Freyja
Runes & Seidr -
15
-
first edition March
1999 Imbloc
Baldr
Baldr
getting killed by
Höðr
and Loki. From the
18th century
Icelandic
manuscript
SÁM 66
in the care of the Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland.
Some Controversial
Aspects of the Myth of Baldr
See:
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/11baldr.pdf
Turville-Petre's coverage of Baldr is still reasonably good in his
1964 book, Myth and Religion of the North. He covers the place-name
evidence for the historical belief in the god on pp. 116-117: these
include names like Baldrshagi, Baldersgroi, Baldersvold,
Baldersheimr, Baldrsberg, and Baldrshóll. He also refers to a work
by Magnus Olsen which "carefully studied place-names in which the
element Baldr may be contained." As you may or may not know, it is
very difficult to make sense of Turville Petre's endnotes, but he
seems to be referring here to an unnamed article in Arkiv för
Nordisk Filologi, vol. 40, p, 151 (1924). Turville-Petre also
reviews the many references to Baldr in the surviving Eddic and
skaldic poems, all of which confirm or are consistent with Snorri's
account of the myth.
Of course, the state of the art in Baldr scholarship is John
Lindow's magnificent Murder and Vengeance Among the Gods: Baldr in
Scandinavian Mythology (1997).
Murder and vengeance
among the gods: Baldr in Scandinavian mythology
by John Lindow
Publisher:
Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica (1997)
Language:
English
ISBN-10:
9514108094
ISBN-13:
978-9514108099
Lindow reviews every aspect of the surviving lore relating to Baldr
in minute detail, and shows that it is not only internally
consistent, but also very much in line with pre-Christian Norse
beliefs in general. Of particular interest. Lindow mentions the
skaldic poem MálsháttakvFxi: "in the one relevant stanza it mentions
Frigg, Hermóx’s journey attempting to retrieve Baldr from Hel, and
the later incomplete weeping that fails to restore Baldr" (p.25).
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