HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
ETHNIC AND NATIONAL HISTORY CA. 500‒1000 79serve to explain the Saxon Landnahme or conquest of their territoryfrom the Thuringians, who held it before them. This is accomplishedby means of a legal stratagem, but the acquisition is secured laterwhen the Saxons invite the Thuringian leaders to a banquet thatturns into a deadly ambush. At this point (I,8), Widukind inserts abrief narrative of the Saxon conquest of Britain, derived entirelyfrom Bede, as if to establish that his people had an imperial vocationeven before they became part of a Frankish empire. The remainderof this ethnic sequence is taken up by an account of the warsbetween the Frankish king Thiadric and Irminfrid, ruler of theThuringians. Thiadric asks the Saxons to fight on his side, promisingthem the lands now owned by the Thuringians. When he is laterpersuaded by an adroit Thuringian envoy to make peace with Irminfridand turn on his new allies, the Saxons discover that they are aboutto be betrayed and move on by themselves, led by a heroic and eloquentold warrior, to exterminate the Thuringians. This complexepisode appears to combine what must have been independent legendsto begin with: that of the Saxon leader Hathagat and his savinginitiative and that of the later betrayal of Irminfrid by Iring, hisenvoy to the Franks, an interesting tale with little or no relevanceto Saxon history. 109These early chapters of the RGS suggest that by the mid-tenthcentury origo gentis had taken on, if not the status of a genre (hereit would be an embedded genre), at least a distinctive profile as anidentifiable complex of legendary subject matter. Following in thesteps of Paul the Deacon, Widukind is fully aware of his predecessorsand refers to them pointedly: Bede (I,8), Paul himself (I,14), andJordanes (I,18). It generally is believed that he drew on vernacularoral tradition throughout the work, which would explain the dramaticform of much of his narrative. 110 But Widukind also wroteunder the influence of the Latin classics, especially Sallust’s works,and this source of inspiration helps to account for at least two importantcharacteristics of the RGS: the tendency of the characters toexpress themselves in lengthy, fully expository speeches; and Widukind’sown strongly developed sense of Realpolitik, or “neutrality”, as Beumanncalls it, which makes him singularly understanding of the ambitions109Uecker (1972), 131–34.110Beumann (1950), 66–93.
80 JOAQUÍN MARTÍNEZ PIZARROof high-born pretenders and conspirators. 111 Recent scholars tend tosee the deliberative assemblies of the RGS, with their many eloquentspeakers, as more classicizing than tribal or ‘Germanic’. However,Widukind’s uncommon attention to ritual and ceremony has beenassociated with a post-Carolingian breakdown of literate culture anda return to the expressive forms of a primarily oral civilization. 112An important question about the ethnic portico to the RGS concernsthe measure in which it is organic to the work as a whole. Inhis preface to Book I, addressing Mathilde, Widukind justifies thissection as an entertainment on an edifying and noble subject, howeverunconnected to the greatness of her lineage. But there are atleast two fundamental ways in which this section sets the stage forthe dynastic and imperial history that is to follow. The early collaborationof Franks and Saxons against Thuringians, though enforcedat the last moment by a Saxon initiative, serves as heroic-legendaryprecedent for their later partnership as Reichsvölker in East Francia:as soon as the destruction of the Thuringians is an accomplishedfact, the Saxons are called “partners and friends of the Franks” (I,13,repeated in I,14). This myth of an ancient amicitia allows Widukindto gloss over the extreme violence of Charlemagne’s Saxon wars—as he puts it, the wise Frankish ruler converted the Saxons toChristianity “in part by wise persuasion, in part by force of arms”,making them brothers of his own people in faith (I,15).In addition, Hathagat, the venerable warrior who renders this firstalliance possible by forcing the hand of the Franks, is referred to as“pater patrum” by his fellow Saxons in honor of earlier deeds ofprowess (I,11) and serves as a clear forerunner of Henry I, who afterhis victory over the Magyars at Riade in 933 is honored as “paterpatriae, rerum dominus imperatorque” (I,39), and of Otto I who,after his decisive triumph over the Magyars at the Lechfeld (955),is acclaimed as “pater patriae imperatorque” by his troops on thebattlefield (III,49). It is from this point on that Widukind refers toOtto as “the emperor”, ignoring entirely his imperial coronation bythe pope, which he passes over in silence and which had taken placein Rome seven years after the Lechfeld, on February 2, 1962.111Beumann (1950), 94–100.112Leyser (1993).
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ETHNIC AND NATIONAL HISTORY CA. 500‒1000 79serve to explain the Saxon Landnahme or conquest of their territoryfrom the Thuringians, who held it before them. This is accomplishedby means of a legal stratagem, but the acquisition is secured laterwhen the Saxons invite the Thuringian leaders to a banquet thatturns into a deadly ambush. At this point (I,8), Widukind inserts abrief narrative of the Saxon conquest of Britain, derived entirelyfrom Bede, as if to establish that his people had an imperial vocationeven before they became part of a Frankish empire. The remainderof this ethnic sequence is taken up by an account of the warsbetween the Frankish king Thiadric and Irminfrid, ruler of theThuringians. Thiadric asks the Saxons to fight on his side, promisingthem the lands now owned by the Thuringians. When he is laterpersuaded by an adroit Thuringian envoy to make peace with Irminfridand turn on his new allies, the Saxons discover that they are aboutto be betrayed and move on by themselves, led by a heroic and eloquentold warrior, to exterminate the Thuringians. This complexepisode appears to combine what must have been independent legendsto begin with: that of the Saxon leader Hathagat and his savinginitiative and that of the later betrayal of Irminfrid by Iring, hisenvoy to the Franks, an interesting tale with little or no relevanceto Saxon history. 109These early chapters of the RGS suggest that by the mid-tenthcentury origo gentis had taken on, if not the status of a genre (hereit would be an embedded genre), at least a distinctive profile as anidentifiable complex of legendary subject matter. Following in thesteps of Paul the Deacon, Widukind is fully aware of his predecessorsand refers to them pointedly: Bede (I,8), Paul himself (I,14), andJordanes (I,18). It generally is believed that he drew on vernacularoral tradition throughout the work, which would explain the dramaticform of much of his narrative. 110 But Widukind also wroteunder the influence of the Latin classics, especially Sallust’s works,and this source of inspiration helps to account for at least two importantcharacteristics of the RGS: the tendency of the characters toexpress themselves in lengthy, fully expository speeches; and Widukind’sown strongly developed sense of Realpolitik, or “neutrality”, as Beumanncalls it, which makes him singularly understanding of the ambitions109Uecker (1972), 131–34.110Beumann (1950), 66–93.
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