FROM GODDESS TO KING
A History of Ancient Europe from the
OERA LINDA BOOK
By Anthony Radford
CHAPTER 16
WHEN THE SECOND BAD TIMES CAME
It had been nearly nineteen centuries since a major upheaval of the earth had occurred in Western Europe. It is possible that the Mediterranean disturbances would have been recorded if they had been felt in the north because several histories from that era were remembered. But the Santorini disturbance of the sixteenth century BC was most likely to have been local to that region, no matter how devastating it was.
The writings now continue after over two centuries with Frethorik Oera Linda in approximately 290 BC. He explains the meaning of his name and hence the book as "Over the Lime Trees" and is probably a descendant of Apol, even an ancestor of Cornelius Over de Linden who first revealed the Oera Linda Book.
Frethorik was Askar of Ludwardia, an office which probably originated like a "count" as inventory-taker or "asker" in Adela’s day, but which over the centuries eventually became a royal title in the days of King Askar. He begins by describing the further loss of territory to the Magy as a result of dishonoring Frya’s teachings. These losses were not by combat but by the long-term intrigue of the Finns or Magyars such as corrupting the young or at least utilizing their enthusiasm for personal gratifications and defiance of authority.
The consequences of this perversity were, he claimed, the massive geological disasters that occurred at the time, 305 BC. Earthquakes and volcanic activity destroyed much of northwest Europe in a similar manner to how it was recorded about the sinking of Atland. Texland is today no more than the tiny island of Texel but there was a lot of land to the north of it, all lost to the ocean. The Frisian Islands now carry the names of citadels and districts that are described in the Oera Linda Book as supporting large, highly organized urban, farming, manufacturing and trading centers. Much of the geography of today’s Holland must have been formed then with subsequent changes occurring by the slower forces of erosion, silting and man’s reclamation projects.
The description of the disaster is quite graphic and covers a period of over a year. Later descriptions talk of three years of bad times with ominous weather preceding volcanic eruptions, but there is no doubt that the occurrences were of paramount proportions. Society was totally rearranged, as was the geography. The one exception was Fryasburgt. All the citadels had been destroyed even in Sweden, but the one at Texland had survived. Although these changes were of enormous magnitude, it could not have been as large or as far reaching as the sinking of Atland. A government system did survive, and many individual communities such as those of Denmark and the Frisian island area sought and found refuge on the ships despite the prodigious storms and weather described. Tsunamis or waves occurring at the time of earthquakes cause most of their destruction along coasts that have an accelerating shape to them, not to ships at sea but then losses of ships in the storms are also described.
My name is Frethorik, surnamed Oera Linda, which means over the Linden. In Ludwardia I was chosen as Askar. Ludwardia is a new village within the fortification of the Ludgarda, of which the name has fallen into disrepute. In my time much has happened. I had written a good deal about it, but afterwards much more was related to me. I will write an account of both one and the other after this book, to the honor of the good people and to the disgrace of the bad.
In my youth I heard complaints on all sides. The bad time was coming; the bad time did come - Frya had forsaken us. She withheld from us all her watch-maidens, because monstrous idolatrous images had been found within our landmarks. I burnt with curiosity to see those images. In our neighborhood a little old woman tottered in and out of the houses, always calling out about the bad times. I came to her; she stroked my chin; then I became bold, and asked her if she would show me the bad times and the images.
She laughed good-naturedly, and took me to the citadel. An old man asked me if I could read and write. "No", I said.
"Then you must first go and learn", he replied, "otherwise it may not be shown to you."
I went daily to the writer and learned. Eight years afterwards I heard that our Burgtmaid had been unchaste, and that some of the Burgers had committed treason with the Magy, and many people took their part. Everywhere, disputes arose. There were children rebelling against their parents; good people were secretly murdered. The little old woman who had brought everything to light was found dead in a ditch. My father, who was a judge, would have her avenged. He was murdered in the night in his own house.
Three years after that the Magy was master without any resistance. The Saxons had remained religious and upright. All the good people fled to them. My mother died of it. Now I did like the others. The Magy prided himself upon his cunning, but Irtha made him know that she would not tolerate any Magy or idol on the holy bosom that had borne Frya.
As a wild horse tosses his mane after he has thrown his rider, so Irtha shook her forests and her mountains. Rivers flowed over the land; the sea raged; mountains spouted fire to the clouds, and what they vomited forth the clouds flung upon the earth.
At the beginning of the harvest month the earth bowed towards the north, and sank down lower and lower. In the winter month the low lands of Friesland were buried under the sea. The woods in which the images were, were torn up and scattered by the wind.
The following year the frost came in the autumn and laid Friesland concealed under a sheet of ice. In February there were storms of wind from the north, driving mountains of ice and stones. When the spring-tides came the earth raised herself up, the ice melted; with the ebb, the forests with the images drifted out to sea.
In May everyone who dared went home. I came with a maiden to the citadel Liudgaard. How sad it looked there. The forests of the Lindaoord were almost all gone. Where Liudgaard used to be was sea. The waves swept over the fortifications. Ice had destroyed the tower, and the houses lay heaped over each other. On the slope of the dike I found a stone on which the writer had inscribed his name. That was a sign to me. The same thing had happened to other citadels as to ours. In the upper lands they had been destroyed by the earth, in the lower lands, by the water.
Fryasburgt, at Texland, was the only one found uninjured, but all the land to the north was sunk under the sea, and has never been recovered. At the mouth of the Flymeer, as we were told, thirty salt swamps were found, consisting of the forest and the ground that had been swept away. At Westflyland there were fifty. The canal which had run across the land from Alderga was filled up with sand and destroyed.
The seafaring people and other travelers who were at home saved themselves, their goods, and their relations upon their ships. But the black people at Lydasburgt and Alkmarum had done the same; and as they went south they saved many girls, and as no one came to claim them, they took them for their wives.
The people who came back all lived within the lines of the citadel, as outside there was nothing but mud and marsh. The old houses were all smashed together. People bought cattle and sheep from the upper lands, and in the great houses where formerly the maidens were established cloth and felt were made for a livelihood. This happened 1,888 years after the submersion of Atland.
This second disaster occurred in 305 BC (1888 - 2193 = -305). We have no maps from the time so it is hard to picture the previous coastlines. It is assumed that Northland is Norway and Westland is Britain but where was the lost land of the north? The fishing banks of the North Sea must have been above ground before then because dredgings have brought up identifiable trees. These species have been scientifically dated showing that the dry earth time was several thousand years earlier with the submergence date unknown; not an impossible correlation. When William the Conqueror came to England in the eleventh century, he rewarded one of his officers with the Dukedom of Dogger. This new noble neglected the repair of the dikes so that the sea claimed the Dogger Banks in his own lifetime. Also we know that Helgoland in the North Sea (a North Frisian Island and traditionally part of Germany) was very much larger from surviving ninth century maps, as large as a thousand square miles. It is now less than 400 sandy acres. If we go back nineteen hundred years earlier the problem of locating Atland gets even more difficult as the whole area isn’t that large. Britain still had to be to the west and the compensating uplift of land would be in Scandinavia and also in the British fens.
In Sweden high mountains fell and became swamps, rivers of lava flowed over the land and whole forests were consumed by fire. The political advantage was taken as disunited villages rallied under newly elected kings to drive the Finns out of the north, to Finland it is presumed. Some mixed blood Finns were allowed to stay and a new settlement of the surviving lands took place. Overall, the events revitalized Frya’s society for a new final surge of greatness. Here Frethorik, a descendent of Adela and Apol, continues the account of how the earth changed affected Scandinavia.
This Writing has Been Given to Me About Northland and Scandinavia:
When our land was submerged I was in Scandinavia. It was very bad there. There were great lakes which rose from the earth like bubbles, then burst asunder, and from the rents flowed a stuff like red-hot iron. The tops of high mountains fell and destroyed whole forests and villages. I myself saw one mountain torn from another and fall straight down. When I afterwards went to see the place there was a lake there.
When the earth was composed there came a duke of Lindasburgt with his people, and one maiden who cried everywhere, "Magy is the cause of all the misery that we have suffered."
They continued their progress and their hosts increased. The Magy fled, and his corpse was found where he had killed himself. Then the Finns were driven to one place where they might live. There were some of mixed blood who were allowed to stay, but most of them went with the Finns. The duke was chosen as king. The temples which had remained whole were destroyed. Since that time the good Northmen come often to Texland for the advice of the Mother; still we cannot consider them real Frisians. In Denmark it has certainly happened as with us. The sea-people, who call themselves famous sea-warriors, went on board their ships, and afterwards went back again.
From about 300 BC until 500 AD the world enjoyed a warmer and more moist climate. The northern lands of Africa which are now very dry became the corn belt of the Mediterranean. The Middle East supported higher and more prosperous populations that have not had the same agricultural prosperity since. Rome expanded in population and incorporated the whole world that was known to them. This inevitably brought them into armed conflict with the West Europeans who were themselves rapidly increasing their population after the disaster of 305 BC.
