[gothic-l] Hildebrandslied Reconstruction

[Tim O'Neill]

Philip Rusche wrote:
>
> It's been years since I've seen it but if I remember correctly the
> author's name was Willi Krogmann (though I'm not positive about the
> spelling; I think that's it).  I thought it was into Langobardic.  I
> will try to look up a reference for it if no one else happens to have
> it.

You're right it was Langobardic, and thanks for reminding me of the
scholar's name.  I'd be grateful if you can give me the reference.

I gather the surviving fragment was written in the Bavarian dialect
of OHG at Fulda around 840 AD.  Some lines are rather garbled and it seems
the copyist didn't fully understand the language of the original poem they
were copying from.  It's been hypothesised that the original was in
Langobardic, though I'm not certain on what grounds.

If this were true, it could well be that the poem preserves an Ostrogothic
tradition which survived (in oral form?) in northern Italy and was
adopted by the Lombards.  I'll have to look into possible
connections between Fulda and northern Italian monastic houses in the
early 800s to see if there is a link there.  The fact that Odoacer/
*Audawakr seems to be depicted as the bad guy, and that Hildebrand is
shown as a loyal retainer of Odoacer's historical nemesis Theodric
the Ostrogoth, could also indicate it's derived from a fifth century
Ostrogothic tradition.

It's hard to be sure if any historical events in this period were the
point of origin of this story.  The literary motif of the father who
unwillingly kills his own son in combat is common in many other
Indo-European cultures - there's a version of the same story in Irish
about Cuchulain. If it really does derive from the story of a
retainer of Theodoric's returning to Italy in the Ostrogothic king's
campaign against Odovacar, this story has probably been overlaid by
the older tradition.

I'm currently working on a piece of short historical fiction based on the
Hildebrand story.  In my story Hildibrand is a half-Hun/half-Ostrogothic
warrior who served with Odovacar in Italy.  He fell foul of Odovacar
when he eloped with the Skirian's daughter, who Odovacar had intended
to marry to a local Roman aristocrat.  This element is entirely fictional
since, to my knowledge, Odovacar is not known to have had any daughters.
The poem does make it clear that Hildebrand had fled Odoacer's wrath and
that he left a pregnant wife behind, so I feel I can justfy my fiction.

Pursued by Odoacer's _comitatus_, Hildebrand flees to Theodoric in
Thracia and joins his retinue.  The story begins years later, when an
ageing Hildebrand accompanies Theodoric on his campaign against Odoacer
in Italy.  In the Ostrogoths' first pitched battle against the Italian
forces, the young Hadubrand rides out to challenge Theodoric's champion
warrior to single combat between the armies.  Hildebrand takes up the
challenge, but when the two warriors exchange their names he realises he
is about to fight his own son.  He tries to tell Hadubrand who he is, but
the younger warrior simply suspects a trick.  So Hildebrand fights his son
and reluctantly kills him.

I'm also thinking of making this part of a series of short stories tracing
Hildebrand's life from his childhood in Attila's camp to his death in
Ostrogothic Italy, tracing the history of the fifth century in the process.
That's something for the future though, I've got more than enough
projects on the go at the moment.

BTW, you can find a modern English alliterative translation of the poem,
with a modern continuation from where the original breaks off, here:

http://www.jps.net/pdeane/fgr/translate.htm

Cheers,

Tim O'Neill
http://pages.ancientsites.com/~Thiudareiks_Flavius/germanic-l.html

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