Page "Frigg" Paragraph 33

The Langobard historian Paul the Deacon, who died in southern Italy in the 790s, was proud of his tribal origins and related how his people once had migrated from southern Scandinavia.

In his work Historia Langobardorum, Paul relates how Odin's wife Frea ( Frigg / Freyja ) had given victory to the Langobards in a war against the Vandals.

She is depicted as a wife who knows how to get her own way even though her husband thinks he is in charge.

The Winnili and the Vandals were two warring tribes.

Odin favored the Vandals, while Frea favored the Winnili.

After a heated discussion, Odin swore that he would grant victory to the first tribe he saw the next morning upon awakening — knowing full well that the bed was arranged so that the Vandals were on his side.

While he slept, Frea told the Winnili women to comb their hair over their faces to look like long beards so they would look like men and turned the bed so the Winnili women would be on Odin's side.

When he woke up, Odin was surprised to see the disguised women first and asked who these long bearded men were, which was where the tribe got its new name, the Langobards (" longbeards ").

Odin kept his oath and granted victory to the Winnili ( now known as the Lombards ), and eventually saw the wisdom of Frea's choice.