When I developed an interest in classical music, I naturally came across the The Song of the Nibelungs aka 'Nibelungenlied', which is a high German epic poem about a dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, and the tale of how he was murdered and of his wife Kriemhild's terrible revenge.
As a part of the tale, a golden hoard is stolen from Kriemhild, and it is thrown into the Rhine where its known as the 'Rheingold'.
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| The Legend Of The Rheingold |
As a part of the tale, a golden hoard is stolen from Kriemhild, and it is thrown into the Rhine where its known as the 'Rheingold'.
This knowledge, scant though it is, was because it was part of the source materials for Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung), a series of four musical operatic dramas, popularly known as the Ring Cycle. What I didn't realise in those pre-Wiki days, was that the whole story had a bit of truth as its basis .
The German Nibelungen or Norse Niflung is the name of the royal family or lineage of the Burgundians who settled in the early 5th century at Worms on the Rhine river in Modern Germany. The city was originaily a Celtic settlement which was captured and fortified by the Romans, under Drusus in 14 BC. From that time, a small troop of infantry and cavalry were garrisoned in what they called Augusta Vangionum; this Roman presence gave the civilian settlement its Romanised version of its original Celtic name Borbetomagus. It was in this town that a Roman usurper, Emperor Jovinus, established himself as a puppet-emperor in the West during the disorders of 411–413 AD. He did this with the help of King Gundicar (aka Gunther), of the Burgundians. Needless to say it didn't go well for Jovinus, and this Roman city became the capital of the Burgundian kingdom.
In 436 AD, the Burgundian kingdom was all but destroyed by a combined army of Romans (led by the 'last of the Romans', General Aëtius) and Huns (led by Attila), after the Burgundians had been raiding Roman settlements. The decisive moment was the 'Battle of Worms', when the Burgundian army and its King were wiped out, with as many as 20,000 Burgundians killed, with the rest taken into slavery. The story of this war was part of the inspiration for the tale of the Nibelungenlied.
I was reminded of all this, when early in 2014, a hobby archaeologist with a metal detector was reported to have discovered a trove of gold and silver in a German forest, dating back to late Roman times - this was immediately linked in the press to the treasures of the Burgundian princes in the 5th century. The haul was found in the western state of Rhineland Palatinate, and what's been found to-date (suspicions abound that much has been sold off on the black market), is worth about €1m, and includes silver bowls, brooches and other jewellery from ceremonial robes, as well as small statues that would have adorned a grand chair ..... the river has shifted course substantially over the centuries, and this hoard may well have been under water when it was buried (a popular trick was to divert rivers, bury items, then reinstate the river course).
Whether the treasure is the famous Rhinegold or not, is open to some debate, but it seems to have been buried in haste by its owner, or by robbers, in around 406-407 AD, which ties in very nicely.
In 436 AD, the Burgundian kingdom was all but destroyed by a combined army of Romans (led by the 'last of the Romans', General Aëtius) and Huns (led by Attila), after the Burgundians had been raiding Roman settlements. The decisive moment was the 'Battle of Worms', when the Burgundian army and its King were wiped out, with as many as 20,000 Burgundians killed, with the rest taken into slavery. The story of this war was part of the inspiration for the tale of the Nibelungenlied.
I was reminded of all this, when early in 2014, a hobby archaeologist with a metal detector was reported to have discovered a trove of gold and silver in a German forest, dating back to late Roman times - this was immediately linked in the press to the treasures of the Burgundian princes in the 5th century. The haul was found in the western state of Rhineland Palatinate, and what's been found to-date (suspicions abound that much has been sold off on the black market), is worth about €1m, and includes silver bowls, brooches and other jewellery from ceremonial robes, as well as small statues that would have adorned a grand chair ..... the river has shifted course substantially over the centuries, and this hoard may well have been under water when it was buried (a popular trick was to divert rivers, bury items, then reinstate the river course).
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| Part Of The Treasure Of The Neibelung? |
Whether the treasure is the famous Rhinegold or not, is open to some debate, but it seems to have been buried in haste by its owner, or by robbers, in around 406-407 AD, which ties in very nicely.
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