Oldest description of Valhalla in a text about Frisian king Redbad

The evidence supporting this conclusion can be found in the chapter ‘Sacral Kingship: A Song of Redbad and Woden’, in the new, forthcoming academic collection Redbad, King of the Frisians: New Perspectives on Kingship in Early Medieval Frisia and the Development of a Coastal Identity. Researchers Han Nijdam, Ewoud van Aalst, Petter Jensen, Arjan Sterken and Hilbert Vinkenoog argue that the account of King Redbad’s failed baptism and his dream vision in Vita Wulframni preserves the remnants of a ‘Song of Redbad and Woden’, presumably originating from East Frisia. Until now, the oldest known description of Valhalla – a heavenly realm for warriors in Norse mythology – was thought to date from the ninth century.

Deathbed vision

Old Frisian scholar and historical anthropologist Han Nijdam of the Fryske Akademy found several indications in the Latin text that the author had incorporated and reworked pre-Christian Frisian narrative material, which is likely to have been derived from an orally transmitted song or heroic tale centred on King Redbad and the god Woden. 

It tells the story of how the elderly and ailing King Redbad is torn over whether to be baptised, at a time when Christianity was gaining ground in Frisia at the expense of the pre-Christian faith. In Redbad’s dream, his god Woden appears, urging him not to renounce his faith and promising him a glorious afterlife. Nijdam and his colleagues suspect that the song originated in East Frisia, which at that time had not yet been conquered by the Franks.

The evidence also sheds new light on the best-known story about Redbad: the legend in which the king withdraws his foot from the baptismal font. In the Vita Wulframni, the Christian-influenced biography of Saint Wulfram, the chapter on Redbad’s dream follows the chapter on the failed baptism, and that does not seem logical. Han Nijdam: “If we view the two chapters in the Vita Wulframni as the Christian version of an original song about Redbad and Woden, then everything falls into place. In the original song, which was circulating in the second half of the eighth century in the part of Frisia that had not yet been Christianised, the dream about Woden comes first, followed only then by the story of the failed baptism. Redbad already knew what Woden had promised him after his death, and was able to withdraw his foot from the baptismal font with confidence.”

Researchers Hilbert Vinkenoog and Petter Jensen compared the reconstructed song with Old Norse poetic sources in which dreams, Woden (Odin) and Valhalla feature. This comparison reinforces the view that the Frisian tale of Redbad and Woden ties in with a broader, shared Norse tradition surrounding this kind of deathbed vision.

In addition to the discovery concerning Valhalla, the research paints a more nuanced picture of the Frisian kingship. Whilst Redbad has generally been studied from a Christian-Frankish perspective, this research is the first to be conducted from a comparative Germanic perspective, drawing on sources from Scandinavia, amongst other places. This reveals that Redbad acted as a sacral king who presided over rituals and sacrifices. It also appears that the Frisian realm, which at its height stretched from the Belgian coast to Denmark and as far as the river region near Utrecht, consisted of a network of regional leaders who recognised Redbad as their overlord. Together, they formed a power that even the Franks had to reckon with.

These insights form part of the basis for the exhibition ‘Redbad: the legendary king’, which, from 5 September 2026, will portray King Redbad as the overlord of Frisia — including a Valhalla scene that takes centre stage in the exhibition’s final room. Researchers point out that insights of this kind into Fryslân’s earliest history have emerged relatively late, partly because few written sources from this period have survived. Through international collaboration and the digitisation of sources that are already known, researchers are now actively trying to make up for lost ground.

Publication 

The open-access version of the English-language book Redbad, King of the Frisians: New Perspectives on Kingship in Early Medieval Frisia and the Development of a Coastal Identity will be published in February 2027 and will be available online free of charge via open access. Those who prefer a physical copy can make use of the print-on-demand service via Brepols Publishers (Feb.2027).

The European funding programme ‘Interreg VI Germany-Netherlands’ has allocated two million euros towards the realisation of the REDBAD exhibition project. In 2026, the medieval Frisian king Redbad will be the focus of large-scale exhibitions in Leeuwarden and Emden (Germany), educational programmes in both countries, an academic publication, a book for the general public and a ‘role-playing game’. Co-funders are the provinces of Fryslân and Groningen and the State Chancellery of Lower Saxony.

The Fryske Akademy is coordinating the academic book, which will be published by Brepols Publishers. Other partners in the REDBAD project, alongside the Fries Museum, include the Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum Emden, Ostfriesische Landschaft, Learning Hub Friesland, Firda Educational Institution, the Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research, the Mythemakers Foundation and the University of Groningen.

The exhibition ‘REDBAD: the legendary king’ at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden promises to be a visual spectacle: it opens to the general public on Saturday 5 September. Keep an eye on the Fries Museumm's website for further information. The exhibition runs until 7 February, after which it will travel to the Landesmuseum Emden in Germany.