Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

HELIAND

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 222 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

HELIAND . The 9th-See also:

century poem on the See also:Gospel See also:history, to which its first editor, J. A. Schmeller, gave the appropriate name of Heliand (the word used in the See also:text for " Saviour," answering to the O. Eng. hcelend and the Ger. Heiland), is, with the fragments of a version of the See also:story of See also:Genesis believed to be by the same author, all that remains of the poetical literature of the old See also:Saxons, i.e. the Saxons who continued in their See also:original See also:home. It contained when entire about 6000 lines, and portions of it are preserved in four See also:MSS. The See also:Cotton MS. in the See also:British Museum, written probably See also:late in the loth century, is nearly See also:complete, ending in the See also:middle of the story of the See also:journey to See also:Emmaus. The See also:Munich MS., formerly at See also:Bamberg, begins at See also:line 85, and has many lacunae, but continues the history down to the last See also:verse of St See also:Luke's Gospel, ending, however, in the middle of a See also:sentence. A MS. discovered at See also:Prague in 1881 contains lines 958-1106, and another, in the Vatican library, discovered by K. Zangemeister in 1894, contains lines 1279-1358. The poem is based, not directly on the New Testament, but on the pseudo-See also:Tatian's See also:harmony of the Gospels, and it shows acquaintance with the commentaries of See also:Alcuin, Bwda and Hrabanus Maurus.

The questions See also:

relating to the Heliand cannot be adequately discussed without considering also the poem on the history of Genesis, which, on the grounds of similarity in See also:style and vocabulary, and for other reasons afterwards to be mentioned, may with some confidence be referred to the same author. A See also:part of this poem, as is mentioned in the See also:article C.'EDMON, is extant only in an Old See also:English See also:translation. The portions that have been preserved in the original See also:language are contained in the same Vatican MS. that includes the fragment of the Heliand referred to above. In the one language or the other, there are in existence the following three fragments: (I) The passage which appears as lines 235-851 in the so-called " Ca'dmon's Genesis," on the revolt of the angels and the temptation and fall of See also:Adam and See also:Eve. Of this the part corresponding to lines 790-82o exists also in the original Old Saxon. (2) The story of See also:Cain and See also:Abel, in 124 lines. (3) The See also:account of the destruction of Sodom, in 187 lines. The See also:main source of the Genesis is the See also:Bible, but See also:Professor E. Sievers has shown that considerable use was made of the two Latin poems by Alcimus Avitus, De initio mundi and De peccato originali. The two poems give See also:evidence of See also:genius and trained skill,though the poet was no doubt hampered by the See also:necessity of not deviating too widely from the sacred originals. Within the limits imposed by the nature of his task, his treatment of his See also:sources is remarkably See also:free, the details unsuited for poetic handling being passed over, or, in some instances, boldly altered. In many passages his See also:work gives the impression of being not so much an See also:imitation of the See also:ancient Germanic epic, as a genuine example of it, though concerned with the deeds of other heroes than those of Germanic tradition.

In the Heliand the Saviour and His Apostles are conceived as a See also:

king and his faithful warriors, and the use of the traditional epic phrases appears to be not, as with See also:Cynewulf or the author of Andreas, a See also:mere following of accepted See also:models, but the spontaneous mode of expression of one accustomed to sing of heroic themes. The Genesis fragments have less of the heroic See also:tone, except in the splendid passage describing the See also:rebellion of Satan and his See also:host. It is noteworthy that the poet, like See also:Milton, See also:sees in Satan no mere personification of evil, but the fallen See also:archangel, whose awful See also:guilt could not obliterate all traces of his native See also:majesty. Somewhat curiously, but very naturally, See also:Enoch the son of Cain is confused with the Enoch who was translated to See also:heaven—an See also:error which the author of the Old English Genesis avoids, though (according to the existing text) he confounds the names of Enoch and See also:Enos. Such See also:external evidence as exists bearing on the origin of the Heliand and the See also:companion poem is contained in a Latin document printed by See also:Flacius Illyricus in 1562. This is in two parts; the one in See also:prose, entitled (perhaps only by Flacius himself) " Praefatio ad librum antiquum in lingua Saxonica conscriptum "; the other in verse, headed " Versus de poeta et Interpreta hujus codicis." The Praefatio begins by stating that the See also:emperor See also:Ludwig the Pious, desirous that his subjects should possess the word of See also:God in their own See also:tongue, commanded a certain Saxon, who was esteemed among his countrymen as an eminent poet, to translate poetically into the See also:German language the Old and New Testaments. The poet willingly obeyed, all the more because he had previously received a divine command to under-take the task. He rendered into verse all the most important parts of the Bible with admirable skill, dividing his work into vitteas, a See also:term which, the writer says, may be rendered by " lectiones " or " sententias." The Praefatio goes on to say that it was reported that the poet, till then knowing nothing of the See also:art of See also:poetry, had been admonished in a See also:dream to turn into verse the precepts of the divine See also:law, which he did with so much skill that his work surpasses in beauty all other German poetry (ut cuncta Theudisca poemata suo vincat decore). The Versus practically reproduce in outline Ba'da's account of Caedmon's dream, without mentioning the dream, but describing the poet as a herdsman, and adding that his poems, beginning with the creation, relate the history of the five ages of the See also:world down to the coming of See also:Christ. The suspicion of some earlier scholars that the Praefatio and the Versus might be a See also:modern See also:forgery is refuted by the occurrence of the word vitteas, which is the Old Saxon fittea,. corresponding to the Old English fitt, which means a " See also:canto " of a poem. It is impossible that a See also:scholar of the 16th century could have been acquainted with this word, and See also:internal evidence shows clearly that both the prose and the verse are of See also:early origin. The Versus, considered in themselves, might very well be supposed to relate to C edmon; but the mention of the five ages of the world in the concluding lines is obviously due to recollection of the opening of the Heliand (lines 46-47).

It is therefore certain that the Versus, as well as the Praefatio, attria See also:

bute to the author of the Heliand a poetic rendering of the Old Testament. Their testimony, if accepted, confirms the ascription to him of the Genesis fragments, which is further supported by the fact that they occur in the same MS. with a portion of the Heliand. As the Praefatio speaks of the emperor Ludwig in the See also:present tense, the former part of it at least was probably written in his reign, i.e. not later than A.D. 840. The See also:general See also:opinion of scholars is that the latter part, which represents the poet as having received his vocation in a dream, is by a later See also:hand, and that the sentences in the earlier part which refer to the dream are interpolations by this second author. The date of these additions, and of the Versus, is of no importance, as their statements are incredible. That the author of the, Heliand was, .,o to speak, another Cxdmon—an unlearned See also:man who turned into poetry what was read to him from the sacred writings—is impossible, because in many passages the text of the sources is so closely followed that it is clear that the poet wrote with the Latin books before him. On the other hand, there is no See also:reason for rejecting the almost contemporary testimony of the first part of the Praefalio that the author of the Heliand had won renown as a poet before he undertook his See also:great task at the emperor's command. It is certainly not impossible that a See also:Christian Saxon, sufficiently educated to read Latin easily, may have chosen to follow the calling of a scop or See also:minstrel l instead of entering the priesthood or the See also:cloister; and if such a See also:person existed, it would be natural that he should be selected by the emperor to execute his See also:design. As has been said above, the tone of many portions of the Heliand is that of a man who was no mere imitator of the ancient epic, but who had himself been accustomed to sing of heroic themes. The commentary on the gospel of See also:Matthew by Hrabanus Maurus was finished about 821, which is therefore the See also:superior limit of date for the See also:composition of the Heliand. It is usually maintained that this work was written before the Old Testament poems.

The arguments for this view are that the Heliand contains no allusion to any foregoing poetical treatment of the antecedent history, and that the Genesis fragments exhibit a higher degree of poetic skill. This reasoning does not appear conclusive, and if it be set aside, the limit of date for the beginning of the work is carried back to A.D. 814, the See also:

year of the See also:accession of Ludwig.

End of Article: HELIAND

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
HELIACAL 		[next]
HELICON

Site © 2006 - Net Industries