The revising literary research
into Old Norse and Swedish traditions, as initiated by the
late Heinz Ritter-Schaumburg, PhD, might motivate
not only experts in Late Antiquity and pre-medieval times
to take note of some new interesting context: The Old Norse
'Þiðreks Saga' and Old Swedish 'Didriks chronicle', closely
related to the saga of Dietrich von Bern, seem to throw
back certain narrative light from Frankish history
especially provided by Gregory of Tours, Fredegaire, and the
'Chronicle of Frankish Kings'.
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Contradicting scholastic
conviction, Ritter has evaluated the medieval Old Swedish texts he
shortly called Svava, catalogued as Skokloster-Codex-I/115&116
quarto,
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Heinz
Ritter's basic reference for his verbatim translation is SAGAN OM
DIDRIK AF BERN efter svenska
handskrifter by Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius,
published at Stockholm, 1850–1854.
Publisher of the Svava in German language:
Otto Reichl Verlag, St. Goar, Germany. Hyltén-Cavallius
classified at first the Old Swedish manuscripts as
obvious prosaic krönikan. Henrik Bertelsen
and Bengt Henning also shared this evaluation
('Didrikskroniken', 1905–1911;
resp 'Didrikskrönikan', 1970).
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Nevertheless, regarding a circumspect
re-evaluation of the afore mentioned and other known records of
occidental antiquity, we have to contemplate a sharp natural limit
that was previously forming the big border between the Roman Empire
and Germanic tribes, and, later again, the Franks and other tribes:
The Rhine. Apparently, our first Frankish chroniclers would
not cross that river to have a look at the outlandish folk beyond;
and almost all their foreign colleagues seem to have left a blank
sheet about their history, particularly from the times after the
downfall of the Roman Empire to Charlemagne.
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narrative geography Heinz Ritter's primal
geographical terminology of Thidreks saga and Old Swedish Didriks
chronicle represents an interesting result of his diligent
verification of intertextual location and river names.
With respect to the localization of Bern, the 1st
Century Roman Eiffel Map (issued by Kurt Stade) provides a
Roman based mining location nowadays called Breinig ('Breinigerbg.')
at the exceptional Gallic-Roman temple site VARNE (VARN
→ VERN →
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Some important
locations of Didriks chronicle and Thidreks saga. VARNENUM
has been excavated at Kornelimünster, suburban location of
Aachen (the Roman AQUAE GRANNI), place of
residence of Charlemagne.
There is no passage
in the Old Norse and Swedish manuscripts
connecting Thidrek/Didrik of Bern genealogically
with the so-called Amals or Amalings, as these texts
do refer to this German Eiffel folk rather in geographical
context! (Regarding Dietrich's follower Amlung, son of
Hornboge: cf Ritter, Dietrich von Bern. König von Bonn;
pg 296 en 77.)
As Ritter
basically implies, the medieval scribes of
Didriks chronicle and Thidreks saga preferred the usage of
location names currently known or, related to available
contemporary (con)texts of 5th–6th century, later known as.
Some location names in these manuscripts are not provided by
other records of Migration Period and Middle Ages, whereas many
other geographical expressions can be recognized in several
sources. For example Bardengau (→
Regarding historical
records with limitations to less comprehensive context,
Ritter also subsumed that name giving to locations, their
etymological history and early historical events could have
taken place even before their 'first certified documentary
mention' available.
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Since Heinz Ritter has thoroughly translated the Old Swedish Didriks chronicle into German language and reviewed the Thidreks saga manuscripts, the regions of today's North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Jutland, and western Baltic territories appear as the real locations focused by antique and medieval historiographers who enticingly forwarded lifetime events related to a king of obvious Franco-Rhenish descent. |
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An ancient seal of Trier on the Moselle (11th century). |
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Nonetheless, we must carefully
study their records to find some synchronous or completing
passages about Frankish Rhine politics
of 5th
and the first third of 6th
century. Regarding the Rhine again as dominant natural and
cultural border, however, they seem to have had nearly the
same limited geographical horizon of recitation as
their Frankish colleagues vice versa. Thus, besides
primal geographical terminology, we have to interpret the Old
Norse and Swedish writers' farthest known southern centre ROME as 'Roma
secunda', whose spelling, localization and significance
is unmistakably provable as the Roman Augusta
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King Theuderic I = King Didrik of Bern
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Since the Didriks chronicle or
the Svava and its derived epic novel Thidreks saga,
as Ritter prefers this literary classification (cf Der
Schmied Weland; posthumously
published by Olms, Hildesheim 1999), like to put forward
some coherent historical information and relations
upon large territories of today's Mid and Northern Europe, we
should assume with him that these texts would basically not prefer
depiction of any less important provincial antics against more
reasonable reports on superior events. Evaluating Ritter's schedule
and the momentous context of the Old Norse and Swedish manuscripts on
such
level, we finally will be confronted with the impasse of not enough
geographical, temporal and personal space for Theuderic and (not
or)
Didrik!
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Kemp Malone, Franz Joseph Mone
(reputed German historian of 1st half of
19th century) and Karl
Simrock (well-known German translator of the Nibelungenlied and
the Elder Edda) identify
'Dietrich von Bern' with Theuderic I.
Hermann Lorenz, following Simrock who declares Theuderic
as the prototype serving for Ostrogothic Dietrich epics,
states [transl:]
'Theuderic utterly dragged into the cycle of the Gothic
Dietrich saga'. (GERMANIA 31 [19, 1886]: Das Zeugniss
für die deutsche Heldensage in den Annalen
von Quedlinburg; pgs 137–150, cf pg 139.) Karl Müllenhoff,
another
19th-century scholar, tries
to discern Thidrek of Bern as an amalgamation of Theuderic
with Theoderic the Great (Die austrasische Dietrichsage;
ZfdA 6, 1848;
pgs 435–459). Regarding newer publications, Helmut
G. Vitt renders short but astute initial intercessions for
Didrik/Thidrek = Theuderic I
and Samson = Childeric
I : Wieland der Schmied; ISBN
3 925498 00 1, pgs 127–138.
However, all these authors do not provide detailed studies supporting their |
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We must state deficient biographical
information about that young Theuderic before 507 and, again, c. 523.
He is mentioned as most
talented son of Clodovocar I or 'Clovis' in the texts
written by Bishop Gregory of Tours, principal Frankish chronicler
whom we obviously (seemingly?) have to credit with truth telling,
and who might appear to some item more informative than the
pseudonymous Fredegaire.
Unfortunately, Gregory has not left a
line to find the answers to these urgent questions about King
Clovis' first son:
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1. |
May a clerical raconteur punish Theuderic
with a certain portion of ignorance, since he has taken him for
a son of any heathen concubine?
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Has that skilled young man kept a
respectable distance to his rude
and bloodthirsty father?
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Fact is that King Clovis could rely
on Theuderic for daring missions, eg against the
Visigoths. On the subject of this operation, the history reveals
that only the powerful appearance of King Theoderic the Great
could stop the splendid campaign of Theuderic in 507/508.
Nonetheless, we certainly may wonder how much Gregory did
discriminate him against his favourable brothers Chlotar,
Childebert and Chlodomer, whose mother was the honourable
Saint Clotilde of Burgundian dynasty; and we may also wonder
whether Theuderic trained his skilfulness and sophistication by
keeping out of King Clovis' vulgar ways. Thus, we may consequently
ask: Did that young-aged man rather turn to an adventurous eastern
border area of the Franks? We must think of great possibility that he
could have received a certain part of Rhenish territory as
operation base and place of residence from his father and/or the
local leader of this area, that large region which Theuderic
actually inherited later as part of eastern Frankish territory: Bern,
apparently located in the region covering
German towns Aachen and Bonn, was an excellent geographical point
of that area, good or the best place for both Theuderic and Didrik to
start any exiting exploration into the dangerous depth of miraculous
woodlands beyond the Rhine, where all those Roman Eagles were driven
back or torn into bits and pieces just a few centuries ago. Bern
was the eminent place for the young Theuderic to observe Franco-Rhenish
residence of Cologne and same good location for King Didrik to ride out
to his good friend King Atala (diminutive form of Ata =
father; spelled 'Aktilius', 'Atilius'
in the Old Swedish manuscripts; eg 'Attala' in Icelandic MS B) residing
some dozen miles away at one of the most
important settlements on a territory of today's Westphalia: Susa
(Susat) – Soest.
However, referring again to both
questions above, we are leaving at this point Gregory's Frankish
horizon of recitation for real barbaric outland.
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Some literary and historical environments |
| It has been considered that - Didrik, Franco-Rhenish king, died c. 535 according to Ritter's estimation; - Theuderic, not only Franco-Rhenish king, died at the end of 533. The Old Norse and Swedish texts report
that one day the fierce 'Ermenrik', a mighty southern ruler, expelled
the young King Didrik from Bern. As the scribes also convey,
he fled to King Atala for that reason. At this instant, we may finally
ask the observers of
Merovingian history: Would Theuderic have acted against the politics
of King Clovis or his loyal Frankish vassals if he had appointed
Sigfrid, sturdy son of a king dwelling somewhere in the outlands beyond
the Rhine, as new ruler of a certain Rhine-Eiffel area, but doing so
without asking those certainly outraged Frankish chiefs? Would that
Theuderic thereafter run a risk to militate against a mighty Frankish
leader with 'Hunaland aid' like Didrik, who really made an attempt
against Ermenrik, his kinsman but not father, at a place the literati
call 'Gransport' or 'Gronsport' on the Moselle's mouth?
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Confluentes:
The panoramic copperplate engraving of (Möbius 1820)
provides a view from the east bank of the Rhine to the hills
of traditional Hunnenkopf ('Huns Head' field) on the
left. The Moselle's mouth on the right appears as a lake
(= Germ: See) in high-water times. See also the author's
comprehensive article catalogued at the National German Library
DNB: Die
Mosel im Licht von Thidrekssaga und
Dietrich-Chronik.
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More literary facts are:
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Heinz Ritter estimates the birth
of Didrik about 470, whereas King Clovis is believed to be
born a half decade before him. Since this circumstance
might appear as predominant item contradicting Didrik's
literary reflection Theuderic I, revising
research regards both Ritter and the Frankish chroniclers'
genealogy about early Frankish kings Meroveus, Clodio and
Childeric as unsharp and insufficient: As Gregory
provides with his Frankish history, he seems to have
no solid pedigree information especially about both first
named kings, and so he rather uses a meagre 'Some People
say'-phrase for them – which indicates his dependence
on oral tradition.
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Gregory, whose genealogical colportages
about Frankish kings up to
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Regarding Didrik's as
well as Theuderic's bloodline over a band of three
generations, all male names being recorded are strikingly
beginning with 'Th', but not with any other letters.
Theuderic's line (Theuderic → Theudebert → Theudebald)
is outstandingly unique with a view to all the other early
Merovingian branches wherein we typically meet kingly names
formed with capital 'C'. Apart from the facts that Gregory would
not mention Theuderic's date of birth, and the early Frankish
kings habitually have not ascended the throne as son of any
heathen concubine, we rather can effortlessly recognize
corresponding 'Th…' name-giving in the bloodlines given
by the Old Norse and Swedish scribes and Gregory's
Frankish history through obvious clear-cut ancestral tradition.
Matthias Springer, an author of the RGA
considering name giving to Theuderich I.,
places at disposal that his maternal roots could be located at
the Amals, gender of Theoderic the Great. However, it also seems
noteworthy that both Theuderic's and Theoderic's name is
basically related to a composition of the Gothic þiuda
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Theuderic's disappearance after 507 His mission to the Visigoths to satisfy Clovis, a campaign in 507/508 with sizeable territorial gains which, however, were stopped and massively reverted by Theoderic the Great is related to that very time-frame of approximately one decade where Didrik was expelled according to Ritter's |
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It seems implausible that the
crafty Clovis was not aware of the consequences of
Theuderic's military operation against the
Visigoths. We thus may impute to
the mightiest Frankish leader that he was certainly
right to stay away, to have calculated upon
Theuderic's failure, and to have reckoned with his
potential follower being finally
deprived of his power. Incidentally, we are talking
about the same time-frame of one decade where Gregory
has placed the removal of Sigebert of Cologne.
He has been identified with King Sigmund's son Sigfrid,
another good friend of Didrik as well as brother-in-law
of the Niflunga brothers who certainly had good
reason to serve the politics of Ermenrik, ruler of Roma II (c.
470 till c. 525), for the chance to
take over or administrate the Eiffel lands of Didrik.
Theuderic had impudently violated the 'Pax Gothica' of Theoderic the Great. And in fact, after 16 summers and 16 winters Theuderic successfully reconquered Auvergne – at that time the fading vigour of Theoderic being in religious conflict with his Roman subjects and Justin I – and actually Theuderic's next known 'Frankish' campaign after It may be considered to this context that almost two decades after Theuderic's disappearance from both Gregory's and Eastern Roman eyes, regarding both Ritter's schedule and historical upheavals on the other side of the Rhine by means of archeological discoveries at Westphalian Soest, the Niflunga – or Frankish invaders – felt strong enough to make war against a large tribe beyond the big river. Respecting another important event in the area of its lower stretches just a few years before, Gregory of Tours and the Liber historiae Francorum relate that Theuderic's son Theudebert repulsed an attack of a king called 'Chlochilaichus' who invaded Theuderic's paygo Attoarios, a former Chattuari region scholastically estimated at that time (515–520) on the lower Rhine and lower Meuse. Nevertheless, this event does not corrupt the exile of Theuderic's literary parallel Didrik/Thidrek, cf Regarding Old German counting of
time, it seems apt to reconsider Hildebrand's and Thidrek's
'time of absence', as conveyed by the Thidreks saga (Mb 396).
Its Icelandic manuscripts (lacuna at Mb 415) recite German
men who tell that Hildebrand died at an
age of 150 (MS B: 170 ) years, whereas German
lays recount his age 200 years – time domain
by numbers by far beyond other narrational ballpark of rather
much smaller time scale usually up to a dozen.
Hube follows Ritter on the subject of half-years
counting related to the life of Hildebrand: Thidreks Saga,
Wiesbaden 2009, pg 354 ann
1. Thus, these manuscripts obviously admit to
comprehend Hildebrand's and Thidrek's 32 »years«
outside the country (Mb 396)
as
sixteen summers and sixteen winters = sixteen years. However, the scribe of the Didriks chronicle does not relay the length of their 'exile', see corresponding context at Sv 340–341, while the poet of the 9th-century Hildebrandslied, line 50: ih wallota sumaro enti wintro sehstic ..., declares it inflated to summers and winters sixty ... |
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| Some receptions |
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The Waltharius, another early poetry
likely edited by Ekkehard I at Upper German St
http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost10/Waltharius/wal_txt0.html (retrieved Aug 2008). |
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The Lament of Deor (Book
of Exeter) wishes to substantiate this relation
to the
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| Þeodric ahte þritig wintra Mæringa burg; þætwæs monegum cuþ. Þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg! |
Theodric had thirty winters Mæringa burg; that was known to many. That went by ... ! |
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Can this strophe provide a more
or less tendentious retrospective view to Þeodric's
location of 'exile'? Westphalian Soest, residence of King Atala
by the texts, was certainly of ruling Frankish influence in
the middle of 6th century.
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The German romance Wolfdietrich,
poetry with different versions dated from 13th
century to Late Middle Ages
about a hero whom literary research identifies with Theudebert
and, to some extend, his father Theuderic I
('Hug-Dietrich'), suggests at least two parallels with Thidrek
or Didrik of Bern: the dragon fight at Bergara/Brugara
and Wolfdietrich's exile and return.
Widukind of Corvey, 10th-century historiographer of Saxony (Res Gestae Saxonicae – Rerum Gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres), disagrees with Gregory of Tours because of some genealogical item and, in particular, unequal paternal names related to Theuderic: Referring to Thuringian War, the Saxon historiographer provides Thiadricus as illegitimate son of King Huga and recounts Amal(a)berga as the daughter of the latter. She became instigating spouse of Thuringian King Irminfridus. Widukind's version, possibly based on a memorabilis fama, provides a noblemann Iring serving both kinglys as emissary in conflict with Thiadricus who finally makes Iring to kill the Thuringian king (libri historiarum III, 8). |
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The prime author of the episode Grimhild
and Irung, both appearing in the Niflunga battle
on Susa location, might have transformed a
mental outline of the Frankish Amalberga to the
spouse of King Atala.
The chronicler of Lower Saxon Annales Quedlinburgenses identifies Theuderic I as Hugo Theodericus. Interestingly, these annales date the death of a ruler named 'Attila' – recounting that he was killed by a girl (!) he forcibly had taken from the side of her slain father – the same year (AD 532) when H. Theodericus came into power – about AD 531 or 532 finally just on the territory of that 'Attila'? At this point it seems implausible that the Quedlinburg chronicler had no idea of the cause of death or other fundamental detail in the vita of Attila the great Hun! Rudolf von Fulda, German 9th-century chronicler who likely represents an important source of Widukind, remarks to Thuringian War, Translatio Sancti Alexandri, ch III, that a Saxon leader called Hadugoto overthrew the Thuringii. Adam von Bremen, another German chronicler of 11th century, basically conveys Rudolf's version: Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, ch III. It seems worth mentioning that any Saxon and/or Anglo-Saxon participation in Theuderic's Thuringian War, as provided at first by Rudolf, has been challenged to detect as fiction; notably M. Springer: Die Sachsen, 2004 (ISBN 3-17-016588-7). |
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In connection with Thuringian War and
Widukind of Corvey, the author provocatively abstracts in his
German publication Sage und Wirklichkeit,
2007, pgs 359–360:
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| Widukind von Corvey hat sich mit Gregors Aufzeichnungen um eine Aufhellung von offensichtlich solchem Hintergrund bemüht und parallelisiert neben Ritter Iring, den er als intertextuelles Bindeglied erkannt hat, den fränkischen Thiadrich mit Dietrich von Bern. |
| How reliable is Gregory of Tours ? |
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Gregory apparently put forward
unsatisfactory information about Theuderic's descent and vita:
On the one hand, he considers him well as pre-eminent son of Clovis,
but on the other, he would not satisfyingly recite a supporting
scale of examples. The more we closely follow Gregory to Clovis and
Theuderic, the more queries we get. Since the Didriks
chronicle and Thidreks saga relate that Didrik's father died
early, it seems plausible that the mightiest Frankish king kept
an eye on the young designated king of an important eastern
kingdom between the Meuse and the Rhine. Thus, Clovis' plot
against a popular and obviously rising King Sigebert of
Cologne could have been an early protection, and it seems
worth assessing whether his removal was also in Theuderic's
later interest (libri historiarum II, 40).
Gregory actually appears credible if he calls Clovis
at least political foster-father of Theuderic.
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However, there is sound criticism
of Gregory's general understanding of rendering history by
ignoring or misrepresenting history (notably Ian N. Wood, Walter
A. Goffart, Matthias Springer, Georg Scheibelreiter). See also Der Untergang des Thüringerreiches
by Georg Scheibelreiter who in passing reveals some divergent
suggestion by scribes of Late Antiquity (Die
Frühzeit der Thüringer; de Gruyter 2009).
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The historiographical dilemma
of 5th
to 6th
century naturally encompasses the family of Clodio, head
of a Frankish dynasty in the very dark shadow of
Gregory's brightly shining early Merovingians, and Albero of
Mons (420–491), whom Emil Rückert, PhD, cites as Clodio's
most influential son and brother-in-law of Theoderic the Great
– a fact that obviously forbids to underrate the
historical position of that 'Auberon' or any of his close
kinsmen, cf The Geography and
History of Mons translated by John Mack Gregory at THE HARLEIAN MISCELLANY Vol XI http://books.google.de/books?id=Qh0wAAAAYAAJ (retrieved Oct 2010).
Rückert identifies Frankish King Clodio as
grandfather of Audefleda by means of other local tradition, and he
compares genealogical information about the early Merovingians
also with the records of Jordanes. He is known as less
chronological writer of a Gothic historia that conveys Frankish
King Lodoin (cf 'cLodio') as her father
who, however, cannot be verified as Childeric or Clovis considering
spelling derivation as well as the names of Lodoin's
sons (Celdebert, Heldebert, Thiudebert) provided by the
historian of the Goths. Thus, Jordanes forwarded obviously confusing
context of Frankish kings offspring.
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Following the research of Emil
Rückert, Albero's relative Theoderic was called out King of the
East Goths at that very time when Didrik was born according
to Ritter's
schedule – a correlation that seems to substantiate
Theoderic as Didrik's godfather. And, actually, there is a
trail from Clodio's son Albero to the ownership
of Samson castle through old telling on Brabant and 'Hannonia' the
author reconsidered in Die Nibelungen
– Dichtung und Wahrheit
from source research by Emil Rückert. Regarding some obvious
coherent context at this instance, Samson and his descendants
appear less Merovingian but more of other Frankish gender,
as this will certainly correspond with geographical point of
view.
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The author remarks at endnote 22 of his
contribution Wadhincúsan,
monasterium Ludewici,
catalogued at the National German Library DNB:
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| Zumindest finden wir im Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Bd. 30 (2005), unter Theuderich I. (S. 459–463) die völlig zurecht formulierte Quellenkritik, dass Gregor von Tours behauptet, T.s Mutter sei nur eine Beischläferin (concubina) Chlodwigs I. gewesen (S. 460). Dort heißt es weiter über diesen Theuderich (S. 459), dass er vor 484 geboren sein soll und die erste Tat aus T.s. Leben, von der wir wissen sein nach 507 im Auftrag Chlodwigs I. unternommener südgallischer Feldzug war (S. 461). Nachdem Theuderichs Sohn Theudebert eine „Däneninvasion“ im väterlichen Auftrag zurückgeworfen haben soll, spätestens 520 – nach Chlodwigs Tod –, dokumentiert Gregor von Tours erstmals die monarchische Autorität Theuderichs aus der Kölner aula regia. Für die Interpretation von Vertreibung, Exil und Rückeroberungsberichten der Thidrekssaga ist also keineswegs ausgeschlossen, dass deren Protagonist Theuderich in einem Machtkonflikt unterlag, welcher entweder Konsequenzen aus seinem südgallischen Zug von 507/508 nach sich zog oder einen paternalen/maternalen und damit auch rheinische Gebiete tangierenden Erbrecht-Streit betroffen haben konnte. So, wie im subjektiv-subtilen Vorstellungskomplex ein scheinbar verlässlicher fränkischer Historiograf die Mutter Theuderichs bewusst verkannt haben mag, durfte dessen Vater von einem nicht minder verzerrenden mediävalhistoriografischen Konzept – das aus niederdeutschem Traditionspatriotismus nicht weniger als die Tilgung des primus rex Francorum der Lex Salica ausmachen konnte – mit einer in der Thidrekssaga überlieferten Ersatzgestalt unkenntlich gemacht werden. |
| [Transl.: The author of the article Theuderich I. in the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA), Vol 30, 2005, pgs 459–463, rightly issued: Gregory of Tours claims that the mother of T. was just a concubine of Clovis I. Furthermore, the encyclopaedist states op cit that Theuderic was born before 484 and the first deed of T. we know was a campaign to South Gaul after 507, serving as a general by order of Clovis I. After Theuderic's son Theodebert I had repulsed a 'Danish invasion' by order of his father, not after 520, but certainly after the death of Clovis, Gregory of Tours begins to document the first appearance of Theuderic as royal authority at the aula regia of Cologne. At that time, between 520 and 525, he was aged at least 36! Regarding the interpretation of humiliation, exile and reconquering related in Thidreks saga, it is certainly not out of the question that its protagonist Theuderic had to bear consequences of either his South Gaul campaign (507/508) or an hereditary conflict with a kinsman of his paternal or maternal line about territory even on the Rhine. When an apparently reliable but nonetheless subtle Frankish historiographer seems to have intentionally misjudged Theuderic's mother, the concept of a patriotic Lower German history fading out the primus rex Francorum of the Lex Salica, as a result provided by the Old Norse and Swedish manuscripts, could have made his father unidentifiable with a placeholder as well.] |
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It seems both subtle and flashy that
Didrek's/Thidrek's father is named after Gregory's 'first known' rex
Francorum whom he has recognized as Theudemar/Theudomer, as
Eugen Ewig remarks well this ranking by disregarding Theudemar's
father Richimer (libri historiarum II, 9)
and Ostrogothic genealogy, cf Trojamythos
und fränkische Frühgeschichte, RGA, Vol 19, 1998, pg 14.
It also seems remarkable that the Guðrúnarkviða III
[Guðrúnarkviða hin þriðja] calls Þioþrecr's
father Þioþmar!
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Regarding reliable genealogical
information about Frankish kings of times until the middle
of 5th century, we only
can say that Gregory left nothing more than assumption.
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Theuderic I or Didrik of Bern: »King of
Bonn« Theuderic might have known parts of
regions called later Ripuaria and Austrasia
already before the death of King Clovis I. Although
Gregory of Tours is
remarkably focussing on Clovis' vita, the appearance of this
king was reported hardly ever on territory between the Meuse
and the Rhine. Thus, we further may imagine that Theuderic,
not only in mission for Clovis, kept an eye on the largest
metropolis on the Rhine: the former Roman Colonia with
adjoining Bonn, the ecclesiastical-based Lower German
Verona on the Rhine.
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After the death of King
Sigebert of Cologne Gregory remarks Theuderic c.
523 at the aula regia of this metropolitan area.
Since there is chronicler's tradition of 13th
century
strongly connecting Bern with Bonn
»by Bunna, dat heisz man dô
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These items might qualify the
historical Franco-Rhenish and Old German profile of
Dietrich von Bern also by the Old Norse and Swedish
manuscripts, at the first go rather shortsightedly than
farsightedly isolated and redrawn by Ritter, in so far not
committing a real faux pas, and certain bibliography.
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Which are the dynasties of the eastern Franks of
5th
century ? The records about local
Hannonian history cited by Emil Rückert interestingly allow
to be seen that the Merovingian kings Meroveus
and, subsequently, Childeric have tolerated Clodio's
descendants to administrate obviously no other regions
than partially those of today's Netherlands and Belgium,
and the large Eiffel lands between the Meuse and the
Rhine: a territory which, however, expired at that very time
when Merovingian King Clovis once had time to look over the
lands beyond the Meuse and to engage the murderers of King
Sigebert of Cologne. Thereafter this territory of unquestionable
strategic importance was forwarded to a son of 'any heathen
concubine', but not to any of King Clovis' legal sons!
|
|
Could a splendid planning
Theuderic or Didrik, oath-breaker against Sigfrid in a case of
honour, take later revenge on his kinsman Ermenrik
(cf the 8th
item) without using an army of his own folk? Did one of them
pretend beyond the Rhine to be still an expelled king, since
one of them could not motivate Franks to fight against Franks?
The Old Norse and Swedish scribes report on Didrik's attack
against Ermenrik at a place called Gransport to which
he came with an army from King Atala.
|
|
Samson, Didrik's
grandfather as well as identically spelled Salian location,
actually seem to be the key players. The records about the early
Frankish history of Brabant and Hannonia let also raise the question
whether Lord Samson left Salernae rather compulsorily as an
important pioneer of a kingdom in an area that Gregory's
translator W. Giesebrecht and other historians have ascribed
to
|
![]() |
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|
![]() |
The Roman fort of
Samson is an exceptional ancient building in Salian region. The text
on the left is photographic quotation from the visitor information
board at Samson village.
|
|
Some authors raise the objection that
narration by Thidreks saga would not be related mainly
to 5th
century and first third of the next for the most part, rather
referring to events to be dated earlier for at least
one or two centuries. Regarding those Thetmars in Samson's
line to this item, we actually can find an earlier Frankish
king who was spelled fairly identically with those Nordic
Thetmars: King Theudemer de Thérouanne (374–414).
Possibly semi-legendary, as some historian would judge him,
he was noted as spouse of Blésinde de Cologne.
Theudemer, titled magister militum
in 383 and consul in
384, is mentioned by both Gregory and Fredegaire as an early
Frankish king – as Clodio's predecessor by the
latter. That Theudemer was supposedly congenial with
Jovinus, a Gallic senator who, on instigation of the Burgundians,
misleadingly proclaimed himself Roman Emperor (411 to 413)
before he finally was captured and executed. Clodio's predecessor
is believed to have shared the same fate with that
Jovinus.
|
|
The Genealogy of Piat-Herrero
provides the bloodline of Theudemer, son of King Richimer de
Thérouanne, to remarkable extent. The former was also
captured and executed with his spouse by the Romans.
That data notes Theudemer's son and successor Clogio (Clodio)
as 'Le Cheveulu' ('the Longhaired'). Since his lifetime is
roughly estimated from 400 to 450, he appears as contemporary
of Samson by Ritter's
schedule.
Clodio is chiefly known as conqueror of some western lands
on the Somme and of Cambrai which he later forwarded to
one of his sons (notably E. Rückert). Would Clodio's
environment thus be of interest in order to detect Samson on
the subject of Piat-Herrero's and other sources
comprehensiveness and reliability? Nonetheless, the political
failure of both Jovinus and King Theudemer corresponds with
the basic item that the Romans would not have tolerated those
vast and manifested conquests initiated by Samson and continued
by his loyal son Ermenrik in the times before the
first decades of 5th
century – until that point in time when Aëtius, the
great Roman Magister militum, could destroy
Burgundy in Germania superior finally with Hunnish
warriors.
|
|
A view to the time 'post Aëtius'
nevertheless allows to detect the Roman Eagle being bled white
on the upper and middle Rhine. Thus, at the beginning of the second
half of 5th century, the first
Franks in the area of the later defined 'Ripuaria' could seize
the opportunity to enlarge their territory.
|
|
King Sigebert = King
Sigfrid the Nibelung ? Gregory let us know that King
Clovis supported his cousin Sigebert of Cologne against
the Alemannians on Zülpich location. The Old Norse and
Swedish scribes inform us that Franco-Rhenish king Sigfrid
was brother-in-law and neighbour of King Gunnar, ruler
of the Niflunga, at the same place and time by
Ritter's
schedule. Helmut de Boor already took into consideration that
the removal of the Franko-Rhenish Sigibert
could have been primarily in Theuderic's interest, in
so far contemplating on an interesting connection between
Siegfried the Hero, Thidrekssaga and Theuderic:
Hat Siegfried gelebt? PBB 63, p. 254, ISSN
1865-9373 (W. de Gruyter).
|

|
(Artist's name illegible.) |
This is a passage dealing with King Sigebert of Cologne
from Gregory's libri historiarum II, 40
(Translation by Earnest Brehaut):
|
|
The Didriks chronicle and Thidreks saga
seem to complete Gregory's report on Clovis and Sigebert. These are
the most important items considering the view of the Old Norse and
Swedish scribes:
|
|
|
Thus, the dead Cloderic seems
to be Gregory's and Clovis' subject, since the former
retells us that the latter needs him for the folk to
give them fallacious reasoning of the murderous
plot, whereas the dead Sigfrid appears as
remaining subject to the assassins and the Old
Norse and Swedish texts recounting
that the murderers need his dead body to shock Grimhild with
revenge.
|
|
The source of these manuscripts
connects both the identity of the assassins and Babilonia
with the large region of
'He shall not tell where we are going to.' |
|
A short time later Hagen met a
guardian on the eastern banks of the Rhine, and that
man called Eckivard warned him with these words:
'I am wondering how you've come along here, because you are Hagen, King Aldrian's son, who has killed my lord, Young-lord Sigfrid. Look out as long as you're in Many people are keeping here hostility against you.' |
| (Mb 367 replacing missing chapter in the Old Swedish texts.) |
|
Regarding the murderous plot on
Sigfrid and Sigebert, Gregory does not explicitly narrate the
same circumstances of death as the Old Norse and Swedish manuscripts,
however.
|
| How far can we follow Gregory beyond the Rhine? |
|
Both kings Sigfrid and Sigebert
were surely popular in large regions on both sides of the Rhine.
The place of Sigfrid's hoard, his 'treasure cave' as mentioned
in the Old Norse and Swedish manuscripts, is geographically
related to the Lurvald,
largest woodland region of the later Westphalia. Incidentally, J.
Baptiste Gramaye, chronicler of Antiquitates
Brabantiae; Nivella p. 3 n. 9, notes 'Sigibertus
et Moringus in vita S(anta)
Wiberti'. Nevertheless, both Sigfrid and Sigebert seem
of Merovingian descent and thus kinsmen of Clovis who
proclaimed the same to the folk in the region of Cologne.
The Old Norse scribes correspondingly conveyed Sigfrid's
mother as daughter of King 'Nidung' who ruled the Hesbaye
(cf Sv 148–152), a former Salian area that nowadays
belongs to Belgium. As the author could remark in
his book Die Nibelungen –
Dichtung und Wahrheit by means of Emil Rückert's
research into Frankish onomastics of the
|
|
The Thidreks saga and Didriks
chronicle provide an interesting geographic detail
by chapter Mb 62:
|
| A king named Nidung was ruling over Jutland, that
part which is called Thiodi ..., while the Old Swedish chronicler notes well in chapter 59: He [Weland/Velent] was finally washed ashore Jutland; a king named Nidung was there ... |
|
Has the first Merovingian already been
ruling over some territory outside of Salia, particularly Frisian
coastland up to the north-western cap of Jutland? Fredegaire,
protagonist of unbelievable Greek descent of the Franks,
nevertheless can provide an interesting unvoluntary metonymy.
The founder of the Merovingian dynasty, as he writes about the origo
of the Franks, was a bizarre individual that came
across the sea to have a son with the spouse of Frankish King
Clodio: The mythical Minotaur as the very best
creature for the impressing horns on a furry alien helmet of a
fierce or unfathomed Nordic chief, but not, as he suggests,
that figure of Greek
A concerted effort to synchronize some apparently analogous or completing pattern from Frankish chronicles, Hannonian records of local history, and Svava plus Thidreks saga/Membrane, may result in the following chart of early Merovingian and Frankish genealogy. Its predicate is also endorsed by Mb 9 (restored by the A/B MSS): |
| King Samson further fathered with his concubine another son who was named Thetmar after his [Samson's] father-brother ... |
|
Insofar the above remembered
Theudemer seems to meet the demand on corresponding historical,
chronological and genealogical environment.
|
FILIATIONS
a See
genealogical research by Emil Rückert.
Gregory of
Tours has no idea of Meroveus' date of death.
Some research considers him as Meroveus 'the Elder' (disappearing about
457 in Frankish Salia) and his son 'the Younger'.
|
|
The genealogical perceptions
of the Old Norse and Swedish manuscripts and Gregory of
Tours would not suggest to identify Thidrek/Didrik as Theuderic I
at the first go. Eugen Ewig and the RGA
estimate his mother descended from a family of Cologne (Eugen Ewig: Francia 18/1, pg 49). Since
Thidrek's father Thetmar II plays a colourless short
part in the Thidreks saga and the Didriks chronicle, the prime
author of these texts might have interpolated a
patriotic-based introduction of this figure. Interestingly, these
texts provide a Jarl Elsung the Younger, a close
relative of Elsung the Elder who formerly was slain by
Samson. 'The Younger' is known as ruler of Babilonia
that Ritter identified as Colonia – Cologne, 'the Elder'
as father of Odilia who possibly was introduced as the
Franco-Rhenish 'Evochildis' at the court of
Clovis.
|
|
The pseudo-Fredegaire (c. 660) notes
that
... the franks diligently seeking a long haired king from themselves as they had before … created Theudemer king, the son of Richemer, who was killed by the Romans in that battle which I mentioned above. His son Clodio, the most suitable man in his tribe, took his place in the kingdom. |
|
However, the 'Chronicle of
Frankish Kings', known as the Liber historiae
Francorum or the Gesta
regnum Francorum of 726/727, ascribes Clodio to son
of Faramond, son of Marchomir to whom the liber's writer(s)
draw on certain Trojan narrative from the Priam and Antenor
Legend.
|
|
Christian Settipani, of
Augustan Society Inc., genealogist of Charlemagne's
Ancestry (Les Ancestres de Charlemagne;
Editions Christian, Paris 1989), orders these Frankish
records in accordance with this rating:
|
| Nowadays, it is pointless, I hope, to say
anything about the legend of the Trojan origins denounced by good
scholars since 14th century as an absurd fable and which is only a
literary creation… It is self-evident that Fredegaire had
interpolated Gregory at this place, but he could have done so
with good evidence or according to the oral tradition. So,
if we had absolutely to choose between Fredegaire's and the
Liber's version, we would prefer that of Fredegaire ... (From Christian Settipani's addenda of 1990 at http://www.rootsweb.com/~medieval/addcharlENG.pdf retrieved Aug 2005.) As modern research has been trying to point
out, there might be some circumstantial evidence that Frankish
historiographers of second half of
6th to first half of
7th
century were premeditatedly replacing
basic facts about early Frankish history by an absurd core of
Trojan legends (notably Eugen Ewig: Trojamythos und
fränkische Frühgeschichte,
1996, 1998; Troja und die Franken, 2009).
|
| Ermenrik and Samson |
|
Alfred Anscombe, British Historian,
already introduced Eormenric ('Ermenrik') intriguingly
by The Widsith. Anscombe detected him on
that very same location close to the later German Westphalia
that Ritter actually specified about half-a-century later.
Moreover, the discussion and research initiated by Anscombe
provided Ermenrik as
|
| ... an uncle of Theodric, king of the Francs,
maternal cousin of Aetla, son of Budla, king of Germanic Hunas
by Widsith and Beda Venerabilis ... (Alfred Anscombe: The historical Side of the old English Poem “Widsith”; Transactions of the kingly Historical Society, III. Series, Vol IX, pgs 123–155, cf pg 138.) |
| The Times, literary supplement of May 20, 1920,
thereupon published an expert's letter to the editor with these
conclusive words: ‘Its consequences are poisonous to
research.' This kinship between the Franco-Rhenish
Theoderic and Atala, leader of the Lower Saxon 'Hunas', projects his
mother as a daughter of Didrik's grandfather or, the other way
round, Didrik's mother as a sister of Atala's father. While any
consanguinity between Didrik and Atala is not provided by the
writers of the Didriks chronicle and Thidreks saga, it seems to
substantiate the good terms and common interests of both
kings.
|
|
Ritter has expressively considered the libri
Teutonici of certain connotation. An author
referring to this edition is Flodoard (894–966),
historiographer and archivist at the cathedral of Reims
for the most time of his life. He is known as creditable
writer, especially by means of his ecclesiastical chronicle
of Rheims. Flodoard left a passage taken from a letter that
archbishop Fulco wrote under political strain between
Charles the 'Simple-minded' (called out by unction from
Fulco for making him counter-king against King Odo) and Arnulf,
king of the eastern Franks, to the latter in 893.
In it, Fluco forwards some warning arguments to Arnulf, and he also
refers to this example as reminding him about the history of his
dynasty:
|
| ... subicit etiam ex libris Teutonicis de rege
quodam Hermenrico nominee, qui omnem progenium suam morti
destinaverit impiis consiliis cuiusdam consilarii sui
... ... he (Fulco) subjects to further item from the Teutonic books a certain king named Hermenric, who destined all his progeny to die by impious counsel from one of his counsellors ... |
|
Whom is Fluco remembering? Apart from
the real Ermanaric I, is he that Odoacer who retrospectively has
been taken for 'Ermanaric II' since he was killed by Theoderic
the Great? Or does Fluco just mean that mighty chief of
'Roma secunda' who killed his offspring on recommendation of his
impious advisor, and who actually was former king of that very
territory that now belonged to Arnulf? If the archbishop bears
in mind the latter, he could have given enough personal
attributes.
|
|
Regarding Ermenrik's ancestry, the above
given synchronizing chart complies with tradition that Albero of
Mons, persistently claiming some Salian land as dominant son of
Clodio by Rückert's research, was successively the right legal
heir of Samson('s) castle, as this detail completes
his great-uncle's emigration by means of the Svava and
Thidreks saga. Another more or less significant buttress appears as
ancestral name forwarding by an interesting nexus between
Theudemer's father RICHEMER (related with French spelling)
and Samson's son Ermenrik (related to Nordic spelling)
through simple half-word interchange: EMER-RICH (ch = k).
Samson met 'Thetmar', the brother of this father, accidentally
after the first had slain the noble brothers Brunstein and Rodger.
That certainly kingly Thetmar, bearing a golden lion on his red
shield (Mb 5 of A/B MSS), came to aid his explicit nephew
whose murderous coup had become known (Sv 4, Mb 5 of A/B MSS).
Thus, Samson would have had good reason to remember him with name
forwarding to one of his later born sons.
|
|
Samson's father does not correspond
with that prototype of King Arthur whom the Samson
saga fagra loves to expose to some light of Lancelot
romance. Furthermore, regarding Ritter's schedule,
we cannot reconsider here the Thidreks saga manuscripts mentioning a
king
spelled 'Arkimannus', the shortly called King Arthur, whose
surviving but expelled two sons received new duchies or counties
from King Atala. (The Samson saga fagra
was recently published in 1953 by John Wilson who refers to the
edition Samfund til udgivelse af Gammel Nordisk
Litteratur, Vol LXV; Copenhagen 1880. Henry Goddard Leach
left its summary in his publication Angevin Britain
and Scandinavia;
pg 232.)
|
| Weland He is mentioned in the heroic
poem Waldere and in the appendix of the German Heldenbuch.
An earlier remark of Weland provides The Lament of Deor, an
elegy of 8th
century. The Beowulf connects best armour with
Weland's work.
The Weland part of Didriks chronicle and Thidreks saga, which both Ritter and the author have placed into the decades from 440 to 470 (see Ritter's schedule), provides that King Nidung was ruling not only over Salian territory Hesbaye ('Hesbania'), but also his realm on Jutlandish location. The manuscripts refer to his daughter called 'Heren' (Icelandic redaction A, intertextually to be identified with 'Beaduhild') and three of his sons living there. Weland, being cited in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini as 'Pocula que sculpsit Guielandus in urbe Sigeni', fled across Weser river and the North Sea to Jutland with a specially prepared trunk serving him well as a watercraft. In order to save his life, he had slain his outstandingly skilled masters for his father's unwillingly broken oath at 'Ballova' Smithy, a rather small location 30 miles far from Siegen town ('in urbe Sigeni'). Geoffrey of Monmouth never mentions Ballova in his literary work, but the Didriks chronicle and the Thidreks saga never Siegen! The Waltharius remarks Weland shortly with these words at lines 965 & 966: Et nisi duratis Wielandia fabrica giris Obstaret, spisso penetraverit ilia ligno. Weland, grandson of King Vilkinus, was
recorded as superb working smith and artist of his time, certainly
appearing as an early predecessor of Leonardo da Vinci.
However, Weland became victim of intrigues from some man of King
Nidung, and so he secretly took murderous revenge on his two
youngest but innocent sons for laming him by order of that
probably unsuspecting big ruler. Thereafter Weland made his daughter
pregnant at his forge and finally left the king with an aircraft
that corresponds well with a simple modern windsurfing glider, as
Ritter has explanatorily interjected
(Der Schmied Weland, including a nautical
expert's opinion of Weland's passage.).
We naturally would remember at this point Daedalus of Greek
mythology, the extraordinary inventor and master craftsman who
devised the Cretan Labyrinth for the fierce Minotaur: King
Mino, to whom Daedalus fled after he had committed murder, would not
allow him to leave the Minotaur's special dwelling from which
he could escape by artificial wings nevertheless. We thus may
wonder if there were any better literary innuendo for Weland's
literary biographer to confirm and analogize
Fredegaire's Minotaur with King Nidung! Maurus Servius Honoratus,
late 4th-century grammarian,
left an interesting commentary on Virgil that the crippled Vulcan,
metal-smith of the gods, attempted to violate
goddess Minerva when she met him for forging service.
If the scribe of Weland's vita had transformed this anecdote,
the manuscripts certainly would be basing on scholarly
background!
|

![]() |
The
whalebone made Franks Casket,
Anglo-Saxon, first half of 8th century: Regarding the divided
scenes on its front panel (smaller picture), '
... the left is derived from the Germanic legend of Weland the Smith
...'
as The British Museum
points out briefly. Surprisingly, the front panel's right half shows historical adoration
of the Magi. Carved scenes of quite similar style from the Thidreks
saga and related Nordic narratives were also adorning the former
church of Hyl(l)estad, Norway. The photo on the left, imaging the
scene in the left half of the front panel, documents also Weland
getting and feeding geese, as this action will clearly mark the
most important first step for the
|
|
Creation of
the Mimung (Sv 64, Mb
67).i The larger scene given by this smaller
photo refers to Weland working at his smithy. He is depicted at a
time when he had slain the two youngest sons of King Nidung,
seemingly illustrated with one small human body laying on the
ground behind Weland (Sv 73, Mb 74). This scene corresponds well
with the appearance of King Nidung's daughter and a supernatural
maiden serving Weland with a bottle of liquid to make her obedient.
Thus, the artist seems to consider mythological tradition. The
first panoramic image of the casket's lid '...
shows another Germanic story about a hero named Ægili who is
shown defending his home from armed raiders.' (Comment by The British
Museum). Ritter regards this scene 'The Return of Odysseus',
however.
|
|
|
|
Ritter
provides on Weland another discovery being evaluated of
6th–7th century (!), thus of elder creation than the
Franks Casket: The Gold Solidus of Frisian Schweindorf
with its obverse estimated as facsimile of a typical Late
Antiquity solidus. The reverse, however, shows the
likeness of a person with runic symbols by enlarged
Anglo-Saxon set of characters.
|
|
Jantina
H. Looijenga, rune expert and author of the thesis '
Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent AD
150–700',
classifies this solidus in her dissertation, available online at
the Library of Groningen University, Netherlands, by this
description:
|
Weland of old tradition. Painting by E. Nowack. |
|
|
We thus would adhere to consideration that coincident 'Lower Saxon' minting referring to mythological persons might be unprecedented. The Ardre VIII image stone of Gotland (8th century) and the Cross-shafts of Leeds (c. 11th century) provide other pictorial traditions of Weland the Smith. |
|
Other connections A maternal line in the synchronizing
chart related to the early Merovingians can reveal that an
important political relationship between the emerging Franks
and their eastern neighbours, whose common Germanic ancestors
were severely subjugated by the Romans, was hereditarily sealed
in the Hesbaye in the middle of 5th
century between King Nidung and King Sigmund, cf Sv 148 and Ritter's
schedule: King Sigmund married King Nidung's daughter
'Sissibe'. After an obvious epic insertion dealing with the birth
and vanishing of their son Sigfrid ('Sigurd'), appearing as an
adaptation of the Frankish Genoveva legend enriched with motives
of the birth of Moses and the saga of Romulus and Remus, the
third writer of the oldest available manuscript relates the
hero's youth at Mime the Smith. In this period Sigfrid fell
in (hot) love with Queen Brynhild 'the Virgin' on location
quoted as 'Svava': the Harz, certainly most attracting Lower
German
Didrik's 'Grand Banquet Mission', a trip to big fighting event at King Isung (Sv 177–209, Mb 190–226), rather appears as tricky political campaign for making Sigfrid submissive to think about his father's connection with the family of a Salian ruler: It certainly was already some good land around the Eiffel the eager Niflunga were administering – did Didrik need an extraordinary trustee for holding them in check? Sigfrid's name can surely express his special thick skin that even Theophanis the Confessor knew as characteristic hereditary mark going with the Merovingians: an obvious ichthyosis hystrix, striking form of skin disease. Abbot Theophanis, most important Byzantine co-author of a world chronicle from 284 to 813, allows to conclude 'bristles of swine growing on Merovingian spine'. Referring to the translation of C. Mango and R. Scott, Edward G. Fichtner quotes Theophanis' entry for the year 723–724 with these words: The descendants of that line [the Merovingian line] were called Kristatai, which means 'hairy backs' [trichorachatai]: for, like pigs, they had bristles sprouting from their back. (Edward G. Fichtner: Sigfrid's Merovingian Origins, 2004, pg 335.) Jan de Vries, eminent editor of Old Nordic etymologic dictionary Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch; Leiden 1962, tries to enlighten us on Sigfrid's name and nature: sigg = bacon rind, from primal Norwegian 'segia' North-Norwegian sigg = rind; segg = skin with gristles Shetlandic sigg = hard skin. Thus, German affix -fried or -frid
seems to accomplish best nicknaming, since it
is old suffix for strong male nature or property, cf
'Burgfried' for biggest tower of a castle or fortress.
|
|
Early activities in Baltic lands and Western Russia |
|
Regarding Thidrek's and Atala's operations
in these regions, eg the political interests of the latter
holding Hildigund hostage, the daughter of Ilias af
Gercekia ('Grecia', 'Greka'), H.-J.
Hube annotates (op cit: pg 34 ann 2)
that Adam von Bremen (German chronicler of 11th
century, am) provides Graecus and Graecen
as general expression for the Slavs.
While the Old Norse and Swedish texts report on several campaigns of Dietrich and Atala in Baltic regions between Western Pomerania and Byelorussia, Procopius of Caesarea makes an insertion related to the marriage of a sister of Theodibert and, insofar, likely a daughter of Theuderic I. She became spouse of Hermegis ('Hermegisclus') and his son Radigis, kings of the Varnii. These people (Germ 'Warnen') have been connected with Mecklenburg locations Warnemünde and Warnow, likewise Warnow river, in Migration Period. After the death of his father Hermegis, as Procopius continues his report in Gothic Wars IV, 20, Radigis cancelled intended marriage with a princess of 'Brittia' in order to marry his father's spouse due to dynastic convention. Procopius completes that the 'Brittian' princess thereupon confronted Radigis martially with her fleet and finally made him to keep his former promise. Since Procopius has introduced and integrated 'Brittia' island with some confusing description obviously related to 'Britannia' (Great Britian), he or the composer(s) of his source could have mislocated possible participation of Bertanga on the Elbe, location of Didriks chronicle and Thidreks saga. |
| Résumé The Thidreks saga appears as being based
on a chronicle or historia rendering an eulogy of most important
'Austrasian' King Theuderic. However, even Didrik's biography
provided with the Old Swedish Didriks-krönikan has to be
regarded fragmentary and unfinished: Just at the time when he
was celebrated King of Roma II, Sv 356 (cf Mb 414), his
curriculum vitae is drawing to an end. The remaining last parts
of this chronicle relate Aldrian's revenge of the Niflunga
– that ends on the last sheet of the oldest available MS
– and three epic implantations: The first deals with
'Bergara' (Sv: 'Brugare') that the author identifies with Bergen,
place of translation by the Old Norse scribes who traditionally
were editing epic stuff and thus leaving their narrative imprint
in this way. The second is Heimir's episode at Wadhincusan
monastery which Roswitha Wisniewski recognizes as the literary
signature of the Lower German chronicler Ludewicus, a
provable scriptor and copyist of a precious bible at Wedinghausen
monastery in 13th
|
|
Gregory relates Theuderic acting not
before 507. Thereafter our Frankish chronicler mentions him on
campaigns against the Auvergne (523/524), Thuringia (c. 530),
and a Frankish chief called Mundericus (532/533). The Thuringian
War, however, might stand in strategical connection with the Niflunga
downfall at Soest dated between 527 and 530 for some archaeological
item. Considering Theuderic's biographical gap between 507/508 and
523/524 and his following actions, the vita of this Frankish king
rather appears completed by the Old Norse and Swedish manuscripts.
|
|
Regarding the exposition of Didrik's
exile, we obviously have to consider the ethical side of his
humiliation that might have been lasting as long as he could
not compensate his expulsion. Although he could not cross the
territory of his kinsman called Ermenrik at that time, as suffering Gransport
defeat, he could have been able to make an early
campaign mentioned afore. An interpretation bearing also
the implication that Gregory had suppressed contemporary history
of Roma II and other territories between the Meuse and
the Rhine – as he actually did for his very fragmentary
biography of Theuderic. As to the other item in this connection,
Gregory's readers tend to believe that Theuderic was crowned in
no time after Clovis' death, thereafter residing on locations
called Mettae and Remi – though Gregory
does not say a word about the date and place of Theuderic's
coronation. According to archaeological research, however, Roma II
was definitely larger and more precious colonia
of the eastern Frankish regions by far when Theuderic ascended the
throne. This context does not correspond with basic political
principles of Late Antiquity and Migration Era. More to this
point, we cannot substantiate neither Metz nor Rheims as
Theuderic's residence (notably Roger Collins 1983).
Listening to the Didriks chronicle, Thidreks saga, and Gregory for events in Lower and Mid Germany, however, Didrik was back in the Eiffel at that very time when Theuderic |
| indeed had returned to his property
and sent for Hermanfrid ... (Idem vero regressus ad propria, Hermenefredum ad se data fidem securum praecipit venire, quem et honorificis ditavit muneribus. Factum est autem, dum quadam die per murum civitatis Tulbiacensis confabularentur, a nescio quo inpulsus, de altitudine muri ad terram corruit ibique spiritum exalavit. Sed qui eum exinde deiecerit, ignoramus; multi tamen adserunt, Theudorici in hoc dolum manifestissime patuisse.) and ... one day, as they were standing on the walls of Tulbiacum [Zülpich] and talking ... (libri historiarum III, 8) |
|
A fatally shrinking space for
homeland of two different Frankish individuals at this
instant! A fragment of a Roman wall, supporting Gregory's
localization, has been archeologically proved at Zülpich
by Ursula Heimberg (Publisher: Landesmuseum
Bonn, Sonderheft Rheinische Ausgrabungen '78, Köln/Bonn
1979, pg 90). The geostrategical importance of Zülpich
from Roman times to 5th
century underlines Eugen Ewig
(Rheinische Geschichte Bd. 1,2, pg
15). Interestingly in Frankish-Thuringian context,
a fragment of Saxon chronicle De
origine Sueborum relates that Hermanfrid fled in
531 to a leader called 'Attila' after a lost battle against
the Franks. This message might supplement the entry made
by the chronicler of the Lower Saxon Annales
Quedlinburgenses
(see above)!
|
|
When Didrik/Thidrek returned
home to his residence in the outer Eiffel, he knew that
the western part of an area called later Lower Saxony was
too weak to repulse any further attack coming from the
other side of the Rhine (Mb 395–396). When Theuderic
was back on home location in the outer Eiffel, c. 531, he
removed the deprived last king of Thuringia.
Furthermore, the Old Norse and Swedish texts clearly provide that Thidrek/Didrik took over the later Westphalia – part of Hunaland with its capital Susa/Susat – after the death of its ruler (cf Sv 369 with Mb 428). This is indissoluble political strategy of Frankish expansion related to first half of 6th century, rightly considering subtle positions of the historical Dietrich complying with the crafty character of Theuderic. |
|
Moreover, we again must state
an incredibly shrinking area for two different Theoderics
when turning once more to the
vitae of Didrik/Thidrek
and Theuderic.
This is encyclopaedic quotation referring to Theuderic I.
who in third decade of
6th century reconsolidated
Trier = Roma II after its period of destructive arbitrary
rule:
|
| It was while abbot that King Theoderic I
(511–534) learned to know and esteem him, Nicetius
often remonstrating with him on account of his wrong-doing
without, however, any loss of favour. After the death of
Aprunculus of Trier, an embassy of the clergy and citizens
of Trier came to the kingly court to elect a new bishop.
They desired Gallus, but the King refused his consent.
They then selected Abbot Nicetius set out as the new
bishop for Trier, accompanied by an escort sent by the king,
and while on the journey had opportunity to make known his
firmness in the administration of his office. Trier
had suffered terribly during the disorders of the
Migrations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicetius (retrieved March 2009) |
|
At that time, considering a
difference of less than 2 or 3 years, King Didrik (had)
liberated Roma II (Trier on the Moselle) from its
insidious ruler Sevekin, successor of despotic King Ermenrik.
Incidentally, the Old Norse and Swedish manuscripts annotate King
Didrik's conversion into Christianity in accordance with
that corresponding moment when Bishop Nicetius talked
seriously with Theuderic I.
|
|
With a view to an apparently
corresponding spouse of both Frankish kings the author remarks
at
http://www.badenhausen.net/harz/svava/ZwoelfumDietrichvonBern.htm
(retrieved June 2012):
|
| Zu Dietrichs Vermählungen dankt der Verfasser dem Lektorat für einen nachträglichen Korrekturhinweis zu Bild 7 auf S. 179 in „Sage und Wirklichkeit“: Nach Mb 240 heiratet der junge Dietrich zuerst eine Tochter Gudilind (Gudelinda – Got(h)elinde) des verstorbenen Königs Drusian, siehe Osning-Berichte der Thidrekssaga. Diese Partie erscheint manchem Leser als pointierte Anspielung auf die Gemahlin Suavegotta–Suavegotho von Theuderich I., deren Name und definitive eheliche Beziehung mit dem ersten Austrasierkönig bei Flodoard von Reims auftaucht. Die Forschung möchte sie als Tochter aus der Verbindung des Sigismund von Burgund mit Theoderichs Tochter Ostrogotho-Ariagne identifizieren, was jedoch zu einem erheblichen chronologischen Problem mit Suavegotho (* um 504) als Mutter der regina Theudechildis führt. Siehe dazu die Vita von Theuderich I. Die geografische Interpretation des Eigennamens der Gemahlin Theuderichs würde auf deren blutsverwandtschaftliche Herkunft außerhalb von Burgund hindeuten. Siehe zum Zeitstellungsproblem z. B. unter http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/BURGUNDY%20KINGS.htm sowie ausführlicher Eugen Ewig 1991:50–52. |
|
The scribe(s) of the Old Swedish texts
left a chronicle, neither one of those 'fornaldarsögur', sagas
written before Iceland's ethnological starting point,
nor one of those
'riddarasögur', chivalrous tales written thereafter
by Old Norse 'fabulatores' for amusement at medieval courts.
Roswitha Wisniewski, whose postdoctoral work about the Niflunga
downfall by Thidreks saga has been either attacked unconvincingly
or ignored enormously by her colleagues, provides persuasive
evidence that the German source of Thidreks saga is
significantly based on narrational style that
unquestionably belongs to the first category.
|
|
Hans-Jürgen Hube, expert in Nordic
literature (Humboldt Universität Berlin, Nordeuropa-Institut,
em), estimates the manuscripts rather being based on a chronicle
written in
12th–13th
|
|
Addressing undiscerning and
intentionally ignoring communis opinio, Ritter provides
convincing arguments that the Old Norse and Swedish
texts cannot meet the conditional framework
to ascribe them to any Ostrogothic saga on Theoderic the
Great. Since there is actually no evidence to the contrary,
it now seems clear that acknowledged historical contexts of
Migration Period in Eastern Frankish, North-German and Baltic
regions cannot disprove both the basic political contents of these
manuscripts and Ritter's conclusions. Following his validations,
advanced explorations
of these texts do not necessitate polemic protection of
defacto obsolete research suggesting an oral-based (!)
'process operative' called 'localization' for
'transmitted events', therewith pleading for a special
kind of 'pseudo-localization' for 'pseudo-history'. However, such
dubious approach and solidification pays no attention
to any further provision of evidence, but deducing smartly
an overestimation of the exactness of history as
preserved in oral traditions instead. Pretty statements
emending themselves to quite more
plausible form of non-oral text transmission. (Wikipedia's
Legends about Theoderic the
Great; retrieved 2011-05-17 and 2013-03-24.)
|
![]() |
Johan Peringskiöld clearly
distinguished in 1715 between Old Norse literary category
SAGA and the script he provided under the title
HISTORIA WILKINENSIUM, THEODERICI VERONENSIS, AC
NIFLUNGORUM.
Ritter has demonstrated that the fundamental literary problem
of Thidreks SAGA has been carried by its title,
and he conclusively states that we cannot ascribe the texts obviously
translated from a German 'Großwerk' (notably Roswitha Wisniewski,
cf eg Hermann Reichert [1992] for problematic context
of oral transmission connected with the eldest |
|
In all this respect, veritable modern
research in Thidreks saga and the Old Swedish texts would
not longer ascribe neither unwritten content nor any clearly
different context to Ostrogothic saga environment of
Theoderic the Great (notably eg Walter Böckmann 1981, Helmut
G. Vitt 1985, Ernst F. Jung 1987, Hanswilhelm Haefs 2004). Regarding
circumspectly the literary categories of Old
Norse bibliography, the Thidreks 'saga' rather has to be re-evaluated
as an
|
Clips from the Latin version
provided with the Peringskiöld edition of 1715: Passages referring
to German sources.
Although marked as 'translation', this script hardly seems
retranslated from any available redaction of Thidreks saga.
Cf an example for circumstancial evidence at Die
Mosel im Licht von Thidrekssaga und
Dietrich-Chronik
(Bild
4),
[http://www.badenhausen.net/harz/svava/Thidrekssaga-Mosel.pdf].
Interestingly, the writers
of the Old
Norse redactions notice Mænstrborg or Mynstrborg
for Westphalian Münster (recorded as one location of contemporary
witnesses), whereas the Latin scribe places at that very passage (2nd
clip from below) Monasterienses. This spelling appears in
medieval German records on the civitates of Münster.
Its locality is based on the former Mimigernaford, estimated as
settlement of 6th century.
|
| |
|
Even so we may ask: If Gregory
or Fredegaire, both of them rather moralistic than conscientious
raconteurs, had a solid idea of a large extant record relating
the contents of Thidreks saga and Didriks chronicle: Which
accounts could they omit at first for saving renditions
by own local sources?
|
| Endnotes |
|
1 See Appendix
A2: Evaluation
of Thidreks saga Manuscripts.
The contents of fragmentary Old Swedish K45,4° manuscript is
closely affiliated to Skokloster manuskript.
|
| 5 Today:
Trier on the Moselle. |
|
8 The scribe
of Mb 246 locates Walslanga at certain 'western border'
of Franka riki, cf German Thidreks saga translation by
F. H. von der Hagen. Ritter identified Walslanga
('Valsløngva') as German Westerwald, a woodland which,
as the Thidreks saga provides, partially belonged to the realm of
that 'Salmon'. A western or north-western border of his land
actually seems plausible if the Franks had already taken their
first new regions on the lower Lahn and Main
river ('Frank-furt').
|
|
From second quarter to the middle of 6th century, the Franks
invaded Thuringia on a Mid-German territory extending from the
upper Main to the upper Weser and the Elbe. Insofar the
medieval writer certainly means an area known today as
'(Unter-)Franken' with regional inhabitants still called
'Mainfranken'. The author of Mb 250 remarks that King Salmon
attended a colloquium of apparently 'Ripuarian Franks'* at King
Ermenrik's Roma [secunda]. Ritter has placed this
event at the end of 5th century. Thus 'Salmon', a nickname for a
mighty Frankish chief seemingly given by a sophisticated clerical
author, appears synonymous with the first (or an early) Frankish
conqueror and new ruler of lower and mid Main regions. The
ford ('furt') of Main river on an obvious outstanding former location
related to the Franks – today the metropolis of a large
area –, from the MS to be roughly determined in eastern
position of the former Walslanga centre, was an
important strategic passage presumably after the withdrawal of the
Romans and certainly after Migration Period.
|
|
The Walslanga incident might have been another good
reason for Clovis to remove a few years later Franco-Rhenish
king Sigibert of Cologne whose territory seemingly was
ranging to confluentes region;
see also en 27.1 in the author's article Wadhincúsan,
monasterium Ludewici [German].
|
| ________________ |
|
*
Although some modern research would criticize the usage of
this expression for an eastern Frankish tribe or territory on
the mid and lower Rhine of 5th century, many elder historians
seem to have applied this term incorrectly in ethnological and
chronological context, eg Wilhelm Giesebrecht, German translator
of Gregory of Tours. Nonetheless, a certain number of authors
might just geographically regard 'Ripuaria' or 'Ribuaria',
considering nothing more than a region of unknown borders
around the former Roman based 'civitas' of Cologne. Regarding
late Migration Period resp early Merovingian era, this region
has been traditionally suggested from the mid and lower
Moselle to the mid and lower Rhine. (See RGA Vol 24, 2003,
or the more comprehensive analysis by Matthias Springer: Riparii
- Ribuarier - Rheinfranken ...; RGA,
Vol 19, 1998.)
|
| |
|
10 i.
Thus, it seems less likely that Theoderic the Great, guarantor of
the Pax Gothica, had accepted the Franks as
sovereigns of Auvergne and, consequently, Aquitaine
with the Albigeois and the Rouergue after the death
of Clovis (510/511). With Gregory's words accordingly: Gothi
vero cum post Chlodovechi mortem multa de id quae ille
adquesierat pervasissent, Theudoricus ...
Cf eg Jonathan J. Arnold: Theoderic, the Goths, and the
Restoration of the Roman Empire;
pg 241 (fn 170).
|
|
Regarding Frankish territories at the death
of Clovis I, E. Ewig, I. N. Wood and other
analysts do not follow some dubious mapping by Vidal de la
Blache as redrawn or published by English, French and
German Wikipedia, eg 'Theuderic I',
'Clovis Ier ',
'Thierry Ier ', 'Chlodwig I.'
– retrieved 2012-08-17.
|
|
Gregory involves Theuderic in dubious context with the Auvergnat
episcopates of Quintianus and Apollinaris (c. 515), notably I.
N. Wood 1983, E. James 1985. However, Frankish authority over
the Auvergne at that time appears less believable considering
Theuderic’s exhaustive military action of 523/524 by
Gregory’s reports. He might have either misdated Theuderic
who became some years later sovereign of that territory or
mistaken him for a plausible protectorate of Theoderic the Great.
Moreover, it is strikingly evident that Gregory has suppressed
the name of the enemy whom the Frankish king defeated with this
obvious large military campaign – against the Gothi
protected once by a great leader whom Gregory tries to
mention as less as possible?
|
|
As Gregory inserts at hist III, 4, Theuderic had
preliminarily finished his first unsuccessful Thuringian
operation, its historical reality remarkably doubted by the RGA,
before his second Auvergnat campaign.
Gregory's hist III, 3 apparently dates from
c. 515 to c. 520; hist III, 5 from c. 516 to c. 522.
Within this span Theuderic is supposed to have not been able to
take possession of the half of Baderic's Thuringian realm which
his brother Hermanfrid had promised him. Nevertheless, in case of
creditibility considering also Didrik's/Thidrek's Gransport
campaign (c. 515, cf Ritter 1982, 1999),
it would not seem inconceivable that Theuderic therewith
was depending on limited armed forces possibly
strengthened insufficiently by an ally.
|
|
Following Gregory's Liber vitae
patrum VI, 2, reporting on Theuderic
and the cleric Gallus from Cologne (c. 523), there was
serious menace to their obvious short Christian mission
to most important Lower Rhineland area in the first half
of 6th century. This item
does not question the 'Return of Didrik'
dangerously crossing the region of Babilonia and
defeating its ruler Elsung the Younger
(Sv 341–346, Mb 399–406).
|
|
Furthermore, reviewing research in Gregory's texts neither suggests
nor conclusively propagates Theuderic's participation in Burgundian
War, hist III, 6; cf Theuderich I. :
RGA, Vol 30, 2005, pg 462 ibid for potentially dubious hist
III, 4. Cf I. N. Wood (1994) constating
Theuderic ostentatiously avoiding the Burgundian campaign.
|
|
Regarding the basic understanding of the protagonists'
'exile', the sources just allow to conclude that Theuderic
was driven out of Auvergne (since 507/508) and thereafter could
not rule over this most attracting Gaulish region (seemingly
suggested by Gregory) until 523/524. Not contradicting this
item, the other north-eastern sources of stronger limited
geographical horizon relate that Didrik/Thidrek
was coincidentally chased away from his Eiffel residence
by a kinsman ruling over Roma II.
|
|
11 This equation
is provided by the rhyme chronicle of Cologne being ascribed to
Gottfried Hagen, clericus coloniensis, municipal clerk
and clergyman of Cologne in 13th century. The author of this
chronicle mentions the appearance of Dederich
van Berne, Dederige van Berne, Dederich
der Wise in some reparteeing contexts. The newer transcription
of line 61 is by Bunna, dat heis man do Berne.
Note well that the Old German by (New Germ bei) does
correspond with English nearby!
|
|
The first ecclesiastical testimony equating Bonn on the Rhine
with Verona, which local medieval tradition also
connects with Bern, is provided on an altar
memorial plate that archbishop Folkmar (965–969)
dedicated to St. Pantaleon Church of Cologne. This
donation indicates a special historical relationship
between both locations.
|
|
12 The
first chronological appearance related to 'Ripuaria', the terra
Riboariense, provides the Liber historiae
Francorum in the context of the final quarrel between
Theuderic II and his brother Theudebert II, as this event
has been dated 612 by an author writing in 726/727. Equivalent
expressions in the meaning of ethnological or geographical
'Ripuaria' can not be found in the manuscripts written
by Gregory of Tours!
|
|
13 Babilonia
as an apposition for Cologne, related to a retrospective view, can be
found in an official clerical document of 11th-German century,
see for more details en 27 in the author's article
Wadhincúsan,
monasterium Ludewici.
|
|
This Babilonia, that Roman history about Germania inferior
reveals in figurative sense as
the Babylon of luxury and vice, is provable as Cologne
even in geographical context:
For example, Duna Crossing pertains to Jarl
Elsung the Younger who is mentioned as Lord of Babilonia.
(Note well that Elsung the Elder was the former ruler of
Dietrich's Bern!)
Following Clovis' control of power, he certainly would
not nominate the Niflunga for King Sigebert's or Sigfrid's
successor if they had been already rewarded with the administration of
Didrik's realm after his expulsion from Bern.
|
|
If Zülpich that Gregory obviously calls Tulbiacum, s. libri
Historiarum, II, 37; III, 8, had been remarkably
destroyed in Alemannian-Frankish war, the Niflunga could have
been forced to take a new place of residence nearby.
'Vernica' or 'Verminza', as the original texts mention, is
only a few miles far from Zülpich = Tulbiacum
which has been equated with Tolbiacum. The manuscripts
note brightest full moon night when the Niflunga met the
Rhine at Duna Crossing: Since important campaigns
were usually planned to start at full moon in Late Antiquity
as well as medieval times, the Niflunga with polished armour
underneath their garments could have covered only c. 30
miles from their capital place.
|
|
The author remarks in his contribution listed below at A6: The Bibliotheca
of Photios, Byzantine historian of 9th
century and Patriarch of Constantinople who fragmentarily provides
the records of Olympiodorus the Elder, allow to conclude that the
historical Burgundians were (also) settling in the region of Moyndiakon
- 'Mundiacum', cf 'Müntz' between the Eiffel
and the lower Rhine. As Ritter has shown, the Mundia
of Thidrekssaga covers residence location of the Niflunga!
|
|
14
i. Hunaland
or Humaland, Hymaland, appearing related
to Lower German hûne, Middle High German Huine
(= large human, cf historical Hünengräber as
impressing burial places characteristically in Lower Germany),
are contemporary names for a large territory centered
between lower Rhine and lower Elbe.
Bede locates a tribe called Hunni in
accordance with this geographical order:
|
|
... unde
hactenus a uicina gente Brettonum corrupte Garmani
nuncupantur. Sunt autem Fresones, Rugini, Danai, Hunni,
Antiqui Saxones, Boructuari; sunt alii perplures hisdem
in partibus populi paganis adhuc ritibus seruientes ...
(Historia
ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum; V,9).
|
|
17 The
original texts as well as geological and topographical studies
indicate contemporary large
|
![]() |
|
18 See the
author's contribution Wadhincúsan,
monasterium Ludewici.
|
|
20 The so-called Prologue of Thidreks saga
is not provided with its eldest manuscript. That preface, basing on
assumption of an unknown author, has been challenged early by
Frantzen (Neophilologus 1916:208), see also Ritter 1989:743-744
(Reprint of German translation by F. H. von der Hagen) and Hube
2009:410.
|
| The author deduces at http://www.badenhausen.net/harz/svava/ZwoelfumDietrichvonBern.htm (retrieved 2012-03-31): |
| Die rund sieben Jahrhunderte betragende Spannweite zwischen Ritter-Schaumburg und jener unkritisch akzeptierten Vorstellung eines mittelalterlichen Prologverfassers über ,,Sagengenese“, Stoffgeschichte und Berichtgebung (nur im Sammlungsbestand der jüngeren A/B-Handschriften) ist ein anschauliches Beispiel für kaum zu überbrückende Forschungsgegensätze.ii Hierzu mag ein Kausalzusammenhang insoweit bestehen, als dieser mittelalterliche Kommentator die (von Ritter-Schaumburg auch zu deren Ursachen begründend aufgezeigten) toponymischen und buchstäblich literalen Übertragungsfehler aus dem mutmaßlich niederdeutschen Quellenmaterial dieser Handschriften nicht hinlänglich verifizieren konnte. Nach der für uns und ihn verfügbaren altnordischen Bibliografie muss insofern jedoch auch mit den zweifellos berechtigten Möglichkeiten gerechnet werden, dass einerseits zu den chronikalisch und detailliert überlieferten niederdeutschen Ortsangaben, andererseits zur eigennamentlichen Unterscheidung, genügenden Identifizierung und Lokalisierung der Hauptfigur der Thidrekssaga weder frühmerowingische oder rheinfränkische Überlieferungen noch eine zeitadäquate ostrheinisch-niederdeutsche Geografie und Historiografie greifbar waren. (Siehe dazu die hauptsächlich von H. Ritter-Schaumburg neu determinierte Geografie der altnordischen und altschwedischen Handschriften.) |
| Insoweit
scheint also durchaus nachvollziehbar, dass der nordische
Scriptor zu seiner stoffgeschichtlichen, wegen für ihn
uneindeutiger historischer Ausgangslage jedoch nur spekulativen
„Thi(o)drek“-Exkursion
unter Hinweis auf diverse orale Traditionen die von
Theoderich d. Großen geprägte Ära fokussierte, sich wegen
dieser sardonischen Überlieferungslage viel zu breitbandig
und somit längst verzerrend um historische Muster und
Analogien bemühte. Je mehr die gegenwärtige Lehrauffassung
diesen vormals und hier offenbar nicht zu Unrecht von manchem
Analysten als „Sagamann“ eingestuften Literaten
auch weiterhin mit nicht überzeugenden Vorstellungen zu
interpretieren versucht, desto weniger wird sie nach den
Beiträgen von Ritter-Schaumburg fähig sein, sich im Interesse
dringend erforderlicher Emendationen von ihrem dogmatischen
Forschungskollegialismus und |
| Der Verfasser vermerkt in seinem Netzbeitrag Zur Schuldfrage von „Attila“ und Grimhild, Atli und Gudrun: |
| Trotz einiger irriger inhaltlicher Interpretationen heißt es im altnordischen Prolog zur Thidrekssaga (Sammlungsbestand jüngere A/B-Handschriften), dass sie in der Zeit entstanden ist, als Kaiser Constantinus der Große gestorben war, welcher beinahe die ganze Welt zum Christentum bekehrt hatte; aber nach seinem Hintritte verfiel das Christentum wieder und erhoben sich allerlei Irrtümer, so dass in dem ersten Teil dieser Saga niemand war, der den rechten Glauben hatte ... |
| Flavius Valerius Constantinus starb in der ersten Hälfte des 4. Jahrhunderts. Vergleicht man mit dieser Zeitangabe die inhaltlichen Darstellungen der ersten Berichte der Thidrekssaga und Dietrich-Chronik, so fallen nach Ritter-Schaumburgs Zeitmarken sowohl die Geburtszeiten von Samsons Vaterbruder Thetmar als auch Hildebrands Großvater Ragbald in die zweite Hälfte bzw. in den Endbereich des 4. Jahrhunderts. |
| |
| Appendix A1 Related Links A1.1 Who is King Atala? A1.2 Summaries of Scientific Analyses: Weland's Steel A1.3 Merovingian Origin Location(s) A2 The Evaluation of Thidreks saga Manuscripts (Extract from A6) Ritter's
method of dealing with Thidreks saga is principally based
on his answer to the cardinal question whether a
tradition assumed being remarkably pregnant with historical
facts may be dissected in twilight mixture of mythological
narratives. As Ritter has expressively underlined at his
lectures, rather less significant as well as detectable
non-contemporary adapting implementation by an evident group
of Old Norse editors might have induced scholarly evaluation
especially of the Membrane texts to evaluate Thidreks
saga basically as less authentic or fabulous pool
of originally unrelated single tales. Beside other indication,
Ritter regards the source of the Old Swedish manuscripts
principally 'guiding' Thidreks saga, and he considers these
texts of such recognizable literary selectivity that
subsequently will allow efforts to estimate them as
historiographical sources.
Theodore M. Andersson, reviewer of a symposium-based supplement edited by Susanne Kramarz-Bein for Walter de Gruyter's encyclopaedia of Germanic antiquity, comments the current contradicting cataloguing of Thidreks saga. Andersson, incidentally seeing a clear literary difference between 'Norse' and 'of Norway', was obviously remembering Ritter's publications by this introductory remark of 1996: »... Þiðreks saga, which had not received much scholarly attention for several decades, came back into fashion about ten years ago ...« This
English review, available at http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/7susanne.pdf
(retrieved
May 2005), follows Heinrich Beck's position by means of his
paper Þiðreks saga als Gegenwartsdichtung?
who, stringently against Ritter's postulation and reasoning,
notoriously exposes Thidreks saga to the light of poetry
somehow inspired by history. Andersson:
|
| ... Heinrich Beck's "Þiðreks saga als Gegenwartsdichtung?" ... points out that Þiðreks saga ... synchronizes events from legendary prehistory with near-contemporary events in the twelfth century (campaigns against the Slavs on the eastern frontier of Germany). Time in Þiðreks saga is thus a variable quantity ...« |
|
Moreover,
Heinrich Beck classifies the message of Þiðreks Saga
expressively more subtle than its naïve reader would
imagine. Addressing Ritter, he will underpin Germanism's
fundamental attitude towards the general understanding of
SAGA with this manifesto:
|
| »Germanistic saga research has recognized long since (...) that saga tradition is not an ancient forwarding but derives from topic adoption.« (Translated quotation from Zur Thidrekssaga-Diskussion; Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, 112, 1993, pgs 441–448.) |
|
The Germanistic and other scholastic strategies against the
research of Ritter obviously ignore the fact that the Old
Norse scribes evidently processed to translate, title and
catalogue historiographies as 'saga'.
Ritter's translation of the Old Swedish Didriks chronicle was not called in question on literary subject. For elaborating research he therein left his comparing analysis of both chronological and historiographical structures of the Svava and Thidreks saga manuscripts. In the addenda provided with his translation (pgs 399–455) he exemplarily scrutinises and finally refutes the Svava's dependency from the Membrane and Icelandic manuscripts against scholastic evaluation of Scandinavian researchers. Ritter also implemented into his posthumous publication Der Schmied Weland a supplementary analysis that points out the different literary style of these texts anything but less insignificant through exemplary synoptic studies providing Thidreks saga's special predilection for certain subjective notional forwarding and, as a result, also for mythologizing, cf Quotations from 'Der Schmied Weland' (German). |
|
Seasoned practitioners have not rejected Ritter's methodical
deciphering of 'the geographical and ethnic names in the Didriks
Saga', a work of noteworthy terminological consistency considering
rational contemporary circumstances of time and location. In 1959
William J. Pfaff had already introduced an equally titled book
with 'a study in Germanic heroic Legend', who, however, failed in
the actual terminology of such important places originally spelled
'Bern' or 'Drekanfils'. Ritter rather found out that the right
geographical operation area related to the Didriks chronicle
does extend diagonally from South-Sweden and Jutland to German
Moselle river and, west-to-east, from Belgium to Baltic countries.
Thus, the revising research would hardly believe that the Old Norse
editors had done more than a mere translation of an imported
tradition, mainly a Lower German Historia Dietrich von Bern;
especially considering the item that the translators obviously
never attempted to change any location name there.
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To boot, it seems implausible that the Old Norse scribes of King
Hákon IV would have had any good reason to implant any own
narration or compilation on such unfamiliar small locations
as Vernica, Thorta or Brictan,
such strange rivulets as Duna, Wisara
or Eydissa, such elsewhere never mentioned but
nonetheless real mountain forests as the Osning or Valslanga.
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The Upper German stem on the left represents poetry detracting
Burgundian fall to the homeland of a fictive 'Hungarian king'
called Etzel. Roswitha Wisniewski notes well that her so-called
'Zweite Quelle' has to be regarded as principal source of
Thidreks saga, while she regards the 'Ältere Not' only rendering
epic influences of Duna crossing, recovery at Margrave
Rodinger's ('Rüdiger') Bakalar ('Bechelaren'), and the
arrival of the Niflunga at Susa (Soest), the residence
of King Atala ('Attila'). Nonetheless, we also have to consider
the 'Ältere Not' providing the Nibelungen character Giselher
(notably Leon Polak and Roswitha Wisniewski). He seems to be
connected with special kind of synonymy derived from dynastic
names in the 'Lex Burgundionum' in order to boost the Old
Norse Gunnar with an accompanying actor originally spelled Gislahar(ius).
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Thus,
further progressive research will also concentrate upon Roswitha
Wisniewski's postdoctoral thesis by which she provides
extrapolative evidences of Thidreks saga's sources. The scholar
in literature, now emeritus professor, reminds us on the
subject that James Westfall Thompson has given the
fundamental characteristics of both narrative forms:
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| »The
medieval C h r o n i c l e was neither a mere table
of dates nor the representation of a time; it was a detailed
arrangement of events in the order of time. The medieval |
| A3 Edward R. Haymes' translation The Saga of Thidrek of Bern |
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Haymes provides a
verbatim translation of Thidreks saga. Thus, regarding any
considerable difference between the Membrane, the
younger Icelandic redactions and Old Swedish Didriks-krönikan,
it does not concern Haymes' excellent
work.
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His introduction to the translation nonetheless considers
scholars who apparently want to promulgate any medieval
manuscript including narration of hunting a deer or winning
a bride as unbelievable historical source. Haymes writes that the
Thidreks saga in particular seems to propagate an image
of kingship based on the support of the nobility
and turns to suspect Artistic Achievement
which, however, would basically lose rational ground of
reality when ascribing a numeral quantity of a dozen to
poetic dimension (notably Andersson). He is certainly
right in case of some evident incongruity the saga bears
in the texts, but he would not specify the major contradictions in
the story apart
from two different deaths in King Osantrix' vita. Incidentally,
the Old Swedish texts do not provide the second death of
Osantrix provided by Mb 292. Regarding Sv 247 instead, that
relates the battle at ‘Brandingaborg', the Old Swedish
chronicler conveys this only notice on Osantrix:
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| 'Osantrix king had a brother's son in Vilkinaland called Hernid. He was made King of Vilkinaland.' |
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Of
course, there is also some literary influence mainly of Greek
antiquity (notably Roswitha Wisniewski) that 'contaminates'
the original purport of both the 'saga' and the Old Swedish
texts – just as the bulk of chronicles from or referring
to Late Antiquity and Migration Era. Such amalgamation, however,
can be recognized in the Thidreks saga, eg the birds advising
Sigfrid to slay his foster father (cf Greek Augur
and Melampus).
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Haymes
furthermore notes conservative scholars who obviously have no
idea of neither Germanic Hunas nor linguistic origin of
'Ata-la', who would not allow the historical roots and
appearance of these ancient people in that time Haymes
rightly calls 'Period of Migration', who turn a blind eye
to Frankish actions of 6th century in that geographic area
he already specifies as part of today's Lower Saxony.
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The
history of editing Thidreks saga as provided by Haymes
follows current scholastic research. Nonetheless, we have to
agree with Theodore M. Andersson who justly understands the
manuscripts essentially representing a translation, though
he obviously judges them a heterogeneous collection of heroic
epics. On the subject of geography, Haymes remarks William
Pfaff's excellent study of geographical and ethnic names in
the saga which, however, identifies for instance
'Drekanflis' as the Drachenfels on the Rhine – thus
making unbelievable routes for Didrik's trip to the
Osning!
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One
of the most incredible points Haymes conveys is scholarship's
opinion that the Swedish texts have to be regarded as
translation of the Old Norse texts, though he states that
the Old Swedish version
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If
he had explored the source he lists as Roswitha Wisniewski's
postdoctoral thesis under his Select Bibliography
even in this connection, he would have been able to conceive
the significance of her so-called 'Second Source' and draw his
conclusions more exactly against the work of Horst Pütz and
other authors supporting the fundamental position of Heinrich
Beck, Susanne Kramarz-Bein and other scholars. William J. Pfaff,
another protector of some obsolete Germanistic bibliography about
Thidreks saga through Ritter's research, does not agree with
Westphalia as location of clerical recording of historical
events related to the vita of Dietrich von Bern
which, however, Roswitha Wisniewski tried to query as
'pseudo-chronicle'. Thus, the very difference between Ritter
and the encyclopaedists is that he indicates a fairly homogenous
rendition of history basically fitting in a Frankish and Lower
Saxon lacuna of 5th to 6th century, whilst
other scholars ascribe the Thidreks saga to
either fundamental poetry or unbelievable or at least very
suspect depiction of history.
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The
treatise Ritter added as epilogue to his translation of the
Old Swedish manuscripts provides strong indication that the
chronicle Didrik af Bern cannot be a mere
translation from Thidreks saga. As Ritter points out in his
book Die Nibelungen zogen nordwärts, for example, the
Old Swedish 'Haghen' cannot be taken from a Old Norse source
that spells 'Hogni', while 'Goroholth' may not represent a
translated 'Gernoz', 'Gislher' not result in 'Gyntar', as the
original source of the Swedish scribes allow to conclude.
The lingual pattern shining through their work rather shows
Danish than Norwegian influence of their source, as
Ritter cites Bengt Henning who found out that the
so-called 'Norvagism' are playing almost no role against
the 'Danism' of remarkable quantity. Henning nonetheless
votes for the Old Norse-Norwegian manuscripts as the source of the
Old Swedish scribes, but without any convincing argument
or conclusion, as Ritter comments Henning's comprehensive
work in the attachment to his translation.
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Thus, we
obviously can postulate another important source which the Old
Swedish scribes have been using besides the Old Norse-Norwegian
saga texts they certainly knew, too. Although that source,
apparently basing on the archaic manuscript brought to Norway, is
physically missing, we consequently have to regard strong
indication that the writers of King Hákon IV were working more
willingly as translators of imported material. Roswitha Wisniewski
therefore rightly introduces her thesis that the source of the Old
Norse manuscripts came as comprehensive work from Lower Germany,
as she reasonably votes for a chronicler at Wedinghausen monastery
near Soest (Wadhincúsan, see the author's contribution Wadhincúsan,
monasterium Ludewici).
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A4
Historicity of Vilkinaland
The Old Swedish scribes of the Didriks chronicle have been also charged with ascribing 'Vilkinaland' to Swedish territory. Einhard, 9th century author of the Vita Karoli Magni, regards the Welataben, an ethnic group identified with the Vilkinians, as historical tribe. More comprehensive research by other sources focussing Migration Era of 5th century provides their historical appearance on the Lower Elbe (South Jutland) and, thereafter migrated eastwards, in parts of Pomorze ('Pomerania'). These are the chapters of the Old Swedish chronicle providing geographical information about Vilkinaland: |
| Sv 17. |
| A king was called Vilkinus. He was a gorgeous man. He won Vilkinaland by fighting for this land that now is called Sweden, Gotland, Schonen, Sealand and Winland. It was called Vilkinaland, because it was named after King Vilkinus. At that time there was tradition to name a land after the name of its ruler ... |
| Sv 297. |
| Herding, king in Vilkinaland, that is now called Great Sweden, was a rich man and a mighty fighter. He had a spouse called Osta(n)cia; her father was Unne, king of eastern realm ... |
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(Translation:
Ritter-Badenhausen.)
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Ritter detects Winland as German Wendland. The ascription
of 'Vilkinaland that is
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