Teutonic Mythology Part 17

(_a_) That Hadding-_thjodrekr_ became the son of Thiudemer, and that his descent from the Teuton patriarchs was cut off.

(_b_) That Hadding-_thjodrekr_ himself became a descendant of Hamal, whereby the distinction between this race of rulers--the line of Teutonic patriarchs begun with Ruther Heimdal--together with the Amal family, friendly but subject to the Hadding family, and the Hilding family was partly obscured and partly abolished. Dieterich himself became an "Amelung" like several of his heroes.

(_c_) That when Hamal thus was changed from an elder contemporary of Hadding-_thjodrekr_ into his earliest progenitor, separated from him by several generations of time, he could no longer serve as Dieterich's foster-father and general; but this vocation had to be transferred to master Hildebrand, who also in the myth must have been closely connected with Hadding, and, together with Hamal, one of his chief and constant helpers.

(_d_) That Borgar-Berchtung, who in the myth is the grandfather of Hadding-_thjodrekr_, must, as he was not an Amal, resign this dignity and confine himself to being the progenitor of the Hildings. As we have seen, he is in Saxo the progenitor of the Hilding Hildeger.

Another result of Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ confusion with the historical Theoderich was that Dieterich's kingdom, and the scene of various of his exploits, was transferred to Italy: to Verona (Bern), Ravenna (Raben), &c. Still the strong stream of the ancient myths became master of the confused historical increments, so that the Dieterich of the saga has but little in common with the historical Theoderich.

After the dissemination of Christianity, the hero saga of the Teutonic myths was cut off from its roots in the mythology, and hence this confusion was natural and necessary. Popular tradition, in which traces were found of the historical Theoderich-Dieterich, was no longer able to distinguish the one Dieterich from the other. A writer acquainted with the chronicle of Jordanes took the last step and made Theoderich's father Thiudemer the father of the mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_.

Nor did the similarity of names alone encourage this blending of the persons. There was also another reason. The historical Theoderich had fought against Odoacer. The mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_ had warred with Svipdag, the husband of Freyja, who also bore the name _odr_ and _Ottar_ (see Nos. 96-100). The latter name-form corresponds to the English and German _Otter_, the Old High German _Otar_, a name which suggested the historical _Otacher_ (Odoacer). The Dieterich and Otacher of historical traditions became identified with _thjodrekr_ and _Ottar_ of mythical traditions.

As the Hadding-_thjodrekr_ of mythology was in his tender youth exposed to the persecutions of Ottar, and had to take flight from them to the far East, so the Dieterich of the historical saga also had to suffer persecutions in his tender youth from Otacher, and take flight, accompanied by his faithful Amalians, to a kingdom in the East.

Accordingly, Hadubrand says of his father Hildebrand, that, when he betook himself to the East with Dieterich, _floh her Otachres nid_, "he fled from Otacher's hate." Therefore, Otacher soon disappears from the German saga-cycle, for Svipdag-Ottar perishes and disappears in the myth, long before Hadding's victory and restoration to his father's power (see No. 106).

Odin and Heimdal, who then, according to the myth, dwelt in the East and there became the protectors of Hadding, must, as heathen deities, be removed from the Christian saga, and be replaced as best they could by others. The famous ruler in the East, Attila, was better suited than anyone else to take Odin's place, though Attila was dead before Theoderich was born. Ruther-Heimdal was, as we have already seen, changed into Rudiger.

The myth made Hadding dwell in the East for many years (see above). The ten-year rule of the Vans in Asgard must end, and many other events must occur before the epic connection of the myths permitted Hadding to return as a victor. As a result of this, the saga of "Dieterich of Bern"

also lets him remain a long time with Attila. An old English song preserved in the Exeter ma.n.u.script, makes _Theodric_ remain _thrittig wintra_ in exile at Maeringaburg. The song about Hildebrand and Hadubrand make him remain in exile _sumaro enti wintro sehstic_, and Vilkinasaga makes him sojourn in the East thirty-two years.

Maeringaburg of the Anglo-Saxon poem is the refuge which Odin opened for his favourite, and where the former dwelt during his exile in the East.

Maeringaburg means a citadel inhabited by n.o.ble, honoured, and splendid persons: compare the Old Norse _maeringr_. But the original meaning of _maerr_, Old German _mara_, is "glittering," "shining," "pure," and it is possible that, before _maeringr_ received its general signification of a famous, honoured, n.o.ble man, it was used in the more special sense of a man descended from "the shining one," that is to say, from Heimdal through Borgar. However this may be, these "maeringar" have, in the Anglo-Saxon version of the Hadding saga, had their ant.i.theses in the "baningar," that is, the men of Loke-Bicke (Bekki). This appears from the expression _Bekka veold Baningum_, in Codex Exoniensis. The Banings are no more than the Maerings, an historical name. The interpretation of the word is to be sought in the Anglo-Saxon _bana_, the English _bane_.

The Banings means "the destroyers," "the corrupters," a suitable appellation of those who follow the source of pest, the all-corrupting Loke. In the German poems, Maeringaburg is changed to Meran, and Borgar-Berchtung (Hadding's grandfather in the myth) is Duke of Meran.

It is his fathers who have gone to the G.o.ds that Hadding finds again with Odin and Heimdal in the East.

Despite the confusion of the historical Theoderich with the mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_, a tradition has been handed down within the German saga-cycle to the effect that "Dieterich of Bern" belonged to a genealogy which Christianity had anathematised. Two of the German Dieterich poems, "Nibelunge Noth" and "Klage," refrain from mentioning the ancestors of their hero. Wilhelm Grimm suspects that the reason for this is that the authors of these poems knew something about Dieterich's descent, which they could not relate without wounding Christian ears; and he reminds us that, when the Vilkinasaga Thidrek (Dieterich) teases Hogne (Hagen) by calling him the son of an elf, Hogne answers that Thidrek has a still worse descent, as he is the son of the devil himself. The matter, which in Grimm's eyes is mystical, is explained by the fact that Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ father in the myth, Halfdan Borgarson, was supposed to be descended from Thor, and in his capacity of a Teutonic patriarch he had received divine worship (see Nos. 23 and 30). _Anhang des Heldenbuchs_ says that Dieterich was the son of a "boser geyst."

It has already been stated (No. 38) that Hadding from Odin received a drink which exercised a wonderful influence upon his physical nature. It made him _recreatum vegetiori corporis firmitate_, and, thanks to it and to the incantation sung over him by Odin, he was able to free himself from the chains afterwards put on him by Loke. It has also been pointed out that this drink contained something called Leifner's or Leifin's flames. There is every reason for a.s.suming that these "flames" had the effect of enabling the person who had partaken of the potion of Leifner's flames to free himself from his chains with his own breath.

Groa (Groagalder, 10) gives her son Svipdag "Leifner's fires" in order that if he is chained, his enchanted limbs may be liberated (_ek laet ther Leifnis elda fyr kvedinn legg_). The record of the giving of this gift to Hadding meets us in the German saga, in the form that Dieterich was able with his breath to burn the fetters laid upon him (see "Laurin"), nay, when he became angry, he could breathe fire and make the cuira.s.s of his opponent red-hot. The tradition that Hadding by eating, on the advice of Odin, the heart of a wild beast (Saxo says of a lion) gained extraordinary strength, is also preserved in the form, that when Dieterich was in distress, G.o.d sent him _eines lowen krafft von herczenlichen zoren_ ("Ecken Ausfarth").

Saxo relates that Hadding on one occasion was invited to descend into the lower world and see its strange things (see No. 47). The heathen lower world, with its fields of bliss and places of torture, became in the Christian mind synonymous with h.e.l.l. Hadding's descent to the lower world, together with the mythic account of his journey through the air on Odin's horse Sleipner, were remembered in Christian times in the form that he once on a black diabolical horse rode to h.e.l.l. This explains the remarkable _denouement_ of the Dieterich saga; namely, that he, the magnanimous and celebrated hero, was captured by the devil. Otto of Friesingen (first half of the twelfth century) states that _Theodoricus vivus equo sedens ad inferos descendit_. The Kaiser chronicle says that "many saw that the devils took Dieterich and carried him into the mountain to Vulcan."

In Saxo we read that Hadding once while bathing had an adventure which threatened him with the most direful revenge from the G.o.ds (see No.

106). Ma.n.u.scripts of the Vilkinasaga speak of a fateful bath which Thidrek took, and connects it with his journey to h.e.l.l. While the hero was bathing there came a black horse, the largest and stateliest ever seen. The king wrapped himself in his bath towel and mounted the horse.

He found, too late, that the steed was the devil, and he disappeared for ever.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ODIN PUNISHES THE MONSTROUS PROGENY OF LOKE.

(_From an etching by Lorenz Frolich Frolloh._)

Loke was at one time the comrade of Odin but by his mismating with a giantess, Angerboda, he became the father of three monsters, the Fenris Wolf, the Midgard Serpent and the terrible Hel, at the sight of which latter living creatures were immediately stricken dead. Odin was so enraged by these issues of Loke's commerce with a giantess, that he had the brood brought before him in Asgard, and seizing Hel and the snake in his powerful arms he flung them far out into s.p.a.ce. Hel fell for nine days until she reached Helheim, far beneath the earth, where she became ruler over the dead. The snake dropped into the ocean that surrounds Midgard, where it was to remain growing until its coils should envelop the earth and in the end should help to bring about the destruction of the world. The Wolf was borne away by Tyr and placed in chains, but escaping later at Ragnarok he devoured Odin.]

Saxo tells that Hadding made war on a King Handua.n.u.s, who had concealed his treasures in the bottom of a lake, and who was obliged to ransom his life with a golden treasure of the same weight as his body (_Hist._. 41, 42, 67). Handua.n.u.s is a Latinised form of the dwarf name _Andvanr, Andvani_. The Sigurd saga has a record of this event, and calls the dwarf _Andvari_ (Sig. Fafn., ii.). The German saga is also able to tell of a war which Dieterich waged against a dwarf king. The war has furnished the materials for the saga of "Laurin." Here, too, the conquered dwarf-king's life is spared, and Dieterich gets possession of many of his treasures.

In the German as in the Norse saga, Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ rival to secure the crown was his brother, supported by _Otacher-Ottar_ (Svipdag). The tradition in regard to this, which agrees with the myth, was known to the author of _Anhang des Heldenbuchs_. But already in an early day the brother was changed into uncle on account of the intermixing of historical reminiscences.

The brother's name in the Norse tradition is _Gudhormr_, in the German _Ermenrich_ (_Ermanaricus_). _Ermenrich Jormunrekr_ means, like _thjodrekr_, a ruler over many people, a great king. Jordanes already has confounded the mythic _Jormunrekr-Gudhormr_ with the historical Gothic King _Hermanaricus_, whose kingdom was destroyed by the Huns, and has applied to him the saga of Svanhild and her brothers _Sarus_ (_Sorli_) and _Ammius_ (_Hamdir_), a saga which originally was connected with that of the mythic _Jormunrek_. The Sigurd epic, which expanded with plunder from all sources, has added to the confusion by annexing this saga.

In the Roman authors the form _Herminones_ is found by the side of _Hermiones_ as the name of one of the three Teutonic tribes which descended from Mannus. It is possible, as already indicated, that _-horm_ in _Gudhorm_ is connected with the form _Hermio_, and it is probable, as already pointed out by several linguists, that the Teutonic _irmin_ (_jormun_, Goth. _airmana_) is linguistically connected with the word _Hermino_. In that case, the very names _Gudhormr_ and _Jormunrekr_ already point as such to the mythic progenitor of the Hermiones, Herminones, just as Yngve-Svipdag's name points to the progenitor of the _Ingvaeones_ (Ingaevones), and possibly also Hadding's to that of the Istaevones (see No. 25). To the name Hadding corresponds, as already shown, the Anglo-Saxon Hearding, the old German Hartung. The _Hasdingi_ (_Asdingi_) mentioned by Jordanes were the chief warriors of the Vandals (_Goth. Orig._, 22), and there may be a mythic reason for rediscovering this family name among an East Teutonic tribe (the Vandals), since Hadding, according to the myth, had his support among the East Teutonic tribes. To the form _Hasdingi_ (Goth. _Hazdiggos_) the words _istaevones_, _istvaeones_, might readily enough correspond, provided the vowel _i_ in the Latin form can be harmonised with _a_ in the Teutonic. That the vowel _i_ was an uncertain element may be seen from the genealogy in Codex La Cava, which calls Istaevo _Ostius_, _Hostius_.

As to geography, both the Roman and Teutonic records agree that the northern Teutonic tribes were Ingaevones. In the myths they are Scandinavians and neighbours to the Ingaevones. In the Beowulf poem the king of the Danes is called _eodor Inguina_, the protection of the Ingaevones, and _frea Inguina_, the lord of the Ingaevones. Tacitus says that they live nearest to the ocean (_Germ._, 2); Pliny says that Cimbrians, Teutons, and Chaucians were Ingaevones (_Hist. Nat._, iv. 28).

Pomponius Mela says that the land of the Cimbrians and Teutons was washed by the Codan bay (iii. 3). As to the Hermiones and Istaevones, the former dwelt along the middle Rhine, and of the latter, who are the East Teutons of mythology, several tribes had already before the time of Pliny pressed forward south of the Hermiones to this river.

The German saga-cycle has preserved the tradition that in the first great battle in which Hadding-_thjodrekr_ measured his strength with the North and West Teutons he suffered a great defeat. This is openly avowed in the Dieterich poem "die Klage." Those poems, on the other hand, which out of sympathy for their hero give him victory in this battle ("the Raben battle") nevertheless in fact acknowledge that such was not the case, for they make him return to the East after the battle and remain there many years, robbed of his crown, before he makes his second and successful attempt to regain his kingdom. Thus the "Raben battle"

corresponds to the mythic battle in which Hadding is defeated by Ingaevones and Hermiones. Besides the "Raben battle" has from a Teutonic standpoint a trait of universality, and the German tradition has upon the whole faithfully, and in harmony with the myth, grouped the allies and heroes of the hostile brothers. Dieterich is supported by East Teutonic warriors, and by non-Teutonic people from the East--from Poland, Wallachia, Russia, Greece, &c.; Ermenrich, on the other hand, by chiefs from Thuringia, Swabia, Hessen, Saxony, the Netherlands, England, and the North, and, above all, by the Burgundians, who in the genealogy in the St. Gaelen Codex are counted among the Hermiones, and in the genealogy in the La Cava Codex are counted with the Ingaevones. For the mythic descent of the Burgundian dynasty from an uncle of Svipdag I shall present evidence in my chapters on the Ivalde race.

The original ident.i.ty of Hadding's and Dieterich's sagas, and their descent from the myth concerning the earliest antiquity and the patriarchs, I now regard as demonstrated and established. The war between Hadding-Dieterich and Gudhorm-Ermenrich is identical with the conflict begun by Yngve-Svipdag between the tribes of the Ingaevones, Hermiones, and Istaevones. It has also been demonstrated that Halfdan, Gudhorm's, and Hadding's father, and Yngve-Svipdag's stepfather, is identical with Mannus. One of the results of this investigation is, therefore, that _the songs about Mannus and his sons, ancient already in the days of Tacitus, have, more or less influenced by the centuries, continued to live far down in the middle ages, and that, not the songs themselves, but the main features of their contents, have been preserved to our time_, and should again be incorporated in our mythology together with the myth in regard to the primeval time, the main outline of which has been restored, and the final episode of which is the first great war in the world.

The Norse-Icelandic school, which accepted and developed the learned hypothesis of the middle age in regard to the immigration of Odin and his Asiamen, is to blame that the myth, in many respects important, in regard to the olden time and its events in the world of G.o.ds and men--among Aryan myths one of the most important, either from a scientific or poetic point of view, that could be handed down to our time--was thrust aside and forgotten. The learned hypothesis and the ancient myth could not be harmonised. For that reason the latter had to yield. Nor was there anything in this myth that particularly appealed to the Norse national feeling, and so could claim mercy. Norway is not at all named in it. Scania, Denmark, Svithiod (Sweden), and continental Teutondom are the scene of the mythic events. Among the many causes co-operating in Christian times, in giving what is now called "Norse mythology" its present character, there is not one which has contributed so much as the rejection of this myth toward giving "Norse mythology"

the stamp which it hitherto has borne of a narrow, illiberal town mythology, which, built chiefly on the foundation of the Younger Edda, is, as shall be shown in the present work, in many respects a caricature of the real Norse, and at the same time in its main outlines Teutonic, mythology.

In regard to the ancient Aryan elements in the myth here presented, see Nos. 82 and 111.

[Footnote 31: In nearly all the names of members of this family, Hild- or -brand, appears as a part of the compound word. All that the names appear to signify is that their owners belong to the Hilding race.

Examples:--

_Old High German fragment._ Herbrand - Hildebrand - Hadubrand.

_Wolfdieterich_ Berchtung. - Herbrand - Hildebrand.

_Vilkinasaga._ Hildebrand. - Alebrand.

_A popular song about Hildebrand._ Hildebrand. - The younger Hildebrand.

/ Hildir.

_Fundin Noregur._ Hildir. - Hildebrand.

Herbrand.

/ Hildir.

_Flateybook, i. 25,_ Hildir. - Hildebrand. - Vigbrand.

Herbrand.

_Asmund Kaempebane's Saga._ Hildebrand. - Helge. - Hildebrand.

[Footnote 32: Compare in Asmund Kaempebane's saga the words of the dying hero:

_thik Drott of bar af Danmorku en mik sjalfan a Svithiodu._ ]

[Footnote 33: The texts of Jordanes often omit the aspirate and write Eruli for Heruli, &c. In regard to the name-form Amal, Closs remarks, in his edition of 1886: AMAL, _sic, Ambr. c.u.m Epit. et Pall, nisi quod hi Hamal aspirate_.]

IV.

THE MYTH IN REGARD TO THE LOWER WORLD.

44.

MIDDLE AGE SAGAS WITH ROOTS IN THE MYTH CONCERNING THE LOWER WORLD. ERIK VIDFORLE'S SAGA.