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

Sun Jan 28 00:56:51 UTC 2001

I am sorry I am a little late to take up this thread again. Just
before leaving two weeks ago I sent a mail, where I referred to
Ermaneric in the discussion about the Geats. As I have not seen any
reactions I will try to explain a little more.

In Beowulf we can read:

"......
Ne'er heard I so mighty, 'neath heaven's dome,
a hoard-gem of heroes, since Hama bore
to his bright-built burg the Brisings' necklace,
jewel and gem casket. -- Jealousy fled he,
Eormenric's hate: chose help eternal.
Hygelac Geat, grandson of Swerting,
on the last of his raids this ring bore with him,
under his banner the booty defending,
the war-spoil warding; but Wyrd o'erwhelmed him
what time, in his daring, dangers he sought,
feud with Frisians. Fairest of gems
he bore with him over the beaker-of-waves,
sovran strong: under shield he died.
Fell the corpse of the king into keeping of Franks,
gear of the breast, and that gorgeous ring;
weaker warriors won the spoil,
after gripe of battle, from Geatland's lord,
and held the death-field.
......"
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgibin/browse-mixed?
id=AnoBeow&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/lv1/Archive/eng-
parsed

Why did the author connect the Geatic king Hugleik dying in Frisia
around 520 AD with the Ostrogothic king Ermaneric dying in the Black
Sea region around 375 AD - and the mythical Hama? Why should we care
about Ermaneric and Brisings' necklace unless they represent the
background of our hero?

Once this necklace - Brisingamen/The sun - was probably told to
belong to Freja, but in the Christian version this cannot be the
reason. Even to day elected mayors and chairmen of clubs sometimes
wear a golden chain as a symbol of power. The royal crown was without
doubt earlier a ring around the neck (or sometimes a helmet?).
Ingemar Norgren has written an article about the ring as an important
Germanic symbol of oath and power. The above mentioned necklace in
Beowulf was probably the "crown" of the people of Hugleik -
the
unknown Geats.

If so the authors idea behind the Geats could be that they had been
in contact with Ermaneric near the Black Sea region.

In a report from the camp of Attila all the followers of the Huns
were called Goths by Priscus, and in cronicles from that time (a.o.
Jordanes) Goths in the Dacian region were sometimes confused with the
Getes, who were an earlier Tracian tribe like the Dacians.

The episode of Hugleik took place 50 years after the army of Attila
was disbanded. At this time Gregory of Tours called the people of
Hugleik Dani and Liber Monstrorum called them Getorum.

Around 1000 AD Dudo wrote: "... the Getae, also known as Goths,
Sarmatians and Amacsobii, Tragoditae and Alans ...".
(http://orb.rhodes.edu/ORB_done/Dudo/chapter02.html ). These people
seem to be followers of the Huns together with Rugians, Heruls and
Gepides. He also told about Danes being Dacians from Dacia, where
both Attila, the Goths and the Getes settled.

Dudo wrote his "Gesta Normannorum" at the same time as our
version of Beowulf was written down. Are the names in our version of
Beowulf based on the same information as Dudo? Were the Geats of
Hugleik a Gothic tribe or one of the tribes Ermaneric subdued?

Are our problems with the Geats/Getes/Getae/Getorum all results of
the same old and wellknown mistake?

This makes the Geats a tribe with Eastgermanic connections settled
around the Bay of Helgoland from Jutland to the Rhine or in England.
Therefore they could tell about Beowulf swimming home. However we
should not expect a tribe from this area to fight against the Swedes
around Uppsala as well as we should not expect a tribe from Western
Sweden attacking the Francs as early as around 500. Therefore the
narrator of Beowulf must also have mixed up stories about Hugleik and
the Geats with Scandinavian stories about the Swedish Goetes.

Just an idea! It includes of course many misunderstandings and many
unreliable historians - but this has always been the problem with the
dragonkiller Beowulf.

Troels Brandt

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