Checked against Manx National Heritage, the Isle of Man Guide, Dirk Steinforth (Archaeopress) and Anderson’s Younger Edda · Published 31 October 2026
Three labels
History What records, historians, museums and heritage bodies say, based on evidence.
Literature What a named poem, saga or book says, and when it was written. A story in a book is not evidence that it happened.
Tradition Customs, sayings and beliefs, recorded by a named source.
Where the myths come from
History Snorri Sturluson (Snorre Sturleson in Anderson’s spelling) was born in Iceland in 1178. Snorri Sturluson, The Younger Edda (the Prose Edda), trans. Rasmus B. Anderson, Project Gutenberg ↗
History The Annales Breviores, thought to have been written about 1400, say that Snorri ‘compiled Edda’. Snorri Sturluson, The Younger Edda (the Prose Edda), trans. Rasmus B. Anderson, Project Gutenberg ↗
Literature The Younger Edda often quotes older poems from the Elder Edda, such as the Vala’s Prophecy. Snorri Sturluson, The Younger Edda (the Prose Edda), trans. Rasmus B. Anderson, Project Gutenberg ↗
The Younger Edda was put together in Iceland, more than two hundred years after Thorwald’s Cross was carved. It is a book about the old stories, not an eyewitness record.
What the Manx crosses show
History According to the Irish chronicles, Vikings from Scandinavia first entered the Irish Sea in AD 798. Dirk H. Steinforth, Thorvald’s Cross: the Viking-Age cross-slab ‘Kirk Andreas MM 128’ and its iconography (Archaeopress), free sample ↗
History Manx National Heritage says the carved stone crosses of the Isle of Man show many familiar Viking heroes, and tell us how Christianity was adapted into the lives of people on the island. Manx National Heritage: Learning about the Manx Crosses ↗
History Several Manx crosses show pagan and Christian pictures side by side, but Manx National Heritage calls this one particularly unusual, because it puts the two on opposite faces of the stone. iMuseum (Manx National Heritage): Replica of Thorwald’s cross ↗
History Sigurd’s Cross (no. 121), also in Kirk Andreas, is one of four Sigurd crosses on the Isle of Man. The others are at Jurby, Malew and Maughold. Isle of Man Guide: Sigurd’s Cross (no. 121), Kirk Andreas ↗
So were the Norse gods real?
There is no evidence that Odin, Thor or the wolf Fenrir existed outside stories. What history can show is that people told these stories: carvers on the Isle of Man put scenes on stone crosses in the tenth century, beside Christian pictures, and a writer in Iceland gathered the myths into a book in the 1200s. That history is what this notebook follows.
Follow the thread
Snorri Sturluson, The Younger Edda (the Prose Edda), trans. Rasmus B. Anderson, Project Gutenberg ↗
Manx National Heritage: Learning about the Manx Crosses ↗
iMuseum (Manx National Heritage): Replica of Thorwald’s cross ↗
Isle of Man Guide: Sigurd’s Cross (no. 121), Kirk Andreas ↗
Retellings are in our own words. Every sentence above carries a label (History, Literature or Tradition) and a link to the source it was checked against. A legend is not a historical record.
Source method & more reading ↗