From: Ian R Malcomson <[i--n] at [assistap.demon.co.uk]>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: AD&D Anglo-Saxon: Legends & Lore
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 08:26:14 +0100


Legends & Lore: Anglo-Saxon
===========================
Britain, 410 AD.  Rome is sacked by the Goths.  The Roman Empire is
entering it's most chaotic period of decline.  The Legions of Britain
are withdrawn, and the Edict of Honorius firmly places the defence of
Britain with the Britons themselves.  They are forced to deal with
raiding Picts and Celts, and, more devastatingly, increasing piratical
attacks from the Germanic peoples of Northern Europe.

446 AD.  The Britons, increasingly pressurised by Angle, Jute and Saxon
raids that, in some cases, are little less than localised invasions,
appeal to Rome for aid.  The "Groans of the Britons" is met by Aetius,
himself faced with his own problems, with a resounding negative.

449 AD.  The Germanic raids escalate into full-blown invasion.  Almost
140 years later, the Britons are virtually under the complete domination
of the Saxons.

This short timeline outlines only the second of the four successful
invasions of England that have taken place through history.  It also
provides the historical basis for what is very much the definition of
"English" we know today.  The Romans and, later, the Danes all left
their marks, but it is the Anglo-Saxons that provided much of our modern
English roots.

Looking through AD&D books based on history, though, we see little
information on the great Saxon kings of the Dark Ages.  The Celts have
their entry in Legends & Lore, and an entire sourcebook (whatever you
actually think of it) in their name.  The Romans and Danes (in the shape
of Vikings) also possess their own sourcebooks.  The only Saxon-like
material, however, can be found in the equipment breakdowns in the DMG
and the PO: C&T book for "The Dark Ages", and what can be extracted
about the Frankish Empire from the Charlemagne's Paladins HR book.

So, for those interested, here is a "missing chapter" for Legends &
Lore, presenting information on the gods and heroes of the pagan Saxon
kings of England.

Pagan Germanic Religion
-----------------------
Unfortunately, there is little documented evidence for Anglo-Saxon
religion outside the annals of the Christian missionaries of the time.
These annals, however, are fortunately not as wild in their persecutive
scrawl as other early Christian documenters were.  In this, we see an
attitude more akin to "this is what they worship, but this is what we
*want* them to worship", rather than the demonisation evident in
Christian annals from other parts of the world.

To the cursory examiner, though, confusion does creep in.  By scratching
the surface of pagan Anglo-Saxon faith, one sees many parallels to the
Scandinavian myths generally collected under the Viking label.  However,
what we see as being Viking, although being related to and from the same
root as the Anglo-Saxon mythology, is actually about 300 years
*younger*.  In addition, as one delves deeper, as many connections to
pre-Roman Celtic faith can be drawn to our subject as can be provided to
the Viking legends of Odin, Thor, and the rest.

The height of pagan Anglo-Saxon faith in England existed in the period
of Germanic expansion into the old post-Roman Briton territories.  This
period begins roughly around 450 AD, and remains until roughly 600 AD,
at which point a gradual "decline" into Christianity begins with the
conversion of one of the greatest of the Anglo-Saxon kings - Aethelbert
of Kent - by St. Augustine in 598 AD.  Of course, the Germanic faiths
precede the 450 AD date stamp, but it is the form those faiths took in
England that we know most about.

Our Anglo-Saxon "pantheon" thus looks like this:

Nerthus - goddess of fertility, the earth; Harvest Queen
Eostre - goddess of life and re-birth
Hred - goddess of winter

Mannus - father of man
Woden - god of magic, guardian of the dead, master of the Wild Hunt
Tir - god of glory and honour
Thunor - god of might and strength

Ing - son of Nerthus and Mannus; the "divine man"

The Gods of the Saxons
----------------------
Unlike the later Scandinavian mythologies, the Germanic peoples invading
England worshipped goddesses - not gods - as supreme deities.  Chief
among these was Nerthus, the Harvest Queen, the Earth Mother and goddess
of fertility and the well-being of animals and men.  Then we have
Eostre, goddess of dawn, and presides over spring and the birth of new
life, and Hred, the goddess of winter.

Of the gods, there are three major deities, all of whom are associated
with later Scandinavian gods.  These are Woden (Odin), lord of magic,
guardian of the dead souls of warriors, and leader of the Wild Hunt
(which also provides a parallel between Woden and Cernunnos, who was the
Celtic leader of the Wild Hunt), Tir (Tyr), god of glory and honour, and
a favourite of warriors, and Thunor (Thor), the god of strength and
might, who most represented the characteristics of the ultimate warrior,
and whose symbol (the fylfot) symbolised both the sun and a shield.  We
also have Mannus (the father of mankind), and Ing (the son of Mannus and
Nerthus).

The Anglo-Saxon Year
--------------------
The year begins with the Yule-tide feasts (Modranect, or Mother's
Night), in which warriors make their vows for the coming year [the
origin of New Year's resolutions].  As well as celebrating Midwinter,
Modranect also marked the birth of Ing, child-god of Mannus and Nerthus
[the obvious parallels here prevented even the most celebrated
documenter of religion in England - Bede - from going too deeply into
this part of the Modranect festivities].

The year itself was split into two seasons (summer and winter), each
divided into six moon-lives (months).  Two of the biggest ceremonies of
the year marked the seasons: Lida (Midsummer), and Geola (Yule, in
Midwinter).  Such is the import of these ceremonies, that they had fore-
and rear-guard moons: Aerra Lida and Aeftera Lida (the moons before and
after Lida), and Aerra Geola and Aeftera Geloa (those before and after
Geola).

The moon after Aeftera Geola, February in our modern terms, was named
Sol-monath, or month of mud.  Anyone who has lived or visited England at
this time of the year will probably realise all too well the
significance, and logic, of that name.  In this moon, in which ploughing
began, the Anglo-Saxons offered loaves, placed in the furrows, to
Nerthus, to inspire the great Harvest Queen to provide a bountiful crop
later in the year.

Next came Hred-monath, the month of Hred, in which sacrifices were made
to the goddess Hred.

Then comes another Christian problem month - Eostre-monath, month of
Eostre.  This month was marked by celebrations of new life, and re-
birth.  Shall I go into the parallels between Eostre and Easter?  No,
I'll leave that to the discerning reader.  However, another custom of
the modern day has it's origin here.  Eostre's symbols were the hare and
the egg.  These symbols come from the similarity between a hare's
scratch, and the ground-built nest of the lapwing - a similarity that
was so strong in the eyes of the Anglo-Saxons that it was common belief
that hares actually laid eggs.  So now you see the beginnings of the
Easter Bunny and his basket of egg-shaped chocolate.

The fifth month, or May in our terms, was known as Thri-milce, or the
time of three milkings.  Bede tells us that, at this time, milk-cows
were so abundant that they had to be milked three times a day - hence
the name of the moon.

The Midsummer festival itself probably consisted of the building of
bonfires, and the burning of sacrifices to the gods.  What little we
know of the festival itself (again, Bede and his contemporaries are
pretty close-mouthed on this subject), it appears that it is synonymous
with the old Celtic festival of Beltain.

August was Weod-monath (Weed month), because of the growth of crops at
this time.

In Halig-monath (Holy month, or our September), the month in which
Nerthus is revered.  Tacitus provides us with a pretty good description
of the form of ceremonies at this time.  A consecrated, covered wagon
was placed within a holy region (often a grove), to which only the
priest can go to.  The wagon was tethered to cows (by the priest), and
he followed the wagon as it was pulled by the cows into the settlement.
While the wagon remained, there was much celebrating, and all weapons
and armour were shut away for the duration.  Eventually, the priest
returns the wagon to the sacred area, and the wagon (and it's contents,
which were meant to be the goddess herself) were washed by slaves.
After the ritual washing, the slaves were drowned.

People also fashioned corn-dollies and such, to represent the sheaf,
which was the sacred symbol of the goddess.

The first full moon in Winterfylleth (October) marked the beginning of
winter.  The following moon (November) was the moon of winter livestock
slaughter, much of which was sacrificed to the gods.  Thus, this moon is
known as Blot-monath (Blood Month).

Thus, the Anglo-Saxon year comprised the following moons, with their
Julian equivalents:

January - Aeftera Geola
February - Sol-monath
March - Hred-monath
April - Eostre-monath
May - Thri-milce
Midsummer Festival
June - Aerra Lida
July - Aeftera Lida
August - Weod-monath
September - Halig-monath
October - Winterfylleth
November - Blot-monath
December - Aerra Geola
Midwinter Festival - Modranect

Anglo-Saxon Priests
-------------------
It is doing the religion of the pagan Anglo-Saxons an injustice to
consider the game-version Priests for each individual deity.  Such
specialisation, while logical for such ancient faiths as those of the
Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and, to a lesser extent, the Celts, makes
little sense to the safe-keepers and directors of Anglo-Saxon religion.
Thus, only a single speciality Priest form is provided.

Duties: Anglo-Saxon priests were a mysterious bunch, very much apart
from the common labourers, warriors and nobles of Anglo-Saxon society.
Their only duties were tied to the appeasement of the gods, the
observance of ceremonies (as described above), and the conduction of
sacrifices and rites.

Requirements: AB Int 12, Wis 14; AL non-Chaotic, non-Good; WP none,
except for implements used in ceremonies (eg, sacrificial tools); AR
none; Other Equipment: Priests could not ride any other horse other than
a mare; SP all, animal, creation, divination, elemental (earth, fire),
guardian, healing, plant, protection, sun, weather; PW 1) Augury 1/week
per 3 lvls; 5) Bestow Curse on any worthy of such; TU nil

Conclusion
----------
There you are.  An entire chapter that can be shoved into your copy of
Legends & Lore, just on the off-chance you decide to run an Anglo-Saxon
based game at some point.  There is another post accompanying this thing
somewhere, giving some AD&D stats for some of the weapons and armour
used around this period in my country's history.  Hopefully, you'll
enjoy them, find them interesting and useful, and persuade me to write
more about my favourite era.

-- 
Ian R Malcomson

"Who is the greatest, who is the best
Who holds the aces, the East or the West?
This is the crap that our children are learning."
- Roger Waters, "The Tide Is Turning"