Irminsul pendant - jewelry pendant with chain, stainless steel

The Irminsul (from irmin = mighty, divine, great and sul = pillar) or Irminsäule was an ancient Saxon main sanctuary. It is believed to have been a large oak or wooden pillar...

 

Its exact location is unknown, but it was probably located near the Eresburg near Obermarsberg, as suggested by the formulations in the Annales regni Francorum ("Annals of the Frankish Kingdom") for the year 772.

Other possible locations include the Externsteine and the Velmerstot. The Irminsul was destroyed by the Franks at the instigation of Charlemagne in 772 during the Saxon Wars.

 

The Irminsul was apparently intended to symbolize the connection between heaven and earth. The monk Rudolf of Fulda, to whom we owe the only detailed account of the Irminsul, writes in the Translatio s. Alexandri (Chapter 3): "Truncum quoque ligni non parvae magnitudinis in altum erectum sub divo colebant, patria eum lingua Irminsul appellantes, quod Latine dicitur universalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia." - "They (sc. the Saxons) also worshipped a log (or: tree trunk) of no small size, which had been erected high up under the open sky, calling it "Irminsul" in their native tongue, which in Latin means "universal column," as if supporting everything."

 

A (remaining) version of a supposed "Irminsäule" is now located in Hildesheim Cathedral. A connection to "the" Irminsul is unclear.

Incidentally, nearby are the towns of Irminseul / Irmenseul, Segeste, the Drachenberg and the Wormstal, which could even point to the Nibelungenlied.

 

Among other things, there is a memorial in Irmenseul in the district of Hildesheim (approx. 9 kilometers from Nordwelt Versand).