THE ORIGIN OF THE SAXONS BETWEEN HISTORY AND LEGEND. The present study aims at analysing the depiction of the origin of the Saxons and of their territorial expansions in a corpus of mainly Early Medieval texts. On the basis of the most influential representatives of this tradition, from the earliest Latin sources to the German versions compiled between the 9th and the 14th century, the strategies of each author and their possible political, social and cultural impact on their works’ audience will be discussed. I will try to demonstrate that the different accounts of the origin and conquers of the Saxons are almost always functional to the political legitimation of the Saxon sovereignty in the context of universal and imperial history. The base of these accounts is no oral vernacular tradition; quite the opposite, vernacular texts seem to derive from a Latin written tradition. At first and quite realistically the territorial expansion described in Latin sources is in the foreground; these texts are meant to meet contingent local political interests. Vernacular sources, on the other hand, pay more attention to the origin of the Saxons. In this, the reinforcement of the vision according to which the Saxons descended from Alexander the Great’s army is functional to increasing the prestige of the Saxons first and, later, as well of their legal tradition.

I racconti sulle origines gentium illustrano come lo stato attuale di una gens o di una natio possa essere spiegato partendo dalla propria origine. L’interpretazione dell’origine può permettere di comprendere l’intera storia di una gens in quanto l’origo mostra in nuce le principali norme, comportamenti e la modalità di organizzazione sociale della successiva comunità che si definisce, appunto, da un’origine comune. Nel mio contributo mi propongo di analizzare la rappresentazione dell’origine dei Sassoni in testi storiografici e letterari del primo Medioevo, con particolare attenzione alle testimonianze in volgare, discutendo le eventuali strategie perseguite dai vari autori e il possibile impatto politico, sociale e culturale sui fruitori dei relativi testi.

L'origine dei Sassoni fra storia e leggenda

Handl
2019-01-01

Abstract

THE ORIGIN OF THE SAXONS BETWEEN HISTORY AND LEGEND. The present study aims at analysing the depiction of the origin of the Saxons and of their territorial expansions in a corpus of mainly Early Medieval texts. On the basis of the most influential representatives of this tradition, from the earliest Latin sources to the German versions compiled between the 9th and the 14th century, the strategies of each author and their possible political, social and cultural impact on their works’ audience will be discussed. I will try to demonstrate that the different accounts of the origin and conquers of the Saxons are almost always functional to the political legitimation of the Saxon sovereignty in the context of universal and imperial history. The base of these accounts is no oral vernacular tradition; quite the opposite, vernacular texts seem to derive from a Latin written tradition. At first and quite realistically the territorial expansion described in Latin sources is in the foreground; these texts are meant to meet contingent local political interests. Vernacular sources, on the other hand, pay more attention to the origin of the Saxons. In this, the reinforcement of the vision according to which the Saxons descended from Alexander the Great’s army is functional to increasing the prestige of the Saxons first and, later, as well of their legal tradition.
2019
I racconti sulle origines gentium illustrano come lo stato attuale di una gens o di una natio possa essere spiegato partendo dalla propria origine. L’interpretazione dell’origine può permettere di comprendere l’intera storia di una gens in quanto l’origo mostra in nuce le principali norme, comportamenti e la modalità di organizzazione sociale della successiva comunità che si definisce, appunto, da un’origine comune. Nel mio contributo mi propongo di analizzare la rappresentazione dell’origine dei Sassoni in testi storiografici e letterari del primo Medioevo, con particolare attenzione alle testimonianze in volgare, discutendo le eventuali strategie perseguite dai vari autori e il possibile impatto politico, sociale e culturale sui fruitori dei relativi testi.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/983006
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