Thidrekssaga: ATALA – ATTILA – ATANO
Who is King Atala ?
by
Rolf Badenhausen
Updated
2019-09-26
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Ferdinand
Holthausen,
a 19th-century
researcher of Thidrekssaga and Dietrich epics, wrote
in
1884:
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Ich denke mir, dass die
Erzählung der friesischen Chronik
im wesentlichen eine alte Soester Localsage widergibt, und zwar in der
ursprünglichen Fassung, ehe sie mit der Attilasage verschmolzen
war. Attila war schon früh in der niederdeutschen Heldensage in
Soest localisiert, wie Heimi in Wedinghausen und die Rabenschlacht an
der Mosel, allmählich flossen
die Sagen von ihm und von den Friesen im Bewusstsein der Soester
zusammen, und zu der Zeit, als die Männer von Soest, Bremen und
Münster dem Sagaschreiber ihre Sagen
und Lieder vortrugen, muss diese Verbindung schon eine ganz feste
gewesen sein.
Der Bericht der Th. S. gibt das Resultat dieser Sagenvermischung; so
erscheint der grosse Hunnenkönig als friesischer Prinz und
Gründer von Soest.
(F. Holthausen, Studien zur Thidrekssaga in: Beiträge
zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, PBB, Band 9,
Heft 3;
pgs 451–503, see p. 456.)
[I think that the account of Suffrid’s
Frisian chronicle principally reproduces an old local saga of
Soest, which is the original
version before it was amalgated with the saga of Attila. Attila has
been early localized in Low German heroic saga, also Heimi
at Wedinghausen and the Rabenschlacht on the Moselle;
and so the sagas of the former and the Frisii were gradually fusing in
the mind of the people of Soest; and at that time
when the men of Soest, Bremen and Münster were reciting their
sagas and lays to the saga writer, this compound must have been a very
solid one. The report of Thidreks saga represents the result of this
saga
amalgamation, so the great king of the Huns appears as Frisian prince
and founder of Soest.]
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Why did Holthausen
stumble upon the Frisian
chronicle
written by Suffridus
Petrus in 1590? This is the very passage Holthausen encountered in
Suffrid’s De
Frisiorum antiquitate et origine libri tres II, 15:
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Vesvalii
igitur ab eo tempore, quo
terram istam occupassent, una cum confoederatis Angrivarijsii
vicinam Frisiam diversis incursionibus infestarunt, &
tandem anno
Christi
344. qui Odilbaldi, Frisiorum ducis, nonus fuit, terram Gruninganamiii
ex improviso invaserunt, & antequam Frisij
in armis
esse possent,
omnia
flammis ac rapinis vastaverunt usque ad fluvium Lavicamiv,
qui eam terram ab Occidentali Frisia separat. Odilbaldus autem,
contractis quantocius copijs, hostes fugientes non modo praeda exuit,
set & domum usque insecutus, castris
aliquot ac
munitionibus
occupatis privavit; nec porro destitit, donec Angrivariam totam, &
maxima quoque ex parte Vesvaliam suae ditioni subjugasset, relicto
illic praesidiario duce, cui nomen erat Yglo Lascon. Ille hisce populis
in officio continendis praefuit annis integris sexaginta quinque, &
ad securitatem domini sui aedificavit arces tres, primam in Angria,
quae postea Vitekindi fuit; alteram Susati, quae postea in civitatem
per Dagobertum Clotarii filium sublimata, &
tandem
S. Cuniberto
Coloniensi Episcopo donata est, quod nostris scriptoribus referentibus,
attestantur Chronica civitatis Lippiae &
Coloniensis; tertiam
Iburgi, quod nunc Driburgum dicitur, de quibus infra plura.
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i
Westfalians
ii Engern: name of a tribe on
Weser
river
iii Groningen
(Netherlands)
iv frequently mentioned
in
local histories
but today difficult to prove as watercourse that possibly had some
closer relation to Dutch ‘Lauwers zee’
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Regarding the history of Soest’s
formation, Holthausen additionally quotes from Johann S. Seibertz’ Urkundenbuch
zur Landes- und
Rechtsgeschichte des Herzogthums Westfalen (book of
certifications on the country and legal history of the Duchy of
Westphalia, vol. I), as certified on Soest in 1120:
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Preterea iuris
advocati est. hereditatem accipere frisonum et gallorum.
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(Holthausen,
op. cit.
p. 455. Quotation: Seibertz op. cit. p. 50.)
Suffridus Petrus,
of Christian name Sjoerd
Pietersz,
was Professor of Jurisprudence, Canon at St. Apostles
Church of Cologne, and appointed ‘First Historiographer’ of
West-Frisian
corporative system in 1590. Although his obvious patriotic disposition
has been
indicated
for some uncertain historical reprojection, we nonetheless should keep
an
eye
on the following text from his
Frisian chronicle:
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Supradictus
autem Frisiorum dux
Odilbaldus filium habuit, cui nomen erat Udolphus Haron, quem
Gymnasticis certaminibus egregie domi exercitatum anno Christi 357. in
Angriam misit, ut eum Yglo Lascon veris praelijs cum hoste subeundis
expoliret, apud quem paulo plus biennio uno fuit.
Habitabat ea tempestate prope Hamburgum
praecipuae nobilitatis satrapa Vergistus, qui filios duos Hengistum &
Horsum, & filiam unam nomine Svanam
habebat. Filij
in Albis mortui sunt. Udolphus dum visendorum amicorum gratia Saxoniam
ingressus, ad Vergistum divertit, amore Svanae correptus est, quam &
cum parentum utrinque consensu uxorem
duxit.
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(Suffridus
Petrus, op. cit.)
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According to the Frisia,
seu, de viris rebusque Frisiae illustribus libri duo,
written by Martinus
Hamconius, a king called Odilbaldus was succeeding his father
in 435. The ‘hypothetical Frisian historiography’, as the writings
by both Frisian scholars are recalled by some scholars, provides from
its more or less fragmentary accounts at least seven reges,
principes, duces, potestati with a name or second name based on *Adel.
It seems more than likely that this form does basically correspond with
*Odil.
Both Suffridus and Martinus nowhere indicate to have any intertextual
relation to the Thidrekssaga, but, according to their
writings, we are apparently
confrontated with Frisian leaders Adel,
Adils, Aðils, Athils chronologized from 2nd
to 5th century. As further maintained by
these accounts, an Adgill(us)
rules later in the 6th, another one in
the 8th century. A Pre-Carolingian Frisian AUDWULF
FRISIA stamped on coins, an AVDVLFVS
FRISIA or
VICTORIA AVDVLFO minted on other coins found in the
Netherlands and, regarding the former one, in England, and the accounts
on a Frisian leader called Aldgisl
appear historically verifiable; cf. Herrius Halbertsma, Frieslands
oudheid, Thesis, University of
Groningen 1982; see p. 792 on the latter and p. 68 on
the former in Halbertsma’s new edition of 2000. Although not a few
details in the vitae of the early Frisian leaders seem apocryphally
constructed, there is no
proof of evidence that all representatives of this regnal clan, even
those of Migration Period as listed by Suffridus Petrus, Martinus
Hamconius and other authors, are purely fictitious.
Since we can not clearly distinguish between Frisian-born and Saxon
rulers in this spatiotemporal matter of historical or historiographical
recognition, and,
against Suffrid’s and Martinus’ accounts,
neither verify
nor disprove
the political connectivity of Soest with the Frisian kingdom in
Merovingian and even later times, we should not disregard that
mediaeval historiography could have related a former 4th-
or 6th-century ruler of a
southern region to
the Odil–Adel–Adgill dynasty
and call or byname any of their successors
likewise an Athil (see farther below).
Besides, it may be worth to compare the obvious common stems of Adil–Odil
with the forms of the Eddaic rulers Atli and Budli,
where the initial consonant of Atli’s ancestor seems to emphasize *Udli / *Odli.
The ending forms -li and -il appear certainly
interchangeable for
interliterary usage, see At-li – Att-il-a
as
most
prominent example. Moreover, it should be recognized in an
ethno-geographical context that the Icelandic and Swedish manuscripts
introduce not only an Odilia – presumably indicating a daughter
of an offspring or good-son Elsung
of an Odil – as Thidrek’s mother, but
also, as forwarded as well by the Old Norse texts, an equally named
woman
as spouse of Ermenrik’s advisor Sifka. All this cannot reflect a basic
narrative milieu of the Ostrogothic Theoderic.
Holthausen’s perception, in view of considerable
literary detraction of ‘Attila the Balkan Hun’, is based on an early
passage in the Thidrekssaga that relates the Frisian invasion and
conquest of King
Melias’ Húnaland.
Johan Peringskiöld
provides this text of the Latin script which appears closely
related to the Stockholm folio of Thidrekssaga.
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LXII.
(Mb 39) |
Inclaruit ea
tempestate rex
Osides, qui Frislandiæ regno potiebatur, opum atque
regionum amplitudine præstans. Duo ipsi nati erant filii,
Ortnitus atque Attila. Quorum minorennis alter a primis pueritiæ
annis roboris & fortitudinis egregia dedit
specimina. Equestria
exercitia probe edoctus, liberalem habebat animum, sapientæ
etiam donis instructum. Cætera alienarum etiam rerum
appetens erat, in prosequendo proposito suo maximopere persistens.
Hunc duodecimum ætatis annum cum ageret, præfectum
prætorio constituit Osides. Attila crebas cum copiis suis
in regnum Meliæ excursiones fecit. Quod vero annis iam
gravis esset Melias, nec filium haberet, cui tutandam regni finium
curam committere posset, multum detrimenti ab Attila ipsi allatum fuit,
subjugatis urbibus eius plurimis. Circa idem tempus in morbum incidens
Milias, militiæ duces atque præfectos ad se
convocari iussit, ut rerum secreta cum ipsis communicaret. Doluit
autem vehementer, nullum sibi esse filium hæredem cui
regni gubernacula committere posset; quippe filiam in Vilkinalandiæ
boreali regione marito nuptam, generumque suum Osantrigem moderando
regno proprio intentum esse. Interea multo cum successu per Hunalandiam
grassari Attilam Osidis filium; unde conjectura haud fallaci prævidere
se, ex stirpis suæ progenie propediem ablatum iri
Hunalandiæ
regimen. Hanc ob causam regnum Osantrigi committendum voluit, ut
adversus Attilam tutaretur. His agitatus curis, simulque morbi
ægritudine
labefactatus, tandem exspiravit Melias. Mortuum magno luctu
prosequebantur Hunalandiæ cives, propter pacis quæ
coluerat studia, opumque erogandarum liberalitatem, inque legibus
servandis exactitudinem. |
(Mb 40)
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Huius
morte cognita, Attila solennem populi
conventum indixit, advocatisque familiaribus suis, prolixo verborum
sermone exposuit, quanto hactenus successu res in Hunalandia prospere
ab ipso gestæ, urbesque expugnatæ fuerant :
Iuramento insuper se adstrinxit, non prius avitum regnum repetiturum
se, donec universa Hunalandia sub suam potestatem redacta sit. Ipso
hunc in modum loquuto, ingens adstantium in multum diem concitatus est
clamor, collaudantibus aliis insignem regis virtutem atque
fortitudinem, divitiarumque copiam, qua priores sua familia satos longe
superavit. |
LXIII.
(Mb 41) |
Melias
Vilkinaburgum
primariam regni sui sedem habuit. Redacto autem in suam potestatem
universo regno, sedem hanc Susatum promovit, quam &
diutius deinde
tenuit. Huius nimirum urbis ipse prima fundamenta posuerat, permanetque
hodiernum in diem celebris eius gloria, &
opulentiæ
fama. Attila solenni pompa Hunalandiæ rex creatus est.
Quam dignitatem sibi præreptam cum cognovit Osantrix,
admodum id ægre
tulit utpote iure hæreditario Odæ uxoris suæ
Meliæ filiæ sibi
debitam. Hinc dissidiorum origo inter utrosque reges, prælia
cruenta
cædesque. Occupatum nihilominus regnum Meliæ
gladio sibi vindicavit
Attila, addito prætextu illo, Osidis in Frislandia regnum
exiguis
limitibus circumscriptum, patri suo vix in vita suffecturum esse ; quin
& ægre
laturum
fratrem
Ortnitum, si
defuncto patre, regnum cum ipso dividere velit. Quapropter regno multis
cum molestiis occupato, se nequaquam cessurum, sed ultima potius
experiri paratum. Interjecto tempore aliquo ê vivis excessit
Osides Attilæ pater, post quem regnum Frislandiæ
occupavit filius
eius maior natu Ortnides. Ipsi filius natus est Osides, optimæ
atque
præclaræ indolis, egregiisque corporis
exercitiis imbutus. Ad adultam
cum pervenisset ætatem, patruum suum Attilam Hunalandiæ
regem adire
gestiebat. Advenientem multo honore excepit Attila, præfectum
legionis
equitum eum constituens. Hoc in statu diuturno tempore res perstiterunt.
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LXIV.
(Mb 42) |
Attila
vocato ad se nepote Oside, eum sui causa in Wilkinalandiam ad
Osantrigem ablegandum dixit, pro sollicitandis filiæ
regiæ nuptiis.
Magno mox apparatu iter instructum, adjunctis ei in societatem viginti
præstantissimis viris è nobilium cohorte… |
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Edward R. Haymes translated these accounts from
Bertelsen’s transcriptions:
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Mb 39 |
There
was a king named Osid. He
ruled a country called Frisia. He was a powerful chieftain and rich
both in lands and in movable goods. He had two sons. The elder was
named Ortnid and the younger Attila. Attila was large and strong very
early in his life, a good knight on horseback, generous with money,
wise and ambitious. He was the greatest fighter in all respects. When
he was twelve years old, King Osid set him as chief over all of his
chieftains. King Attila often rode out with his army into the domain of
King Milias, who was feeble with age and who did not have a son to
protect him. Attila did much damage in his kingdom and took many cities
in his land.
At this time King Milias fell seriously ill. He
summoned his chieftains and conferred with them secretly. He greatly
regretted that he had no son to rule after him and that his daughter
was married off in the north in Vilkinaland, and that his son in law,
King Osantrix, was too far away to take care of his kingdom. But Sir
Attila, the son of King Osid, was often in his kingdom, and thus he
thought that the kingdom might pass out of his family, even though he
wished that King Osantrix would rule over it and protect it from
Attila.
Because of these concerns and because he was very
sick, King Milias died. He was greatly mourned in Hunland, because he
was peaceful and generous with money and because he had kept the law
while he had ruled Hunland. |
Mb 40 |
When
Attila, the son of King
Osid, heard that King Milias was dead, he summoned an assembly of the
multitude and had his friends come. He gave a long speech about how
well his harrying expeditions into Hunland had gone and how many cities
he had taken in the domain of King Milias. He then swore that he would
not return to the kingdom of his father until he had won all of
Hunland. His speech produced great applause and for a long time
everyone praised him for his generosity, his valor, and for the fact
that he had become much more powerful than his kinsmen had been. |
Mb 41 |
Attila
was accepted as king over
the army and the retainers gave him the title of king. He swore to them
justice and law in return, and another time he promised them that he
would never return to the kingdom of his father until he had won all of
Hunland with his sword along with all of the territory King Milias had
owned. King Milias had had his capital in Valterborg, but King Attila
set up his city at Susa. It is now called Soest. He became the richest
of kings. For a long time there was enmity with the Vilkinamen, because
King Osantrix thought that King Attila had taken by force the kingdom
that belonged to his queen Oda and had belonged earlier to her father,
King Milias. But King Attila kept all of the kingdom that belonged to
Hunland so that King Osantrix received no tribute from it.
Now King Osid died, the father of King Attila, and
his kingdom was taken by his elder son, Ortnid, and he was now king in
Frisia. He had one son, named Osid. He sent him to King Attila to be
raised. Osid was the bravest and most gallant of men. King Attila
placed him as chieftain in his army over many of his knights. The
kingdom remained thus a long time. |
Mb 42 |
It
happened onetime
that King Attila called his kinsman Osid to him and said that he wished
to send him north into Vilkinaland to meet King Osantrix. His task was
to ask for the hand of Erka, his daughter, in marriage. King Attila
also chose a second chieftain to go on this journey. His name was
Rodolf and he was a duke over many knights in Attila’s army. He
selected twenty knights on the basis of their courtesy and good manners
to accompany them, and each had two well-accoutered squires. Thus was
this journey splendidly planned in all details… |
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The Old Swedish manuscripts render this brief
version (Ortnitus ↔ Herding): |
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33.
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In
Frisia was a king called
Osid. He had two sons; one was called Herding, the other Aktilia. He
had in mind to make war
anytime, and he gained some land and glorious victories. Once he was
warring against Melias king. When Aktilia invaded Melia’s land, he
said: ‘I will never
return unless and until I have won this land!’ He won many battles
against Melias king. Melias withdrew to an urban location called
Wilcina. Aktilius won
all his land and subjected it by his rules. And he settled at a place
called Susat, and he let build it up preciously. Tribute was paid to
Aktilius as king of
allHúnaland that Melias had had before him. Osanttrix king heard
of
it, and it seemed
to him ashamed that the father of his spouse had been expelled in such
way. Now a big war began between Osanttrix and Aktilius king, and they
had many battles against each other. However, Aktilius king did not
lose anything
of the realm that he had won. He said that nobody shall get anything
of it as long as he was living: ‘My brother Herding shall have Frisia
after the death of our father.’ |
34.
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Then
Osid, king of Frisia, died. Herdink took over the
realm. A son called Osid was born to him. He became a strong man. As he
was grown up, he rode to his father-brother Aktilius king, and he was
always the commander of his folk when they were warring. Aktilius sent
out his nephew Osid
and with him xx knights to Osanttrix king, submitting that Aktilius
wants to have his daughter Ercha.
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A comparison of these passages with Suffrid’s
report
results in these general relations, see Willi Eggers (op.
cit.
p. 84f.):
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Thidreks
saga & ‘Didriks chronicle’ |
Suffridus
Petrus |
The warriors
of Osid, king of Frisia, invadeHúnaland
under Atala’s’s command. |
The warriors
of Odilbald, king of Frisia, are acting
in response of attacking southern and southeastern tribes ‘Vesfali’
and ‘Angrivari’ and invade regions of the later Westphalia under Yglo
Lascon’s
command. |
Atala
takes
Susat as residence and builds it up. |
Yglo Lascon
stays in conquered Westphalian land. He builds
up three fortressed settlements. The most important one is Soest. |
Osid, son of
Herding and grandson of Osid the Elder,
kings of Frisia, moves to Atala. |
Udolph Haron,
son of Odilbald, moves to Yglo Lascon for
education. |
Osid the
Younger goes to Osantrix (‘Osangtrix’), king of the Wilzians.
As representative of Atala he makes a
proposal
for Osantrix’ daughter. |
Udolph Haron
goes to the region
of the later Hamburg for courting Svana, daughter of Vergist
whom Suffrid quotes as
an influential ruler on the Lower Elbe, territory of the later Hamburg. |
Eggers quotes so far from
Holthausen. The latter considers this synopsis as follows:
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Die
Übereinstimmungen zwischen der Mitteilung der friesischen
Chronik und den Worten der Th. S. sind so schlagend, dass wir daraus
getrost einen alten Zusammenhang erschliessen dürfen. Ein
friesischer König erobert Westfalen-Húnaland,
Soest-Súsat wird dort als Burg gegründet, resp. zur
Landeshauptstadt erhoben und ummauert — dem Odilbald entspricht
Osið, dem Yglo Lascon der Königssohn Attila, dem Udolph Haron
der jüngere Osið, der zu seiner weiteren Ausbildung nach Soest
geht. Anstelle der Heirat zwischen Udolph Haron und Svana in Hamburg —
in der Nähe des Landes der Wilzen — hat die Th. S. entsprechend
die Brautwerbung Osiðs im Wilzenlande für seinen Herrn und
Oheim Attila. Svana und Erka, Vergistus und Osantrix stehen ganz und
gar auf gleicher Linie. Die Menge der Übereinstimmungen schliesst
trotz mancher Verschiedenheiten im einzelnen die Annahme von Zufall aus
— dies müssen gemeinsamer Quelle entstammende, alte
Überlieferungen sein.
(Holthausen, op. cit.
pgs 455–456.)
[The correspondences between the narrative detail by the Frisian
chronicle
and the words of the Th.S. are so striking
that we can confidently conjecture an old
context. A Frisian king conquers Westfalen-Húnaland,
Soest-Súsat is founded there as a castle, resp. raised to the
capital of the country and walled – Odilbald corresponds with Osið,
Yglo Lascon with Attila as the king’s son, Udolph Haron with Osið
the
Younger, who goes to his further education to Soest. Instead of the
marriage between Udolph Haron and Svana in Hamburg – near the land of
Wilzians – the Th. S. accordingly relates Osið’s courtship at
the Wilzians for his lord and uncle Attila. Svana and Erka, Vergistus
and Osantrix are all in line. The set of correspondences excludes,
despite of many differences in detail, the assumption of coincidence –
these must be common source-derived, ancient traditions.]
Of course, there are some different
narrative details
in these courting stories. For instance, Suffridus or his source does
not mention a
kinship between Odilbald and Yglo Lascon, and there is no ‘rule keeping
escort’ for Udolph’s special mission, whilst
the Old Norse + Swedish texts relate that Margrave
Rodingeir/Rodger, an accompanying but obviously interpolative
nobelman based in Húnaland,
finally takes the chance to court the Wilzian princess Berta.
Nevertheless, we may wonder whether this literary comparison can be
based on
an believable historical event.
(The Helgakviða Hjǫrvarðssonar
from the herioc lays of the Elder Edda offers an
interesting
allusion where King Hjǫrward
sends out Atli to Svavaland for courting King Svafnir’s
daughter.)
Comparing the geohistorical pattern of the Osantrix+Oda
and Atala+Erka wooing stories with both
Ritter’s timeline and
Suffrid’s history of Frisia, these episodes seem to have occurred
in 4th
and/or 5th
century. As regards Suffrid’s date tandem anno Christi 344, we
have to reconsider historical incursions of ‘Northern Saxons’ into
regions of today’s North Rhine-Westphalia and southern parts of Low
Saxony by means of
some independent ethno-archaeological research. For instance, Peter
Berghaus contextually agrees with the archaeological and
numismatical research by Jan W. de Boone:
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Den
nördlichen Teil
dieses Schatzfundgebietes, den Raum zwischen Wiehengebirge und
Teutoburger Wald, hat J. W. de Boone sehr überzeugend mit dem
Vorstoß einer sächsischen Gruppe etwa um 370 in Verbindung
gebracht.17) Diese Deutung wird durch die
Fundumstände
des Ellerbecker Fundes unterstrichen; er stammt aus einer Siedlung des
3. bis 5. Jahrhunderts, die bei dem sächsischen Vorstoß
überrannt und verwüstet worden sein dürfte. Man
möchte fast glauben, daß sich ein erneuter Vorstoß
dann fünfzig Jahre später weiter nach Süden, bis in das
Hellweggebiet gerichtet hat. Seine Spuren hat er in den dortigen
Schätzen aus dem Anfang des 5. Jahrhunderts hinterlassen.
[J. W. de Boone has very convincingly
connected the northern part of this treasure-finding-region, the area
between the Wiehengebirge and the Teutoburger Wald, to a group of
Saxons pushing forward about A.D. 370.17)
This interpretation is underlined
by the characteristic circumstances of the Ellerbecker finding. It
belongs to a 3rd–5th-century
settlement which must have been
overrun and devastated by this Saxon advance. One would almost believe
that a further advance was launched fifty years later farther to the
south, just into the Hellweg area. This incursion has left its traces
in
the local treasures dated into the beginning of 5th
century.]
__________________
17) J. W. de Boone: De Franken
van hun eerste optreden tot de dood van Childerik, Diss. Groningen
1954, S. 109.
See also Peter Berghaus, Der
römische
Goldmünzenfund von
Ellerbeck, Lkr. Osnabrück, in: Die Kunde. Neue Folge
7, 1956, Heft 1–2, pgs 30–40, cf. p. 37.
Wilhelm Winkelmann reassesses the
conjected opinion of Berghaus as historical 4th–5th-century
incursions of northern people into the Hellweg region which
includes the urban district of Soest. Winkelmann,
formerly archaeological director
of German LWL organization, connects
the treasure trove discoveries and other archaeological finds
with these ethnographical conclusions:
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Aber
warum sind
diese Schätze vergraben worden? Bei dem einen oder anderen Schatz,
die mit großen Steinen abgedeckt waren, Ellerbeck und
Letmathe-Oestrich, kann es sich um Opfergaben handeln. Aber ihre dichte
Verbreitung im Norden und Osten des altfränkischen Gebietes weist
auf wiederholte, vom Norden erfolgende kriegerische
Vorstöße, die sich zwischen 365 und 450 ereigneten. Hier
wird schon seit der ersten zusammenfassenden Veröffentlichung
dieser Funde durch Sture Bolin im Jahre 1926 und später auch durch
de Boone und P. Berghaus auf wiederholte sächsische
Vorstöße verwiesen, die über den Hellweg bis zum Rhein
führten. In diesen unsicheren Kriegsjahren sind zweifellos die
Schätze vergraben worden, um sie vor dem Feind zu verbergen und
später wieder zu heben. Aber dazu kam es nicht mehr. Denn schon
begannen aus den nördlicher liegenden sächsischen Gebieten an
der Weser erste Vorstöße nach Süden. Ein erster Zug der
Jahre 365 bis 370 durchbrach das Wiehengebirge, das Weserbergland und
gewann das Gebiet bis zur oberen Ems und oberen Lippe. Ein weiterer
Zug der Jahre 425 bis 450 traf auch das Hellweggebiet bis zum
Rhein.
[But why have these treasures been
buried? Some of the treasures, covered with large stones at Ellerbeck
and Letmathe-Oestrich, can be sacrificial offerings. But their dense
spreading in the north and east of the old Frankish region points to
warlike advances made repeatedly from the north between 365 and
450. The first summarizing publication on these findings by Sture Bolin
in 1926, other later by de Boone and P. Berghaus, does already refer to
repeated Saxon advances across the Hellweg to the Rhine. In these
uncertain years of war the treasures have undoubtedly been buried in
order to conceal them from the enemy, and to raise them again later.
However, this did not happen, since new advances from northern Saxon
regions on the Weser begun southward. A first movement between 365 and
370 broke through the Wiehengebirge, the Weserbergland and took
the region up to the upper Ems and upper Lippe rivers. A further
movement from 425 to 450 also affected the Hellweg area to the
Rhine.]
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Winkelmann remarks also opposite
pushing migrations in the same period. Thus, these movements seem
consistent with Suffridus’ version about those
eastern
tribes
(somewhere on the rivers Hunte and Weser) who invaded
regions on the Lower Rhine, Drente, and other areas of Frisia:
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In
den gleichen
Jahren sind aber aus den elbgermanisch-sächsischen Gebieten
zwischen Weser und Hunte auch nach Westen gehende Vorstöße
festzustellen. Sie erreichen die Drente, Friesland und weite Gebiete
des Niederrheins, wie die zahlreichen einander verwandten
sächsischen Gefäße des 5. Jahrhunderts erkennen
lassen.
[In the same years, however, advances even to
western regions can be determined from Saxon regions on the Elbe,
between
Weser and Hunte rivers. They reach Drente river, Frisia, and wide areas
on the Lower Rhine, as this is shown by many corresponding Saxon
vessels of 5th century.]
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(Wilhelm
Winkelmann, Frühgeschichte
und Frühmittelalter, in: Wilhelm Kohl (Ed.), Westfälische
Geschichte 1, Düsseldorf 1983, pgs 187–230. Both
quotations p. 194;
includingly referring to Sture Bolin, Fynden av Romerska mynt i det
fria
Germanien. Doctoral thesis, Lund 1926.)
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Albert Genrich, Die
Altsachsen, Hildesheim 1981,
does also estimate these forcible movements of ‘Northern Saxons’
in 4th
and 5th century (pgs
25–27):
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Im
westlichen Randgebiet
Niedersachsens, dem an Westfalen angrenzenden
Osnabrücker Raum, läßt sich eine gewaltsame Ausdehnung
der Sachsen durch einige Münzfunde deutlich machen. Innerhalb
einer germanischen Siedlung bei Ellerbeck, Kr. Osnabrück, wurde
eine anscheinend in Notzeiten vergrabene Bronzedose mit 25
römischen Goldmünzen, sogenannten Solidi, gefunden (…) Die
jüngste Münze ist um 367 geprägt worden. Dieser
Münzschatz steht nicht allein. Andere Funde gleicher Art und
ähnlicher Datierung sowie eine Anzahl von einzeln gefundenen
Goldmünzen derselben Zeit finden sich in demselben Gebiet und im
benachbarten Westfalen. Der letzte Bearbeiter dieses Fundkomplexes,
Peter Berghaus, vermutet, daß die Münzen den Sold
germanischer Krieger in römischen Diensten darstellen. In die Erde
gelangten sie, weil sie anläßlich eines sächsischen
Vorstoßes nach Süden – am Ende des 4. Jahrhunderts –
vergraben wurden, der das Wiehengebirge betraf. Gleichartige Funde aus
dem Hellweggebiet in Westfalen sind an das Ende des 5. Jahrhunderts zu
datieren. Sie kennzeichnen damit den Fortgang einer hier gewaltsamen
Ausdehnung des sächsischen Machtbereiches.
[In a western fringe of Low Saxony,
the area of Osnabrück adjoining Westphalia, a violent expansion of
Saxons can be made clear by a few coins. In a Germanic settlement
near Ellerbeck, district of Osnabrück, a box of bronze containing
25 Roman gold coins, the so-called Solidi, was found being buried in
distress (…) The youngest of them was coined about 367. This
coin treasure stands not alone. Other finds of the same kind and
similar dating, as well as a number of individually found gold coins of
the same period, are found in the same region and the neighbouring
Westphalia. Peter Berghaus, the last editor of this fund complex,
assumes that the coins represent the pay of Germanic warriors in Roman
service. They were buried because of a Saxon advance to the south at
the end of 4th century, which did affect the
Wiehengebirge. Similar
finds from the Hellweg area in Westphalia can be dated into the end of
5th century. They thus characterize the
progress of a violent
expansion of the Saxon sphere of power.]
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Both Berghaus and Winkelmann date
the 5th-century invasion of northern folk(s)
into the region
between of Osnabrück and the Hellweg rather
not after 450.
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Other sources of contextual research: |
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Werner Best, Ostwestfalen im 4. und
5.
Jahrhundert nach Christus. Gedanken zur ethnischen Veränderung
einer Landschaft während der Völkerwanderungszeit, in: Ravensberger
Blätter Heft 1, 1996, pgs 29–38. |
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An ordinarily quoted collection of
elder studies
on the emergence, constitution, political and ethnosocial
structures of the Saxons provides Walther Lammers (Ed.), Entstehung
und Verfassung des
Sachsenstammes, Darmstadt 1967.
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Albert
Genrich (op.
cit.)
quotes this mapped survey provided by Peter Berghaus,
op. cit. p. 38.
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Frisian, Saxon and
Northern
rulerships
Suffridus Petrus, who implicates the
coastland between the rivers Ems and Elbe as Frisian territory,
provides two Yglos
ruling Soest in 4th and 7th
century: Lascon in 2nd half of 4th
century, Galama in in 7th
century.
Although there is no further reliable source for verifying, the elder
Dutch bibliography comprehends one or both of these Yglos (Iglos)
as historical
person(s), apart from Suffridus Petrus and Martinus Hamconius notably
Abrahm
J. van der Aa, Daam Fockema, Christianus
Schotanus, Waling Dykstra. Since Soest must have had its local ruler
also in first third of 6th
century, a contemporary of Theuderic I in
so
far, the former could have been an agnate of
the 7th-century Yglo. One the
other
hand, however, the dynastical
names and bynames Adel, Adil, then Odil, appear
strikingly in Frisian historiography. Furthermore, an Adil is
conveyed by the Ynglinga
saga, an Eadgils by the Old English/Anglo-Saxon
Widsith and Beowulf,
an Aðil
by Old Norse Hrólfs saga kraka,
an Athislus
by Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, a northern 5th–6th-century
Attila
by both the Annales
Quedlinburgenses and De Origine Gentis
Swevorum, an Athisl by the Annales
Lundenses
which include the Chronicon Lethrense.
These name forms may indicate at least the
general possibility of a correspondingly named ruler even on a
Migration Period location which nowadays borders or pertains to
northern Germany.
Since we can tentatively combine the spelling forms Odil
with Adil and Eadgils with both Agils and Athislus,
the latter likely the form by a high mediaeval author,
we should pay attention to Widsith
who relates an Eadgils, ruler of the Myrgings (cf.
Raymond W. Chambers and Kemp Malone ), at lines 93–96.
We may assume that he overthrew or became successor of Meaca
Myrgingum, line 23, who is possibly/likely King Melias of
Thidrekssaga (see below). However, it seems conclusive that
Kemp Malone
does not agree with an evident Swedish identity of an Eadgils,
who
is depicted – likely detracted and distorted – by Saxo Grammaticus
because (1962, p. 137)
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(1) Saxo connects the
story of
Athislus with that of Offa, and since Offa certainly fought the
Myrgings the sons of Frowinus
presumably fought them too, and Athislus can be identified with the
King Eadgils of the Myrgings who figures in Widsith;
(2) the
Myrgings
were a branch of the Swaefe, and tradition may have turned their king
into a Swede through an easy confusion of Swaefe with the Swedish name,
(3) though Saxo makes Athislus a Swede, his slayers are from Sleswick
and the episode may reflect prehistoric wars…
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Kemp Malone on Swaefe = Suebi, (1962,
p.
202): |
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The Saxons, not the
Suebi, held
the south bank of the Eider, and the Myrgings are best taken for a
branch of the widespread Saxon confederacy of tribes, a branch later
known as Nordalbings.
Although the name of this tribe suits
very well the watery
region between
Elbe and Eider where the seats of the Myrgings were presumably to be
found (Malone 1962, p. 186), their
territory
should be recognized not only on these rivers. Consulting Jan de Vries (op.
cit.)
on ON. mýrr, the characteristic
toponymic environment of this tribe appears to
be based on En. mire, myry
(adj.),
OE. mór, cf. also German moor and Old Frisian mor.
Hence, we cannot exclude even adjacent Frisian regions.
The slayers in the vita of
Athislus, as claimed by Saxo, may be not automatically transferred to
the killers of Eadgils
given by the Widsith.
Besides, his lines 41–44 are without any participation of this
protagonist. Raymond W. Chambers (Widsith, op.
cit. p. 260)
does also reject a Swedish identity of this Eadgils
‘remade by Saxo’ and understands him ON. Athils.
Regarding his temporal appearance as king of the Myrgings, Chambers
argues (p.
94, fn. 2):
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But
Widsith equally represents him as
a contemporary of Alboin (died c. 573) and on his ground Eadgils
used to be placed with equal confidence in the sixth century.
Neither the place of birth nor
ancestral homeland of this Athils is known to the author of
the Widsith. As regards the unknown real
dimension of his kingdom enclosing or bordering the alleged river Elbe,
Malone has already requoted the Vita Meinwerci
episcopi
Patherbrunnensis for the more or less critical
consideration of a regiam curtem
Moranga dictam
even more to the west.
If combining
this context with the transmissions
by the Old Norse + Swedish scribes in
connection with
the ethno-archaeological history of Westphalia’s Migration Period,
the appearance of a Frisian-born Atala,
whom
Ritter and other
analysts assign to a 5th-
and 6th-century Saxon or ‘Húnalandish’
contemporary of
Thidrek–Theuderic beyond the Rhine, can be collocated or bynamed
by the scribes with a conspicuous intertextual Athil.
Although historical research on late mediaeval transmissions about the
earliest and early Frisian dynasties has relegated these traditions
more or less to pure fiction, they stubbornly stick to the appearance
of leaders called *Odil and *Adel/Adil. As
already regarded farther above, it seems obvious however that we can
not clearly distinguish between Frisian-born and Saxon rulers in this
spatiotemporal matter of historical recognition and, against the regnal
accounts by Suffridus Petrus and Martinus Hamconius, neither verify nor
disprove the political connectivity of Soest with the Frisian kingdom
in Migration Period and even later times. Thus, we may take into the
basic consideration that a mediaeval historiographer could
relate not only a former 4th
or 6th-century
ruler of a southern region to the Frisian Odil–Adil dynasty and
call one of his successors likewise an Athil. Martinus Hamconius
forwards with Suffridus Petrus a 6th-century Adgillus,
ruler of
a larger territory east of the Rhine – understood as Adgilla or
Attila? –
as a contemporary of a Frankish king Chlotar II. Martinus’ elder
colleague Suffridus recalls this Frankish king moving martially
eastward with his son Dagobert who might be seen as a more or less
decisive Frankish conqueror of Soest. But on the other
hand, apart from the contextual northern ‘Attila’ environment noted by
the Annales
Quedlinburgenses and De Origine Gentis
Swevorum, the line
of all those Odils–Adils by Frisian tradition, the Athils
recognized by Chambers plus the northern Atala
finally identified
by Ritter seem to solidify the existence of a likewise called Saxon
ruler who, as an apparent contemporary of the Thuringian War in the
early 6th century,
could withstand an advance of Franks moving
from a region west of the Rhine.
Drawing a preliminary conclusion from these observations, the accounts
of the Thidrekssaga, which connect an early advance of the
Niflungs with this location, can be regarded at least as an
interpolated compilation based on the transmission by an earlier author
who wrote mainly as an historiographer. Furthermore, as shown above for
the narrative background, we must reckon with
the very high probability of hostile incursion and political upheaval
at the aforementioned geoethnographical
timestamps being related to 4th, 5th
and 6th century.
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.
History provides not only one
individual with a name
more or less similar to 'Attila'. For instance, a 6th–7th-century
Athala/Attala
of Burgundy became a monk at Lérins, thereafter
at Luxeuil. He was also serving as abbot of Bobbio Abbey, and he
succeeded Columbanus.
Gregory of
Tours mentions an 'Attalus' as hostage at the
court of Theuderic I.
Regarding names related to Odilbald,
Reinhard Wenskus suggests corresponding forms Odilo,
Otilo,
Uatalo – interestingly in an other etymological context of Upper
German history related to
7th –8th century (Der
'hunnische' Siegfried ..., Walter de Gruyter, 1994,
p. 708).
Nonetheless, we should not disregard that some important names of
persons in the Old Norse and
Swedish manuscripts can be nicknames or epithets, apparently pertinent
to e.g. King Nidung
and Queen Brynhild, cf. Brynne or Brünne,
engl. byrnie.
Furthermore, for instance, Grimhild
appears characterized as
'grim hilde', as the suffix forms hild(e) and illa
obviously pertain
to persons of female gender. Moreover, we may also consider not only an
Old Norse atall for a fierce ruler but also an (Proto-)Indo-European
'Ata' = father, whereas the suffix syllable -la
commonly indicates a diminutive form. (Similarly, however, both ata
and atall in Jan de Vries’ Altnordisches
Etymologisches Wörterbuch, Ed. 2000.)
Aside from the Greek–Roman Priscus Attalus,
a Latin
Dictionary –
founded on Andrews’ Edition of
Freund’s Latin Dictionary – revised, enlarged, and in great part
rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis offers these entries:
Attălus , i, m., =
Ἄτταλος.
I. A. The name of several kings of Pergamos, the
most renowned of whom, both from his wealth and his discovery of the
art of weaving cloth from gold, was Attalus III., who made the Roman
people his heir, Plin. 8, 48, 74, § 196; 33, 11, 53, §
148; Flor. 2, 20, 2; 3, 12, 3; Hor. C. 2, 18, 5.
– Hence,
B. Attălĭcus ,
a, um, adj., of or pertaining to Attalus, Attalian: “urbes,” i.
e. Pergamean, Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 5: “Attalicas supera vestes,” woven
with gold, Prop. 4, 17, 19: “Porticus aulaeis nobilis Attalicis,”
id. 3, 30, 12; Sil. 14, 659. –
Also absol.: Attălĭca , orum, n. (sc. vestimenta), garments
of inwoven gold: “Aurum intexere in eādem Asiā invenit Attalus rex,
unde nomen Attalicis,” Plin. 8, 48, 74, § 196: torus, ornamented
with such cloth or tapestry, Prop. 3, 5, 6; 5, 5, 24. – Meton., rich,
splendid, brilliant: “Attalicis condicionibus Numquam dimoveas,
etc.,” Hor. C. 1, 1, 12: “divitiae,” Tert. Jejun. 15 fin. –
II. A general of Alexander the Great, Curt. 4, 13. –
III. A Macedonian, enemy of Alexander, Curt. 6, 9.
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The
Almandine or Cloisonné Rune Fibula of Soest
Grave area
'Lübecker Ring'
Grave no.106
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The
engraving [I] has been frequently read as rada
:
daþa.
Interpretations of this 'signature' as female name(s) are uncertain.
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Ascriptions
of the cross-type monogram on the left to the
"Rune Master’s
signature“ are uncertain.
'Translations':
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Martin
Findell reads atano
or gatano, Phonological
Evidence from the Continental Runic Inscriptions, W. de Gruyter
2012.
Findell
writes: |
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Ernst
F. Jung reads atalo or
atano , Der
Nibelungen Zug durch Bergische Land, Heider 1987.
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Daniel
Peters resumes At(t)ano as
first-mentioned approximate reading of two options,
Das
frühmittelalterliche Gräberfeld von Soest,
Aschendorff 2011, p. 58.
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H.
Ritter-Schaumburg reads atalo
, Die
Nibelungen zogen nordwärts, Herbig
1981 & Reichl 2007.
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