Waldere

By Christopher Webster

Waldere escapes from Attila with Hildegyth, his bride-to-be. Attila sends 11 warriors after him, but Waldere, a master of Nordic martial arts, beats nine of them in single combat with the help of the legendary sword, Mimming. But can he, exhausted as he is, beat off the remianing two assailants? 

 

Waldere was admired by the Anglo-Saxons as the ultimate warrior, and the epic that bears his name stood on equal terms with the only surviving Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, though, sadly, most of it is lost. However, two fragments of the Anglo-Saxon poems remain, and a 9th century Latin version enables us to put those fragments in context. This book is an attempt to reconstruct the lost epic and present it as though it were a translation of an original, similar in style to Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, using a modern version of the Anglo-Saxon poetic line.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Blitz
• Release date: May 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224405664

Christopher Webster

Christopher Webster was brought up in Conisbrough, which is famous for its well-preserved castle. The castle and its link with Hengest provided the inspiration for this book. Another inspiration was studying English at university, particularly the study of Anglo-Saxon. His first publication was Poetry Through Humour and Horror. This was followed by many more educational publications including the best selling 100 Literacy Hours and study notes on Christina Rossetti and Ezra Pound. His writing about Conisbrough includes The Castle Trilogy, Coal Dust Kisses, four books of short stories and and Conisbrough Tales, which he describes as ‘a Canterbury Tales’ for Conisbrough. He also writes in other genres, such as Poetry, Regency Romance and Science Fiction under a range of pen-names. He is currently living in Laken and teaching in a European School.

Book preview

A LOST SAGA

In 1860 Professor Werlauff of the Royal Library, Copenhagen, came across two leaves of Anglo-Saxon poetry which had been used in the binding of a book. Upon examination they turned out to be two fragments of a lost epic poem about a Germanic hero known in Anglo-Saxon as Waldere (or Waldhere). That they were fragments of an epic poem rather than a short lay is obvious from the poet’s discursive treatment of the subject, and from our knowledge of the story from other sources. The most important of these is the Waltharius Manu Fortis (Walther of the Strong Hand), a Latin epic of 1456 lines written by Ekkehard of St Gall, who died in 973, and based on Germanic sources. It is thus probable that the Anglo-Saxon epic of Waldere was at least as long.  If the quality of the poetry of the surviving fragment, and the interest of the plot as told in Waltharius are anything to go by, the epic of Waldere would have been worthy to stand alongside Beowulf, the only complete Anglo-Saxon epic to survive. The aim of this book is to reconstruct the epic of Waldere by merging the two principle sources and re-writing it in the style of a modern translation of an Anglo-Saxon original, such as Seamus Heaney did with Beowulf, that is to say, in a modern version of the Anglo-Saxon alliterative line. Having re-read the poem many times since finishing it, I am convinced that Waltharius is an excellent story in its own right, but even more important, that it sets the Anglo-Saxon fragments in a vividly clear context, allowing them to be more fully appreciated.

THE STORY

The most complete version of the story to survive is that given in the Waltharius. The following summary was written by Bruce Dickens [1]:

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At the time of the great Hunnish invasions there ruled in Gaul three princes of Teutonic blood : Gibicho, king of the Franks, at Worms; his son was called Guntharius. Herericus, king of the Burgundians, at Chalon-sur-Saône; his daughter Hiltgunt was betrothed to Waltharius, son of Alpharius, king of Aquitaine. Attacked by a countless army of the Huns, they could not but submit and render hostages to Attila. In place of Guntharius, who was then too young, Gibicho sent Hagano of Trojan blood; but the others were forced to deliver up their own children. The hostages were well treated by Attila and raised to high positions at the Hunnish court. But on the death of Gibicho Guntharius revolted and Hagano fled to Worms. Thereupon Attila, fearing lest Waltharius should follow the example of his sworn companion, proposed to wed him to a Hunnish maiden. Waltharius, however, induced him to withdraw the proposition and prepared for flight with Hiltgunt. One night while the Huns were heavy with wine, they slipped away, carrying much treasure with them. They fled by devious ways and all went well till after they had crossed the Rhine by Worms. Now at last they felt out of danger; but Guntharius had heard of their arrival and thought only of recovering the tribute paid by his father to the Huns. Hagano tried to turn him from so discreditable and dangerous a venture; but Guntharius would not be gainsaid. With twelve chosen warriors, of whom the unwilling Hagano was one, he fell upon Waltharius, who was resting in a defile of the Vosges. He demanded the treasure and the maiden, and Waltharius, when his offer first of 100, then 200 rings had been refused, made a stubborn resistance. The position was impregnable; eight of the Franks he slew in single combat and, when the three survivors attacked him with a trident, he was equally successful. Guntharius and Hagano then drew off; on the following day Waltharius, who had left his strong position, was waylaid by them and a furious combat ensued, in which Guntharius lost a leg, Hagano an eye and Waltharius his right hand’. After a formal reconciliation the Franks returned to Worms and Waltharius at length reached home where, after his marriage to Hiltgunt and his father’s death, he ruled successfully for thirty years.

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The story also appears in Thidrik’s saga in chapter’s 241-4. It is essentially the same story, though with several differences of detail but only an outline of events is given. The value of Thidrik’s saga is that it gives us a glimpse of Walther’s life before and after the story in the Waltharius, though its accuracy is debatable since it contains several inconsistencies. This is Walther’s story according to Thidrik’s saga:

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In his youth, Valtari, who is Ermenrik’s nephew, is feasting with Detlef the Dane, and makes a negative comment about his table manners which leads to a fight. They compete at stone-throwing and spear-throwing, but Valtari loses and Ermenrik has to ransom him. This is an inauspicious beginning for a youth