Prūsijos amfiktionijos steigtis prūsų legendose ir germaniškasis kontekstas
Institution of the Prussian A mfictiony According to the Prussian Legends and Its Germanic Background

Summary/Abstract: The legends discussing the Baltic prehistory, the concentration of the Prussian and Lithuanian tribes to form conglomerations and confederations, tend to exaggerate the level of historicity of these processes (such feature is typical to all legends). Nevertheless similar motives describing institution of something are apparently present in the Germanic legends as well, primarily in those describing origins of Langobardians and Goths. These texts frequently mention the double leadership in the course of tribal movement, crossing of waters, certain internal civil wars, which are terminated by introduction of statutes and on the grounds of the religious authority. This religious authority tends to be very frequently (although not necessarily) attributed to a female, e.g. the Germanic Velida and the goddess Nerthus, the Langobardian Gambara, and Prussian Pogezana. While comparing such legendary narratives, it is reasonable to assume that either these legends reflect similar processes, taking place during the early middle ages along the southern Baltic coast from Nemunas to Oder and Elbe, or the twin motives and descriptions of inner religious discords in the tribe are immanently lurking inside the legendary structure itself. Having viewed the alliances of the Baltic and Germanic tribes, it is reasonable to maintain that it is amfictionies that we come upon here, i.e. unions of tribes joined together not so much by political or ethnic concerns, but rather by common religious cult, and manifesting themselves in reality not so much by political and military unions, but rather as religious nonaggression pacts, invalid for the tribes not associated by the same amfictiony. Among over a dozen of ethnonyms forming the conglomeration of Prussian tribes, two may be related to the Germanic tribes, the Bards may be regarded as Langobardians, whose first self-denomination used to be bardi, and Varmians could be associated to a tribe called varnen, varini, whose Western branch reached to the territory of the modern Netherlands and whose tribal unions in the lower reaches of Rhine and Thüringen were finally destroyed by Franks in 594. Therefore the Prussian Varmians can be regarded either as an Eastern branch of varini, or as remains of a tribe defeated in the end of the 6th century and escaping the Franks.

• Details
• Contents