h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anyone have any information on the saxon god seaxnet/seaxnot and what he represented in saxon mythology, especially to the East Saxons as i've been really struggling to find out any informatoin beyond his name and existance....

Hello!

Seaxnot appears at the head of the genealogical king-list for the East Saxons. This is slightly unusual, as all of the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms for which genealogies survive - even other 'Saxon' kingdoms like Wessex - trace descent from Woden. However, a capitulary from continental Saxony written in the early ninth century (shortly after its conquest by Charlemagne) also mentions Seaxnot as one of the local gods of the Old Saxons, alongside Woden and Dunor. As the name suggests, Seaxnot was linked to the Saxons, but I do not know of any other mentions of him in place-names or suchlike. He was probably one of several ancient Germanic deities from whom Anglo-Saxon kings traced their ancestry: divine parentage was one of the defining characteristics of Germanic royal dynasties, so much so that genealogies presenting such a family history could be manufactured for the benefit of a new dynasty, and such ideas persisted in England even after conversion to Christianity, with the deities regarded as great men falsely worshipped as gods in the past.

Hope that helps.