Gervase of Tilbury on the Slavs, Suevi and Vandals

Gervase of Tilbury‘s (circa 1150–1228) Otia Imperialia (“Recreation for an Emperor”) was written between 1209 and 1214 for the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV.  In Slavic studies it is best known for its assertion  (in a note written – probably – by Gervase in one of the manuscripts) that Poles were Vandals (as Gervase says, he had it on good local authority – some have suggested of Mater Kadlubek).  However, the work contains many other interesting bits – some of which are clearly spurious – regarding Slavs, Suevi, Vandals and others.  We include these here as well as any related miscellaneous stories that could be of interest (e.g., the story of Lombards fighting the Huns and not the Vandals in their name-getting inaugural battle).  There is also a remarkable passage about the fierce battles of the Gauls in Pannonia and thereabout which must immediately bring to mind the legend of King Krak (or Gracchus) as told by Master Kadlubek who has Poles or, really, Lechites take on the Gauls and divide the world between the two peoples (there is also a king of Greece in the Otia called Graecus).  Whether Gervase is the same Gervase behind the so-called Ebstorf Map, we leave up to you.

The translation of these fragments comes from the recent edition by Banks & Binns.  The pictures are from a French manuscripts (Bibliothèque Nationale, ms, Francais 9113., fol.195.

(Incidentally, the Kętrzyński referred to in the notes by the editors is not Wojciech – about whom we have written – but rather his son, Stanisław Kętrzyński. Stanisław was a historian at Warsaw University, was arrested by the Gestapo and survived Auschwitz only to die a few years after the WWII of heart failure)

Book II
Section 2. (Europe)

“Europe begins, as we have said, at the river Don in the northern region.  This river has its source in the  Rhiphaean Mountains beyond the Sarmatian Sea; it then flows past the altars and boundary stones of Alexander the Great which he set up in the territory of the Rhobasci, and swells Lake Maeotis, whose immense overflow near the city of Theodosia runs far put into the Euxine Sea, causing it to be called the Fresh-water Sea.  From this long straits lead down past Constantinople to where the Mediterranean, which we call ‘our sea’, receives them.  The Arm of Saint George is there.  Europe ends in Spain at the western ocean, at the point where the Pillars of Hercules are seen near the islands of Cadiz, and where the ocean flows into the mouth of the Tyrrhenian Sea.  The city of Hispalis, now called Seville, is situated there.”

Book II
Section 7.  The Northern part of Europe

“Now that we have completed our account of Asia, both greater Asia and Asia Minor, our next task is to describe Europe.   Europe begins in the north and ends in the western ocean, where the Pillars of Hercules are seen near the islands of Cadiz.  We shall give fuller lists of the cities of Europe that we did for those of Asia, partly because our knowledge of them is surer, and partly because Europe is more densely populated with bishoprics and archbishoprics known to us by name.”

“So then, Europe starts from the Rhiphaean Mountains, the river Don, and Lake Maeotis in the east; it runs along the shore of the northern ocean as far as Gallia Belgica and the river Rhine in the west; it then comes down as far as the Danube in the south; this river, also called the Ister, flows eastwards, and empties into the Black Sea.  In the east is Alania, and in the centre Dacia; Gothia is also in that region.  Europe takes its name from King Europa, or from Europa, daughter of Agenor.”

“In northern Europe are the Rhiphaean Mountains, so-called from the perpetual gale that blows there; for ριφη in Greek means impetus (blast) in Latin.  Between the Rhiphaean Mountains and the ocean there is a wide area which is held in the grip of relentless cold and perpetual ice, owing to the absence of the sun; this land is consequently uninhabitable.  This is where the northern zone is, called αρκτσς by the Greeks; it is also called septentrio from its seven stars (septum stellar).  At the upper end of the Rhiphaean Mountains is the source of the river Lentulus, which flows into Lake Maeotis between the Alanus and the river Don.  Much further on, below the river Don (which also flows down to it from the Rhiphaean Mountains, after passing the altars and boundary stones of Alexander situated in the territory of the Rhobasci), Lake Maeotis merges with the Euxine Sea near the city of Theodosia, sending a great stream right out into the sea.  As a result the sea as far as the Euxine is called ‘the freshwater sea’ by the local inhabitants.  Now the Black Sea runs down to the west opposite the Euxine; hence arose the popular saying which makes a comparison in incorrect terms: ‘The Black Sea is sweeter that the Adriatic.’  After receiving the waters of the Don, Lake Maeotis is further swelled by the river Lentulus, and later by the river Alanus.  Now the river Don (Tanais) is named after King Tanus.”

“The first region of Europe, beginning from the river Don, is called Lower Scythia.  It stretches from Lake Maeotis up between the Danube and the northern ocean as far as Germany.  The first part of Lower Scythia. as we have said, is Alania; then come Dacia and Gothia.  Then, opposite Dacia towards the north, theres is Scandinavia, an island in the ocean.  The Burgundians are said to have come from this island in the time of the emperor Tiberius.  They got their name of Burgundiones from the fact that they were the first to build separate fortified towns (burgi) to live in.”

“From the Danube to its source in the Alps is Upper Germany, so-called from its engendering (germinando) of peoples.  This country has the Rhine as its boundary to the west, and the river Elbe to the north; like the Danube, this river rises in the Alps and flows into the Black Sea.  Between Germany and Lake Maeotis in the east lives the fierce tribe of the Vandals.  Again, between the Vandals and Lake Maeotis live the Sarmatians.  The Sarmatian Sea is named after them; this sea is fed by the river Sarmaticus, the river Vandal, which flows through the Vandals’ territory, and the Danube to the east.”

“In the region of Upper Germany is Suevia, called after Mount Suevus.  Next comes Alemannia, named after the river Leman, as in Lucan’s:

‘tents pitched by Leman'”

“In the Passion of the Thebans, however, one reads that Lake Geneva also has the name of Leman; the Rhone flows into this lake.  Raetia is likewise in that region.  In Suevia is the source of the Danube, which is also called Ister; and so the poet calls it:

‘the Ister with its two names.'”

“This river is joined by sixty principal tributaries, and enters the Black Sea divided, like th eNile, into seven mounts.  After rising in Suevia, it descends from the Alps through Bavaria, then Austria, and then Hunia; from there it climbs back into the Alps and produces a great waterfall; after that it crosses the land of Croatia, and divides at Pozarevac.  North of these are the Cumani, who worship the first thing that meets them in the morning.  The Getae and the Coralli [Gorali?] live there.  From the division of the Danube to Constantinople it is twenty-four days’ journey to the south-east.  First one comes to the wilderness of Bulgaria, which is the territory of Blactum, where the villages of Rawanica and Nis are found.  On the edge of there wilderness is the city of Stralitz, the capital of Romania.  Then there is Philippopolis, after which comes Adrianople, and then Constantinople; alongside Constantinople is the narrow strait of the Arm of Saint George.  From there to Iconium it is twelve days’ journey; it takes another twelve to travel on from there to Antioch.”

“Noricus, also called Bavaria, is in Upper Germany too.  Between Noricus and Hungary or Hunia is Austria, which the people all Austerica.  Next to Austria is Bavaria, and bordering on Bavaria and Austria is Bohemia.  The might Saxon race touches on Bohemia to the north; their name comes from their endurance and strength, in which they resemble rocks (saxa).  Between Saxony and Westphalia is the river Elbe.  It is the tribes of Westphalia who are known as the Suevi.”

“The land between the river Elbe and the ocean is called Lower Germany.  It contains the region of Albia, which is bounded b the ocean to the north.  The land of the Danes is in this region, as is Norway.  The land of the Danes is the one nearer to Saxon Germany; beyond Denmark is Norway, and beyond Norway, across the sea to the north, lies Russia.  This sea is linked to the British Sea and the ice-bound sea, with islands breaking its expanse in between.  And so it is easy to cross the sea, going from one island to another, though the distance is long.  On these islands of the ocean gerfalcons are skillfully lured down from the highest cliffs overhanging the sea.  Also in Lower Germany is the land of the Marcomanni, a land hemmed in by the ocean to the north and by the mountains to the south.  In all there are fifty-four tribes living in Upper and Lower Germany.”

“I shall now set down the territory which the Danube separates from the land of the barbarians, down to the Mediterranean Sea.  So then, Pannonia is a twofold country, consisting of Upper and Lower Pannonia.  Upper Pannonia faces Moesia to the south-east, and the source of the river Danube to the north-west.  Lower Pannonia has the Also to the north-west; like Lombardy, it is closed in by the Alps.”

“That region is called Barbarica on account of the barbarian tribes living in it.  They say that the part where the race of the Huns originated is called Hungary or Hunia.  The precipice of the Danube is here, beyond which the river flows down to the sea.  Bordering on Hungary is Bulgaria, which they call Lower Macedonia, where Alexander came from; it belongs to Europe, and lies between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps, first the Hungarian Alps and then the Slavonian Alps towards the east.”

“Between the Hungarian Alps and the ocean is Poland, the name Poland being the equivalent of Campania in their language.  [It is known as the land of the Vandals, from the river Vandal which runs through it; I learned this from the inhabitants themselves.]*  Touching on Poland at one end is Russia, otherwise known as Ruthenia, to which Lucan refers:

‘The fair-haired Ruthenians were freed from their long garrison-duty.'”

[* Note from the editors: “This phrase, written in the margin of [manuscript] N, provides valuable support for identifying the hand of the marginalia with that of the author, couched as it is in the first person.  It also indicates that the information in this passage was derived from an oral source, from one or more natives of Poland; further confirmation of this is provided by the two references to the local language (‘in forum ydiomate‘ and ‘secundum uulgaris illorum lingue interpretationem‘), and by the specific details provided concerning Poland and Russia.  Ketrzynski (‘Ze Studyow’) pointed to the significance of this passage, and argued that Gervaise might have made the acquaintance of Vincent [Kadlubek] of Cracow, possibly in Bologna; this has been disputed (see Wilkinson, ‘The Otia Imperialia‘, pages 109-110, note 30), but it remains clear that Gervaise had either talked to people from Poland or visited the country himself.”]

that, strangely, the editors have a footnote here but do not have this footnote in the text.  Could this be perhaps a reference to Master Kadlubek?]

“The race of the Ruthenians lives here in an idle stupor; they give themselves up tot heir enthusiasm for hunting, and to disgusting drinking-bouts.  They hardly ever go beyond the confines of their own region; rather, whenever the urge to travel comes upon one of them, he sends his slaves to satisfy it; they have a great many slaves.  In return for the effort involved in making the journey, he bestows the reward of freedom on the slave.  As a result those ex-slaves go about both naked and wretched, begging their sustenance from others, despised by all, fellow-Christians and heathens alike; no one they meet proves an enemy or a robber, as if it were of them that it was written:

‘The traveller with nothing to lose
Will sing in the face of the robber.'”

“Ruthenia stretches eastwards towards Greece, extending, so they say, a hundred days’ j0unrey in length.  The Ruthenian city nearest to the Norwegian Sea is Kiev.  At the end facing Hunia is the city of Galich.  [Halich?] Between Poland and Russia there are two rivers whose names interpreted from the local speech, are the Aper [Wieprz?] and the Armilla [Narew because armilla meant naramiennik, i.e., armlet?].  The Russian city of Vladimir lies opposite Poland, looking westwards.  Between Russia and Greece are found the Getae, the Polowcy, and the Coralli, [Gorali?] a very fierce tribe of pagans who live on the raw flesh for their food.  Between Poland and Livonia are the pagans who are called the Jadzwingi.  Beyond them to the north are the Livonians, a very virtuous tribe of pagans [same view expressed by Adam of Bremen].”

“Let us now return to Barbarica.  Between Barbarica and our sea is Moesia, so-called from its rich yield of harvests (messes).  To the east Moesia has the mouths of the river Danube, to the south-east Thrace, to the south Macedonia, to the south-west Dalmatia, to the west Istria, to the north-west Pannonia, and to the north the Danube.  It contains the city of Silistra…”

“… Dalmatia takes its name from the city of Delminium.  It has Macedonia to the east, Dardania to the north-east, Moesia to the north, Istria, the Liburnian Gulf, and the Liburnian Islands to the west, and the Adriatic Gulf to the south.  On the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia is the town of Stridon, once destroyed by the Goths; the inestimable Jerome, whose father was Eusebius, was born there.  The city of Salonae is in Dalmatia.”

“This whole area, once known as the land of Kittim, is sometimes called Greece, after King Graecus.  It begins at the Mediterranean Sea, and projects southwards into the Greaet Sea.  It is also called Illyricum; the city of Scia is in Illyricum.  Epirus is in Greece; this region is named after Pyrrhus, son of Achilles…”

“…To the north-west Venice looks towards Auileia; to the north it faces Slavonia.  It is separated from Italy by a narrow straight.”

Book II
Section 9. (Sees)

“Let us now go on to list the bishops and archbishops of Europe and the names of their cities.  All these cities are known to be subject to the Church of Rome, for we have a fuller knowledge of the European cities.”

“Poland.  Poland has an archbishop at Gniezno, and he has as suffragans the bishops of Wloclawek, Lowicz, Kujawy, Plock, Krakow, Poznan, Masovia, and Pomerania.”

“Bulgaria.  These are the archbishops of Bulgaria: the archbishop of Tirnova is the primate, and then there are the archbishops of Kjustendil and Preslav.  The bishops of Bulgaria are these: Skopje, Pristina, Budva, Nisch, and Kostolac.”

“Slavonia.  Slavonia has an archbishop at Dubrovnik; his suffragans are Ston, Djacovika, Trebinje, Kotor, Portoroz, and Vidin.  Slavonia has another archbishop at Pdogorica; he has the following suffragans: Ulcinj, Svac, Danj, Pulati, Scodra, Albanese, and Sardoniki or Shkoder.”

“Hungary. Hungary has two archbishops.  The first is at Esztergom; his suffragans are these: Eger, Nitra, Vac, Gyor, Pecs, and Veszprem.  The second archbishop of Hungary is at Kalocsa; his suffragans are Gyulafehervar, Zagreb, Varad, and Csanad.”

“Istria-supra-Mare.  Istria-supra-Mare has a patriarchate at Grado.  Its suffragans are Castello, Torcello and Equilio or Jesolo, Caorle, Chioggia, and Cittanova d’Istria.”

“Dalmatia.  Dalmatia-supra-Mare has a patriarchate at Aquileia.  Its suffragans are as follows: Mantua, Como, Trent, Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, Concordia, Ceneda, Feltre and Belluno (these two being united), Pola, Parenzo, Trieste, Biben, Capodistria, Murano , and Citta Nuova or Asola.”

“Alemannia.  Alemannia has six metropolitan sees.  Mainz has the following suffragans: Prague, Olomouc, Eichstatt, Wurzburg, Konstanz, Chur, Strasbourg, Speyer, Worms, Verden, Hildesheim, Halberstadt, Paderborn, and Bamberg (which comes under the jurisdiction of the lord pope).  The archbishop of Cologne  in Alemannia has the following suffragans: Liege, Utrecht, Munster, Minden, and Osnabruck.  The archbishop of Bremen in Alemannia has the following suffragans: Bardowick, Schelswig, Ratzeburg, Schwerin, Mecklenburg, Lubeck, and Riga.  The archbishop of Magdeburg in Alemannia has the following suffragans: Havelberg, Brandenburg, Meissen, Merseburg, and Zeitz or Naumberg.  The archbishop of Salzburg in Alemannia has the following suffragans: Passau, Regensburg, Freising, Gurk, and Brixen im Thale.  The archbishop of Trier in Alemannia has the following suffragans: Metz, Toul, and Verdun.”

“Lombardy.  Lombardy has two metropolitan sees.  The archbishop of Milan has the following suffragans: Bergamo, Brescia, Ivrea, Cremona, Lodi, Novara, Vercelli, Turin, Asti, Acqui, Alba, Tortona, Savona, Albenga, Ventimiglia, Piacenza (under the lord pope), Pavia (under the lord pope), and Ferrara (under the lord pope).  Genoa has the following suffragans: Bobbio, Brugnato, and Mariana.”

“The Duchies of the Kingdom of Hungary.  Between Hungary and the Adriatic Sea there are two archbishoprics, Zadar and Split, belonging by right, so they say, to the king of Hungary, with the title of duchies.  The archbishop of Zadar has the following suffragans: Ossero, Krk, Rab, Nin, Krbava, and Knin.  The archbishop of Split has the following suffragans: Trogir, Skradin, and Croatia.”

“The Province of Flamminia.  In the province of Flaminnia the archbishop of Ravenna has the following suffragans: Adria, Rimini, Comacchio, Sito, Cervia, Forli…”

Book II
Section 10.

“…Further antiquity taught that there were three Gauls: Gallia Togata, that is Lombardy, where they wear the toga like the Romans, Gallia Comata, that is Burgundy and Francia, where they have long hair, and Gallia Braccata, that is Teutonia, where they wear long trousers (bracae).”

“We read that the Lombards, or Longbeards, go their name as follows. The tribe of the Lombards, before its adoption of this name, left Scandinavia (an island in the ocean, or rather between the ocean and the Danube, from which the Burgundians also came), and crossed the Danube with their women and children.  Since the Huns had made preparations to attach the people coming over into their land, the Lomabards took their women and tied the hair of their heads to their cheeks and chins, so that by imitating the appearance of men, with the hair on their cheeks looking like a beard, they might be better able to give the impression of a very large host of fighting men.  It is reported that a voice spoke from above, saying: ‘These are the Longbeards (Longobardi).  At this the Lombards shouted: ‘You who have given us a name, grant us the victory!’  With these words they overcame the Huns and took over part of Pannonia…”

Book II
Section 17.

“[To the council of King Arthur] …from the subject islands came the king of Ireland, the king of Iceland, the king of Gotland, the king of the Orkneys, the king of Norway, the king of Denmark, and the duke of Ruthenia (that is Flanders; some people, though, call Russia Ruthenia and there is also a city of Ruthenia in the province of Narbonne, subject to the archbishop of Bourges).”

Book II
Section 25.

“…Let us now briefly enumerate the provinces of Europe.  To the north, then, beginning from the river Don, the first region of Europe is called Lower Scythia, and includes Alania, Gothia, and Scandinavia.  Then come Ruthenia, Poland, and Dacia; these extend in a broad tract towards the ocean, but are separated from it by some islands.  Between these provinces and our sea is Illyricum, which includes Dalmatia-supra-Mare, First Pannonia (containing Sirmium), Second Pannonia, Valeria, Livonia, Slavonia, Upper Moesia, Old Epirus, New Epirus, Noricus on the banks of the Danube, Noricus on the Mediterranean, Dardania, the island of Crete, Achaea, Macedonia, and Thessaly.  Next there are the provinces of First Thrace, Second Thrace, Lower Moesia, and Lesser Europe (containing Constantinople, originally called Lycus, later Byzantium); after the is come Rhodope and Boeotia.  Next, on the shores of our sea, Dalmatia-supra-Mare (where Aquileia is) borders, as we have said, on Pannonia.  Then comes Italy, bouynjded by the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas and the Cottian Alps.*  Italy includes the following provinces: Romulea (in which lies, or rather whose capital is, Rome), Tuscany, Umbria, Flamminia (which contains Ravenna), Campania (which contains Capua), Picenus, Liguria (which contains Milan), Venetia, the Cottian Alps, Samnium, Nursia, Emilia, Apulia, Calabria, Brutia with Lucania, First Raetia, Second Raetia, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica.”

[*note: think of the Cottians of Tacitus (?)]

Book III
Section 59.

“In England, near the diocese of Ely, there is a town called Cambridge.  In its territory, not far from the town, is a place which they call Wandlebury, because the Vandals pitched camp there when they were laying waster whole areas of Britain, cruelly slaughtering the Christians.  Now in the place on top of a slight hill where they set up their tents, a plate is enclosed by earthworks forming a circle, open for access by a single gate-like approach…”

Book III
Section 66.

“Further, in Poland onagers are often hunted.  These animals are virtually identical to asses in their nature: they are in fact wild asses, with antlers like deer, and of a melancholic constitution.  Since they have an innate dryness, they are thirsty creatures.  Consequently, when they hear the warning of hunters’ horns being sounded, they rush to the springs themselves with an enormous draught of water, so that when their dryness is increased by the hear of running, they may counterbalance it with the wetness of the drink they have taken.  Then m with the dogs pressing hard upon them, they gradually slacken their pace, when the dogs overtake them, they overwhelm them with such a great deluge from their nostrils that they both hinder them from pursuing them for some time by blinding them, and give themselves the chance to run away quickly while the dogs’ eyes are darkened.  A psalm in its literal meaning says of these: ‘The wild asses shall expect in their thirst.'”

Addendum from manuscript β only

“I have aded the following, concerning the might and progress of the Gauls, from Justin’s Epitoma of the books of Trogus Pompeius.  The Gauls grew in numbers until the lands which had given them birth could no longer contain them.  Then they sent 300,00 people to search for a new place to live.  Out of these, one group settled in Italy, capturing and burning the city of Rome, and another group, guided by birds (for the Gaulsare more highly-versed than any other race ion the business of augury), penetrated the Illyrian gulf, slaughtering the barbarians in their way, and settled in Pannonia; a rough, bold, and warlike race they crossed the unconquered peaks of the Alps and regions uninhabitable from the cold, the first people to do so after Hercules, whose feat won him admiration for his courage and the certainty of immortality.  There, having subjugated the Pannonians, for many years they engaged in warfare with the neighboring peoples.  Finally, encouraged by success they divided their forces, and some of them went into Greece while others headed for Macedonia, laying low with the sword everything in their path.  Such was the terror inspired by thgehn name of the Gauls that even kings who had not yet been attacked bought peace of their own accord with huge sums of money.”

“Indeed the young men of the Gauls were so immensely vigorous that they filled the whole of Asia with, as it were, a swatm of offspring.  Eventyally the situation obtained that the kings of the east never went to war without hiring a force of Gallic mercenaries, nor did kings expelled from their kingdoms seek refuge with anyone except the Gauls… However, such great slaughter was inflicted on the Gauls in Macedonia by King Antigonus that the report of this victory assured him of peace, not only from the Gauls, but also from his powerful neighbors.  And so when the Gauls were called in by the king of Bithynia to lend him their aid, having obtained the victory, they shared the kingdom with him, and called the region which they received Gallograecia.”

[note: Gervase then describes how the Gauls – finally defeated at the temple of Apollo at Delphi on Mount Parnassus – became two peoples Scordisci (settled on the Save) and Tectosagi (went back to Toulouse but then went back to Illyria, and “having despoiled the Istrians, settled in Pannonia.”]

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