The Oak Tree and the God of Thunder
- Jane Orton
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Many of our native trees have a special association with Anglo-Saxon paganism. Last week, we looked at the ash tree and its link to Woden and the runes. In this week’s post, Dr. Orton investigates the oak tree and its possible links to the god of thunder! Part three of our Trees and Anglo-Saxon Paganism series, in which we explore the links between our native British trees and Anglo-Saxon paganism!*
This series is more academically dense than some of our other posts. For a quicker, more accessible read, take a look at our posts about our native woodland or animals that live in our woods at night!
The oak tree has a special place in British culture. As nature writer John Lewis-Stempel says, “For centuries, the oak touched—literally—every part of a Briton’s life, from cradle to coffin. The oak spanned the house in which he or she lived, provided the acorns to feed the pigs. It was the oak that made the ‘wooden walls’ of Nelson’s navy, and it was the navy that allowed Britain to rule the world. Oak was the charcoal for smelting in the first foundries of the Industrial Revolution, the axel for the Haywain, tannin for leather, shelter for livestock, shade for the courting couple.”
The oak was also important to the Anglo-Saxons as a group. The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, an eighth or ninth century verse written in Old English that defines twenty-nine of the runic symbols, says this about Oak:
The oak feeds the pig for meat for the sons of men,
It often fares over the gannet’s bath,
The ocean tests whether the oak keeps honourable faith.
Lewis-Stempel points out that the reference to the ocean in the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, is due to the fact that oak was used to build the ships that carried the Angles, Saxons and Norse across the North Sea (“gannet’s bath”)—so the oak tree is a big part of their story.
The Oak Tree and the Thunder God
Oak trees are associated with thunder and thunder-gods across Europe. Book Fourteen of Homer’s Odyssey describes Odysseus as having gone to Dodona “to learn the will of Zeus from the great oak-tree that is sacred to the god, and to discover how he ought to approach his own rich island of Ithaca after so long an absence” (mentioned again in Book Nineteen). In Herodotus’ Histories we are given a detailed account of Zeus’ oak tree oracle at Dodona.
In Northern European paganism, the Prose Edda links Thor with storms and thunderbolts: in the Gylfaginning, his home is called Bilskirnir (“lightening crack). The Skáldskaparmál, the second section of the Prose Edda uses kennings (metaphorical phrases that replace nouns) that link Thor with Mjölnir, the hammer that creates thunder and lightning. In Thor’s duel with Hrungnir, thunder and lightning occur as Thor approaches the giant.
There is an eighth century Latin biography of St. Boniface, written by Willibald of Mainz that tells the story of Boniface felling a large oak near Geismar that local pagans had dedicated to Thor. Boniface felled the tree as part of his conversion of the pagans to Christianity and excavations around Geismar do show evidence of Christian activity and an early church there.
Thunor: Our English Thor
Thor’s Anglo-Saxon equivalent, Thunor, is also linked to thunder and oak trees. Unfortunately, we don’t have textual evidence like in other parts of Northern Europe, but we do have Anglo-Saxon place-names that link Thunor to oak trees.
Medieval historian Sir Frank Stenton mentions a Thunores hlæw (“Thunor’s mound”) in Thanet, Thunres lea (“Thunor’s grove”) in Southampton, Thunres feld in Wiltshire, Thursley and Thunderfield in Surrey, Thunorslege in Sussex, Thunderley, Thundersley, Thurstable (“Thunor’s pillar”) and Thunreslau in Essex and Thundridge (“Thunor’s ridge”) in Hertfordshire. Philologist and historian H. Munro Chadwick also points to place name evidence that shows groves sacred to Thunor.
If we use a comparative mythological interpretation, like that of Hilda Davidson, we do get an indication that Thunor would also have been linked with oak trees in England. Of course, this is not certain, because it might be the case that Anglo-Saxons varied in their narratives about Thunor—but it is a good start for a working hypothesis.
Historian Michael Wood, writing of the reign of seventh century Mercian king Penda, notes that the ruling families of much of England had adopted Christianity, “but the mass of their people still worshipped Odin and Thor. Deities of trees, stones, wind and thunder survived a long time in folk belief; among the Middle Angles of Mercia, for example, near Kibworth in Leicestershire, the sacred tree of Thunor was still remembered in the twelfth century, and still revered as a holy place, though lightly dressed up in Christian garb.”
Life in an English Oak Tree
A database of oak-associated biodiversity links the oak tree with 2300 different species in the UK. An oak tree is a wildlife have in itself. Looking out at the big oak tree outside my window, I often see goldfinches, blackbirds, pigeons, doves and blue tits among its branches.
Birds that feed on oak trees include the tree pipit (Anthus trivialis), redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), wood warblers (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) and great tit (Parus major). All of our native woodpeckers—the green woodpecker (Picus viridis), great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) and lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor)—nest in oak and use it for foraging.
The Oak Rune Ac
Oak is monoecious, meaning that long male and tiny red female flowers grow on the same tree. Squirrels and insects eat the flowers and pollen—the dark-crimson underwing moth (Catocala sponsa) and oak-mining bee (Andrena ferox) rely only or mostly on oak pollen.
Animals who love acorns include badgers (Meles meles), deer, wild boar (Sus scrofa), squirrels, wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), woodpeckers, rooks (Corvus frugilegus) and nuthatches (Sitta europaea). The jay (Garrulus glandarius) has a really special relationship with the oak tree, burying acorns for later and helping new oak trees to grow.
Oak provides food for caterpillars and some of these only eat oak leaves: for instance, caterpillars of the purple hairstreak butterfly (Favonius quercus), oak lutestring (Cymatophorima diluta), great oak beauty (Hypomecis roboraria) and the scarce merveille du jour moth (Moma alpium). The oak tree is also important for the purple emperor butterfly (Apatura iris), the blue ground beetle (Carabus intricatus), the oak jewel beetle (Agrilus biguttatus), the cardinal click beetle (Ampedus cardinalis), the oak click beetle (Lacon quercus), and the Moccas beetle (Hypebaeus flavipes). Spiders like Philodromus praedatus live mainly in mature oak trees. The aphids that feed on oak leaves produce honeydew, which in turn attracts wood ants (Formica rufa). All this is not to mention the variety of fungi, lichens, liverworts and mosses hosted by the oak.
Just looking the bark of an oak tree reveals a multitude of natural realms. You might find pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) and marsh tits (Poecile palustris) living in the crevices of oak trees. Bats roost in the nooks that form in oak bark as it ages, for instance Bechstein’s (Myotis bechsteinii) and barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus) bats. Treecreepers (Certhia familiaris) also nest behind the loose bark of mature oak and forage for insects. Beneath its bark, you might find goat moth larvae (Cossus cossus), cobweb beetle (Ctesias serra), and brown tree ant (Lasius brunneus).
It’s impossible to list everything here, but the Woodland Trust has a beautiful article about oak trees and wildlife. The Ancient Tree Inventory (a database of ancient trees that must be consulted by developers) notes 60,000 ancient and veteran oaks in the UK.
Our Oak Trees
We have a number of older oak trees in our Victorian woodland, one of which houses our mating pair of tawny owls!
We also have several oak trees surrounding the wildlife pond we created. There’s a good mix of oak trees in the native woodland we planted from scratch, as well as a solitary oak tree in one of our wildflower meadows.
Find Out More
If you’d like to learn more about the history of medieval England, take a look at our intellectual and cultural history course, The Medieval Period—or our course, Culture and Conservation, in which you can explore the links between culture and wildlife all over the world. Alternatively, if you’re interested in religion and folklore, take a look at our Anthropology or Religious Studies courses.
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Dr. Orton also explores seasonal links with Anglo-Saxon paganism in her post about the pagan festival of yule.
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Do More
For those who would like to take action to preserve our wild spaces, there’s plenty you can do. Find out how we started our wildflower meadow, how we created a wildlife pond and how we are planting a native woodland from scratch! Even if you don’t have a big garden, there are plenty of things you can do to help biodiversity in your area. Why not put up a solitary bee nesting box or insect home, create a woodpile as a habitat for small creatures or leave small areas of your garden to go wild?
You can also support the Woodland Trust’s work to stop ash dieback.
Think about your own area and how you can protect vulnerable but important parts of your own environment. You might even want to start your own project investigating the cultural importance of wildlife in your area. Dr. Orton works with independent scholars undertaking their own research for an independent project, people writing a book or simply those who have a personal interest. Click the link to find out what it’s like to work with her and contact us to get started!
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* The first post in this series serves as a caveat for the historical claims in the following posts, as well as the use of certain terminology (“Anglo-Saxon” and “native”).