Sterk helmet

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The course of the Rhine and the Lower Rhine region

Sterk Helmes (also called Stark Helmes , Stark Hermen or similar), a term from the Lower Rhine dialect , is used in the Rhineland , especially in the Lower Rhine region, with different meanings, but always derived from the legendary figure of a "strong hero " about whom there is a abundant regional literature. Thus, in the vernacular in phrases a person pejoratively as Sterk helmet designated to be established by cocky and boasts alleged forces. There is also a knight monument from 1468 called Sterk Helmes in the city of Straelen (Lower Rhine) .

Legendary figure

The legends are always about a "strong guy" with astonishing powers who defends the oppressed people against their enemies. The writer and narrative researcher Fritz Meyers , who died in 1996 , carried out studies on this. a. in his book Giant and Dwarfs on the Lower Rhine - Their traces in legend, fairy tales, history and art explained. He writes about the characters labeled "Sterk Helmes":

  • "... we are dealing with people of extraordinary size, strength and courage, who often appear as warriors, now and then as citizens and farmers."

In the foreground of his descriptions are the stories of the strength of Helmes von der Maas , first published by Leo Sels and in a slightly modified form by Paul Zaunert . The hero lives between the Rhine and the Meuse in Roman times. The intruders forced the population to do labor. The helmet, equipped with extraordinary powers as a child, also comes into the service of the Romans, who underestimate its good-naturedness and naughtiness. After episodes as a field servant, blacksmith and tree cutter, Helmes sees through the cunning of his employers and uses all his strength against the strangers. So he finally expels the Romans from the Lower Rhine.

Fritz Meyers believes it is possible that in the people's ideas, traits of the Cheruscan prince Arminius - who fought the Romans in the Varus Battle in AD 9 - were projected onto the legendary figure of the Sterk helmet .

In a Moers children's song from the left Lower Rhine it says:

  • " Härmen schlohn noise aan, de Kajser wel come with beeping on trumming on rods on well heat catching on hanging!"
" Harness, make noise, the emperor will come with pipes and drums and poles and will catch and hang harem !"

The legend of the knight Stark Harmen and the stubborn horse has been handed down from Rees on the right Lower Rhine :

  • " Harmen schow dat Peärt the Kaar in front of the Kont on it dat remember dat et Hölp hoat, trokk et met pläsier dä Wagen op de Kant!"
" Harmen pushed the cart in front of the horse's buttocks and when the horse noticed that it was getting help, it happily pulled the cart onto the edge (the steep slope )".

Fritz Meyers, as well as the author Paul Therstappen (in his book Legenden und Mären Between Rhine and Maas , published in 1940 ), point out similarities between the figure of the Sterk helmet and the Germanic thunder god Donar ( Thor ), in one of peasant anecdotes from the Schwalm- based poem occurring as Thuner .

The author Paul Zaunert explains in his foreword to the Rhineland sagas that he published in 1925 :

  • "The strong helmet has become a symbol of indestructible Rhenish vitality, which is why I put it among the first Lower Rhine sagas: a guy who can't be killed".

In addition to Fritz Meyers, Paul Zaunert and Paul Therstappen, a number of other authors have dealt with the legendary figure of the Sterk helmet , including Gottfried Henßen , Erich Bockemühl , M. Pauly and Wilhelm Bodens.

Phrase

If someone behaves like “Sterk Helmes” or “Stark Härmen”, then he is referred to as a show-off or a power man. The Grefrath dialect dictionary published by Herbert Ackermann in Krefeld in 2003 describes the expressions around Sterk Helmes as follows:

  • Schtärkhälmes :
"Kraftmeier, muscle man"
ironic also: “weakling”; Person who brags about their strength
  • “Dä Schtärkhälmes, dä ös jaar niet te reejele; Öjen Händrek, dä Schtärkhälmes, dä koos still need ens ene Sok Eärpel alään op de Kaar büüre! "
“The Sterkhelmes cannot be regulated (tamed) at all; Your Heinrich, that strong helmet, he couldn't even lift a sack of potatoes onto the cart on his own! "

The Rhenish dictionary published by Josef Müller in Bonn in 1928 and now published online by the University of Trier on the Internet explains the terms Helmes and Hermen / Hermes / Hermel as follows:

  • Helmet :
1. Short for Wilhelm
2. transferred: "ene strengke helmet": strong person ("going back to Count Wilhelm II von Jülich , of whose enormous physical strength legends of the strong helmet in the people circulate.")
  • Hermes (also Hermel ):
1. "ene strengke Hermes" ("a particularly strong man")
2. "The strong Hermel" ("... who sucked his mother's breast for seven years and became so big and strong that he chased out of the country the strangers he went to see Frohne.")

Knight figure

"Sterk Helmes", knight figure from 1468

There is a knight's memorial called “Sterk Helmes” in Straelen (Lower Rhine). In 1463, after the battle of Straelen won against his adversary Duke Johann I von Kleve , the Geldern Duke Adolf had a knight's memorial carved in stone erected, which - based on the legendary figure - is called Sterk Helmes by the population .

  • The Straelen historian Bernhard Keuck writes:
“So it can be assumed that the figure represents a loyal comrade in arms of the Duke of Geldern, who died in battle, probably Matthias von Eyell, the last standard bearer. Other historians consider it possible that she represents the duke himself. "

There is a story about this Straelen knight figure:

  • When the Marian processions came to the pilgrimage site of Kevelaer and passed the Mariensande monastery with the knight kneeling in front of it, the young girls who went with them made it a habit to kiss the stone mouth of the Sterk Helmes in the hope that they would become his myth from harassment and Protect raids or soon give them a husband.
  • The knight's mouth was sometimes sweetened by boys from Straelen with smeared blackberry jam. So that this custom did not distract from the idea of ​​pilgrimage, the figure was buried at some point, but later brought back to the daylight where it can be viewed again today.

Remarks

Strong men and strong heroes appear in stories from all races and cultures. The Brothers Grimm have also included these in their fairy tale collection. The accumulation of the name Sterk Helmes (or similar) and the popular idioms and idioms based on it are typical for the Lower Rhine and neighboring regions. How u. a. The linguists Peter Honnen and Georg Cornelissen have pointed out the decline of the local dialect in their publications, so the dialect idioms about "Sterk Helmes" and the underlying stories about the legendary figure are less and less familiar.

Frames

  • Erich Bockemühl: The strong helmet , in: Lower Rhine sagas, fairy tales and legends - the golden spinning wheel . Mercator Verlag, Duisburg 1960, ISBN 3-87463-075-7 , p. 117.
  • Dr. Paul Zaunert, Erich Bockemühl (ed.): Sterk-Helmus , in: Niederrheinisches Sagenbuch . Aug. Steiger Verlag, Moers 1930, pp. 195-200.
  • Wilhelm Bodens: Stark Harmes and Stark Hermes , in: Sage, Märchen and Schwank vom Niederrhein . Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1936.
  • Gottfried Henßen: Der Starke Hermel , in: Volk am Ewigen Strom , Westdeutsche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Essen 1935, p. 7.
  • Fritz Meyers: The strength of Helmes von der Maas , in: The most beautiful sagas from the Lower Rhine . Verlag Peter Pomp, Essen 1985, ISBN 3-89355-026-7 , p. 12.
  • M. Pauly: Sterk Hermel , in: Pearls from the saga treasure of the Rhineland . JP Bachem publishing house, Cologne 1914.
  • Paul Therstappen: Sterk Helmes poem on Thuner , in: Legends and mars between Rhine and Maas . Heinrich Hollands publishing house, Aachen 1940.
  • Paul Zaunert (Ed.): Rhineland Sagen. Volume 1: Lower Rhine to Cologne (Rhine-Franconian tribal studies). Publishing house Diederichs, Jena 1925.

literature

  • Herbert Ackermann: Grefrather dialect dictionary . 2003, ISBN 3-923140-89-4 .
  • Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country Wachtendonk . First volume. Mayer & Kaltenmeier publishing house, Hüls-Crefeld 1910.
  • Bernhard Keuck: Zandt is steeped in history (house font ). City archive, Straelen 1980.
  • Landschaftsverband Rheinland (Hrsg.): Ritterfigur , in: Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Straelen . Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-7861-1450-1 , pp. 114-117.
  • Fritz Meyers: Sterk Helmes , in: Giants and dwarfs on the Lower Rhine. Their traces in legend, fairy tales, history and art . Mercator Verlag, Duisburg 1980, ISBN 3-87463-083-8 , pp. 79-93.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Fritz Meyers: Giants and dwarfs on the Lower Rhine - their traces in sagas, fairy tales, history and art / Mercator Verlag Duisburg / 1980 / ISBN 3-87463-083-8 / pp. 79–93
  2. ^ Fritz Meyers: The most beautiful sagas from the Lower Rhine / Verlag Peter Pomp, Essen / 1985 / ISBN 3-89355-026-7 / p. 12
  3. ^ Paul Therstappen: Legends and tales between Rhine and Maas / Verlag Heinrich Hollands, Aachen / 1940 / poem "Thuner"
  4. ^ Paul Zaunert (Ed.): Rhineland Sagen. 1. Volume: Lower Rhine to Cologne (Rheinfränkische Stammeskunde) / Verlag Diederichs, Jena / 1925 / pp. 2-4
  5. ↑ Herbert Ackermann: Grefrather Dialect Dictionary / 2003 / ISBN 3-923140-89-4 / category "S"
  6. ↑ Rhenish dictionary of the University of Trier - online - search section "Helmes"
  7. ↑ Bernhard Keuck: Geschichtspächtiges Zandt (house font ) / Stadtarchiv, Straelen / 1980 / p. 5–7
  8. ↑ Landschaftsverband Rheinland: Architectural and art monuments of the city of Straelen ("Ritterfigur") / Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin / 1987 / ISBN 3-7861-1450-1 / pp. 114–117
  9. ↑ Bernhard Keuck: Geschichtspächtiges Zandt (house font ) / Stadtarchiv, Straelen / 1980 / p. 5–7
  10. ↑ Bernhard Keuck: Geschichtspächtiges Zandt (house font ) / Stadtarchiv, Straelen / 1980 / p. 5–7
  11. ↑ Will-Erich Peuckert: European sagas - Volume 6 - The Lower Rhine von Sterk-Helmus seems to be a clear counterpart to the Gargantua sagas of the Perche / 1968 / p. 6
  12. ^ Brothers Grimm: The strong Hans / Märchen (ATU 650 A, 301) see Children's and Household Tales from the 3rd edition from 1837 at position 166 (KHM 166).
  13. ^ Brothers Grimm: The young giant / fairy tale (ATU 650A). see children's and house tales at position 90 (KHM 90)
  14. ↑ Reference to the Lower Rhine, see list in the versions section
  15. ↑ Georg Cornelissen, Peter Honnen, Fritz Langensiepen (eds.): The Rheinische Platt: An inventory –Rheinische Mundarten / Rheinland-Verlag Cologne / 1989 / ISBN 3-7927-0689-X / column Niederrhein