Towards the Baldur Myth - Germanic Mythology

―But then this connection, in association with the two magic formulas‘ great similarity
and because in the Sörbygden charm Christ heals his riding companion‘s (and not his own) horse,
speaks strongly for Wodan in the Merseburg Charm also healing his riding companion‘s (and not
his own) horse. In other words, Balderes (or balderes) does not refer to Wodan, but to Phol.
―From this, it obviously does not necessarily follow that Balderes actually is a proper
name identical to our god named Baldur. If one still understands balderes as the appellative
‖lord,‖ it can refer to Phol. If Bugge‘s opinion of the word (in Stud., pg. 284 ff.) is correct, and it
consequently does refer to Wodan, the possibility that the god Baldur is mentioned in the Old
High German poem is eliminated. On the other hand, if Balderes (balderes) refers to Phol, is it
very possible that it really is a proper name --our Balder.
―I have privately provided Professor Bugge the Sörbygden Charm and my understanding
of it, and I do not believe I am committing any impropriety when I say that Professor Bugge now
shares my view that this charm speaks for the Merseburg Charm‘s Balderes (balderes) alluding to
Phol.
―Addition: Dr. Lundell has brought to my attention I. Nordlander i Sv. landsm. II, page
XIVII, 56 which provides a magic charm closely akin to the charm from Sörbygden, recorded in a
diary from Sunnerbo in the year 1746. According to it, St. Peter‘s horse is also injured and healed
by our Lord, but besides that the Sunnerbo charm has a shorter original form than the one from
Sörbygden.‖
Thus Dr. Kock.
The last doubt that can be raised about Baldur being identical to Phol and the
German Baldur being the same as the heathen Scandinavian god known by this name is
completely dispelled, it seems to me, for the following reason:
Grimm has pointed out the existence of a magic charm translated into Latin in the
Middle Ages, related to the Merseburg Charm with the following wording: Petrus,
Michael et Stephanus ambulabant per viam. Sic dixit Michahel: Stephani equus infusus,
signet illum Deus, signet illum Christus, et herbam comedat et aquam bibat.
Here, three persons ride together. One of them, Stephanus, injures his horse. Like
Baldur, who injures his horse in the Merseburg Charm, he does not heal it himself. Here,
as in the Merseburg Charm, a riding companion heals the injury. In the heathen charm it
is the warring high-god Odin; in the Christian charm, it is the warring archangel Michael,
who in other stories also occupies Odin‘s place. Phol-Baldur‘s place is occupied by
Stephanus.
This has compelled me to study the legends of Stephanus told in the Bollandist
work Acta Sanctorum, and I have found extremely remarkable features there, for which
no other explanation is possible than that elements belonging to the Baldur myth as we
know it from our Nordic sources were incorporated into the legend of Stephanus after the
mainland Teutons‘ conversion to Christianity or, which outright generated the legend
among them.
round a sprained leg or arm. During the time the operator is putting the thread round the affected limb, he
says, but in such a tone of voice as not to be heard by the bystanders, nor even by the person operated upon:
The Lord rade,
set joint to joint,
and the foal slade;
bone to bone,
he lighted,
and sinew to sinew
and he righted,
Heal in the Holy Ghost's name!'
Here the spell serves for sprains even in the human body, though it set out with the sliding of the foal; and
to the whispered words is added a ligature of woolen thread in nine knots.‖
56 This is not a valid Roman numeral; perhaps XVIII was meant.