Editing Ermanaric

{{short description|4th-century king of the Goths}}
{{for|the bishop|Ermanrich of Passau}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name            = Ermanaric
| succession      = [[Germanic kingship|King]] of the [[Greuthungi]]an
| reign           = {{circa}} 296–376
| successor       = [[Vithimiris]]
| royal house     = [[Amali]]
| birth_date      = {{circa}} 291
| death_date      = 376 (Aged about 85)
}}
[[Image:Chernyakhov.PNG|right|250px|thumb|The orange area signifies the [[Chernyakhov Culture]], identified with Ermanaric's kingdom, in the early fourth century.]]
[[File:Imperio Romano.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Ermanaric's kingdom at the end of the fourth century (a map from 1899).]]
'''Ermanaric'''{{efn|{{langx|got|*Aírmanareiks}}; {{langx|la|Ermanaricus}} or ''Hermanaricus'';  {{langx|ang|Eormanrīc}} {{IPA|ang|ˈeorˠmɑnriːtʃ|}}; {{langx|non|Jǫrmunrekkr}} {{IPA|non|ˈjɔrmunrekr|}}, {{langx|gmh|Ermenrîch}}}} (died 376) was a [[Greuthungi]]an [[Germanic kingship|king]] who before the [[Huns|Hunnic]] invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of [[Oium]], the part of [[Scythia]] inhabited by the Goths at the time. He is mentioned in two Roman sources: the contemporary writings of [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], and in ''[[Getica]]'' by the sixth-century historian [[Jordanes]]. He also appears in a fictionalized form in later [[Germanic heroic legend]]s.

Modern historians disagree on the size of Ermanaric's realm. [[Herwig Wolfram]] postulates that he at one point ruled a realm stretching from the [[Baltic Sea]] to the [[Black Sea]] as far eastwards as the [[Ural Mountains]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Wolfram |first=Herwig |author-link=Herwig Wolfram |year=1997 |title=The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOnQDfRU-poC |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |page=27 |isbn=0-520-08511-6 |access-date=2 November 2013 }}</ref> [[Peter Heather]] is skeptical of the claim that Ermanaric ruled all Goths except the [[Tervingi]], and furthermore points to the fact that such an enormous empire would have been larger than any known Gothic political unit, that it would have left bigger traces in the sources and that the sources on which the claim is based are not nearly reliable enough to be taken at face value.<ref>{{cite book |last=Heather |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Heather |year=1991 |title=Goths and Romans 332-489 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=86–89 |isbn=0-19-820234-2 }}</ref>

==Etymology==
The first element of the name ''Ermanaric'' appears to be based on the [[Proto-Germanic]] root ''*[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/ermunaz|ermena-]]'', meaning 'universal'.{{sfn|Gillespie|1973|p=39}} The second element is from the element ''*-[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/rīks|rīks]]'', [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''[[wikt:𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃|reiks]]'', meaning 'ruler'; this is found frequently in Gothic royal names.{{sfn|Gillespie|1973|p=30}}

==In Roman sources==
According to Ammianus, Ermanaric was "a most warlike king" who eventually committed [[suicide]], faced with the aggression of the [[Alans|Alani]] and of the [[Hun]]s, who invaded his territories in the 370s. Ammianus says he "ruled over extensively wide and fertile regions".<ref name="Kulikowski">{{citation|author=Michael Kulikowski |title=Rome's Gothic Wars |year=2007 |pages=111, 112 |isbn= 9780521846332}}</ref><ref name="Ammianus">{{citation |author=Ammianus Marcellinus |author-link=Ammianus Marcellinus | url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Ammian/31*.html#3 |title=Res Gestae XXXI 3 |editor=Thayer}}</ref> Ammianus also says that after Ermanaric's death, a certain [[Vithimiris]] was elected as the new king.

According to [[Jordanes]]' ''[[Getica]]'', Ermanaric ruled the realm of [[Oium]]. Jordanes describes him as a "Gothic [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]]" who "ruled all the nations of [[Scythia]] and [[Germania]] as they were his own". Jordanes also states that the king put to death a young woman named Sunilda ([[Svanhildr]]) with the use of horses, as punishment for her husband's treason. Thereupon her two brothers, Sarus and [[Ammius]], severely wounded Ermanaric, leaving him unfit to defend his kingdom from Hunnic incursions. Variations of this legend had a profound effect on medieval Germanic literature, including that of England and [[Scandinavia]] (see [[Jonakr's sons]]). Jordanes claims that he successfully ruled the [[Goths]] until his death aged 110.

[[Edward Gibbon]] gives the version of Ammianus and Jordanes as historical, reporting that Ermanaric successively conquered, during a reign of about 30 years from AD 337 to 367, the [[Thervingi|west-goths]], the [[Heruli]], the [[Vistula Venedi|Venedi]] and the [[Aestii]], establishing a kingdom which ranged from the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] to the [[Black Sea]];<ref>Edward Gibbon, ''The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire'', (The Modern Library, 1932), chap. XXV., pp. 890, 891</ref> and died aged 110 of a wound inflicted by the brothers of a woman whom he had cruelly executed for her husband's revolt, being succeeded by his brother [[Vithimiris]].<ref>Gibbon, Ibid. chap. XXVI., pp. 920, 921</ref>

==In Germanic sources and legends==
Ermanaric appears in a variety of different [[Germanic heroic legend]]s.

Iormunrek (Jörmunrekkr) is the Norse form of the name.<ref name="Tolkien2009" /> Ermanaric appears in [[Anglo-Saxon]] and [[Norse mythology|Scandinavian]] legend.  In the former, the poem [[Beowulf]]  focused on the image of "Eormenric's wiles and hatred".<ref>[[Seamus Heaney]] trans., ''Beowulf'' (London 2000) p. 40</ref> He is described in the tenth century poem  [[Deor]] as a powerful but treacherous king: "We have heard of the wolfish mind of Eormanric: far and wide he ruled the people of the realm of the Goths: he was a cruel king".<ref name="Tolkien2009">[[Deor]], quoted in J R R Tolkien, ''The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun'' (London 2009) p. 322-323.</ref>

The death of [[Svanhildr]] (Svanhildr Sigurðardóttir) and Ermanaric's (Jörmunrek) subsequent death at the hands of [[Jonakr's sons]] occupies an important place in the world of Germanic legend. The tale is retold in many northern European stories, including the Norse poems [[Ragnarsdrápa]], [[Hamðismál]] and [[Guðrúnarhvöt]], the [[Prose Edda]] and the [[Volsunga Saga]]; the Norwegian [[Ragnarsdrápa]]; the Danish [[Gesta Danorum]]; and the German [[Nibelungenlied]]<ref>
{{Citation
  | last1 = Lettsom
  | first1 = William Nanson
  | author-link = William Nanson Lettsom
  | last2 = Carpenter	
  | first2 = William H.
  | author2-link = William Henry Carpenter (philologist)
  | title = The Nibelungenlied
  | publisher = Colonial Press
  | year = 1901
  | url = https://archive.org/stream/nibelungenlied00lettuoft/nibelungenlied00lettuoft_djvu.txt
  | access-date = 7 May 2011}}</ref>
and [[Annals of Quedlinburg]].

In the Norse ''[[Thidreks Saga]]'', translated from [[Low German]] sources, Ermanaric is ill-advised by his treacherous counsellor Bicke, Bikka, Sifka, or Seveke (who wants revenge for the rape of his wife by Ermanaric),<ref>Gillespie 1973, 117</ref> with the result that the king puts his own wife to death for supposed adultery with his son;<ref name="Tanner1929">J. R. Tanner ed., ''The Cambridge Medieval History Vol VI'' (Cambridge 1929) p. 839</ref> he is thereafter crippled by his brothers-in-law in revenge.<ref name="Shippey1992">[[Tom Shippey]], ''The Road to Middle-Earth'' (London 1992) p. 16</ref>

In the [[Middle High German]] poems ''[[Dietrichs Flucht]]'', the ''[[Rabenschlacht]]'', and ''[[Alpharts Tod]]'' about [[Dietrich von Bern|Dietrich of Bern]], Ermanaric is Dietrich's uncle who has driven his nephew into exile.<ref>Heinzle 1999, pp. 4-7</ref> The early modern [[Low German]] poem ''[[Ermenrichs Tod]]'' recounts a garbled version of Ermanaric's death reminiscent of the scene told in Jordanes and Scandinavian legend.<ref>Millet 2008, p. 475</ref>

==Name==
Ermanaric's [[Gothic name]] is reconstructed as  ''*Airmanareiks''. 
It is recorded in the various Latinized forms:
* in [[Jordanes]]' ''[[Getica]]'', he is called ''Ermanaricus'' or ''Hermanaricus'', but some of the manuscripts even have ''Armanaricus'', ''Hermericus'', ''Hermanericus'' etc.
* in [[Ammianus]]' ''Res gestae'', he is ''Ermenrichus'' (his name occurs only once).

In medieval Germanic heroic legend, the name appears as:
* [[Old English language|Old English]] ''Eormenric'' in ''[[Beowulf]]''; the alternative spelling ''Eormanric'' occurs in the poems ''[[Deor]]'' and ''[[Widsith]]'',
* [[Old Norse]]  ''Jǫrmunrekkr''
** (or, borrowed from Low German) ''Ermenrekur'', [[Old Swedish]] ''Ermenrik'' or ''Ermentrik'' in the Swedish ''[[Thidrekssaga|Didrik Saga]]'',
* [[Middle High German]] ''Ermenrîch''.

Since the name ''Heiðrekr'' may have been confused with Ermanaric{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} through folk etymology, Ermanaric is possibly identifiable with ''Heiðrekr Ulfhamr'' of the [[Hervarar saga]].

==See also==
* [[Berig]]
* [[Filimer]]
* [[List of longest-reigning monarchs]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Works cited==
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{cite book|last1=Gillespie|first1=George T.|title=Catalogue of Persons Named in German Heroic Literature, 700-1600: Including Named Animals and Objects and Ethnic Names|date=1973|publisher=Oxford University|location=Oxford|isbn=9780198157182}}
*{{cite book|last1=Heinzle|first1=Joachim|title=Einführung in die mittelhochdeutsche Dietrichepik|date=1999|publisher=De Gruyter|location=Berlin, New York|isbn=3-11-015094-8|pages=58–82| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Sz4f9YS53EC}}
*{{cite book|last1=Millet|first1=Victor|title=Germanische Heldendichtung im Mittelalter|date=2008|publisher=de Gruyter|location=Berlin, New York|isbn=978-3-11-020102-4|pages=332–370}}
{{refend}}

{{The Dietrich von Bern Cycle}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ermanaric}}
[[Category:260s births]]
[[Category:376 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:Gothic kings]]
[[Category:Amali dynasty]]
[[Category:Gothic warriors]]
[[Category:English heroic legends]]
[[Category:Ancient suicides]]
[[Category:4th-century Gothic people]]
[[Category:4th-century monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:Longevity claims]]
[[Category:Royalty who died by suicide]]