-type brooches have been found in particular (Nicolay 2017); see also note 1.

By the way, an apt description of Animal Style I is: “The early art style of the Anglo-Saxon period is known as Style I and was popular in the late 5th and 6th centuries. It is characterized by what seems to be a dizzying jumble of animal limbs and face masks, which has led some scholars to describe the style as an animal salad” (Myers 2020).

Achlum brooch, ca AD 550 – top right the face with hair braids/waves depicting stylized animals on the headplate; bottom left mirrored bird heads in the kidney shape on the footplate; center below one of the two bird heads on the shoulder of the footplate

Other examples of the Achlum-type brooch with similar so-called ‘face-between-two-animals’ displayed on brooches have been found near the hamlet of Vatrop (Varoth) on the (former) Wadden Sea island of Wieringen (Wiron) in the province of Noord-Holland, near the village of Holwerd in the province of Friesland, and at Bifrons near the town of Canterbury in the county of Kent (see image below). All three brooches are dated to the late fifth and first half of the sixth century AD. The Bifrons brooch also clearly shows bird heads on the shoulders of the footplate.

Woden heads flanked with birdlike animals: From top to bottom: Bifrons brooch ( county Kent), Holwerd brooch (province Friesland), Vatrop brooch (province Noord Holland)

In addition, these brooches testify to the still close cultural ties between the Anglo-Saxons and the Frisians on both sides of the Southern Bight of the North Sea at the beginning of the Early Middle Ages. A kinship that is also proved by other research, like research on earthenware, coinage, language, runic writing, DNA, etc. The southern Scandinavian orientation of imagery probably communicated “a true or fictional ancestral link” with that region to legitimize the status of the originally foreign ruling elites (Nicolay 2017). The sixth century is, as said earlier, also the time when royal genealogies are being construed with Woden as an one of their all-fathers to legitimize Anglo-Saxon kingship and domination. Although no records exist, it is thinkable comparable pedigrees existed in Frisia.

The human heads found on brooches are bearded men, and the animals on both sides of the head can represent wolves, bears, eagles, snakes, wild boars, or indeed, ravens. Moreover, the head is probably that of the god Woden, and the animals next to him are his helping spirits. Birdlike animals depicted beside the human figure are likely the ravens Huginn and Muninn. Besides helping spirits, these animals can be considered a transformation of Woden’s soul as well (Nicolay & Van Eerden, 2021). Transforming from human to animal, and vice versa, would be consistent with the idea of an entranced shaman, as described earlier.

Curled bird head motifs were not unique to Frisia. These bird heads were a widespread theme among early-medieval Germanic cultures. A few examples of curled bird heads are: the weapon dancers on the helmet of Sutton Hoo (Suffolk), the warrior depicted on the Fingleshem belt (Kent), the bearded man depicted on a mount (Norfolk), the ornamental end of a drinking horn found near Taplow (Buckinghamshire), similar to the pair found near the town of Katwijk (Zuid Holland), the Valsgärde helmet (Uppland), and the Torslunda dies (Öland). But also the Visigoths and Franks manufactured brooches with bowed bird heads.

In turn, the visualisations on the Achlum-type brooch inspired the development of the so-called Domburg-type brooch, named after the village of Domburg in the province of Zeeland. The Domburg-type brooch evolved from the mid-fifth-century small-long brooches known from southeast England, northern Germany, and along the Dutch coast. The Frisian specimens of these small-long brooches have a square- or trapezium-shaped headplate, a drop-shaped footplate with either a round or kidney-shaped knob.

Moreover, the Domburg-type brooch, with kidney-shaped ornaments both on the head- and footplate, is a specific regional element and considered a distinct Frisian type (Nicolay 2017, Nicolay & Van Eerden 2021, Nicolay 2021), and its production is dated to the later sixth and later seventh century (Heeren & Feijst 2017). They are rarely found outside the borders of the Netherlands (PAN). Domburg brooches vary, among others, in the degree of detail and recognizability of the depicted figures. Specimens with a high level of detail and clearly identifiable images are dated to the mid-sixth century, whilst the abstract and highly stylized ones to the second half of the sixth and to the seventh centuries.

small-long brooches of Domburg type. fLtR: Wijnaldum brooch (province Friesland), Wijk bij Duurstede-De Geer (i.e. Dorestat) brooch (province Utrecht), and Heiloo brooch (province Noord Holland). Notice the hanging bird heads on the shoulders of the Wijk bij Duurstede brooch

Typical for the Domburg-type brooch is the combination of multi-kidney-shaped ornaments, the mirrored (highly stylized) bird heads, both on the head- and footplate, the drop-shape of the footplate, and the so-called hanging birds on the shoulders of the footplate.

There are different ways to look at the representations of these Frisian brooches.

Firstly, the curled bird heads are not merely the ravens Huninn and Muninn. At the same time, the raven heads represent the face of Woden. A human face as seen on the Achlum-type brooch, but now highly stylized. Secondly, the brooch as a whole represents a human body, with a head (headplate), neck (bow), body and legs (footplate). On the shoulders of the drop-shaped footplate, ‘hanging’ ravens are depicted regularly. The kidney-shaped birds at the end of the footplate represent the feet of the human figure. Thirdly, the footplate as such can also be understood as a human face front-facing, or as yet another animal head seen from above. Possibly a horse (Sleipnir?) with its nostrils wide open, most clearly visible on the Heiloo brooch.

This multidimensional interpretation of what is actually being depicted, is typical of the origin of the southern Scandinavian provenance of this material culture, and thus firmly adopted by the Domburg-type brooch of Frisia.

By far, most of the Domburg brooches have been found in the coastal area between the River Scheldt and the River Ems, and in the Dutch Lower River Rhine area, with the northwest of the province of Friesland being the most productive site archaeologically wise. Furthermore, this type of brooches are found in pairs and thus worn by women (Heeren & Feijst 2017). Contrary to the Achlum-type brooch, brooches of the Domburg type are not silver plated but cast in cheaper copper, suggesting they were mainly worn by commoners. Hence not the elite like was the case with the Achlum-type brooch.

The ‘heathen’ Domburg-type brooch disappears from the scene when Frisia is firmly incorporated into the Frankish realm during the first half of the eighth century. In other words, from then on the cultural orientation of the Frisians shifts from the Germanic pantheon of the north to the Christian trinity of the south. A world with less room for mythical animals and creatures. But not fully, as we will see at the end of this blog post.

For completeness’ sake; from the second half until the late ninth century, a renewed temporary orientation towards southern Scandinavia emerges due to the fact that Danish warlords were authorized by Frankish kings to rule over large parts of Frisia. Notably warlord Rorik of Dorestad.

kidney pendants

Now it is time to highlight the kidney-shaped pendants. These chewy and hard to swallow golden pretzels. Time to leave the Thor hammer pendants behind once and for all, and be cured from VOCD (Viking Obsessive-compulsive disorder) at last. Who would not be relieved with such a positive health prognosis? Hammer pendants of which, to our knowledge, no specimens have been found in the territory of early-medieval Frisia either.

kidney-shaped brooch, De Waal-Oosterend, Wadden Sea island of Texel (Noord Holland), by Huis van Hilde

Kidney-shaped pendants are quite rare (De Kort et al 2023). So far, only seventeen specimens have been discovered, spread over eleven different locations, of which seven within the territory of former Frisia (see map below). All pretzel-pendant provenances in Frisia coincide with the distribution area of the Domburg-type brooch. The provenances, in a more or less clockwise direction, are: Southampton (Wessex), Katwijk-Brittenburg (Zuid Holland), De Waal-Oosterend on the island of Texel (Noord Holland), Wijnaldum (Friesland), Ried (Friesland), Wieuwerd (Friesland), Holwerd (Friesland), Wierum (Groningen), Springendal-Hezingen (Overijssel), Spentrup (Jutland), and Kirchberg-Niedenstein (Hessen). All pendants are dated between the early sixth and the first half of the seventh century AD. A comparable timeframe with the Domburg-type brooch. The pendant of Southampton is considered Frisian. Either imported, or locally copied.

The kidney-shaped brooch recently (2019) found at Springendal-Hezingen, dated around 600, has a specific decoration, namely a so-called waffle pattern or wafered triangles. This technique is also known from two sixth/seventh-century ring fingers, which are considered of Frisian origin. One ring is found near the town of Harlingen in the province of Friesland, and the other one at the town of Wijk bij Duurstede in the province of Utrecht; i.e. the location of the early-medieval emporium Dorestat. Wafered triangles are also known in southern Scandinavia, but, besides Frisia, rarely encountered in the Anglo-Saxon material culture (De Bunt 2020). Below the finger ring of Wijk bij Duurstede and the kidney-shaped pendant from Springendal-Hezingen.

Frisian finger ring from Wijk bij Duurstede/Dorestat (Utrecht) and kidney-shaped pendant from Springendal-Hezingen (Overijssel)

Conclusion

By the year 600, Frisians had established their own kingdoms at the Southern Bight of the North Sea. It is also during this period that the Frisians emerged as a recognizable cultural identity. A from the Anglo-Saxons distinguishable material culture, with whom they were almost inseparable during the few centuries before. Turbulent centuries when the southern North Sea area was culturally rearranged during complex migration patterns after the slow collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth century.

One of the manifestations of this new Frisian identity was the production of jewellery with the prominent use of the mirrored, curled bird heads, both on copper brooches and on golden pendants. There is not much doubt these birds do represent both the ravens Huginn and Muninn and the god Woden; separately, and as one at the same time. It illustrates that Woden was the popular one in the Frisian (and Anglo-Saxon) world. If you could stroll through a Frisian settlement, you could see many Frisian women having both shoulders adorned with copper brooches depicting Woden. Quite what happened in the ’80s of the last century when buttons of music stars were best-selling trendy. Therefore, we repeat: forget Thor and his hammer Mjölnir if you want to do any justice to early-medieval Frisia.

Tragically, Frisians seem to have lost all faith in the magic of croaking ravens.

Firstly, Frisians were converted to Christianity in the course of the eighth century. They had to renounce Woden and his demons Huninn and Muninn. Against preachers they had to pledge the following: “And ec forsacho allum dioboles uuercum and uuordum, Thunær ende Uoden ende Saxnote ende allum them unholdum the hira genotas sint” (‘And I forsake all Devil’s works and words Donar and Woden and Saxnot and all demons who are their followers’; phrase from the Baptismal Vow of Utrecht, written mid eighth century).

Secondly, even after being converted, the Frisians do not take the word of the holy Bible too seriously either – that ravens are really the divine helpers and messengers.

De raven bringje jin it brea net thús

The ravens do not bring the bread to your house (from Cox 1988)

This is an old saying among Frisians, meaning you need to work if you want to eat. It is a saying derived from the Book of Kings when prophet Elijah has to flee after a confrontation with King Ahab. At his hiding place, Elijah is being fed by ravens daily. The black birds bring him bread and meat every morning and evening. All he had to do was hold out his hand. Can you hear the flocks come and go? Almost like Woden’s ravens who fly out in the morning and return in the evening to eat. Elijah lived in the ninth century BC. Apparently, with this old saying, Frisians did not believe ravens would do this. Not for Elijah, not for anyone. Unbelievable!

Note 1 – We did not talk about the one brooch that ruled them all, namely the fabulous disc-on-bow fibula of Wijnaldum in the northwest of the province of Friesland. Click the following link to read our blog post about this work of art: Ornament of the Gods found in a mound of clay. The Wijnaldum-type brooch, together with those also magnificent pieces found at terp villages of Hogebeintum and Wieuwerd, is a next phase in the evolution of the Achlum-type brooch (Nicolay 2021).

Note 2 – Nowadays, there is easily a lot of confusion about what a raven, a crow, a rook, and a jackdaw are. Study their differences to avoid talking to the wrong bird in order to get either great wisdom or a pastrami sandwich. The type of raven we are talking about in this blog post is the common raven, found across the northern hemisphere. It is one of the biggest subspecies of ravens and can measure over 70 centimeters. It has an arched, relatively short bill. Lastly, ravens are considered to be very intelligent, and science conducts many experiments with these animals to test their problem-solving capacities. Of course, they are also known for stealing food. Qualities that might have inspired men to think of them as supra-natural beasts.

Suggested music

Alan Parsons Project, The Raven (1976)
Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer (1986)