Monthly Archives: December 2024

Suavs Change Hands

PublishedDecember 26, 2024 Post authortorino

On November 10, of the year 911, Leszek was likely running the show somewhere around Gniezno, his young son Siemomysł helping him out. Mieszko, the first historically attested ruler of Poland very likely hadn’t been born yet. Almost 350 miles to the southwest of Gniezno, however, there lay a place on the RIver Main called Fihuriod (today’s Viereth-Trunstadt) west of Bamberg. In it, as in Gniezno, the local Suavs were tilling the land and having an altogether swell time. Unbeknownst to them, on that very day a new Frankish king had just gotten elected.

Conrad I, like a savvy politician, started his reign in the nearby Forchheim by doling out goodies. He hadn’t been king but a few hours when his scribes, upon the request of the venerable Dioto the Bishop of Würzburg, were already busy assigning Fihuriod and “all other Suavic places” and possessions in the vicinity (including the important tilling seasons) to the well-deserving monks of the abbey of Ansbach operating under the holy patronage of Saint Gumbertus.

“In nomine sanctae et individuae trinitatis. Chuonradus divina favente clementia rex. Comperiat omnium fidelium nostrorum praesentium scilicet et futurorum industria, quia nos rogatu Diotonis venerabilis et dilecti episcopi nostri sancto Gundperto confessori Christi quasdam res iuris nostri in pago Folchfeld dicto sitas, hoc est in comitatu cuiusdam comitis cui nomen Hessi, quicquid in loco Fihuriod nuncupato ad regia cerenitatis auctoritatem pertinere videtur una cum caeteris Sclavienis oppidis illuc iuste conspicientibus. cum curtilibus vinetis aedificiis mancipiis terris cultis et incultis agris pratis campis pascuis silvis aquis aquarumque decursibus molendinis piscationibus viis et inviis exitibus ac reditibus quaesitis et inquirendis omnibusque rebus magnis et parvis ad eandem proprietatem iuste legitimeque pertinentibus, pro nostra et antecessorum nostrorum, videlicet regum seu imperatorum, pia commemoratione in perpetuam proprietatem donavimus. lussimus quoque hoc praeceptum inde conscribi per quod volumus firmiterque iubemus, quatenus praefatus vir venerabilis Dioto praesul aegregius suique successores talem inde ulterius habeant potestatem sicut et de aliis rebus quae antiquis temporibus ad praedicti sancti Gundperti coenobium pertinere videbantur. Et ut hoc largitionis nostrae praeceptum a nullo umquam successore nostro violetur seu violari praesumatur, sed firmum ac stabile per omnia succedentium temporum curricula permaneat, manu nostra subtus illud firmavimus anuloque nostro insigniri praecepimus.

Signum domni Chuonradi (MF.) serenissimi regis.
Odalfridus cancellarius advicem Hathonis archiepiscopi summique cappellani recognovi et g (SR. NN.) (SI. 1.) Data IIII. id. novembr. anno incamationis domini DCCCCXI, indictionum xv, regnante piissimo rege Chuonrado anno l; actum Foracheim; in Christi nomine feliciter amen.”

Here is a more global picture of the relevant location:

Of the Moon, the Sun, the Stars and Wind the Servant

Published Post authortorino

That the Moon has a male gender in Slavic lands is well known. Thus, we have księżyc (Little Prince) in Polish – a term used at least for the new moon – and similar names in other Slavic languages. Even the older Polish miesiąc which comes from the assumed měsęcь may perhaps be a diminutive. Of what?

Of mies (a possible *miesic?). But there is no mies in Slavic languages. Interestingly, in Finnish mies means a “man” or a “husband”. In Estonian we have mees and in Livonian mīez. Could this be the source of the Slavic miesiąc? And what about miecz – “sword”? Certainly that also has male “connotations.” (The word for “moon” in Finnish is ku. Same in Estonian and Livonian – though the latter spelling may have been kū or kuu. Out of curiosity, note that the word for “sun” in Livonian was pǟva – the Polish paw – peacock – comes from Latin pāvo in case you are wondering).

But here comes the interesting part. The Sun in Slavic languages is famously neuter. We have mentioned that in Polesie the Sun was sometimes nevertheless treated as the “wife” of the Moon but without providing specific evidence. It seems that this has been the case and was also a belief present in neighboring Belarus. Here is a song from the Belarussian newspaper Homan (this was a publication put out under the German administration of the region in World War I):

Jasien miesiac – sam haspadar,
Krasno sonce – žana jaho,
Drobny hwiezdački – jaho dzietački,
Bujen wiecier – jaho služaŭki.

The bright Moon – himself a lord,
The red Sun – his wife,
Tiny stars – his children,
A great wind – his servant.

Clement of Alexandria’s Stromata on Germanic & Sarmatian Women

Published Post authortorino

Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; circa 150 – circa 215 AD) is the author of the Stromata (Miscellaneous Works). Here are some passages on Germanic and Sarmatian women (the transalation is from the “Ante-Nicene Fathers” with Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, editors, available at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library).

Stromatum Liber I

Chapter XV

“There are also among the Germans those called sacred women, who, by inspecting the whirlpools of rivers and the eddies, and observing the noises of streams, presage and predict future events. These did not allow the men to fight against Caesar till the new moon shone.”

Sunt autem etiam apud Germanos sacrae, quae vocantur, mulieres, quae fluviorum vortices prospicientes, fluentorumque sonitus ac circumvolutiones, futura conjiciunt et praedicunt. Eae non permieserunt, ut ipsi cum Cesare pugnarent antequam nova luna illuxiset.

The above is an excerpt from Fontes Historiae Religionis Germanicae. Here are Migne’s notes on the same passage. The Caesar reference is to Caesar, Gallic War, Book I, chapter 50:

Stromatum Liber IV

Chapter VIII

And in Stromatum Liber IV we have a passage on Sarmatian women:

“For we do not train our women like Amazons to manliness in war; since we wish the men even to be peaceable. I hear that the Sarmatian women practice war no less than the men; and the women of the Sacae besides, who shoot backwards, feigning flight as well as the men.”

Non enim Amazones aliquas ad bellicam virtutem exercemus feminas, cum etiam viros velimus esse pacificos. Audio, mulieres quoque Sauromatidas non minus belligerare, quam viros; et alias Sacidas, quae a tergo Sagittant simulantes fugere, aeque ac viri.