The Wild Hunt (It's Origins, Leaders, and Procession)

The Wild Hunt, its leader, it procession, all parts of an ancient story but academics disagree on its origins and who originally led it. Here we take a look at the work of Hutton, Lecouteux, Grimm, Liberman, de Vries, amongst others, and compare their views, and explain some of the gaps in their thinking.

The conclusion to this is that we can find an ancient leader of the hunt, even if we can't recreate the original story.

I tell some tales of the Wild Hunt, stories of Kings and Gods, giants and other supernatural and mythological beings. And look at what these mean. I also edited this video down from over 2 hours, and so there is so much I have taken out so let me know if you would like to hear more details on anything.


Bibliography and Papers Cited

Adolphi, Gustavi. 1998. Masks and mumming in the Nordic area, Acta Academiae Regiae
de Vries, Jan. 1931. Contributions to the Study of Othin, Especially in His Relation to Agricultural Practices in Modern Popular Lore, FFC 94
de Vries, Jan. 1954. “Über das Verhältnis von Óƒr und Óƒinn,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 73 (1954), 337–353
Eike, Christine. 1980. Oskoreia og ekstaseriter, Norveg 23, 229-309
Endter, Alfred. 1933. Die Sage vom Wilden Jäger und von der Wilden Jagd: Studien über den deutschen Dämonenglauben. Germany, Druck von F.W. Kalbfleisch
Flasdieck, Hermann. 1937. Harlekin. German Mythos in romanischer Wandlung, Anglia 61
Grimm, Jacob. 1882. Teutonic Mythology. Translated by James Steven Stallybrass. Bell
Gundarsson. 1992. The Folklore of the Wild Hunt and Furious Host, Mountain Thunder, Issue 7
Lecouteux, Claude. 2011. Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and Ghostly Processions
Lecouteux, Claude. 2016. Encyclopaedia of Norse and Germanic Folklore, Mythology, and Magic
Liberman, Anatoly. 2016. In Prayer and Laughter: Essays on Medieval Scandinavian and Germanic Mythology, Literature, and Culture. Moscow: Paleograph Press
Lincoln, Bruce, et al. 1991. Death, war, and sacrifice: studies in ideology and practice. Chicago, University of Chicago Press
Map, Walter. 1923. De Nugis Curialium, ed. & trans. M. R. James, The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion
Olrik, Axel. 1901. Odinsjægeren. Dania 8, 139-173
Pócs, Éva. 1989. The Night Battles. Translated by John and Anne Tedeschi. Routledge, Ginzburg
Procopius. De Bello Gothico (The Gothic War). Heinemann, (edited by H.B.Dewing), 1914
Schmitt, Jean-Claude. 1994. Ghosts in the Middle Ages, Chicago University Press
Thorpe, Benjamin. 1851. Northern Mythology Volume II, Scandinavian Popular Traditions and Superstitions
Tomoaki. 1999. Othin who presides over the raging army, Iris 18


Unwerth, W. von. 1911. Untersuchungen über Totenkult und Ódinnverehrung bei Nordgermanen und Lappen: mit Excursen zur altnordischen Literaturgeschichte. Breslau: M. & H. Marcus

Anglo Saxon Chronicles. Phoenix, James Ingram, 2012
Germania, Claredon, Tacitus, edited by Anthony Birle, 1999
Fairies and Witches at the Boundary of South-Eastern and Central Europe. Academia Scientarum Fennica,
Notes on the Folk Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders, pp. 103-104, Longmans, Green, and Company, 1866


Chapters
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0:00 Introduction
3:10 Orderic Vitalis's Infernal Hunt
5:56 The Wild Hunt has become complex
8:41 The Differing Views to what made up the Hunt
11:32 The Wild Hunt's different Leaders
14:30 King Herla's Hunt
18:38 More Wild Hunt Themes
19:38 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and Pre-Christian origins
20:37 What was in the procession or army of the dead?
27:30 The problem with Odin being the leader
29:28 What do other historical texts infer?
31:36 An Old Norse version of the hunt
33:49 The Evolution of the Gods
38:42 The Proto Indo European Leader of the Wild Hunt
40:45 The Evolution of Odin
42:14 Summerising the Evidence
46:05 But there is an older story still...