Ingui is a God that is most concerned with the things of society, the fertility of cultivated fields and of domestic and wild animals. Also amongst His concerns seem to be Sacral Kingship, the maintenance of Frith and Grith, the protection of the folk’s boarders and protection in battle. All of these worthy goals seem rather simple, but they are far from it.
Ingui is often not seen as being as morally complex as Gods like Woden and Tiw, nor as spiritually pure as Thunor. These perceptions are rather simplistic and misleading, however, and often stem from a simplistic reading of the lore. From every indication Ingui seems to be one of the oldest Gods (from the fact that the Ingaevones are mentioned in some of the oldest texts referring to the Germanic Gods) and holds a place with Ancient Tiw, the Sky father. It is difficult to believe that such an ancient God is so simple as He is painted by modern Heathen.
For the Anglo-Saxons Ing is a difficult God to attest as far as the lore goes. There are only two references to Him in the Anglo-Saxon Cannon, One in the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem and an obscure reference to “Ingui” in the Royal lineage of Dacia (?). However, as far as the pre-Christian Gods of the Ancient English go, this is more than most other deities that are more widely proclaimed. The Old English Rune Poem says:
Ing wæs ærst mid east Danum gesewan secgum oþ he siððan est ofer weg gewæt wane æfter ran þus heardingas þone halle nemdon.
Ing was first amongst the east-Danes seen by men until he departed east over the wet-way, his wagon following Thus (for this reason) the Heardings, named Him a hero.
It is not much, but it tells us something of what Ingui did. From the verse, we see that He traveled to the East Danes from the sea, from the East…one might presume that since where the East Danes lived was the part of Denmark called “Sjaelland” and was once considered part of Sweden (that part of Sweden that Gefjon’s four bovine sons plowed from the Swedish coastline) one might consider that when He “siððan est” He went to Sweden. Sweden has long been associated with the worship of Yngvi-Freyr (a cognate in Old Norse for Ingui and Frea). This strophe also seems to hearken back to Cornelius Tacitus’ account of the Anglii (an Ingvaevonic tribe on the North Sea that contributed to the folk that later made up the English) and the wagon procession of their “Mater Deum”, whose boar badge wearing votaries lead Her procession around the country during certain times of years when the Anglii were celebrating their high holy days. Tacitus also mentions a few other things that can be seen as parallels to the cult of Ingui/Yngvi, in his account. The account states…
Germania XL. “…et Anglii…fluminibus aout silvis muniuntur. nec quiquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune Nerthum, it est Terram Matrem, colunt eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur. est in insula Oceani castum nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum; attingere uni sacerdoti consessum. is adesse penetrali deam intellegit vectamque bubus feminus multa * veneratione prosequitur. laeti tunc dies, fest loca, quaecumque adventu hospitioque dignatur. non bella ineaunt, non arma sumunt; clausum omne ferrum; pax et quies tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum amata, donec idem sacerdos satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat..
“…And the Anglii…Those tribes are protected by rivers and forests. There is nothing of note about any of them on their own, except that they hold in common, the worship of Nerthus, that is to say the Mother of Earth and consider her to intervene in human affairs, and riding in procession through the villages the people. On an island in the ocean there is a holy grove, and in it is a holy wagon covered with a vestment. Only one priest is allowed to touch the wagon. He senses the presence of the goddess in her shrine and follows with a profound veneration as she rides along drawn by cows. Then come the days of festival, and all places celebrate, as many as she things are worthy to have her. They do not war nor do they take up arms, for every iron (weapon) is put away. Peace and quite reign then, and only then, is (peace) known and loved, until the goddess is returned to her temple, when she has had enough of the conversation of mortals…” (Runokivi 2003)
In this account we see a number of things that coincide with what we know of the Cult of Freyr, and in fact the cults of many of the other “Vanir”. First and most noticeably are the procession and wagon. Both of these remind one not only of the Ing Strophe contained in the Old English Rune Poem, but also of the segment of Olafs Saga Halga from the Heimskrengla, where the escaped Norwegian criminal hitches a ride with Freyr’s wagon procession and poses as the God by dressing in His clothing. Less obvious is the practice of putting away weapons and discontinuing conflict. These both conjure to mind the idea that, in Freyr’s temples were not welcome ground for outlaws nor for weapons and the prohibition we see placed upon Heathen English priest against the bearing of weapons. These are all fitting practices for the votaries of the God of Frith.
The other inference to Ingui in the Old English Cannon comes to us care of the Beowulf poet, when he refers to Hrothgar as “Frea Ingwinas” (Lord of the Ingwines/Friends of Ingui). This is a scant reference to be sure, but it does conjure to mind one of the names that Tacitus gives as one of the three primary tribal groupings in Germania (Ingaevones) and the name of the royal line of Sweden (Ynglings). Regardless of the paucity of reference, these two occurrences can hardly be coincidental.
Iconographically Ingui and Freyr share many symbols. The most obvious one is the Boar. In the Eddic account, Freyr rides a golden Boar named “Goldenbristles”. This boar can run over land, through the air and over the waves and the same speed as a regular horse. It is also said that his golden bristles light up the darkest night and that he was made for the God at the same time as His own ship, Skidbladir and other important divine treasures such as Mjolnir, Gungnir, Draupnir, and Sif’s golden hair. Archaeologically, boar’s figures loom rather large amongst English material culture. Most often they are seen in military regalia such as boar crests for helmets, standards, and in the case of Sutton Hoo, an elaborate jeweled cloak clasp. It seems that the boar, for our ancient antecedents, had some kind of apotropic quality. The ferocity of the boar, it seems, lent its protection to the warrior who wore it. This concept is borne out time and time again in Beowulf, but especially in verses 303 to 306.
Eofor-lic scionen ofer hleor-bergen: gehroden golde fah ond fyr-heard, ferh-wearde heold. Gu?-mod grummen… (Beowulf 303b-306a)
Boar-bodies shone over cheek-guards, craftily gilt agleam and fire hardened, keeping guard over life. The war-hearted grew fierce…
Here, the Beowulf poet comes right out and tells us what these boar symbols are and explains their purpose. Another, more recent, archaeologic connexion can be drawn from the discovery of an amulet in England. The amulet depicts a man in a pointy cap (of the Phrygian style) holding his beard with one hand whilst the other arm is at a right angle with the hand on the elbow of the opposite arm. The man is also unabashedly phallic, which might be more a function telling us that he is a God (not unlike the Finglesham Woden). The posture of the amuletic man is standing, but the attitude of his arms and his beard and cap suggest a resemblance to the Rallinge Freyr statue (the famous statue of Freyr where He is sitting cross-legged with one hand on his beard and the other gripping his elbow). Once again, it could be a coincidence, but the similarities are certainly worth investigation into the iconographical language of Early Germanic Tribes.
These connexions have led many modern Heathen to assume that
Ingui and Yngvi are one and the same God. However, it has not been
a compelling reason for “secular” scholars such as R.I. Page to
agree. Who is correct? We should be willing to err on the side of
Prof. Tolkien on this one, if error it is. In his work, the
Silmarillion, Prof. Tolkien tells us that “Ingwë” (a modern English
cognate with Ingui) is the Lord of all the Elves of “Middle Earth”.
Here Prof. Tolkien not only relates Ingwë with the Ingui of the Old
English Rune Poem by using His name, but to the Yngvi-Freyr of the
Old Norse Eddas who received Alfheim as a gift upon cutting his
first tooth. This being the case, Ingui is the only God that
Tolkien mentions by name in his “Myth for the English People”. Not
even Woden is mentioned by His own name, but is sublimated by the
character of Gandalf. From this it is clear what such “old
fashioned minds” such as J.R.R. Tolkien thought about Ingui. That
He was important enough to mention by name!