The Saxon And Swabian Migration Saga

: REMINISCENCES IN THE POPULAR TRADITIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES OF THE HEATHEN MIGRATION SAGA.
: Teutonic Mythology

From the Longobardians I now pass to the great Teutonic group of peoples

comprised in the term the Saxons. Their historian, Widukind, who wrote

his chronicle in the tenth century, begins by telling what he has

learned about the origin of the Saxons. Here, he says, different

opinions are opposed to each other. According to one opinion held by

those who knew the Greeks and Romans, the Saxons are descended from the

remnan s of Alexander the Great's Macedonian army; according to the

other, which is based on native traditions, the Saxons are descended

from Danes and Northmen. Widukind so far takes his position between

these opinions that he considers it certain that the Saxons had come in

ships to the country they inhabited on the lower Elbe and the North Sea,

and that they landed in Hadolaun, that is to say, in the district

Hadeln, near the mouth of the Elbe, which, we may say in passing, still

is distinguished for its remarkably vigorous population, consisting of

peasants whose ancestors throughout the middle ages preserved the

communal liberty in successful conflict with the feudal nobility.

Widukind's statement that the Saxons crossed the sea to Hadeln is found

in an older Saxon chronicle, written about 860, with the addition that

the leader of the Saxons in their emigration was a chief by name

Hadugoto.



A Swabian chronicle, which claims that the Swabians also came from the

North and experienced about the same adventures as the Saxons when they

came to their new home, gives from popular traditions additional details

in regard to the migration and the voyage. According to this account,

the emigration was caused by a famine which visited the Northland

situated on the other side of the sea, because the inhabitants were

heathens who annually sacrificed twelve Christians to their gods. At the

time when the famine came there ruled a king Rudolph over that region in

the Northland whence the people emigrated. He called a convention of all

the most noble men in the land, and there it was decided that, in order

to put an end to the famine, the fathers of families who had several

sons should slay them all except the one they loved most. Thanks to a

young man, by name Ditwin, who was himself included in this dreadful

resolution, a new convention was called, and the above resolution was

rescinded, and instead, it was decided to procure ships, and that all

they who, according to the former resolution, were doomed to die, should

seek new homes beyond the sea. Accompanied by their female friends, they

embarked, and they had not sailed far before they were attacked by a

violent storm, which carried them to a Danish harbour near a place,

says the author, which is called Slesvik. Here they went ashore, and to

put an end to all discussion in regard to a return to the old dear

fatherland, they hewed their ships into pieces. Then they wandered

through the country which lay before them, and, together with much other

booty, they gathered 20,000 horses, so that a large number of the men

were able to ride on horseback. The rest followed the riders on foot.

Armed with weapons, they proceeded in this manner through the country

ruled by the Danes, and they came to the river Alba (Elbe), which they

crossed; after which they scattered themselves along the coast. This

Swabian narrative, which seems to be copied from the Saxon, tells, like

the latter, that the Thuringians were rulers in the land to which the

immigrants came, and that bloody battles had to be fought before they

got possession of it. Widukind's account attempts to give the Saxons a

legal right, at least to the landing-place and the immediate vicinity.

This legal right, he says, was acquired in the following manner: While

the Saxons were still in their ships in the harbour, out of which the

Thuringians were unable to drive them, it was resolved on both sides to

open negotiations, and thus an understanding was reached, that the

Saxons, on the condition that they abstained from plundering and murder,

might remain and buy what they needed and sell whatever they could. Then

it occurred that a Saxon man, richly adorned with gold and wearing a

gold necklace, went ashore. There a Thuringian met him and asked him:

"Why do you wear so much gold around your lean neck?" The youth

answered that he was perishing from hunger, and was seeking a purchaser

of his gold ornaments. "How much do you ask?" inquired the Thuringian.

"What do you bid?" answered the Saxon. Near by was a large sand-hill,

and the Thuringian said in derision: "I will give you as much sand as

you can carry in your clothes." The Saxon said he would accept this

offer. The Thuringian filled the skirts of his frock with sand; the

Saxon gave him his gold ornaments and returned to the ships. The

Thuringians laughed at this bargain with contempt, and the Saxons found

it foolish; but the youth said: "Go with me, brave Saxons, and I will

show you that my foolishness will be your advantage." Then he took the

sand he had bought and scattered it as widely as possible over the

ground, covering in this manner so large an area that it gave the Saxons

a fortified camp. The Thuringians sent messengers and complained of

this, but the Saxons answered that hitherto they had faithfully observed

the treaty, and that they had not taken more territory than they had

purchased with their gold. Thus the Saxons got a firm foothold in the

land.



Thus we find that the sagas of the Saxons and the Swabians agree with

those of the Longobardians in this, that their ancestors were supposed

to have come from a northern country beyond the Baltic. The Swabian

version identifies this country distinctly enough with the Scandinavian

peninsula. Of an immigration from the East the traditions of these

tribes have not a word to say.