REFLECTIONS ON
VIGRID/OSKOPNIR AND IDAVOLL: THE NORSE WORLD DURING AND AFTER RAGNAROK
In
the Old Norse poem “Voluspa”, which tells of the Ragnarok or Doom of the Powers
that is, essentially, the end of the world, we learn that the gods reside
(strophe 7) at a place called Idavoll.
Later, following the universal destruction of the last battle, gods and
men reappear in a new Idavoll (strophe 57), itself situated somewhere on a new
earth that rises out of the sea.
At
first Idavoll – which has been subject to various etymologies – would appear to
be merely a mythological construct.
However, as Rudolf Simek mentions in his Dictionary of Northern
Mythology, Idavoll would appear to correspond perfectly to Idisiaviso, the name
of a historical battle site located somewhere between Hameln and Minden on the
Weser River in Germany. This was the
place were the famous Cheruscan chieftain Arminius suffered a major defeat when
fighting the Roman army under Germanicus.
This defeat was part of Germanicus’s avenging of Arminius’s annihilation
of the three Roman legions of Varus in the Teutoburg Forest
(now believed to be in the vicinity of Kalkriese).
The
identification of Idavoll with Idisiaviso reminds us very much of the Christian
notion that a New Jerusalem would descend from the heavens onto the mountain of Zion after this faith’s eschatological
vision unfolds. According to the
Revelation of St. John, part of the Christian world destruction involves a
battle at Armageddon, i.e. Har Meggido, a real city that had been the site of
some major battles in the Old Testament.
Because the place was well-known to Biblical audiences as a center of
strife, it was symbolically selected as the location of the final conflict
between the forces of good and evil.
Is
there an Armageddon in the Old Norse eschatology? Well, as a matter of fact, yes, there is: it
is called variously the plain of Vigrid or the island of Oskopnir. But do either or both of these battlefields
represent an actual real-world location, as is the case with Armageddon in the
Christian tradition? Or are they merely
mythological constructs, as Idavoll was once thought to be?
Oskopnir
is not a real place-name. Instead, it
would appear to be a result of learned invention or even philosophical
speculation. The -nir of this word is a
fairly standard Old Icelandic suffix.
Oskop- has been related, properly I think, to Old Icelandic word meaning
something like “unmade”. Various
translators of the Eddas have suggested as much, although I think they make a
mistake is describing the place itself as that which is unmade, unshapen,
uncreated, etc. Instead, we should see
in the word something akin to “[the place of] unmaking”. In other words, Oskopnir is the antithesis of
Creation, the place where the world is, literally, unmade during the paroxysms
that attend the final battle. Oskopnir
is referred to as an island most likely because the Norse had a fondness for
the holmgangr or “island-going”, a description of the sacred and legal
procedure to be followed during a duel. And Surt’s presence on the island may
point to an active volcanic island. It
may be that the plain Vigrid is on the island or we may be dealing with two
separate strains of eschatological development.
In one, the battle was on an island and in another, it was on a plain.
Are
we any better off with Vigrid in the sense of finding a real-world location for
the last battle? First, the name itself
is not without its difficulties. You
will find it in Simek and Orchard, respectively, with the sense of “place on
which battle surges” or “battle-surge”.
Through a private communication with Professor Doctor Doctor Simek, I’ve
learned that the ‘surge’ definition is an extrapolation from ridr, ‘to sway, swing’
(see both the Cleasby-Vigfusson and Zoega Old Icelandic dictionaries). More literally, Simek would render Vigridr as
‘a plain where the battle sways back and forth’. Orchard took his “surge” definition from
Simek.
Another
problem with Vigrid is the plain’s size.
We are told the plain stretches 100 leagues (read ‘120’ for the German
long-hundred) in every direction. This
is 360 miles in every direction, making for a total of 129,600 square miles or
335,662 square kilometers. So Vigrid is
a huge plain, and its scale would once again point to this place as a
mythological construct. Of course, such
a detail could be a later accretion to the tradition.
So,
is Vigrid, like Oskopnir, merely an abstraction or mythological construct? Or can it be localized in the real world?
On
the location of Vigrid, we really only have one vague but important clue. “Lokasenna” 42 tells us that “Muspell’s sons
ride over/above Myrkvid” on their way to the Ragnarok battle. This is at least confirmation that the battle
does NOT take place in the south or even in the more civilized Roman
lands. While the precise location of
Myrkwood or the Dark Wood is itself somewhat ambiguous in the Norse sources, in
all likelihood its origin should be sought in the German Schwarzwald or Black Forest.
Another option is to identify the Myrkvid with the ancient Hercynia
Silva. These great expanses of primeval
forest lay north of the Roman road from the Rhineland
to the Danube and as such were seen as separating
Germania from the regions to the south. Surt
and his sons belonged to the distant south. Thus their riding over/above
Myrkvid tells us that the Norse
envisioned Vigrid as lying in the north, somewhere above this vast boundary forest.
I
do believe I have found a candidate for Vigrid – and it is not far from the
Idavoll/Idisiaviso on the Weser between Minden and Hameln. A systematic
search of German place-names has revealed only one which can possibly conform
to Vigrid: Wickriede in Nordrhein-Westfalen, the name of a right-hand tributary
of the Grose Aue, itself a tributary of the Weser.
I've consulted with German place-name expert Professor Doctor Jurgen Udolph and
he kindly sent along the following notes on Wickriede, which can best be
etymologized as 'Elm Stream':
"Wickriede
Flussname,
rechts zur Aue (Warme Aue Weser) - U. Borchers, Das Flußgebiet der Unterweser
und der mittleren Weser (= Hydronymia
Germaniae A, Lfg. 18), Stuttgart 2005, S. 147
1771
Wickriede
auch
Ortsname Wickriede – östlich Espelkamp, nordwestl. Minden
Diskutiert
bei:
F.
Witt, Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Flußnamen Nordwestdeutschlands, Phil. Diss.
Kiel 1912, S. 115, 187: sieht im ersten Teil wīk „Flecken, Siedlung, Ort“.
J.
Udolph, Namenkundliche Studien zum Germanenproblem,
Berlin - New York 1994, S. 387:
Hierher
gehören auch eine im 14.Jh. als Ulenride erwähnte Siedlung bei Wallen und 1682 Volriede, in Buchholz , weiterhin
Warbsriethe, FlurN. bei Gr. Gusborn ; Waschelriede , FlurN. bei Neustadt/Rbge.
; Weiche Riehe und Wiewerrie, FlurN. bei Raddingsdorf; Wecken Riehn, FlurN. bei
Selmsdorf ; Wickriede, auch Kl. Wickriede, GNN. bei Stolzenau ; Wiekriede bei
Hille (Hunte) ; Winkel-Riede, Zufluß z. Lahrer B. bei Vechta .
Riede
forthcoming:
J. Udolph, Where did the „English“ come from? The colonisation of England by
Germanic tribes on the basis of place-names. In: International Conference on
Historical Language and Literacy in the North Sea
Area, Stavanger 2009.
Extract:
5. German Riede “mud, mush, dirt, soil”
The
German water-term Riede, which is relatively frequent in the area along the North Sea, has often been examined in terms of its distribution
and etymology. Its Low German equivalent is ride, rîde, rien “natural watercourse,
small river, rivulet in the mudflat”; the Middle Low German term is rîde, rîe,
rîge (ride, rije, rige) “brook, small river, rift”. In Old Saxon it is ritha,
rithe “watercourse, small river”; Frisian riede “canal, small river in the
mudflat”, ryt, ryd(e) “brede greppel”, North Frisian rîde, riet; Old Frisian
reed “small river” and rîth “brook”; Dutch rijt “water-loop”, Middle Dutch
rijt, Old Low Franconian rîth “brook”.
Very
early the word was encountered in English: it is found in Old English rīð,
rīðe, rīðig “small river”, rīðe “brook, drawn-out narrow lowland, old
streambed”, English rithe, ride “small river, originated by rain, small
stream”, rigatt “a small channel from a stream made by rain” (cf. Udolph 1994:
377–394).
In
Germany,
numerous examples of place-names with this element can be found. Some of them
belong to younger strata and are thus not very significant for the present
investigation, which focuses on the older strata: Achelriede, Aschriehe,
Bargeriede, Bassriede, Bickenriede, Bleckriede, Bollriede, Borgriede,
Botterriede, Brandriehe, Bruchriede, Brunriehe, Diekriede, Eilenriede,
Ellerige, Jachelriede, Janrieden, Middel Rie (Middels Rie), Exeriede,
Feldriede, Feldriede, Flehmanns Rieh, Flämischen Rüe, Weeckenlands Rüe, Flissenriede,
Fluthriede, Fohlenrien, Fuhlenrüe, Fuldenriede, Fuhle Riede, Die Große Riede,
Grotrüh, Haferriede, Hauenriede, Holtride and many more.
Examples
that belong to an older stratum are: 726 (copy about 1222) Araride (near Cologne), Brüchter near Ebeleben,
876 Borahtride, 1290 Bruchtirde, also Burichtride, Borantride; Corveyer
evidence from about 826–876 Hrithem (with inorganic h-).
In
the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and North France, the following examples
have been detected: Bruggenrijt, Dieprijt, het Dikke Riet, Munnikenzijlster,
Ekkersrijt, Houtrijt, Jutjesriet, Peelrijt, Pieperij, Riet, Rijt, Segerijd and
others; some of these are, however, young formations.
England shows numerous examples containing
this element. Some represent very early coinages, such as Abberd; Beverley
Brook, 693 (copy 11th century) beferiði; Blackrith; 972 (copy 1050) Bordriðig;
Chaureth, 1086 Ceauride; Childrey; Coldrey, 973/74 (copy 12th century) (to)
colriðe; Coleready; Cropredy; Cottered, 1086 Chodrei; 1228 Ealdimererithi;
Eelrithe, 680 ad Aelrithe; Efferiddy; Erith; Fingrith; 693 river- and
stream-names Fugelriðie; Fulready; Fulrithe; Gooserye; Hendred, 984 Henna rið;
774 Hweolriðig; Landrith; Shottery, 699–709 (map 11th century) Scottarið and
many more.
The
distribution on the map shows that these place-names occur especially in Northern Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and England. Thus,
it may also suggest that the settlers immigrated to England via the channel.
Map
6. Riede, ride, rithe, riet, rið in geographic names (Udolph 1994: 393)
s.
Attachment
cf.
J. J. Udolph, Namenkundliche Studien zum Germanenproblem,
Berlin - New York 1994, S. 377-394.
J.
Udolph, Die Landnahme Englands durch germanische Stämme im Lichte der
Ortsnamen. In: Nordwestgermanisch (Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde,
Ergänzungsband 13), Berlin-New York 1995, S.
223-270.
Sachsenproblem
und Ortsnamenforschung, in: Studien zur Sachsenforschung 13 (1999)427-448.
Wick
Nicht
wīk „Dorf, Siedlung“ usw. (s. L. Schütte, Wik. Eine Siedlungsbezeichnung in
historischen und sprachlichen Bezügen, Köln-Wien 1976), sondern altenglisch
wice, niederdeutsch wiecke ‚Rüster, Ulme’ (H. Jellinghaus: Diewestfälischen
Ortsnamen nach ihren Grundwörtern, Osnabrück 1923, S. 170), vgl. Wickede (M.
Flöer, C. M. Korsmeier, Die Ortsnamen des Kreises Soest (= Westfälisches
Ortsnamenbuch, Bd. 1), Bielefeld 2009, S. 472.
cf.
A.H. Smith, English Place-Name
Elements, T. 2, Cambridge
1956, S. 263"
According
to Norse myth, the elm tree was made by the gods into the first woman. That is,
if we go by Embla = 'Elm'. Scholars now
prefer (see Simek) to associate Embla with Latin ampelus, Greek ampelos,
'vine'. But this does not completely
solve the problem, as Ovid in his Fasti reminds us that Ampelus was a young man
who died while picking grapes from a vine that had wrapped itself about an elm
tree.
The
Wickriede stretches from its source at Frotheim in the south to NE of
Rahden. As such, its course passes
between the region of Idavoll near Minden-Hameln to the east and southeast and
Kalkriese to the west. Frotheim is Frothi's/Frodi's Home, the personal name
being that of the famous legendary Danish king Snorri Sturluson identifies with
the god Freyr.
While
the Wickriede place-name does not match the supposed meaning of the Old Icelandic
Vigrid, it does not necessarily follow that the latter could not have
originated with the former. Alternately,
an original Saxon 'Battle
stream' could later have been rendered by the more familiar wick. The exciting thing to me about Wickriede is
the unlikelihood that its being found in this region is merely a
coincidence. The Teutoberg Battle of Varus and
Arminius was a running battle of several days' duration. Although what has been
discovered archaeologically at Kalkriese would appear to represent the end of
the massacre of Romans by the Germans, there were previous locations that, were
they known, would doubtless also yield up more of the slain legionaries. It is certainly conceivable that one such
site of slaughter was the Wickriede, and that this name, though not preserved
for us by the Classical historians, may have been remembered by the Germans
themselves, who passed the tradition along to their cousins the Scandinavians.
We
may even be able to account for the huge size of the Vigrid plain. Wickriede is on the edge of the extensive
North German Plain, and Adam of Bremen, in describing Saxony (in his “History
of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen”), said “Except for an occasional hill,
the country, looked at closely, is nearly all a sloping plain.” The stream’s location may have caused its
name, during the evolution of heroic legend, to be applied to the entire plain.
A
map from http://eclecticmeanderings.blogspot.com/2009/09/two-thousand-years-ago-this-m...
does a very nice job of plotting the three probable camps of Varus. Note that Camp 1 is located right at the
Wickriede stream.
Two
more maps (courtesy Cristiano64 via Wikipedia) show again the general direction
of Varus's line of march. Once again,
the route taken by the Romans would have lead them across the Wickriede stream.
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