Kavkaz - forum

 

Contacts

 

DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2021.15.8.001

THE DEATH OF BATRADZ AND THE DEMISE OF BASTARD

Gutieva, Elmira T.
Kavkaz Forum. 2021. Issue 8.
Abstract:
In the context of the acknowledged historicity of the Ossetian Nart epic,
based on the systemic coincidences of the story of the 12th century Anglo-
Norman church historian Orderikus Vitalius about the death and burial of
William the Conqueror and the Narts’ Kadags dedicated to the death and
burial of the Nart Batradz with the historical hero Batradz, the question of
comparing the Nart hero Batradz is raised for the first time. The main attention
is paid to the following plot-forming motives: conflict with the people / higher
powers; extreme heat/fire as the cause of death; mortal wound received on
the battlefield, but not at the hands of the enemy; the stench of the deceased;
stating the name of the burial-place; problems with burying an oversized corpse
in a too narrow tomb; payment of the ransom for the opportunity to bury the
hero. The solution to this issue is largely determined by the status of the text
of the church chronicle. The recognition of its validity can serve as a basis for
considering both types of narratives as descriptions of one historical event by
different means. This approach makes it possible to consider the algorythms for
the mythologization and institutionalization of the past in the people’s memory.
Such past for the Ossetians is the history of their ancestors, the Sarmatian-Alan
tribes. In the genealogy of William there are certain intersections with the Alans,
which is confirmed by the presence of multiple Breton and Norman relatives
named Alan in the immediate circle of the king’s kins.
As an alternative interpretation, these narrative can be traced to one primary
source, and if Orderic’s story is a fabrication, an imitation of the existing oral
tradition, then the noted parallels can be qualified as an emergence of archaic
layers common to the two traditions.
The possibility of direct borrowing is not excluded, the vector, propagation
trajectories and time of which need to be clarified. Less likely these plot motives
are arbitrary coincidences.
Keywords: death of a monarch, death of an epic hero, Ossetian legends, church history, comparative analysis
+ References


← Contents of issue
 
 
© 2024 Kavkaz forum