Introduction
Over the years, there have been several attempts to consolidate
in one list, the thews or virtues the ancient Germanic Heathens
followed. This probably is not possible. The old religion never
relied on such things as lists of thews. Instead these thews were
implicit in their laws, maxims, and gnomic verses. Many of them
can be seen in the “Hávamál” of the Elder Edda, and others in the
sagas and tales such as the Sigurd lays. Still, others can be seen in
the law codes of the time. Yet for the modern Heathen, such lists do
come in handy.
The Various Lists of Thews
The most popular of the various lists of thews or thew related
material is the Nine Noble Virtues. The Nine Noble Virtues have
been around for at least 15 years, and few are certain as to who
came up with the list. It is as follows:
Courage - Bravery or boldness, the ability to stand and fight in the
face of any threat.
Truth - Honesty and the ability to standby what is true.
Honour - Reputation, renown. Your personal worth as well as that
of your family's.
Fidelity - Troth or loyalty to those around you be that family,
friends, or fellowship.
Discipline - Self control, the ability to be in command of one's own
orlæg.
Hospitality - The ability to make a guest feel welcome.
Industriousness - The ability to work hard in maintaining one's self
and family.
Self Reliance - The ability to rely on one's self without the aid of
others.
Perseverance - Steadfastness, or the refusal to give up even when
things are rough.
Many of the Nine Noble Virtues involve oneself. Few of the
thews, listed in the Nine Noble Virtues, deal with community. Ásatrú
at the time of the list's formulation was the only widespread
Heathen religion, and at the time very much into the self reliant,
independent Viking warrior image. With the rise of more tribal
forms of Heathenry, and a less romantic view of the ancient past, a
need became apparent for a more community oriented list. The
Nine Noble Virtues were and are a fine guide for how a Heathen
should conduct themselves in everyday life, but seems to fall short
when a true Heathen community is involved. Therefore, other lists
evolved. One such list is The Twelve Æþeling Þews. These twelve
thews were formulated about five years ago and first appeared in
the work Beyond Good and Evil: Wyrd and Germanic Heathen
Ethics. They are:
Boldness- Bravery, courage in the face of adversity.
Steadfastness- Tenacity, the refusal to give up.
Troth- Fealty, faith, fidelity. Loyalty to one's tribe, friends, and
family.
Givefullness- Generosity, the ability to give to others at the appropriate
times
Gestening, Guestliness- Hospitality, or the ability to be kind with
guests.
Sooth- Truth, the avoidance of lies.
Wrake- Justice, or the drive to always see the wrongs done one's
tribe corrected.
Evenhead- Equality. The recognition that those of the opposite sex
are equal.
Friendship- The ability to treat those that one calls friend as family.
Freedom- Self reliance and perseverance as well as responsibility
for one's actions
Wisdom- Adherence to the ancient wisdom of our religion and the
use of it in life.
Busyship/Workhardiness- Industriousness or the ability to work
hard.
The Twelve Æþeling Þews came about at a time when
Heathenry was becoming more family and community oriented. It
can be noted that the additional thews all relate to family or community,
or the individual's obligations to both. A slightly older list
of thews is one created by Garman Cyning of Theodish Belief. It is
known as The Three Wynns. They are:
Wisdom - Adherence to the ancient wisdoms of our religion.
Worthmind - The maintenance of a personal sense of honour.
Wealthdeal - Generosity with one's family and friends.
Like the Twelve Æþeling Þews, The Three Wynns show there
is a clear obligation to something other than oneself, and perhaps
one of the most balanced (although the shortest) of the thew lists.
The most recent list of thews appears in Eric Wódening's book We
Are Our Deeds: The Elder Heathenry Its Ethic and Thew. This list
is even more community oriented than The Twelve Æþeling Þews,
and thus reflects the ever changing face of Heathenry. The thews
listed are:
Bisignes - Industriousness
Efnes - Equality, equal justice for all.
Ellen - Courage
Geférscipe - Community mindness, putting the good of the community
above one's self.
Giefu - Generosity
Giestlíðness - Hospitality
Metgung - Moderation or self control.
Selfdóm - The ability to be an individual, true to one's self.
Sóð - Truth, Honesty.
Stedefæstnes - Steadfastness
Tréowð - Troth or loyalty.
Wísdóm - Wisdom
There are points of overlap among all of the lists. This does
not mean the thews, the lists hold in common, are the most important.
It merely means they are the most often thought of. There are
less obvious thews that appear not at all that are just as important.
Frith rarely appears on any such list due to its complex nature, and
is usually handled alone in articles, yet no one would doubt its
importance.
A Brief Look at the Thews Mentioned
As stated all of the lists have certain thews in common, and
all fail to mention other thews such as frith. Therefore, frith will be
covered first here, followed by a brief description of other important
Heathen thews.
Frith
While now a very important part of Heathenry, frith was
barely ever mentioned prior to 1994. Then two articles, one by Eric
Wódening and the other by Winifred Hodge detailed the ideas
behind frith. Since then, it has become a very important part of
Heathen life. Frith, roughly defined is "the maintenance of the
peace, security, and refuge of the community; the peace and security
enjoyed by that community." Frith is a far cry from meaning
simply "peace, "the word most would use to define it. One can live
under a despot with no freedom and have peace, yet one could not
have frith. Similarly, one's tribe could be at war (not at peace), yet
the local village be enjoying frith. Frith unlike peace is not the "lack
of strife." War and feuds maybe used to enforce the frith or restore
it when a threat comes from outside the frithstead, i.e. village, tribe,
or family. When within a frithstead, other more peaceful means
would be used, such as mediation and reconciliation. If those
methods failed, then Thing could be resorted to.
The word frith derives from Indo-European *priyas, "one's
own." Many other words derive from this root word such as Old
English fréogan "to love," fréodom "freedom," and the name of the
god Fréa. According to most Old English dictionaries, the word frith
meant "peace, tranquillity, security, or refuge." It also referred to
the special protection offered by the tribe and the penalty for
breaching that protection. A verb form, frithian meant "to make
peace with, cherish, guard, defend, or keep." Eric Wódening in his
article "The Meaning of Frith" (Ásatrú Today, Dec., 1994) put forth
that frith's original meaning was most likely "the peace enjoyed
while among one's own (that is one’s family or tribe)."
Compound words made with frith reveal a wide array of
meanings. Friðsumian “to reconcile,” friðhus “sanctuary,” friða
“protector,” friðlic “mild, lenient,” friðscon “asylum, sanctuary,”
friðowaru “protection.” Frith clearly did not translate literally into
our modern word peace, but a concept far deeper. Its secondary
meanings taken from compounds would seem to indicate elements
meaning "to protect, defend, give asylum to, to reconcile." A brief
look at the definitions of the compound words, as well as that of the
word frith its self, reveals words such as peace, refuge, mild, lenient,
cherish, protect, defend, asylum, sanctuary, and reconcile. All of
these words have in common the idea of maintaining the peace,
security, and refuge of the community. This maintenance would
include ways to seek asylum, as well as chances for reconciliation.
This definition would also include maintenance of the law.
The ancient Heathens saw the law as the tribe itself, and frith was
the ideal state of the tribe, its welfare so to speak. When the law
was broken so was frith. Indeed, one could not enjoy the frith of the
tribe unless one was a part of it. And one could not be kept out of
the tribe once made a part of it unless they had broken the law.
While peace is a very sedate idea, frith is an active one.
Ár/Honour
Ár is the native Anglo-Saxon word for honour as is weorthmynd
"worth mind." Both involve a sense of dignity, reverence, self
and family worth...in essence, good self esteem and respect for
others. Honour in short is respect for oneself, one's family, and
one's tribe. To be dishonourable is to fail to respect others, be it
one's family, or other members of the tribe. Dishonour can even
result from failure to respect oneself. Heathen honour goes beyond
adhering to some later day code of chivalry. For the individual it
means respecting the wishes of others, not insulting their person or
position. It involves a certain amount of compassion for the under
privileged, and respect for those that have earned their status thru
good deeds. Other words from the old tongues that mean honour
refer to respect, glory, and achievement. One who does not do good
deeds does not have much honour, and only those that attempts
truly great deeds can be called truly honourable. These deeds will
always be exceptional in commitment to the other thews.
Freedom
The recognition and defence of one's own rights are a part of
keeping one’s honour. Those that allow themselves to be ridiculed
by others were not likely to survive long in the Migration Era.
Therefore, every Heathen had certain rights. No one could take the
horse or sword of a free man, and one could always count on being
able to take a dispute to Thing and see due process obeyed. These
rights evolved into the "human rights" Americans and the English
now enjoy. Beyond defending one’s own rights though, to be honourable
meant also to defend the honour of others as well.
Sooth
Dedication to sooth or the truth is a good part of honourable
behaviour. Lies, rumours, hearsay can quickly destroy a tribe.
Often simply remaining silent is only a way to allow lies and hearsay
to perpetuate themselves. Therefore, part of being honourable is to
speak the truth when it is known, especially in the face of lies and
hearsay, even if that means one is alone in trying to reveal what is
sooth.
Troth
Another part of honour is troth, or loyalty to one's friends
and family. To be in troth with one's family, friends, or lord/lady is
not to betray them in even the slightest way. It goes beyond the
normal aspects of honour, for troth makes their honour your own as
well. Troth breached can always be restored, and it is never a one
way street, but one must always remain true to one's own folk. Its
sentiment can be seen in this passage from Hrólf Kraki's saga:
In foul winds as in fair--- Keep faith with your lord,
He who withheld no hoard for himself
But gave freely of gold and silver
Wrake
Justice or vengeance for the wrong done one's family was
also thought a part of honour. Ancient Heathenry relied on the
family for law enforcement. It was the family that defended its own,
and often chastised its own.
Boldness
Ellen, courage, bravery... all of these words are something all
of us know, but yet find hard to define. Bravery is the ability to face
potentially life threatening situations without regard for one's own
personal safety, while accomplishing something for the good of
another individual or individuals. Bravery is not the lack of fear.
Any veteran praised for his bravery in the face of insurmountable
odds in battle will tell you, fear was always present. Bravery is the
ability not to allow that fear to take control, and to accomplish what
needs to be done regardless. Many passages in the lore demonstrate
the Heathen belief in boldness such as Hávamál (passage 15)
Silent and attentive-- and battle bold
should a chieftain's son be.
A man should be glad and happy,---until defeated by death.
Such sentiment is further expressed in Fáfnismál (passage 29):
Ever the fearless--- but never the fearful
fares the better in a fight;
'tis better to be glad than in gloomy mood
whether all is fair or foul.
Busyship
Industriousness or the ability to work hard when there is
need was not a thew or virtue to the ancients. It was a necessity of
survival. In the harsh north with no modern technology one had to
work when the weather was good to make sure the community
survived the winter. Fields had to be tended, herds protected and
maintained, wood cut for fuel, spinning and weaving had to be done
for clothing. The lazy were likely to find themselves freezing or
starving come winter. Today, it is no less important that we work
hard to maintain our families and ourselves.
Evenhead
Equality of the sexes, equality in the eyes of Heathen thew or
law is something that our spiritual forbears passed down to modern
America. Regardless of whether one was a lord or a churl, the same
laws applied. Punishments may have been different based on the
status of the victim, and laws differed on who need oath helpers in
trial, but was a lord to kill another lord, his punishment was the
same as if a churl were the murderer. Women were highly respected
in the ancient era, and one would often find them taking care of
farmsteads or advising kings and jarls. They were not treated as
chattel or near slaves as in the Southern cultures.
Friendship
Friendship is the ability to treat one's friends as family. This
thew is actually a combination of a couple of others. Troth or loyalty
plays a role, as does hospitality and guestliness. The Hávamál has
perhaps more verses on friendship than any other subject.
Givefullness
Looking at the ancient sagas we can tell kings and warband
leaders were known for how generous they were. Ring giver was a
common kenning for "king." The Hávamál contains several verses
on the importance of generosity, but particularly on the importance
of sharing with friends.
Guestliness
Hospitality was almost a necessity of survival for the ancient
traveller. Weather could turn bad, there were no inns in that day,
and a warm place to sleep was a welcome sight. Hospitality ensured
that the tribe’s individuals would survive. One knew, that by putting
up for the night, that someday the favour would be returned.
Today with Heathens often far apart, and travel distances far,
hospitality is just as important. The Hávamál (passage 135) has this
to say about guestliness:
I give you rede Loddfafnir--- heed it well!
You will use it if you learn it,
it will get you good if you understand it.
Do not abuse a guest--- or drive him out the door.
Instead do well for the wretched.
Moderation
Heathens do not believe in sins of the flesh, yet the ancient
Heathens clearly understood even too much of a good thing could
be bad. The Hávamál warns against talking too much, drinking too
much, eating too much, and even thinking you know more than you
do. The point of all these verses is that one should try to do everything
in moderation. Included in moderation is self control, the
ability to, for example, stop drinking before one is made a fool, or
worse yet becomes ill. Overindulgence in anything is not a good
thing.
Neighbourliness
Community mindedness or the desire to be a part of a community
was important to the early Heathens. The antisocial did not
contribute to the survival of the tribe and therefore account for little
in the greater scheme of things. This goes for groups as well as
individuals. Groups and individuals that try to isolate themselves
and do little for the rest of Heathenry are likely to find themselves
snubbed when they try to take advantage of the things the greater
community provides such as teaching materials and gatherings.
After all, if they have not contributed to the survival of the greater
community, why should they enjoy its benefits? Any community
takes the mutual cooperation of all involved. For the ancients this
mutual cooperation meant mutual survival, the tribe could not
afford to defend a village that refused to help others in a time of
need. It is not different today. We are a small religion, few in
number, and prone to attacks from anything from Fundamentalists
to Wiccans. National organisations may mean little to the local
kindred, but the national organisations provide teaching materials,
ordained priests, and organize the major gatherings...benefits most
local kindreds enjoy. According to Neighbourliness, it is the duty of
the local kindreds to return in some form, some of the help they
have been given, even if indirectly.
Steadfastness
Modern life can be as difficult as life was for the ancient
Heathens. We have traded the daily hardships of physical survival
for other hardships that cause stress, heart disease and other problems.
At the sometime, we have lost many of the simple pleasures
such as living near friends and family that could make modern life
more pleasurable. While the ancient Heathen had to worry about
keeping enough food and wood on hand to keep the family fed and
warm during the winter, we have a different set of problems relating
to the same concerns. Commuting to work, problems with coworkers,
illnesses, financial problems, all cause the same amount of
stress for us as it did for the ancient Heathen. None the less, we as
they must persevere, refuse to give up, and be steadfast in our work.
Wisdom
Knowledge of every kind was valued in the ancient era. To
know the meaning of words, or a way to do something was highly
prized. Wisdom consists of many things: folk wisdom and common
sense, reasoning, and the willingness to learn. The lore shows over
and over the quest for wisdom. Woden's self-sacrifice on the Irminsul
was to gain knowledge, not power (but then, wisdom and knowledge
lead to power). The drink from Mimer's Well was to gain
wisdom, the ability to use knowledge, foresight and common sense.
Modern Heathens have many ways to seek wisdom. One can read
scholarly works on the religion, discuss it with others, and seek out
knowledgeable teachers.
Conclusion
There are as we are always told, even more thews than those
covered here. However, ancient Heathenry was an organic tribal
religion. Such wisdom as the thews was not passed on in lists such
as these but in tales like Beowulf, imparted in gnomic verses such as
those of the “Hávamál” and “The Anglo-Saxon Maxims.” It is only
through the study of these early sources of the lore that one can
truly learn what it means to be a thewful Heathen. Yet for one new
to Heathenry, these lists let them know what is expected of them
and when.
Virtues
by Swain Wodeningtaken from his book Hammer of the Gods Anglo-Saxon Paganism in Modern Times