Some weeks of rustication in the Harz Mountains, and ascent of the mysterious Brocken, called also Blocksberg : a sketch / by Friedrich Schenk.

Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some weeks of rustication in the Harz Mountains, and ascent of the mysterious Brocken, called also Blocksberg : a sketch / by Friedrich Schenk. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    valiant Duke Wittekindt, and christianized them by the sword, a number of the faithful sons of Teut retired to the impenetrable heights and forests of the Harz, making it the rampart and last refuge of the followers of Wodan and Holda. Wodan, who rode a swift horse with eight legs, accompanied by the two wolves and the two prophesying ravens, led his people to battle and victory. Here they could erect their altars, light their fires, sacrifice their enemies, and defy the surrounding Christians, with whom they lived in constant strife. The Druids were the priests and bards of the stout-hearted, flaxen-haired, and blue-eyed Teutons. They reigned supreme from Charle- magne for nearly a century, and woe to the Christian who penetrated through labyrinths to the sacred groves and woods where the Druids performed their mystic rites ! He forfeited his life, and was unmercifully sacrificed in honour of Wodan. At last the Saxons (Sassens or Saxoni) and Thuringians, the Hessians and Westphalians, drove them back, and entered with monk and crosier, with craftsmen and miners, and built wooden chapels, monasteries, and schools, which were gradually exchanged for stone buildings. The whole district, after nearly one thousand years, abounds with reminiscences of that barbarous but interesting idolatry, which is inter- woven with the Harz romance of ancient times and the Middle Ages.* A glorious time for the Harz was that, commencing * The names of heathen deities, given to mountains, peaks, valleys, rivers, caves, and rocks, have been retained to these days, and the rich traditional myths, legends, and fables give to the Harz such a magical charm—all belonging to the heathen period,—more than to any other mountain in Germany.