The Swan-Neck Poem by Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875)

Edith the fair or Edith Swan-Neck was said to have identified the body of Harold Godwinson from his tattoos. The custom of tattooing was described by William of Malmesbury in 1125 who writes in his book ‘Gesta Regum Anglorum’ (Deeds of the Kings of the English) that ‘In fine, the English at that time wore short garments reaching to the mid-knee; they had their hair cropped; their beards shaven; their arms laden with golden bracelets; their skin adorned with punctured designs’.

..for Harold Godwinson who fell October 14th.

Evil sped the battle play
On the Pope Calixtus' day;
Mighty war-smiths, thanes and lords,
In Senlac slept the sleep of swords.
Harold Earl, shot over shield,
Lay along the autumn weald;
Slaughter such was never none
Since the Ethelings England won.
Thither Lady Githa came,
Weeping sore for grief and shame;
How may she her first-born tell?
Frenchmen stript him where he fell,
Gashed and marred his comely face;
Who can know him in his place?
Up and spake two brethren wise,
'Youngest hearts have keenest eyes;
Bird which leaves its mother's nest,
Moults its pinions, moults its crest.
Let us call the Swan-neck here,
She that was his leman dear;
She shall know him in this stound;
Foot of wolf, and scent of hound,
Eye of hawk, and wing of dove,
Carry woman to her love.'
Up and spake the Swan-neck high,
'Go! to all your thanes let cry
How I loved him best of all,
I whom men his leman call;
Better knew his body fair
Than the mother which him bare.
When ye lived in wealth and glee
Then ye scorned to look on me;
God hath brought the proud ones low
After me afoot to go.'
Rousing erne and sallow glede,
Rousing gray wolf off his feed,
Over franklin, earl, and thane,
Heaps of mother-naked slain,
Round the red field tracing slow,
Stooped that Swan-neck white as snow;
Never blushed nor turned away,
Till she found him where he lay;
Clipt him in her armes fair,
Wrapt him in her yellow hair,
Bore him from the battle-stead,
Saw him laid in pall of lead,
Took her to a minster high,
For Earl Harold's soul to cry.

Raven mythology shows considerable homogeneity throughout the whole area [northern regions of the northern hemisphere] in spite of differences in detail. The Raven peeps forth from the mists of time and the thickets of mythology, as a bird of slaughter, a storm bird, a sun and fire bird, a messenger, an oracular figure and a craftsman or culture hero.

- Edward A. Armstrong, 'The Folklore of Birds,' 1958

The photos in the post above show the position of the horses skull in relation to the rest of its body as it was found in the grave. There is damage to the back of the horses skull consistent with the blow from a heavy axe. The warrior buried at Lakenheath had high status and the sacrifice of his horse and the burial of his weapons ensure he carries his status into the next life.

The OE name for the poisonous plant Wolfsbane was Thung (þung or pang), which described the sickness it caused if eaten. The Norse folk called Wolfsbane Torhatt meaning Thor's Hat, which became Stormhatt in modern Swedish. Another Old Norse name for Wolfsbane was Tyrihjelm which is sometimes translated as 'Tyr's Helm'.

A Witch-Wife riding a Wolf was seen in a dream by a man named Thord, Harald Hardrada’s man, prior to Harald’s army setting sail for England, 1066. This Witch-Wife was the Eoten Skade, her name meaning ‘to injure’ or ‘harm’ has an English cognate in the word scathe – the OE sċeaþa or sċeaþu and is connected to the English word shadow (OE sceadu) and even the Irish term Scáthach or Shadowy-one.

The Fyrgen Podcast - Episode 47: Symbel, Symbol & Superstition, with Sagnamaðr Stark

https://www.hearthfireradio.com/watchfree?v=MHoZKdqy

Heathen historian and collector of artefacts Sagnamaðr Stark steps into The Fyrgen to discuss heathen practice, folk customs, and theories surrounding the nature of existence according to the traditional worldview.

Links: Telegram

The image of Frīg riding her besom or distaff is sometimes cited as a source of imagery for a witch riding her broom. However there is a sexual reference to ‘riding’ a broom. The broom is a phallic object and it was documented (as early as the 14th century) that salves made with Deadly Nightshade and Henbane were smeared onto the broom handle, then absorbed into the body via the witches genitals. These herbs were hallucinogenic and many users thought they were flying.

An investigation into witchcraft from 1324 reads,

In rifleing the closet of the ladie, they found a pipe of oyntment, wherewith she greased a staffe, upon which she ambled and galloped through thick and thin!

Pictured here is the Lyminster knuckerhole, the watery lair of a knucker. Knuckers are a type of water dragon, found mostly in Sussex, England. We find the word recorded as Nicor in Beowulf.
The Lyminster knucker was killed by a dragon-slayer, for in the Lyminster church there stands the tomb of the dragoner-slayer called the Slayers-slab. On this eroded medieval gravestone the faint outline of a sword (or perhaps the slayer holding the sword) can just be seen.