There was a significant importance for horses in Germanic paganism, with them being venerated in a continuous tradition among the Germanic peoples from the Nordic Bronze Age until their Christianisation. They featured in a number of diverse and interrelated religious practices, being one of the most common animals sacrificed in blóts and found in graves, notably in examples such as at Sutton Hoo and the Oseberg ship. During the establishment of the church in Northern Europe, horsemeat shifted from being holy to taboo, with the eating of it being made a punishable offence and a recurring identifier of "savages" in saga literature.
The role of horses in religious practice is mirrored in extant Germanic mythology and legend, with the actions of both heroes and gods reflecting historical and archaeological records. Beyond this, horses further have a central role in mythical and legendary narratives frequently carrying their rider between worlds and through the air.
Origins and background
The importance of horses in the mythology and symbolism of the Germanic peoples dates back at least to the Nordic Bronze Age and shows continuity up until their Christianisation, likely stemming from aspects such as their practical importance, and inherited traditions from their Indo-European ancestors. Horses are depicted throughout the Bronze Age, in art such as rock carvings and on holy razor blades. The Trundholm Sun Chariot for example, dating to around 1400 BCE, consists of a horse pulling a wagon upon which sits a model of the sun and was found in a bog in Denmark.
Mythology and legend Hengist and Horsa, often translated as "Stallion" and "Horse", are two brothers mentioned by Bede as leaders of Germanic peoples during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. The brothers are described as descendants of Woden, with Hengist becoming listed as the ancestor of the Kentish royal dynasty. Scholars have suggested a connection between the two figures and other venerated twins in Indo-European cultures such as Pollux and Castor, and Romulus and Remus. It has been further suggested that the two figures were linked to a horse cult and are depicted in Anglo-Saxon art such as pressblech foils and brooches.
A number of horses feature in Nordic mythology, both throughout tales and in lists such as those in the poem Kálfsvísa and the þulur. These include the horses of the Æsir, ridden by gods such as Odin and Freyr, Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi, the horses that pull Day and Night respectively, and Grani, the horse of Sigurð Fáfnir's bane. Unnamed horses are also ridden by valkyries, often allowing them to fly, consistent with a widespread motif of particular horses allowing the rider to travel between worlds, seen in accounts such as Skírnismál. It has been further noted that the name of the world tree, Yggdrasill translates to "Ygg's (Odin's) steed", making the horse symbolism central to the understanding of the cosmos. Odin is also presented in a verse by Þórðr Sjáreksson recorded in Skáldskaparmál as a tamer of horses. This aristocratic status is similarly seen in Rígsþula, in which the children of Jarl tame horses.
Dedication to gods Prior to the establishment of Christianity, Frey was closely associated with the horse cult, with multiple accounts attesting holy horses being dedicated to him. Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar describes how holy horses were kept at a hof in Thrandheim. When the saga's namesake journeyed there to destroy the site, he finds one of the stallions about to be killed for Frey to eat. He then mounts the horse and rides it to the hof, before dragging Frey out of the building. In Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða, the eponymous goði was a friend of Frey and shared half his possessions with the god, including twelve mares and a stallion named Freyfaxi. The stallion was held in special regard and Hrafnkell allowed none but himself to ride him. Later in the tale, a boy rides Freyfaxi and so is killed by Hrafnkell, resulting in the figure abandoning Frey and Hrafnkell's enemies killing Freyfaxi by throwing him off a cliff. The name "Freyfaxi" is also seen in Vatnsdæla saga, suggesting its dedication to Frey in a similar manner. Elsewhere in this tale, the sons of Ingimund, who worship Frey, attend horse fights, which have been argued to have originated in the cult of Frey.
Though it is not explicitly mentioned, it has been proposed that the riding of one of Frey's horses by Olaf Tryggvason was an intentional transgression of the forbidding of riding the holy horses, such as that seen in Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða. A similar prohibition is seen in Bede's account of the Anglo-Saxon heathen priest Coifi, who was not permitted to ride, except on mares, or bear arms while pagan, but during his conversion rode to the temple on a stallion, with a spear and declared the renunciation of his earlier faith. Notably in this account, as with Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða, riding of mares is explicitly permitted, while that of stallions is not. It has been proposed that both narratives are based on a shared cultural motif.
In funeral and burial
Horse burial was practised in Scandinavia during the Late Roman Iron Age, consistent with Tacitus' account of it taking place among the Germanic Rhineland tribes in the 1st century CE. The practice is also well attested from the 5th to 7th centuries CE among continental Germanic peoples such as the Alamanni, Bavarians, Lombards, Franks, Saxons and Thuringians, including at the funeral of the Frankish king Childeric I. It has been suggested that the increase in horse burial at the start of the 5th century was through influence from the Huns, though the practice was taking place previously.
No extant textual sources describe efforts by the Church to suppress animal burial, however, in all regions, increasing Christian cultural influence from the 5th to 11th centuries correlated with the gradual decline in horse burials. Typically, practices altered slowly with periods of syncretism. For example, the Alemanni were officially Christianised in the late 6th century, however, horses continued to be buried with people into the second half of the 7th century, often alongside gold-foil crosses.
Similar to in continental contexts, horse burial in Anglo-Saxon England seems to have been strongly associated with heathen elite male identity, however, the inclusion of horses in human cremations was common, suggesting it was not restricted to those of high status. When buried, the horses were typically either still wearing their harnesses or were placed next to them. Horse burials seemed to have ceased in Anglo-Saxon England over the course of the 7th century, when Christianity became established as the dominant faith, but was briefly revived in the 9th and 10th centuries due to influence from North-Germanic peoples.
In the Viking Age in Scandinavia, horses are found in both male and female, inhumation and cremation burials, and ship burials such as that at Oseberg and Valsgärde. In Oseberg, at least 10 horses were found, all of which were old at the time of death, potentially to reduce the cost of the burial, though it has also been suggested that they had a special relation to the deceased. In Scandinavian horse burials, there is a wide variety in how the animal was killed and deposited, being in both flat-ground and mound burials, and the horses being combinations of beheaded, intact, in standing positions, laying down and placed on a buried ship. North Germanic horse burials are also described in accounts such as Egils saga when Skalla-Grim is buried along with his weapons, tools and horse. Horses are also related to the dead in cases such as Helgi in Helgakviða Hundingsbana II when he leaves the land of the living on horseback, and the valkyrjur riding on horses when they collect the dead. Furthermore, they are seen in the mythic material such as the account of Baldr's funeral in Gylfaginning.
A horse-ship funeral among the Rus' is described by Ahmad ibn Fadlan in which two horses are made to run until they sweated before being killed, cut up and put on a ship that had been drawn out of the water, upon which the dead chieftain lay. In addition to the horses, a dog and two cows were killed and placed on the ship alongside other goods such as beer and bread. The ship was then set on fire and, once burnt out, a mound was erected upon it and a pole placed on it bearing the name of the dead chieftain and his king.
The reason for including horses in burials is unclear however scholars have suggested various interpretations including that they were intended to appease the gods, to accompany the dead to the afterlife, or that it was solely to show economic strength. Horses in particular may have been made appealing for a burial role due to their ability to travel long distances and their noble associations.
Blót and horsemeat England Heathen period Archaeological evidence suggests that horsemeat was consistently, but rarely, eaten by humans throughout the Anglo-Saxon period in England, at a rate similar to that prior to the Anglo-Saxon migration in Britain. It has been proposed that this infrequency could have increased the significance of the act, further reinforced by the importance of horses in Germanic paganism.
In Anglo-Saxon England, horse sacrifice was not restricted to social elites however the extent of class dependence is difficult to assess during the Early Anglo-Saxon period due to the unclear distinction between high and low-status settlements prior to around the start of the 7th century. Horse burials and eating of the meat may have been interrelated practices in this period, similar to in Scandinavian communities, with examples in which only the head is placed in the grave potentially corresponding to cases in which the body was eaten. Several examples of remains believed to result from short periods of feasting have been discovered dating to the end of the Early period and into the Mid period such as near Yarnton in which horse jawbones were uncovered, but no meat-bearing bones.
Finds such as the 6th-7th century site at Melton in Yorkshire and Cresswell Field in Oxfordshire show close association between feasting on horses and religious practice, such as the deposition at the edge of a lake and proximity to possible cultic structures. The site at Melton also shows horse heads and hoofs, which may have resulted from the remains being displayed as skins with both the head and hoofs still attached prior to deposition. Rituals involving heads and hooves trace back to the Bronze Age and notably also took place in southern and eastern Scandinavia in the Roman Iron Age, continuing into the Migration Period.
Christian period