Several years ago I wrote three posts on the Irminsul. I hinted, maybe too strongly, that it was located at Externstiene. At the time I was intrigued with the site but knew, for just as many years and then some, that the Irminsul was not there. Science and real sources state otherwise. Modern scholars agree that Externstiene has nothing to do with the Irminsul. Thermoluminescence, the modern technique of studying the use of fire, showed that it was used from time to time as a shelter in pre-Christian times and nothing more. Also, extensive archaeological digs failed to yield any evidence of Externstiene being any kind of religious site. It was located about 30 miles north in the old Eresburg area, now known as Obermarsburg. So why Externstiene?
In 1564 or thereabouts, a German fellow stated that the Irminsul of the Saxons had to be located at the Externstiene stone formation. No research, just an assumption, based on wishful thinking about the standing stones at Externstiene.
So, in 1929 a minor Nazi party functionary made the same statement. Another assumption made without a stitch of research. The Royal Frankish Annals were available. As were other sources.
In 772 the Saxons burned down a church. Think of this as the Saxons showing the Vikings (20 years later, Lindisfarne) how to party. Depending on the source, the church was either inside Saxon territory or just over the border in the Frankish kingdom. Charlemagne got the news and butter started to churn in his shorts. The Royal Frankish Annals tell the tale.
Charlemagne, 'The Butcher of Saxons,' gathered his troops at Worms. First, he had to destroy the castle/fortress at Eresburg. More than likely it was guarding the Irminsul complex (this is an educated assumption on my part). Then the Butcher took on the Irminsul.
The RFA tells us that the Irminsul was a huge pillar. A huge pillar. And, it took the Butcher three days to finish the job. Finally, the RFA casually mentions all the gold and silver the Butcher carted off.
The Irminsul, the universal pillar, the axis mundi of the Saxons, did not stand by itself. It was in a spiritual complex, a center of pilgrimage. The Saxon people came to worship and left votive offerings, the gold, and silver that the Butcher took with him. And only a huge complex would take three days to destroy. Compare this to the Heathen temple at Uppsala Sweden and you will get the idea.
The following year, 773, the Saxons retook the site. Unfortunately, the Butcher prevailed and in 780 built a church on the site. He tossed in a Christian cemetery to double down on his hope that the Saxons would leave well enough alone. They did, but centuries later during the Thirty Years War that church was torched to the ground. Soon after another church was erected on this site. It is still there and is functioning today. Inside and outside of this church are plaques that plainly state that this is the site of the Saxon Irminsul. On our next trip to Europe, we will be making a pilgrimage to Obermarsburg, the site of the one and only Irminsul.
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