Hunaland

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Hunaland was an area mentioned in Old English and Icelandic poetry from the 8th to 14th centuries. Its exact location is unclear. According to the approximate information in various sources, it extended from today's southwestern Schleswig-Holstein to Westphalian areas.

Etymology and Bibliography

In the 8th century Beda Venerabilis mentions the area of ​​the Hunni in an area between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in a geographically limited list :

… Quarum in Germania plurimas noverat esse nationes, a quibus Angli vel Saxones, qui nunc Britanniam incolunt, genus et originem duxisse noscuntur; unde hactenus a vicina gente Britonum corrupte Garmani nuncupantur. Sunt autem Fresones, Rugini, Danai, Hunni, Antiqui Saxones, Boructuarii; sunt alii perplures iisdem in partibus populi, paganis adhuc ritibus servientes, ad quos venire præfatus Christi miles, circumnavigata Britannia ...

In the old English epic Widsith a distinction is made between two hun (n) ish concepts of power, on the one hand in line 18

Ætla weóld Hûnum, Eormanríc Gotum

and on the other hand in line 33

Hún Hætwerum and Holen Wròsnum

The in this line from a Hún represented " Hætwere " denote the settled in Lower Germany tribe of chat while (again, in the northern area), entitled Get Wròsnum refer to a Danish tribe that on the island Vresen (southeast of Funen ) resident was. In this old English price song , a domain of the Hundingas is also mentioned twice (lines 23 and 81), which incidentally also appears in Beowulf . Kemp Malone understands this tribe as apparently an old nickname of the Langobards, later confined to the part of the tribe settled in East Holstein.

The holy Altfried , Bishop of Munster and abbot of the monasteries are and Helmstedt, noted (again successively as Beda) a Hunesga / Hunusga in the biography Vita Liudgeri about his uncle Liudger that this under Charlemagne was appointed

doctorem in gente Fresonum ab orientali parte fluminis Labeki super pagos quinque, quorum haec sunt vocabula Hugmerthi, Hunusga, Fivilga, Emisga, Fediritga et unam insulam, quae dicitur Bant.

The skald poetry of the Kormáks saga , written around 1350, conveys Húnaland as an area neighboring Denmark:

Alls metk auðar þellu
Íslands, þás mér grandar,
Húnalands ok handan 
hugstarkr sem Danmarkar;
verð es Engla jarðar 
Eir háþyrnis geira 
(sól-Gunni metk svinna 
sunds) ok Íra grundar.

The Gesta Danorum mentioned (around 1200) a king Hundingus in Saxonia , likewise the Edda in the 13th century (see above the localization of Kemp Malone). Its eponym was probably derived from a patronymic to dog , possibly in relation to Kynokephale ( dog-headed ) in Germanic mythology.

In the Thidrek saga , the area Hunaland and its inhabitants are called Hunir or Hynir . According to the geographical indications of their manuscripts, according to William J. Pfaff, that is

The Dutch empire in northern Germany was conquered by a Frisian king's son "Attila", which he ruled from his Soest residence until his death and was then taken over by Thidrek. With the exception of Brandenburg, which is located on the Havel, all clearly identifiable places or scenes lie between the Weser and the Rhineland, to the west, north of the Sauerland and in an easterly direction to the Harz. The northern area of ​​Hunaland extends into the coastal region of Friesland, which the manuscripts pass on as an independent domain.

The archaic name type was possibly derived from the Hundingas , but in contrast to the more southeastern Huns . However, the rivers Hunte (in Lower Saxony ) and Hunze (in the Netherlands ) could also be interpreted as geonymic relics or namesake .

Localization

Hundings were mentioned

  • in Saxonia in Jutland
    King Hundingus prevailed in Saxony , the Danish king Helgo killed and captured him Jutland ( Gesta Danorum )
    The Wölsunger Helgi slew a Hunding ( Edda )
  • at Froncum and Hælsingum
    the area of ​​the Hundingum was a domain near Franconia and Helsingern ( Widsith 23)
  • north of Bjarmaland
    Hundingjaland was near Bjarmaland in today's northeastern Russia on the White Sea. Another area was probably meant. ( Sturlaugs saga starfsama )

Hunaland was not in the southeastern Baltic Sea region ( Wilzenland , Russia , Pul (in) aland , Wendland ) and not in Scandinavia ( Reidgotaland , Gautland ). These legendary geographical terms must be differentiated depending on tradition. What is meant is either an area bordering on the south of Jutland and west of the Slavic area or, up to around the 6th century, an area from today's Hungary as the land of the Huns (or Avars) to the Danube, in this respect between the Ostrogoths, the Frankish Empire and Gardarike (later Kievan Rus ).

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum V, 9
  2. ↑ Kemp Malone (Ed.): Widsith. Copenhagen 1962. p. 212.
  3. ↑ Lotte Hedeager: Iron Age Myth and Materiality: An Archeology of Scandinavia AD 400-1000. London / New York 2011. pp. 184-185.
  4. ↑ Same page 176.
  5. ^ Vitae Sancti Liudgeri, I, lib. I, 22 . See the text edition by Wilhelm Diekamp, ​​Münster 1881. From the passage follows for the river Labeki , which can also be cited from other sources as fluvium Lavicam , its connection or connection with the Dutch Lauwersmeer . The then island of Bant , with the relics of Juist and Borkum, is believed to be in front of the Hunsegau (in the Groninger Land) and Emsgau ; see. Michael Meyer: East Frisian island and coastal landscape. Münsterdorf 1984.
  6. ↑ Verse 8 quoted from Möðruvallabók ; see. with English translation Russell Poole: Composition Transmission Performance: The First Ten lausavísur in Kormáks saga . In: Alvíssmál , No. 7 (1997), pp. 37-60. See p. 40.
  7. ↑ Cf. the Hundinge area on the White Sea as Kynokephali , in Sturlaugs saga starfsama
  8. ^ William J. Pfaff: The Geographical and Ethnic Names in the Þíðriks Saga. Mouton & Co. 'S-Gravenhage 1959. Page 91:
    In Þíðriks saga, a kingdom in northern Germany, conquered by Attila, second son of the king of Frisia, who established his court at Susat (Soest), and ruled by him until his death, whereupon Þíðrikr incorporated it into his realm (…). All of the clearly identifiable localities in northern Germany except Brandina-borg (Brandenburg on the Havel) lie between the Weser and the Rhineland, north of the mountainous area known as the Sauerland in the west and the Harz in the east and exclusive of the coastal area, which belonged to the independent Frisian state.
  9. ↑ Rulers and domains: "Casere weold Creacum ond Cælic Finnum, Hagena Holmrygum ond Heoden Glommum. Witta weold Swæfum, Wada Hælsingum, Meaca Myrgingum, Mearchealf Hundingum . Þeodric weold Froncum, Þyle Rondingum". ( Caesar ruled over the Creaci, […], Marchealf over the Hundingi, […] ), Widsith , lines 20-25