Dan Lärdmann
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Dan Lärdmann (c. 930 – c. 1010) was an East Gothic historian and chronicler best remembered for authoring Chronica Gothica, the most comprehensive and best preserved medieval manuscript of Gothic history. Lärdmann is also sometimes referred to as Dan Grammaticus (the learned) in medieval Levantine manuscripts, a direct Latin translation of the Gothic Lärdmann (learned man).
It is unknown where or when Dan Lärdmann was born, except that it was probably around the year 930. Lärdmann writes himself in Chronica Gothica that he was educated in the Archduchy of Urceopolis, then part of the Southern Kingdom of the Levantines, suggesting Lärdmann was probably of noble birth or from an otherwise very wealthy background. Lärdmann came to serve as a soldier and scribe to Ricfried of Don in the mid-950s. The period was characterised by infighting among the Gothic lords and their nascent nationbuilding, and it is speculated by some historians that Ricfried of Don commissioned Lärdmann to write his history as part of an ongoing powerstruggle.
Lärdmann's work Chronica Gothica is considered by many to be the first full history of Gothica. The history is composed of twelve books, and extends from the time of the mythological founders of the Gothic people, the Kings Got and Angul (for whom the Goths and the Ænglish are named, respectively), into about the year 985. Lärdmann's history of the Goths was compiled from sources that are of questionable historical value but were to him the only ones extant. He drew on oral tales of the Goths, older volumes such as the tome Gesta Gothica by Opthéin of Canaery, letters carved on rocks and stone, and the statements of his patron Ricfried of Don concerning the history of which the latter had been a part. Lärdmann's work was not strictly a history or a simple record of old tales, but rather, as Ewald Hohenkreuz puts it, "a product of Lärdmann's own mind and times". Hohenkreuz writes that Lärdmann combines the history and mythology of the heroic age of Gothica and reworks it into his own story that exemplifies the past of the Goths.
The first six volumes deal with mythical elements such as giants and the Gothic pantheon of gods. Lärdmann tells of Got, the first king of Gothica, who had a brother named Angul who gave his name to the Angles. He also tells the stories of various other Gothic heroes, many of whom interact with the pagan gods. The latter six volumes (from c. 600 AD onward) are thought to be more grounded in actual history than in myth, and the final volume in particular is preoccupied with the many concurrent attempts to form strong, centralized Gothic nations in the late tenth century, about which Lärdmann comments greatly on individual lords and his takes on them.
Lärdmann's works were received enthusiastically by Renaissance era scholars, who were curious about the pre-Christian history and legends. Lärdmann's portrayals of history have been seen to differ greatly from those of his contemporaries, especially Hendalarskara and those of Catholic Levantia, including portrayals of various historical characters as either heroes or villains. Lärdmann's skill as a Latinist has long been praised by scholars, as voiced by the Urcean philosopher Paulus Lunarius who wondered how "a Goth of that age got so great power of eloquence". Later, playwright Hieronymus d'Olbourg would call Lärdmann's writings "difficult and bombastic, but always amusing Latin".