Weißenburg 1085 - A Saxon Historical Nucleus for the Amleth-Hamlet Tradition? A Hypothesis Outline

The dynastic murder configuration underlying the earliest recoverable Boeve de Haumtone (late 12th c.) and Saxo Grammaticus's Amleth (c. 1200) - violent removal of a father, remarriage of the widow to the man associated with the killing, survival of a posthumous son within the second household, and later confrontation over the father's death - is conventionally treated as literary fiction. This working paper draws attention to an independently attested historical constellation with the same structure: the murder of Friedrich of Goseck near Weißenburg (Unstrut) on 5 February 1085, recorded in the Chronicon Gozecense (MGH SS X), the subsequent marriage of his widow Adelheid of Stade to Ludwig of Thuringia (Ludwig der Springer), and the conflict of their posthumous son Friedrich IV with his stepfather, including a challenge tam pro sui iniuria quam pro patris interfectione at Merseburg (1108). A brief control comparison (Ballenstedt c.1080, Barcelona 1082, Denmark 1086) suggests the full combination - widow marries implicated man, that man becomes stepfather, son contests paternal position with explicit reference to father's killing - is not routinely attested. A stratified model is proposed in which a Weißenburg-type historical-dynastic nucleus combined with migratory adventure material, northern Amlóði tradition, and learned classical motifs (Valerius Maximus / Brutus). This is a preprint hypothesis outline published to establish priority and invite comment. A full-length article with complete apparatus is in preparation for submission to Shakespeare Jahrbuch. This preprint does not constitute the final peer-reviewed publication.