Lords of Peace and Plenty: Ing and Freyr - online with Stephen Pollington

Title-picture above: the three great royal barrows at Gamla Uppsala with the twelfth-century episcopal-church beyond, built on the site of the pre-Christian temple-hall said to have been founded by Yngvi-Freyr (see further below). The flat-topped Thing-mound can be seen on the right (©Gamla Uppsala Museum 24th November 2021, with thanks).

Lords of Peace and Plenty: Ing and Freyr.

An online study-day with author and polymath Stephen Pollington looking at the evidence for the pre-Christian lords of peace and plenty, Ing and Freyr, as well as the related Vanir gods and goddesses associated with fertility, farming, and protection.

Provisional Timetable

10.15–11.15: Who are the Vanir gods and goddesses? An overview of the family of deities, what and how we know about them. Did the Anglo-Saxons have similar traditions?

11.15-11.45: coffee break

11-45-12.45: Lord of the Sword - Yngve-Freyr is the only Norse god who owns a special sword. What does this mean? And are there any figures in Anglo-saxon mythology with similar attributes?

12.45-13.45: lunch break

13.45-14.45: Star-Crossed Lovers - Romantic love comes at a high price in Vanaheim, the land of the Vanir. The wooing of Freyr's bride costs him dearly, and his sister fares no better.

Above: Yngvi-Freyr founds the famous temple-hall and centre of royal Swedish authority at Uppsala - an etching published in 1830 by Swedish artist Hugo A. Hamilton (1802-1871). Thanks to Wikipedia for this Public Domain image.

This legendary foundation is described as a historical event by the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson in Ynglingasaga, the first of his great series of Norse kings' sagas, Heimskringla, written in Iceland in the early 13th century, as follows:

Frey built a great temple at Upsal, made it his chief seat, and gave it all his taxes, his land, and goods. Then began the Upsal domains, which have remained ever since.

Then began in his days the Frode-peace; and then there were good seasons, in all the land, which the Swedes ascribed to Frey, so that he was more worshipped than the other gods, as the people became much richer in his days by reason of the peace and good seasons.

His wife was called Gerd, daughter of Gymir, and their son was called Fjolne.

Frey was called by another name, Yngve; and this name Yngve was considered long after in his race as a name of honour, so that his descendants have since been called Ynglingar.

(translated by Samuel Laing, Heimskringla: The Norse King Sagas by Snorre Sturluson (London 1844), XII)

Some Suggestions for Optional Background Reading, Research, and Reference

• Andrén, A., Jennbert, K., & Raudvere, C. (eds.), Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives. Origins, Changes and Interactions International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3–7, 2004. Vägar till Midgård vol.8. (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2006).
• Branston, B., The Lost Gods of England. (London: Thames & Hudson, 1957).
• Carver, M., Sanmark, A., & Semple, S., Signals of Belief in Early England. Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited. (Oxford: OUP, 2010).
• Davidson, H.R.E., Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1964).
• Davidson, H.R.E., Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe. (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1988).
• Dronke, U., The Poetic Edda. Volume II. Mythological Poems II. (Oxford: OUP, 2011).
• Grattan, J.H.G., & Singer, C., Anglo-Saxon Magic and Medicine. (Oxford: OUP, 1952).
• Halsall, M., The Old English Rune Poem: A Critical Edition. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981).
• Hollander, L.M. (tr.), Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson (University of Texas 1964).
• Pollington, S., Runes: A Guide to their History and Usage (Chesterwell Press 2024).
• Turville-Petre, E.O.G., Myth and Religion of the North (London 1964).

About Stephen Pollington

Steve Pollington has many published titles on the Old English language, military culture, healing and herblore, runes, and feasting in the ‘meadhall’, as well as a double CD of readings in Old English. He has lectured widely on aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture since 1991, from local history to the details of verse metre, from theories of the origins of the Germanic runes to the handling of Anglo-Saxon weaponry. His linguistic skills have been utilised for many television and radio programmes, especially by Michael Wood. His most recently published books are Runes: A Guide to their History and Usage (Chesterwell Press 2024) and Woden: A Historical Companion (Uppsala Books 2024). His current project is a study of goddesses in early Germanic culture.

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