Ildico

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Ildico , probably a German woman , was married in 453 to Attila, king of the Huns, as one of his concubines.

Legend of the murder of Attila by Ildico

The morning after the wedding night, the servants were amazed at the silence in the bedroom and looked. Ildico was found crying in bed and next to her was the dead Attila, who had died of a hemorrhage . This is what the contemporary Eastern Roman diplomat and historian Priskos reports , who a few years earlier had been negotiating at Attila's court.

The real cause of Attila's death can no longer be explained. From today's point of view, speculatively, one can credibly ascribe the hemorrhage to Attila's way of life: namely as a result of long-term excessive alcohol abuse ( esophageal varices ). Contrary to this assumption, however, the fact that the eyewitness Priskos emphasizes with regard to his previous visit to the Hunnenhof how moderate Attila's way of life was.

About seventy years after the event, around 518, the historian Marcellinus Comes spread the rumor in his chronicle that Attila had been stabbed. However, Ildico's name is not mentioned in this early source. Nevertheless, it is the beginning of a legend that was continued with the Chronicon paschale (628). There you can read that Ildico is "suspected" of having "killed" Attila. In the early 9th century Agnellus, in his Liber pontificalis ecclesiae, endorses the thesis that the Hun was murdered by "his very despicable wife". A few decades later, around 890, the Poeta Saxo believes that Attila was killed by the "Queen" who thereby avenged the "death of her own father".

Ildico in the Germanic world of legends

In later versions of German sagas (such as the Nibelungen saga ) the second wife of Attila (who appears there as “Etzel”) bears the name Kriemhild .

Origin of name

According to Schramm, the name Ildico is derived from East Germanic * Hildikô , consisting of * Hild- (cf. German Hilda ) and the diminutive suffix -icô nhd. "-Chen". However, this name is not " to be understood as a pet form of the name Kriemhilt , as is often claimed , but as an independent, uncomposed name". From this, Schramm concludes that the equation of the hypothetical Burgundy princess Kriemhild with the Attila wife "Hildchen" only took place later, when the legend of Attila's death was merged with the Burgundy legend. It is not certain whether the name "Kriemhild" is authentic, as the legendary figure appears in Nordic as Gudrun .

The name " Ildikó " - like the name " Attila " - is still popular in Hungary .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Priskos, fragment 23, obtained from Jordanes , Getica 49, 254.
  2. ^ Research results and references in: Gustav Adolf Beckmann: Gualter del Hum - Gaiferos - Waltharius , Berlin / New York 2010, p. 96
  3. ↑ Gottfried Schramm: A dam breaks: The Roman Danube border and the invasions of the 5th-7th centuries Century in the light of names and words. Munich 1997, p. 119.
personal data
SURNAME Ildico
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ildico; Hildiko
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Daughter of a Germanic prince and wife of Attila
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century
DATE OF DEATH after 453