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Drottes

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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Droste-Hulshoff, Clement August, Baron von

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Drouais, Jean Germain

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(or Drotner, also Diar) were the heathen Teutonic priests in ancient Germany and Britain. Their office was confined to certain families, and was hereditary in its transmission; but they appear to have been far inferior both in wealth and power to the Druids. They enjoyed peculiar privileges in virtue of their sacred calling; being exempted from war, prohibited from appearing in arms, and even from mounting a horse. The Teutonic pagans had also an order of priestesses, who served in the temples of their female deities; and Friga (q.v.) was attended by kings' daughters, and ladies of the highest rank of nobility. Some of these consecrated females were consulted as infallible oracles, and held in the greatest veneration, as if they themselves were divinities.