The heroic epic of the Middle Ages in brief. High Middle Ages
Literature in Latin served as a bridge between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. But the basis of what is new that appeared in European culture and determined its fundamental difference from the culture of Antiquity is not scientific literature, but folklore of peoples, appeared on the arena of history as a result of the migration of peoples and the death of ancient civilization.
Moving on to this topic, it is necessary to dwell specifically on such a theoretical problem as the fundamental difference between literature and folklore.
Literature and folklore. There is a fundamental the difference between folklore epic and literary epic, first of all the novel. M.M. Bakhtin identifies three main differences between an epic and a novel: “... the subject of an epic serves national epic past, “absolute past”, in the terminology of Goethe and Schiller, the source of the epic is national legend(A not personal experience and free fiction growing on its basis), the epic world is separated from modernity, those. from the time of the singer (the author and his listeners), absolute epic distance"(Bakhtin M.M. Epic and novel // Bakhtin M.M. Questions of literature and "aesthetics. - M., 1975. - P. 456 (the term “epic” the author designates a heroic epic)). An idea in a literary work expresses the author’s attitude towards what is depicted. She is individual. In a heroic epic, where there is no individual author, only a general heroic idea can be expressed, which is, therefore, the idea of a genre (at most, a cycle or plot), and not a separate work. Let's call this idea of a genre an epic idea.
The rhapsode does not give a personal assessment of the person portrayed both for objective reasons (“absolute epic distance” does not allow him to discuss “the first and highest,” “fathers,” “ancestors”), and for subjective reasons (the rhapsodist is not the author, not the writer, but the keeper of the legend). It is no coincidence that a number of assessments are put into the mouths of the heroes of the epic. Consequently, the glorification of characters or their exposure, even love or hatred, belongs to the entire people - the creator of the heroic epic.
However, it would be a mistake, based on the above considerations, to conclude that the rhapsode’s activities are uncreative. The narrator was not allowed freedom (i.e., the author's principle), but at the same time accuracy was not required from him. Folklore is not learned by heart, so deviations from what is heard are perceived not as a mistake (as would be the case when transmitting a literary work), but as improvisation. Improvisation- a mandatory beginning in the heroic epic. Clarification of this feature leads to the conclusion that in the epic there is a different system of artistic means than in literature; it is determined by the principle of improvisation and initially acts not as an artistic system, but as a mnemonic system that allows one to retain huge texts in memory and, therefore, is built on repetitions, constant motifs, parallelism, similar images, similar actions etc. Later, the artistic significance of this system is revealed, because the gradual universalization of the musical motif (recitative) leads to the restructuring of prose speech into poetry, the systematization of assonance and alliteration first generates assonance or alliterative verse, and then rhyme, repetition begins to play a big role in highlighting the most important points narratives, etc.
The idea of the difference between folklore and literary systems of artistic means (though not through the concept of improvisation) came to the idea back in 1946 V.Ya. Propp. In the article “Specifics of Folklore” he wrote: “... Folklore has means specific to it (parallelisms, repetitions, etc.) ... the usual means of poetic language (comparisons, metaphors, epithets) are filled with a completely different content than in literature" (Propp V.Ya. Folklore and reality. - M., 1976. - P. 20.). So, epic works of folklore (heroic epic) and literature (for example, a novel) are built on completely different laws and should be read and studied differently.
Two groups of monuments of the European heroic epic of the Middle Ages. Monuments of the heroic epic of the Middle Ages, which have come down to us in the records of learned clerics since the 10th century, are usually divided into two groups: epic of the early Middle Ages(Irish epic, Icelandic epic, English epic monument “Beowulf”, etc.) and epic of the era of developed feudalism(French heroic epic “The Song of Roland”, the earliest record is the so-called Oxford copy, ca. 1170; German heroic epic “The Song of the Nibelungs”, record ca. 1200; Spanish heroic epic “The Song of My Cid”, record circa 1140 - perhaps an original work, but based on ancient Germanic legends; etc.). Each of the monuments has its own characteristics, both in content (for example, the cosmogonic ideas of the northern peoples of Europe, preserved only in the Icelandic epic) and in form (for example, the combination of poetry and prose in the Irish epic). But the identification of two groups of monuments is associated with more a common feature - a way of reflecting reality in them. In the heroic epic The early Middle Ages reflects not a specific historical event, but an entire era(although individual events and even characters had a historical basis), while the monuments of developed feudalism reflect transformed according to the laws of folklore, but a specific historical event.
Mythology of the northern peoples of Europe in the Icelandic epic. Systemic ideas of the ancient northern peoples about the origin of the world only survived in the Icelandic epic. The oldest surviving recording of this epic is called "Elder Edda" by analogy with the Edda - a kind of a textbook for poets, written by the Icelandic skald (poet) Snorri Sturlusono (1178-1241) in 1222-1225. and now called "Younger Edda". The 10 mythological and 19 heroic songs of the Elder Edda, as well as the retellings of Snorri Sturluson (1st part of the Younger Edda), contain a wealth of material on Scandinavian cosmogony.
“At the beginning of time // there was in the world // no sand, no sea, // no cold waters, // there was no earth yet // and no firmament, // the abyss gaped, the grass did not grow,” the song says “ Divination of the völva” (i.e. prophetess, sorceress). The frost that filled the abyss from Niflheim (“the dark world”), under the influence of sparks from Muspelsheim (“the fiery world”), began to melt, and from it arose the jotun (giant) Ymir, and then the cow Audumla, who fed him with her milk. From the salty stones that Audumla licked, Buri arose, the father of Bor, who, in turn, became the father of the gods Odin (the supreme deity of the ancient Germans), Vili and Ve. In the “Speeches of Grimnir” it is reported that these gods subsequently killed Ymir, and from his flesh the earth arose, from his blood - the sea, from his bones - the mountains, from the skull - the sky, from his hair - the forest, from his eyelashes - the steppe of Midgard (lit., " middle enclosed space”, i.e. the middle world, human habitat). In the center of Midgard grows the world tree Yggdrasil, connecting the earth with Asgard - the seat of the Aesir (gods). The Aesir create a man from ash and a woman from alder. Warriors who die in battle with honor are carried away by the daughters of Odin, the Valkyries, to heaven, to Valhalla - Odin's palace, where there is a continuous feast. Thanks to the cunning of the evil god Loki - the personification of changeable fire - the young god Balder (a kind of Scandinavian Apollo) dies, a feud begins between the gods, Yggdrasil burns, the sky, which was supported by its crown, falls, the death of the gods leads to the return of the world to chaos.
A Christian insert is often considered to be a story about the revival of life on earth, but perhaps this is a reflection of the original idea of the Germans about the cyclical development of the Universe.
Irish epic. This is an epic of the Celtic peoples, the most ancient of the surviving legends of the peoples of Northern Europe. There are about 100 songs in the Ulad cycle. Judging by some details, for example, by the fact that the good king of Ulad Conchobar is opposed by the evil sorceress Queen Medb of Connacht, who sends a disease to the Ulad warriors in order to freely capture the bull grazing in Ulad, bringing prosperity, and also by the fact that the main character of Ulad Cu Chulainn and his brother Ferdiad, who was sent by order of Medb to fight him, learned the art of war from the warrior Scathach, it can be concluded that the Ulad cycle does not reflect a specific historical event (although the war between Ulad - present-day Ulster - and Connacht actually went on from the 2nd century BC. BC to the 2nd century AD), and the whole historical era is the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy in its guardianship stage, when the power of women is associated either with past times, or with the evil principle.
French epic. "The Song of Roland" Among several hundred monuments of the French medieval heroic epic, stands out "The Song of Roland" Recorded for the first time around 1170 (so-called Oxford list), it refers to the epic of developed feudalism. It is based on a real historical event. IN 778 g. young Charlemagne, who had recently decided to recreate the Roman Empire, sent troops into Spain, which had been captured by the Moors (Arabs) since 711. The campaign was unsuccessful: after two months of hostilities it was only possible to besiege the city Zaragoza, but its defenders had unlimited supplies of water in the fortress, so it turned out to be unrealistic to starve them out, and Charles, having lifted the siege, withdrew his troops from Spain. When they pass Roncesvalles Gorges in the Pyrenees the rearguard of the troops was attacked by local tribes Basque. Three noble Franks died in the battle, of whom the chronicle names the third Prefect of the Breton March of Hruotland- the future epic Roland. The attackers scattered across the mountains, and Charles was unable to take revenge on them. With this he returned to his capital Aachen.
This event in the “Song of Roland”, as a result of folklore transformation, looks completely different: the emperor Karl, who is over two hundred years old, leads to Spain's seven-year victorious war. Only the city of Zaragoza did not surrender. In order not to shed unnecessary blood, Karl sends to the leader Moors Marsilia noble knight Ganelon. He, mortally offended by Roland, who gave this advice to Karl, negotiates, but then cheats on Karl. On the advice of Ganelon, Charles puts Roland at the head of the rearguard of the retreating troops. The rearguard is attacked by those who agreed with Ganelon Moors (“non-Christians”, not Basques - Christians) and destroy all the warriors. The last one to die ( not from wounds, but from overexertion) Roland. Charles returns with troops and destroys Moors and all "pagans"", who joined them, and then in Aachen arranges God's judgment on Ganelon. Ganelon's fighter loses the fight to Karl's fighter, which means that God is not on the side of the traitor, and he is brutally executed: they tie his hands and feet to four horses, let them gallop - and the horses tear Ganelon's body into pieces.
The problem of authorship. The text of "The Song of Roland" was published in 1823 and immediately attracted attention with its aesthetic significance. At the end of the 19th century. The outstanding French medievalist Joseph Bedier decided to find out the author of the poem, relying on the last, 4002nd line of the text: “Turold’s legends are interrupted here.” He found not one, but 12 Turolds to whom the work could be attributed. However, even before Bedier, Gaston Paris suggested that it was a folklore work, and after Bedier’s research, the Spanish medievalist Ramon Menendez Pidal convincingly showed that The Song of Roland belongs to “traditional” texts that do not have an individual author.
Logical inversion. Approaching The Song of Roland as work of folklore allows us to clarify contradictions that strike the modern reader. Some of them can be explained by yourself improvisational technique, other - layering of layers belonging to different eras. Some of the contradictions are explained the vaguely personal nature of the heroes’ functions(the behavior of Ganelon, Marsilius, especially Charles, who in the second part acquires the function of Roland, and in the third loses this function). But a number of Karl’s actions are not explained by the principle of combining or changing the functions of heroes. It is unclear why Charles sends Roland to the rearguard, considering Ganelon’s advice diabolical, why he mourns Roland even before the battle in the gorge and calls Ganelon a traitor. The army of one hundred thousand cries with Karl, suspecting Ganelon of treason. Or this passage: “The Great Charles is tormented and crying, // But help them, alas! I have no power to file.”
Psychological inconsistencies must be explained from two sides. Firstly, in the epic the laws of psychologism, which require authenticity in the depiction of motives and psychological reactions, have not yet been used and the contradictions were not noticeable to the medieval listener. Secondly, itself their appearance is associated with the peculiarities of epic time. To a certain extent the basis of the epic ideal is the dreams of the people, but they are transported to the past . Epic time thus appears as “the future in the past”. This type of time has a huge impact not only on the structure, but also on the very logic of the epic. Cause-and-effect relationships play a minor role in it. The main principle epic logic is "logic of the end", which we denote by the term "logical inversion" According to logical inversion, Roland died not because Ganelon betrayed him, but on the contrary, Ganelon betrayed Roland because he must die and thereby immortalize his heroic name forever. Karl sends Roland to the rearguard because the hero must die, and cries because he is endowed with knowledge of the end.
Knowledge of the end, future events by the narrator, listeners and the characters themselves is one of the manifestations of logical inversion. Events are anticipated many times; in particular, prophetic dreams and omens act as forms of anticipation. Logical inversion is also characteristic of the episode of Roland’s death. His death on the hill is depicted in tirade 168, and the motives for climbing the hill and other dying actions are reported much later, in tirade 203.
So, in “The Song of Roland” a whole system of expressing logical inversion is revealed. It should be especially noted that logical inversion completely removes the theme of rock. Not a fatal coincidence of circumstances, not the power of fate over a person, but the strict pattern of testing a character and elevating him to a heroic pedestal or depicting his inglorious death - this is the typical way of depicting reality in The Song of Roland.
.In the early Middle Ages, oral poetry developed, especially heroic epic, based on real events, military campaigns and great heroes that remained in the memory of people. Epic,Chansondegeste (lit. “song of deeds”) is a genre of French medieval literature, a song about the deeds of heroes and kings of the past (“The Song of Roland,” a cycle about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table). Its purpose is to glorify the moral values of chivalry: duty to the overlord, service to the Church and the Beautiful Lady, loyalty, honor, courage.
All works of medieval heroic epic belong to the early (Anglo-Saxon Beowulf) and classical Middle Ages (Icelandic songs of the Elder Edda and the German Song of the Nibelungs). In the epic, descriptions of historical events coexist with myth and fairy tale; the historical and fantastic are equally accepted as truth. Epic poems do not have an author: the people who revised and expanded the poetic material did not recognize themselves as the authors of the works they wrote.
"Beowulf" - the oldest Anglo-Saxon epic poem, its action takes place in Scandinavia. The text was created at the beginning of the 8th century. The action of the poem begins in Denmark, where King Hrothgar rules. A disaster looms over his country: every night the monster Grendel devours the warriors. From the land of the Gauts (in Southern Sweden), where the valiant King Hygelac rules, the hero Beowulf hurries to the aid of Denmark with fourteen wars. He kills Grendel:
The enemy was approaching;
Above the reclining
He extended his hand
To rip with the intention
clawed paw
The breast of the brave-hearted,
But the agile one
Rising up on my elbow,
He squeezed his hand,
And the terrible one understood
Shepherd of misfortunes,
What's on earth
Under the firmament
He hasn't met yet
human hand
Stronger and harder;
The soul shuddered
And my heart sank
But it was too late
Run to the den
Into the Devil's Den;
Never in my life
Never happened to him
Of what happened
In this palace.
But trouble struck Denmark again: Grendel’s mother came to avenge her son’s death. With an ancient sword and impenetrable armor, Beowulf dives into the disastrous swamp and at the very bottom inflicts a crushing blow on the monster. At the end of the poem, Beowulf takes the throne of the Gauts after the death of Hygelac. He has to save his people from a winged serpent, enraged by the theft of treasures. Having defeated the serpent, Beowulf dies from a mortal wound, bequeathing his armor to Wiglaf, the only warrior who did not abandon him in trouble. At the end of the poem, eternal glory is proclaimed to Beowulf.
"Elder Edda" is a collection of Old Icelandic songs, songs about the gods - about Hymir, about Thrym, about Alvis and the heroes of Scandinavian mythology and history, which were preserved in manuscripts dating back to the second half. XIII century The background to the manuscript is as unknown as the background to the Beowulf manuscript. Noteworthy is the diversity of songs, tragic and comic, elegiac monologues and dramatized dialogues; teachings are replaced by riddles, prophecies by stories about the beginning of the world. Songs about gods contain a wealth of mythological material, and songs about heroes tell about the good name and posthumous glory of heroes:
The herds are dying
relatives die
and you yourself are mortal;
but I know one thing
that is eternally immortal:
glory to the deceased.
(from “The Speech of the High One”).
"Song of the Nibelungs"– a medieval epic poem, classified as a Germanic epic, of 39 songs (“adventures”). It contains legends dating back to the time of the Great Migration and the creation of German kingdoms on the territory of the Western Roman Empire. It was recorded by an unknown author at the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th centuries. In the land of the Burgundians lives a girl of extraordinary beauty named Kriemhild. Her three brothers are famous for their valor: Gunther, Gernot and Giselcher, as well as their vassal Hagen. Siegfried, the son of the Dutch king Sigmund, the conqueror of a huge treasure of the Nibelungs (since then Siegfried himself and his squad are called the Nibelungs) - the sword of Balmung and the invisibility cloak - arrived in Burgundy to fight for the hand of Kriemhild. Only after many trials (victory over the Saxons and Danes, victory over the warrior Brunhild, with whom Gunther is in love), is Siegfried allowed to marry his beloved. But the happiness of the young does not last long. The queens quarrel, Hagen finds out from Kriemhild Siegfried’s weak point (his “Herculean heel” turned out to be a mark on his back; while washing in the dragon’s blood, a linden leaf fell on his back):
My husband,–She said,–and brave and full of strength.
One day he slayed a dragon under the mountain,
I washed myself in his blood and became invulnerable...
When he began to bathe in the dragon's blood,
A leaf from a neighboring linden tree fell on the knight
And he covered his back between the shoulder blades by an inch.
It is there, alas, that my mighty husband is vulnerable.
After this confession, Hagen kills Siegfried while hunting. From now on, the Burgundians are called Nibelungs, since Siegfried's treasures pass into their hands. After grieving for 13 years and marrying the ruler of the Huns, Etzel, Kriemhild lures the brothers and Hagen to visit and kills every one of them. So she takes revenge for the death of her beloved husband and kills all the Nibelungs.
French heroic epic. A wonderful example of a medieval folk heroic epic - "The Song of Roland". In France, “songs about deeds”, which were common among knights, became widespread. There are about a hundred of them in total, forming three groups from the point of view of plot and theme: in the center of the first is the King of France, a wise monarch; in the center of the second is his faithful vassal; in the center of the third - on the contrary, a rebellious feudal lord who does not obey the king. The Song of Roland, the most famous among heroic songs, is based on a real historical event, Charlemagne’s short campaign against the Basques in 778. After a successful seven-year campaign in Moorish Spain, the Frankish emperor Charlemagne conquers all the cities of the Saracens (Arabs), except Zaragoza , where King Marsilius rules. Marsilius' ambassadors offer riches to the French and say that Marsilius is ready to become Charles's vassal. The Breton Count Roland does not believe the Saracens, but his enemy Count Gwenelon insists on a different decision and goes as an ambassador to Marsilius, plotting to destroy Roland and advising Marsilius to attack the rearguard of Charlemagne's army. Returning to the camp, the traitor says that Marsilius agrees to become a Christian and a vassal of Charles. Roland is appointed commander of the rearguard, and he takes with him only 20 thousand people. They are ambushed in the Roncesvalles Gorge and engage in battle with superior Saracen forces. In the end they die, Karl notices too late that something is wrong and returns to Roncesvalles to defeat the treacherous enemy and accuse Gwenelon of treason.
Spanish heroic epic. The Spanish epic is in many ways close to the French, and the art of the Spanish epic singers, the Huglars, has much in common with the art of the French jugglers. The Spanish epic is also based mainly on historical tradition; even more than French, it is centered around the theme of the reconquista, the war with the Moors. The best and most fully preserved monument of Spanish epic poetry is "Song of My Sid". Coming down to us in a single copy compiled in 1307 by a certain Pedro Abbot, the poem of the heroic epic apparently took shape around 1140, less than half a century after the death of the Cid himself. Cid is the famous figure of the reconquista Rodrigo (Ruy) Diaz de Bivar (1040 - 1099). The Arabs called him Sid (from Arabic seid - “lord”). The main goal of his life was the liberation of his native land from Arab rule. Contrary to historical truth, Cid is depicted as a knight who has vassals and does not belong to the highest nobility. He is turned into a real folk hero, who suffers insults from an unjust king and comes into conflict with the family nobility. Due to false accusations, the Cid was expelled from Castile by King Alfonso VI. But at the end of the poem, Sid not only defends his honor, but also becomes related to the Spanish kings. "The Song of My Cid" gives a true picture of Spain both in days of peace and in days of war. In the XIV century. The Spanish heroic epic is in decline, but its plots continue to be developed in romances - short lyric-epic poems, in many ways similar to Northern European ballads.
The works of heroic poetry presented in this volume belong to the Middle Ages - early (Anglo-Saxon Beowulf) and classical (Icelandic songs of the Elder Edda and the German Song of the Nibelungs). The origins of German poetry about gods and heroes are much more ancient. Already Tacitus, who was one of the first to leave a description of the Germanic tribes, mentions their ancient songs about mythical ancestors and leaders: these songs, according to him, replaced history for the barbarians. The Roman historian's remark is very significant: in the epic, memories of historical events are fused with myth and fairy tale, and fantastic and historical elements are equally accepted as reality. There was no distinction between “facts” and “fiction” in relation to the epic in that era. But ancient Germanic poetry is unknown to us; there was no one to write it down. The themes and motifs that have existed in it orally for centuries are partly reproduced in the monuments published below. In any case, they reflected the events of the period of the Great Migrations of Peoples (V-VI centuries). However, using Beowulf or the Scandinavian songs, not to mention the Song of the Nibelungs, it is impossible to reconstruct the spiritual life of the Germans during the era of the dominance of the tribal system. The transition from the oral creativity of singers and storytellers to the “book epic” was accompanied by more or less significant changes in the composition, volume and content of songs. It is enough to recall that in the oral tradition, the songs from which these epic works then developed existed in the pagan period, while they acquired written form centuries later after Christianization. Nevertheless, Christian ideology does not determine the content and tone of epic poems, and this becomes especially clear when comparing the German heroic epic with medieval Latin literature, as a rule, deeply permeated with the church spirit ( However, how different assessments the ideological basis of epic poetry received is clear from at least the following two judgments about the “Song of the Nibelungs”: “basically pagan”; "medieval-Christian". The first assessment is by Goethe, the second by A.-W. Schlegel.).
An epic work is universal in its functions. The fabulous and fantastic is not separated from the real. The epic contains information about gods and other supernatural beings, fascinating stories and instructive examples, aphorisms of worldly wisdom and examples of heroic behavior; its edifying function is as integral as its cognitive one. It embraces both the tragic and the comic. At the stage when the epic arose and developed, the German peoples did not have knowledge about nature and history, philosophy, fiction or theater as separate spheres of intellectual activity; the epic gave a complete and comprehensive picture of the world, explained its origin and further destinies, including the most distant future, taught to distinguish good from evil, instructed in how to live and how to die. The epic contained ancient wisdom; knowledge of it was considered necessary for every member of society.
The integrity of the scope of life corresponds to the integrity of the characters depicted in the epic. The heroes of the epic are cut from one piece, each personifying some quality that determines his essence. Beowulf is the ideal of a courageous and determined warrior, unfailing in loyalty and friendship, a generous and merciful king. Gudrun is the embodiment of devotion to the family, a woman who avenges the death of her brothers, not stopping before killing her own sons and husband, similar to (but at the same time in contrast to) Kriemhild, who destroys her brothers, punishing them for the murder of her beloved husband Siegfried and taking away she has a golden treasure. The epic hero is not tormented by doubts and hesitations, his character is revealed in his actions; his speeches are as clear as his actions. This monolithic character of the hero of the epic is explained by the fact that he knows his fate, accepts it as a given and inevitable, and boldly goes to meet it. The epic hero is not free in his decisions, in choosing a line of behavior. Actually, his inner essence and the force that the heroic epic calls Fate coincide and are identical. Therefore, the hero can only valiantly fulfill his destiny in the best possible way. Hence the unique, perhaps a little primitive for other tastes, greatness of epic heroes.
Despite all the differences in content, tone, as well as in the conditions and time of their origin, epic poems do not have an author. It's not that the author's name is unknown ( In science, attempts have been made more than once - invariably unconvincing - to identify the authors of the Eddic songs or the “Song of the Nibelungs”.), - the anonymity of epic works is fundamental: the persons who combined, expanded and reworked the poetic material at their disposal did not recognize themselves as the authors of the works they wrote. This, of course, does not mean that the concept of authorship did not exist at all in that era. The names of many Icelandic skalds are known who declared their “copyright” to the songs they performed. “The Song of the Nibelungs” arose during the period when the largest German minnesingers were creating and chivalric novels were created according to French models; this song was written by a contemporary of Wolfram von Eschenbach, Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried of Strasbourg and Walter von der Vogelweide. And yet, poetic work on a traditional epic plot, on heroic songs and legends, which in an earlier form were familiar to everyone, in the Middle Ages was not assessed as creativity either by society or by the poet himself, who created such works, but did not think about it to mention your name ( The above also applies to some types of prose creativity, for example, Icelandic sagas and Irish tales. See the preface by M. I. Steblin-Kamensky to the publication of the Icelandic sagas in the Library of World Literature.).
Drawing from the general poetic fund, the compiler of the epic poem focused on his chosen heroes and plot, pushing many other legends related to this plot to the periphery of the narrative. Just as the beam of a searchlight illuminates a separate piece of terrain, leaving most of it in darkness, so the author of an epic poem (an author in the sense now indicated, that is, a poet devoid of authorial self-awareness), developing his theme, limited himself to hints at its branches, being confident that his audience already knew all the events and characters, both those sung by him and those that were only mentioned in passing by him. The tales and myths of the Germanic peoples found only partial embodiment in their epic poems, preserved in written form - the rest has either disappeared or can only be restored indirectly. In the songs of the Edda and in Beowulf, cursory references to kings, their wars and strife, mythological characters and legends are scattered in abundance. Concise allusions were quite enough for the corresponding associations to arise in the minds of listeners or readers of the heroic epic. Epic usually does not communicate anything completely new. The strength of its aesthetic and emotional impact is not diminished at all; on the contrary, in archaic and medieval society, the greatest satisfaction was apparently brought not by receiving original information, or not only that, but also by recognizing previously known, new confirmation of old and therefore especially valued truths ( Wouldn't a comparison with a child's perception of a fairy tale be appropriate here? The child knows its content, but his pleasure from listening to it again and again does not decrease.).
An epic poet, processing material that did not belong to him, a heroic song, a myth, a tale, a legend, widely using traditional expressions, stable comparisons and formulas, figurative clichés borrowed from oral folk art, could not consider himself an independent creator, no matter how much he actually was his contribution to the final creation of the heroic epic is great. This dialectical combination of the new and the received from predecessors constantly gives rise to disputes in modern literary criticism: science is inclined either to emphasize the folk basis of the epic, or in favor of the individual creative principle in its creation.
Tonic alliterative verse remained the form of German poetry for an entire era. This form was preserved for a particularly long time in Iceland, while among the continental Germanic peoples, already in the early Middle Ages, it was replaced by verse with end rhyme. “Beowulf” and the songs of the “Elder Edda” are in the traditional alliterative form, while “The Song of the Nibelungs” is in a new one based on rhyme. Old Germanic versification was based on rhythm, determined by the number of stressed syllables in a poetic line. Alliteration is the consonance of the initial sounds of words that were under semantic stress and repeated with a certain regularity in two adjacent lines of verse, which therefore turned out to be connected. Alliteration is audible and significant in Germanic verse, since the stress in Germanic languages predominantly falls on the first syllable of the word, which is also its root. It is clear, therefore, that reproducing this form of versification in Russian translation is almost impossible. It is also very difficult to convey another feature of Scandinavian and Old English verse, the so-called kenning (literally “designation”) - a poetic periphrasis that replaces one noun of ordinary speech with two or more words. Kennings were used to designate the most essential concepts for heroic poetry: “leader”, “warrior”, “sword”, “shield”, “battle”, “ship”, “gold”, “woman”, “raven”, and for each of these concepts there were several or even many kennings. Instead of saying “prince”, in poetry they used the expression “giver of rings”, a common kenning for a warrior was “ash of battle”, the sword was called “battle stick”, etc. In Beowulf and in the Elder Edda, kennings are usually two-part , in skaldic poetry there are also polynomial kennings.
"The Song of the Nibelungs" is built on the "Kührenberg stanza", which consists of four pairs of rhymed verses. Each verse is divided into two hemistiches with four stressed syllables in the first hemistich, while in the second hemistich of the first three verses there are three stresses, and in the second hemistich of the last verse, which completes the stanza both formally and in meaning, there are four stresses. The translation of the “Song of the Nibelungs” from Middle High German into Russian does not encounter such difficulties as the translation of alliterated poetry, and gives an idea of its metrical structure.
Beowulf
The only existing manuscript of Beowulf dates back to around 1000. But the epic itself dates back, according to most experts, to the end of the 7th or the first third of the 8th century. At that time, the Anglo-Saxons were already experiencing the beginning of the process of the emergence of feudal ties. The poem, however, is characterized by epic archaization. In addition, she depicts reality from a specific point of view: the world of Beowulf is a world of kings and warriors, a world of feasts, battles and duels.
The plot of this largest of the Anglo-Saxon epics is simple. Beowulf, a young knight from the Gaut people, having learned about the disaster that befell the Danish king Hygelac - about the attacks of the monster Grendel on his palace Heorot and about the gradual extermination of the king's warriors over the course of twelve years, goes overseas to destroy Grendel. Having defeated him, he then kills in a new single combat, this time in an underwater dwelling, another monster - Grendel's mother, who was trying to avenge the death of her son. Showered with awards and gratitude, Beowulf returns to his homeland. Here he accomplishes new feats, and subsequently becomes the king of the Gauts and safely rules the country for fifty years. After this period, Beowulf enters into battle with the dragon, who devastates the surrounding area, angered by the attempt on the ancient treasure he guards. Beowulf manages to defeat this monster, but at the cost of his own life. The song ends with a scene of the solemn burning of the hero's body on a funeral pyre and the construction of a mound over his ashes and the treasure he conquered.
These fantastic feats, however, are transferred from the unreal world of fairy tales to historical soil and take place among the peoples of Northern Europe: in Beowulf the Danes, Swedes, and Gauts appear ( Who the Gauts of Beowulf are remains controversial. Science has offered different interpretations: the Goths of Southern Sweden or the island of Gotland, the Jutes of the Jutland Peninsula and even the ancient Getae of Thrace, who, in turn, were confused in the Middle Ages with the biblical Gog and Magog.), other tribes are mentioned, and the kings who once actually ruled them are named. But this does not apply to the main character of the poem: Beowulf himself, apparently, did not have a historical prototype. Since everyone then believed unconditionally in the existence of giants and dragons, the combination of such stories with the story of wars between peoples and kings was quite natural. It is curious that the Anglo-Saxon epic ignores England (this gave rise, by the way, to the now rejected theory of its Scandinavian origin). But perhaps this feature of Beowulf will not seem so striking if we keep in mind that in other works of Anglo-Saxon poetry we meet the most diverse peoples of Europe and that we encounter the same fact in the songs of the Elder Edda, and partly in “The Song of the Nibelungs.”
In the spirit of the theories that dominated scholarship in the mid-19th century, some interpreters of Beowulf have argued that the poem arose from the combination of various songs; It was customary to cut it into four parts: a duel with Grendel, a duel with his mother, Beowulf's return to his homeland, and a duel with the dragon. The point of view was expressed that the initially purely pagan poem was partially reworked in the Christian spirit, as a result of which an interweaving of two worldviews arose in it. Then most researchers began to believe that the transition from oral songs to the “book epic” was not limited to simply recording them; these scholars viewed Beowulf as a single work, the “editor” of which, in his own way, combined and reworked the material at his disposal, presenting the traditional plots in more detail. It must be admitted, however, that nothing is known about the process of formation of Beowulf.
The epic contains many folklore motifs. At the very beginning, Skild Skevang is mentioned - “foundling”. The boat with the baby Scyld washed up on the shores of Denmark, whose people were defenseless at that time due to the absence of a king; Scyld subsequently became the ruler of Denmark and founded a dynasty. After his death, Skilda was put back on the ship and, along with the treasures, sent back to where he came from - a purely fairy-tale plot. The giants Beowulf fights are akin to the giants of Scandinavian mythology, and combat with the dragon is a common theme in fairy tales and myths, including northern ones. In his youth, Beowulf, who, having grown up, acquired the strength of thirty people, was lazy and not distinguished by his valor - doesn’t this remind him of the youth of other heroes of folk tales, for example, Ilya Muromets? The hero’s coming on his own initiative to the aid of those in distress, his altercation with his opponent (exchange of speeches between Beowulf and Unferth), the test of the hero’s valor (the story of the swimming competition between Beowulf and Breka), the presentation of a magical weapon to him (the sword Hrunting), the hero’s violation of the ban ( Beowulf takes away the treasure in a duel with the dragon, not knowing that a spell hangs over the treasure), an assistant in single combat between the hero and the enemy (Wiglaf, who came to the rescue of Beowulf at the moment when he was close to death), three fights that the hero gives, and each subsequent one turns out to be more difficult (the battles of Beowulf with Grendel, with his mother and with the dragon) - all these are elements of a fairy tale. The epic retains many traces of its prehistory, rooted in folk art. But the tragic ending - the death of Beowulf, as well as the historical background against which his fantastic exploits unfold, distinguish the poem from a fairy tale - these are signs of a heroic epic.
Representatives of the “mythological school” in literary criticism of the last century tried to decipher this epic in this way: the monsters personify the storms of the North Sea; Beowulf is a good deity who harnesses the elements; his peaceful reign is a blessed summer, and his death is the coming of winter. Thus, the epic symbolically depicts the contrasts of nature, growth and decline, rise and decline, youth and old age. Other scholars understood these contrasts in ethical terms and saw in Beowulf the theme of the struggle between good and evil. The symbolic and allegorical interpretation of the poem is also not alien to those researchers who generally deny its epic character and consider it the work of a cleric or monk who knew and used early Christian literature. These interpretations largely depend on the question of whether the “spirit of Christianity” is expressed in Beowulf or whether it is a monument of pagan consciousness. Supporters of understanding it as a folk epic, in which the beliefs of the heroic era of the Great Migrations are alive, naturally found German paganism in it and minimized the significance of church influence. On the contrary, those modern scholars who classify the poem as written literature shift the center of gravity to Christian motifs; in paganism, Beowulf is seen as nothing more than a stylization of antiquity. In recent criticism there is a noticeable tendency to shift attention from the analysis of the content of the poem to the study of its texture and style. In the middle of our century, denial of the connection between Beowulf and the epic folklore tradition prevailed. Meanwhile, in recent years, a number of specialists have been inclined to consider the prevalence of stereotypical expressions and formulas in the text of the poem as evidence of its origin from oral creativity. There is no generally accepted concept in science that explains Beowulf satisfactorily. Meanwhile, one cannot do without interpretation. “Beowulf” is difficult for the modern reader, brought up on a completely different literature and inclined, albeit unwittingly, to transfer to ancient monuments the ideas that have developed upon acquaintance with the artistic creations of modern times.
In the heat of scientific debate, they sometimes forget: regardless of how the poem arose, whether it was composed of different pieces or not, it was perceived by the medieval audience as something whole. This applies to both the composition of Beowulf and its interpretation of religion. The author and his heroes often remember the Lord God; in the epic there are allusions to biblical stories, apparently understandable to the “public” of that time; paganism is clearly condemned. At the same time, Beowulf is replete with references to Fate, which either acts as an instrument of the creator and is identical to divine Providence, or appears as an independent force. But belief in Fate occupied a central place in the pre-Christian ideology of the Germanic peoples. Family blood feud, which the church condemned, although it was often forced to endure, is glorified in the poem and considered an obligatory duty, and the impossibility of revenge is regarded as the greatest misfortune. In short, the ideological situation depicted in Beowulf is quite contradictory. But this is a contradiction in life, and not a simple inconsistency between earlier and subsequent editions of the poem. The Anglo-Saxons of the 7th-8th centuries were Christians, but the Christian religion at that time did not so much overcome the pagan worldview as push it from the official sphere to the background of public consciousness. The Church managed to destroy the old temples and the worship of pagan gods, sacrifices to them. As for the forms of human behavior, here the situation was much more complicated. The motives that drive the actions of the characters in Beowulf are by no means determined by the Christian ideals of humility and submission to the will of God. “What do Ingeld and Christ have in common?” - asked the famous church leader Alcuin a century after the creation of Beowulf and demanded that the monks not be distracted from prayer by heroic songs. Ingeld appears in a number of works; he is also mentioned in Beowulf. Alcuin was aware of the incompatibility of the ideals embodied in such characters of heroic tales with the ideals preached by the clergy.
The fact that the religious and ideological climate in which Beowulf arose was not clear is confirmed by the archaeological find at Sutton Hoo (East England). Here in 1939, a burial in a boat of a noble person was discovered, dating back to the mid-7th century. The burial was performed according to a pagan rite, along with valuable things (swords, helmets, chain mail, cups, banners, musical instruments) that the king might need in another world.
It is difficult to agree with those researchers who are disappointed by the “banality” of the scenes of the hero’s fights with monsters. These fights are placed at the center of the poem quite rightly - they express its main content. In fact, the world of culture, joyful and multi-colored, is personified in Beowulf by Heorot - the palace, the radiance of which spreads “to many countries”; in his feast hall, the leader and his companions revel and have fun, listening to the songs and tales of the osprey - a warrior singer and poet glorifying their military deeds, as well as the deeds of their ancestors; here the leader generously gifts the warriors with rings, weapons and other valuables. This reduction of the “middle world” (middangeard) to the palace of the king (for everything else in this world is passed over in silence) is explained by the fact that “Beowulf” is a heroic epic that developed, at least in the form known to us, in a warrior environment.
Heorot, the “Deer Hall” (its roof is decorated with gilded deer antlers) is opposed by wild, mysterious and horror-filled rocks, wastelands, swamps and caves in which monsters live. The contrast of joy and fear corresponds in this opposition to the contrast of light and darkness. Feasts and fun in the shining golden hall take place in the light of day - the giants go out in search of bloody prey under the cover of darkness. The feud between Grendel and the people of Heorot is not an isolated episode; this is emphasized not only by the fact that the giant raged for twelve winters before being killed by Beowulf, but also, above all, by the very interpretation of Grendel. This is not just a giant - in his image different hypostases of evil were combined (although, perhaps, not merged into one). A monster of German mythology, Grendel is at the same time a creature placed outside of communication with people, an outcast, an outcast, an “enemy,” and according to German beliefs, a person who stained himself with crimes that entailed expulsion from society seemed to lose his human appearance and became a werewolf , a hater of people. The singing of the poet and the sounds of the harp coming from Heorot, where the king and his retinue are feasting, awaken rage in Grendel. But this is not enough - in the poem Grendel is called “a descendant of Cain.” Christian ideas are superimposed on the old pagan beliefs. Grendel is under an ancient curse, he is called a “pagan” and condemned to hell. And at the same time, he himself is like the devil. The formation of the idea of the medieval devil at the time when Beowulf was created was far from complete, and in the interpretation of Grendel, which is not without inconsistency, we find a curious intermediate moment in this evolution.
The fact that pagan and Christian ideas are intertwined in this “multi-layered” understanding of the forces of evil is not accidental. After all, the understanding of the rich man in Beowulf is no less peculiar. In the poem, which repeatedly mentions the “ruler of the world”, “mighty god”, the Savior Christ is never named. In the minds of the author and his audience, apparently, there is no place for heaven in the theological sense, which so occupied the thoughts of medieval people. The Old Testament components of the new religion, more understandable to recent pagans, prevail over the Gospel teaching about the Son of God and reward after death. But we read in Beowulf about a “hero under heaven,” about a man who cares not about the salvation of the soul, but about establishing his earthly glory in human memory. The poem ends with the words: of all the earthly leaders, Beowulf was the most generous, merciful to his people and greedy for glory!
The thirst for glory, booty and princely awards - these are the highest values for the German hero, as they are depicted in the epic, these are the main springs of his behavior. “Every mortal must die! - //let those who can deserve // eternal glory while alive! For for a warrior // the best payment is a worthy memory!” (Art. 1386 seq.). This is Beowulf's credo. When he has to deal a decisive blow to his opponent, he focuses on the thought of glory. “(This is how a warrior should go hand-to-hand // in order to gain eternal glory // without worrying about life!)” (Art. 1534 next) “It’s better for a warrior // to die than to live in shame!” (verses 2889 - 2890).
Warriors seek no less glory for gifts from the leader. Neck rings, bracelets, twisted or plate gold constantly appear in the epic. The stable designation of the king is “breaking hryvnias” (sometimes they were given not a whole ring, but significant wealth, but parts of it). The modern reader, perhaps, will be depressed and seem monotonous by all the newly renewed descriptions and enumerations of awards and treasures. But he can be sure: the medieval audience was not at all tired of stories about gifts and found a lively response in them. The warriors expect gifts from the leader primarily as convincing signs of their valor and merit, so they demonstrate them and are proud of them. But in that era, a deeper, sacred meaning was also invested in the act of a leader giving jewelry to a faithful person. As already mentioned, the pagan belief in fate persisted during the period of the poem's creation. Fate was understood not as a universal fate, but as the individual fate of an individual person, his luck, happiness; Some have more luck, others less. A mighty king, a glorious leader - the most “rich” person in happiness. Already at the beginning of the poem we find the following description of Hrothgar: “Hrothgar rose to prominence in battles, successful, // without dispute his relatives submitted to him...” (v. 64 next). There was a belief that the leader’s luck extended to the squad. By rewarding his warriors with weapons and precious objects - the materialization of his luck, the leader could convey to them a piece of this luck. “Possess, O Beowulf, for your own joy // Strong Warrior with our gifts - // the ring and wrists, and may good luck accompany // you!” - Queen Walchtean says to Beowulf. (Art. 1216 seq.)
But the motif of gold as a visible, tangible embodiment of a warrior’s luck in Beowulf is supplanted, apparently under Christian influence, by its new interpretation - as a source of misfortune. In this regard, the last part of the poem is of particular interest - the hero’s combat with the dragon. In retaliation for the theft of a jewel from a treasure, the dragon that guarded these ancient treasures attacks the villages, setting the surrounding country on fire and destroying it. Beowulf enters into battle with the dragon, but it is easy to see that the author of the poem does not see the reason that prompted the hero to this feat in the atrocities committed by the monster. Beowulf's goal is to take the dragon's treasure. The dragon sat on the treasure for three centuries, but even before these values belonged to people, and Beowulf wants to return them to the human race. Having killed a terrible enemy and himself received a fatal wound, the hero expresses his dying wish: to see the gold that he snatched from the claws of his guard. The contemplation of these riches gives him deep satisfaction. However, then something happens that directly contradicts Beowulf’s words that he won the treasure for his people, namely: his companions place all these treasures on the funeral pyre along with the body of the king and burn them, and the remains are buried in a mound. An ancient spell hung over the treasure, and it is of no use to people; Because of this spell, broken out of ignorance, Beowulf apparently dies. The poem ends with a prediction of the disasters that will befall the Gauts after the death of their king.
The struggle for glory and jewelry, loyalty to the leader, bloody revenge as an imperative of behavior, man’s dependence on the Fate reigning in the world and a courageous meeting with it, the tragic death of the hero - all these are the defining themes of not only Beowulf, but also other monuments of the German epic.
Elder Edda
Songs about gods and heroes, conventionally united by the title “Elder Edda” ( The name "Edda" was given in the 17th century by the first researcher of the manuscript, who transferred to it the title of the book of the Icelandic poet and historian of the 13th century Snorri Sturluson, since Snorri relied on songs about the gods in telling the myths. Therefore, Snorri’s treatise is usually called the “Younger Edda”, and the collection of mythological and heroic songs is called the “Elder Edda”. The etymology of the word "Edda" is unclear.), preserved in a manuscript that dates back to the second half of the 13th century. It is not known whether this manuscript was the first, or whether it had some predecessors. The background to the manuscript is as unknown as the background to the Beowulf manuscript. There are, in addition, some other recordings of songs also classified as Eddic. The history of the songs themselves is also unknown, and a variety of points of view and contradictory theories have been put forward on this matter. The range in dating of songs often reaches several centuries. Not all songs originated in Iceland: among them there are songs that go back to South German prototypes; in the Edda there are motifs and characters familiar from the Anglo-Saxon epic; a lot was apparently brought from other Scandinavian countries. Without dwelling on the countless controversies regarding the origin of the Elder Edda, we only note that in the most general form, development in science went from romantic ideas about the extreme antiquity and archaic nature of songs expressing the “spirit of the people”, to their interpretation as book works of medieval scientists - “antiquarians” who imitated ancient poetry and stylized their religious and philosophical views as myth.
One thing is clear: songs about gods and heroes were popular in Iceland in the 13th century. It can be assumed that at least some of them arose much earlier, even in the non-literate period. Unlike the songs of the Icelandic skald poets, for almost all of which we know the author, the Eddic songs are anonymous. Myths about the gods, stories about Helgi, Sigurd, Brynhild, Atli, Gudrun were public property, and the person who retold or recorded the song, even re-creating it, did not consider himself its author. Before us is an epic, but a very unique epic. This originality cannot but strike the eye when reading the Elder Edda after Beowulf. Instead of a lengthy, slowly flowing epic, here we have before us a dynamic and concise song, in a few words or stanzas, outlining the fate of heroes or gods, their speeches and actions. Experts explain this compression of Eddic songs, unusual for the epic style, by the specifics of the Icelandic language. But one more circumstance cannot be ignored. A broad epic like Beowulf or the Lied of the Nibelungs contains several plots, many scenes, united by common characters and time sequence, while the songs of the Elder Edda usually (though not always) focus on one episode . True, their great “fragmentation” does not interfere with the presence in the text of the songs of various associations with plots that are developed in other songs, as a result of which an isolated reading of a single song complicates its understanding - of course, understanding by the modern reader, for medieval Icelanders, there is no doubt, they knew the rest. This is evidenced not only by the allusions scattered throughout the songs to events not described in them, but also by the kennings. If only habit was enough to understand kennings such as “land of necklaces” (woman) or “snake of blood” (sword), then such kennings as, for example, “guardian of Midgard”, “son of Igg”, “son of Odin”, “descendant Hlodun”, “the husband of Siv”, “the father of Magni” or “the owner of the goats”, “the serpent slayer”, “the charioteer”, assumed that the readers or listeners had knowledge of myths, from which it was only possible to learn that in all cases the god Thor was implied .
Songs about gods and heroes in Iceland did not "swell" into vast epics, as was the case in many other cases ( Beowulf has 3182 verses, the Nibelungenlied has three times as many (2379 stanzas of four verses each), while the longest of the Eddic songs, the Speech of the High One, has only 164 stanzas (the number of verses in stanzas varies), and no other song, except Atli's Greenland Speeches, exceeds a hundred stanzas.). Of course, the length of the poem itself says little, but the contrast is nevertheless striking. This does not mean that the Eddic song in all cases was limited to the development of one episode. “The Divination of the Völva” preserves the mythological history of the world from its creation to the death predicted by the sorceress as a result of the evil that penetrated into it, and even to the revival and renewal of the world. A number of these subjects are touched upon in both the Speeches of Vafthrudnir and the Speeches of Grimnir. The epic scope also characterizes the “Gripir Prophecy,” which seems to summarize the entire cycle of songs about Sigurd. But the broadest pictures of mythology or heroic life in the Elder Edda are always given very laconically and even, if you like, “concisely.” This “conciseness” is especially visible in the so-called “tula” - lists of mythological (and sometimes historical) names ( See "Divination of the Völva", art. 11-13, 15, 16, “Speeches of Grimnir”, art. 27 next, “Song of Hyndla”, art. 11 next). The modern reader is perplexed by the abundance of proper names, given without further explanation - they do not tell him anything. But for the Scandinavian of that time this was completely different! Each name was associated in his memory with a certain episode of a myth or heroic epic, and this name served him as a sign, which was usually not difficult to decipher. To understand this or that name, a specialist is forced to turn to reference books, but the memory of a medieval Icelander, more capacious and active than ours, due to the fact that we had to rely only on it, easily gave him the necessary information, and when he met this name in his the whole story relating to him unfolded in his consciousness. In other words, in the compressed and relatively laconic Eddic song there is much more content “encoded” than it might seem to the uninitiated.
The noted circumstances are that some features of the songs of the “Elder Edda” seem strange and devoid of aesthetic value to modern taste (for what kind of artistic pleasure can one now get from reading unknown whose names!), and also that these songs do not develop into a broad epic, like the works of Anglo-Saxon and German epic, testify to their archaic nature. Folklore formulas, clichés and other stylistic devices characteristic of oral versification are widely used in songs. A typological comparison of the Elder Edda with other monuments of the epic also forces us to attribute its genesis to very distant times, in many cases earlier than the beginning of the settlement of Iceland by the Scandinavians at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century. Although the surviving manuscript of the Edda is a younger contemporary of the Lied of the Nibelungs, Eddic poetry reflects an earlier stage of cultural and social development. This is explained by the fact that in Iceland even in the 13th century pre-class relations were not eliminated, and despite the adoption of Christianity back in the year 1000, the Icelanders adopted it relatively superficially and retained a living connection with the ideology of the pagan era. In the “Elder Edda” one can find traces of Christian influence, but in general its spirit and content are very far from it. It is rather the spirit of the warlike Vikings, and, probably, to the Viking Age, the period of widespread military and settlement expansion of the Scandinavians (IX-XI centuries) , a considerable part of the Eddic poetic heritage dates back. The heroes of the Edda songs are not concerned with saving their souls; the posthumous reward is the long memory left by the hero among people, and the stay of the knights killed in battle in the palace of Odin, where they feast and are engaged in military amusements.
Noteworthy is the diversity of songs, tragic and comic, elegiac monologues and dramatized dialogues; teachings are replaced by riddles, prophecies by stories about the beginning of the world. The intense rhetoric and overt didacticism of many of the songs contrasts with the calm objectivity of the narrative prose of the Icelandic sagas. This contrast is also noticeable in the Edda itself, where poetry is often interspersed with prose pieces. Perhaps these were comments added later, but it is possible that the combination of poetic text with prose formed an organic whole even at the archaic stage of the existence of the epic, giving it additional tension.
Eddic songs do not form a coherent unity, and it is clear that only a part of them has reached us. The individual songs feel like versions of the same piece; Thus, in the songs about Helgi, Atli, Sigurd and Gudrun, the same plot is interpreted differently. The "Speeches of Atli" are sometimes interpreted as a later, expanded reworking of the more ancient "Song of Atli."
In general, all Eddic songs are divided into songs about gods and songs about heroes. Songs about the gods contain a wealth of material on mythology; this is our most important source for knowledge of Scandinavian paganism (albeit in a very late, so to speak, “posthumous” version).
The image of the world developed by the thought of the peoples of Northern Europe largely depended on their way of life. Cattle breeders, hunters, fishermen and sailors, to a lesser extent farmers, they lived surrounded by a harsh and poorly developed nature, which their rich imagination easily populated with hostile forces. The center of their life is a separate rural yard. Accordingly, they modeled the entire universe in the form of a system of estates. Just as uncultivated wastelands or rocks stretched around their estates, so they thought of the whole world as consisting of spheres sharply opposed to each other: the “middle estate” (Midgard ( stress on the first syllable)), that is, the human world, is surrounded by a world of monsters, giants, constantly threatening the world of culture; this wild world of chaos was called Utgard (literally: “that which is beyond the fence, outside the estate”) ( Utgard includes the Country of giants - the Jotuns, and the Country of the Alfs - dwarfs.). Above Midgard rises Asgard - the stronghold of the gods - the Aesir. Asgard is connected to Midgard by a bridge formed by a rainbow. The world serpent swims in the sea, its body encircles the entire Midgard. In the mythological topography of the peoples of the North, an important place is occupied by the ash tree Yggdrasil, which connects all these worlds, including the lower one - the kingdom of the dead Hel.
The dramatic situations depicted in songs about the gods usually arise as a result of collisions or contacts in which different worlds enter, opposed to one another, either vertically or horizontally. One visits the kingdom of the dead - in order to force the völva to reveal the secrets of the future, and the land of giants, where he asks for Vafthrudnir. Other gods also go to the world of giants (to get a bride or Thor’s hammer). However, the songs do not mention the visits of the Aesir or giants to Midgard. The contrast between the world of culture and the world of non-culture is common to both the Eddic songs and Beowulf; as we know, in the Anglo-Saxon epic the land of people is also called the “middle world.” With all the differences between the monuments and plots, here and there we are faced with the theme of the struggle against the carriers of world evil - giants and monsters.
Just as Asgard represents the idealized home of people, so the gods of the Scandinavians are in many ways similar to people and have their qualities, including vices. The gods differ from people in dexterity, knowledge, especially the mastery of magic, but they are not omniscient by nature and obtain knowledge from more ancient families of giants and dwarfs. Giants are the main enemies of the gods, and the gods wage an ongoing war with them. The head and leader of the gods, Odin and other aces, try to outwit the giants, while Thor fights them with the help of his hammer Mjollnir. The fight against giants is a necessary condition for the existence of the universe; If the gods had not led it, the giants would have long ago destroyed both themselves and the human race. In this conflict, gods and people find themselves allies. Thor was often called the "protector of the people." One helps courageous warriors and takes in fallen heroes. He obtained the honey of poetry, sacrificing himself, and obtained runes - sacred secret signs with which one can perform all kinds of witchcraft. Odin shows the traits of a “culture hero” - a mythical ancestor who endowed people with the necessary skills and knowledge.
The anthropomorphism of the Aesir brings them closer to the gods of antiquity, however, unlike the latter, the Aesir are not immortal. In the coming cosmic catastrophe, they, along with the whole world, will die in the fight against the world wolf. This gives their struggle against monsters a tragic meaning. Just as the hero of the epic knows his fate and boldly goes towards the inevitable, so do the gods: in the “Divination of the Völva” the sorceress tells Odin about the approaching fatal battle. The cosmic catastrophe will be the result of moral decline, for the aces once violated the vows they had made, and this leads to the unleashing of evil forces in the world, which are no longer possible to cope with. The Völva paints an impressive picture of the dissolution of all sacred ties: see stanza 45 of her prophecies, where the worst thing that can happen to a person is predicted, in the opinion of members of a society in which tribal traditions are still strong - strife will break out between relatives, “brothers will begin to fight each other with a friend...".
The Hellenic gods had their favorites and charges among people, whom they helped in every possible way. The main thing among the Scandinavians is not the patronage of a deity to a separate tribe or individual, but the awareness of the common destinies of gods and people in their conflict with the forces that bring decline and final death to all living things. Therefore, instead of a bright and joyful picture of Hellenic mythology, Eddic songs about the gods paint a tragic situation of a universal world movement towards an inexorable fate.
The hero in the face of Fate is the central theme of heroic songs. Usually the hero is aware of his fate: either he is gifted with the ability to penetrate into the future, or someone revealed it to him. What should be the position of a person who knows in advance about the troubles and ultimate death that threaten him? This is a problem to which the Eddic songs offer a clear and courageous answer. Knowledge of fate does not plunge the hero into fatalistic apathy and does not encourage him to try to evade the death that threatens him; on the contrary, being confident that what befalls him is inevitable, he challenges fate, boldly accepts it, caring only about posthumous glory. Invited to visit by the treacherous Atli, Gunnar knows in advance about the danger that awaits him, but without hesitation he sets off on the road: this is what his sense of heroic honor tells him to do. Refusing to pay off death with gold, he dies. “...So must the brave man, the giver of rings, // defend the good!” (“Greenland Song of Atli”, 31).
But the highest good is the good name of the hero. Everything is transitory, say the aphorisms of worldly wisdom, and relatives, and wealth, and one’s own life - only the glory of the hero’s exploits remains forever ("Speeches of the High", 76, 77). As in Beowulf, in the Eddic songs glory is denoted by a term that at the same time had the meaning of “sentence” (Old Norse domr, Old English dom) - the hero is concerned that his exploits should not be forgotten by people. For he is judged by the people, and not by any supreme authority. The heroic songs of the Edda, despite the fact that they existed in the Christian era, do not mention God’s judgment; everything happens on earth, and the hero’s attention is riveted to it.
Unlike the characters of the Anglo-Saxon epic - leaders who lead kingdoms or squads, Scandinavian heroes act alone. There is no historical background ( “The Song of Hloda,” which contains echoes of some historical events, seems to be an exception.), and the kings of the era of the Great Migration mentioned in the Edda [Atli - the king of the Huns Attila, Jormunrekk - the Ostrogothic king Germanaric (Ermanaric), Gunnar - the Burgundian king Gundaharius] have lost all connection with history. Meanwhile, the Icelanders of that time were closely interested in history, and many historical works created by them have been preserved from the 12th and 13th centuries. The point, therefore, is not in their lack of historical consciousness, but in the peculiarities of the interpretation of the material in Icelandic heroic songs. The author of the song focuses all his attention exclusively on the hero, on his life position and fate ( There was no state in Iceland at the time the heroic songs were recorded; Meanwhile, historical motifs intensively penetrate the epic, usually under conditions of state consolidation.).
Another difference between the Eddic epic and the Anglo-Saxon epic is a higher appreciation of women and interest in her. In Beowulf, queens appear who serve as decorations for the court and the guarantee of peace and friendly ties between the tribes, but that’s all. What a striking contrast to this are the heroines of Icelandic songs! Before us are bright, strong natures, capable of the most extreme, decisive actions that determine the entire development of events. The role of women in the heroic songs of the Edda is no less than that of men. Taking revenge for the deception into which she was led, Brynhild achieves the death of her beloved Sigurd and kills herself, not wanting to live after his death: “... the wife was not weak if she follows a stranger’s husband alive // to the grave...” (“Short Song of Sigurd”, 41). Sigurd's widow Gudrun is also seized with a thirst for revenge: but she takes revenge not on the brothers who were responsible for Sigurd's death, but on her second husband, Atli, who killed her brothers; in this case, the family duty operates flawlessly, and first of all their sons fall victim to her revenge, whose bloody meat Gudrun serves to Atli as a treat, after which she kills her husband and dies herself in a fire she started. These monstrous acts nevertheless have a certain logic: they do not mean that Gudrun was deprived of the feeling of motherhood. But her children from Atli were not members of her clan, they were part of the clan of Atli; Sigurd did not belong to her family either. Therefore, Gudrun must take revenge on Atli for the death of her brothers, her closest relatives, but does not take revenge on her brothers for their murder of Sigurd - even the thought of such a possibility does not occur to her! Let us remember this - after all, the plot of “The Song of the Nibelungs” goes back to the same legends, but develops completely differently.
Generic consciousness generally dominates in songs about heroes. The convergence of tales of different origins, both borrowed from the south and Scandinavian proper, and their combination into cycles was accompanied by the establishment of a common genealogy of the characters appearing in them. Hogni was turned from a vassal of the Burgundian kings into their brother. Brynhild received a father and, more importantly, a brother, Atli, as a result of which her death turned out to be causally related to the death of the Burgundian Hukungs: Atli lured them to himself and killed them, carrying out blood revenge for his sister. Sigurd had ancestors - the Volsungs, a family that went back to Odin. Sigurd also became related to the hero of an initially completely separate legend - Helga, they became brothers, the sons of Sigmund. In the Song of Hyndla, the focus is on the lists of noble families, and the giantess Hyndla, who tells the young man Ottar about his ancestors, reveals to him that he is related to all the famous families of the North, including the Volsungs, the Gyukungs and ultimately even with the aces themselves.
The artistic and cultural-historical significance of the Elder Edda is enormous. It occupies one of the honorable places in world literature. The images of the Eddic songs, along with the images of the sagas, supported the Icelanders throughout their difficult history, especially during the period when this small people, deprived of national independence, was almost doomed to extinction as a result of foreign exploitation, and from famine and epidemics. The memory of the heroic and legendary past gave the Icelanders the strength to hold out and not die.
Song of the Nibelungs
In “The Song of the Nibelungs” we again meet the heroes known from Eddic poetry: Siegfried (Sigurd), Kriemhild (Gudrun), Brunhild (Brynhild), Gunther (Gunnar), Etzel (Atli), Hagen (Högni). Their actions and destinies have captured the imagination of both Scandinavians and Germans for centuries. But how different are the interpretations of the same characters and plots! A comparison of Icelandic songs with German epic shows what great opportunities for original poetic interpretation existed within the framework of one epic tradition. The “historical core” to which this tradition went back, the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom in 437 and the death of the Hunnic king Attila in 453, gave rise to highly original artistic creations. On Icelandic and German soil, works emerged that were deeply dissimilar to each other both artistically and in the assessment and understanding of the reality they depicted.
Researchers separate the elements of myth and fairy tales from historical facts and truthful sketches of morality and everyday life, and discover in the “Song of the Nibelungs” old and new layers and contradictions between them, not smoothed out in the final edition of the song. But were all these “seams”, inconsistencies and layers noticeable to the people of that time? We have already had occasion to express doubt that “poetry” and “truth” were as clearly opposed in the Middle Ages as in modern times. Despite the fact that the true events of the history of the Burgundians or Huns are distorted in the “Song of the Nibelungs” beyond recognition, it can be assumed that the author and his readers perceived the song as a historical narrative, truthfully, due to its artistic persuasiveness, depicting the affairs of past centuries.
Each era explains history in its own way, based on its inherent understanding of social causality. How does The Song of the Nibelungs depict the past of peoples and kingdoms? The historical destinies of states are embodied in the history of the ruling houses. The Burgundians are, in fact, Gunther and his brothers, and the death of the Burgundian kingdom lies in the extermination of its rulers and their troops. In the same way, the Hunnic power is entirely concentrated in Etzel. The poetic consciousness of the Middle Ages depicts historical collisions in the form of a clash of individuals, whose behavior is determined by their passions, relationships of personal loyalty or blood feud, and the code of ancestral and personal honor. But at the same time, the epic elevates the individual to the rank of the historical. In order for this to become clear, it is enough to outline, in the most general terms, the plot of the “Song of the Nibelungs.”
At the court of the Burgundian kings, the famous hero Siegfried of the Netherlands appears and falls in love with their sister Kriemhild. King Gunther himself wants to marry the Icelandic queen Brynhildr. Siegfried undertakes to help him in matchmaking. But this help is associated with deception: the heroic feat, the accomplishment of which is a condition for the success of matchmaking, was actually performed not by Gunther, but by Siegfried, hiding under the invisibility cloak. Brunhild could not help but notice Siegfried’s valor, but she is assured that he is just a vassal of Gunther, and she grieves because of the misalliance into which her husband’s sister entered, thereby infringing on her class pride. Years later, at the insistence of Brunhild, Gunther invites Siegfried and Kriemhild to his place in Worms, and here, during a skirmish between the queens (whose husband is more valiant?), the deception is revealed. The offended Brunhild takes revenge on the offender Siegfried, who had the imprudence to give his wife the ring and belt that he had taken from Brunhild. Revenge is carried out by Gunther's vassal Hagen. The hero is treacherously killed while hunting, and the kings manage to lure the golden treasure, once won by Siegfried from the fabulous Nibelungs, from Kriemhild, and Hagen hides it in the waters of the Rhine. Thirteen years have passed. The Hun ruler Etzel is widowed and is looking for a new wife. Rumors about Kriemhild's beauty reached his court, and he sent an embassy to Worms. After much resistance, the inconsolable widow Siegfried agrees to a second marriage in order to obtain the means to avenge the murder of her loved one. Thirteen years later, she gets Etzel to invite her brothers to visit them. Despite Hagen's attempts to prevent a visit that threatens to become fatal, the Burgundians and their retinue set off from the Rhine to the Danube. (In this part of the song, the Burgundians are called Nibelungs.) Almost immediately after their arrival, a quarrel breaks out, escalating into a general massacre in which the Burgundian and Hunnic squads, the son of Kriemhild and Etzel, the closest associates of the kings and the brothers of Gunnar die. At last Gunnar and Hagen are in the hands of the revenge-stricken queen; she orders her brother to be beheaded, after which she kills Hagen with her own hands. Old Hildebrand, the only surviving warrior of King Dietrich of Berne, punishes Kriemhild. Etzel and Dietrich, groaning in grief, remain alive. This is how the “story of the death of the Nibelungs” ends.
In a few phrases one can retell only the bare bones of the plot of a huge poem. The epically leisurely narrative depicts in detail court leisure and knightly tournaments, feasts and wars, scenes of matchmaking and hunting, travel to distant lands and all other aspects of the luxurious and refined courtly life. The poet literally with sensual joy talks about rich weapons and precious robes, gifts that rulers reward knights and hosts give to guests. All these static images undoubtedly were of no less interest to the medieval audience than the dramatic events themselves. The battles are also depicted in great detail, and although large masses of warriors participate in them, the fights in which the main characters enter are given in close-up. The song constantly anticipates a tragic outcome. Often such foretellings of fatal fate emerge in pictures of prosperity and celebrations - awareness of the contrast between the present and the future gave rise to a feeling of tense anticipation in the reader, despite his prior knowledge of the plot, and cemented the epic as an artistic whole. The characters are delineated with exceptional clarity and cannot be confused with each other. Of course, the hero of an epic work is not a character in the modern sense, not the owner of unique properties or a special individual psychology. An epic hero is a type, the embodiment of qualities that were recognized in that era as the most significant or exemplary. “The Song of the Nibelungs” arose in a society significantly different from the Icelandic “law of the people”, and underwent final processing at a time when feudal relations in Germany, having reached their peak, revealed their inherent contradictions, in particular the contradictions between the aristocratic elite and petty knighthood. The song expresses the ideals of feudal society: the ideal of vassal loyalty to the master and knightly service to the lady, the ideal of a ruler who cares about the welfare of his subjects and generously rewards his captives.
However, the German heroic epic is not content with demonstrating these ideals. His heroes, unlike the heroes of the chivalric romance that originated in France and were adopted in Germany at that time, do not move safely from one adventure to another; they find themselves in situations in which following the code of knightly honor leads to their death. Brilliance and joy go hand in hand with suffering and death. This awareness of the proximity of such opposite principles, inherent in the heroic songs of the Edda, forms the leitmotif of the “Song of the Nibelungs,” in the very first stanza of which the theme is indicated: “feasts, fun, misfortunes and grief,” as well as “bloody strife.” Every joy ends in grief - this idea permeates the entire epic. The moral precepts of behavior, obligatory for a noble warrior, are tested in the song, and not all of its characters pass the test with honor.
In this regard, the figures of kings are indicative, courtly and generous, but at the same time constantly revealing their inadequacy. Gunther takes possession of Brunhild only with the help of Siegfried, in comparison with whom he loses both as a man, and as a warrior, and as a man of honor. The scene in the royal bedchamber, when the angry Brynhild, instead of surrendering to the groom, ties him up and hangs him on a nail, naturally caused laughter from the audience. In many situations, the Burgundian king shows treachery and cowardice. Gunther's courage awakens only at the end of the poem. And Etzel? At a critical moment, his virtues turn into indecision bordering on complete paralysis of the will. From the hall where his people are being killed and where Hagen has just hacked his son to death, the Hun king is rescued by Dietrich; Etzel goes so far as to beg his vassal for help on his knees! He remains in a daze until the end, able only to mourn the countless victims. Among the kings, the exception is Dietrich of Berne, who tries to play the role of a conciliator of warring cliques, but without success. He is the only one, besides Etzel, who remains alive, and some researchers see in this a glimmer of hope left by the poet after he painted a picture of universal death; but Dietrich, an example of “courtly humanity,” remains to live as a lonely exile, deprived of all friends and vassals.
The heroic epic existed in Germany at the courts of large feudal lords. But the poets who created it, based on German heroic legends, apparently belonged to petty knighthood ( It is possible, however, that “The Song of the Nibelungs” was written by a clergyman. See notes.). This, in particular, explains their passion for chanting princely generosity and for describing the gifts uncontrollably lavished by the lords on vassals, friends and guests. Is it not for this reason that the behavior of a faithful vassal turns out to be closer to the ideal in the epic than the behavior of the sovereign, who is increasingly turning into a static figure? This is the Margrave Rüdeger, faced with a dilemma: to act on the side of friends or in defense of the lord, and fell victim to fealty to Etzel. The symbol of his tragedy, very clear to a medieval person, was that the margrave died from the sword, which he himself donated, having previously given Hagen, a former friend and now an enemy, his battle shield. Rüdeger embodies the ideal qualities of a knight, vassal and friend, but when confronted with the harsh reality of their owner, a tragic fate awaits them. The conflict between the demands of vassal ethics, which does not take into account the personal inclinations and feelings of the participants in the fief agreement, and the moral principles of friendship is revealed in this episode with greater depth than anywhere else in medieval German poetry.
Högni does not play a leading role in the Elder Edda. In "The Nibelungenlied" Hagen grows into a foreground figure. His enmity with Kriemhild is the driving force of the entire narrative. The gloomy, ruthless, calculating Hagen, without hesitation, goes to the treacherous murder of Siegfried, kills the innocent son of Kriemhild with a sword, and makes every effort to drown the chaplain in the Rhine. At the same time, Hagen is a powerful, invincible and fearless warrior. Of all the Burgundians, he is the only one who clearly understands the meaning of the invitation to Etzel: Kriemhild did not abandon the thought of avenging Siegfried and considers him, Hagen, to be her main enemy. However, energetically dissuading the kings of Worms from traveling to the Hunnic state, he stops arguing as soon as one of them reproaches him for cowardice. Having once decided, he shows maximum energy in implementing the adopted plan. Before crossing the Rhine, the prophetic wives reveal to Hagen that none of the Burgundians will return alive from the country of Etzel. But, knowing the fate to which they are doomed, Hagen destroys the boat - the only means of crossing the river, so that no one can retreat. In Hagen, perhaps more than in other heroes of the song, the ancient Germanic faith in Fate is alive, which must be actively accepted. He not only does not shy away from a collision with Kriemhild, but deliberately provokes it. Just look at the scene when Hagen and his associate Shpilman Volker are sitting on a bench and Hagen refuses to stand in front of the approaching queen, defiantly playing with the sword that he once removed from Siegfried, whom he killed.
No matter how dark many of Hagen's actions may seem, the song does not pass a moral verdict on him. This is probably explained both by the author’s position (retelling “tales of bygone days,” the author refrains from actively intervening in the narrative and making assessments), and by the fact that Hagen was hardly presented as an unambiguous figure. He is a loyal vassal, serving his kings to the end. In contrast to Rüdeger and other knights, Hagen is devoid of any courtliness. He is more of an old Germanic hero than of a refined knight, familiar with the refined manners adopted from France. We know nothing about any of his marital or love affairs. Meanwhile, serving a lady is an integral feature of courtliness. Hagen, as it were, personifies the past - heroic, but already overcome by a new, more complex culture.
In general, the difference between old and new is realized more clearly in the “Song of the Nibelungs” than in German poetry of the early Middle Ages. Fragments of earlier works that seem “undigested” to some researchers in the context of the German epic (themes of Siegfried’s struggle with the dragon, his conquest of a treasure from the Nibelungs, single combat with Brunhild, prophetic sisters predicting the death of the Burgundians, etc.), regardless of the conscious intention of the author , perform a certain function in it: they impart an archaic quality to the narrative, which makes it possible to establish a temporal distance between modernity and bygone days. Probably, other scenes marked by logical incongruity also served this purpose: the crossing of a huge army in one boat, which Hagen managed in a day, or the battle of hundreds and thousands of warriors taking place in the banquet hall of Etzel, or the successful repulsion by two heroes of the attack of an entire horde of Huns . In an epic telling about the past, such things are permissible, because in the old days the miraculous was possible. Time has brought great changes, as the poet says, and this also reveals a medieval sense of history.
Of course, this sense of history is very peculiar. Time does not flow in the epic in a continuous stream; it flows, as it were, in spurts. Life is at rest rather than moving. Despite the fact that the song covers a time period of almost forty years, the heroes do not age. But this state of peace is disrupted by the actions of the heroes, and then a significant time comes. At the end of the action, the time “turns off”. “Jumpiness” is also inherent in the characters’ characters. At the beginning, Kriemhild is a meek girl, then a grief-stricken widow, and in the second half of the song she is a “devil” seized by a thirst for revenge. These changes are externally caused by events, but there is no psychological motivation for such a sharp change in Kriemhilda’s state of mind in the song. Medieval people did not imagine personal development. Human types play in the epic roles assigned to them by fate and the situation in which they are placed.
“The Song of the Nibelungs” was the result of processing the material of German heroic songs and tales into an epic on a wide scale. This processing was accompanied by both gains and losses. Acquisitions - for the nameless author of the epic made ancient legends sound in a new way and managed to make it unusually visual and colorful ( Colorful in the literal sense of the word: the author willingly and tastefully gives the color characteristics of the clothes, jewelry and weapons of the heroes. The contrasts and combinations of red, gold, and white colors in his descriptions vividly resemble medieval book miniatures. The poet himself seems to have it before his eyes (see stanza 286).), to unfold in every detail every scene of the tales of Siegfried and Kriemhild, more succinctly and concisely presented in the works of his predecessors. It took outstanding talent and great art for songs that spanned centuries to once again acquire relevance and artistic power for the people of the 13th century, who in many ways already had completely different tastes and interests. Losses - for the transition from the high heroism and pathos of an inexorable struggle with Fate, inherent in the early German epic, right up to the “will to death” that possessed the hero of ancient songs, to greater elegism and glorification of suffering, to lamentations of sorrows that invariably accompany human joys, the transition, certainly incomplete, but nevertheless quite clear, was accompanied by the loss of the epic hero’s former integrity and solidity, as well as a certain reduction in theme as a result of a compromise between the pagan and Christian-knightly traditions; The “swelling” of old lapidary songs into a verbose epic, replete with inserted episodes, led to a certain weakening of the dynamism and tension of the presentation. “The Song of the Nibelungs” was born out of the needs of new ethics and new aesthetics, which largely departed from the canons of the archaic epic of the barbarian era. The forms in which ideas about human honor and dignity are expressed here, about the methods of their establishment, belong to the feudal era. But the intensity of passions that overwhelmed the heroes of the epic, the acute conflicts in which fate confronts them, and to this day cannot but captivate and shock the reader.
In the early Middle Ages, oral poetry developed, especially heroic epic, based on real events, military campaigns and great heroes that remained in the memory of people. Epic, Chanson de geste (lit. “song of deeds”) is a genre of French medieval literature, a song about the deeds of heroes and kings of the past (“The Song of Roland,” a cycle about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table). Its purpose is to glorify the moral values of chivalry: duty to the overlord, service to the Church and the Beautiful Lady, loyalty, honor, courage.
All works of medieval heroic epic belong to the early (Anglo-Saxon Beowulf) and classical Middle Ages (Icelandic songs of the Elder Edda and the German Song of the Nibelungs). In the epic, descriptions of historical events coexist with myth and fairy tale; the historical and fantastic are equally accepted as truth. Epic poems do not have an author: the people who revised and expanded the poetic material did not recognize themselves as the authors of the works they wrote.
"Beowulf" - the oldest Anglo-Saxon epic poem, its action takes place in Scandinavia. The text was created at the beginning of the 8th century. The action of the poem begins in Denmark, where King Hrothgar rules. A disaster looms over his country: every night the monster Grendel devours the warriors. From the land of the Gauts (in Southern Sweden), where the valiant King Hygelac rules, the hero Beowulf hurries to the aid of Denmark with fourteen wars. He kills Grendel:
The enemy was approaching;
Above the reclining
He extended his hand
To rip with the intention
clawed paw
The breast of the brave-hearted,
But the agile one
Rising up on my elbow,
He squeezed his hand,
And the terrible one understood
Shepherd of misfortunes,
What's on earth
Under the firmament
He hasn't met yet
human hand
Stronger and harder;
The soul shuddered
And my heart sank
But it was too late
Run to the den
Into the Devil's Den;
Never in my life
Never happened to him
Of what happened
In this palace.
But trouble struck Denmark again: Grendel’s mother came to avenge her son’s death. With an ancient sword and impenetrable armor, Beowulf dives into the disastrous swamp and at the very bottom inflicts a crushing blow on the monster. At the end of the poem, Beowulf takes the throne of the Gauts after the death of Hygelac. He has to save his people from a winged serpent, enraged by the theft of treasures. Having defeated the serpent, Beowulf dies from a mortal wound, bequeathing his armor to Wiglaf, the only warrior who did not abandon him in trouble. At the end of the poem, eternal glory is proclaimed to Beowulf.
"Elder Edda" is a collection of Old Icelandic songs, songs about the gods - about Hymir, about Thrym, about Alvis and the heroes of Scandinavian mythology and history, which were preserved in manuscripts dating back to the second half. XIII century The background to the manuscript is as unknown as the background to the Beowulf manuscript. Noteworthy is the diversity of songs, tragic and comic, elegiac monologues and dramatized dialogues; teachings are replaced by riddles, prophecies by stories about the beginning of the world. Songs about gods contain a wealth of mythological material, and songs about heroes tell about the good name and posthumous glory of heroes:
The herds are dying
relatives die
and you yourself are mortal;
but I know one thing
that is eternally immortal:
glory to the deceased.
(from “The Speech of the High One”).
"Song of the Nibelungs"– a medieval epic poem, classified as a German epic, consisting of 39 songs (“adventures”). It contains legends dating back to the time of the Great Migration and the creation of German kingdoms on the territory of the Western Roman Empire. It was recorded by an unknown author at the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th centuries. In the land of the Burgundians lives a girl of extraordinary beauty named Kriemhild. Her three brothers are famous for their valor: Gunther, Gernot and Giselcher, as well as their vassal Hagen. Siegfried, the son of the Dutch king Sigmund, the conqueror of a huge treasure of the Nibelungs (since then Siegfried himself and his squad are called the Nibelungs) - the sword of Balmung and the invisibility cloak - arrived in Burgundy to fight for the hand of Kriemhild. Only after many trials (victory over the Saxons and Danes, victory over the warrior Brunhild, with whom Gunther is in love), is Siegfried allowed to marry his beloved. But the happiness of the young does not last long. The queens quarrel, Hagen finds out from Kriemhild Siegfried’s weak point (his “Herculean heel” turned out to be a mark on his back; while washing in the dragon’s blood, a linden leaf fell on his back):
My husband,–She said,–and brave and full of strength.
One day he slayed a dragon under the mountain,
I washed myself in his blood and became invulnerable...
When he began to bathe in the dragon's blood,
A leaf from a neighboring linden tree fell on the knight
And he covered his back between the shoulder blades by an inch.
It is there, alas, that my mighty husband is vulnerable.
After this confession, Hagen kills Siegfried while hunting. From now on, the Burgundians are called Nibelungs, since Siegfried's treasures pass into their hands. After grieving for 13 years and marrying the ruler of the Huns, Etzel, Kriemhild lures the brothers and Hagen to visit and kills every one of them. So she takes revenge for the death of her beloved husband and kills all the Nibelungs.
French heroic epic. A wonderful example of a medieval folk heroic epic - "The Song of Roland". In France, “songs about deeds”, which were common among knights, became widespread. There are about a hundred of them in total, forming three groups from the point of view of plot and theme: in the center of the first is the King of France, a wise monarch; in the center of the second is his faithful vassal; in the center of the third - on the contrary, a rebellious feudal lord who does not obey the king. The Song of Roland, the most famous among heroic songs, is based on a real historical event, Charlemagne’s short campaign against the Basques in 778. After a successful seven-year campaign in Moorish Spain, the Frankish emperor Charlemagne conquers all the cities of the Saracens (Arabs), except Zaragoza , where King Marsilius rules. Marsilius' ambassadors offer riches to the French and say that Marsilius is ready to become Charles's vassal. The Breton Count Roland does not believe the Saracens, but his enemy Count Gwenelon insists on a different decision and goes as an ambassador to Marsilius, plotting to destroy Roland and advising Marsilius to attack the rearguard of Charlemagne's army. Returning to the camp, the traitor says that Marsilius agrees to become a Christian and a vassal of Charles. Roland is appointed commander of the rearguard, and he takes with him only 20 thousand people. They are ambushed in the Roncesvalles Gorge and engage in battle with superior Saracen forces. In the end they die, Karl notices too late that something was wrong and returns to Roncesvalles to defeat the insidious enemy and accuse Gwenelon of treason.
Spanish heroic epic. The Spanish epic is in many ways close to the French, and the art of the Spanish epic singers, the Huglars, has much in common with the art of the French jugglers. The Spanish epic is also based mainly on historical tradition; even more than French, it is centered around the theme of the reconquista, the war with the Moors. The best and most fully preserved monument of Spanish epic poetry is "Song of My Sid". Coming down to us in a single copy compiled in 1307 by a certain Pedro Abbot, the poem of the heroic epic apparently took shape around 1140, less than half a century after the death of the Cid himself. Cid is the famous figure of the reconquista Rodrigo (Ruy) Diaz de Bivar (1040 - 1099). The Arabs called him Sid (from Arabic seid - “lord”). The main goal of his life was the liberation of his native land from Arab rule. Contrary to historical truth, Cid is depicted as a knight who has vassals and does not belong to the highest nobility. He is turned into a real folk hero, who suffers insults from an unjust king and comes into conflict with the family nobility. Due to false accusations, the Cid was expelled from Castile by King Alfonso VI. But at the end of the poem, Sid not only defends his honor, but also becomes related to the Spanish kings. "The Song of My Cid" gives a true picture of Spain both in days of peace and in days of war. In the XIV century. The Spanish heroic epic is in decline, but its plots continue to be developed in romances - short lyric-epic poems, in many ways similar to Northern European ballads.
The heroic epic is one of the most characteristic and popular genres of the European Middle Ages. In France, it existed in the form of poems called gestures, that is, songs about deeds and exploits. The thematic basis of the gesture is made up of real historical events, most of which date back to the 8th - 10th centuries. Probably, immediately after these events, traditions and legends about them arose. It is also possible that these legends originally existed in the form of short episodic songs or prose stories that developed in the pre-knight milieu. However, very early on, episodic tales went beyond this environment, spread among the masses and became the property of the entire society: not only the military class, but also the clergy, merchants, artisans, and peasants listened to them with equal enthusiasm.
Since these folk tales were originally intended for oral chanting performance by jugglers, the latter subjected them to intensive processing, which consisted of expanding the plots, cyclizing them, introducing inserted episodes, sometimes very large ones, conversational scenes, etc. As a result, short episodic songs became gradually the appearance of plot- and stylistically-organized poems is a gesture. In addition, in the process of complex development, some of these poems were noticeably influenced by church ideology and, without exception, by the influence of knightly ideology. Since chivalry had high prestige for all levels of society, the heroic epic gained wide popularity. Unlike Latin poetry, which was practically intended only for clergy, gestures were created in French and were understandable to everyone. Originating from the early Middle Ages, the heroic epic took a classical form and experienced a period of active existence in the 12th, 13th and partly 14th centuries. Its written recording dates back to the same time. Gestures are usually divided into three cycles:
1) the cycle of Guillaume d'Orange (otherwise: the cycle of Garin de Monglane - named after Guillaume's great-grandfather);
2) the cycle of “rebel barons” (otherwise: the Doon de Mayans cycle);
3) cycle of Charlemagne, King of France. The theme of the first cycle is the selfless service of loyal vassals from the Guillaume family to the weak, hesitant, often ungrateful king, who is constantly threatened by either internal or external enemies, driven only by love for the homeland.
The theme of the second cycle is the rebellion of proud and independent barons against the unjust king, as well as the brutal feuds of the barons among themselves. Finally, in the poems of the third cycle (“Pilgrimage of Charlemagne”, “Board of the Big Legs”, etc.) the sacred struggle of the Franks against the “pagans” - Muslims is glorified and the figure of Charlemagne is glorified, appearing as the focus of virtues and the stronghold of the entire Christian world. The most remarkable poem of the royal cycle and the entire French epic is “The Song of Roland,” the recording of which dates back to the beginning of the 12th century.
Features of the heroic epic:
1) The epic was created in the conditions of the development of feudal relations.
2) The epic picture of the world reproduces feudal relations, idealizes a strong feudal state and reflects Christian beliefs and Christian ideals.
3) With regard to history, the historical basis is clearly visible, but at the same time it is idealized and hyperbolized.
4) Bogatyrs are defenders of the state, the king, the independence of the country and the Christian faith. All this is interpreted in the epic as a national matter.
5) The epic is associated with a folk tale, with historical chronicles, and sometimes with a chivalric romance.
6) The epic was preserved in the countries of continental Europe (Germany, France).