Merowech

Merowech (Latin Merovechus or Meroveus , French Mérovée ) was after the middle of the 5th century minor king over the Salian Franks with the residence Tournai in today's Hainaut (Belgium). Etymologically , an original meaning of the name "famous fighter" is developed.

Life

Very little is known about Merowech. The historian Gregor von Tours stated that he was the father of Childerich I (and thus the grandfather of Clovis I ) is credible . So he was the progenitor of the later Franconian kings from the Merovingian family . Gregory of Tours reports that Merowech, "as some claim", came from the Chlodios family, the first king of the Salf Franks who could be identified by name. Whether this is to be understood in such a way that he was Chlodio's son, as the Fredegar Chronicle reports, or whether only an indeterminable relationship is to be considered is controversial.

Merowech's reign was probably short. Since a reign of 24 years is given for Childerich in the Liber historiae Francorum , 457/458 arises for Childerich's assumption of government and thus for Merowech's death, but this chronology is uncertain; According to another dating, Merowech's reign did not begin until 460. It is certain that Childerich ruled in 463. According to a late tradition of very dubious credibility, Merowech was involved in the fighting against the Huns of Attila in 451 .

legend

According to a tale handed down in the Fredegar Chronicle, Chlodio's wife met a sea monster who was similar to the Quinotaur before she gave birth to Merowech when she went to bathe by the sea . The name Quinotaurus is reminiscent of the Minotaur in Greek mythology; maybe the Q is just a typing mistake. It is unclear whether the monster himself was Merowech's father or whether the encounter was only a portent and Chlodio was the father; the source explicitly leaves this open. A third possibility is that Chlodio himself appeared to his wife in the form of the monster and that the concept of hierarchy stands behind it . It is also believed that the story in its traditional form was intended as a mockery of mythical concepts of a sacred origin of the Merovingian family.

In research, the view has often been taken, with linguistic and substantive reasons, that the saga could not have originated in the 5th century, but that its original version must have referred to a much older legendary figure named Mero; only later was the story transferred to Chlodio and Merowech in a more recent version because of the similarity of names. This led to the erroneous view that the name of the Merovingians was derived from the historical King Merowech.

Alexander Murray contradicted this interpretation. He thinks that the hypothesis of an original legendary figure Mero cannot be derived from the source; Nor is it a real pagan saga, but a literary fiction created by an educated Christian Franconia in the sixth or seventh century. Its purpose was to provide the basis for one of the etymological speculations or gimmicks popular at the time . The name Merowech had been interpreted as "sea cattle" and this was the starting point for establishing a connection with a sea monster. The originator of the fiction was familiar with the myth of the Minotaur, according to which Minotaur was the son of a bull that the god Poseidon (Neptune) raised out of the sea. The Christian Franconian was inspired by this legendary motif to redesign the Minotaur myth for his own purpose. In reality, the name of the Merovingian family is actually derived from the historical King Merowech.

literature

• Ludwig Schmidt : From the beginnings of the Sal-Franconian kingdom . In: Klio 34, 1942, ISSN  0075-6334 , pp. 306-327.
• Heinrich Tiefenbach , Ian N. Wood :  Merowech. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 19, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 574-576. (on-line)
• Erich Zöllner : History of the Franks up to the middle of the sixth century . Revised on the basis of the work of Ludwig Schmidt with the assistance of Joachim Werner . Beck, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-406-02211-1 .

Web links

Commons : Merovech  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ^ Matthias Becher : Clovis I. The rise of the Merovingians and the end of the ancient world. Munich 2011, p. 116 .
2. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 2.9.
3. ↑ Wood p. 575 (for a father-son relationship); Zöllner P. 37 and Eugen Ewig : The naming of the oldest Franconian kings and the Merovingian royal family . In: Francia 18 / I (1991) p. 47 (for another relationship).
4. ↑ Liber historiae Francorum 9.
5. ↑ Wood p. 575; see. Customs officer p. 39.
6. ↑ See Ewig (1991) p. 47.
7. ↑ Fredegar Chronicle 3.9, ed. Bruno Krusch, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum Vol. 2, p. 95.
8. ^ So Karl Hauck: Lebensnorms und Kultmythen in Germanic tribal and ruler genealogies , in: Saeculum 6 (1955) pp. 186–223, here pp. 197–204.
9. ↑ Wood p. 575.
10. ^ Zöllner p. 29 Note 2; Reinhard Wenskus: Article Chlodio , in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 4 (1981) p. 477; Eugen Ewig: Trojamythos and Franconian early history , in: The Franks and the Alemanni up to the "Battle of Zülpich" (496/97) , ed. Dieter Geuenich, Berlin 1998, p. 14.
11. ↑ Alexander Callander Murray: Post vocantur Merohingii: Fredegar, Merovech, and 'Sacral Kingship' , in: After Rome's Fall. Narrators and Sources of Early Medieval History , ed. AC Murray, Toronto 1998, pp. 121-152.

predecessor	Office	successor
Chlodio	King of the Sal Franks around 450–458	Childerich I.