Further reading
There are many works which should be on the bookshelves of all Odinists. What follows is a selection of some of the most important, the most useful, and the most thought-provoking. This is a very brief list of essential books, with a few short comments on their relevance.
Where a book is available in several editions or translations no publication details are given.
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Tacitus, Germania.
A study of the character and customs of the Germanic tribes in Roman times.
<View e-version online at: Northvegr> -
Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul.
Includes chapters on the invasion of Germany and notes on the customs of the tribes there.
<View e-version online at: University of Virginia Library> -
Beowulf.
An Old English poem of uncertain date, depicting life in a late-heathen warrior society. Some Christian material has been interpolated, but overall it is very authentic. Other Old English poems that give us vivid insights into the lives of our ancestors are Deor's Complaint, Wulf and Eadwacer, Widsith, The Wanderer, and The Seafarer. The Battle of Maldon and The Battle of Brunanburgh are two poems revelling in the heroic Germanic spirit, and, it has been said, "... although there are references to Christian virtues, brutally heathen".
<View e-version online at: Northvegr> -
The Codex Regius, also known as the Poetic Edda.
An Icelandic work containing most - but not all - of the poems on which our knowledge of Norse paganism is based.
<View e-version online at: Northvegr> -
Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda.
A thirteenth century text-book for scaldic poets, and another source of information on Norse heathenism.
<View e-version online at: Northvegr> -
Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum.
Saxo wrote this for an archbishop, and therefore it is heavily laced with Christianity and untrustworthy, but it sometimes sheds light on otherwise obscure aspects of our faith.
<View e-version online at: Northvegr> -
The Norse Sagas.
All were written by Christians, but some preserve relics of heathen poetry and provide other glimpses into heathen practice. For Egil's Saga we strongly recommend the translation by E.R. Eddison, first published in 1930 by Cambridge University Press and re-published by others since.
<Online versions of a number of Icelandic sagas can be found at: Northvegr> -
Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Ballads.
"The religion of the ballads, save for the few poems that deal with the popular Catholic mythology, is absolutely as heathen as that of the Helgi Lays; the sacredness of revenge, remorse, and love, the horror of treason, cruelty, lust and fraud are well given, but of Christianised feelings there are no traces. The very scheme on which the ballads and lays are alike built, the hapless innocent death of a hero or heroine, is as heathen as the plot of any Athenian tragedy can be," said York Powell. -
David M. Wilson (ed.), The Northern World, Thames & Hudson, 1980.
Reliable large-format book with chapters by specialists on "Gods and Heroes of the Northern World", "The Germanic Tribes in Europe", "The Anglo-Saxon Settlement of England" and many others of interest. -
F. J. Los, The Franks: a critical study in christianisation and imperialism. The original 1940 Dutch version was called Karel de Frank, de Groote?
This book may be hard to find but it is worth hunting down. It gives precise details of the barbarous christianising crusades of Charlemagne against the northern peoples, and argues persuasively that the Viking raids on Christian monasteries and lands were reprisals. -
Lloyd & Jennifer Laing, Anglo-Saxon England.
Covers both the heathen period and the early Christian period. -
Rupert Bruce-Mitford, The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial, British Museum Publications, various editions.
Full details of the excavation of a magnificent late-heathen royal burial in East Anglia. -
H. R. Ellis Davidson, Gods and Myths of Northern Europe.
This book provided many people with their first insights into our religion. -
H. R. Ellis Davidson, Pagan Scandinavia, Thames & Hudson, 1967.
From the earliest aechaeological records to the close of the heathen period. -
H.R. Ellis Davidson, The Road to Hel, Greenwood Press, 1968.
A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature.
<View e-version online at: Normannii Thiud & Reik> -
Jakob Grimm, Germanic Mythology.
Useful especially for the living folklore that Grimm recorded.
<View e-version online at: Northvegr> -
Georges Dumezil, Gods of the Ancient Northmen, University of California Press, 1973.
A collection of the great scholar's essays on the faith of our ancestors. -
Brian Branston, The Lost Gods of England, Thames & Hudson, numerous reprints.
A stimulating though sometimes eccentric rediscovery of the Anglo-Saxon pantheon that has proved immensely popular. -
Kathleen Herbert, Looking for the Lost Gods of England, Anglo-Saxon Books.
Rigorous, stimulating and elegantly brief. -
Preben Meulengracht Sorenson, The Unmanly Man: concepts of sexual defamation in early northern society, Odense University Press, 1983.
A comprehensive study of the heathen north's negative attitudes to witchcraft, homosexuality and effeminacy. -
John Stanley Martin, Ragnarok: an investigation into old norse concepts of the fate of the gods, Melbourne Monographs in Germanic Studies. 1972.
Should be in major university libraries. A magisterial summary of all the surviving evidence relating to the final battle. -
Elsa-Brita Titchenell, The Masks of Odin: Wisdom of the Ancient Norse, Theosophical University Press, 1985.
<View e-version online at: Theosophical University Press>
There are many books on the Viking age, but few from a female perspective. Here are three exceptions:
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Judith Jesch, Women in the Viking Age, The Boydell Press, 1991.
A multidisciplinary survey concluding that the Viking Age "... was not all blood, sweat and tears, even for women". -
Margaret Clunies-Ross, Prolonged Echoes, Vols 1 & 2, Odense University Press, 1994 & 1998.
Clunies-Ross takes a female and sometimes perhaps feminist approach to her immense knowledge of the sources. Her case is well-argued and her conclusions can be startling.