Ferdinand Holthausen, a 19^th-century researcher of Thidrekssaga and Dietrich epics, wrote in 1884:

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.
[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.]

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:

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 Lavicam^iv, 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’

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:

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:

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 2^nd to 5^th century. As further maintained by these accounts, an Adgill(us) rules later in the 6^th, another one in the 8^th 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 4^th- or 6^th-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.

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)	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.
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…

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…

33.

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.

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.

Eggers quotes so far from Holthausen. The latter considers this synopsis as follows:

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 4^th and/or 5^th 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:

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 3^rd–5^th-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 5^th century.]
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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 4^th–5^th-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:

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.]

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:

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 5^th century.]

(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.)

Albert Genrich, Die Altsachsen, Hildesheim 1981, does also estimate these forcible movements of ‘Northern Saxons’ in 4^th and 5^th century  (pgs 25–27):

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 4^th century, which did affect the Wiehengebirge. Similar finds from the Hellweg area in Westphalia can be dated into the end of 5^th century. They thus characterize the progress of a violent expansion of the Saxon sphere of power.]

Both Berghaus and Winkelmann date the 5^th-century invasion of northern folk(s) into the region between of Osnabrück and the Hellweg rather not after 450.

Suffridus Petrus, who implicates the coastland between the rivers Ems and Elbe as Frisian territory, provides two Yglos ruling Soest in 4^th and 7^th century: Lascon in 2^nd half of 4^th century, Galama in in 7^th 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 6^th century, a contemporary of Theuderic I  in so far, the former could have been an agnate of the 7^th-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 5^th–6^th-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)

(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…

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):

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 5^th- and 6^th-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 4^th or 6^th-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 6^th-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 6^th 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 4^th, 5^th and 6^th century.

History provides not only one individual with a name more or less similar to 'Attila'. For instance, a 6^th–7^th-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 7^th –8^th 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.)
 

        The Almandine or Cloisonné Rune Fibula of Soest

Grave area 'Lübecker Ring'
Grave no.106