Ebook: Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions

This study of early religion is the result of many years of exploration into the period before Christianity in North-Western Europe; it is mainly based on the medieval literature of Iceland and Ireland, together with earlier clues from the archaeology and iconography of the pre-Christian period. My first interest in Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse literature and thought I owe to Hector and Nora Chadwick, for the inspiration received in the dim, book-lined study of their old moated house on the Newmarket Road has never faded. This meant that from the beginning I was conscious of links between Germanic and Celtic tradition, since Nora Chadwick was a dedicated scholar in Celtic history and literature, while as a research student I had the privilege of attending Kenneth Jackson’s classes in Early Welsh, and later in the fifties those in Old Irish given by Anne O’Sullivan in University College, London. Continued work over the years on various aspects of thought and belief in pre-Christian Europe, and on the way in which oral tradition and folklore can throw light on the attitude of men and women to the unseen world, has convinced me that there is much to be gained by bringing the two areas together. Like the journeys in the folktales, it is one beset by perils and surprises, but seems to offer a worthwhile goal to the discerning traveller. I hope that this tentative effort may encourage others better equipped than I am to follow this path.