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Attila's and Beowulf's Funeral

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Fr. Klaeber
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Extract

By way of caution a sub-title should be added: “A Set of Questions”—questions, that is, to which I do not presume to return a positive answer.

The classical parallels (Vergil, Homer) of Beowulf's obsequies as well as the Jordanes parallel are well known to students of Old English literature (cf. Klaeber's edition, pp. 209, 213, 216). It is especially the latter which has commonly been considered of very great value as illustrating the authentic character of the notable closing scene of Beowulf. “The accuracy [of the Beowulfian funeral],” says Chadwick1—to cite an English authority—“is confirmed in every point by archeological or contemporary literary evidence. We may refer especially to the account of Attila's funeral given by Jordanes.” Again, “the agreement between the two versions could not possibly be greater; here [i.e., in the recital of Attila's obsequies] everything is Germanic”—this was the verdict of Kögel,2 who regarded that 49th chapter of Jordanes' history3 as a most precious source of information on ancient Germanic poetry. It is true, certain differences between the sixth century and the eighth century version did not escape observation, as may be seen from Chambers' Introduction to Beowulf, p. 124, or from Klaeber's Edition, p. 216. But it remained for Edward Schröder's incisive article (ZfdA. LIX, 240-44) to aim a deadly blow at the famous account of Attila's funeral as currently interpreted.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , June 1927 , pp. 255 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1927

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References

1 The Heroic Age, p. 53 and n. 1.

2 Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur bis zum Ausgange des Mittelalters I. 1, pp. 47 ff.

3 Getica ed. Theod. Mommsen.

4 Cf. Mommsen, p. 198; H. Jacobsohn, Anz. fdA. XLII, 88.

5 Note the interesting allusion in Cynewulf's Elene 48 ff.: þeah hie [i.e. Romware] werod lœsse / hœfdon to hilde þon[n]e Huna cining / ridon ymb rofne (but see also footnote 31, below). Cp. Atlakviþa 1, 3, 31, 35. In fact, Atlakv. 35 is apt to put us in mind of Priscus (see footnote 7), p. 173 (and passim): Lét þá Atli lands síns á vit /jó eyrskaan aptr frá morþi; / dynr vasí garþi,droslum of þrungit;, etc.

6 Likewise, the mourning heroes of Homer observe the custom of contending for prizes; see Iliad 23.257 ff., cp. Odyssey 24.85 ff.

7 Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae I (Bonn, 1829), p. 188.

8 It will not be amiss to advert to the fact that part of his Preface to Getica is a plain plagiarism from Rufinus (Preface to the Translation of Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans).

9 Attila's singulary temperate habits were observed by Priscus: (p. 204),—although the itself appeared to the visitors unduly protracted (p. 206). The account of his over-indulgence in drink on a particular occasion seems to reappear (in a different setting) in Atlakviþa 43, cf. Alexander Bugge, Edda XXIII, 280 f. [Of a different order are the scenes, Waltharius 310 ff., Biterolf 12640 ff.]

10 Was there, possibly, an ulterior motive in Jordanes' repeated reference to Priscus and his veracity?—It hardly needs to be pointed out that the tradition which subsequently became current of the manner of Attila's death is not in the least surprising. (Cp. Atlakv. 43 f., see footnote 9.)

11 Kluge (Beitr. XXXVII, 157-9) did not claim it to be a direct, literal translation.

12 Exactly as the worthy Jonathan Carver (or his ‘authority’) invented the mourning speech of the Naudowessie Indians (Schiller's ‘Nadowessische Todtenklage’). [Similarly, the detailed report of Attila's address to his soldiers before the decisive battle of 451 (Jordanes, ch. 39) is not likely to be considered authentic]—It should be added, however, that the horsemen's praise of Attila seems reminiscent of the laudatory remarks made by Romulus in conversation with Priscus, five years before Attila's death (Priscus, pp. 199 f.), cf. Alexander Bugge, Edda XXIII, 284. The keynote of those observations, the emphasis placed on the king's and (), is clearly recognizable in the Latin text (‘potentia,’ ‘felicitas’), the ‘good fortune’ being, by an ingenious turn, prominently exemplified by the manner of Attila's death. Of specific parallels the following deserve to be noted. Jordanes: ‘inaudita ante se potentia’; Priscus: . Jordanes: ‘utraque Romani orbis imperia . . . . terruit, et. . . . annuum vectigal accepit’ (in addition to his sway over Scythian and Germanic Kingdoms); Priscus: () . Jordanes: ‘fortissimarum gentium dominus’; Priscus: . Even Attila's own proud words addressed to the Roman ambassadors (p. 179): are echoed, it seems, in the terse allusion: ‘. . . . imperia captis civitatibus terruit.’

13 Already quoted by Schücking, E St. XXXIX, 5.

14 What significance is to be attached to Jordanes' remark ‘pauca de multis dicere non omittamus’ remains altogether a matter of speculation.

15 K. G. Stephani, Der älteste deutsche Wohnbau und seine Einrichtung. I, 173-86.

16 The Moorish jester () excited the laughter of his audience by indulging in linguistic mixture (), Priscus, p. 206. Again, we are told (p. 190): . There is also mention of a non-Hunnish name of a beverage (p. 183): cp. Gothic *midus. (Incidentally, we are again reminded of Wulfstan's report: ond ne biÐ Ðœr nœnig ealo gebrowen mid Estum, ac þær biÐ medo genoh, Oros. 20, 18 f.)

17 Cf. Streitberg, P. Grdr. 2 IIa, pp. 2 f.; Heusler, R.-L. I, 454. Of course, the terms ‘barbarian’ and ‘Scythian’ are, in themselves, non-conclusive.

18 Priscus, p. 205: . [These songs were possibly of the same kind as those by which Arminius was celebrated: ‘caniturque adhuc barbaras apud gentes’ Tacitus, Annales II, 88 (cf. Heusler, l.c.).] It has been supposed, by the way, that even those songs of the girls were in the Gothic language. Thus, Schröder speaks of their “gotische Chorgesänge,” —although the ‘cantus funereus’ is set down by him as Hunnish.

19 Of the mourning over Alaric's death only the barest hint is supplied, ch. 30: ‘quem nimia sui dilectione lugentes . . . .’ (cp. Beow. 3175 f.).

20 Even this is, possibly, saying too much. Can we be quite sure about the meaning of ‘cursibus ambientes‘?

21 Naturally, the same, or similar, customs are liable to arise in different countries. The placing of the body inside a tent (‘intra tenturia sirica’ Jordanes) is reported—though in cases of exhumation—by Bede, H.E. III, ch. 11 (‘tentorio . . . . maiore extenso’), IV, ch. 19 (‘extento desuper papilione’); it is also mentioned, at the funeral of Wilfri: ‘extento foris tentorio, sanctum corpus balneaverunt,’ Eddius, ch. 65 (see Plummer's Bede II, p. 240 (also, for other uses of tents)).

22 Cp. Jordanes: ‘facta eius cantu funereo tali ordine referebant.’

33 Albert S. Cook, “The Possible Begetter of the Old English Beowulf and Widsith,” Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, XXV, 339 ff. He refers to “the possibility that the Huns might have become acquainted with the Homeric tradition through their contacts with the Eastern Empire” (p. 341).

24 Iliad 7. 88 . Beow. 2807 f. a e brentingas I ofer floda genipu feorran drifaÐ. (Note Exod. 455 f. him ongen genap / atol yÐa gewealc.)

25 As an illustration from Old Norse sagas may be mentioned Laxdœlasaga, ch. 24. 3: Óláfr lét verpa haug eptir hann í nesi því, er gengr fram í Laxá, er Drafnarnes heitir; þar er garÐr hjá ok heitir HaugsgarÐr.

26 Occurring in a charter of 901 a.d., Birch, Cartul. Saxon. II, p. 241 (grant, by King Eadward, of land at Stoke by Hysseburn, or Hurstbourne, Hampshire); mentioned by Liebermann, Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philolog.-histor. Klasse, 1920, p. 265.—An ‘Attilae tumulus’ could be inferred from Jordanes' ‘super tumulum eius.’

27 Another item mentioned by Cook appears very striking at first sight, viz. the number of days—ten—required for the construction of Beowulf's grave-mound, which (barring a certain variation) answers to Iliad 24. 664 f., 785. But its probative value is impaired by the fact of the alliterative sequence ond betimbredon on tyn dagum 3159, -timbran being just the right word in this place.

28 “Sogar eine Reminiscenz aus Jordanes ist nicht ausgeschlossen” Schröder.

29 The evolution of such a practice is dogmatically outlined by Gummere, The Beginnings of Poetry, pp. 223 f. “As regards the riding, it is clear that this takes the place of an older dance or march, just as the song takes the place of older wailings and cries. The processions of a whole community, at times of planting and of harvest . . . . are matched by similar rites of marching with dance and song round hearth, grave, altar, in the ceremonies of wedding and burial. On the Isle of Man a wedding party goes three times round the church before it enters; and in many places the corpse is carried in the same way for a funeral. In the latter case, the solemn march is only a repetition of the dance around the corpse itself, the mourners going hand in hand, now slowly, now tumultuously, to the sound of their own wailing . . . .”—Is it possible that a vague—in fact, very indistinct—trace of some such custom is still lingering in Saxo's description of the funeral of Harald Hildetan (viii, p. 264)? ‘Cumque superiectum ignis cadaver absumeret, [Ringo] merentes circuire proceres impensiusque cunctos hortari cepit, uti arma, aurum . . . . liberaliter in nutrimentum rogi . . . . transmitterent.’—W. S. Mackie (MLN. XL. 91 f.) ventured to trace in Gnom. Ex. 150 ff. an allusion to such a practice (as described in Beowulf); but evidence is lacking.—Dr. A. H. Krappe calls my attention to the interesting comment in Ernst Samter's Volkskunde im altsprachlichen Unterricht, I Teil: Homer (Berlin 1923), pp. 136 ff. (ch. 30: “Das Herumfahren und Herumgehen um die Leiche”).

30 There is an indubitably genuine ring in such expressions as adfaru (3009 f. gebringan . . . . on adfœre), cp. bálfr, Gylfaginning, ch. 48; gurinc astah 1118, cp. áþr á bál stigi, Vafþrúp. 54.

31 Hrogar on horseback is accompanied by some of his prominent courtiers, he feara sum beforan gengde / wisra monna 1412 f., not unlike King Eadwine, whom Bede (H.E. II, ch. 16) represents as ‘equitantem inter civitates . . . . suas cum ministris . . . . .’ Again, in Elene 48 ff. we read that hie werod lœsse / hœfdon to hilde þon[n]e Huna cining / ridon ymb rofne (an obviously notable trait, not found, according to our present state of knowledge, in Cynewulf's source). Similarly, the Franks ‘ride about’ their king Louis, . . . . thaz sie nan umbiriten Otfrid I. 1. 104. (We may also note wergendra to lyt / þrong ymbe þeoden, Beow. 2882 f.) Twelve champions ride with King Rolf to Upsala, þá reiÐ hann til Upsala ok meÐ honum xii. berserkir hans, Skáldskap., ch. 41. (Cp. Gunnlaugssaga, ch. 7. 21 síÐan reiÐ Illugi meÐ tólfta mann of an til Borgar.) That there is still a considerable difference between these conceptions and that of the funeral procession, is, of course, easily seen.

32 [Footnote added in February, 1927] Andreas Heusler's Altgermanische Dichtung (i.e., Vol. XI of Walzel's Handbuch der Literaturwissenschaft), with its comment on the subject (§44), has just come to hand. No really definite conclusions are reached even by this great authority. It is, by the way, much to be regretted that Heusler's exceedingly important work cannot be bought separately. Strange, indeed, are the ways' of some publishers.