Frankish Heathenry

[Psychonaut]

I'm reposting this, along with a few other of my old threads, over here. They were originally posted on Skadi, but since I probably won't be able to access that site much longer, I'd like to keep them here.

Not a lot is known about the pre-Christian religion of the Franks. What clues we do have, however, paint an interesting picture that highlights the similarities as well as the differences from the closest cousins of the Franks, the Saxons.

Here are a few bits that I've picked up:

While he was probably not the principle God of the Franks, an Odinic heiti did manage to survive in the name of Ascaric, a very early (c. 300 A.D.) Frankish king. His name is formed from the words "asc" (ash) and "ric" (king), which is a clear reference to Odin as the spear God.

Then there is the curious figure of Merovech, the semi-legendary Merovingian patriarch. In his Historia, Fredgar says that Merovech's mother was "attacked" by a bestea Neptuni Quinotauri similis (beast of Neptune that looks like a Quinotaur). Now, the word Quinotaur means a bull with five horns. This is sometimes seen as an allusion to a bull-headed sea creature bearing a trident.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/Quinotaur.jpg

This creatures alleged fatherhood of Merovech is especially interesting when you consider that the last fully Heathen Frankish king, Childeric I, was entombed with a huge golden bull's head. Could this be indicative of some sort of bovine deity similar to the Norse Auðumbla, or perhaps to the bulls that draw the chariot of Nerþus that Tacitus describes?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Nerthus_by_Emil_Doepler.jpg

Referencing Childeric's tomb, we are also left with the puzzling situation of the bees. His tomb contained around 300 golden bees, looking like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Childeric%27s_bees.jpg

The fact that there were so many seems to underlie the importance of this image. The bee is often connected to fertility deities, but it could also mirror the Cretian mythos in this instance and have a connection to some sort of myth about mead.

Lyfing was also kind enough to post an article from the Journal of Germanic Folklore and Religion entitled "Germanic Paganism among the Early Salian Franks," which can be accessed here (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1263).

[Baron Samedi]

I really would like to see a greater focus on this in the future. Frankish history is something both deeply fascinating and puzzling at the same time.

The secrets must be unlocked.

[Liffrea]

Gregory of Tours is worth a read for some historical background, but the Franks are an interesting phenomenon, more so because if the British hadn’t crushed the Saxons at Mons Badonicus c.AD490-500 Britain may well have turned out to be another Latinised society with a slight Germanic overlay. As it was the British victory ensured that south-eastern England became fully Germanised and when the English began to move again towards the end of the 6th century there was no stopping us. In fact it was the battle of Badon that saw the Saxons increase their activities in northern Gaul. For sometime it looked like the north of Gaul would be Saxon.

The Franks became Romanised (or rather Latinised) because they were too successful but the German presence in France goes back long before Caesar imposed the somewhat artificial boundary between German and Celt along the Rhine. The Belgae of north-eastern France, Belgium and south eastern Britain have been suggested as Germanic speakers. Also the Franks absorbed previous Germanic people’s settled in Gaul, the Burgundians and the Visigoths had both served the late Roman state, and were instrumental in Aetius’ campaign to stave off Attila’s invasion of Gaul in the mid 5th century AD.

[Mercury]

I just want to bump this old thread because I recently discovered a newly created blog that is attempting to reconstruct the old Frankish ways. Here's the link if anyone is interested:

http://aldsido.blogspot.com/

Also more information from same blogger in this Heathen Journal:
http://odroerirjournal.com/?wpfb_dl=1 (Page 31)

[Piparskeggr]

I just want to bump this old thread because I recently discovered a newly created blog that is attempting to reconstruct the old Frankish ways. Here's the link if anyone is interested:

http://aldsido.blogspot.com/

Also more information from same blogger in this Heathen Journal:
http://odroerirjournal.com/?wpfb_dl=1 (Page 31)

Interesting!!

I've bookmarked the journal, t seems worth another read or three.