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History and Genealogy
of the Pearsall Family in England
and America:
Volume I
Front Cover
Inside Front Cover
The Motive
Thanks
Illustrations
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Appendix I
Volume II
Volume III
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a kingdom
established in Sweden
long before the advent of Odin. This also agrees with the saga of Saxo Grammaticus which names a number of kings of Denmark
prior to the time of Odin. Saxo tells of Odin
as contemporary with the Danish king, Hadding,
the sixth king in the succession of their royal line. At this time, he
says, there was one Odin who was credited over all Europe
with the honour, which was false, of godhead,
who used more continuously to sojourn at Upsala.
And in this spot, either from the sloth of the inhabitants or from his
own pleasantness, he vouchsafed to dwell with especial constancy. The
kings of the North desiring more zealously to worship his deity, embounded his likeness in a golden image; and this
statue which betokened their homage, they transmitted with much show of
worship to Byzantium,
fettering even the arms with a serried mass of bracelets. Odin was
overjoyed at such notoriety and greeted warmly the devotion of the
senders. [Saxo Grammaticus, book one.]
That Odin is
simply a mortal of kingly rank coming originally from some regions lying
to the east of the Hellespont, is now
the accepted view of the best modern historians. It is in this light they
say, that the Heimskringla presents him, and
the Christian compiler of that work goes even farther in his attempt to
rationalize the Odinic Myth, translating Aesir as Asia-men. Likewise Saxo,
anxious to see Paganism left without ground to stand upon, concludes that
Odin, a mere mortal, won divine honors for himself and his spouse Frigga by dint of magic. [History of Nations, vol.
16, by Edward Samuel Corwin, page 10.] It is best explained by saying
that Odin brought with him from the East the old worship of the king as a
god, or as a high priest, and that this continued in the Scandinavian peninsula long after they had ceased
to make Gods of their kings, other than Odin and his sons and grandsons
and their contemporaries. But even after this every king was the pontiff
or high priest, and one of the most important of his duties was to offer the
annual sacrifices within the temples of the kingdom. [Ibid.,
page 38.]
In the old
Swedish legends it is related that Odin founded the empire of the Svea and built a great temple at a spot called Sigtuna, near Lake Maclar,
in the present province of Upland, which was known by the Northmen under the name of the lesser Svithjod to distinguish it from the greater Scythia
from which they believed that he had led his followers. According to the Heimskringla he found that a great part of the land
was occupied by a people who, like himself, had come from Svithoid, but in such long past ages that, according
to their own account, no one could fix the time. [History of Nations,
vol. 16, by Edward Samuel Corwin, page 35.]
Odin died in his
bed in Sweden; and when he was near his death he made himself be marked
with the point of a spear, and said he was going to Godheim,
and would give a welcome there to all his friends, and all brave warriors
should be dedicated to him; and the Swedes believed that he was gone to
the ancient Asgaard, and would live there
eternally. (The meaning seems to be, that he was marked with the sign of
the head of a spear; that is, with the sign of the cross. The sign of
Thor's hammer, viz. the head of a battle-axe or halberd, was said to be
used, as the sign of the cross was after Christianity was introduced; it
was a kind of consecration by a holy sign.) Then began the belief in
Odin, and
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