The Exeter Book of Riddles

The Exeter Book, also known as the Codex Exoniensis, is a tenth-century anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry. The book was donated to the library of Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter, in 1072. Of the 131 pages that it consisted off, 8 are lost.  Despite this,  the Exeter Book is the largest known collection of Old English Riddles still in existence.

The Anglo-Saxons loved poems and  Riddles.  It was certainly one way to pass the long dark nights. In particular they seemed to enjoy rather naughty riddles which had two meanings – a real one and a much more fun rude one. Naturally the idea was to work out the real meaning with out making the mistake of falling for the obvious one. Here are some examples. The answers are at the bottom of the page.

The numbers here are the numbers generally associated with the riddles

74.

I’m a wonderful thing,     a joy to women,
I’m a wonderful thing,     a joy to women,
to neighbors useful.     I injure no one
who lives in a village     save only my slayer.
I stand up high     and steep over the bed;
underneath I’m shaggy.     Sometimes ventures
a young and handsome     peasant’s daughter,
a maiden proud,     to lay hold on me.
She seizes me, red,     plunders my head,
fixes on me fast,     feels straightway
what meeting me means     when she thus approaches,
a curly-haired woman.     Wet is that eye.

The clue is in the lines  I injure no one ….   save only my slayer  and Wet is that eye. Any ideas?

75.
Splendidly it hangs     by a man’s thigh,
under the master’s cloak.     In front is a hole.
It is stiff and hard;     it has a goodly place.
When the young man     his own garment
lifts over his knee,     he wishes to visit
with the head of what hangs     the familiar hole
he had often filled     with its equal length.

Something specifically designed to fit just one hole.Check the answers at the bottom.

76.
I have heard of something     wax in a corner,
swell and pop,     lift up the covers.
A proud-minded woman     seized with her hands
that boneless thing,     a prince’s daughter;
covered with her dress     the swelling thing.

Think cooking.

77.
A youth came along     to where he knew
she stood in a corner.     Forth he strode,
a vigorous young man,     lifted up her own
dress with his hands,     thrust under her girdle
something stiff     as she stood there;
worked his will;     both of them shook.
A thane hurried up,     useful at times,
a capable servant;     nonetheless he grew tired
from time to time,     though strong at first,
weary with work.     Beneath the girdle
there began to grow     what often good men
love heartily     and buy with money.

A piece of equipment used to make commonly consumed produce.

The language in these riddles is sometimes clumsy in translation. As with all puns and riddles they often work best in the original language. But often they give us  a hint of a clever use of language that indicates that despite living in what we call the Dark Ages these monks and scribes had both a well developed sense of humour but also knowledge of irony and pun.  Ok then what about those answers?

74. Onion 75. A key  76. Bread dough  77 Butter Churn.

There are more of these riddles – I may return to the subject.

Christmas is coming in just a few day’s time. Along with the new year celebrations that follow it, it is in Britain the most important festival and holiday of the year. Families get together, give and receive presents, eat and drink and have a good time. Many businesses close down for almost 2 weeks and very little work gets done even in those places that are actually open. Unless of course they are pubs and restaurants!

In celebrating this time of year we recreate festivals that predate even the coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. For here it is deep winter. It is a time of long nights and short days. It is cold and dark and not a time to be out. This is a time to feast and create our own light and warmth and to look forward with hope to the return of the sun.

That at least is how our ancestors saw things. Christmas coincides with Yuletide – the ancient celebration that occupied midwinter. Here in England it was celebrated for a number of days running on from the 25th of December. At that time, under the old Julian calendar, December 25 was also the winter solstice. (Today it is 20th or 21st December of course).

How do we know that the early Saxons celebrated Yuletide at this time? Well the 8th century scholar, Bede, tells us this in an essay he wrote on the Saxon calendar:

They began the year with December 25, the day we now celebrate as Christmas; and the very night to which we attach special sanctity they designated by the heathen mothers’ night — a name bestowed, I suspect, on account of the ceremonies they performed while watching this night through. 

The very name for the months that straddled Yuletide -December and January – were considered “Giuli” or Yule by the Anglo-Saxons.  The Anglo-Saxons celebrated the beginning of the year on December 25th,which they called Modranect”— that is, Mothers’ Night. This celebration was linked to the rebirth of ‘Mother’ Earth and the whole idea of ceremonies conducted at the time was to ensure fertility in the coming spring season.

As the Saxon gods of fertility were Freyja, who governed love and fertility and her twin brother Freyr then they may well have been linked to the celebrations.

Forget the Turkey – bring out the boar

It is probable that the feasts involved boars. Freyja and Freya were associated with the boar. This was the primary animal represented in Yuletide customs and indeed in Anglo-Saxon culture in general. It is mentioned in epic warrior poetry like Beowulf. A boar’s head may well have been sacrificed to appease the gods and the boar continued to ornament brooches, bowls and jewelry as well as more military objects for centuries.

The missionaries arrive

In the year 597 the pope at the time sent Augustine to England to try and convert it to Christianity. The process would take centuries but quite early on it appears that a decision was made to amalgamate the pagan festival of Yuletide with Christianity. Christmas as a festivity celebrating the birth of Jesus originated in Egypt sometime in the second century: here it took over a previous festivity, most likely the birth of Osiris. In Europe, Christianty encountered the Roman cult of Mithras.  The 25th of December is now universally accepted as Mithras’ bithday. Mithras was an Iranic deity associated with Sun worship whose cult became so widespread in the Roman Empire as to become a serious threat for Christianity.

In 567 AD, in order to encourage the people to abandon pagan holidays, The Council of Tours declared the 12 days of Christmas to be a festival. Historically, the 12 days of Christmas followed-did not precede-December 25th. These dozen days ended the day before Epiphany (the coming of the Magi), which was celebrated on January 6th.

Christian influence, however, remained superficial until the time of the Norman Conquest. Rites included yule logs, use of evergreens, mistletoe, eating, drinking. Games such as leap frog and blind man’s buff were played at the time and actually originated in ancient fertility customs – an echo of mother’s night.

Gradually old Germanic Yule celebrations combined with nativity feasts, and the English Christmas began to take shape. Alfred The Great insisted that no business was done during the Twelve Days. By 1066 the Christianisation of England was complete and the Twelve Days were the main annual holiday.

So when we sit down to our Christmas lunch we recreate tradition that stretched back through fifteen and more centuries.

Merry Christmas and Happy Yuletide!

The telling and guessing of riddles was a popular pass-time for the Anglo-Saxons. Often these riddles had double meanings – a blatant sometimes sexual one and a more subtle true answer.  The riddles became steadily more elaborate and some are very obscure.

Not many of these riddles exist today but The Book of Exeter survived Henry VIII’s destruction of the monasteries and lists about 60. Here are some of them with answers at the bottom:

1. Head down, nosing-I belly the ground. Hard snuffle and grub, I bite and furrow. Drawn by the dark enemy of forests, driven by a bent lord who hounds my trail. Who lifts and lowers me, rams me down. Pushes on plain, and sows seed. I am a ground-skulker, born of wood. Bound by wizards, brought on wheel. My ways are weird: as I walk one flank Of my trail is gathering green, the other Is bright black. Through my back and belly a sharp sword thrusts; through my head. A dagger is stuck like a tooth: what I slash falls in a curve of slaughter to one side if my driving lord slaves well.

2. I saw a creature with its belly behind huge and swollen, handled by a servant, A hard, muscled man who struggled so That the bulge in its belly burst through its eye: Its passion–gorge and spill through death, Then rise and fill with second breath To sire a son and father self.

3. A small miracle hangs near a man’s thigh, Full under folds. It is stiff, strong, Bold, brassy, and pierced in front. When a young lord lifts his tunic over his knees, he wants to greet with the hard head of this hanging creature the hole it has long come to fill.

4. The wind carries small creatures over hill-slopes and headlands: dark coated, black-bodied, bursting with song. They chirm and clamor like a troop on wing, winding their way to wooded cliff-walls, sometimes to the halls of men-singing a name-song.

5. Who am I who stand so boldly by the sea road: hightowering, cheek-bright, useful to men?

So how did you get on. Here are the answers:

Answers

1. Plough (OK that one seems clear enough) 2. Bellows (bit obscure if you ask me) 3.  A Key (what were you thinking?) 4. Swallows (or any of many other birds) 5. Lighthouse

http://www.richarddenning.co.uk/theambertreasure.html

Entertainment in Anglo Saxon times:

Feats in Anglo Saxon Times

No Ipods, no Internet, no TV, radio and not even newspapers and books (unless you were wealthy ). What do you do to keep from getting bored? Here are some ways that the Anglo Saxons had fun in the dark evenings.

Indoor entertainment and feasts

There was a high degree of ceremony connected with feasts. It would start outside the hall. A horn was blown to summon the guests to table and the host would great them at the door where there would be a hand washing ceremony at the door. The doors were shut to keep gate crashers away!

Then the guests would enter and sit at benches lining long tables. The king’s warriors or thegns could sit in his halls but only men of high rank would sit at the high table. Women of high rank would be cup bearers and pour drinks for the king and lords. In the Christian era bread was blessed and then broken in remembrance of the Eucharist or holy communion/ mass.

Feasts might go on all day and night: there were even some 3 day feasts.

It was considered a serious matter to commit an offense or undertake violence at a feast

Entertainment at feasts: These might include playing the harp, lyre, horn, trumpet, drums flute or cymbals. There would be accompanying signing: often songs recalling battles.

They enjoyed dancing and juggling, poets and stories and the asking of riddles. Here is a typical Anglo-Saxon riddle from the Exeter book which has many riddles. Some are obscure and some lewd and suggestive. This one is straighter forward.
On the wave a miracle: water turned to bone.
What is the answer? See at the end of this section.

Games:

A board game

Above: a game of Hnefatafl
The Anglo-Saxons were fond of dice games. Dice were made from the knuckle bones of animals such as pigs. Boardgames were also popular and often recalled battles in a symbolic way. An example is Hnefatafl which is played using stone pieces on a carved wooden board.  One player’s pawns coming from the corners of the board would attack the other side’s kings and pawns which were positioned in the centre. The player with the King would be trying to get him off the board (to escape from the battle) whilst the other player would try and trap him. These un-even games – where the two sides were of different sizes and abilities – were very prevalent in Anglo-Saxon and later Viking cultures.

Outdoor Sports:
Horse racing  was mentioned in Beowulf  in 8th century and by the writer Bede in 7th. There are records of dog racing, hunting, ice skating, swimming, falconry, hawking, acrobatics wrestling and gymnastics.

Answer to the riddle:
On the wave a miracle: water turned to bone.
Ice or iceberg.

There are more riddles here: http://news.richarddenning.co.uk/?p=88

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