The Warni: Nerthus-Worshippers in the North

The Warni (Latin Varini) were a Germanic tribe in the north of Germania. Tacitus counts them among the peoples who jointly worshipped the earth goddess Nerthus – together with the Angles and others.

In the league of the Nerthus peoples

According to Tacitus these tribes celebrated a common cult: the goddess's wagon travelled over the land, and during that time weapons rested. The Warni thus belong to the oldest attested cult community of the north.

A law code and a saga

From Frankish times a Lex Angliorum et Werinorum survives – a sign that Angles and Warni were regarded as a legal community. The historian Procopius also tells the dramatic tale of a broken betrothal between a Warni king and an Anglian princess that ended in a military expedition.

"The Reudigni, Aviones, Angles, Warni … together worship Nerthus, that is Mother Earth."after Tacitus, Germania 40 (public domain, own translation)

The Warni belong to the coastal world of the Nerthus peoples. Continue with the Angles and the goddess Nerthus.

Read more with us

The Angles · The Saxons · The Frisians · The Chauci · The North Frisian ring forts.

Sources & literature

Tacitus, Germania 40; Lex Angliorum et Werinorum; Procopius, Gothic War; quote public domain (own translation).

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