Category: Mimir’s Well
Mimir’s Well is a column written for ‘The Orcadian’ newspaper by members of the team at the Institute of Northern Studies.
Mimir is a giant from Old Norse mythology, renowned for his wisdom. The source of Mimir’s wisdom was the water of a well by the root of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, known as Mimir’s Well. The god Odin wanted a share in Mimir’s wisdom too, which he got, but he had to leave one of his eyes to Mimir as a pledge. This is how Odin became the wisest of the gods.
The column Mimir’s Well appears now and again, depending on what inspires us to write. As we are a multidisciplinary team, the topics of the column will span widely, from history and archaeology via folklore and ethnology to literature and language.
Hopefully it will inspire you, too.
The Island of Faray Orkney’s lesser known North Isle
OLAVUS PAUPER HETHLANDINUS, ‘Poor Olaf, the Shetlander’, the first known Shetlandic poet
‘Views in Orkney and on the North Eastern Coast of Scotland’ by Countess Duchess of Sutherland (Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, 1765-1839)
Sir David Sinclair’s fine clothes listed in his will in 1506
Orkney: Late Medieval Dress
Legends of King Arthur in medieval Scotland
The remarkable survival of medieval churches in Orkney
Of pirates, Vikings and media tourists
Odin's Eye 