When King Clovis came to
be baptized after his
conversion to Christianity, Bishop Remigius said to him, 'Meekly
bend
thy neck, Sicamber ...', as remarked by Gregory of Tours who
certainly
gave on this occasion an example of his more or less comprehensive
knowledge
of Roman-Germanic history. (Remigius' original phrase is provided by
Gregory's Historiae
Francorum, Book II ch 31: »Mitis depone colla, Sigamber...
«)
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The
Baptism of King Clovis.
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A partial
view of the altarpiece by the Master of Saint Gilles (abt 1500).
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The
Seal Ring
of Childeric I, son of Meroveus and father of Clovis.
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The Sicambri, a powerful tribe
migrating formerly
along the Danube and the Rhine, were dwelling along the eastern banks
on
the Lower Rhine in the time of Caesar. Regarding the Migration Period,
however, these people also were dispersed to such an extent that
Gregory
of Tours might have remembered merely a 'migratory legend' somehow
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 ...'.
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| A Germanic chief called Meroveus, forwarded as
grandfather of
Clovis, is believed to have been recorded in 417 for rendering heroic
service
to the Romans. At that time, 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. However, there is no further
creditable
historical information that Meroveus was of Sicambrian descent.
Karl Müllenhoff (Zeitschrift
für deutsches
Altertum, 6, p. 433) follows Heinrich Leo (Lehrbuch
der Universalgeschichte 2, 28) connecting the Merovingian
location
with the Dutch watercourse Merwe (Merwede). Franz Joseph Mone
(Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der teuschen
Heldensage,
1836, p. 47) recounts some authors who already combined
likewise.
Emil Rückert (Oberon von Mons und die Pipine
von Nivella, 1836, p. 39) sums up
accordingly:
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| Das herrschende Geschlecht der
Franken wohnte an der
Merwe oder Merowe, d. h. der unterhalb Löwenstein mit der Maas
vereinigten
Waal und hiervon empfing es den Namen Merowinger, Morowinger, welchen
auch
ein König aus diesem Hause, Meroväus oder Moroväus,
Merwig,
trug. Der Mervengau ist jenes Maurungania ad Albim (wohl Vahalim),
welches
der Geograph von Ravenna als früheren Aufenthalt der prima linea
Francorum
angibt. |
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| Translation: |
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| The ruling Frankish dynasty was dwelling on
the Merwe or Merowe (today
the Dutch Merwede), where the Meuse meets the Waal below
Lionstone
Castle (the ‘Lovensteyn’ or ‘Loevestein’);
and the Merovingians or Morovingians received their name from that
watercourse,
and also one of their kings, Meroveus, Moroveus, or Mervig, was named
likewise.
This district called ‘Mervengau’ is that ‘Maurungania ad Albim’
(obviously
the ‘Vahalim’) (Vahal, Waal) which the
Geographer ('Cosmographer') of Ravenna
notes as the early location of
the ‘prima linea Francorum’. |
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| Eugen Ewig, eminent researcher in Frankish history,
considers the earliest
region of the Salians rolling out to the region of Overyssel (the
former Sal-land),
as marked today by Dutch towns Deventer and Kampen. Regarding
archaeological
exploration of Frisian and Lower Saxon lands, as Ewig remarks (Die
Merowinger und das Frankenreich), the Franks holding Salland
were also settling in the northern German lands up to the middle course
of Weser river until 365/370. Following archaeological research, Saxon
tribes extended their territory southwards at that time. Then, at the
beginning of 5th century, the Franks withdrew to regions
mainly on the left side of the lower Rhine. |
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| 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 contributes
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 and linked above.
Since the medieval scribes of the Old Norse manuscripts have apparently
situated this mighty
ruler in Frankish Hesbaye as well as 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 the first Meroveus. At
present, there
are at least two locations of interest whose former spelling and
tradition
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
spelled Salland or Salia seem to remember?
Reinhard Wenskus remarks that Bishop Freculf of Lisieux,
formerly pupil at
the scriptorium of Charlemagne's Aachen residence, claims Scandinavian
origin of the Franks, cf. J.
P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, Seria I, latina, see
col. 967: |
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Francos ...
de Scanza insula ... exordium habuisse; de qua Gothi et ceterae
nationes Theotiscae exierunt, quod et idioma lingua eorum testantur.
(Quot. by Reinhard Wenskus, Sachsen – Angelsachsen –
Thüringer, in: Walther
Lammers (Ed.), Entstehung und Verfassung des Sachsenstammes,
Darmstadt
1967, see pgs 514–515.)
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An
excerpt
from the
Ortelius Map of Jutland outlined by M. Jordano.
We may wonder if
Freculf could rate the tip of Jutland among a Scandinavian environment.
Otherwise, these locations could have been the temporary seat of the
migrating Merovingian eponym of the Franks. |
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