Editing Veleda

{{short description|1st century seeress of the Bructeri, a Germanic people}}
{{other uses}}
{{rewrite|date=January 2020}}[[File:Augustins - Velleda - Laurent Marqueste 2004 1 431.jpg|thumb|Statue of Veleda by [[Laurent Marqueste]] ({{circa|1877}})]]
[[File:Germania, 1882 "Veleda, profetisa de los germanos". (4358472779).jpg|thumb|"Veleda, prophetess of the Germans," by Juan Scherr (1882)]]
'''Veleda''' ({{floruit|AD 69–84}}) was a [[Seeress (Germanic)|seeress]] of the [[Bructeri]], a [[Germanic peoples|Germanic people]] who achieved some prominence during the [[Batavian rebellion]] of AD&nbsp;69&ndash;70, headed by the Romanized [[Batavii|Batavian]] chieftain [[Gaius Julius Civilis]], when she correctly predicted the initial successes of the rebels against Roman legions.

== Name ==
The name ''Veleda'' ({{IPA|la|wɛ.ɫɛ.da|pron}}) is most likely a borrowing from [[Gaulish]] *''ueletā'' ('seeress'; cf. Gaul. ''uelets,'' Old Irish ''[[Filí|filed]]'', [[Middle Welsh]] ''gwelet'', [[Middle Breton]] ''guelet''), with regular Germanic sound shift ''-t-'' > ''-d-''.{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=311}}

==Life==
The name may be Celtic and generic title for a prophetess (from [[Proto-Celtic]] ''*welet-'' "seer", a derivative of the root ''*wel-'' "to see").<ref>Delamarre, Xavier, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, 2nd ed., Errance, 2003, p. 311</ref><ref>Koch, John (ed.), Celtic Culture, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 1728</ref> The ancient [[Germanic peoples]] discerned a divinity of prophecy in women and regarded prophetesses as true and living [[goddess]]es. In the latter half of the 1st century AD Veleda was regarded as a [[deity]] by most of the tribes in [[central Germany (geography)|central Germany]] and enjoyed wide influence.<ref>Harry Thurston Peck, ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities'', 2nd edition, p. 1640. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1965. Originally published in this form in 1897.</ref> She lived in a tower near the [[Lippe River]], a tributary of the [[Rhine]].<ref name="Frazer">Sir James George Frazer, ''The Golden Bough. A Study in Magic and Religion'', One-volume abridged edition, p. 97. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947. Originally published in this form in 1922.</ref> The inhabitants of the Roman settlement of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (now [[Cologne]]) accepted her arbitration in a conflict with the [[Tencteri]], an unfederated tribe of Germany (i.e., one outside the boundary of the [[Roman Empire]]). In her role as arbitrator, the envoys were not admitted to her presence; an interpreter conveyed their messages to her and reported her pronouncements.<ref name="Frazer"/>

=== Batavian Uprising ===
The Batavian leader Civilis originally raised his force as an ally of [[Vespasian]] during the Roman power struggle in AD 69, but when he saw the weakened condition of the legions in Romanized Germany he openly revolted. It is not clear whether Veleda merely prophesied the rebellion or actively incited it; given the Germans' adoration of her as a goddess, remote in her tower, the distinction may not have been clear at the time. Early in AD 70 the revolt was joined by Julius Classicus and Julius Tutor, leaders of the Treviri who like Civilis were Roman citizens. The Roman garrison at Novaesium (now [[Neuss]]) surrendered without a fight, as did the one at Castra Vetera (near modern [[Xanten]] in [[Lower Rhine region|Niederrhein]], Germany).<ref name="Grant">Michael Grant, ''The Army of the Caesars'', pp. 207-208. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974. {{ISBN|0-684-13821-2}}</ref> The commander of the Roman garrison, Munius Lupercus, was sent to Veleda, though he was killed en route, evidently in an ambush. Later, when the praetorian [[trireme]] was captured, it was rowed upriver on the Lippe as a gift to Veleda.<ref name="Lendering">{{cite web | url = https://www.livius.org/articles/person/veleda/ | title = Veleda | access-date = December 2, 2006 | last = Lendering | first = Jona | author-link = Jona Lendering | work = Livius}}</ref>

A strong show of force by nine Roman legions under [[Mucianus|Gaius Licinius Mucianus]] caused the rebellion to collapse. Civilis was cornered on his home island of [[Batavia (region)|Batavia]] on the lower Rhine by a force commanded by [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis]]; his fate is unknown, but in general Cerialis treated the rebels with surprising lenience, so as to reconcile them to Roman rule and military service.<ref name="Grant"/> In Veleda's case, she was left at liberty for several years.

In AD 77 the Romans either captured her, perhaps as a hostage, or offered her asylum. According to [[Statius]], her captor was then-Governor of [[Germania Inferior]] [[Quintus Julius Cordinus Gaius Rutilius Gallicus|Rutilius Gallicus]].<ref>Statius, ''[[Silvae]]'' 1.4, line 90; J.G.W. Henderson, ''A Roman Life: Rutilius Gallicus On Paper and In Stone''. Exeter, UK: University of Exeter Press, 1998.</ref> A Greek epigram has been found at [[Ardea (RM)|Ardea]], a few kilometres south of [[Rome]], that satirizes her prophetic powers.<ref>''Année Épigraphique'' 1953, 25.</ref> Veleda may have acted in the interest of Rome by negotiating the acceptance of a pro-Roman king by the Bructeri in AD 83 or 84.<ref name="Lendering"/> She was evidently long since deceased by the time [[Tacitus]] wrote his ''Germania'' in AD 98.<ref>Tacitus, ''Germany'', 8.2. Translation with Commentary by Herbert W. Benario. Warminster, UK: Aris & Phillips Ltd., 1999. {{ISBN|0-85668-716-2}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Velleda.jpg|thumb|''Velleda'', as imagined in a 19th-century painting by Charles Voillemot.]]
In her 1795 novel ''Velleda, ein Zauberroman'' (Velleda, a Magic Novel), [[Benedikte Naubert]] conflated the lives of two contemporaries, [[Boudica]] and Veleda, whom she romanticized as Boadicea and Velleda. In Naubert's work, Velleda is portrayed as a sorceress who offers Boadicea's daughters access to immortality in the magical world of Germanic goddesses, while Boadicea draws her daughters back to the real world. A large extract from Naubert's novel appeared in Shawn C. Jarvis and Jeannine Blackwell's ''The Queen's Mirror'', as did Amalie von Helwig's 1814 story "Die Symbole" (The Symbols), in which she was called Welleda.<ref>Shawn C. Jarvis and Jeannine Blackwell (eds. and trans.), ''The Queen's Mirror. Fairy Tales by German Women, 1780–1900'', pp. 33–74, 117–125. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8032-6181-0}}</ref> The forms "Velleda" and "Welleda" appear to be attempts to render the name in modern German (much as [[Richard Wagner]] rendered [[Odin]] or [[Wōden]] as Wotan in his ''Ring'' cycle).

Other 19th-century works incorporating Veleda/Velleda/Welleda included [[Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué]]'s 1818 novel, ''Welleda und Gemma''; [[Eduard Sobolewski]]'s 1835 opera ''Velleda''; E.H. Maindron's 1843–44 marble sculpture ''Velleda''; Franz Sigret's drawing ''Veleda, Prophetess of the Bructeri'', and [[Paul Dukas]]' cantata ''Velléda''.

More recently, Veleda's story was fictionalized by [[Poul Anderson]] in ''Star of the Sea'' (1991), and by [[Lindsey Davis]] in ''[[The Iron Hand of Mars]]'' (1992) and ''[[Saturnalia (Davis novel)|Saturnalia]]'' (2007). Veleda is also referenced as a prophetess turned saint/goddess in ''The Veil of Years'' (2001) by L. Warren Douglas.  She is also a character in ''The Dragon Lord'' (1979), by [[David Drake]].

On November 5, 1872, [[Paul-Pierre Henry|Paul Henry]] of Paris discovered an asteroid which was named [[126 Velleda]] in honor of Veleda.

The book series Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by [[Tad Williams]] features a mysterious and powerful seeress named Valada Geloë, likely inspired by Veleda.

==See also==
* [[Germanic paganism]]
* [[Weleda]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
===Bibliography===
* {{Cite book|last=Delamarre|first=Xavier|title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental|year=2003|publisher=Errance|isbn=9782877723695|author-link=Xavier Delamarre}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.livius.org/va-vh/veleda/veleda.html Livius.org: Veleda]

{{Völvas}}
{{Germanic peoples}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1st-century clergy]]
[[Category:1st-century Germanic people]]
[[Category:People of the Year of the Four Emperors]]
[[Category:Deified women]]
[[Category:Germanic seeresses]]
[[Category:Women in 1st-century warfare]]
[[Category:Women in ancient European warfare]]
[[Category:1st-century women]]
[[Category:1st-century people]]