Gression
Gression is a fabulous city in the greater Aachen-Cologne area, which is said to have come to an abrupt end due to unexplained circumstances. The reasons given are hostile destruction, sinking or deluge . A pronounced set of legends revolves around gression. The spellings Gressiona, Gressionau or Grasigrone are also known.
Location and size
Many variants of the legend give the diameter of the city of Gression as seven leagues, others speak of two hours, and still others even a hundred hours. The area of distribution of the legend extends over the Aachen , Cologne , Düren and Jülich area . The village of Gressenich near Stolberg is often seen as the real Gression or the center of the city.
Historical panorama
With regard to a possible historical background, there is no agreement in the various variants of the saga. Three variants emerge from the tradition:
Prehistoric time
According to some versions of the legend, Gression was a flourishing city “before the flood”.
Late antiquity
The inhabitants of the city of Gression are often referred to as Romans or Pagans . In fact, the region was demonstrably densely populated in Roman times. This would explain why Gression appears less as a closed city in the tradition, but rather as a combination of hamlets and individual villas.
Early modern age
Some traditions associate gression with the threat from Turks, French or Spaniards. The legend would therefore have an early modern origin.
Prosperity and economic basis of the city
The city of Gression is said to have achieved great wealth mainly through mining. Lead, iron and copper ores were mined. It has been proven that the ore deposits in the Stolberg area (including Gressenich) were simply used for metallurgical purposes in Roman times. Modern research presupposes a calamine degradation by the Romans. The calamine deposits in the Eschweiler-Stolberg area are believed to be the production area of the so-called Hemmoorer buckets , the locations of which stretch as far as Northern Europe, which would be a further indication of the region's economic power in Roman times. The wealth of Gression is said to have been a reason for the downfall of the city.
Downfall
The downfall of Gression is said to have been God's judgment, as the wealth made its inhabitants vicious, lavish, proud and godless. However, some variants do not know that the residents are “guilty”. The traditional inventory knows three doom scenarios.
Flood or deluge
Finds of brachiopods in the geological Devonian formations in the region provide tangible evidence of previous floods, albeit long before humans appeared.
Sink in
A divine criminal court unceremoniously let Gression sink into the ground. Many other legend cultures also know such motifs, which are almost always caused by the contempt of divine or human commandments.
Foreign war hordes
In the light of the Migration Period , armed conflicts with Franconian troops could represent a possible historical reference. Destruction by Hunnic warriors was also considered. A variant tells of a battle on the Omerstrom in which a Turkish army appears before gression. Today's Omerbach , which also flows through Gressenich, is said to have been a mighty river once. In some places, the vernacular also made Spanish, French or Tatars attackers. The fighting against the enemy does not always end with the fall of the city.
Local records
In the area where the legends about gression are distributed, there are always recurring elements such as B. the subterranean bell ringing: if you keep your ear to the ground and listen, you should hear the ringing of bells in certain places on Christmas Eve. In some variants, this is only possible for particularly pious people or Sunday children. In some local versions of the legend, it is farmers who come across remnants of the vanished city while working in the fields or who witness the underground activities of the ghostly inhabitants of Gression. There are supposed to have been marketplaces in Gressenich, Geich , Birgel and Düren, depending on the legend , and some churches, such as the old parish church in Langerwehe on the Rymelsberg, are said to have been built on the site of an old pagan temple. In the nuns pond in Derichsweiler , a monastery that once belonged to Gression is said to have sunk. Almost every place in the area where the legend is distributed knows such stories, although in summary no homogeneous overall picture can be recognized. The assumed size of the city allowed for local modifications.
A now forgotten folk song told of the fight against the Turks and began with the words: "At Gression on the Omerstrom a bloody battle was fought ..."
The primary school teacher Heinrich Hoffmann compiled the legends about the sunken city of Gression for the first time in 1914.
Gression in poetry
Around 1920 Peter Bündgens wrote two poems about the legendary city of Gression. The writer Günter Krieger addresses the fall of the city of Gression in his trilogy Richarda von Gression .
literature
- Friedrich Holtz: From ores, sagas and stories, Stolberg 1992
- Max v. Mallinckrodt: The sunken city of Gression, Eifel calendar 1930
- H. Hoffmann: On the folklore of the Jülich country II., Legends from the Indegebiet, Echweiler 1914
- A. Voigt: Gressenich and his Galmei in history, Bonner Jahrbücher Volume 155/156, 1955/56
- J. Werner: On the origin and time of the Hemmoorer buckets and buckets with corrugated fluting, Bonner Jahrbücher, year 1936
Web links
- The lost city of Gression in the Gutenberg-DE project
- http://www.zinkhuetterhof.de/de/galminus-kinderland/sagen-und-geschichten/sagenstadt-gression/die-sagenstadt-gression/
- http://www.wingarden.de/woeng/gessenich.html