The article studies a literary fragment written by Notker Labeo around 1000 in Old High German, which mentions a strange cannibalistic custom of the Slavs. This fragment had almost been forgotten by scholars of pre-Christian Slavic culture. It is a commentary on Notker’s translation of De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii by Martianus Capella, which was considerably influenced by a certain literary tradition. The paper looks into Notker’s sources, his influences and the trustworthiness of his evidence.
KEYWORDS: Slavic Paganism, Veleti, Notker Labeo, cannibalism, Polabian Slavs
Članek obravnava literarni odlomek Notkerja Labea, napisan okoli leta 1000 v stari visoki nemščini, ki omenja nenavaden kanibalistični običaj Slovanov. Raziskovalci predkrščanske slovanske kulture so na ta odlomek skorajda pozabili. Gre za komentar Notkerjevega prevoda dela De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii Marcijana Kapele, ki je bil pod precejšnjim vplivom določene literarne tradicije. Članek obravnava Notkerjeve vire, njegove vplive in verodostojnost njegovih dokazov.
KLJUČNE BESEDE: slovansko poganstvo, Veleti, Notker Labeo, kanibalizem, Polabski Slovani
I.
There can be no doubt that attempts to trace the outlines of pre-Christian Slavic religion – Slavic Paganism – often draw the attention of scholars to ancient Russian, in other words, Old East Slavic material. Its sources are well-known and have been translated into modern languages. Serious studies have been devoted to this area. Moreover, ancient Russian sources on Slavic Paganism are much richer in evidence than Czech, Polish, Slovak, Bulgarian or Serbian sources, or indeed any other West or South Slavic cultural region. Important texts that touch upon Paganism, such as the Primary Chronicle or The Tale of Igor’s Campaign are studied at school in Russia and other countries.
However, a different cultural world, often undeservedly overlooked in this respect, can offer as much vivid, ancient and trustworthy evidence on Slavic Paganism. It is the region of the Polabian and the Baltic Slavs who are now mostly extinct, but who played an important role in Europe between the 7th and 12th centuries CE, and contributed greatly to West Slavic culture. The Polabian Slavs inhabited the basin of the River Elbe in present-day Germany. Their very name meant that they lived “along the Elbe”, for Elbe in Slavic languages is “Laba” (cf. the Czech Labe etc.). In addition to the Obodrites (Abotrites), the Veleti (or the Wilzi) and the Rujani (or Rani), who all spoke the Polabian language (which disappeared in the 18th century), the group of the Polabian Slavs also included the Sorbs1 (Lusatian Serbs), who still speak Lusatian languages today and number around 30,000 people living in Germany.2 While the Obodrites, the Veleti and the Rujani are considered to be both Polabian and Baltic Slavs because they lived close to the Baltic coast, the Lusatian Serbs never had access to the sea and are thus classed as Polabian, but not Baltic Slavs. A different group of Baltic Slavs, who were not Polabian Slavs, were the Pomeranians. They inhabited about one fifth of present-day Poland in the north-west of the country and spoke the Pomeranian language, which was close to both Polabian and to a certain extent also to Polish (Brüske 1955: 3–5). These five groups were divided into many tribes, but had a common destiny, which is why they are categorised as the Polabian-Baltic Slav community. For a long time, they struggled to remain independent and to preserve their Paganism against Christian states such as Germany (Holy Roman Empire), Denmark and Poland. In some places they stood their ground until as late as the 1170s,3 but they were eventually defeated in the late 12th century and were annihilated or assimilated by the conquering nations (ЖОБ 2021: 524–525, 644–656).
A number of attempts have been made to collect all the fragments that deal with the Paganism of the Polabian-Baltic Slavs in one publication, from the classical work by K. H. Meyer4 to the recent compendia by J. A. Álvarez-Pedrosa and J. Dynda.5 However, these collections cannot be considered comprehensive. This small study looks at the text that was missed by the abovementioned scholars, as it is peculiar in its genre and its content. I will consider this text as it is preserved in all the relevant languages and briefly analyse it.
Although this passage seldom draws the attention of Western scholars, it has never been forgotten in the works of Russian mediaevalists. Alexander Kotlyarevsky, Alexander Veselovsky, Aleksey Sobolevsky, Vyacheslav V. Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov, among
others, commented upon this text in the 19th and 20th centuries.6 Oddly enough, the fact that Friedrich Engels mentioned this passage in his History of Ireland was mostly left unnoticed by the Soviet scholars. He wrote:
The reports of the classical writers of antiquity about the [Irish] people do
not sound very edifying. Diodorus recounts that those Britons who inhabit
the island called Iris […] eat people. Strabo gives a more detailed report:
“Concerning this island I have nothing certain to tell, except that its inhabitants
are more savage than the Britons, since they are man-eaters […]
they count it an honourable thing, when their fathers die, to devour them
[…]” The patriotic Irish historians have been more than a little indignant
over this alleged calumny. It was reserved to more recent investigation to
prove that cannibalism, and especially the devouring of parents, was a stage
in the development of probably all nations. Perhaps it will be a consolation
to the Irish to know that the ancestors of the present Berliners were still
honouring this custom a full thousand years later (Engels 1970: 34–35).
Engels’ text then proceeds to quote the passage from Notker (following Jacob Grimm) that interests us. His commentary on cannibalism is in itself a curious document of his time, and we will also refer to the ancient geographers below.
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II.
A detour is needed to access Notker’s text. A mysterious author flourished in late Antiquity, called Martianus Capella. We know virtually nothing about him apart from the fact that he lived in Carthage and wrote in Latin. His main work is variously dated by scholars from the early 5th to the early 6th centuries.7 That should not bother us here because Capella only provided the source for the text we will explore.
Martianus’ work is named De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, or “On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury”.8 This text is unusual in form and its genre defies simple characterization. Clive Staples Lewis famously said: “For this universe, which has produced the bee-orchid and the giraffe, has produced nothing stranger than Martianus Capella” (Капелла 2019: 6).9 Usually, De nuptiis is defined as an encyclopaedia or a handbook of the Liberal Arts – Grammar, Rhetoric, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy, Dialectic and Music. Seven of the nine books of the treatise (3rd–9th) are devoted to each of these arts. At the same time De nuptiis can also be read as a work of fiction (Капелла 2019: 9–11).
In the Middle Ages, Martianus Capella’s book became the definitive text in the education system. According to one scholar, “His work may be likened to the neck of an hourglass through which the classical liberal arts trickled to the medieval world” (Капелла 2019: 7). Martianus Capella is quoted as an authority on the most important disciplines by Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, the Venerable Bede and many others, and he later influenced Dante, although his importance diminished by the advent of the Renaissance (Капелла 2019: 11–12).
The first two books of De nuptiis do not deal with the individual arts, acting instead as a narrative framework for the whole treatise. In the first book, the Roman gods decide to marry Mercury to a lady named Philology. The second book opens with Philology divining about her future marriage (it turns out that the bride and groom suit each other perfectly), then the bride is variously dressed and decorated by her friends and kin. Philology is then adopted into the ranks of the immortals and communicates with the gods, travelling across their numerous abodes. Then follows the marriage. Beginning with book three, the author addresses the Liberal Arts, one per book.
Martianus’ work was a very popular school text and was often commented upon in the 9th and 10th centuries. The most influential commentary was written circa 900 by Remigius of Auxerre, a student of John Scotus Eriugena and a renowned expert in philology and philosophy.
III.
Around the year 1000, Notker Labeo (also known as Notker the German), a monk and teacher at the famous centre of study, the Abbey of St. Gall, translated the first two books of De nuptiis into High German.10 I date this translation to the period between 983 and 1020.11 This was not the only thing Notker did for the development of a literary German language,12 but what interests us here is the evidence of Pagan culture of the Veleti found in his translation.
The early 11th century was a high tide in the history of the Veleti. In the first 80 years of the previous century, the German state, especially under Otto the Great, the founder of the “Ottonian” branch of the imperial Saxon dynasty, succeeded in subduing the Polabian Slavs, including the Lusatian Serbs, the Southern Veleti and the Obodrites (Brüske 1955: 16–38). However, by the end of the 900s the situation had changed. A Great Slavic Pagan Revolt erupted in 983, which started in the lands of the Northern Veleti – the Lutici. The revolt aimed to gain independence from the Germans, destroying the emerging ecclesiastical system in the Slavic lands and bringing back the traditional religion. The Lusatian Serbs did not succeed in the revolt, but the Veleti and the Obodrites did (Brüske 1955: 39–54). In the words of Adam of Bremen, who wrote his chronicle in the 11th century:
the Slavs, more than fairly oppressed by their Christian rulers, at length
threw off the yoke of servitude and had to take up arms in defence of their
freedom […] the rebel Slavs wasted first the whole of Nordalbingia13 with
fire and sword; then, going through the rest of Slavia, they set fire to all
the churches and tore them down to the ground. They also murdered the
priests and the other ministers of the churches with diverse tortures and left
not a vestige of Christianity beyond the Elbe. At Hamburg, then and later,
many clerics and citizens were led off into captivity, and even more were
put to death out of hatred for Christianity […] And so all the Slavs who
dwell between the Elbe and the Oder and who had practiced the Christian
religion for seventy years and more, during all the time of the Otto’s, cut
themselves off from the body of Christ and of the Church with which they
had before been joined.14
The Lutici, also known as the Northern Veleti, gained significant power from that point onward. During the war with Poland in the years 1002–1018, Henry II, the Holy Roman Emperor, was even compelled to enter into alliance with the Lutici and practically legalize their Paganism. This inflamed such authoritative contemporaries as Bruno of Querfurt and Thietmar of Merseburg, but also became an incentive for them to record information about the Slavic deities, their cults and shrines (Álvarez-Pedrosa 2021: 64–76).15 The revolt contributed to popularising the Veleti, but they were also demonized as being especially brutal barbarians. I believe Notker followed this line, being a contemporary of Bruno and Thietmar. Not so long ago, it seemed that the Germans had succeeded in suppressing their eastern Pagan neighbours, but after 983 the new reality had to be accepted: the Slavs were once again politically independent, possessed a formidable military power and were determined to develop their Pagan culture. Meanwhile, the Germans did not yet possess the necessary resources to crush them.
However, the golden age of the Lutici was short-lived. In 1056–1057, a devastating internecine war subverted their power. According to Adam of Bremen, “many thousands of pagans were laid low on both sides”.16 Military campaigns against the Baltic Slavs intensified, led by neighbouring powers. With the rapid decline of the Lutici, their lands were taken by the Obodrites, the Rujani, the Pomeranians, the Polish, the Danish and the Germans (Brüske 1955: 78–118; ЖОБ 2021: 593–597). But Notker died before that in 1022.
IV.
Now I turn to Notker’s passage on the customs of the Veleti. It is part of a translated text by Martianus Capella, which includes a commentary on the original treatise and was influenced by other texts. For certain vowels of the Germanic language Notker used acute and circumflex accents, which he thought was crucial, as he himself had written to Hugo of Sitten.17 This orthography is preserved in German editions of Notker, which I follow here.
Notker did not only base his translation on the text by Martianus, but also on the corpus of commentaries on De nuptiis, such as the ones by John Scotus Eriugena and Remigius of Auxerre. In addition, he also turned to “more than sixty sources”, which figure in the commentary by James C. King.18 Notker notably “preferred Remigius to other commentators” (Notker latinus 1986: XV), and opened his translation with a direct reference to him.19
In the second book of De nuptiis, the last one to give the bride adornments is her mother Phronesis, whose name is Greek for “discretion”. The scene takes place at the break of dawn, which ushers in the day of the wedding. Martianus describes this morning in a verse fragment (II, 116) (Martianus 1866: 31):
Et iam tunc roseo subtexere sidera peplo coeperat ambrosiuma promens Aurora pudorem.
Different manuscripts give two readings for a): ambosium and ambronum. Translation:
And now Aurora, with the modesty befitting an immortal, began to hidethe stars with her rosy gown.20
Notker did not only translate these lines but provided an explanation, which he based on the tradition of commentary. What follows is the commentary to this text by Remigius of Auxerre (48.20) (Lutz 1962: 158) with Martianus’ text in bold type:
Et iam tunc roseo subtexere sidera peplo coeperat Ortum diei describit.
Et iam tunc coeperat Aurora subtexere id est occultare vel opperire,
sidera in roseo peplo. Oriente enim die splendor siderum evanescit.
Promens id est manifestans, ipsa Aurora pudorem hoc est facinus vel
turpitudinem, ambronum. Ambrones populi sunt Scithiae qui carnibus
humanis vescuntur et maxime noctibus vagantes captos homines devorant.
Inde fingit Auroram, id est ortum diei, manifestare scelus illorum quod
noctibus peragunt. Brosis Grece cibus dicitur, hinc ambrones ipsi sunt et
antropofagi, id est hominum comesores.
Translation:
And now she started to cover the stars with a rosy gown – [he] describes
the break of day. And now Aurora started to cover – that is, to occult
or wrap the stars in a rosy gown. For at the break of day the splendour of
the stars disappears. Bringing forth, means manifesting, that is, Aurora
[makes manifest] the shame (pudorem), that is, the crime (facinus) of the
Ambrones (ambronum). The Ambrones are the peoples in Scythia who eat
human flesh and mostly devour people whom they catch roving in the night.
That’s why he [Martianus] depicts that Aurora, that is the break of day,
makes manifest their atrocity which they commit by night. Brosis in Greek
means food, and thus “Ambrones” means the same as “Anthropophagi”,
that is, eaters of humans.
In this commentary, the most important distortion of the text occurs, impacting how it is understood later. In Martianus we see the word ambrosium, meaning “immortal”, which refers to the blush (pudor) on the goddess’ cheeks and is a metaphor for the blush of dawn. But Remigius, who reads a garbled manuscript, mistakenly accepts ambronum instead of ambrosium, interpreting it as the name of savage tribes. Whatever the time and circumstances of this distortion,21 Remigius felt the urge to inform the reader about the Ambrones (completely unknown to Martianus’ text!), who figure in the ancient sources, and also to add a story of their nocturnal evildoings, made manifest by the dawn (Aurora). The Ambrones, a “barbaric” tribe of Germanic or, according to older scholarship, Celtic origins, repeatedly defeated the Romans in the late 2nd century BCE in alliance with other Germanic tribes. However, they were ultimately defeated alongside their allies, the Teutons, at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae. These events were mentioned by Titus Livius, Strabo and Plutarch. However, Remigius and later Notker present a completely new tradition of the Ambrones, far from that found in ancient history.
This is the passage from Notker, which shows familiarity with the commentary by Remigius (Notkeri translatio “De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii” Martiani Capellae, II, 8) (Notker 1979: J104–105), with Martianus’ and Remigius’ text set in bold type:
Et iam tunc coeperat aurora subtexere. i. operire sidera. roseo peplo.
Sô uuárd táz ter tág pegónda décchen die stérnen. Prodensa
pudorem. i.turpitudinem ambronum. Irbáronde dîa únerab
dero mán-ézonc. Cibus héizet grece brosis. dánnand
sínt ambrones kenámot. Dîee héizent óuh
antropofagi. dáz chît commessores hominum. In‿scithia gesézzenef.
Sîe ézent náhtes. tés sie síh táges scámeng
múgen. álso man chît. táz óuh hâzessah hîer in‿lánde tûeni.
Áber uueletabi dîe in‿germania sízzent. tîe uuír uuilzej
héizên. dîe nescámentk síh nîeht ze‿chédenne. dáz sîe íro parentes
mitl mêren réhte ézen súlîn. dánne die vuúrme.
Variant readings:22 a) Promens, b) Erbárônde únêra, c) ézôn, d) tánnân, e) kenámôt. Tîe, f) gesézene, g) scámên, h) hâzessâ, i) tûên, j) uuílze, k) nescámênt, l) mít. Translated from Old High German by Matvey M. Fialko:23
And now Aurora, began to occult, i.e., cover the stars with her rosy
gown. – And there was the day [i.e., dawn] covering these stars. Bringing
forth the shame, i.e., the disgrace of the Ambrones. And aroused (?)
[the dawn] shame in the man-eaters. Food in Greek is called “brosis”, thus
they are called “the Ambrones”. They are called the Anthropophagi, that is
“eaters of humans”, who are in Scythia. They eat by night, because they
are ashamed to do it by day. It is also said that the same is done by the
witches who inhabit these parts. But the Weletabi who live in Germany,
and whom we call the Wiltzi, are not ashamed to admit that they have more
rights to eat their parents than do the worms.24
So, here is the text regarding the customs of the Veleti. According to Notker, they are cannibals, like the “Ambrones”, and they admit to eating their own parents. Where do these notions come from and are they trustworthy as evidence?
V.
As has been said above, Martianus Capella knows nothing about the Ambrones, although he does mention the Anthropophagi. This tradition is no doubt descended from ancient Greek historiography through intermediary texts. Its main topos is Scythia, inhabited by the Anthropophagi, the Man-eaters.
They are first mentioned by Herodotus, who is directly quoted neither by Martianus, nor by Remigius, nor by Notker. The father of history deals at length with cannibalism among the barbarians. For example, he uses this topic to illustrate the varying conceptions of what is sacred among different peoples (Herod., Hist. III, 38):25
When Darius was king, he summoned the Greeks who were with him
and asked them what price would persuade them to eat their fathers’ dead
bodies. They answered that there was no price for which they would do it.
Then he summoned those Indians who are called Callatiae, who eat their
parents, and asked them (the Greeks being present and understanding by
interpretation what was said) what would make them willing to burn their
fathers at death. The Indians cried aloud that he should not speak of so
horrid an act.
But the main corpus of evidence on cannibalism is found in book four. First, he introduces the name of the people “Androfagi” (Ἀνδροφάγοι) (Herodotus 1928: 218) in IV, 18 and IV, 106:27
The Man-eaters are of all men the most savage in their manner of life […] they are the only people of all these that eat men.
Then, Herodotus describes the details of cannibalism, although in relation to other nations, for instance in IV, 26:28
It is said to be the custom of the Issedones, that whenever a man’s father
dies, all the nearest of kin bring beasts of the flock, and having killed these
and cut up the flesh they cut up also the dead father of their host, and set
out all the flesh mingled together for a feast.
This place echoes I, 216:29
Now, for their [the Massagetes’] customs […] when a man is very old all
his kin meet together and kill him, with beasts of the flock besides, then
boil the flesh and feast on it. This is held to be the happiest death; when a
man dies of a sickness, they do not eat him, but bury him in the earth, and
lament that he would not live to be killed.
The fact that the authors who interest us here do not make direct references to Herodotus is irrelevant. The historians and geographers of later ages who wrote about Northern and Eastern Europe have taken such legends into account. In time they appeared in Latin letters. In the middle of the first century CE, Pomponius Mela quotes Herodotus’ story of the “Essedones” (sic) almost verbatim (II, 8 (9)) (Древняя Русь 2017: 233). In his Naturalis historia, his junior contemporary Pliny the Elder, read by Remigius (Lutz 1962: 23) and Notker (Notker latinus 1986: XVIII), uses the names Anthropophagi and Essedones alongside other ethnonyms found in Herodotus (IV, 88). Pliny the Elder is also one of the first to mention the Venedi (IV, 97), that is, the Slavs (Древняя Русь 2017: 244, 246). Many more examples can be given. The topos of bizarre savages taken up by Herodotus was repeatedly exploited over the centuries. Despite the plots and ethnonyms becoming increasingly anachronistic, these stories continued to be reimagined and mixed in various forms, retaining their popular appeal.
I will not dwell upon cannibalism as represented in Latin literature. It is worth noting, however, that the stories of cannibals remained popular in mediaeval literature in the West. The old names of nations merged with new ones, and half a century later Notker Adam of Bremen wrote (IV, 19):30
The Cynocephali31 are men who have their heads on their breasts. They
are often seen in Russia as captives and they voice their words in barks. In
that region too, are those who are called Alani or Albani, in their language
named Wizzi; very hard-hearted gluttons,32 born with grey hair. The writer
Solinus mentions them. Dogs defend their country. Whenever the Alani have
to fight, they draw up their dogs in battle line […] Finally there are those
who are given the name Anthropophagi and they feed on human flesh. In
that territory live very many other kinds of monsters whom mariners say
they have often seen, although our people think it hardly credible.
Here, there is a curious gloss to the word “ambrones” in Adam’s chronicle, which echoes Notker’s evidence, specifically the scholia 124 (120):33
In their language they are called Wilzi; most cruel gluttons [ambrones], whom the poet calls Gelani.34
According to the scholarly commentary (Бременский 2011: 150 сн. 98), the “poets” are Virgil (Geor. III, 461) and Lucan (Phars. III, 283). They only mention the swift Geloni35, without speaking of the Ambrones or the Wiltzi. Therefore, the identification was either made by Adam of Bremen himself, or borrowed by both Adam and Notker from some common mediaeval source. Another alternative is that Adam followed the literary fashion, randomly mixing the bizarre images of Northern European nations.36
Another ancient geographic work calls for attention here. It is the Geographical Guidance written in the 2nd century by Claudius Ptolemy (III, 5.10):37
Back from the Ocean, near the Venedicus Bay, the Veltae dwell, above
whom are the Ossi; then more toward the north the Carbones, and toward
the east are the Careotae and the Sali; below whom are the Gelones.
While the ethnonym “Ven(e)di” was used by German authors to refer to the Polabian-Baltic Slavs as late as the early Middle Ages, Venedicus (Οὐενεδικῷ) Bay was the Baltic Sea. I will not touch upon the dubious matter of whether Ptolemy’s Veltae (Οὐέλται) were linked to the mediaeval Slavs – Veleti.38 My point is to show that from an early period, the “Wilzi”, whoever this ethnonym referred to, were firmly placed among other barbaric nations in geographical literature.
Among Notker’s sources identified by James C. King, two deserve special consideration (Notker latinus 1986: 156–157). The first one is the Life of Charlemagne (Vita Caroli Magni) written by Einhard in the 9th century (chapter 12):39
[In 789 CE] he [Charlemagne] waged war against the Slavs, whom we are
accustomed to call Wilzi, but who properly – that is, in their own tongue
– are called Welatabi […] There is a gulf stretching from the western sea
towards the East, of undiscovered length […] The Slavs and the Aisti and
various other nations inhabit the eastern shore, amongst whom the chief
are these Welatabi against whom then the king waged war.
Notker borrowed his “Weletabi” from this passage. I believe it is beyond doubt that the geographical description of North-East Europe (Scythia/Baltic region) first attempted by Herodotus was subsequently expanded by various authors. Over time, this list of nations included the Veleti, who were sometimes confused with their “neighbours” the Geloni, the Ambrones, the Anthropophagi, and others. We see here a typical example of a literary game. By providing an intertext with references to earlier sources, the new author could first show his erudition and bow to the authoritative texts, and then proceed to make his story more vivid by adding old material and interpretations or etymologies, no matter how fantastical they might be.
The second text to mention the Veleti in the time of Charlemagne was written by another Notker – Notker Balbulus, or Notker “the Stammerer” (c. 840–912) (Ноткер Заика 2023: 389). He also worked at the Abbey of St. Gall, but a century earlier than Notker Labeo. Around 885 he wrote The Deeds of Charlemagne (Gesta Karoli Magni), in which he mentions the Veleti and “worms” in a somewhat boastful context. In the following story, he ьmentions an enormous and mighty warrior of Charlemagne’s throng named Eishere (II, 12):40
Therefore, when he was in the company of Caesar, he mowed the Bohemians,
the Wilzi and the Avars like the grass in the meadow and stringed
them on his spear like little birds. When he returned home and was asked
by those who wondered how did he fare in the region of the Veneds, he
answered, despising the latter and chafing at the former: “What are these
froglets to me? I usually stringed seven, eight or even nine of them on my
spear and carried them around, while they were blathering I don’t know
what. Our Lord the Caesar and us just wasted our time on these worms”.
It is, however, unclear to what extent this Notker influenced the other.
VI.
James C. King wrote “it is unclear where Notker borrowed the information about such a diet of these people from” and saw no parallels in the sources (Notker latinus 1986: 157). Wolfgang Brüske did not deal with this matter at all, only studying the forms of the ethnonym from the passage without translating or retelling it (Brüske 1955: 7 Anm. 29). Alexander F. Hilferding spoke of the Slavic cannibalism as “German fairy-tales”, without taking the problem seriously (Гильфердинг 2013: 92–93). Alexander N. Veselovsky took the same approach (Веселовский 1906: 20). Alexander A. Kotlyarevsky found other German texts discussing the cannibalism of the Slavs in the early modern period, up until the 17th and 18th centuries. These texts seemed to allude more to Herodotus than to ethnographic evidence (Котляревский 2016: 118–120). He concludes that “one feature is particularly striking, namely that the Wilzi ate their elderly parents. As we find no similar customs among the Slavs or even the most savage peoples, we do not consider this to be an ethnographic account. Such tales were in vogue during the Middle Ages. Travellers and seafarers loved to boast about the miracles they saw abroad, and the gullible chroniclers were only too keen to record their stories as fact. The tale could also have a bookish and scholarly origin because mediaeval lore traced the origin of the Slavs to the Scythes and the Massagetes, who engaged in such customs, according to Herodotus” (Котляревский 2016: 121–122).
There is, however, a curious passage from the so-called Pseudo-Caesarius of Nazianzus, attributed to a 4th century author, but actually written in the mid-500s (II, 110):41
How is it possible that the Sclaveni and the Physonites (who are also called Danubians),
[…] the ones who devour with great pleasure the breasts of women because they are full of milk,
dashing unweaned babes against the rocks like rats,
while the others abstain even from the licit and irreproachable consumption of meat?
The commentary on the passage (Álvarez-Pedrosa 2021: 27–28) can be seen as a reference to Herodotus, specifically his account of the Amazons, who, according to later authors like Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, removed one of their breasts. The sceptical tone of the passage is due to the author being a witness to Slavic military raids. This episode only faintly echoes Notker.
VII.
To conclude, the possibility that the Veleti actually ate their parents seems highly unlikely. It is more probable that Notker engaged in a literary game, with origins in Herodotus. I
argue that this passage in Notker was due to the fact that the Great Slavic Revolt of 983 had a deep impact on Germany. The cruelty of the Veleti towards the Christians prompted men of letters to write about ancient nations and their savagery. This was facilitated by the historical connections between the Veleti and other nations of North-East Europe from the time of Ptolemy, as documented in literature. Remigius, misinterpreting a passage in De Nuptiis by Martianus Capella, forged a connection that Notker accepted, leading to the conflation of the Anthropophagi/Ambrones with the Veleti. Tenuous asm such links may be, they fit seamlessly into the mediaeval tradition of literary invention, a practice in which both Adam of Bremen and a Russian chronicler enthusiastically participated. I argue that it was the literary sources and not the ethnographic data that made Notker write of the Veleti as cannibals. The Abbey of St. Gall, where Notker “spent his entire life” (Ганина 2015: 39), was 600 km away from the closest settlements of the Veleti and he probably learnt about this people either from his contemporaries, who were horrified by the atrocious revolt of 983, or from literary works, which spoke of the northern and eastern barbarians engaging in cannibalism and other types of savagery. Notker was equally ready to ascribe the same cannibalism to the local witches (“hâzessa”), but it did not produce the same reaction as the account of the man-eating Wilzi.
Although it would have been perfectly natural for any Christian author writing about the Pagan Slavs, for two hundred years after Notker while Paganism was alive, no one mentioned such a barbaric and bizarre custom as cannibalism among the Veleti. This is notable as it could have been used for the purpose of Christian missions or calls to subdue the Pagans. On the contrary, when we turn to descriptions of Western Slavic customs by Thietmar of Merseburg (“Chronicon” VIII, 3) or St. Boniface, 250 years before him, we find cremation as a standard Slavic funerary rite.42 No other sources mention cannibalism among any Slavic people. It is highly likely that, much like the Greeks in the story told by Herodotus about King Darius’ court (III, 38), the Slavs would have shuddered at the mere notion of the cannibalism ascribed to them by Notker. His use of literary tradition to interpret the events of the 983 rebellion should lead us to dismiss cannibalism as an aspect of Pagan Slavic culture.
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POGAŃSKIE ZWYCZAJE WIELETÓW WEDŁUG NOTKERA LABEO
Oleg Vladislavovich Kutarev
Pomimo długich prób zebrania wszystkich najważniejszych źródeł na remat przedchrześcijańskiej religii i kulturze Słowian, wciąż pozostają teksty i autorzy, którzy nie są dobrze znani w literaturze i są niejako “zapomnianymi” badaczami. Jednym z takich autorów jest Notker Labeo (ok. 950–1022), dzięki któremu nastąpiło powstanie niemieckiego języka literackiego. Wśród jego dużych prac wyróżnia się tłumaczenie na język staro-wysoko-niemiecki łacińskiego późnoantycznego dzieła Marcianusa Capelli “O zaślubinach Merkurego i Filologii” (lat. “De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii”). Oprócz przekazywania tego złożonego tekstu w języku ojczystym, Notker po pierwsze powoływał się na szeroką tradycję komentatorską w odniesieniu do Marcjana, a po drugie dawał mu kilka własnych komentarzy. W jednym z wyjaśnień poetyckiego obrazu świtu lub Bogini Aurory Marcjana, Notker, pod wpływem komentarza Remigiusza z Auxxere (IX w.), rozpoczął krótką opowieść o ludziach ambronów – komentarz do słowa “ambronum”, które było zniekształceniem pierwotnego “ambrosium”, tj. “nieśmiertelnych”, co dotyczyło cech Aurory, a Marcjan w ogóle nie wspomniał o tym etnonimie. Łącząc w stos wyobrażenia o różnych ludach północnej i wschodniej Europy z różnych źródeł antycznych i średniowiecznych, Notker podążył za Remigiuszem, przedstawiając ambronów jako kanibali i przy okazji postanowił dodać, że w jego rodzinnych Niemczech również Wieletowie (Słowianie połabscy) “nie wstydzą się przyznać, że mają większe prawo niż robaki do jedzenia swoich rodziców”. Oprócz przeglądu samego fragmentu Notkera o Wieletach, tekstu źródłowego Marcjana
2 Strictly speaking, only one of the tribes of the Obodrites were called Polabians, but in this paper I use this name only in the broad sense.
3 This date can be traced from the Icelandic Knýtlinga saga written in the mid-13th century, which deals with Danish history. The chapter 122 of the saga report that even after the Danish conquest of Arkona and Korenitsa/Charenza (the main Pagan centers of the Rujani) in the late 1160s, a number of Pagan shrines were still functioning, and one of them dedicated to the god Tjarnaglófi “resisted longer than the others but they managed to get him three years after” (Knytlinga saga 1986: 169); in the original: “Hann helzk lengst við, en þó fengu þeir hann á þriðja vetri þar eptir” (Knýtlinga saga 1982: 305).
4 Meyer (1931) is a collection of fragments in the original without translation or commentary. It comprises sources on Paganism of all the West Slavs and partially the South Slavs. These sources are mostly trustworthy Latin texts. This article deals with a source in a different language.
5 These works have a solid commentary. The book by Álvarez-Pedrosa was initially published in Spanish (Álvarez-Pedrosa 2017: 61–199 etc.), and then in English with the addition of fragments in the original (Álvarez-Pedrosa 2021: 50–221 etc.); the original texts with translations into Czech are given in Dynda 2017: 33–248. In the indefinite future I plan to publish a compilation of this kind in Russian. In my recent article (in English) I tried to make a thorough review of the reliable evidence on the deities venerated by the ancient Slavs (Kutarev 2023). However, the sources mentioned are treated in a cursory manner and many facets of the multifarious Pagan culture are left out.
6 See, for instance, Веселовский 1906: 20 and Иванов, Топоров 1974: 69 и т. д. and their bibliographies. I mention other authors below.
7 See the literature in Капелла 2019: 8–9; certain scholars date Capella as early as the 3rd century. Yuri A. Shahov, translator and scholar of Martianus Capella, does not explicitly side with any date.
8 Latin (Martianus 1866); Russian (Капелла 2019).
9 See the opinions regarding Martianus Capella that range from the critical to the respectful. For example, one claims his treatise was the most popular literary work in Western Europe at some point, next only to Virgil and the Bible, in Капелла 2019: 7–8.
10 The original text is from Notker (1979), taking into consideration Piper (1882), and a critical edition (Notker latinus 1986).
11 In 1020, Notker in his old age recounts in a letter (Epistola ad Hugonem episcopum Sedunensem) to Hugo, Bishop of Sitten (modern-day Sion in Switzerland), his various translations, and among them notes: “and I translated ‘The Marriage of Philology’” (“et transtuli nuptias philologiae”) (Grotans 1999). See the letter in Piper (1882: 859–861). It is hard to establish the terminus post quem of the translation, however, it is not earlier than 970s because Notker is said to have been born in the 950s, and he is described at the time of his death in 1022 as a septuagenarian by one of his students (Ганина 2015: 39). I am sure it is safe to claim the translation was made after 983, although it is impossible to give a more precise date.
12 See Ганина (2015). Natalia Ganina provides an in-depth examination of Notker’s life, his works and the purpose of his translations into German.
13 The lands in the lower, that is, northern part of the Elbe.
14 Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, II, 42–44 (40–42) (Adam 2002: 83–85). “Sclavi a christianis iudicibus plus iusto compressi, excusso tandem iugo servitutis libertatem suam armis defendere coacti sunt. […] Sclavi rebellantes totam primo Nortalbingiam ferro et igne depopulati sunt; deinde reliquam peragrantes Sclavoniam omnes ecclesias incenderunt et ad solum usque diruerunt; sacerdotes autem et reliquos ecclesiarum ministros variis suppliciis enecantes, nullum christianitatis vestigium trans Albiam reliquerunt. Apud Hammaburg eo tempore ac deinceps multi ex clero et civibus in captivitatem abducti sunt, plures etiam interfecti propter odium christianitatis. […] Omnes igitur Sclavi, qui inter Albiam et Oddaram habitant, per annos LXX et amplius christianitatem coluerunt, omni tempore Ottonum, talique modo se absciderunt a corpore Christi et ecclesiae, cui antea coniuncti fuerant” (Adam Bremensis 1917: 102–105).
15 For the “legalization” of Slavic Paganism under Henry II, which brought to life the first detailed descriptions of Slavic religion (the earliest material being about the Lutici), see my article (Кутарев 2018).
16 III, 22 (21) (Adam 2002: 133). “Multa milia paganorum hinc inde prostrati sunt” (Adam Bremensis 1917: 165).
17 “Teuton words are not to be written without accents […] acute and circumflex”; “uerba theutonica sine accentu scribenda non sunt […] acuto et circumflexo” (Piper 1882: 861).
18 See Notker latinus (1986: XVII–XVIII); all his sources are not yet identified (ibid.: XX).
19 Notker opens his translations with a telling phrase “Remigius instructs us that the full name of this author was Martianus […]”; “Remigius lêret únsih tísen auctorem álenámen uuésen gehéizenen martianum […]” (Notker 1979: J2; Piper 1882: 687).
20 I substitute “the immortal” for “the goddess” in the quoted translation (Martianus 1977: 40) because it better reflects the word ambrosium, which is crucial for us here, cf. Капелла (2019: 80).
21 It looks like one of the manuscript copies had identical ducts for “si” and “n”.
22 From Notker (1979: J104–105); the earlier edition is almost identical (Piper 1882: 787), only mánézon and zechédenne are written as one word; in all other cases the ‿ is replaced with an interval.
23 I thank Dmitry Galtsin, Matvey Fialko and Andrey Dosaev for their assistance in the translations to this article.
24 As translated by Alexander N. Veselovsky into Russian: «Велетабы, живущие в Германии, которых мы зовём Вильцами, не стыдятся говорить, что они едят своих родителей с бо́льшим правом, чем черви» (Веселовский 1906: 20) – “the Veletabi who dwell in Germany, and whom we call the Wilzi, are not ashamed to say that they eat their parents with more right than do the worms”; in the Russian version of F. Engels’ treatise: «Велетабы, которые живут в Германии и которых мы называем вильцами, не стыдятся признавать, что они могут поедать своих родителей с бо́льшим правом, чем черви» (Энгельс 1948: 89) – “the Veletabi, who inhabit Germany and whom we call the Wilzi, are not ashamed to acknowledge that they can eat their parents more rightfully than the worms can”.
25 (Herodotus 1928: 50–51): “Δαρεῖος ἐπὶ τῆς ἑωυτοῦ ἀρχῆς καλέσας Ἑλλήνων τοὺς παρεόντας εἴρετο ἐπὶ κόσῳ ἂν χρήματι βουλοίατο τοὺς πατέρας ἀποθνήσκοντας κατασιτέεσθαι· οἳ δὲ ἐπ᾽ οὐδενὶ ἔφασαν ἔρδειν ἂν τοῦτο. Δαρεῖος δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα καλέσας Ἰνδῶν τοὺς καλεομένους Καλλατίας, οἳ τοὺς γονέας κατεσθίουσι, εἴρετο, παρεόντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ δι᾽ ἑρμηνέος μανθανόντων τὰ λεγόμενα, ἐπὶ τίνι χρήματι δεξαίατ᾽ ἂν τελευτῶντας τοὺς πατέρας κατακαίειν πυρί· οἳ δὲ ἀμβώσαντες μέγα εὐφημέειν μιν ἐκέλευον”.
26 The Ancient Russian “Primary Chronicle” (12th century), in concordance with the Greek chronographs, attributes cannibalism to the Indians, who are reported to be fond of eating travelers: “the Indians […] eat people and kill travellers”; «Индомъ […] чл҃вкы ядуще. и страньствующихъ оубиваху» (Ипат. 1908: 11).
27 (Herodotus 1928: 306–307): “Ἀνδροφάγοι δὲ ἀγριώτατα πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἔχουσι ἤθεα, […] ἀνδροφαγέουσι δὲ μοῦνοι τούτων”. They are mentioned some more times.
28 (Herodotus 1928: 224–225): “Νόμοισι δὲ Ἰσσηδόνες τοῖσιδε λέγονται χρᾶσθαι. ἐπεὰν ἀνδρὶ ἀποθάνῃ πατήρ, οἱ προσήκοντες πάντες προσάγουσι πρόβατα, καὶ ἔπειτα ταῦτα θύσαντες καὶ καταταμόντες τὰ κρέα κατατάμνουσι καὶ τὸν τοῦ δεκομένου τεθνεῶτα γονέα, ἀναμίξαντες δὲ πάντα τὰ κρέα δαῖτα προτίθενται”.
29 (Herodotus 1920: 270–271): “Νόμοισι δὲ χρέωνται τοιοῖσιδε […] Μασσαγέτης […] οὖρος δὲ ἡλικίης σφι πρόκειται ἄλλος μὲν οὐδείς· ἐπεὰν δὲ γέρων γένηται κάρτα, οἱ προσήκοντές οἱ πάντες συνελθόντες θύουσί μιν καὶ ἄλλα πρόβατα ἅμα αὐτῷ, ἑψήσαντες δὲ τὰ κρέα κατευωχέονται. ταῦτα μὲν τὰ ὀλβιώτατά σφι νενόμισται, τὸν δὲ νούσῳ τελευτήσαντα οὐ κατασιτέονται ἀλλὰ γῇ κρύπτουσι, συμφορὴν ποιεύμενοι ὅτι οὐκ ἵκετο ἐς τὸ τυθῆναι”.
30 (Adam 2002: 200–201); “Cynocephali sunt, qui in pectore caput habent; in Ruzzia videntur sepe captivi, et cum verbis latrant in voce. Ibi sunt etiam, qui dicuntur Alani vel Albani, qui lingua eorum Wizzi dicuntur, crudelissimi ambrones; cum canitie nascuntur; de quibus auctor Solinus meminit; eorum patriam canes defendunt; si quando pugnandum est, canibus aciem struunt. Ibi sunt […] qui dicuntur Antropofagi et humanis vescuntur carnibus. Ibi sunt alia monstra plurima, quae recitantur a navigantibus sepe inspecta, quamvis hoc nostris vix credibile putetur” (Adam Bremensis 1917: 247–248).
31 Literally “the dog-headed”, who had also been mentioned by Herodotus (IV, 191) as the “κυνοκέφαλοι” (Herodotus 1928: 394).
32 In the original: “crudelissimi ambrones”, i.e., “the cruelest Ambrones”.
33 (Adam 2002: 200); “Qui lingua eorum Wilzi dicuntur, crudelissimi ambrones, quos poeta Gelanos vocat” (Adam Bremensis 1917: 248).
34 Adam makes numerous references to Martianus Capella. For instance, in the next chapter (IV, 20) he mentions the Scythian, that is, the Baltic shore (Adam 2002: 201): “which Martian says was ‘full of a multifarious diversity of barbarians’” (“litus Scithicum, quod Martianus ait ‘confertum esse multiplici diversitate barbarorum’” (Adam Bremensis 1917: 249)), while in the same chapter of De nuptiis (VI, 663) the author enumerates nations including “Geloni Agathyrsi Anthropophagi” (Martianus 1866: 227); cf. VI, 693: “beyond the Scythian ocean […] the way becomes impenetrable due to the Anthropophagi” (“sed Scythico Oceano […] Anthropophagi excursus inuios reddidere” (Martianus 1866: 240)), etc.
35 The Geloni were first mentioned by Herodotus (“Γελωνοὶ”; IV, 102, 108–109 etc.), although he does not write that they were swift or cannibals (Herodotus 1928: 304, 308).
36 The possible confusion in IV, 19 between the Wilzi and the Wizzi is notable, for the latter could have been a reference to the Finnic people known as the Vepsians (Бременский 2011: 147 сн. 37), cf. Old Russian «весь» (Ves’) (Ипат. 1908: 8, 14 и т. д.).
37 Ptolemy 1991: 80. “Πάλιν δὲ τὴν μὲν ἐφεξῆς τῷ Οὐενεδικῷ κόλπῳ παρωκεανῖτιν κατέχουσιν Οὐέλται, ὑπὲρ οὓς Ὄσιοι, εἶτα Κάρβωνες ἀρκτικώτατοι, ὧν ἀνατολικώτεροι Καρεῶται καὶ Σάλοι ὑπὸ τούτους καὶ Γέλωνες” (Птолемей 1994: 50–51).
38 Some literature can be found in Птолемей (1994: 54–62), although this topic needs special treatment.
39 (Eginhard 1999: 12); “Sclavis, qui nostra consuetudine Wilzi, proprie vero, id est sua locutione, Welatabi dicuntur, bellum inlatum est […]. Sinus quidam ab occidentali oceano orientem versus porrigitur. […] At litus […] Sclavi et Aisti et aliae diversae incolunt nationes; inter quos vel praecipui sunt, quibus tunc a rege bellum
inferebatur, Welatabi” (Einhardi Vita 1911: 15).
40 (Ноткер Заика 2023: 439–440); “Is itaque cum in comitatu cęsaris Bemanos, Wilzos et Avaros in morem prati secaret et in avicularum modum de hastili suspenderet, domum victor reversus et a torpentibus interrogatus, qualiter ei in regione Winidum complaceret, illos dedignatus hisque indignatus aiebat: ‘Quid mihi ranunculi illi? Septem vel octo vel certe novem de illis hasta mea perforatos et quid nescio murmurantes huc illucque portare solebam. Frustra adversum tales vermiculos domnus rex et nos fatigati sumus’” (Notker Balbulus 1959: 75). James C. King wrongly attributes this fragment as II, 13 (Notker latinus 1986: 156).
41 (Álvarez-Pedrosa 2021: 28): “ὄντες οἱ Σκλαυνοὶ καὶ οἱ Φεισωνὶται, οἱ καὶ Δανούβιοι προσαγορευόμενοι, οἱ μὲν γυναικομαστοβοροῦσιν ἡδέως διὰ τὸ πεπληρῶσθαι τοῦ γάλακτος, μυῶν δίκην τοὺς ὑποτίτθους ταῖς πέτραις ἐπαράττοντες, οἱ δὲ καὶ τῆς νομίμης καὶ ἀδιαβλήτου κρεοβορίας ἀπέχονται”.
42 A letter from St. Boniface No. 73, addressed to Aethelbald, King of Mercia circa 746–747 (Бонифаций 1995: 416–417). Boniface compares the “rustic kindred of the Slavs and the savage Scythia” (“rustica gens hominum Sclaforum et Scythia dura”) (Бонифаций 1995: 414–415, cf. Álvarez-Pedrosa 2021: 50–51).
43 All dates for internet resources are given on 31. 10. 2023.