Odin (or Woden) was a great chief in Asgaard, Asaland, or Asia, with two
brothers, Ve, the other Vilje. Odin waged war against Vanalanders (in Asia)
unsuccessfully. After years of mutual ravaging, both countries sent their
best men to settle a truce and come to peace in Vanaheim, . Aagaard sent
Hone, a chief and Mime, a man of great understanding. Vanaland sent
Njord the Rich, and his son
Frey and Kvase, a wise man. The Vanalanders
thought Hone had deceived them, beheaded Mime and sent his head to Odin,
who preserved it with herbs and it became powerful. Njord and Frey became
priests and Diar of the Asian people. Njord's daighter, Freya, became
the first priestess of sacrifice who taught magic to the Asians.
Heimskringla, Ynglinga Saga, Section 1-10
The semi-legendary Hengist, his brother Horsa, and his son Æsc were the first Saxons to arrive in Britain and the founders of the kingdom of Kent. In 443, the British king Vortigern called them in to defeat the Pictish and Scotish attacks from the north. The three princes landed in Ebbsfleet, Kent in 449. After the Picts and Scots were expelled from the country, Vortigern, an evil king, gave Hengist and Horsa Thanet, but they soon began conquest against British to take all of Kent. In 455, Hengist and Horsa led the Saxons against Vortigern himself at Ægæls, and Horsa was slain. That year, Hengist became the first King of Kent. When he died in 488 the kingdom passed to his son.
The Anglo-Saxons created a genealogy for all of their kings that linked royal dynasties back to the main god Woden (for which Wednesday is named). In Hengist's case, he was the son of Whitgils, son of Witta, son of Wecta, son of Woden. When the English people later converted to Christianity, Woden was given his own genealogy, no longer thought of as a god but as a major warrior-chief (there might have been a historical Woden). And so, Woden thus became the son of Fritholaf, son of Frithowulf, son of Finn, son of Gondolf, son of Geata, son of Tætwa, son of Beaw, son of Sceldwa, son of Heremond, son of Itermon, son of Hathra, son of Hwala, son of Bedwig, son of Sceaf. This Scaef was a supposed fourth son of Noah born on the Ark used to tie ruling kings to Biblical personages. Of course, Noah was the son of Lamech, son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, the first man created by God himself from the dust. (Just like Geoffery later related the British to the Trojans, the Saxons linked themselves to, well, dust.)
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According to Teutonic (Norse) mythology, recorded in the Eddas (oral poems written down in the 1200's) there were two places of existence before the creation of actual life. Muspellsheim was a land of fire and Niflheim was a land of ice and mist.Between them lay a great emptiness called Ginnungagap where the ice and heat met. Out of this emptiness came a giant, the first living thing, called Ymir. Then a cow appeared named Audhumla who supplied Ymir with milk. Ymir gave birth to three beings, a man from his leg and a man and a woman from his armpits. Then a god named Buri, who was frozen until Audhumla licked the ice from his body. Buri had a son, Bor, who married the giantess Besta.
Odin and his brothers killed the god Ymir, and Odin became the ruler of the world (heaven and earth) constructed from Ymir's body. His blood became the oceans, his solid bones became the mountains, his teeth and broken bones became the rocks, trees came from his hair, his brains became the clouds, and his flesh filled Ginnungagap. They created the first man out of an ash tree and the first woman from an elm tree, and created Asgard for their heavenly home. Valhalla was a great hall in Asgard for those brave warriors killed in battle. Dininities who lived in Asgard were called Aesir.
Odin's sons include Thor, the god of thunder, Balder, the son of goodness and harmony.
Teutonic mythology also includes the end of the world which will be the battle Ragnarok, after which Balder will be reborn as well as the human race.
Sources: pantheon.org
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See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin
1st Earl Rivers, KG (1405 – 12 August 1469) was an English nobleman, best remembered as the father of Elizabeth Woodville and the maternal grandfather of Edward IV.
Born at Maidstone in Kent, he was the son of another Richard Wydeville, chamberlain to the Duke of Bedford. After the duke died, the younger Richard married the widowed duchess, Jacquetta of Luxembourg (1416–1472). This was initially a secret marriage, for which the couple were fined when it came to public notice.
He was a captain in 1429, served in France in 1433 and was a knight of the regent Duke of Bedford in 1435. He was at Gerberoi in 1435 and served under William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, in 1435–6. He then fought under Somerset and Shrewsbury in 1439 and the Duke of York in 1441–2, when he was made captain of Alençon and knight-banneret. He was appointed seneschal of Gascony in 1450 (but failed to reach it before its fall), lieutenant of Calais in 1454–5, and to defend Kent against invasion by the Yorkist earls in 1459–60 (but was captured at Sandwich). He was created Baron Rivers by Henry VI on 9 May 1448 and invested as a Knight of the Garter in 1450. He was appointed Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1459. In the Wars of the Roses, he was initially a Lancastrian, but he became a Yorkist when he thought that the Lancastrian cause was lost. He reconciled himself to the victorious Edward IV, his future son-in-law.
On 1 May 1464, Edward married his daughter Elizabeth, widow of Sir John Grey of Groby. Richard was created Earl Rivers in 1466, appointed Lord Treasurer in March 1466 and Constable of England on 24 August 1467. The power of this new family was very distasteful to the old baronial party, and especially so to the Earl of Warwick. Early in 1468, the Rivers estates were plundered by Warwick's partisans, and the open war of the following year was aimed at destroying the Woodvilles. After Edward's defeat at the Battle of Edgecote Moor on 26 July 1469, Rivers and his second son John were taken prisoners at Chepstow. Following a hasty show trial, they were beheaded at Kenilworth on 12 August 1469. His eldest son Anthony succeeded him in the earldom. Lord Rivers had a large family. His third son, Lionel (d. 1484) became the Bishop of Salisbury. All his daughters made great marriages: Catherine Woodville, the fifth child, was wife of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.
Children of Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg:
Elizabeth Woodville (c. 1437–1492), married Edward IV of England.
Lewis Woodville (1438).
Anne Woodville (1439–1489). Married first William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier, and second George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent.
Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (1442–1483), married Elizabeth Scales, 8th Baroness Scales.
Mary Woodville (1443–1481), married William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
Jacquetta Woodville (1444–1509), married John le Strange, 8th Baron Strange of Knockin.
John Woodville (1445–1469), married Catherine Neville, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.
Lionel Woodville (1447–1485), Bishop of Salisbury.
Martha Woodville (1450–1500), married Sir John Bromley.
Eleanor Woodville (1452–1512), married Sir Anthony Grey.
Richard Woodville, 3rd Earl Rivers (c. 1453–1491).
Margaret Woodville (1454–1490), married Thomas Fitzalan, 17th Earl of Arundel.
Edward Woodville (c. 1455–1488).
Catherine Woodville, married first Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, second Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford.
Agnes Woodville (d. 1506), married William Dormer.
Thomas Woodville, married Anne Holland.