Continental Germanic mythology formed an element within Germanic paganism as practiced in parts of Central Europe occupied by Germanic peoples up to and including the 6th to 8th centuries (the period of Germanic Christianization). Traces of some of the myths lived on in legends and in the Middle High German epics of the Middle Ages. Echoes of the stories, with the sacred elements largely removed, may appear throughout European folklore and in European fairy tales.
Tribes
The mythologies of the following tribes are included in this category:
- Lombards (source: Paulus Diaconus)
- Alamanni (see: Nordendorf fibula, Pforzen buckle)
- Franks and Thuringii (see: Frankish mythology, Donar’s Oak)
- Saxons (see: Irminsul)
- Frisii (source: Life of Saint Willibrord)
Paganism
Compared to North Germanic and, to a lesser extent, Anglo-Saxon mythology, examples of Continental Germanic paganism are extremely fragmentary. Besides a handful of brief Elder Futhark inscriptions the lone, genuinely pagan Continental Germanic documents are the short Old High German Merseburg Incantations. However, pagan mythological elements were preserved in later literature, notably in Middle High German epic poetry, but also in German, Swiss, and Dutch folklore.
Texts
Old High German
- Lay of Hildebrand
- Muspilli
- The Merseburg Incantations
Middle High German
- Nibelungenlied
- Kudrun
- Weyland
- Dietrich von Bern