The Teurings fight their way into King Ermanaric's packed hall where most defenders, unable to reach their swords or armour, fight with knives, cudgels chopped from pillars, stags' tines taken from walls, drinking horns, broken goblets and firebrands while using trestles and boards as shields. Liuderis, sustaining heavy wounds while leading the Teuring ranks through the tightly wedged battle to press shields against the king's armed bodyguards, cleaves Sibicho's skull and dies. Solbern kills a son of the king. Ermanaric stands on his high seat, wielding a spear. Hathawulf cracks the spear and half severs Ermanaric's right arm. Solbern hamstrings him. Wodan appears, announces the brothers' doom and tells Ermanaric to send his men out the rear to attack the Teurings from behind. Ermanaric's bodyguards drive the Teurings back. Solbern dies. The king's men leave the building, run to its front where they kill the few Teurings still outside, sometimes by pulling up and throwing cobblestones, then arm themselves in the entry room and attack their enemies inside. Knowing that they will die, the Teurings fight till they drop. Hathawulf heaps bodies until few survive. Ermanaric would have died if some of his men had not quickly stanched his wounds and carried him, scarcely conscious, out of a hall of corpses. A Pyrrhic victory for Ermanaric?
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteVery Pyrrhic, as Ermanaric himself would say the very last time we see him, as he was reflecting in despair on the disastrous situation faced by the Goths.
Ad astra! Sean
Well, the Goths had made a lot of tribes tributaries of the Gothic monarchy. Turn about...
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteTrue, but I liked the Ostrogoths better than their bitter enemies, the Huns.
Ad astra! Sean
Yeah, the Huns were nomads and it's harder to identify with them than with farmers.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteThere are legitimate reasons for disliking the Huns and other, similar, nomadic peoples.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, nomads tended to identify farmers with their herd animals. Also, nomadism tends to promote violence.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteTrue, nomads tend to sneer at grass eating farmers, until those farmers are organized into a powerful state--and conquer or push out the nomads.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: that wasn't really possible in the Eurasian steppe until gunpowder weapons became common. Until then, horse-archers had an inherent advantage, and you need to be brought up with a bow and horse to be a good one.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteI agree, but I was thinking more of how, when a strong dynasty ruled China attacks by nomads could be at least fended off. Which was possible even before gunpowder weapons.
Ad astra! Sean