Veleda

Laurent Marqueste: Veleda.

Veleda was a völva, or sacred prophetess, of the Germanic tribe of brúcteos. History

During the Year of the Four Emperors, dynastic crisis that shook the Roman Empire in 69 AD. C., the Border of the Rhine was undressed giving rise to the Batavian Revolt led by the Romanized Cayo Julio Civilis. It seems that Veleda encouraged, or prophesied, the rebellion and the initial German victories. Veleda, one of the few Germanic priestesses whose name has survived in the texts, was treated as a living goddess and hidden in the top of a tower near the river Lupia (tributary of the Rhine) emitted its omens with the help of male relatives who transmitted the consultations and proclaimed his predictions. In the 77 d. C., years after the defeat of the Batavian uprising, Veleda was captured by the Roman troops of Rutilius Gallicus and in 98 d. C. Tacitus wrote that he had long been dead.

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