TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

116 GODS.
statua and imago. It was not yet extinct in the 12th century, as
appears from two places in the Kaiserchronik, near the beginning
of the poem, and very likely there are more of them ; it is said of
Mercury (Massmann 129) :
uf einir yrmensule Upon an yrmensul
stuont ein abgot ungehiure, Stood an idol huge,
den hiezen sie ir koufnian. Him they called their
Again of Julius Caesar (Massm. 624) :
Eomere in ungetruweliche
sluogen,
{if einir yrmensul sie in begruoben.
And of Simon Magus 24C (Massm. 4432) :
merchant.
Eomans him untruly slew,
On an yrm. they buried him.
uf eine yrmensul er steic, On an yrmensul he climbed,
daz lantvolc im allesamt neic. The land-folk to him all bowed.
That is, worshipped him as a god. Nay, in Wolfram s Titurel, last
chapter, where the great pillars of the (christian) temple of the
Grail are described, instead of inneren seul of the printed
text (Halm 6151), the Hanover MS. more correctly reads irmensul.
Further, in the Frankish annals ad aim. 772 it is repeatedly
stated, that Charles the Great in his conquest of the Saxons
destroyed a chief seat of their heathen superstition, not far from
Heresburg 1 in Westphalia, and that it was called Irminsul. Arm.
Petav. : Domnus rex Karolus perrexit in Saxoniam et conquisivit
Erisburgo, et pervenit ad locum qui dicitur Ermensul, et succendit
ea loca (Pertz 1, 16). Ann. Lauresh. : Fuit rex Carlus hostiliter
in Saxonia, et destruxit/anwm eorum quod vocatur Irminsul (Pertz
1, 30). The same in the Chron. Moissiac., except the spelling Hirminsul
(Pertz 1, 295), and in Ann. Quedlinb., &c. (Pertz 5, 37).
Ann. Juvavenses : Karolus idolum Saxonorum combussit, quod
dicebant Irminsul (Pertz 1, 88). Einhardi Fuld. annales : Karolus
Saxoniam bello a.ggressus, Eresburgum castrum cepit, et idolum Saxonum
quod vocabatur Irminsul destruit (Pertz 1, 348). Ann. Ratis-
bon. : Carolus in Saxonia conquesivit Eresburc et Irminsul (Pertz 1,
92). Ann. Lauriss.: Karlus in Saxonia castrum Aeresburg expugnat,
fanum et lucum eorum famosum Irminsul subvertit (Pertz 1, 117).
1 Now Stadtbergen, conf. the extract from Dietmar ; but strong reasons
incline us to push the pillar (seule) some 15 miles deeper into the Osning
forest ; Clostermeier Eggesterstein, pp. 26-7 : Eresburg, Horohus in pago Hessi
Saxonico Saracho 735. 350. Conf. Massmann s Eggesterst. p. 34.