In 2002, Gárman Lord Cyning charged the Wisdom Roundtable to search through Heathen lore and Anglo-Saxon history and find a more fitting framework for Théodish fellowships than that of the dryht (warband). After some years of searching, the Ealdríce was founded in 2010 as a háliggyld (holy guild) and, in 2018, the Ealdríce’s rediscovery of the ancient heathen háliggyld model was presented to the Cyning.
The word “guild” invokes in the mind of the modern reader the image of a society dedicated to a particular craft. Indeed, throughout the Middle Ages there were various craft and trade guilds. Masons, horsemen, millers and any number of other crafts were governed by guilds. Such guilds held what might now be called “trade secrets.” To enter such a craft-guild was to become an apprentice to a master guildsman. Once one had learned the master’s craft, the apprentice was welcomed into the guild as a guildsman and, in time, would even take on apprentices of their own.
Yet the very first Anglo-Saxon guilds were neither craft nor trade guilds. Such guilds came along much later, well into the Middle Ages. Rather, the earliest Germanic guilds were religious fellowships; first heathen and then Christian. Regarding the origin of these religious guilds, the 19th century German economist Lujo Brentano wrote that:
The Northern historians, in answer to the question from whence the Gilds sprang, refer above all to the feasts of the German tribes from Scandinavia, which were first called Gilds [ON gildi]. Among the German tribes, every occurrence among the more nearly related members of the family required the active participation in it of them all. At births, marriages, and deaths, all of the members of the family assembled. Banquets were prepared in celebration of the event, and these had sometimes even a legal signification, as in the case of funeral banquets, namely, that of entering on an inheritance; and when they concerned kings, that of a coronation. […] Every freeman was obliged to attend these feasts and bring with him whatever food and drink he might require. Hence these feasts were also called Gilds; for “Gild” meant originally the sacrificial meal made up of the common contributions; then a sacrificial banquet in general; and lastly, a society. When in later times Christianity spread itself to the North, the sacrificial banquets, with all their customs and ceremonies, remained in existence, and Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other saints, stepped into the place of Odin and the rest of the gods.[1]
Brentano’s etymology is confirmed by both Old Norse and Old English writs. According to Cleasby & Vigfusson, the Old Norse gildi, meant:
- payment, tribute,
- a banquet, feast,
- in a technical sense, a guild.[2]
Likewise, its Old English namesake, the word gild (sometimes spelled geld, gield, or gyld) was defined by Bosworth Toller as:
- a payment of money, a tribute,
- a guild, society,
- a payment to God, worship, service, sacrifice, offering,
- a heathen deity,
- a visible object of worship, an idol.[3]
The transition from “tribute” to “sacrifice” to “sacrificial feast” to “the sacrificial feasting fellowship,” is a natural one. That amongst the Anglo-Saxons the word gild took on the additional meaning of “a heathen god” and “idol,” speaks to its inherent heathenness.
Thus is it that, in Old English texts, we find the word hæðengyld, “heathen worship,” which might well have also referred to a “guild of heathens.” From this bit of wordlore it is clear that the earliest guilds were heathen sacrificial feasting societies that gathered to hold the holytides. With the coming of Christianity, the guilds’ heathen gods were replaced by Christian saints and the customary sacrifices that they offered changed from cattle to coin. Though newly christened, these early guilds essentially remained sacrificial feasting societies that gathered to hold the holytides and remember the dead.
It may be worth mentioning that guilds are given legal recognition in one of the earliest Anglo-Saxon law codes, the Laws of King Ine of Wessex in 694 CE.[4] Though these West Saxon guilds were Christian, it should be noted that the formal conversion of the Anglo-Saxons was, by then, just barely complete. The conversion of Essex was not finalized until after the death of the Heathen king, Sigeberht I in 653 CE. The kingdom of Mercia remained Heathen until the death of King Penda in 655 CE. And the last Heathen King, Arwald of Isle of Wight, was not killed until 686 CE when Christians massacred the entire population of that island. Thus, within living memory of Ine’s laws, many Anglo-Saxons had worshipped their ancestral gods. And, if Church penitentials and latter prohibitive laws are any indication, the common folk may have continued to do so for some time still.
Though the Anglo-Saxon religious guilds of Ine’s day were dedicated to saints and thus outwardly Christian, it would seem that they still retained some of their original heathen character. Anglo-Saxon churchmen saw these guilds as incompatible with Christian worship and so preached against them, perhaps their most noteworthy critic being Alcuin of York. In the 790’s, Alcuin warned against the guilds, writing in a letter to an Anglo-Saxon archbishop that:
The curious assemblies (coventus singulars) which they are accustomed to have called sworn brotherhoods (coniurationes) are most certainly displeasing to God and inconsistent with the Christian religion, nor have I ever heard that the holy Doctors taught or did such things; in a Christian people there ought to be pure faith without any accretion of bad customs.[5]
Moreover, some months before, Alcuin wrote to Æthelheard of Canterbury, warning the archbishop to beware of:
Those gatherings (coventicula) in which the people are deceived, leaving the church and seeking hilly places where they worship (servientes), not with prayers but with drinking bouts; as Christ himself said, “[Beware] if anyone tells you that the things which are of Christ are in the wilderness”, not in the church, who gathers people together out of doors and abandon’s Christ’s churches.[6]
That the early Anglo-Saxon guilds forwent gathering within churches and worshipping with prayer but rather sought to worship outdoors with drinking rites is worth considering further. As observed in the book In Hallowed Groves, for centuries to come, heathenish worship in the wilderness would be of concern to Anglo-Saxon churchmen and kings to like. As it was there noted,
The Penitential of Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury (late 7th century), the De Auguriis of Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham (10th century), the Canons of Archbishop Wulfstan of York (early 11th century), and the Laws of King Cnut the Great (11th century) each forbid the worship of or at stones, trees, wells, and springs alike as well as the swearing of oaths and saying of spells in such steads.[7]
Yet what of the hilly places where the gilds were thought to gather? In his “Homily XXIX: Macarius and the Magicians, Saul and the Witch of Endor,” Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham, writing some two hundred years after Alcuin, offers some evidence of illicit gatherings still being held on what might well be described as “hilly places” — burial mounds. As told by the monk, “Yet still witches fare to crossroads and to heathen barrows with their false spells, and call out to the devil, and he comes in the likeness of the man who lies buried there, as if he has arisen from death.”[8] It is highly doubtful that Anglo-Saxons of any era would have been summoning Satan, such being the fantasy of churchmen throughout the Middle Ages. Rather, it is far more likely that such gatherings about ancient barrows were but a lingering heathen custom, dimly understood after centuries of Christianization, wherein the ancestral dead that “dwelt” within the mounds were worshipped. Indeed, around this time we find evidence of such mound worship amongst the Norwegians. As noted in Of Ghosts and Godpoles,
Upon his death, the Norwegian king Ólafr Gudrødsson was placed in a howe alongside his treasure. As a sacral king, Ólafr’s mound became a cult site with sacrifices being made to him to ensure continued good harvests. As was the case with several Yngling kings, Ólafr was regarded as a tribal god or alfr, “elf,” and was given the name Geirstaðaálfr, the “Elf of Gierstað.”[9]
It seems possible, if not likely then, that the “hilly places” at which early Anglo-Saxon guilds gathered were burial mounds. Indeed, the “drinking bouts” mentioned by Alcuin might well have been what were known to the Norse as minni (OE myne). As described by Cleasby & Vigfusson the minni was “a memorial cup or toast. At old sacrifices and banquets: these memorial toasts were in the heathen age consecrated (signuð) to the gods Thor, Odin, Bragi, Frey, Njord, who, on the introduction of Christianity, were replaced by Christ, the Saints, the Archangel Michael, the Virgin Mary, and St. Olaf.” Likewise, these “drinking bouts” seem to have been the Anglo-Saxon counterpart to the continental graveside feasts known as oblations annuae, “yearly sacrifices.” Indeed, these yearly sacrifices to the dead were observed even by Christians in the 3rd century and were only later replaced by Church sanctioned memoria, “funeral feasts,” and masses that were sung for the benefit of Christian souls consigned to Purgatory.[10] Even as late as the 11th century, Anglo-Saxon guild charters were concerned with the collection of sáwelsceatt, “souls-scot,” dues that were used to pay the church to perform masses to speed the souls of deceased guildsmen through Purgatory, and also with the collection of both malt and honey that were used to brew beer and mead for guild feasts.[11]
Whereas the earliest Anglo-Saxon heathen guilds began as sacrificial feasting societies that gathered upon hills or barrows at the holytides to raise mead horns to the gods and to remember the dead, over time they became Christian feasting societies that met in halls or monasteries to venerate saints and to collect sáwelsceatt. This transition can be seen in the table below:
| Heathen Holy Guilds
circa the 6th century |
Early Christian Guilds
circa the 8th century |
Late Christian Guilds
circa the 11th century |
| Gathered upon the heathen holytides. | Gathered upon the Christian feast days that had replaced the heathen holytides | Gathered upon the Christian feast days. |
| Gathered upon hilly places, likely heathen barrows. | Gathered upon hilly places, likely heathen barrows or Christian barrows from the period of transition between Heathenry and Christianity. | Gathered in guild halls or in monasteries. |
| Were given to the worship of the heathen gods. | Were dedicated to the veneration of saints. | Were dedicated to the veneration of saints. |
| Held minni-feasts and gave offerings to ancestors, kings, or heroes, in the belief that luck for health and good harvests could be bestowed by the dead. | Held feasts to remember ancestors, kings, heroes, and saints. | Held feasts to venerate the saints and to collect sáwelsceatt, to pay for masses to be sung for the benefit of those guildsmen whose souls were in Purgatory. |
So, what were the Anglo-Saxon religious guilds like then? From what may be gleaned from surviving charters, they were primarily religious in nature, localized, and open to both men and women. Membership in a guild required paying dues; the word gyld means “tribute” after all. Guilds were led by ealdormen, “elder men,” with members consisting of gegildan, “guildsmen” and ungildan, mostly likely “learners” seeking full admission into the guild. Officials were elected and guild decisions were voted upon and ratified by the membership. Lastly, a survey of surviving guild charters shows that such guilds served to:
- keep the holytides with religious feasting and celebration
- make offerings to/for deceased members
- resolve disputes between members
- provide legal protection for members at Moot
- serve as a social safety net when a member fell upon dire times.
Truly, what social framework better reflects the nature and needs of contemporary heathen fellowships than that of a guild? With few exceptions, heathen fellowships today, much like the guilds of yore, consist of local, mostly unrelated individuals who come together to hold the holytides, to worship the gods, and to remember their ancestors. Furthermore, though guilds are oath-bound fellowships, they are not modeled upon the Germanic warband or dryht, as were most of the Théodish Ríce’s early théods. From the Cambridge Guild’s Charter, we know that each guildsmen swore an “oath on the holy relics to the others.”[12] Thus unlike the warband’s hierarchical hold oath, which was given to a lord, the guild’s oath was given to the other guildsmen as a whole. Yet, more important than this distinction is that of their differing natures. A guild is first and foremost a sacrificial feasting society that gathers for worship. As such, the friþ (peace) of the fellowship and of its holysteads is paramount. Conversely, a warband is inherently a martial institution. As such, a warband’s focus will always be on war of some sort, even if that conflict comes in the form of warding the warband during times of peace.
In the Wínland Ríce today, those théods that model themselves upon the early Anglo-Saxon guilds are known as háliggyld, “holy guilds,” to differentiate them from the Ríce’s sundry craft guilds which might be called cræftgyld. Moreover, at the Wínland Ríce’s 2020 Hláftíd Moot, the Cyning deemed that such háliggyld théods would be the thew (custom) amongst Théodsmen moving forward. As it was then abanned, “That, whereas the théods of the Ríce’s early years were framed upon the dryhta (warbands) of the Folkwanderingtide, henceforth théods shall frame themselves as háliggyld (holy guilds) and as other fellowships such as were known to our heathen fore-elders.”[13] Thus Théodsmen, having rediscovered the ancient heathen holy guilds, set about re-establishing them within the Théodish Ríce.
Works Cited:
Attenborough, F. L.. The Laws of the Earliest English Kings. Cambridge: University Press, 1922.
Blair, John. The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Bosworth, Joseph, and T. Northcote Toller. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary: Based on the Manuscript Collection of J. Bosworth. London: Oxford University Press, 1898.
Cleasby, Richard, and Gudbrand Vigfusson. An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Based on the MS. Collections of the Late Richard Cleasby. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1874.
Gárman Lord Cyning. “An Abanning on the Framework and Árunga of the Ríce, the Trow of Greater Théodism, and the Unthéodishness of Outlaws.” The Wínland Ríce, 29 Aug. 2020, https://winlandrice.org/2020/08/29/an-abanning-on-the-framework-and-arunga-of-the-rice-the-trow-of-greater-theodism-and-the-untheodishness-of-outlaws/.
Lee, Christina. Feasting the Dead: Food and Drink in Anglo-Saxon Burial Rituals. Boydell & Brewer, 2007.
Lujo Brentano, “On the History and Development of Gilds,” English Gilds: The Original Ordinances of More Than One Hundred Early English Gilds, Oxford: Early English Text Society, 1870.
The Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English Dictionary
Pope, John Collins, editor. Homilies of Ælfric: A Supplementary Collection: Being Twenty-One Full Homilies of His Middle and Later Career for The Most Part Not Previously Edited with Some Shorter Pieces Mainly Passages Added to The Second and Third Series. Published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1968.
Þórbeorht Ealdorblótere. Of Ghosts and Godpoles: Théodish Essays Pertaining to the Reconstruction of Saxon Heathen Belief, Both Old and Anglo. Háliggyld Books, 2014.
Þórbeorht Ealdorblótere. In Hallowed Groves: Observations on the Ancient Anglo-Saxon Heathen Priesthood with Thoughts on Its Renewal Within Théodish Belief. Háliggyld Books, 2020.
Thorpe, Benjamin. Diplomatarium Anglicum Aevi Saxonici: a Collection of English Charters, from the Reign of King AEthelberht of Kent, A.D. 605 to That of William the Conqueror. Containing I. Miscellaneous Charters. II. Wills. III. Guilds. IV. Manumissions and Acquittances. With a Translation of the Anglo-Saxon. Macmillan, 1865.
[1] Lujo Brentano, “On the History and Development of Gilds,” English Gilds: The Original Ordinances of More Than One Hundred Early English Gilds (Early English Text Society, 1870) lxvii, lxviii.
[2] Cleasby, Richard, and Gudbrand Vigfusson. An Icelandic-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1874) 199.
[3] Bosworth, Joseph, and T. Northcote Toller. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1898) 476.
[4] F. L. Attenborough, The Laws of the Earliest English Kings (Cambridge: University Press, 1922) 41, 43.
- He who kills a thief shall be allowed to declare on oath that the man he slew was guilty. The associates (gegildan) of the slain man shall not be allowed to proceed to an oath [to declare him innocent].
- If, however, anyone claims the slain man’s wergeld, he [who slew him] shall be allowed to declare that he slew him, presuming him to be a thief; and neither the associates (gegildan) of the slain man, nor his lord, shall be allowed to proceed to oath [to declare him innocent].
[5] John Blair, The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society (Oxford University Press, 2005) 175.
[6] ibid 177.
[7] Þórbeorht Ealdorblótere, In Hallowed Groves (Háliggyld Books, 2020) 57.
[8] John Collins Pope, editor. Homilies of Ælfric (Oxford University Press, 1968) 796.
Gyt farað wiccan to wega gelæton
and to hæþenum byrgelsum mid heora gedwimore
and clipiað to ðam deofle, and he cymð to
on þæs mannes gelicnysse þe þær lið bebyrged
swylce he of deaðe arise
Wended from Old English by Þórbeorht
[9] Þórbeorht Ealdorblótere, Of Ghosts and Godpoles (Háliggyld Books, 2014) 102.
[10] Christina Lee, Feasting the Dead (. Boydell & Brewer, 2007) 115.
[11] Benjamin Thorpe in Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici (Macmillan, 1865), See the guild charters for Orky’s Guild at Abbotsbury, the Guild at Woodbury, the Guild at Exeter, and the Association of Bishop Wulfstan and the Abbots of Evesham, 605-617
[12] Benjamin Thorpe in Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici (Macmillan, 1865) 610.
[13] Garman Lord Cyning. “An Abanning on the Framework and Árunga of the Ríce, the Trow of Greater Théodism, and the Unthéodishness of Outlaws.” The Wínland Ríce, 29 Aug. 2020, https://winlandrice.org. Accessed October 29, 2021.
Ealdríce Théod 