[gothic-l] Re: Beowolf--the Goth?

[trbrandt at POST9.TELE.DK]

Tim!

Our common mail was now covering 5 pages, but I do not think we are 
so far from each other as it looks, so I will try to cut the mail 
down.

You said in your first letter, that you did not follow this thread 
from the beginning. Thats OK, but then I have to correct a mistake: I 
did not start up this thread, the "headline" was not mine,
and it was 
not my idea, that Beowulf was a Goth - as you suggest. In my opinion 
he never existed, but I will not exclude that Hygelac was a Goth, a 
Western Herul or anything else.

In my opinion Beowulf was a fanthasy figure in a framework of various 
historical fragments not connected at all – just like in Widsith. 
Many of these fragments were maybe a result of a connection between 
Scandinavia and Mercia/East Anglia in the 6th and 7th centuries, but 
not all of them. I believe the figure Hygelac was based on 
Chochillaicus, but this does not prove he was a part of the 
Scandinavian history.

In my opinion your sources about Hugleik do not add any knowledge or 
certainty to my first statement about Scandinavia. Gesta Francorum 
contains as far as I remember the same information as Gregory (I do 
not have this later source aviable), and I doubt the Francs always 
knew, where these attackers came from. The two Scandinavian Hugleik-
names mentioned by Snorre and Saxo were not connected to any raid or 
killing in Frisia or France and they were written 700 years later
– 
this only tells you, that the name was known in both Germanic areas, 
which is not surprising as you are able to find Alaric at the Meotic 
Sea, Roduulf in Pannonia, Alaric in Rome and Spain, Hrodulf in Mercia 
and Rolf and Alrik in Scandinavia. You still have the problem, that 
if Hygelac was a Dane as Gregory and Gesta Francorum wrote, this does 
not correspond to Beowulf – making the source useless for your 
purpose. 

I wrote that Eormanric was not so wellknown in history as Jordanes 
wanted, but I agree that he was used in some Germanic legends. 
Actually this was the background for my question: Why did they use 
this Gothic suicider from the Black Sea region so eagerly in 
Northwestern Europe?

Troels



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~>
eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups
Click here for more details
http://click.egroups.com/1/11231/1/_/3398/_/980832773/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.
Homepage: http://www.stormloader.com/carver/gothicl/index.html