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22-423: Urðr is together with the other Norns located at the well Urðarbrunnr beneath the world ash tree Yggdrasil of Asgard . They spin threads of life, cut marks in the pole figures and measure people's destinies, which shows the fate of all human beings and gods. Norns are always present when a child is born and decide its fate. The three Norns represent the past (Urðr), future (Skuld) and present (Verðandi). Urðr

44-465: A Norse myth or legend is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article relating to a Norse myth or legend is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ur%C3%B0arbrunnr Urðarbrunnr ( Old Norse "Wellspring of Urðr"; either referring to a Germanic concept of fate— urðr —or the norn named Urðr ) is a spring or well in Norse mythology . Urðarbrunnr

66-454: A beautiful hall stands under the ash (Yggdrasil) near the wellspring (Urðarbrunnr), and from this hall come "three maidens" whose names are Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld. The maidens shape the lives of men, and "we call them norns". High goes on to describe that there are other norns, and their nature. Further into chapter 16, High states that norns that dwell by Urðarbrunnr take water from the wellspring and mud that lies around it, and pour it over

88-433: A great distance. The third root is located "among the Æsir ", "extends to heaven" and, beneath it, is the "very holy" Urðarbrunnr. Just-As-High details that, every day, the gods ride over the bridge Bifröst to hold court at the well. High provides more information regarding the wellspring in chapter 16. High says that there are many beautiful places in heaven, and "everywhere there is divine protection around it." There,

110-451: Is also possible. Gylfi and the remaining older bronze-age inhabitants of the land then supposedly adopted the religion of the Æsir and began to live under their rule. Snorri presents an outline of Norse mythology through a dialogue between Gylfi and three rulers of the Æsir. It is possible that Snorri's account is based on an old tradition tracing particular beliefs or foundations of particular Norse cults to this legendary Gylfi. However, it

132-704: Is attested in Ynglinga saga particularly connecting him to the longest river system in Scandinavia, now carrying four different names beginning as Femund river and Trysil river in Norway, then Klarälven in Sweden, above the rather big lake Vänern into which it drains, central to the story of Gefjon in Ynglinga saga, and finally Göta älv that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat , at

154-638: 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 . In both sources, the wellspring lies beneath the world tree Yggdrasil , and is associated with a trio of norns ( Urðr , Verðandi , and Skuld ). In the Prose Edda , Urðarbrunnr is cited as one of three wellsprings existing beneath three roots of Yggdrasil that reach into three distant, different lands;

176-606: Is commonly written as Urd or Urth . In some English translations, her name is glossed with the Old English form of urðr ; Wyrd . Yggdrasil is said to stand "always over Urd's well", or the well of fate, Urd's well is located in Asgard . Urd appears in the Völva 's Prophecy Völuspá : Benjamin Thorpe translation: Henry Adams Bellows translation: This article relating to

198-655: Is considered unclear, having been referred to as "mysterious", "obscure and much-debated". Benjamin Thorpe translates the stanza as: In the Prose Edda , Urðarbrunnr is attested in Gylfaginning (chapters 15, 16, and the beginning of chapter 17), and twice in Skáldskaparmál . In chapter 15 of Gylfaginning , a book of the Prose Edda , the throned figure of Just-As-High tells Gangleri (described as King Gylfi in disguise) about Yggdrasil and its roots. Just-As-High describes three roots that support Yggdrasil that stretch

220-421: Is described as being located beneath Yggdrasil, and that Yggdrasil, an ever-green ash-tree , is covered with white mud or loam . Stanza 20 describes that three norns (Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld) "come from" the well, here described as a "lake", and that this trio of norns then "set down laws, they chose lives, for the sons of men the fates of men." Stanza 111 of Hávamál has been the matter of much debate and

242-402: Is much more likely that the historic King Gylfi was simply already a follower of the ancient Norse religion and, as such, could easily have passed on these beliefs or stories. In one version of Hervarar saga , king Gylfi married his daughter Heiðr to Sigrlami , the king of Garðaríki (Russia). Heiðr and Sigrlami had the son Svafrlami, who forced the two dwarves Dvalin and Durin to forge

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264-549: Is said to have his throne south of Urðarbrunnr. Parallels have been pointed out between the description of Urðarbrunnr at the base of the world tree Yggdrasil and Christian medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen 's account of a wellspring at the base of a sacred tree at the Temple at Uppsala , Sweden, found in his 11th century work Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum . Eilífr Goðrúnarson's Christianity -influenced account of Urðarbrunnr (section 52 of Skáldskaparmál ) associates

286-448: The Æsir and Vanir , who later became the Swedes, obtained new land where they built the settlement of Old Sigtuna . In Snorri's account Gylfi is supposedly deluded by the Æsir into accepting their religion; hence the name "Gylfaginning", most often interpreted as the "deluding of Gylfi", although '-ginning' is regarded the same as what we recognise in "beginning", thus "the origin of Gylfi"

308-580: The Eddic poem Ragnarsdrápa tell a legend of how Gylfi was seduced by the goddess Gefjon to give her as much land as she could plow in one night. Gefjon transformed her four sons into oxen and took enough land to create the Danish island of Zealand , leaving the Swedish lake Vänern . Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda and the Ynglinga saga tell how the supposedly historic (non-deified version) Odin and his people

330-532: The Yggdrasil so that its branches do not decay or rot. The water is described as so holy that anything that enters the wellspring will become "as white as the membrane called the skin that lies round the inside of the eggshell." High then quotes stanza 19 of Völuspá , and states that two swans feed from the wellspring, from which all other swans descend. Chapter 17 starts off with Gangleri asking what other "chief centres" exist outside of Urðarbrunnr. Two sections of

352-432: The book Skáldskaparmál reference Urðarbrunnr. The first reference is in section 49, where a fragment of a work by the 10th century skald Kormákr Ögmundarson is recited in explaining how "Odin's fire" is a kenning for a sword. The passage reads "A sword is Odin's fire, as Kormak said: Battle raged when the feeder of Grid's steed [wolf], he who waged war, advanced with ringing Gaut [Odin's] fire." and that Urðr "rose from

374-461: The city of Gothenburg , on the western coast of Sweden. Hversu Noregr byggðist is loaded with eponymous tales to such an extent that to not connect this Gylfi with this river system would be kind of ignorant. One will find some common sources of the drainage-system forming the signified rivers in the Mountain-region of Norway, turning into Rena River as a tributary to Glomma, and Femund River, as

396-479: The magic sword Tyrfing . A Gylfi is attested in the lineage of sea-kings in Hversu Noregr byggðist , a saga sketching out an origin myth of Norway, where he appears as the brother of Glamma, eponymous of the longest river in Norway, now spelled Glomma , sons of Geitir, apparently one of four sons of Gor the brother of Nór, eponymous first king of Nórway. The connection with Glamma is interesting regarding how Gylfi

418-549: The other two wellsprings being Hvergelmir , located beneath a root in Niflheim , and Mímisbrunnr , located beneath a root near the home of the frost jötnar . Scholarly theory and speculation surrounds the wellspring. Urðarbrunnr is attested in the following works: In the Poetic Edda , Urðarbrunnr is mentioned in stanzas 19 and 20 of the poem Völuspá , and stanza 111 of the poem Hávamál . In stanza 19 of Völuspá , Urðarbrunnr

440-463: The wellspring with the south and Rome. Theories have been proposed that this description may have some relation to notions of the Jordan River due to phonetic and typological similarities perceived by Eilífr, though there may be no other causative connection. Eilífr is otherwise known as a pagan skald , and this selection has been theorized as describing that, due to directly associating Christ with

462-538: The wellspring, Christ had taken over responsibility of providence or fate. Gylfi In Norse mythology , Gylfi ( Old Norse : [ˈɡylve] ), Gylfe , Gylvi , or Gylve was the earliest recorded king of Sviþjoð, Sweden, in Scandinavia. He is known by the name Gangleri when appearing in disguise. The Danish tradition on Gylfi deal with how he was tricked by Gefjon and her sons from Jötunheim, who were able to shapeshift into tremendous oxen. The Ynglinga saga section of Snorri 's Heimskringla and

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484-446: The wellspring." Urðarbrunnr is mentioned a second time in section 52 of Skáldskaparmál , this time associated with Christ . The section states that early skalds once referred to Christ in relation to Urðarbrunnr and Rome , and quotes the late 10th century skald Eilífr Goðrúnarson , who states that "thus has the powerful king of Rome increased his realm with lands of heath-land divinities [giants; i.e. heathen lands]" and that Christ

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