(Vol. ii., pp. 230. 282. 379. 443.)
In approaching a subject set at rest so long since, I feel some apology
due to you; and that apology I will make by giving you the results of my
recent investigation of the question of Vineta _v._ Julin _alias_
Wollin, made in Pomerania, and noted from personal testimony and
Pomeranian chronicles.
But, first, to correct an _erreur de plume_ of DR. BELL'S. He says, in
stating the position of Vineta (Vol. ii., p. 283.), "opposite the small
town of _Demmin, in Pomerania_." DR. BELL has mis-written the name:
there is no such place on the Baltic. The real name is _Damerow, on the
Isle of Usedom_. A little lower he remarks, speaking of Wollin, "No
_rudera_, no vestiges of ancient grandeur, now mark the spot; not even a
tradition of former greatness." In this I think DR. BELL will find (and,
I am sure, will readily allow, in the same spirit of good faith in which
I make my observations) that he is in error, from the following
narrative.
The gentleman who has kindly given me, by word of mouth, the following
particulars, is a native of Wollin, and of one of the most ancient and
noble families in that island, a relative of that Baron Kaiserling who
was the Cicero of Frederick the Great, but of an elder branch of that
family, the Counts of Kaiserling. M. de Kaiserling states that, when a
young man, in his native town, he took a delight in reading the records
of its bygone glory, and in tracing out the ruins in the neighbourhood
of the town, extending to the distance of about one English mile from
its outskirts. The foundations of houses and tracks of streets[1] are
still exposed in the operations of agriculture, and any informant has in
his possession several Byzantine and Wendish coins which he at that time
picked up. He has likewise seen a Persian coin, which was found in the
same neighbourhood by a friend. Having been led by circumstances to
examine the evidence _pro_ and _con._ in this question, he has come to
the conclusion that Wollin and Julin or Jumne are identical. He treats
the story of Vineta as a nursery tale and a myth.
[Footnote 1: Particularly the Salmarks (Wendish for Fishmarkets),
as they were called.]
From the recently-published work on Wollin (_Die Insel Wollin und das
Seebad Misdroy. Historische Skizze von Georg Wilhelm von Raumer_:
Berlin, 1851) I extract the following account of Wollin in 1070, as I
think it important to have all the best evidence attainable[2]:--
"Adam of Bremen, a contemporaneous historian, has left us a
curious description of Wollin as it appeared at the time of its
merchant greatness; yet he was himself, most probably, never
there, but compiled his account from the narratives of sailors,
from whose mouth he, as he says, heard almost incredibilities
about the splendour of the town. He describes the famous city as
the chief staple place of the trade of the surrounding Slavonians
and Russians: also as the largest of all towns at this end of
Europe, and inhabited by Slavonians, Russians, and various pagan
nations. Also many Germans from Lower Saxony had come to the town,
yet it was not permitted them to appear openly as Christians;
though the political interests of a trading place, then as now,
caused all nations to be allowed the liberty of incolation
(_Niederlassungsrecht_) and toleration. The peculiar inhabitants
of the place, particularly those who held the government, were
mostly pagans, but of great hospitality, of liberal and humane
customs, and great justice. The town had become very rich, by
means of the trade of Northern Europe, of which they had almost
the monopoly: every comfort and rarity of distant regions was to
be found there. The most remarkable thing in Wollin was a pot of
Vulcan, which the inhabitants called Greek fire.[3] Probably we
should understand by this, a great beacon fire, which the
Wolliners sustained by night on account of navigation, and of
which a report was among the sailors that it was Greek fire; but
it is also possible that in the trade with the Orient, which the
discovered Arabic coins prove, real Greek fire was brought to
Wollin in pots. A tricaputed idol of a sea-god, or Neptune, stood
in Wollin, to denote that the island Wollin was surrounded by
three different seas: that is to say, a green one, the Ostsee; a
white one, under which we should probably understand the Dievenow;
and one which was retained in raging motion by continual storms,
the Haff. The navigation from Wollin to Demmin, a trading place of
the Peene, is short; also from Wollin to Samland, in Prussia,
eight days only were necessary to go by land from Hamburgh to
Wollin, or by sea, across Schleswig; and forty-three days was the
time of sailing from Wollin to Ostragard in Russia. These notices
point to the chief trade of Wollin by sea, that is, with Demmin,
Hamburgh, Schleswig, and Holstein, Prussia, and Russia.
"So magnificent was ancient Wollin, according to the narrative of
the seamen; yet it must not be considered exactly a northern
Venice, but a wide-circuited place, chiefly, however, of wooden
houses, and surrounded by walls and palisades, in which (in
comparison with the then rudeness and poverty of the countries on
the Ostsee) riches and merchandise were heaped up.
"And now it is time to mention the fable of the drowned city
Vineta. While an old chronicler, Helmold, follows Adam of Bremen
in the description of the city Wollin, he puts, through an error
of transcription[4], in place of Julinum or Jumne, which name Adam
of Bremen has, Vineta; such a place could not be found, and it was
concluded, therefore, that the sea had engulfed it. The celebrated
Buggenhagen[5] first discovered, in the beginning of the sixteenth
century, a great rock formation in the sea, at the foot of the
Streckelberg, on the island of Usedom[6], and then the city
Vineta was soon transplanted thither; and it was absurdly
considered that a rock reef (which has lately been used for the
harbour of Swinemünde, and has disappeared) was the ruins of a
city destroyed by the waves a thousand years ago: indeed, people
are not wanting at the present day, who hold fast to this fable,
caused by the error of a transcriber. In the mean time it has
become a folk tale, and as such retains its value. A Wolliner
booth-keeper recounted me the interesting story, which may be read
in Barthold's _History of Pomerania_ (vol. i. p. 419.),--a rough
sterling Pomeranian (_ächt-pommerschis_) fantastical picture of
the overbearing of the trade-enriched inhabitants of Vineta, which
God had so punished by sending the waves of the ocean over the
city. The town of Wollin, to which alone this legend was
applicable, is certainly not destroyed by the sea, nor wholly
desert: but if they deserved punishment for their pride in their
greatness, they had received it in that they had quite fallen from
their former glory."--Pp. 22-25.
[Footnote 2: Likewise, repetition must be excused, as it is here
scarcely avoidable.]
[Footnote 3: "Olla Vulcani quæ incolæ Græcam vocant ignem de quo
etiam meminit Solinus," adds Adam of Bremen. Solinus speaks of
oil, or rather naphtha, from Moesia; and it is not improbable that
the Wolliners imported it for their beacons in pots.]
[Footnote 4: The oldest MSS. are said not to have this error.]
[Footnote 5: A native of Wollin, by the bye.]
[Footnote 6: Close by Damerow.]
As I wish thoroughly to dispose of the question, I shall divide my
communication on Julin into two parts, of which the above is the first.
I reserve my own remarks till all the evidence has been heard.