Origin of the Anglo-Saxon race : a study of the settlement of England and the tribal origin of the Old English people by Shore, Thomas William

[Геннадий Воля]

https://archive.org/details/originofanglosax00shoruoft

CHAPTER  VI. 

RUGIANS,   WENDS,   AND   TRIBAL   SLAVONIC   SETTLERS. 

THE  name  Wends  was  given  by  the  old  Teutonic 
nations  of  Germany  to  those  Slavonic  tribes  who 
were  located  in  the  countries  east  of  the  Elbe  and 
south  of  the  Baltic  Sea.  It  is  the  same  as  the  older  name 
used  by  Ptolemy,1  who  says  that  'the  Wenedae  are  estab- 
lished along  the  whole  of  the  Wendish  Gulf.'  Tacitus  also 
mentions  the  Venedi.  There  can,  therefore,  be  no  doubt 
that  these  people  were  seated  on  the  coast  of  Mecklenburg 
and  Pomerania  before  the  time  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  settle- 
ment. That  there  were  some  differences  in  race  between 
the  Wends  of  various  tribes  is  probable  from  the  existence 
of  such  large  tribes  among  them  as  the  Wiltzi  and  Obo- 
driti,  who  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne  formed  opposite 
alliances,  the  former  with  the  Saxons,  the  latter  with  the 
Franks.  The  Wends  who  still  exist  in  Lower  Saxony 
are  of  a  dark  complexion,  and  are  of  the  same  stock  as 
the  Sorbs  or  Serbs  of  Servia.  They  are  Slavonic,  but 
many  tribes  of  Slavonic  descent  are  fair  in  complexion. 
Procopius  tells  us  that  those  Vandals  who  were  allies 
of  the  ancient  Goths  were  remarkable  for  their  tall 
stature,  pale  complexion,  and  blonde  hair.2  It  is  there- 
fore by  no  means  improbable  that  the  ancient  Slavic 

tribes  of  the  Baltic  coast  were  distinguished  by  differences 
in  complexion. 

[Геннадий Воля]

The  Vandals  are  commonly  thought  to  have  been  a 
nation  of  Teutonic  descent  like  the  Goths,  but  there  is 
certain  evidence  that  the  later  Vandals  or  Wends  were 
Slavonic,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  these  later 
Vandals  were  descended  from  some  of  the  earlier. 

In  Germany,  east  of  the  Elbe,  no  earlier 
inhabitants  than  the  Slavonic  have  been  discovered, 
excepting  those  of  a  very  remote  prehistoric  age.  At  the 
dawn  of  German  history  no  traces  are  met  with  of 
enthralled  people  of  Teutonic  descent  among  the  Slavs 
east  of  the  Elbe,  and  there  are  no  traditions  of  such 
earlier  occupants,  while  the  oldest  place-names  are  all 
Slavonic. 

Ethnology  and  history,  therefore,  alike  point  to  people  of 
Sarmatian  or  Slavic  descent — i.e.,  brachycephalic  tribes — 
as  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Eastern  Germany,  and 
indicate  some  misunderstanding  in  this  respect  by  the 
commentators  of  Tacitus.3  In  Eastern  Germany  place- 
names  survive  ending  in  -itz,  so  very  common  in  Saxony ; 
in  -zig,  as  Leipzig ;  in  -a,  as  Jena ;  and  in  -dam,  as  Pots- 
dam. All  these  places  were  named  by  the  Slavs.

The  statement  of  Bede  that  the  Rugini  or  Rugians  were 
among  the  nations  from  whom  the  English  were  known 
to  have  descended  was  contemporary  evidence  of  his  own 
time.  The  Rugi  are  also  mentioned  by  Tacitus.5  Their 
name  apparently  remains  to  this  day  in  that  of  Riigen 
Island,  situated  off  the  coast  which  they  occupied  in  the 
time  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

As  Ptolemy  tells  us  of  the  wenedae  seated  on  this  same 
Baltic  coast,  and  as  they  were  Sarmatians  or  Slavs,  it 

is  clear  that  the  Rugians  must  have  been  of  that  race. 
Some  of  the  nations  mentioned  by  Tacitus  were,  he  says, 
of  non-Germanic  origin.  Riigen  Island  was  the  chief 
place  of  worship  for  the  Wendish  race,  the  chief  centre 
of  their  religion.  On  the  east  side  of  the  peninsula  of 
Jasmund  in  Riigen  are  the  white  chalk  cliffs  of  Stubben- 
kammer,  and  on  the  north  side  of  the  island  is  the  pro- 
montory of  Arcona,  where  in  the  twelfth  century  we  read 
of  the  idol  Svantovit,  and  the  temple  of  this  Wendish 
god..  No  traces  of  Teutonic  worship  have  ever  been 
found  in  Riigen.  They  are  all  Slavonic.  Saxo  tells  us 
of  the  worship  of  Svantovit  at  Arcona  with  the  tributes 
brought  there  from  all  Slavonia.

[Геннадий Воля]

The  probability  of  some  very  early  settlers  in  Britain 
having  been  Wends,  and  consequently  that  there  was 
a  Slavic  element  in  the  origin  of  the  Old  English  race, 
is  shown  in  another  way.  The  settlement  of  large 
bodies  of  Vandals  in  Britain  by  order  of  the  Emperor 
Probus  is  a  fact  recorded  in  Roman  history.  The 
authority  is  Zosimus,2  and  this  settlement  is  said  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  latter  part  of  the  third  century  of  our 
era,  after  a  great  defeat  of  Vandals  near  the  Lower  Rhine. 
They  were  accompanied  by  a  horde  of  Burgundians, 
and  as  they  were  apparently  on  the  march  in  search  of 
new  homes,  it  probably  suited  them  as  well  as  it  suited 
the  Romans  to  be  transported  to  Britain.  Unless  it 
can  be  shown  that  the  Vandal  name  is  to  be  understood 
to  mean  only  certain  tribes  of  Teutonic  origin,  this 
arbitrary  settlement  of  Vandals  in  Britain  is  the  earliest 
record  of  immigrants  of  Slavic  origin.  It  is  not  possible 
to  ascertain  the  parts  of  the  country  in  which  they 
settled,  but  as  they  were  known  to  Roman  writers  by 
the  names  Vinidse  and  Venedi,  it  is  possible  that  the 
Roman  place-names  in  Britain — Vindogladia  in  Dorset, 
Vindomis  in  Hampshire,  and  others — may  have  been  con-

nected  with  their  settlements.  It  is  possible  also  that 
during  the  time  between  their  arrival  and  that  of  the 
earliest  Anglo-Saxon  settlers  some  of  their  descendants 
may  have  maintained  their  race  distinctions  apart  from 
the  British  people,  as  descendants  of  some  of  the  Roman 
colonists  apparently  did  in  Kent. 

The  names  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  charters  which  appar- 
ently marked  settlements  of  Rugians  in  England  are 
Ruanbergh  and  Ruwanbeorg,  Dorset  ;  Ruganbeorh  and 
Ruwanbeorg,  Somerset ;  Ruwanbeorg  and  Rugan  die, 
Wilts  ;  Rugebeorge,  in  Kent ;  and  Ruwangoringa,  Hants.2 
These  will  be  referred  to  in  later  chapters. 

The  chief  Old  English  names  which  appear  to  refer 
to  them  in  Domesday  Book  are  Ruenore  in  Hampshire, 
Ruenhala  and  Ruenhale  in  Essex,  Rugehala  and  Rugelie 
in  Staffordshire,  Rugutune  in  Norfolk,  and  Rugarthorp 
in  Yorkshire.  Close  to  Ruenore,  in  Hampshire,  is  Stub- 
bington,  which  may  have  been  an  imported  name,  as  it 
resembles  that  of  Stubnitz  in  the  Isle  of  Riigen.