[gothic-l] Gothic influence

[Ingemar Nordgren]

> Message: 5
>    Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 23:04:44 +0100
>    From: Tore Gannholm <tore.gannholm at swipnet.se>

> He's comparing Hygelac's hoard with the legendary
> > story of the theft of Ermanaric's treasure by the
> > adventurer Hama, and drawing on the associations and
> > resonances that story has by evoking the tale and
> > giving a exposition on its main points.
>
> Yes this is one of the obvious possibilities - but I have always
> wandered why Ermaneric should have any value as an example in England
> and why he was a key figure in Widsith, if there was no connection
> between a tribe Ermaneric met in his far off region and one of the
> tribes invading England. Apart from his dubious role in Getica he was
> not one of the great figures of the history according to the sources
> around his own region. Therefore I have looked for another
> explanation.

This explanation is probably not so hard to find. Remember the Goths
probably originated from a number of Scandinavian folks and one of these
were just the Jutes. In the migration period the Jutes invade and settle
England together with Angles and Saxons. Of course the Jutes keep their
old traditions and tales from earlier times, when part of their
ancestors were part of the Gothic realm. The ON saga of Jörmundrekr is
well known and Jörmundrekr is Ermanaric. This does indeed not mean that
the Geats, Jutes or Gauts does not matter in this case, about 500 was
the same as the Goths in Italy but still they were related and
originally partly of the same stock. The most puzzling is that
Brisingamén is involved in the story of Ermanaric and as a consequence
even in Beowulf. It is indeed the sun and in this capacity we approch
the old struggle between Heimdallr and Loki. Like many other so called
historical sagas of kings we find these are mainly built up with
originally relious myths mixed with one and another possibly historical
person.


>
>  ......
> > Which was a common confusion at the time. These Thracian
> > Getae had nothing to do with the Goths, who in turn had
> > little to do with the Scandinavian Geats, though the Goths
> > and Geats may have once shared a common, cultic origin in
> > Scandinavia many centuries before.
>
> Exactly. That is my point.

I agree, as stated above

Kindly
Ingemar
>
>



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~>
eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups
Click here for more details
http://click.egroups.com/1/11231/1/_/3398/_/980832867/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

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