Scandinavian Mythology: Introduction by H.R. Ellis Davidson (1969)

Source: Viking and Norse Mythology, pp. 6-15 We tend to think of Scandinavian mythology as the beliefs of the Vikings, those tough adventurers who were the scourge of Christian lands in the ninth and tenth centuries, whose ships sailed all the seas of the known world, and who left traces of their activities from Greenland to the …

After the Bronze Age: The Twins by Hilda Ellis Davidson (1969)

Source: ‘Part II: After the Bronze Age,’ Chariot of the Sun and Other Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age, 1969, pp. 176-179. The symbol of two male figures side by side, sometimes holding axes and apparently associated with the sun, was clearly important in the Bronze Age, and Sprockhoff (1954, pp. 87-90) has …

After the Bronze Age: Birds by Hilda Ellis Davidson (1969)

Source: ‘Part II: After the Bronze Age,’ Chariot of the Sun and Other Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age, 1969, pp. 174-176. The bird costumes of the Bronze Age are echoed in traditions of the later heathen period. The water birds, swans, ducks and geese, who are associated in the Bronze Age with …

After the Bronze Age: The Horse by Hilda Ellis Davidson (1969)

Source: ‘Part II: After the Bronze Age,’ Chariot of the Sun and Other Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age, 1969, pp. 167-172. The horse continues to be a symbol of great religious significance throughout the pagan period. Once more there is a dearth of evidence in the centuries following the Bronze Age, and …

After the Bronze Age: The Sun-disk by Hilda Ellis Davidson (1969)

Source: 'Part II: After the Bronze Age,' Chariot of the Sun and Other Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age, 1969, pp. 139-145. Introduction The apparent breakdown of organized religion at the close of the Northern Bronze Age poses a problem for the archaeologist. The religious historian also must be concerned over the subsequent fate of …

The Geats of “Beowulf”: A Study in the Geographical Mythology of the Middle Ages by Jane Acomb Leake, Reviewed by H.R. Ellis Davidson (1968)

Reviewed Work: The Geats of "Beowulf": A Study in the Geographical Mythology of the Middle Ages by Jane Acomb Leake Review by: H. R. Ellis Davidson, Folklore, Vol. 79, No. 2 (Summer, 1968), pp. 147-149. THIS is a book of some importance for anyone interested in the supernatural elements in the Anglo-Saxon heroic poem Beowulf, …

The Giant of Cerne Abbas by H. S. E. Dewar reviewed by Hilda R. Ellis Davidson (1968)

This new series of small monographs on West Country Folklore under the editorship of Miss Theo Brown will be warmly welcomed by all who are interested in the subject, and it may be hoped that other regions will now follow the lead of the West Country. In her foreword Miss Brown stresses the need for …

The Anglo-Saxon Burial at Coombe [Woodnesborough]*, Kent by Hilda R. Ellis Davidson & Leslie Webster (1967)

*Coombe is a settlement in the English county of Kent. It lies between Ash-next-Sandwich and Woodnesborough. According to Edward Hasted in 1800, it was a hamlet in the western section of the parish of Woodnesborough. The village's name derives from Ancient Celtic cumbā "valley" which was taken into Old English. The name was recorded as æt …

The Medical Background of Anglo-Saxon England. A Study in History, Psychology and Folklore by Wilfred Bonser; Reviewed by H.R. Ellis Davidson (1964)

Review by: H. R. Ellis Davidson, Folklore, Vol. 75, No. 4 (Winter, 1964), pp. 287-289. THIS is a careful and systematic study of medicine and methods of healing during the Anglo-Saxon period (from the fifth to the eleventh centuries) in England. Written evidence in Anglo-Saxon and Latin works has been conscientiously surveyed and discussed, and comment …

Folklore and Man’s Past by H.R. Ellis Davidson (1963)

We realize now that folklore is not merely a study of survival - fossilized pieces of quaint tradition from a hypothetical past. Yet it does provide a link with the past, and as a student of early literature, archaeology and religion, this is the aspect of folklore studies with which I am most concerned. What …