Bartholomeus saga postola
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Bartholomeus saga postola is an Old Norse
account of the life of Saint Bartholomew. The account survives in five manuscripts from the period 1220 — 1375, an additional five copies of from these earlier manuscripts from the period 1600 — 1800, and a summary survives in a manuscript from the 15th century. Of these manuscripts and copies, most are fragmentary or otherwise defective.
Queen Hel is not mentioned again in the work. Michael Bell says that while Hel "might at first at first appear to be identical with the well-known pagan goddess of the Norse underworld
" as described in chapter 34 of the Prose Edda
book Gylfaginning
, "in the combined light of the Old English and Old Norse versions of Nicodemus
she casts quite a different a shadow", and that in Bartholomeus saga postola "she is clearly the queen of the Christian, not pagan
, underworld".
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
account of the life of Saint Bartholomew. The account survives in five manuscripts from the period 1220 — 1375, an additional five copies of from these earlier manuscripts from the period 1600 — 1800, and a summary survives in a manuscript from the 15th century. Of these manuscripts and copies, most are fragmentary or otherwise defective.
"Queen Hel"
In Bartholomeus saga postola, Barthalomew is in his assigned apostolic territory of "India". The inhabitants there make sacrifices to an idol, and within the idol a devil hides who spiritually entraps men while appearing as if to cure their physical ills. Upon Bartholomew's arrival, he renders the devil impotent, demonstrating his own curative powers by curing the madness of the king's daughter. Bartholomew miraculously appears to the king while he is in his bedchamber, preaches to the king, and offers to expose the devils within the idols the following morning. The next morning, when the pagans start making sacrifices, the devil within the idol says:
"Stop sacrificing to me, you wretches, lest you have it worse; I am bound with fiery bonds by the angels of Jesus Christ, whom the Jews crucified, thinking him to be a man and susceptible to death; but he made war on HelHel (being)In Norse mythology, Hel is a being who presides over a realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
our queen and bound the very chieftain of HellHellIn many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
[or HelHel (realm)In Norse mythology, Hel, the location, shares a name with Hel, a female figure associated with the location. In late Icelandic sources, varying descriptions of Hel are given and various figures are described as being buried with items that will facilitate their journey to Hel after their death...
, heliar hofđingia] with fiery bonds, and he arose from death on the third day, and gave the sign of his cross to his apostles and sent them into all corners of the earth; and now one of them has come here, and that is who has bound me."
Queen Hel is not mentioned again in the work. Michael Bell says that while Hel "might at first at first appear to be identical with the well-known pagan goddess of the Norse underworld
Hel (being)
In Norse mythology, Hel is a being who presides over a realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
" as described in chapter 34 of the Prose Edda
Prose Edda
The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...
book Gylfaginning
Gylfaginning
Gylfaginning, or the Tricking of Gylfi , is the first part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda after Prologue. The Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the Norse gods, and many other aspects of Norse mythology...
, "in the combined light of the Old English and Old Norse versions of Nicodemus
Old English Gospel of Nicodemus
The Old English Gospel of Nicodemus is an Old English prose translation of the Latin Gospel of Nicodemus. The Old English Gospel of Nicodemus is preserved in two manuscripts , both dating from the 11th century AD...
she casts quite a different a shadow", and that in Bartholomeus saga postola "she is clearly the queen of the Christian, not pagan
Norse paganism
Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
, underworld".