Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27705 in Books
• Published on: 1994-07-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 64 pages

Customer Reviews

Fascinating Study of Early English Paganism
This short book (approximately 55 pages) is a transcript of a talk given by the author, who is an expert in the field of pre-Norman-conquest England. The book is not a "New Age" pagan text, but a serious, academic, and properly sourced study of the pre-Christian beliefs which the very early English peoples brought with them to Britain from their continental Germanic homelands. However the author's style is direct, and there is an underlying tone of deep passion for her subject.

Particular and welcome attention is paid to the position and high degree of respect accorded to women in early Anglo-Saxon society, and how this was reflected in beliefs and stories surrounding goddesses and gods. There are many brief quotations from Old English sources, given in both the original form and modern translations. The text is straight forward and easy for the layperson to read, absorb and thoroughly enjoy. Highly recommended.

A nice little companion book
Only 55 pages long this is a little gem that i enjoyed reading but I can only recommend it as a companion to 'Gods and myths of northern europe' (see my reviews) or something similar. This is not suitable for a first time reader of the old Gods as it doesnt give you enough information.

Having read this for a second time recently i did find it very interesting and full of information, such as what the months were called in pre-christian times and events throughout the year. November was called Blotsmonath meaning blood month (or sacrifice month). And christmas was called Yule. This book doesnt talk about Gods much, but it is a very interseting book. Did you know that England was originally in southern Denmark. There is a map of it in this book. Its definitely worth a read for Anglo-Saxon enthusiasts.

Anglo-Saxon Paganism
This was a very interesting book, albeit very short and concise. I read it within hours and managed to cover almost the entire thing in highlighting!

The contents of the book is as follows: Foreword, Text, The Heathen English Calendar, Songs and Dances For Spring and Summer, Glossary of Placenames, Maps, Runes, Index.

The subject matter of the book is fascinating. I've recently become interested in the Anglo-Saxon gods worshipped in England and this book does a nice job of explaining (very basically) the evidence left for them. If you're a Pagan looking to reconstruct then unfortunately in 'Looking for the Lost Gods of England' the writer offers very little in the way of practical evidence. The book is more concerned with the empirical evidence for the existence of the gods left behind in placenames, archaeological evidence and in literature.

The main gods dissected are Woden, Tiw, Ing, Frige and Thunor -- all a little too briefly for my liking but there was some extremely invaluable information provided at the same time (hence the mass of highlighting!).

Due to the nature of the book and the fact that the text is actually a lecture there is little historical context given which is the norm with most historical works -- indeed one weakness of the book is that it leaves almost no room for internal objectivity, in that there's not a whole lot of 'the weighing of both sides' of the argument. That said there's not much that Herbert discusses that is too tenuous and she always states when she is giving her opinion on things -- indeed, she makes quite a few rather well researched connections and explores some excellent and exciting theories, especially regarding the enigmatic Nerthus and Ingvi-Freyr.

Two good books to read with or after this one would be Lost Gods of England by Brian Branston and Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by HR. Ellis Davidson.