Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/295

 The Ancient Teutonic Priesthood. 283

administer justice among men.^ It has indeed been sug- gested that the conception of the twelve gods is a purely literary one and due to classical influence ; but the con- jecture is needless. A perfectly adequate explanation is provided in the existence of judicial councils of twelve, like that at Upsala. They probably date from very early times, and, indeed, are not peculiar to the North. Analogies are to be found in England, in cases where Danish influence is hardly probable." A more important parallel is supplied by the Frisian saga of the twelve ase^en (' speakers of the law'), who could not declare to Karl the Great the nature of Frisian law.^ Bodies of twelve delegates are found also among the Old Saxons and in Holstein.*

But though the priests mentioned by Adam may be identical with the councillors, the position of high-priest seems to have belonged properly to the king. In Yngling- atal, the mythical king Alfr is called v'ordr vestalls, ' guardian of the altar.'-^ The god Fro, the traditional founder of the ancient royal family, is in Ynglinga Saga distinctly represented as a priest-king. Both here and in Saxo (iii,, p. 120) he is said to have instituted the sacrifices at Upsala. In another passage of Saxo (i., p. 49 f.), the origin of the sacrifices is attributed to a King Hadingus, who seems to be identical with Niordr, Fro's father. The sacrifices are, however, said to be offered to Fro. Again, according Vngl. s., 47, a famine which arose in the days of the legendary king Olafr Tretelgia was attributed by the people to the king's remissness in offering sacrifice. The result was that the king himself was sacrificed. There is

' Viig^. s. 2 ; cf. Hyndluliod 28, Gylf. 14, Gantreks. s. 7, &c. It is to be observed that, according to Ynglinga Saga, Othin was supposed to have reigned in Sweden.

- Stubbs, op. ciL, pp. 106, 121.

3 V. Richthofen, Fries. Recktsquelkn, pp. 439 fF.

■• Stubbs, op. cit., pp. 49, 65.

^ Yngl. s. 24; cf. the expression ves valdr, 'ruler of the sanctuary,' applied by Kormakr to Sigurdr, Earl of Hladir {Hakonar s. Coda, 16).