Pope Gregory III was best known for being the last pope born outside of Europe (though in Byzantine Syria so not exactly outside of European civilization) until the current jackass. Among his achievements was his prolific letter writing. One of these letters is a letter from 737 – 739 whose opening lines made made their way into Karl Jaromir Erben’s Regesta Diplomatica Nec Non Epistolaria Bohemiae Et Moraviae.
It was mentioned earlier too in Philipp Clüver’s Germania Antiqua in 1616 and by Philippus Jaffé in his Regesta Pontificum Romanorum… (Reg. at page 182, Nr. 1730). It is also mentioned in Migne’s Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Latina (vol. 89 at page 602).
It appears in full in Giovanni Domenico Mansi’s Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio (Tomus 12 at page 280).
It then appeared in MGH as letter number 43. It is present in several codices containing Gregory III’s letters, the oldest of which seems to be the Munich codex 8112 from the 9th century (this is labeled version 1). The Karlsruhe codex (Raststatt 22, Durlacher 94) is a 10th/11th century (that was labeled version 2) but it seems to contain only the end of the letter with the prior pages having been ripped out. The MGH lists a few others such as (version 3 does not contain this particular letter):
- (version 4a) Montis Pessulanus H.3 (12th) (Montpellier)
- (version 4b) Vaticanus 1340 (13th-14th)
- (version 4c) Venetus S. Marci Zanetti CLXIX (15th)
- (version 5) Codex Othloh the monk Trevirensis 93F (Codex of Othloh the monk)
An earlier codex, the Cottonian Otho A I from the 8th century apparently burned down in 1666.
Why is the letter so interesting? Well, as you can see above, the various manuscripts show several tribal names there amongst whom are:
- Nistresos
- Wedrecos (Wedrevos)
- Lognaos
- Suduodos
Some of these may, in fact, be Suavic which, I suspect, why Erben included it in his Register. For example, Wedrevos (in some variants) appears similar to the Suavic Odra, wydra, wiadro and similar words. Suduodos sounds like Sudovi – a Baltic tribe. Nistra sounds Itallic frankly but may also be Greek/Thracian (compare with Ister) and do not forget the Slovak town of Nitra – the capital of the famous “Principality”. The Lognaos can perhaps have something to do with the Lugii/Łużyce/Lusatia though that’s a stretch. If these were Longaeos instead (more of a stretch) then we could have Lunsizi or maybe Lendizi. In any event, worth thinking about. If you want the MGH explanation, then see the page above in the footnotes (at least as of the 19th century variation).
The letter’s writing actually says the following (Munich codex):
Gregorius papa universis optimatibus et populo provinciarum germaniae. thuringis & hessis bor tharis & nistresis uuedreciis & lognais suduodis & graffeltis…
Munich 8112
German historians have tended to identify these with with various Teutonic tribes (for example, the Westphalians) but is that right? Sure, the Thuringi, Hessi and Gravelti may have been Teutonic but these other names? I am not so sure.
Two other things. There is also a letter in the same Register that was written by Gregory II that mentions Sarmatians in Constantinople – we’ll get back to that. Further, the letter itself (look at the language above in the MGH version) discusses all kinds of pagan superstitions which are interesting irrespective of whether they are Teutonic or Suavic.
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