Hello everyone! This is Casimir with The Skald’s Circle again. Today we’ll be talking about monks, myths, and how these two seemingly unrelated things go together.
Now, completely ignoring the foreshadowing in the opening. How would you imagine myths and folklore were passed down from when they were commonly believed and told to now? I’m sure the optimistic of you would like to state that they were passed on through word of mouth and familial traditions. Well, I will be so kind as to say this is not entirely wrong. Certain practices were passed down this way. For instance the burning and drowning of the effigy of Marzanna in Poland and other Slavic countries. These are just some examples of practices that were passed down through traditions of the people. However, the stories, like the various Celtic myth cycles, as well as more specific examples of the Codex Regius and the Codex Wormianus, were compiled and saved through the works of none other than the Catholic Church.
The early Catholics, with a specific note to the monasteries in Ireland, were diligent recorders of information. They went above and beyond the recording of the biblical tales, going so far as to record — quite literally — anything that they could get their hands on. All knowledge was sacred and worth keeping, not just the knowledge the church considered of canonical importance. So, these monks recording the tales of the Celtic cycles, the Greek myths, and both Greek and Roman philosophers. Without them, I feel safe making the leap to say that we would not possess nearly the same amount of knowledge as we do of ancient cultures today.
I am not one who is often willing to admit that there are people who have said things better than me, quite the contrary, I am often quite arrogant. In this case though, I will make an exception. How the Irish Saved Civilization
If you want examples of myths that were passed down through the hands of monks to us today that we have recorded here, look no further than a lot of our Norse myths. While Snorri Sturluson may not have been a monk, he did compile many different stories that came from different sources, like the Codex Wormianus.
I hope you have enjoyed this lesson of History with the Skald’s Circle. If you’d like to know more, or perhaps discuss history with me I’m always more than willing. Also, if you have something you would like us to research, please let us know! Until then, I’ll be back next week with another fascinating topic. This is Casimir, signing off, and remember, always check your sources!
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