The story of Eormenric is again rather a different case. There can be no question that this king was a historical person, but the earliest detailed account which we possess of his doings, viz. that given by Jordanes, dates from nearly two centuries after his death. Now we find what is perhaps the most striking episode in Eormenric's story, namely the account of Swanhild and the vengeance attempted by her brothers, both in Jordanes and the Older Edda (Guðrúnarhvöt and Hamðismál) with comparatively slight variations. The chief feature wanting in Jordanes' account is supplied by the Annals of Quedlinburg.[30] How much truth the story contains we are not in a position to decide. But even if we grant that the main features are historical, the event can hardly have been of the first importance, since the attack seems really to have failed in its object. Ammianus Marcellinus says that Eormenric committed suicide owing to despair at the impending Hunnish invasion, and Jordanes recognises that his death was partly due to this cause. But in the later (Scandinavian and German) accounts it is entirely forgotten. Hence if we bear in mind the close agreement between the Gothic and Scandinavian versions of the story, not only in the names of the characters but also in the description of Swanhild's death, we can hardly help inferring that they are derived from a common narrative source.
In conclusion mention may be made of a story which appears to be definitely at variance with historical truth, namely the account of Attila's death given in the Edda poems Atlakviða and Atlamál. It is there stated that Attila was murdered with his two children by his wife Guðrún in revenge for her brothers (Gunnarr and Högni), whom he had treacherously put to death. Now Jordanes (cap. 49) says that Attila died from the bursting of a blood-vessel on the night of his marriage with a girl named Ildico. As his account is derived from Priscus, a contemporary and trustworthy writer, there can be little doubt that it is correct. Yet it should be observed that the Roman chronicler Marcellinus Comes, who wrote apparently a few years before Jordanes, says that Attila died by the hand of a woman.[31] The account given in the Edda therefore is no invention of an Icelandic or Norwegian poet, but founded on a story which was current among the Romans within a century after Attila's death. Indeed considering the circumstances it is by no means unlikely that the story originated immediately after the event.
These examples will be sufficient to show that the subjects of many of our poems are derived from stories which passed from one Teutonic people to another and some of which were of great antiquity. Further, it is a proof of the popularity of these stories that they were preserved until comparatively late in the Middle Ages, in spite of the fact that they did not appeal to national interests. The question how they were preserved and transmitted is one which we shall have to discuss in the following chapters. We may note at once however that the most obvious means of preservation, namely by means of writing, was almost certainly not used to any great extent. Had that been the case the divergencies between the different versions of the stories would be far less noticeable than they are. Even in the case of Waldhere, which shows probably the least amount of variation, the Anglo-Saxon fragments show a treatment of the subject totally different from that which appears in Ekkehard's poem. Again, there is no evidence that the Roman alphabet was used in the North, except possibly by a few foreigners here and there, before the end of the tenth century, while the Runic alphabet, though it had been known for many centuries, seems not to have been employed for literary purposes until very late times. But, as we have already mentioned, some of the Edda poems date probably from the ninth century, and the story of Heðinn and Högni is used by the poet Bragi who lived apparently in the early part of that century. On the Continent of course the case is somewhat different. We have seen that Charlemagne did have a number of ancient poems written down; but there is nothing to show that his collection had any permanent influence. When the Quedlinburg annalist or his authority quotes the heroic stories, perhaps some two centuries later, he refers not to any written works but to songs formerly current among the country people. It is doubtless by oral tradition therefore, whether in verse or prose, that the stories of the Heroic Age have mainly been preserved.
There can be no question that a large number of similar stories have perished. A glance through the catalogues of Widsith will show many names which otherwise are entirely unknown to us, and also an appreciable number which are not mentioned elsewhere in Anglo-Saxon literature, though they figure in German and Scandinavian records. It would scarcely be wise however to assume that all the stories of the Heroic Age were common Teutonic property. Thus we have no evidence for the story of Waldhere in the North[32], while stories dealing with Danish heroes seem to have been little known in Germany. The latter observation deserves notice all the more in view of the obvious popularity of such stories in England—a fact proved not merely by Beowulf and Finn, but still more by the prominence assigned to Danish characters in Widsith.
It will be convenient now to summarise briefly the results of our discussion. We have seen that the scenes of the heroic stories are distributed over most of the lands formerly occupied by the Teutonic peoples. Norway and England however, as well as the distant kingdoms of the Visigoths and Vandals, seem to lie outside the area. The heroes also are drawn from many nations, though not in the proportion which we should expect. Thus the Frankish nation, which ultimately became dominant, is but poorly represented, while the most prominent places are taken by peoples such as the Ostrogoths and Burgundians, which lost their nationality in the course of the sixth century.
We have further seen that a very large proportion of the characters of the heroic stories figure in the literature of two or more nations, and that frequently the same stories are told of them. In the latter case it is probable, indeed often practically certain, that the different versions of the story are ultimately derived from a common narrative. On the other hand, where the same characters are known but only in connection with different events, such derivation can be proved only if it can be shown that the characters themselves are fictitious. This remark applies especially to a number of characters common to Beowulf and Scandinavian stories relating to Hrólfr Kraki and his times.
It is fully in accord with these facts that the heroic poems are not concerned at all—or at least only to a very slight degree—with local or tribal interests. Their tone indeed may be described as in a sense international, though with the restriction that characters and scenes alike are drawn exclusively from within the Teutonic world.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] These poems do introduce Bavarian characters, such as the Markgraf Rüdiger; but they are not found elsewhere in heroic poetry.