There •were yet other classes of supernatural beings. The fylgiur and hamingiur of Northern belief, are of two kinds, though the names seem not always to be clearly distinguished. Sometimes the fylgia is represented as a kind of attendant spirit, belonging to each individual person. It may be seen, generally in animal form, in visions or by persons of second sight, but to see one's own fylgia is a sign of impending death. In other cases the fylgiur (or perhaps more correctly the harningiur) apparently belong to the whole family. These appear as maidens.
Human beings, especially kings and other distinguished persons, were not infrequently honoured with worship after death. In Sweden during the 9th century we have trustworthy record of the formal deification of a dead king and of the erection of a temple in his honour. In general the dead were believed to retain their faculties to a certain extent in or near the place where they were buried, and stories are told of the resistance offered by them to tomb-robbers. They were credited with the power of helping their friends (and likewise of injuring other people) very much in the same way as they had done in life. Hence the possession of the remains of a chief who had been both popular and prosper ous was regarded as highly desirable.
The blessings which kings were expected to bestow upon their subjects, in life as well as after death, were partly of a super natural character. Chief among them was that of securing the fertility of the crops. The prevalence of famine among the Swedes was attributed to the king's remissness in performing sacrificial functions; and on more than one occasion kings are said to have been put to death for this reason. Under similar circumstances Burgundian kings were deposed. In connection with this attribution of superhuman powers, we may mention also the widespread belief that certain persons had the faculty of "changing shape," and especially of assuming the forms of animals. (See LYCANTHROPY.) We hear occasionally of sacred animals. Tacitus tells of horses consecrated to the service of the gods, and of omens drawn from them, and we meet again with such horses in Norway nearly a thousand years later. In the same country we find the legend of a king who worshiped a cow. Northern mythology speaks also of theriomorphic demons, the chief of which were Midgarb sormr, the "world-serpent," and Fenrisulfr, a monster wolf, the enemies of Thor and Odin respectively. These beings are doubt less due in part to poetic imagination, working on a substratum of primitive religious belief. Tacitus states that the ancient Ger mans had no images of the gods. But he does speak of certain
sacred symbols which he defines elsewhere as figures of wild beasts. One of the chief objects of veneration among the Cimbri is said to have been a brazen bull.
The Quadi are said to have considered their swords divine. Worship was paid, especially in the North, to rocks and stone cairns, while springs and pools also were frequently regarded as sacred in all Teutonic lands. But, on the whole, the most promi nent characteristic of Teutonic religion, in early and later times, is the sanctity attached to certain trees and groves, though in such cases there is often a doubt as to whether the tree itself was worshipped or whether it was regarded as the abode of a god or spirit. The sanctuaries mentioned by Tacitus seem always to have been groves, and in later times we have references to such places in all Teutonic lands. One of the most famous was that in or beside which stood the great temple of Uppsala. Here also must be mentioned the Swedish Vardtrad or "guardian tree," which down to our own time is supposed to grant protection and prosperity to the household to which it belongs. One of the most striking conceptions of Northern mythology is that of the "world-tree," Yggdrasil's Ash, which sheltered all living beings. The description given of it recalls in many respects that of a particularly holy tree which stood beside the temple at Uppsala. For the idea we may compare the Irminsul, a great wooden pillar which appears to have been the chief object of worship among the Old Saxons, and which is described as universalis columna quasi sustinens omnia.
The Northern sanctuaries of later times were generally build ings constructed of wood or other materials. A space apparently partitioned off contained figures of Thor or Frey and perhaps other gods, together with an altar on which burned a perpetual fire. In the main body of the temple were held the sacrificial feasts. The presiding priest seems always to have been the chief to whom the temple belonged, for there is no evidence for the existence of a special priestly class in the North. In England, however, the priests were never allowed to bear arms. There is record also of priests among the Burgundians and Goths, while in Tacitus's time they held a very prominent position in German society. Among all Teutonic peoples from the time of the Cimbri onwards we frequently hear also of holy women whose duties were concerned chiefly with divination. Sometimes, indeed, as in the case of Veleda, a prophetess of the Bructeri, during Vespasian's reign, they were regarded practically as deities.