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{{short description|Pagan Saxon leader}}
'''Hadugato''' or '''Hathagat''' was an early [[Saxons|Saxon]] leader, considered a founding father of Saxony by the tenth century. In 531, he led the Saxons to victory over the [[Thuringii|Thuringians]] at the battle of [[Burgscheidungen]], "a legendary victory, and one so great that [Hadugato] appeared to [later] Saxons as an epiphany of divinity itself."<ref name=Hauck1979>[[:de:Karl Hauck|Karl Hauck]], "The Literature of House and Kindred Associated with Medieval Noble Families, Illustrated from Eleventh and Twelfth-century Satires on the Nobility", in [[Timothy Reuter]], ed., ''The Medieval Nobility: Studies on the Ruling Classes of France and Germany from the Sixth to the Twelfth Century'' (Amsterdam, 1979), pp. 61–85.</ref> The ''Chronica ducum de Brunswick'' records that in the [[Duchy of Brunswick]] in the sixteenth century a memorial week was still observed following [[Michaelmas]] (September 29) to celebrate the Saxon victory over the Thuringians.<ref>Raymund F. Wood, ed. and trans., ''The Three Books of the Deeds of the Saxons, by Widukind of Corvey: Translated with Introduction, Notes, and Bibliography'', PhD diss. (University of California, Los Angeles, 1949), p. 238, n. 107.</ref>

==Battle of Burgscheidungen==
The earliest source to mention Hadugato is the ''Translatio sancti Alexandri'' of [[Rudolf of Fulda]]. This was begun in 863 and completed after Rudolf's death in 865 by a monk named Meginhart. The account in the ''Translatio'' is repeated almost verbatim in the ''[[Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum|Deeds of the Bishops of the Church of Hamburg]]'' of [[Adam of Bremen]], written between 1073 and 1076.<ref name=Wetzel>August Wetzel, [https://archive.org/details/dietranslatiosa00rudogoog/page/n96/mode/1up ''Die Translatio S. Alexandri: Eine kritische Untersuchung''] (Kiel: 1881), pp. 84–85, presents the relevant Latin texts of the ''Translatio'' and Adam of Bremen in parallel.</ref> According to this account, the Saxons arrived in the region of [[Hadeln]] (''Haduloha''), having sailed from Britain, during the war between [[Irminfrid]], king of the Thuringians, and [[Theuderic I]], king of the [[Franks]]. The latter, "his hope of conquering frustrated, sent messengers to the Saxons, whose leader [''[[dux]]'', duke] was Hadugato … promising them a place in which to settle in the event of victory." The Saxons fought "as if their own liberty and country were at stake", and Theuderic kept his promise.<ref name=Adam>[[Adam of Bremen]]; Francis J. Tschan, trans., ''History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen'' (Columbia University Press, 2002), pp. 8–9.</ref>

The most extensive account of Hadugato is found in [[Widukind of Corvey]]'s ''[[Res gestae Saxonicae|Deeds of the Saxons]]'', completed around 967. Widukind's account also appears in a close paraphrase in the world chronicle of [[Frutolf of Michelsberg]] (died 1103). In this version, the Saxons, as allies of the Franks, defeat the Thuringians beneath the walls of Burgscheidungen on the [[Unstrut]]. Their leader is not named. After the battle, Irminfrid offers to make peace and join Theuderic in driving off his Saxon allies. When word of this reaches the Saxons, a council is held at which "a certain one of the veteran soldiers, already somewhat older, but still vigorous in advancing old age, who by merit of his great valor was called father of fathers [''pater patrum''], by name Hathagat", gives a speech after taking the "standard that was held sacred among them, marked with the likeness of a lion and a dragon, and an eagle swooping from above." According to Widukind, he urged the Saxons to attack the unsuspecting Thuringians, putting himself forward as their leader. In the night, they scaled the walls of Burgscheidungen, massacred the Thuringian men, raped their women and forced Irminfrid and his court to flee.<ref name=Wood>Wood (1949), pp. 170–79.</ref><ref name=Bagge65>[[Sverre Bagge]], ''Kings, Politics, and the Right Order of the World in German Historiography, c. 950–1150'' (Brill, 2002), p. 65.</ref>

The [[Germanic paganism|pagan]] Saxons then set up an altar of victory and "celebrated the appropriate rites with all due solemnity, according to their ancestral superstition" for three days. They even "raised their leader [duke] to the skies with their praise, declaring him possessed of divine courage and god-like valor who by his constancy had led them to win such a victory." All this took place, Widukind says, "as the memory of our elders testifies, at the Kalends of October," i.e. on October 1.<ref name=Wood/><ref name=Bagge57>Bagge (2002), p. 57, n. 130.</ref>

==Pagan significance?==
The German historian [[:de:Karl Hauck|Karl Hauck]] argues that the oral tradition of Hadugato that Widukind records contains a display of [[sacral kingship]], with Hadugato being worshiped as a god. He qualifies the worship of such battlefield leaders as a "temporary" deification. He also sees pagan significance (an autumn festival) in the date.<ref name=Hauck1955>Karl Hauck, "Lebensnormen und Kultmythen in germanischen Stammes- und Herrschergenealogien", ''Saeculum'' '''6''' (1955), pp. 186–223, at 217–18.</ref>

Clive Tolley has argued that Widukind is in fact describing an ''ad hoc'' [[Irminsul]] (sacred pillar) rather than a true altar. He argues that Widukind's somewhat garbled passage indicates that the real name of the "altar" was Hirmin (which the Saxon historian glosses as [[Hermes]]) and its form was that of a pillar.<ref>Clive Tolley, "Oswald's Tree", in Tette Hofstra, L. A. J. R. Houwen and Alasdair A. MacDonald, eds., ''Pagans and Christians: The Interplay Between Christian Latin and Traditional Germanic Cultures in Early Medieval Europe'' (Groningen: 1995), pp. 151–52.</ref><ref>[[Carole M. Cusack]], ''The Sacred Tree: Ancient and Medieval Manifestations'' (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011), pp. 137–38.</ref>

==Name==
The name ''Hadugato'' (as in Adam of Bremen), ''Hadugoto'' (as in the ''Translatio''), ''Hatugato'' (as in Frutolf) or ''Hathagat'' (as in Widukind) is preserved only in sources written centuries after his life. The form ''Hathugast'' that appears in some modern works is etymologically incorrect.<ref name=Plassmann>[[:de:Joseph Otto Plassmann|J. O. Plassmann]], "Review of Friedrich von der Leyen, ''Das Heldenliederbuch Karls des Großen. Bestand–Gehalt–Wirkung''.", ''Historische Zeitschrift'' '''186''', 1 (1958), [https://archive.org/details/historischezeit43sybegoog pp. 98–103].</ref>

According to Hauck, the name is probably no more than an honorific, ''Hathugaut'', meaning "Gaut of battle", in reference to [[Gaut]], the legendary ancestor of the [[Geats]] and of the royal houses of the [[Goths]] and the [[Lombards]].<ref>The [[Amal dynasty]] of the Goths begins with a legendary Gapt and the [[Gausian dynasty]] of the Lombards begins with a legendary Gausus.</ref> A similar name, Sigegéat, meaning "Gaut of victory", is preserved in [[Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies]]. The name "Gaut" itself would just be another [[List of names of Odin|by-name for Wodan (''Odinsheiti'')]].<ref name=Hauck1979/><ref name=Wolfram>[[Herwig Wolfram]], ''The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples'' (University of California Press, 1997), p. 26.</ref><ref name=Hauck1954>See Karl Hauck, [http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0004/bsb00048774/images/index.html?fip=193.174.98.30&seite=17&pdfseitex= "Herrschaftszeichen eines Wodanistischen Königtums"], ''Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung'' '''14''' (1954), pp. 9–66, at 36–7, for more discussion of the 'name' Hathugaut as a sign.</ref>

Hauck treats Widukind's phrase ''pater patrum'' as a variation of ''[[pater patriae]]'' (father of the country). "The most noble house 'represents' the tribe" and Widukind clearly presents Hadugato as the most noble. In Hauck's view, Widukind is presenting Hadugato as the ancestor of the [[Liudolfings]], the ruling house of Saxony in his own time, without presenting an actual genealogy.<ref name=Hauck1979/>

Hauck's conclusions are not universally accepted, since the connection of the name Gaut to Wodan comes only from later Norse [[sagas]]. Without sources written hundreds of years after the earliest accounts of Hadugato, no divine meaning would be attached to the -''gat(o)'' suffix in his name. Without the later sources, these names would have remained "empty and unnoticed" in Eve Picard's words.<ref name=Picard>Eve Picard, ''Germanisches Sakralkönigtum?: quellenkritische Studien zur Germania des Tacitus und zur altnordischen Überlieferung'' (Heidelberg: 1991), p. 36.</ref><ref name=Goffart>[[Walter Goffart]], "Two Notes on Germanic Antiquity Today", ''Traditio'' '''50''' (1995), pp. 9–30, at 18.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Drögereit, Richard. "Haduloha und Hadugot: Gedanken zur Sächsischen Stammessage." ''Jahrbuch der Männer vom Morgenstern'' '''45''' (1964): 168–80.
*[[:pl:Jacek Banaszkiewicz|Banaszkiewicz, Jacek]]. [http://rcin.org.pl/Content/25410/WA303_42501_2005-91_APH_02_o.pdf "Widukind on the Saxon Origins."] ''Acta Poloniae Historica'' '''91''' (2005): 25–54.{{ISSN|0001-6829}} 

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{{s-roy}}
{{succession box |
  before= Unknown |
  title= [[Rulers of Saxony|Duke of Saxony]]|
  years= fl. 531 |
  after= Unknown, eventually [[Berthoald, Duke of Saxony|Berthoald]]
}}
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[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
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[[Category:6th-century Saxon people]]
[[Category:Dukes of the Saxons]]
[[Category:Saxon warriors]]
[[Category:Germanic pagans]]