Lathgertha

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Depiction of Lathgertha in a lithograph by Morris Meredith Williams (1913)

Lathgertha (also Ladgerda , Ladgertha or Lagertha ) was, according to the descriptions of Saxo Grammaticus from the 12th century, a Nordic shieldmaiden , local ruler ( Jarl ) in Norway and first wife of the Danish Viking hero Regner ( Ragnar Lodbrok ), who lived in the 9th century . Century should have lived. There is no direct evidence of their historical existence. Some authors associate them with the goddess Thorgerd (Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr) or the Valkyries .

Surname

According to estimates by Nora Kershaw Chadwick , the name Lathgertha used by Saxo is a Latinization of the Old Norse name Hlaðgerðr (Hladgerd) . This can be traced back to the word elements hlaða , "weave" or hlað , "lace work, headdress" and garðr , "protection" (cf. etymology of the word garden ).

This is not to be confused with the similarly sounding Franconian or Old High German name Luitgard or Liutgard , in which only the second word element gard has the same meaning, while liut stands for "people", "members of a people".

In other languages ​​such as English there are also different spellings such as Lagertha , Ladgertha or Ladgerda .

Lathgertha's life at Saxo

The ninth book of the Gesta Danorum (9, 4, 1 - 9, 4, 11) by Saxo Grammaticus is the only medieval text in which Lathgertha is reported. Saxo introduces Lathgertha as the war-experienced wife and first wife of the Danish King Regner Lothbrog , with whom she has three children. Lathgertha's most noticeable features are her exceptional martial skills, despite her delicate limbs, and her magnificent long hair. Her residence is in the Gaula Valley (Gølerdal) area in Norway.

Insurgents Against Sexual Slavery

Lathgertha comes into the limelight of Saxo at the time when the Swedish King Frø ( Frö , Old Norse Freyr ) invades Norway, kills the local King Sywardus and sends the women from his court to a brothel to force them into prostitution . The grandson of the slain Norwegian king , Regner , then moves with a force to Norway to avenge Sywardus. Many of the humiliated women in court do not resign themselves to their fate, but instead gather armed and in men's clothing to defend themselves and thus help Regner to his victory over Frö, who falls in battle.

Lathgertha, who fights in the front row, stands out among the combatants as being particularly brave. According to Saxo, she is already a woman with war experience (perita bellandi femina) .

Marriage and children with sprinklers

Regner falls in love with the young warlike woman, whom he recognizes as such by her long hair and through whom he learns that she comes from a noble Norwegian family. He confesses that he owes the victory to her. He asked for her hand, whereupon she told him via messenger that she was waiting for him in her palace. Regner travels to her on a ship, but two wild animals that she has parked are waiting for him there: a bear and a dog. Regner kills the two beasts so that Lathgertha finally agrees to marry. The marriage resulted in two daughters, whose names are not known, and a son named Fridlevus (Fridlew).

Regner leaves Lathgertha after falling in love with Thora, the daughter of King Herothus. He defeats two gigantic poisonous snakes, which the king has carelessly raised, and then takes Torah as his wife.

Second marriage and another fight

Lathgertha also remarries, which obviously does not turn out to be a happy marriage. When her former husband Regner and his Zeeland countries are besieged by the Jutes and Scania under their King Harald, he asks his exiled wife for support. Since her "first love [...] still fills her heart to the brim " (pristini amoris pertinaciore haustu exuberans) , she actually rushes to his aid with her new husband, her son and 120 ships. Again it is Lathgertha who, through her fighting skills, helps Regner to victory, so that Harald takes flight. After her return home, Lathgertha stabs her second husband to death, so that she can now rule her kingdom alone. According to Paul Herrmann's translation (9, 4, 11, 4), Saxo wrote: “The defiant spirit of women did not want to share the kingdom with their husband, but to rule without a man.” (Insolentissimus namque feminae spiritus absque viro regnum gerere quam fortunae eius communicare iucundius duxit.)

This ends Saxo's account of Lathgertha's life. We learn nothing about her further life and death. Lathgertha's second husband is not mentioned by name, and the marriage of the two does not appear in the report.

Possible sources and role models Saxos

Historian Judith Jesch regards the stories told in the first nine books of the Gesta Danorum, including the accounts of Lathgertha, as largely fictional . In their estimation, Saxo drew from the classic legends of Amazons from antiquity when describing Lathgertha and other female warriors , but probably also from unknown Norse, especially Icelandic, sources.

A woman named Hlaðgerðr , ruler of the Hlaðeyjar , appears in the Skjöldunga saga from the 6th century. She provides the Skjöldung King Halfdan with twenty ships to defeat his enemies. Hilda Ellis Davidson in her commentary on the Gesta points to the use of the name Luitgard by the Franks , for example in Luitgarde de Vermandois (914–978), and to the possible origin of the Lathgertha legend in the Franconian tradition.

Relationship with the Valkyries

Judith Jesch sees in the formulation Saxos circumvolans (9, 4, 11, 2), translated by Paul Herrmann into German as “by a skillful swing”, as a result of which Lathgertha gets into the rear of the enemy and so the fear of his friends the enemies shifted, an attribution of actual ability to fly, as it is also expressed in an English translation of flying round by Peter Fisher. Jesch relates this to the fact that the stories about the Viking warriors can be traced back to ideas of the Valkyries . Hilda Davidson particularly points out parallels with the story of Kára , a Valkyrie who supports Helgi Haddingjaskati in the battle by flying as a swan over the battlefield and doing magic.

Identification with Thorgerd

Hilda Davidson and Nora Kershaw Chadwick see it as possible or very likely that Lathgertha is identical with Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr (Thorgerd), a goddess appearing in Jómsvíkinga saga and other legends. Thorgerd was worshiped and probably married by the Norwegian ruler Haakon (937-995), who lived in Hlaðir ( Ark ). The name Hlaðgerðr could also go back to this. The nearby Gølerdal , the valley of the Gaula River, in the area of ​​which Lathgertha lived, according to Saxo, was a center of the Thorgerd cult. According to Snorri Sturluson , Haakon's wife Thora also lived here. After all, Saxo's description of the Lathgertha with her flowing hair, which Regner rushes to the aid of, resembles the depictions of Thorgerd and her sister Irpa helping Haakon in the Flateyjarbók .

Negative image of women Saxos

Lathgertha is described as fraudulent in two places: in the "greeting" of Regner with two vicious animals and especially in the murder of her second husband, for whom "the defiant sense of woman [...] without a man [to] rule" was decisive be. Judith Jesch recognizes in Saxo's portrayal of the women warriors a misogyny that was characteristic of church representatives of that time. Saxo saw only sexual beings in women. By rejecting this role, the Viking warriors exemplified the disorder in old pagan Denmark, which was only removed by the church and a stable monarchy.

reception

Theater and ballet

Christen Pram wrote a historical play entitled Lagertha (1789) based on Saxos Gesta Danorum . This in turn was the template for the ballet piece Lagertha (1801) by Vincenzo Galeotti (choreography) and Claus Schall (music), which as a total work of art comprises songs, pantomime , dance and dialogues. The performance at the Kongelige Teater in Copenhagen under the director Galeotti was well attended.

Movie

In the Canadian-Irish television series Vikings , Katheryn Winnick plays one of the main roles, a shieldmaiden Lagertha , which is based in part on the portrayals of Saxos. Here, too, she is left by her husband Ragnar Lodbrok , but his new wife is not Thora , but Aslaug , who does not appear in Saxo, but in Ragnar's saga . Lagertha stabs her third husband here after he did not accompany her on her campaign in support of Ragnar and after her return he publicly humiliated her.

literature

German translations of the original works
  • Paul Herrmann: Explanations of the first nine books of the Danish history of the Saxo Grammaticus. First part, translation . Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1901. Translation by: Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum ( on Archive.org ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Nora K. Chadwick: Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr and the trolla þing: a note on sources. In: The Early Cultures of North-West Europe. Cambridge University Press, 1950, ISBN 978-1-107-68655-7 .
  2. ↑ Rudolf Simek: Dictionary of Northern Mythology , 1993 (online: nordicnames.de: hlað ).
  3. ↑ Eva Brylla: Förnamn i Sverige , 2004 (online: nordicnames.de: gerd ).
  4. ↑ Entry PEOPLE, pl. homines in Grimm: German dictionary (online: dwb.uni-trier.de ).
  5. ↑ a b Gesta Danorum 9, 4, 2 - 9, 4, 3
  6. ^ Gesta Danorum 9, 4, 1
  7. ^ Gesta Danorum 9, 4, 3
  8. ^ Gesta Danorum 9, 4, 4
  9. ^ Gesta Danorum 9, 4, 9
  10. ^ A b c Paul Herrmann (editor, translator): Explanations of the first nine books of the Danish history of the Saxo Grammaticus. First part, translation . Published by Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1901.
  11. ↑ a b Gesta Danorum 9, 4, 11
  12. ↑ a b Judith Jesch: Women in the Viking age . Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk 2001, ISBN 0-85115-360-7 .
  13. ↑ a b c d Hilda Ellis Davidson: Commentary on Gesta Danorum , in: Saxo Grammaticus (Author), Hilda Ellis Davidson (Ed.), Peter Fisher (Transl.): The history of the Danes: books I- IX . DS Brewer, Woodbridge 1979, ISBN 978-0-85991-502-1 .
  14. ↑ Judith Jesch (2001), p. 179.
  15. ↑ Hilda Ellis Davidson (1979), p. 154.
  16. ↑ Hilda Ellis Davidson (1979), p. 152.
  17. ^ Henning Urup: Dans i Danmark. Danseformerne approx. 1600 to 1950. Museum Tusculanum Press, 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0580-2 .
personal data
SURNAME Lathgertha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ladgerda, Lagertha
BRIEF DESCRIPTION legendary Norwegian warrior and ruler in Gølerdal
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century or 9th century
DATE OF DEATH 9th century