I love the way Kris Kershaw frames that as the backdrop in her book. Sure, she devotes an entire chapter to the subject…but the above snippet is simply brilliant. Sure, it has a flaw in that she fails to understand that the Druct or comitatus, while Mannerbunde sprung, was not the Mannerbunde; but as flaws go… that’s fairly minor. The Mannerbunde removed children, taught them how to be warriors… but it also taught them the sacral knowledge they would need in order to be men within the þeod. It was never solely about the fighting. Further, the idea of the lone wolf… just stop. While the young boys may be removed from society… it was always about reintegration. You want to be a heathen alone in the woods? Here you go:

So I

often wretched and sorrowful,

bereft of my homeland,

far from noble kinsmen,

have had to bind in fetters

my inmost thoughts,

Since long years ago

I hid my lord

in the darkness of the earth,

and I, wretched, from there

travelled most sorrowfully

over the frozen waves,

sought, sad at the lack of a hall,

a giver of treasure,

The Wanderer

Yup, in the woods you are the wretch… friendless…worthless…alone. Who will trust you? Who will keep you? Where do you derive your joy? Probably a knothole in an oak tree… enjoy.

So, what is the point of all this? I decided that since I was re-reading The One-Eyed God anyway, and since this blog is named after the Mannerbunde… and since the goal of the Mannerbunde is to teach. Why not bore you all with my ramblings on a great book?