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WIDSITH
Оглавление[Critical edition: R. W. Chambers, Widsith: a Study in Old English Heroic Legend. Cambridge, 1912.
Date: Probably late sixth or early seventh century.
Alliterative translation: Gummere, Oldest English Epic (1910), p. 191.
“Widsith—‘Farway’—the ideal wandering minstrel, tells of all the tribes among whom he has sojourned, of all the chieftains he has known. The first English students of the poem regarded it as autobiographical, as the actual record of his wanderings written by a scop; and were inclined to dismiss as interpolations passages mentioning princes whom it was chronologically impossible for a man who had met Ermanric to have known. This view was reduced to an absurdity by Haigh.
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“The more we study the growth of German heroic tradition, the more clear does it become that Widsith and Deor reflect that tradition. They are not the actual outpourings of actual poets at the court of Ermanric or the Heodenings. What the poems sung in the court of Ermanric were like we shall never know: but we can safely say that they were unlike Widsith.... The Traveller’s tale is a fantasy of some man, keenly interested in the old stories, who depicts an ideal wandering singer, and makes him move hither and thither among the tribes and the heroes whose stories he loves. In the names of its chiefs, in the names of its tribes, and above all in its spirit, Widsith reflects the heroic age of the migrations, an age which had hardly begun in the days of Ermanric.”—Chambers, p. 4.
Lines 75, 82-84 are almost certainly interpolated. With these rejected “the poem leaves upon us,” says Chambers, “a very definite impression. It is a catalogue of the tribes and heroes of Germany, and many of these heroes, though they may have been half legendary already to the writer of the poem, are historic characters who can be dated with accuracy.”]
Note.—In the footnotes, no attempt is made to discuss peoples or persons mentioned in this poem unless they are definitely known and are of importance for an understanding of the meaning of the lines.
Widsith now spoke, his word-hoard unlocked,
He who traveled the widest among tribes of men,
Farthest among folk: on the floor he received
The rarest of gifts. From the race of the Myrgings
5 His ancestors sprang. With Ealhhild the gracious,
The fair framer of peace, for the first time
He sought the home of the Hræda king,
From the Angles in the East —of Eormanric,
Fell and faithless. Freely he spoke forth:
10 “Many a royal ruler of a realm I have known;
Every leader should live a life of virtue;
One earl after the other shall order his land,
He who wishes and works for the weal of his throne!
Of these for a while was Hwala the best,
15 But Alexander of all of men
Was most famous of lords, and he flourished the most
Of all the earls whom on earth I have known.
Attila ruled the Huns, Eormanric the Goths,
Becca the Banings, the Burgundians Gifica.
20 Cæsar ruled the Greeks and Cælic the Finns,
Hagena the Holm-Rugians and Heoden the Glommas.
Witta ruled the Swabians, Wada the Hælsings,
Meaca the Myrgings, Mearchealf the Hundings,
Theodoric ruled the Franks, Thyle the Rondings,
25 Breoca the Brondings, Billing the Wernas.
Oswine ruled the Eowas and the Ytas Gefwulf;
Finn Folcwalding ruled the Frisian people.
Sigehere ruled longest the Sea-Dane’s kingdom.
Hnæf ruled the Hocings, Helm the Wulfings,
30 Wald the Woings, Wod the Thuringians,
Sæferth the Secgans, the Swedes Ongentheow.
Sceafthere ruled the Ymbrians, Sceafa the Lombards,
Hun the Hætweras and Holen the Wrosnas.
Hringweald was called the king of the pirates.
35 Offa ruled the Angles, Alewih the Danes:
Among these men he was mightiest of all,
But he equalled not Offa in earl-like deeds.
For Offa by arms while only a child,
First among fighters won the fairest of kingdoms;
40 Not any of his age in earlship surpassed him.
In a single combat in the siege of battle
He fixed the frontier at Fifeldore
Against the host of the Myrgings, which was held thenceforth
By Angles and Swabians as Offa had marked it.
45 Hrothwulf and Hrothgar held for a long time
A neighborly compact, the nephew and uncle,
After they had vanquished the Viking races
And Ingeld’s array was overridden,
Hewed down at Heorot the Heathobard troop.
50 So forth I fared in foreign lands
All over the earth; of evil and good
There I made trial, torn from my people;
Far from my folk I have followed my travels.
Therefore I sing the song of my wanderings,
55 Declare before the company in the crowded mead-hall,
How gifts have been given me by the great men of earth.
I was with the Huns and with the Hræda-Goths,
With the Swedes and with the Geats and with the southern Danes,
With the Wenlas I was and with the Vikings and with the Wærna folk.
60 With the Gepidæ I was and with the Wends and with the Gefligas.
With the Angles I was and with the Swæfe and with the Ænenas.
With the Saxons I was and with the Secgans and with the Suardones.
With the Hronas I was and with the Deanas and with the Heatho-Raemas.
With the Thuringians I was and with the Throwendas;
65 And with the Burgundians, where a bracelet was given me.
Guthhere there gave me a goodly jewel,
As reward for my song: not slothful that king!
With the Franks I was and with the Frisians and with the Frumtingas.
With the Rugians I was and with the Glommas and with the Roman strangers.
70 Likewise in Italy with Ælfwine I was:
He had, as I have heard, a hand the readiest
For praiseworthy deeds of prowess and daring;
With liberal heart he lavished his treasures,
Shining armlets —the son of Eadwine.
75 I was with the Saracens and with the Serings;
With the Greeks I was and with the Finns and with far-famed Cæsar,
Who sat in rule over the cities of revelry—
Over the riches and wealth of the realm of the Welsh.
With the Scots I was and with the Picts and with the Scride-Finns.
80 With the Lidwicingas I was and with the Leonas and with the Longobards,
With the Hæthnas and with the Hærethas and with the Hundings;
With the Israelites I was and with the Assyrians,
And with the Hebrews and with the Egyptians and with the Hindus I was,
With the Medes I was and with the Persians and with the Myrging folk,
85 And with the Mofdings I was and against the Myrging band,
And with the Amothingians. With the East Thuringians I was
And with the Eolas and with the Istians and with the Idumingas.
And I was with Eormanric all of the time;
There the king of the Goths gave me in honor
90 The choicest of bracelets —the chief of the burghers—
On which were six hundred pieces of precious gold,
Of shining metal in shillings counted;
I gave over this armlet to Eadgils then,
To my kind protector when I came to my home,
95 To my beloved prince, the lord of the Myrgings,
Who gave me the land that was left by my father;
And Ealhhild then also another ring gave me,
Queen of the doughty ones, the daughter of Eadwine.
Her praise has passed to all parts of the world,
100 Wherever in song I sought to tell
Where I knew under heavens the noblest of queens,
Golden-adorned, giving forth treasures.
Then in company with Scilling, in clear ringing voice
’Fore our beloved lord I uplifted my song;
105 Loudly the harp in harmony sounded;
Then many men with minds discerning
Spoke of our lay in unsparing praise,
That they never had heard a nobler song.
Then I roamed through all the realm of the Goths;
110 Unceasing I sought the surest of friends,
The crowd of comrades of the court of Eormanric.
Hethca sought I and Beadeca and the Harlungs,
Emerca sought I and Fridla and East-Gota,
Sage and noble, the sire of Unwen.
115 Secca sought I and Becca, Seafola and Theodoric,
Heathoric and Sifeca, Hlithe and Incgentheow.
Eadwine sought I and Elsa Ægelmund and Hungar
And the worthy troop of the With-Myrgings.
Wulfhere sought I and Wyrmhere: there war was seldom lacking
120 When the host of the Hrædas with hardened swords
Must wage their wars by the woods of Vistula
To hold their homes from the hordes of Attila.
Rædhere sought I and Rondhere, Rumstan and Gislhere,
Withergield and Freotheric, Wudga and Hama:
125 These warriors were not the worst of comrades,
Though their names at the last of my list are numbered.
Full oft from that host the hissing spear
Fiercely flew on the foemen’s troopers.
There the wretches ruled with royal treasure,
130 Wudga and Hama, over women and men.
So I ever have found as I fared among men
That in all the land most beloved is he
To whom God giveth a goodly kingdom
To hold as long as he liveth here.
135 Thus wandering widely through the world there go
Minstrels of men through many lands,
Express their needs and speak their thanks.
Ever south and north some one they meet
Skillful in song who scatters gifts,
140 To further his fame before his chieftains,
To do deeds of honor, till all shall depart,
Light and life together: lasting praise he gains,
And has under heaven the highest of honor.
4. Myrging. Nothing is known with any degree of certainty about this tribe. Chambers concludes that they dwelt south of the River Eider, which is the present boundary between Schleswig and Holstein, and that they belonged to the Suevic stock of peoples. See vv. 84, 85, below.
5. Ealhhild. See notes to vv. 8 and 97, below. Much discussion has taken place as to who Ealhhild was. Summing up his lengthy discussion, Chambers says (Widsith, p. 28): “For these reasons it seems best to regard Ealhhild as the murdered wife of Eormanric, the Anglian equivalent of the Gothic Sunilda and the Northern Swanhild.”
7. Hræda king. That is, the Gothic king.
8. Angles. One of the Low Germanic tribes that later settled in Britain, and from whom the name England is derived. Their original home was in the modern Schleswig-Holstein. Eormanric. See v. 88, below, and Deor’s Lament, v. 21. He was a king of the Goths. After his death, about 375 A.D., he came to be known as the typical bad king, covetous, fierce, and cruel. According to the Scandinavian form of the story, the king sends his son and a treacherous councillor, Bikki (the Becca of v. 19) to woo and bring to the court the maiden Swanhild. Bikki urges the son to woo her for himself and then betrays him to his father, who has him hanged and causes Swanhild to be trampled to death by horses. Her brothers revenge her death and wound the king. At this juncture the Huns attack him, and during the attack Eormanric dies.
11. The proverb, or “gnomic verse,” is very common in Old English poetry.
14. Hwala appears in the West Saxon genealogies as son of Beowi, son of Sceaf (see Beowulf, vv. 4, 18).
15. Alexander [the Great]. The writer speaks of many celebrities who were obviously too early for him to know personally. This passage is usually considered to be an interpolation.
18. Becca. See note to v. 8. The Banings are not definitely identified. The Burgundians were originally an East Germanic tribe. During the second and third centuries they were neighbors of the Goths and lived in the modern Posen. Later they moved west, and finally threatened Gaul, where in the middle of the fifth century they were defeated by the Roman general, Aetius. Shortly afterward they were defeated by the Huns. The remnant settled in Savoy, where they gradually recovered, and by the middle of the sixth century became an important nation. Gifica (or Gibica) was traditionally spoken of as an early king who ruled over the Burgundians while they were still in the east, living as neighbors of the Goths on the Vistula.
20. Cæsar, was the name given to the Emperor of the East—the “Greek Emperor.” The Finns were at that time located in their present home in Finland.
21, 22. Hagena, Heoden, Wada. These heroes all belong to one myth-cycle, which was told in Europe for many centuries. It is difficult to reconstruct the story as it was known at the time Widsith was written, for it has received many additions at the hands of subsequent writers. The essential parts of the tale seem to be these: Heoden asks his servant, the sweet-singing Heorrenda, for help in wooing Hild, the daughter of Hagena. Heorrenda, enlisting the services of Wada, the renowned sea-monster (or sea-god) goes to woo Hild. By means of Wada’s frightful appearance and skill in swordsmanship they attract Hild’s attention, and Heorrenda then sings so that the birds are shamed into silence. They then woo Hild and flee with her from her father’s court. Hagena pursues, and Heoden, after marrying Hild, engages him in battle. Each evening Hild goes to the battlefield and by magic awakens the warriors who have fallen, and they fight the same battle over day after day without ceasing. Heorrenda, the sweet singer of the Heodenings (i.e., of the court of Heoden) is mentioned in Deor’s Lament, vv. 36 and 39. Wada is a widely-known legendary character. He had power over the sea. He was the father of Weland, the Vulcan of Norse myth (see Deor’s Lament, and Waldhere, A, v. 2). The Holm-Rugians and the Hælsings were in the fourth century on the Baltic coast of Germany. The Glommas are unknown.
24. Theodoric, son of Chlodowech, king of the Franks, is meant, and not the famous Gothic king. Cf. v. 115, below.
25. Breoca: the same as Breca, prince of the Brondings, the opponent of Beowulf in his famous swimming match (Beowulf, vv. 499-606).
27, 28. Finn Folcwalding was the traditional hero of the Frisians. For fragments of the stories connected with him, see Beowulf, vv. 1068-1159, and the fragmentary poem, The Fight at Finnsburg (p. 34, below). Hnæf, son of Hoc (hence ruler of the Hocings) also figures in the Finn story. Hnæf’s sister marries Finn. For a summary of the story see the Introduction to The Fight at Finnsburg.
30. Thuringians. These people dwelt near the mouths of the Rhine and the Maas.
31. Ongentheow, the king of Sweden, is frequently mentioned in Beowulf (e.g., vv. 2476 and 2783). The Secgans are unknown, but they are mentioned in v. 62, below, and in The Fight at Finnsburg, v. 26.
32. The ancient home of the Longobards (or Lombards) was between the Baltic and the Elbe.
35. Offa: a legendary king of the Angles, while they still lived on the continent toward the end of the fourth century. Legends of him are found in Denmark and in England. Chambers concludes that the Danish form is perhaps very near that known to the author of Widsith. Offa, the son of the king, though a giant in stature, is dumb from his youth, and when the German prince from the south challenges the aged king to send a champion to defend his realm in single combat, Offa’s speech is restored and he goes to the combat. The fight was held at Fifeldore, the River Eider, which was along the frontier between the Germans and the Danes. Here Offa fought against two champions and defeated them both, thus establishing the frontier for many years. Note that the author of Widsith, who is of the Myrging race, is here celebrating the defeat of his own people.
44. Swabians probably refers to the Myrgings, who were of the stock of the Suevi.
45. Hrothwulf and Hrothgar. See Beowulf, vv. 1017 and 1181 ff. Hrothgar is Hrothwulf’s uncle, and they live on friendly terms at Heorot (Hrothgar’s hall). Later it seems that Hrothwulf fails to perform his duties as the guardian of Hrothgar’s son, thus bringing to an end his years of friendliness to Hrothgar and his sons. The fight referred to is against Ingeld, Hrothgar’s son-in-law who invaded the Danish kingdom. (See Beowulf, vv. 84, 2024 ff.)
57. See v. 18, above.
58. The Geats were probably settled in southern Sweden. They were the tribe to which Beowulf belonged.
60. The Gepidæ were closely related to the Goths and were originally located near them at the mouth of the Vistula River. The Wends were a Slavonic tribe who finally pressed up into the lands vacated in the great migrations by the Germans between the Elbe and the Vistula.
61. Angles. See vv. 8 and 44, above. Swæfe. See line 44, above.
62. The Saxons, who with the Angles and Jutes settled Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries, lived originally near the mouth of the Elbe.
63. The Heatho-Raemas dwelt near the modern Christiania in Norway. See Beowulf, line 518, in which Breca in the swimming match reaches their land.
66. Guthhere was a ruler of the Burgundians (v. 19). He was probably at Worms when he gave the jewel to Widsith. Guthhere, because of his great battle with Attila and his tragic defeat, became a great legendary hero. (See Waldhere, B, v. 14.)
67. The Franks and the Frisians are spoken of together in Beowulf (vv. 1207, 1210, 2917), where they together repulse an attack made by Hygelac. The Frisians probably dwelt west of the Zuider Zee.
68. The Rugians and the Glommas. See note to v. 21, above.
70. Ælfwine: (otherwise known as Alboin), the Lombard conqueror of Italy. He was the son of Audoin (Eadwine).
75-87. Most scholars agree that these lines are interpolated, since they do not fit in with the rest of the poem.
75. Serings: possibly Syrians.
78. Welsh: a term applied to the Romans by the Old English writers.
79. The Scride-Finns were settled in northern Norway—not in Finland, where the main body of Finns were found. They are perhaps to be identified with the modern Lapps.
80. Lidwicingas: the inhabitants of Armorica. Longobards. See v. 32.
81. The Hundings are also mentioned in line 23.
86. East Thuringians. Probably those Thuringians dwelling in the sixth century east of the Elbe.
87. Istians. Probably the Esthonians mentioned in the Voyage of Wulfstan. (See p. 194, line 151, below.) The Idumingas were neighbors of the Istians. Both were probably Lettish or Lithuanian tribes.
88. Eormanric. See note to v. 8, above.
93. Eadgils was king of the Myrgings.
97. Ealhhild. See note to v. 5, above. She was (v. 98) daughter of Eadwine, King of the Lombards (v. 74). The meaning here is not absolutely clear, but Chambers makes a good case for considering her the wife of Eormanric. He thinks that she followed her husband’s gift to Widsith by a gift of another ring, in return for which Widsith sings her praises.
112, 113. Emerca and Fridla, the Harlungs, were murdered by their uncle, Eormanric. East-Gota, or Ostrogotha, the king of the united Goths in the middle of the third century, was a direct ancestor of Eormanric.
115. Becca. See note to v. 8. Seafola and Theodoric: probably Theodoric of Verona and his retainer, Sabene of Ravenna. On the other hand, the references may be to Theoderic the Frank. (See v. 24.)
116. Sifeca: probably the evil councillor who brought about the murder by Eormanric of his nephews, the Harlungs. (See vv. 112, 113, note.)
117-119. These names are all very obscure.
120. Hrædas: the Goths.
121. The struggle between the Goths and the Huns did not actually occur in the Vistula wood, but after the Goths had left the Vistula.
124, 130. Wudga and Hama. The typical outlaws of German tradition. Hama appears in Beowulf (v. 1198) as a fugitive who has stolen the Brising necklace and fled from Eormanric. Wudga, the Widia of Waldhere (B, vv. 4, 9) came finally to be known for his treachery. He was connected with the court of Theodoric and received gifts from him, but he is later represented as having betrayed the king. The traditions about both of these men are badly confused.
135-143. One of the passages that give us a definite impression of the scop, or minstrel, and his life. It serves very well for the conclusion of a poem descriptive of the life of a minstrel.
