Chapter 6

Not only three, but occasionally two figures side by side are mentioned, particularly those of Wuotan and Donar or of Mars and Mercurius, as we see from the passages cited. Figures of Freyr and Thor together, and of Frigg and Freyja, occur in Müller's sagabibl. 1, 92. Names of places also often indicate such joint worship of two divinities, e.g. in Hesse the Donnerseiche (Thor's oak) stood close by the Wodansberg; and explorers would do well to attend to the point.

But neither the alleged number of the statues, nor their descriptions in the sagas can pass for historical; what they do prove is, that statues there were. They appear mostly to have been hewn out of wood, some perhaps were painted, clothed, and overlaid with silver or gold; but no doubt stone images were also to be met with, and smaller ones of copper or ivory. (11)

I have put off until now the mention of a peculiar term for statue, with which some striking accounts of heathen idols connect themselves.

OHG. glosses have the word irmansûlî [[[great pillar]]], pyramides, Mons. 360. avarûn [[[statue]]], irmansûlî [[[great pillar]]], pyramides, Doc. 203. irmansûl [[[great pillar]]], colossus, altissima columna, Florent. 987, Blas. 86. colossus est irminsûl, Gl. Schletst. 18, 1. 28, 1. The literal meaning seems to be statue, to judge by the synonym avarâ [[[statue]]], which in Gl. jun. 226 is used for statua and imago. It was not yet extinct in the 12th century, as appears from two places in the Kaiserchronik, near the beginning of the poem, and very likely there are more of them; it is said of Mercury (Massmann 129):---

ûf einir yrmensûle

  Upon an yrmensûl

stuont ein abgot ungehiure,

  Stood an idol huge,

den hiezen sie ir koufman.

    Him they called their

   merchant.
Again of Julius Cæsar (Massm. 624):---

Rômaere in ungetrûwelîche sluogen,

    Romans him

   untruly slew,

ûf einir yrmensûl sie in begruoben.

       On an yrm, they

   buried him.
And of Simon Magus 24 (Massm. 4432):---

ûf eine yrmensûl er steic,

         On an yrmensul he climbed,

daz lantvolc im allesamt neic.

  The land-folk to him all

 bowed.

That is, worshipped him as a god. Nay, in Wolfram's Titurel, last chapter, where the great pillars of the (christian) temple of the Grail are described, instead of 'inneren seul' [[[inner pillar]]] of the printed text (Hahn 6151), the Hanover MS. more correctly reads irmensûl [[[great pillar]]].

Further, in the Frankish annals ad ann. 772 it is repeatedly stated, that Charles the Great in his conquest of the Saxons destroyed a chief seat of their heathen superstition, not far from Heresburg (12) in Westphalia, and that it was called Irminsûl. Ann Petav.: Domnus rex Karolus perrexit in Saxoniam et conquisivit Erisburgo, et pervenit ad locum qui dicitur Ermensul, et succendit ea loca (Pertz. 1, 16). Ann. Lauresh.: Fuit rex Carlus hostiliter in Saxonia, et destruxit fanum eorum quod vocatur Irminsul (Pertz. 1, 30). The same in the Chron. Moissiac., except the spelling Hirminsul (Pertz. 1, 295), and in Ann. Quedlinb., &c. (Pertz. 5, 37). Ann. Juvavenses: Karolus idolum Saxonorum combussit, quod dicebant Irminsul (Pertz 1, 88). Einhardi Fuld. annales: Karolus Saxoniam bello aggressus, Eresburgum castrum cepit, et idolum Saxonum quod vocabatur Irminsul destruit (Pertz 1, 348). Ann. Ratisbon.: Carolus in Saxonia conquesivit Eresburc et Irminsul (Pertz. 1, 92). Ann. Lauriss.: Karlus in Saxonia castrum Aeresburg expugnat, fanum et lucum eorum famosum Irminsul subertit (Pertz. 1, 117). Ann. Lauriss.: Et inde perrexit partibus Saxoniae prima vice, Aeresburgum castrum cepit, ad Ermensul usque pervenit, et ipsum fanum destruxit, et aurum et argentum quod ibi repperit abstulit. Et fuit siccitas magna, ita ut aqua deficeret in supradicto loco ubi Ermensul stabat, &c. (Pertz. 1, 150). Einhardi Ann: Ferro et igni cuncta depopulatus, Aeresburgum castrum cepit, idolum quod Irminsul a Saxonibus vocabatur evertit (Pertz 1, 151); repeated in Ann. Tilian., and Chron. Regin., with spelling Ormensul (Pertz 1, 220, 557) (13) And Dietmar of Merseburg (Pertz. 5, 744) further tells us, in connexion with later events: Sed exercitus capta urbe (Eresburch) ingressus, juvenem praefatum usque in ecclesiam S. Petri, ubi prius ab antiquis Irminsul colebatur, bello defatigatum depulit.----Taking all these passages together, Irminsûl passes through the very same gradations of meaning we unfolded in ch. IV, and signifies now fanum, now lucus, now idolum itself. It can scarcely be doubted, that vast woodlands extended over that region: what if Osning, (14) the name of the mountain-forest in which the pillar stood, betokened a holy-wood? The gold and silver hoard, which Charles was supposed to have seized there, may well be legendary embellishment. (15) Ruodolf of Fuld goes more into detail about the Irminsûl; after his general statement on the heathen Saxons, that 'frondosis arboribus fontibusque venerationem exhibebant' (p. 101), he goes on: Truncum quoque ligni non parvae magnitudinis in altum erectum sub divo colebant, patria eum lingua Irminsul appellantes, quod Latine dicitur universalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia (Pertz. 2, 676), (see Suppl.). Here was a great wooden pillar erected, and worshipped under the open sky, its name signifies universal all-sustaining pillar. This interpretation appears faultless, when we take with it other words in which the meaning is intensified by composition with irmin. In the Hildebrands lied, irmingot [[[great god]]] is the supreme god, the god of all, not a peculiar one, agreeing in sense with thiodgod [[[tribe-god]]], the (whole) people's god, formed by another strengthening prefix, Hel. 33, 18. 52, 12. 99, 6. irminman [[[great man]]], an elevated expression for man, Hel. 38, 24. 107, 13. 152, 11. irminthiod [[[great tribe]]], the human race, Hel. 87, 13 and in Hildebr. (16) In the same way I explain proper names compounded with irman, irmin (Gramm. 2, 448). And irmansûl, irminsûl is the great, high, divinely honoured statue; that it was dedicated to any one god, is not to be found in the term itself.---In like manner the AS. has eormencyn [[[great kin]]] (genus humanum), Beow. 309. Cod. Exon. 333, 3. eormengrund [[[great ground]]] (terra), Beow. 1711. (and singularly in an adj. form: ofer ealne yrmenne grund [[[over all the great ground]]], Cod. Exon. 243, 13). eormenstrýnd [[[great generation, great stock]]] (progenies).---ON. iörmungrund [[jörgungrund - earth]] (terra), iörmungandr [[Jörmungandr - literally - "great wand," i. e., the Mithgarthr Serpent]] (anguis maximus), iörmunrekr [[Jörmunrekkr - literally, "great warrior", used as a proper name]] (taurus maximus). From all this may be gathered the high mythic antiquity of the Teutonic race; for neither to the Goths can they have been strange, as their famous king's name Ermanaricus (Aírmanareiks [[[great ruler]]], ON. Iörmunrekr) shows; and beyond a doubt the Hermunduri are properly Ermunduri (Gramm. 2, 175), the H being often prefixed to all such forms.  



ENDNOTES:

11. Finn Magnusen ibid. 132-7.  (back)

12. Now Stadtbergen, conf. the extract from Dietmar; but strong reasons incline us to push the pillar (seule) some 15 miles deeper into the Osning forest; Clostermeier Eggesterstein, pp. 26-7: Eresburg, Horohus in pago Hessi Saxonico Saracho 735. 350. Conf. Massmann's Eggesterst. p. 34.  (back)

13. Poeta Saxo 1, 65 (Bouquet 5, 137): Gens eadem coluit simulacrum quod vocitabant Irminsûl, cujus factura simulque columna Non operis parvi fuerat, pariterque decoris.  (back)

14. ôs is the Sax. form for ans (p. 25), which denoted a god, and also a mountain; in High G. the name would be Ansninc, Ensninc. But, beside this mons Osnengi near Theotmelli, i.e. Detmold (Pertz 2, 447), there stood also a silva Osning not far from Osnabrück (Möser urk. no 2), and a third in Ripuaria on the Lower Rhine (Lacomblet no 310. 343. 354), which seems to have extended towards the Ardennes as far as Aachen (Aix la Chap.), mentioned in Vilkinasaga cap. 40; and according to Bärsch on Schannat's Eiflia, illustr. 1, 110, and Hattemer 3, 602, the Ardennes itself was called Osninka, Oseninch. By the Osnabrück charter above, the forest there appears even to have been modelled on the Osning of Aachen (ad similitudinem foresti Aquisgranum pertinentis). That Osning is met with in several places, speaks for a more general meaning [than that of a mere proper name]; like âs, ans, and faírguni, it is the sacred mountain and forest. Ledebur takes the Teutoburgiensis saltus to be sning. Osnabrück, Asnebruggi (bridge of the âses) seems nearly related. (back)

15. Is this Ermen-pillar hoard an allusion to the legend of Ermenrich's hoard? (Saxo Gram. 156. Reinh. fuchs CLII.)  (back)

16. The Slav. ramo, Bohem. ramenso, is with transposition the Lat. armus, OHG. aram, and means both arm and shoulder; in the Sloven. compound ramen-velik, valde magnus, it intensifies exactly like irman; does this point to an affinity between irman and arm? Arminius too is worth considering; conf. Schaffarik 1, 427.  (back)