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The Sicambri, a powerful tribe that
formerly was migrating along the Danube and the Rhine, was dwelling along the eastern banks
on the Lower Rhine in the time of Caesar. They afterwards dispersed to such
an extent that Gregory of Tours might have remembered only the great ethnological
history related to that part of land which was called Salia some
hundred years later:
'Franks originally came from Pannonia and first colonized the banks of the Rhine. Then, they crossed the river, marched through Thongeria, and set up in each country district and each city long-haired kings chosen from the foremost and most noble family of their race ...'. |
A Germanic chief called Meroveus, supposed ancestor
of Clovis, is believed to have been recorded in 417 for rendering heroic service to
the Romans, and – as merited high-ranking mercenary – he was obviously
rewarded with the leadership of Salia (nowadays pertaining to Dutch and
Belgian territory) with that Gaulish region Toxandria we are calling
now North and South Brabant. There is however no creditable historical
information that Meroveus was of Sicambrian descent.
Emil Rückert, PhD, historian and literary scholar, gave this statement about name giving to the Merovingians: |
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Eugen Ewig, Prof of Medieval History (emeritus), has
considered the very first region of the Salians rolling out to the region
of Overyssel (the former Sal-land), that is
marked today by Dutch towns Deventer and Kampen. Regarding archaeological
exploration of Frisian and Lower Saxon lands, as the historian remarks
in his book Die Merowinger und das Frankenreich (published by
Kohlhammer/Urban, Germany), the Franks holding Salland maintained also the
northern German lands up to the middle course of Weser river until 365...370. At
that time martial Saxons began to extend their territory from the north-east to the
upper Lippe river, where to find nowadays German town districts of Minden and
Lippstadt. A few decades later, at the beginning of 5th century,
the Franks had to give up also the so-called Münsterland region
to settle thereafter on the left side lands of the Rhine. |
Lovensteyn of 1630, painted by C.J.Visscher.
The castle was (re-?)built between 1357 and 1368 by Lord Diederick van Horne who was (nick-)named Loef (Lion). In 1385 Albrecht van Beieren took over possession of the castle and appointed his trustee Brunstijn van Herwijnen as the castle's keeper. |
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This colourized old photo of Loevestein Castle was made on the eastern bank of the Waal,
approximately 2 miles (3 km) from the Merwede's mouth. |
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The Thidrek Saga and the Didriks Chronicle will contribute a
(con-)temporarily appearing ruler called King Nidung to the Salian-Toxandrian
region whom the author has regarded to substantiate Fredegaire's version of the
Merovingian genesis in his publication quoted above. Since it is literary fact
that the Norse-Nordic narrators have localized that mighty ruler also in Jutland –
mentioning him there as sovereign of Thy –, the lands around the Limfjord,
on the ancient 'Amber Route' of considerable strategic importance, might be worth the
effort to scrutinise there the roots of Meroveus I.
At present, there are at least two locations of interest whose
former spelling and tradition (under research) seem to indicate themselves as name
spending godfather: The isle of Mors with known word forms of 'Morø...'
and, close to the east, Cap Salling. Thus, referring to Fredegaire's insinuation,
we may wonder about Emil Rückert's successive order of Merovingian
onomastics and question furthermore: Was there already any recurrently related
Nordic homeland of the invading Salian founder, the name spending godfather
of that dynasty which the Dutch Merwede and its contemporarily
surrounding region Salland or Salia seem to remember? |
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Extract from the Ortelius
Map of Jutland by M. Jordano. |