An
Irminsul (
Old Saxon, probably "great/mighty pillar" or "arising pillar") was a kind of
pillar which is attested as playing an important role in the
Germanic paganism of the
Saxon people. The oldest chronicle describing an Irminsul refers to it as a tree trunk erected in the open air. The purpose of the Irminsuls and the implications thereof have been the subject of considerable scholarly discourse and speculation for hundreds of years.
Etymology
A Germanic god
Irmin, inferred from the name Irminsul and the tribal name
Irminones, is sometimes presumed to have been the national god or
demi-god of the Saxons. It has been suggested that
Irmin was more probably an aspect,
avatar or
epithet of some other deity - most likely Wodan (
Odin) - or even is a
Neopagan invention; it is not attested as an independent deity in pre-Modern sources on Germanic paganism. Irmin might also have been an epithet of the god Ziu (
Tyr) in early Germanic times, only later transferred to Odin, as Odin replaced Tyr as the chief Germanic deity only at the onset of the
Migration Period. This was the favored view of early 20th century Nordicist writers, but it is not generally considered likely in modern times.
The Old Norse form of Irmin is Jörmunr, which just like Yggr was one of the names of Odin. Yggdrasil ("Yggr's horse") was the yew or ash tree from which Odin sacrificed himself, and which connected heaven and earth. Jakob Grimm connects the name Irmin with Old Norse terms like iörmungrund ("great ground", i.e. the Earth) or iörmungandr ("great snake", i.e. the Midgard serpent).
It is thus often conjectured that the Irminsul was a World tree, the equivalent of Yggdrasil among the Saxon tribes of Germany. But the few primary sources that attest to it are not clear about whether it was a "world-pillar" or simply the pedestal for a cult image. In the Annales Pettaviani, it is even mentioned as ... locum, qui dicitur Ermensul ... ("... [a] place which they called Irminsul ..."). Likewise, it is unknown whether the Irminsul was made of wood or stone and whether there was one or several. Meanwhile, the "T"-shaped Irminsul representation most often seen today is entirely conjectural; contemporary sources always refer to it as a straightforward pillar or column.
The linguistic connection between Irmin- and iörmun/jörmun- is generally accepted, but the terms simply mean "great/mighty" or "rising high". It is easy to see how "The great one" or "The exalted one" could become a by-name of Odin, but unfortunately this is of little use to determine whether the Saxon term refers to a deity or simply means - as is usually preferred today - "great pillar" instead of "Irmin's pillar" or "Odin's pillar".
Attestations
Royal Frankish Annals
According to the
Royal Frankish Annals (CE 772), during the
Saxon wars,
Charlemagne is repeatedly described as ordering the destruction of the chief seat of their religion, an Irminsul. The Irminsul is described as not being far from Heresburg (now
Stadtbergen), Germany.
Jacob Grimm states that "strong reasons" point to the actual location of the Irminsul as being approximately away, in the
Teutoburg Forest and states that the original name for the region "Osning" may have meant "Holy Wood."
De miraculis sancti Alexandri
The
Benedictine monk
Rudolf of Fulda (CE 865) provides a description of an Irminsul in chapter 3 of his Latin work
De miraculis sancti Alexandri. Rudolf's description states that the Irminsul was a great wooden pillar erected and worshipped beneath the open sky and that its name, Irminsul, signifies universal all-sustaining pillar.
Hildesheim
Under
Louis the Pious in the 9th century, a stone column was dug up at
Obermarsberg or
Stadtbergen in
Westphalia, Germany and relocated to the
Hildesheim cathedral in
Hildesheim,
Lower Saxony, Germany. The column was reportedly then used as a
candelabrum until at least the late 19th century. In the 13th century, the destruction of the Irminsul by Charlemagne was recorded as having still been commemorated at Hildesheim on the Saturday after
Laetare Sunday.
The commemoration was reportedly done by planting two poles six feet high, each surmounted by a wooden object one foot in height shaped like a pyramid or a cone on the cathedral square. The youth then used sticks and stones in an attempt to knock over the object. This custom is described as existing elsewhere in Germany, particularly in Halberstadt where it was enacted on the day of Laetare Sunday by the Canons themselves.
The nearby village of Irminseul points to an older connection of the area with the concept.
Kaiserchronik
Awareness of the significance of the concept seems to have persisted well into Christian times. For example, in the twelfth-century Kaiserchronik an Irminsul is mentioned in three instances:
Concerning the origin of the Wednesday:
- ûf ainer irmensiule / stuont ain abgot ungehiure, / daz hiezen si ir choufman.
- "On an Irminsul / stands an enormous idol / which they call their merchant"
Concerning Julius Caesar:
- Rômâre in ungetrûwelîche sluogen / sîn gebaine si ûf ain irmensûl begruoben
- "The Romans slew him treacherously / and buried his bones on an Irminsul"
Concerning Nero:
- ûf ain irmensûl er staich / daz lantfolch im allez naich.
- "He climbed upon an Irminsul / the peasants all bowed before him"
It is notable that the overwhelming majority of Middle Ages sources understand the Irminsul as a pillar, not as a tree-like structure. In that they agree with older authors. In contrast to these, however, the object of worship or significance is understood to be placed on top of the Irminsul rather than being the pillar itself.
Theories
A number of theories surround the subject of the Irminsul.
Germania
In
Tacitus'
Germania, the author mentions rumors of what he describes as "
Pillars of Hercules" in land inhabited by the
Frisii that had yet to be explored. Tacitus adds that these pillars exist either because
Hercules actually did go there or because the Romans have agreed to ascribe all marvels anywhere to Hercules' credit. Tacitus states that while
Drusus Germanicus was daring in his campaigns against the Germanic tribes, he was unable reach this region, and that subsequently no one had yet made the attempt. Connections have been proposed between these "Pillars of Hercules" and later accounts of the Irminsuls.
Hercules was likely frequently identified with
Thor by the Romans due to the practice of
interpretatio romana.
Externsteine relief and site
According to one particularly well-known suggestion, an Irminsul was situated at or near the Externsteine, a famous rock formation near Detmold, Germany. A Christian relief on the Externsteine (see photo above) depicts what has been described as a bent tree-like design at the feet of Nicodemus.This artwork, variously dated to the early ninth to early twelfth century AD, is popularly believed to represent the bent or fallen Irminsul beneath a triumphant Christianity.
While both the artwork and the Irminsul were known to scholars for centuries - Goethe for example discussed the relief in detail -, they were not connected until the 1929 interpretation of lay archaeologist and Nazi Party member Wilhelm Teudt, who has been criticized as a pseudohistorian. In 1934 to 1935, the Ahnenerbe undertook extensive fieldwork in an attempt to uncover material evidence of the use of the Externsteine as a place of Germanic paganism worship, yet no such evidence was found.
Few modern scholars consider it anything but an outright invention of Teudt, who did not provide evidence to back his claims.
Today it is generally accepted by historians that there is no historic attestation connecting the design in the Externsteine relief to the Irminsul. Certainly, the Eresburg was only about 45 kilometers (c.28 miles) from the Externsteine, and insofar there indeed was an Irminsul "near the Externsteine" but extensive archaeological studies of the Externsteine have failed to yield any material evidence for their use as a sacred site between Mesolithic and pre-Christian times. Thermoluminescence dating of firesites suggests that the site was occasionally used as a rock shelter in Saxon times, but apparently not to the extent one would expect from a major place of worship.
Jupiter Columns
Comparisons have been made between the Irminsul and the
Jupiter Columns that were erected along the
Rhine in
Germania around CE 2 and 3. Scholarly comparisons were once made between the Irminsul and the Jupiter Columns, however, Rudolf Simek states that the columns were of
Gallo-Roman religious monuments, and that the reported location of the Irminsul in Eresburg does not fall within the area of the Jupiter Column archaeological finds.
Neopaganism
A depiction of an Irminsul based on the Externsteine relief (shaped back into a vertical position) is used in some currents of Germanic Neopaganism.
See also
Footnotes
References
- ([1070s]): [Religious beliefs of the Swedes]. In: Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. [In Latin] HTML fulltext of English translation at Northvegr Foundation
- ([790]): Annales regni Francorum [Royal Frankish Annals]. [In Latin] HTML fulltext
- (Trans.) (1999). Agricola and Germany. Oxford University Press ISBN 0192833006
- (1970): Noord-Europese Mysteriën ["Northern European mystery cults"]. [In Dutch]
- (1891). The Migration of Symbols. A. Constable and Co.
- (2002): Die Externsteine sind bis auf weiteres germanisch! - Prähistorische Archäologie im Dritten Reich ["Until further notice, the Externsteine are Germanic! - Prehistoric archaeology in the Third Reich"]. [In German] Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, Bielefeld.
- (1997): Das Relief an den Externsteinen. Ein karolingisches Kunstwerk und sein spiritueller Hintergrund ["The Externsteine relief. A Carolingian artwork and its spiritual background"]. [In German] edition tertium, Ostfildern vor Stuttgart.
- (1910): Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte ["Ancient Germanic Religious History"]. [In German]
- (Trans.) (1999). Germania: Germania. Oxford University Press ISBN 0198150504
- (1917): The Conversion of Europe. Longmans, Green, and Co., London, New York, Bombay and Calcutta.
- (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer 0859915131
- (1999): On the folklore of the Externsteine - Or a centre for Germanomaniacs. In: : Archaeology and Folklore: 153-169. Routledge. ISBN 0415201446 Partial text at Google Books
- (1947): Die Irminsul, Forschungen über ihren Standort ["The Irminsul. Research concerning its location"]. [In German] Paderborn.
- (1892): Die Kaiserchronik eines Regensburger Geistlichen ["The Kaiserchronik of a Regensburg cleric"]. [In German] Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover. HTML fulltext
- (1882). (Trans.) J. Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology, volume I.
- ([98]): De Origine et situ Germanorum ["About the origin and location of the Germanic peoples"]. [In Latin] HTML fulltext at Wikisource
- (1929): Germanische Heiligtümer. Beiträge zur Aufdeckung der Vorgeschichte, ausgehend von den Externsteinen, den Lippequellen und der Teutoburg ["Germanic sacred sites. Contributions to the discovery of prehistory, based upon the Externsteine, the Lippe springs and the Teutoburg"]. [In German] Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Jena.
- (1824): Die Externsteine [The Externsteine]. Kunst und Altertum 5: 130-139 [Article in German].
