Ao the Overkitty said:
Yes please. I actually went to try and find it on the net, but couldn't.
My mythology books range from Greek to Roman to Egyptian to Norse to Celtic. But, apparently, not that myth/legend.
I'm surprised you couldn't find anything in the Celtic and Norse books.
Here's a summary of the major myths that I found, if you want more details, just ask.
The Wild Hunt was a folk myth prevalent in former times across Northern Europe and Great Britain. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies.
The Norse god Odin in his many forms, astride his eight-legged steed Sleipnir, was deeply associated with the Wild Hunt, particularly in Scandinavia. Odin acquired another aspect (to add to his many other names and attributes) in this context, that of the Wild Huntsman, along with Frigg. The passage of this hunt was also referred to as Odin's Hunt or Asgardareia. In Celtic countries, the Wild Hunt was the hosting of the Sidhe, the fairies; its leaders also varied, but they included Gwydion, Nuada, and Herne the Hunter.
The myth of the Wild Hunt has through the ages been modified to accommodate other gods and folk heroes, among them King Arthur and, more recently, in a Dartmoor folk legend, Sir Francis Drake.
Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to presage some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it. Mortals getting in the path of or following the Hunt could be kidnapped and brought to the land of the dead.
Spanish monks apparently converted the legend into a more ‘christian’ mythos: the Santa Compaña in Galicia.
A very good research article is at:
http://www.vinland.org/heathen/mt/wildhunt.html
It's not necessarily in complete agreement with the prior, but a detailed analysis nonetheless.
Also, from Shakespeare:
The Merry Wives of Windsor said:
There is an old tale goes that Herne the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,
Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,
walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns,
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,
And makes milch-kine yield blood,
and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.
(The Merry Wives of Windsor, William Shakespeare)
Herne the Hunter (merged later into an Edric the Hunter) was Britains wild huntsman:
HERNE THE HUNTER,. a legendary huntsman who was alleged to haunt Windsor Great Park at night, especially around an aged tree, long known as Herne’s oak, said to be nearly 700 years old. This was blown down in 1863, and a young oak was planted by Queen Victoria on the spot. Herne has his Frenchcounterpart in the Grand Veneur of Fontainebleau. Mention is made of Herne in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in Harrison Ainsworth’s Windsor Castle. Nothing definite is known of the Herne legend. It is suggested that it originated in the life-story of some keeper of the forest; but more probably it is onlya variant of the “Wild Huntsman” myth common to folk-lore,which (E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, 4th ed. pp. 365-362) iS almost certainly the modern form of a prehistoric storm-myth
And Odin's Wild Hunt:
Odin's Chase
The hunt was originally led by Woden (Odin) later also by Frau Gauden. In Norse myth, Odin in his guise of wind-god was pictured as rushing through mid-air on his eight-footed steed (Sleipnir). As it was thought that the souls of the dead were wafted away on the winds of a storm, Odin was worshipped as the leader of all disembodied spirits and eventually the storm became associated with his passing. In this character he was known as the Wild Huntsman and the passage of his hunt known as Odin's Hunt, the Raging Host or Asgardreia.
The passing of the Wild Hunt was said to presage misfortune such as pestilence, death or war.
In the middle ages the leader of the Wild-Hunt changed to suit the times and some of the new leaders were Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa and King Arthur.
A later folktale states that the leader was Hans von Hackelnberg (a semi-historical figure who died in either 1521 or 1581). It was said he had slain a boar and was then injured on the foot by the boar's tusk and died of poisoning. As he died he stated that he did not wish to go to heaven, instead wishing to hunt. His wish was granted and was instead permitted to hunt in the night sky. It has been argued that his Hackelnberg bears a remarkable similarity to the Old Saxon epithet for Woden "hakolberand". I have two references to this Hans von Hackelnberg, the other which states he was condemned to lead the Wild Hunt as punishment for his sins.
I've not added actual reference links above for a variety of reasons (namely the higly customized search tools I use
), but a typical google search using any of the key words above (Wild Hunt, Wild Huntsman, Erne the Hunter, etc) should give you most of the links I found.
edit: Fixed the 1863 typo (was 5863 and quite confusing ::grin:
