In Woden’s Shadow: Anglo-Saxonism, Paganism, and Politics in Modern England

Summary

As a world of great burial mounds, glittering treasures of gold, and epic poems about warriors and dragons, early medieval England – or Anglo-Saxon England, as it is more commonly, if controversially, known – has produced a rich vein of medievalism. Emerging from the mists of the so-called Dark Ages, the historical and archaeological material left behind by the inhabitants of the period permits multiple, often competing visions. Encompassing a linguistically and culturally diverse range of communities living across southern and eastern Britain between the fifth and eleventh centuries, early medieval England offers space to be regarded as the birthplace of English Christendom but can just as readily be envisioned as a pagan world of Woden, Thunor, and Frig.

Although the legacy of the Early Middle Ages has attracted some attention from scholars of medievalism, it is apparent that this has been smaller than the attention paid to the influence of the High and Late Middle Ages. Nevertheless, over the past few decades, the reception of early medieval England has been the subject of studies dissecting it from various angles. As well as broader studies covering the reception of the entire period, there are examinations of more specific phenomena, such as the history of the scholarly study of Old English, the nineteenth-century fascination with King Alfred, and the many adaptations of Beowulf.

As this material demonstrates, England's early medieval past has been an object of fascination and utility for various stakeholders since the period ended. Among those to have placed great importance on the Early Middle Ages have been practitioners of various forms of modern Paganism. Modern Paganism, sometimes known as Neopaganism, can be defined as a collection of religions “that are self-consciously inspired by the non-Abrahamic belief systems of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East which existed prior to the establishment of Christian and Islamic hegemony in this area of the world.” Thus, modern Paganism encompasses a varied range of groups found primarily in Europe and among the European diaspora.

The best known and largest of these is Wicca, which emerged from early twentieth-century theories about early modern witchcraft beliefs, although also well-known is Druidry, the practitioners of which self-identify with the druids of Iron Age Western Europe.