Viktor Rydberg: A Century of Scholarship

BLEST, ABODE OF THE (Teutonic).

Introduction.—The hints supplied by myth, folk-belief, and occasional passages of existing texts, suggest that, in earlier times and probably for a long period, the state of the dead was not definitely formulated in Teutonic belief. The funeral mobilier as well as statements in the texts regarding burial shows that life after death continued the life on earth. The dead may have been supposed to dwell in the tomb, and the soul to flit in the air or to frequent the grave, while souls of warriors continued to fight in the air. Conceptions of a more permanent sort may, however, have arisen quite early and ultimately gained ground. When the dead were committed to the waves, this suggests that their abode was over-sea, and the passage in Procopius (de Bello Goth. iv. 20) about shermen, subject to the Franks, rowing souls over by night to Brittia, may be a reminiscence of such a belief. But we find also a more general belief in the dead living in their barrows or onrialmounds, or in hills—they ' die into the hills.' There they feast in happiness, and occupy themselves with the good of their surviving kindred, and their presence in these howes, or hills, is a source of blessing to the neighbourhood (Vigfusson and Powell, Corpus Poet. Boreale[ = CPB], Oxford, 1883, i. 415 ff.). Nor is it unlikely that some of the gods, e.g. Odin, had also their abode at first there, several mountains being sacred to Odin (Grimm, i. 152). Odin was especially the god of dead warriors, and their abode may at first have been with him in hills, since later tradition represents great heroes as slumbering in hills, sometimes, as in the case of King Charles, in the Odenberg, with Odin (Grimm, lii. 953 ff.). These heroes may represent the dead warriors of pagan belief, or the gods themselves considered as mountain-dwellers. Again, the souls of dead warriors are seen issuing from and returning to a mountain (ib. 954). Thus the warrior host in the mountain may be an earlier form of the warrior host in the heavenly Valhalla (Simrock, Bandb. 189).

In the Elder and Younger Eddas the conceptions of Hel, the under world of the dead, and Valhalla, the warriors' heavenly abode, are met with. Both may have been developed from the belief that the dead lived a subterranean existence in the barrow or in hills. Hel, ' the hollow place,' would be an extension of the hollow hill or barrow, and a similar development of the under world from the grave is met with in Celtic belief (see CELTS), while the transition from a hill as the abode of warriors to a sky-Valhalla would easily be made, the sky being frequently supposed to rest on hills.

Vigfusson and Powell consider that the idea of Hel as the abode of the dead cannot be clearly reconciled with the early belief in the dead living in their barrows (CPB i. 420). Rydberg (Teut. Mythol., London, 1889, p. 606) reconciles the two views by showing that, in Teutonic belief, man did not consist simply of body and soul, but of' a combination of factors, which in death could be separated,' so that the dead could at the same time descend to Hel and inhabit the grave-mound. This is in accordance with primitive and even Egyptian ideas of man's personality, and of various regions or states for the different parts of his being after death. At the same time, the ideas of the barrow and of Hel seem rather to represent different strata of belief.

The subterranean region of Hel may at first have been considered as the abode of all the dead, not excluding warriors, even Balder going there when he was slain, and, as late as Widukind of Corvei, the poet exclaimB after a battle, 'Where might there be a Hel so great as to contain such a multitude of the slain ?' (Grimm, ii. 801). But side by side with this we find the idea, whether of later Viking origin or not, that warriors have a separate abode. They it was, perhaps, rather than all the dead, who were conceived as dwelling with Odin in the hill, or, as in the Edda, in the heavenly Valhalla.

2. Was Hel an abode of the blest?—Hel is usually regarded as a dismal and gloomy abode; but it is only in the Younger Edda that this is definitely stated, and it is not improbable that the influence of Christian beliefs may be traced here. The references in this Edda are three in number, and they vary each from the other. All-father has given to man a soul which will live and never perish. Right-minded men will live with him in Vingolf; wicked men fare to Hel, and thence into Niflhel which is beneath in the ninth world (Gylfaginning, § 3). Vingolf is later described as the fair hall of goddesses, and it may be synonymous with Valhalla (§ 14; Grimm, ii. 820). Here the distinction is an ethical one, and Niflhel rather than Hel is the abode of the wicked. This corresponds, on the whole, with the description of the fate of men after the final catastrophe :

' Many abodes are there then good, and many bad : best is It to be in Gimle in heaven with Surtr; and great store of good drink is there for them who drink with Joy in the hall called Brimir; it stands also in heaven. That is also a good hall which stands on Nitha-fells wrought of red gold; it is called Sindri; in this hall shalf abide good men and well-minded.' The wicked— murderers and perjurers—suffer fearful torments in Na-strand (Gylf. i 52).

This description is borrowed from the Voluspa, where it is not clear whether it refers to a state of things after the catastrophe which two mysterious beings alone survive. The sibyl sings:

* I see a ball, brighter than the sun, shingled with gold, standing on Gimle. The righteous shall dwell therein and live in bliss for ever. Northward on Nidavollir stands a hall of gold for Sindri's people. On Okolnir stands another called Brimir, the giants' drinking-halL' Na-strand is here also the abode of the wicked (CPB i. 201; cf. ii. 627).

The third reference describes the goddess Hel as cast into Niflheim, with power over the nine worlds, and sharing those abodes of gloom and hunger with those who die of sickness or old age. Warriors, on the other hand, go to the blissful Valhalla (Gylf. § 34, 36 ff.). Here there is no ethical distinction.

The eschatological system set forth in Voluspa depends for its value on the views taken regarding that poem. Bugge's hypothesis of its dependence on Christian and classical sources is hardly tenable (Studier over de nordiske Gude- og Heltesagens oprindelse, tr. by Brenner, Munich, 1889). More probable is the view taken by Jónsson (Den oldnortke og old Islandske Literafurs Hittorie, Copenhagen, 1894, 1901), that it is the product of a pagan poet using pagan myths, but, while combating Christianity, unconsciously writing under Christian influences. The better minds among the pagan Norse may already have felt their way to such eschatological ideas as he sets forth.

In the Elder Edda, Vafthrudnis-mal and Grimnismal (CPB i. 67, 70) describe Valhalla, and the former says of Niflhel: ' hither die the men from Hel (a second death).' Thus Hel is not a place of punishment, though Niflhel may be. Nor is Hel definitely stated in the Elder Edda to be a place of gloom. Na-strand and Niflhel, places of punishment, may thus be identical, and it is not impossible that the Younger Edda has confused Hel and Niflhel, while here and in the Voluspa Gimle and the other halls of the righteous may be identical either with Valhalla or with Hel, considered as a place of bliss. In Balder's Doom, Odin rides through the under world along a road through grass-grown plains to the mighty hall of Hel, and hnds there the walls decked with shields, the benches strewn with mail-coats, and the mead standing ready brewed for the hero (CPB L 182). Nothing is said of the gloom of Hel here, or in the story of Hermodhrs visit there to rescue Balder, where he crosses a river over a golden bridge (Gylf. § 49). Again, since men die from Hel to Niflhel, it is obvious that the former is a better place than the latter. Niflhel is the Hel which is surrounded by fog and gloom ; Hel itself therefore cannot be so surrounded. In Skimirs-m&i, Gerda is told that she will suffer misery within the Na-gates (corpse-gates), and will sit on Are's perch looking longingly Hel-wards (CPB i. 114)—a passage suggestive of Hel as a place of bliss. In Sonatorrek the poet describes his dead son as having entered ' the path of Bliss' and gone to ' the City of the Bees-ship' (CPB i. 278-9), or to ' the world of the gods' (God-heim). The references are obscure, but may point to the usual abode of the dead or Hel.

An examination of the passages referring to the Ash Yggdrasil and its roots is significant. In Grimnis-mal it is said that under one root dwells Hel, under a second the Frost-giants, under a third 'mennzkir menn' (mortal men, CPBi. 73). But in Gylfaginning, § 15, one root is with the Asa, and there is Urd's fountain; one is over where Ginunnga-gap was, and there is Mimir's spring; the third is over Niflheim, and under it is the fountain Hvergelmir. By an obvious misunderstanding, one root is placed with the Asa, i.e. in Heaven (cf. Simrock, 36). But, as all the roots are in the under world, this root may correspond to that which Grimnis. places in Hel, and here in consequence is Urd's fountain, guarded by the Norni, who sprinkle the tree with its holy water (Gylf. § 16; cf. Voluspa, CPB i. 195), so that it may not wither or rot. Urd is possibly the equivalent of the goddess Hel (Rydberg, 308 ; Simrock, 340). The third root is in Niflheim, the place of punishment; the second, in Ginunnga-gap, must be midway between the others. Beneath it is Mimir's spring of mead, giving inspiration, wisdom, and poetry. Mimir drinks it every day; from it Odin obtained wisdom ; and with it the root is watered (Gylf. § 15, CPB ii. 623). Here, too, must be placed Mimir's or Hoddmimer's Grove, where two human beings, I.if and Lifthrasir, are hidden away during the Monster-winter which precedes Ragnarbk. They are fed on the dews which drip from Yggdrasil, produced from its being watered by Urd's fountain. They alone survive the final catastrophe, and from them a new generation will spring to re-people the renewed earth (Vafthr., CPB i. 67; Gylf. 53). Hence these, rather than men on the surface of the earth, may be the ' mennzkir menn' dwelling under a root of the tree. Lif and Lifthrasir, progenitors of the new race which is to people the new earth, ' green and fair, whose fields increase with sowing,' whlile 'all sorrows shall be healed,' must be pure and sinless. But that forest-clad earth rising out of the deep may simply be Mimir's grove, the hidden and sinless paradise hitherto in the underworld.

Hel may thus mean the whole underworld, exclusive of Niflhel, and in this sense it appears by no means as a place of gloom. This is already suggested by the passages cited from the poems; but when we add to this the facts that in the under world are Mimir's fountain of immortal mead, his grove of sinless beings, afterwards to be the glorious renewed earth, Urd's fountain beneath the ever-green branches of the ash, its waters ' so holy that everything which comes into this spring becomes as white as the skin which lieth within and cleaveth to the egg-shell' (Gylf. 16), and that the hall of Hel is decked for Balder's coming and furnished with mead, the suggestion becomes well-nigh a certainty.

To Urd's well the gods ride over Bifrost bridge to a daily judgment (Gylf. § 15; of. Grimnis., CPB i. 73). According to Gylf. they ride upwards from Asgard to Heaven; but as Asgard is in Heaven, and, as we have seen, Urd s well is situated in the under world, they must ride downwards. This Thingstead is not that held in Asgard, and Rydberg (p. 330ff.) has shown that the gods come down daily to judge the dead who arrive there daily, and appoint them their places in Valhalla, in Hel, or in Niflhel. From definite statements, we know what crimes were punished in the other world—offences against the gods and against kinsmen, murder, adultery, perjury. Thus among those who did not pass to Valhalla—those dying a natural or straw death, practisers of the peaceful arts of life, women and children, all who had pleased the gods, all who had been true to the claims of kindred, all who had kept themselves free from those gross sins—must have been awarded the bliss of the under world. All such could, ' with a good will and without fear, await death,' knowing that their course of life would ' do them good when they are dead' (Sonatorrek, CPB i. 280 : cf. L 42, 279, ii. 628 ; Gylf. [Loke] § 50, 52). To them were allotted the blissful regions of the under world —the 'green realms of the gods' (Hakonar-mdl, CPB i. 264; cf. Rydberg, 319), with their hidden grove, their holy fountains, their ' paths of bliss.' Probably, too, they were given a draught which made them forget sorrows and gave them strength, composed of the liquids of those fountains, and drunk from the horn whence Mimir quaffed the mead of his well (CPB i. 197 ; cf. the mead which awaits Balder, and the * costly draughts' which the dead Helgi drinks, i. 143). The mysteriously engraved horn from which Grimhild makes Gudrun drink and forget her wrongs, may be a late reminiscence of this draught of oblivion. The draught was composed from Urd's strength, ice-cold sea water, and the liquor of the Son, and on the horn are engraved unreaped corn ears from ' the land of Hadding,* the underworld (CPB i. 34). See, for this section, Rydberg, 218 ff.

3. Valhalla.—Though Valhalla may be 'simply a Viking faith, lasting some three generations at most,' and opposed to the strong family affection of the Northern heathen (CPB i. Introd. ci, 421), yet it is also noted in old Teutonic belief, in the conception of dead warriors dwelling in Odin's mountain. Valhalla was one of the dwellings of Asgard, the heaven of the gods, situated in Gladsheimr 'where the gold-bright Valhalla towers' (Grimnis., CPB i. 70). To it all brave warriors hoped to go, though later tradition suggests that warriors who had committed ' nithing actions or lived wickedly were excluded (Rydberg, 349). They were conducted thither by the Valkyries, who also waited upon them there. Valhalla was entirely a warrior's paradise; its beatitude was not that of peace, but of war. There the dead warriors dwelt with Odin, who welcomed them, ordering the benches to be got ready, the goblets prepared, and the wine brought by the Valkyries (Eiriks-mal, CPB i. 260). Descriptions of Valhalla are found in Grimnis-mal and in the Younger Edda. It is raftered with spears, it is decked with shields, its benches are strewn with coats of mail. A wolf hangs before the western door, an eagle hovers over it. The goat Heiurun bites at the branches of the tree Learad (perhaps Yggdrasil), and from her teats runs mead which fills a vat every day, enough to satisfy all the warriors. The hart Eikthirnir bites at the branches, and from her horns fall drops which form the rivers on earth. So great was Valhalla that it possessed five hundred and forty doors. Every day the warriors, fully armed, issued from the gates to amuse themselves in combat with each other, returning to feast and drink heavenly mead from the cups presented to them by the Valkyries. They ate the flesh of the boar Scehrimm, which was sodden every day and became whole again at even. Beside Valhalla stood Vlngolf, the Hall of Friends, the abode of the goddesses. Grimm (ii. 820) points out that Vingolf is, in one poem, used synonymously with Valhalla, while it is also the name given in the Younger Edda (Gylf. § 3) to the place where the good and right-minded shall dweir after death. With Odin is associated Freyja, whose dwelling is called Folk-vangr, and who chooses one half of the slain, Odin the other. Elsewhere, however, it is dead women who expect to join Freyja (Egils saga, ch. 78). With the goddess Gefjon, who resembles Freyja, dwelt all who died virgins (Gylf. § 35; for Valhalla, cf. § 36, 38 ff.; Grimnis-mal, Eiriks-mal, and Hakonar-mal, CPB i.70, 260, 262).

4. Elysium in folk-belief and saga.—The Glasberg, or glass mountain, of Marchen and poetry, which in Slavonic belief represents an earlier conception of a mountain paradise, may be derived from Slavonic sources, or may be a misunderstanding of Gladsheim, but it may also be a purely Teutonic belief, since the Norse gUrhiminn, 'glass heaven,' is a paradise to which heroes ride (Grimm, ii. 820), and the mountain abode of the dead has already been met with. Beautiful subterranean meadows, reached through a well where Frau Hölle dwells, also occur in Marchen, and are associated mainly with elves and kindred beings. Popular belief describes souls of the dying fluttering as butterflies or birds in these meadows (Grimm, ii. 829). These are doubtless reminiscences of the under world place of the dead, and with them may be compared the Rosengarten of mediaeval poetry, now churchyards, now a kind of paradise. A series of more elaborate tales, analyzed by Rydberg, are certainly reminiscent of earlier pagan belief, and preserve many of the aspects of the under world already met with. In these travellers set out to seek Oddinsakr or Jorð lifanda manna, the Land of Living Men, situated in one tale in the east, but more usually in the north, and apparently underground.

These tales in their present form belong to the period between the 12th and 14th cent., and are mainly found in Saxo and in the sagas. Gudmund is ruler of the Glittering Plains, situated in the north or Jotunheim ; he and his men are heathen, and of a vast age. After his death he was worshipped by his people as a god. Oddinsakr is situated in his land, and is ' so healthy that sickness and age depart, and no one ever dies there' (Hervararsaga, Rydberg, 210-11).

(a) In the Flatey-book (14th cent.) Helge Thoreson is described as journeying to the north, where, lost in a forest, he met twelve maidens, one of them being Gudmund's daughter, Ingeborg. With them he stayed three days, and on leaving was given chests of gold and silver. Next Yule night he was carried from his home by two men, reappearing a year later with them. The strangers gave king Olaf two golden horns as a gift from Gudmund. They were filled with wine and given to the strangers to drink, the wine having been previously blessed by a bishop. The heathen messengers cast the horns away, and disappeared with Helge amidst great confusion. One year later Helge re-appeared with his eyes plucked out. He had spent many days happily in Gudmund s realm, but king Olaf s prayers had made it impossible for Gudmund and Ingeborg to keep him. The latter plucked his eyes out, lest any mortal maiden should fall in love with him (Saxo Grammaticus, Danish History, London, 1894, Introd. lxviii; Rydberg, 210).

(6) Saxo relates that king Gorm set out to seek a mysterious treasure land in the north ruled by king Geirrod in the under world. After passing through many dangers, they were met by Geirrod's brother Gudmund, who led them along a river till they reached a golden bridge. This he warned them not to cross, as the region beyond was not open to mortals. Continuing up the river, they reached Gudmund's hall, where, warned by their pilot Thorkill, they refused to touch food or drink lest their memory should be lost, and they should have to remain with Gudmund's people for ever. Gorm also refused Gudmund's daughter in marriage. But four of his men fell victims to the charms of the women of this land, and became imbeciles. Gorm also refused the delicious fruits of Gudmund's garden. The party were now conducted across the river, and reached Geirrod's realm, a foul and evil place, full of miserable folk, some of them punished by Thor. Finally, they reached a place where they saw cisterns of mead, a vast decorated horn, and other treasures. Some of the party seized these treasures, which changed to swords and serpents and slew them. In another place, other treasures, including a rich mantle, were seen. Thorkiil himself seized the mantle, when the place rang with shrieks, and the party was attacked by its inhabitants. Only twenty of them returned to the river and to Gudmund, who vainly tempted them to remain with him. They finally returned home in safety (Saxo, 844 ff.; Rydberg, 212).

(c) Saxo has also preserved the story of king Hadding. One winter's day be saw a woman rise out of the ground, with fresh herbs in her lap. Hadding desired to know where such plants could grow in winter. Wrapping him in her mantle, she drew him underground, through a region of fog and darkness, till they reached a river where spears and weapons were tossed about. On one side of it they met some noble beings, clad in rich robes. Passing them, they reached a sunny region (the Glittering Plains) whence the woman had obtained the flowers. On the other side of the river, which was crossed by a bridge, were seen the souls of dead warriors playing at battle. Finally, they came to a mysterious place, surrounded by an impassable wall. This was the land of life. The woman wrung the neck of a bird and threw it over the wall, when it was at once restored to lite (Saxo, 87; Rydberg, 216).

(d) A saga in Flatey-book tells of king Erik, who with a large company set out to seek Odainsakr in the far east. They finally reached a river, with a bridge guarded by a dragon. Erik and one of his men rushed at the dragon, and were swallowed by it. But they found themselves in a beautiful flowery plain, with rivers of honey, and full of sunlight. They travelled through, finding no inhabitants, and reached a tower suspended in the air, with a ladder leading up to it. They entered the tower, and found In it a room carpeted with velvet, a table with rich food in gold and silver dishes, and two beds. Convinced that they had reached Odainsakr, they ate and drank and slept. During his sleep Erik was visited bv his guardian angel, who told him this was Odainsakr, or Jord landa manna. This region lay near the Christian paradise, which was so glorious that, compared with it, Odainsakr seemed a desert. Here they were permitted to remain six days, and then they returned home.

Late as these stories are, they are yet so near to the pagan n<:e of the north that, in spite of possible classical literary and Christian influences, they preserve much of the earlier eschatology. Odainsakr is clearly differentiated from the Christian paradise, while Gudmund and his people are pagan. The river with its golden bridge has already been met with in the pagan descriptions of the under world, and in these tales its further side seems to be tenanted by the souls of the dead, while in the Hadding story the dead warriors fighting suggest a reminiscence of Valhalla. The evil region in the story of Gorm may reflect the tortures of Niflhel, while the place with its cisterns of mead, the richly decorated horn, and the treasures, are reminiscent of the Eddaic descriptions of the blissful underworld. Rydberg (228 ff.) also identifies Gudmund with Mimir, and shows reasons for believing that Odainsakr, within the Glittering Plains, the mysterious walled place in the Hadding story, and the tower in the Erik sa#a with its two beds, are the equivalents of Mimir's grove, where Llf and Lffthasir, progenitors of the new race of men, are preserved. To them would appropriately belong the title ' living men,' and to their hidden grove that of Jorð lifanda manna. ' In Gudmund's domain there is a splendid grove, an enclosed place, from which weaknesses, age, and death are banished—a Paradise of the peculiar kind that is not intended for the souls of the dead, but for certain lifandi menn, yet is inaccessible to people in general. In the myth concerning Mimir we also find such a grove' (Rydberg, 231). Thus, while this Elysian land of Gudmund's, with its deathless Odainsakr, is one of beauty and joy, to which daring mortals may penetrate and receive a welcome, it is closely connected with the realms of the dead—Hel, Valhalla, and Niflhel,—unlike the Celtic Elysium. Unlike the latter, too, it is not a land of the gods, but of a giant race, and is associated with Jbtunheim ; it is not an island Elysium, but a northern and subterranean one (cf. Nutt and Meyer, Voyage of Bran, 1895, i. 308 ; BLEST, ABODE OF THE [Celtic]). The idea that the food of this region is dangerous to mortals corresponds with the universal belief that to eat the food of the dead or of fairies is dangerous.

5. The divine Elysium.—In the Golden Age of the gods, before they lost their happy state through the Titan maids from Jotunheim, they dwelt in Idavollr, where they raised high places and temples, setting forges, fashioning treasures, shaping tongs, ana making tools. ' They played at tables in the court and were happy, they lacked not gold' (Völuspa, CPB i. 194). But after the restoration they dwell in Idavöllr once more, and it is said to be ' where Asgard was before' (Völuspa, ib. i. 201; Gylf. § 53).

See also State Of The Dead (Teutonic).

Literature.—G. W. Dasent, The Prose or Younger Rdda, Stockholm, 1842; Vigfusson and Powell, Corpus Poeticuin Boreale, Oxford, 1883; Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, London, 1883, chs. 26-27; Simrock, Handbuch der deutschen Mythology, Bonn, 1887; K. Mullenhoff, Deutsche Alterttumtkunde, Berlin, [1883, 1892)] V. Rydberg, Teutonic Mythology, tr. by R. Anderson, London, 1889; de la Saussaye, Religion of the Ancient Teutoru, Boston, 1902.

J. A. MACCULLOCH.

• "Life of Angarinn," Rydberg. "T. Mythology," p. 548; Grimm. "T. Myth.," p. 380.

Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, Volume 2