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England: The Norse god Odin with his sons, Libellus de primo Saxonum uel Normannorum adventu, 12th century

England: The Norse god Odin with his sons, <i>Libellus de primo Saxonum uel Normannorum adventu</i>, 12th century

The Libellus de primo Saxonum uel Normannorum adventu, located in a 12th-century manuscript (London, British Library Cotton Caligula A. viii) and often attributed to Symeon of Durham, contains an illustration of Odin as Woden, crowned as ancestral king of the Anglo-Saxons.

The text surrounding the illustration describes the royal lineages of the kingdoms of Kent, Mercia, Deira, Bernicia and Wessex respectively, each claiming descent and the right to rule from this legendary figure.

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