Wulf And Eadwacer: A Homily To The Arian Church And Odoacer?

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yakovzutolmai
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Wulf And Eadwacer: A Homily To The Arian Church And Odoacer?

Post by yakovzutolmai »

After the assassination of Majorian, a group of Saxons appeared on the islands at the mouth of the Loire, launching invasions against the soft underbelly of Roman Gaul (which was only one generation from being subsumed by its Frankish allies).

Its leader was one Adovacrius. The connection to Odoacer is wondered after by historians, but in no way confirmed. Odoacer was associated with Eastern Germanic tribes. However, there is a mention of this Eastern Odoacer as assisting the Frankish king Childeric against some of the Herulii. While the pseudo-client kingdoms of the Franks and Burgundians would assist with Rome's effort to maintain peace in the West against external invaders, it's odd for Childeric to be so heavily involved in Italian affairs (I believe Gregory of Tours is the general source for all this).

To my view, it's much more likely that Heruli were resettled, or did resettle in Gaul/Italy. What probably happened was they came West as the Allamani invaded Italy, naturally taking Ricimer's side. With the Heruli confederacy of tribes in Allamania, and Odoacer fighting in favor of Ricimer along the Loire, Odoacer is eventually appointed to command the Heruli in favor of Ricimer. We know the rest of history.

Visually:
Eadwacer.jpg
Eadwacer.jpg (225.17 KiB) Viewed 406 times
I have wondered if this sequence of events represents a defense of Arian Christianity against the post-Theodosian reaffirmation of Nicaea (or if Theodosius redacted history to change the outcome of Nicaea).

With that in mind, the poem Wulf and Eadwacer:
It is to my people as if someone gave them a gift.
They want to kill him, if he comes with a troop.
It is different for us.

Wulf is on one island I on another.
That island, surrounded by fens, is secure.
There on the island are bloodthirsty men.
They want to kill him, if he comes with a troop.
It is different for us.

I thought of my Wulf with far-wandering hopes,
Whenever it was rainy weather, and I sat tearfully,
Whenever the warrior bold in battle encompassed me with his arms.
To me it was pleasure in that, it was also painful.

Wulf, my Wulf, my hopes for you have caused
My sickness, your infrequent visits,
A mourning spirit, not at all a lack of food.

Do you hear, Eadwacer? A wolf is carrying
our wretched whelp to the forest,
that one easily sunders which was never united:
our song together.
To interpret, Wulf is Ulfias, the apostle of Germanic Arianism. The woman singing is the Arian Germanic church. Eadwacer is Eadwacer/Odoacer. In context, the name Eadwacer doesn't have to be a given name, but could be the metaphorical equivalent to "Defender of the Faith".

Eadwacer is a bringing the gift of truth to Rome, to the church which has been corrupted by Theodosius. But the Romans will kill Eadwacer if he comes with a troop. The Saxons feel differently.

Post-Roman Britain was heavily Arian and Pelagianic. It needed specific missions to purge it. I would assume that the King which rules Britain after Constantine III abandons it would be the Vortigern who invites Hengist and Horsa. This is 50 years before Odoacer, and the Angles - who predate the more major migrations of Saxons - don't really start coming until the sixth century. I would thus, not to be fully accurate, but to avoid confusion, paint the "Anglo-Saxons" as sixth century pagan Northmen. These fifth century Saxons are the Arian post-federates.

Wulf is the warrior for the maiden, who is the church. His island is the safety of Britain where the Arian church is strong. The other island is the one at the mouth of the Loire, from which Eadwacer and his bloodthirsty troop wait, where the Romans are set ready to kill him if he comes.

The church laments the lost of apostolic guidance, remembering the days of Ulfias, metaphorically the Saxon woman who's lover is off at sea not to return.

The woman calls to Eadwacer accusingly. The whelp - the flock of Arian Romans, the progeny of the church and Ulfias - is carried off by the wolf: the Theodosian church and Roman officials loyal to it, which has just entered the scene and is persecuting Arians.

The poem therefore is a Saxon hymn spurring the men of Eadwacer to action, to join the campaign at the Loire to defend the Arians (Visigoths, Ricimer's side etc.) against the new Theodosians represented by Childeric etc.

And in this light, Eadwacer emerges as an interesting Arthurian candidate. A defender of the faith from Britannia, Pelagian-Arian, who conquers Gaul then Rome.

In the end, the most interesting element of this hypothesis would be the Theodosian redaction of history, which must have occurred had there been a meaningful persecution of Arians. We certainly know of Visigothic Arian persecutions against Theodosians. We are aware of persecutions against Arians. The surprise would be if the political events of the late 5th century are related specifically to this theological divide. If that would be true, then it means Eastern Rome would have had to have redacted that history. It's certainly within their capability and standard practice to be able to do so.
yakovzutolmai
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Re: Wulf And Eadwacer: A Homily To The Arian Church And Odoacer?

Post by yakovzutolmai »

The etymology of Eadwacer: "Old English word Eadwacer comes from Proto-Germanic *wakraz (Awake. Watchful, alert.), Proto-Germanic *audaz (Wealth, riches.)"

For the poem, one interpretation is this means "Property Watcher". I take this to means something like "thane".

However, if the poem is Arian metaphor, the woman being the church, and Ulfias the father of its flock, then the "thane" of the church is the same thing as the "Fidei Defensor", ironically given to another British non-catholic monarch.

In this light, Eadwacer is not the man's name (whatever it was). Rather, it is his title. He is Fidei Defensor of the Arian Britano-Saxon church, sent to defend the Arian church in continental Rome.

This makes the figure, conceptually, an interesting vessel for Arthurian concepts. A presage of the crusader archetype, a defender of sacred truth lost to the world, a restorer of sacred truth against the world's corruption. The crusader mentality, where the backwater far West must rise to defend truth at the heart of the world, would emphasize the West's mythological legacy, and try to find in the West's historical identity and analogue to that role. Here, Eadwacer emerges through misty memory, though heretical to medieval Catholicism. It would be the crusades which reinvigorate interest in Arthur during the middle ages, as he would be a prototype for them that defines the West as defenders of faith.

We can also hear it set to music (fair warning that this would be 9th century music, perhaps 9th century language, but that doesn't mean the hymn might not have an earlier origin).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-QagSE7sFY
yakovzutolmai
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Re: Wulf And Eadwacer: A Homily To The Arian Church And Odoacer?

Post by yakovzutolmai »

To further clarify, the hymn would have been devised to entertain the troop serving under Eadwacer in their camp at the island of the Loire. They understood their mission vaguely, and the composer would have framed it as a traditional lover's lament to inspire emotions. They would have been told it was about the church, but in hearing the lover's lament (a nostalgic, familiar and evocative format), it would have inspired motivating feelings about their mission.

That is, I think, how the poem may have served in this hypothetical context. It is written deliberately as a lover's lament, only vaguely referential to the symbolic and political meaning. It's not mean to hide anything, either.

We also recognize the poem is received by way of the 9th century, and its language could have certainly have changed. As a popular lover's lament, it would have survived simply for sounding evocative and having been popular among Saxon Christians in Britain.
yakovzutolmai
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Re: Wulf And Eadwacer: A Homily To The Arian Church And Odoacer?

Post by yakovzutolmai »

To highlight the tragic nature of the hymn,
A wolf is carrying
our wretched whelp to the forest,
that one easily sunders which was never united:
I get the impression from history that many of the German tribes, not only the Foederati, but these later Heruli and even the Goths, wanted to be part of Rome. To get along in peace with it. To be safe within it. And to be Christian too.

My other post theorized that Theodosius changed Christianity to be anti-Arian specifically to drive a wedge that would keep Germanics out of the empire, by invalidating their Christianity.

So if later Odoacer and Ricimer are fighting to protect the Arian church, and Eadwacer is the defender of the faith, then the lament is that this dream of Germanics and Romans united under the cross is easily broken, since they had never had the chance to be united in the first place, thanks to Theodosius's changes.
andrewcriddle
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Re: Wulf And Eadwacer: A Homily To The Arian Church And Odoacer?

Post by andrewcriddle »

iIUC there is little evidence of Arianism (as distinct from other heresies) in Britain/England

Andrew Criddle
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