Talk:Widukind

Wittekind
Interesting to know is that there is a white horse on the banner of Twente. Could that be the white horse of Wittekind?

No, it´s the saxon-horse, a very familiar symbol in the region. some relate it to widukind, some to hengist and horsa and so on... 78.50.50.189 (talk) 20:49, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I was first told that Wittekind ment white child when I traveled to Aruba. very interesting. so amazed by the 72.239.46.148 (talk) 14:20, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

The name Wittekind means white child in Dutch. Perhaps he was an albino?


 * For what it's worth, Wittekind is merely a colloquially formed germanic version, over the centuries, from the original saxonian Widukind, which means as much as child of the woods and is understood or assumed to be a Kenning. I'd say any etymological relation to witte/white is speculative. 91.33.248.24 (talk) 08:46, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It's not colloquial. It's MHG. 188.172.108.164 (talk) 19:54, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

Link to House of Wettin
One of his sons is the possible founder of the House of Wettin http://www.gurganus.org/ourfamily/browse.cfm?pid=7849. Links to English and Belgian thrones.Ryanburgess (talk) 13:59, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Geva
I do not think Geva was the daughter of Goimo, since no such king exists, and Vestfold (qv. "of Vestfold") is in Norway. She is rather listed as daughter of Eystein Halfdanson —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sparviere (talk • contribs) 17:24, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Lindisfarne
Is there any research into Widukind and potential links to the attack on Lindisfarne? I ask as it seems to me highly likely that there would be a knock on effect,

During Widukind's war against the Franks he regularly sought refuge in Danish lands a people who were closely related to the Saxons speaking an almost identical language.

in the course of the war vast numbers of saxon men were slaughtered (charlemagne slaughtered thousands in one act of veangence that sent shockwaves through christian europe)he also destroyed the most holy site of the saxons,thus there was clearly a massive insentive for revenge.

After Widukind the Saxons were either christianised or had fled to Denmark. this itself could have put a strain on Denmark as a large population disproportunately including woman and children may have led to a sharp population increase,especially as many of the young of widukinds time would have matured to a fighting age by 793.

Inevitably stories of heroism in the war to protect the saxon culture would have been told in the great halls,possibly inspiring both Saxon and Dane warriors,

It seems likely too that an overstretched mwarlike peoples would cast thier eye to where would be a likely place to strike back dealing a telling blow against the hated religion that had destroyed thier holiest site whilst at the same time reaping the financial rewards of a raid. And where better that a more remote (at least to central europe) area of northern England which was easily accessible to a Danish/saxon attack by sea, the fact that the victims were also saxons and would thus be punnished for thier christianity would make lindisfarne even more suitable an attack.

Lets not forget too that Alcuin, Charlemagnes principle advisor who was heavily involved in the christianisation of mainland Saxons was a Saxon christian cleric from near Lindisfarne.

lastly the attack on Lindisfarne is often seen as an attack on a small religious community completly isolated yet it was a thriving prosperous community based along a major waterway and trade route and deliberately set near the castle of the king of Northumbria, exposed yes and easy pickings for a seafaring nation but not completely isolated.

I would be interested to here what thought others have on this matter as I feel it does put the Lindisfarne attack in a slightly different context —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.83.210.227 (talk) 06:38, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

wood?
Isn't the name simply a widow child? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.173.42.108 (talk) 19:00, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
 * No. It doesn't matter what it looks like in modern German, the name is more than 1,000 years older. 2.110.215.216 (talk) 17:08, 14 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Even in Anglo-Saxon, widu and wudu are both attested; it's very difficult to escape this interpretation of the name 49.186.224.202 (talk) 03:33, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

Recent Addition
Someone recently added the following:

This may be because at his baptism, he changed his name to Robert as noted: "Vintikint the Younger" assumed the name of Robert at his Baptism, remained in France, and was father of Robert the Strong, Count of Enjou, and Marquis of France, and great-grandfather to Hugh Capet. It is recorded in an ancient Charter of the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours, that in the year 863, Charles the Bald gave that Abbey to Robert, Count of Anjou, of the Saxon Race, and Son of R. by way of abbreviation: some have copied this 'Robert' and others 'Richard.' The Abbe d'Ursberg, and the ancient Chronicle quoted by [Claude] Frauchet was a very accurate writer, say, that Robert the Strong was Son to Vitikint. We find again that Charles the Bald gave the command of his Army against the Bretons, to Vitikint and Robert his son.

I've reverted it because of the unencyclopedic tone, incomplete citation (I'd want to see page number and edition, at the very least) and claims that I'd like to see cited to a source more recent than the 1700s. If later sources reference it, it might be worth noting in the Legacy section that as of the 1700s, at least one court historian tried to make claims to a Widukind ancestry for the kings of France, but even for that I'd want to see more recent scholarship discussing it.Just a Rube (talk) 11:13, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Wolf
What is the source of this name being a kenning for "wolf"? If there is no source, it needs to be removed. 188.172.108.7 (talk) 12:57, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

Article Title
This needs to be "Wittekind", as "Widukind" is a wiki violation. 188.172.108.164 (talk) 11:47, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Remove dubious tag re: name
There's no escaping the common interpretation of the name. Widu is widely attested as meaning wood, and the same word is attested in Anglo-Saxon even after his time, which as we know is not far removed at all from Old Saxon. 49.186.224.202 (talk) 03:35, 3 January 2022 (UTC)


 * Just noticed it said wolf and not wood in the article. Wolf doesn't make a lot of sense unless it's a kenning and there's no certainty of that. 49.186.224.202 (talk) 03:37, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

Feast day?
The Legend section previously said his feast day was the 6th of January, and this was unsourced. Down below, in the Sainthood section, his feast day was noted as January 7th, with a source. Unfortunately, I am unable to access the source (either because the site is down temporarily, permanently, or due to firewall settings) so I cannot verify it. But in order to keep the article consistent I nonetheless went with the sourced date and changed the Legend section. Someone more familiar with Catholicism might want to weigh in. Eniagrom (talk) 03:03, 1 December 2023 (UTC)