Germanic paganism: Encyclopedia II - Germanic paganism - Sources

Germanic paganism - Sources

Most sources documenting Germanic paganism have been lost and it is only from Iceland that there is a substantial literature, namely the Sagas and the Eddas.

Some information is found in the Nibelungenlied and in Beowulf. Limited information also exists in Tacitus' ethnographic work Germania, although some preface is necessary due to context.

Further material has been deduced from folk customs found in surviving rural folk traditions that have either been mildly superficiailly Christianized or lightly modified, including surviving laws and legislature (Althing, Anglo-Saxon law, the Grágás), calendar dates, customary folktales and traditional symbolism found in folk art.

The majority of the evidence for Germanic paganism, both written and monumental, was likely intentionally destroyed when Christianity slowly gained dominant political power in Germania and later Scandinavia throughout the mediæval period.

Although perhaps singularly most responsible for the destruction of pagan sites, purported massacres such as the Bloody Trial of Verden and the subsequent dismantling of ancient tribal ruling systems, the Frankish emperor Charlemagne is said to have made a substantial collection of Germanic pre-Christian writings, which was deliberately destroyed after his death.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Sources", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki