Heroic epic period of the early Middle Ages. High Middle Ages

The literature of the western early Middle Ages was created by new peoples inhabiting the western part of Europe, the Celts (Britons, Gauls, Belgae, Helvetians) and the ancient Germans, living between the Danube and the Rhine, near the North Sea and in southern Scandinavia (the Suevi, Goths, Burgundians, Cherusci, Angles, Saxons, etc.).

These peoples first worshiped pagan tribal gods, and later adopted Christianity and believed, but, in the end, the Germanic tribes conquered the Celts and occupied the territory of present-day France, England and Scandinavia. The literature of these peoples is represented by the following works:

• 1. Stories about the life of saints - hagiographies. "Lives of the Saints", visions and spells;
• 2. Encyclopedic, scientific and historiographic works.

Isidore of Seville (c.560-636) - "etymologies, or beginnings"; Bede the Venerable (ca. 637-735) - “about the nature of things” and “the church history of the people of the Angles”, Jordanes - “about the origin of the deeds of the Goths”; Alcuin (c.732-804) - treatises on rhetoric, grammar, dialectics; Einhard (c.770-840) "Biography of Charlemagne";

3. Mythology and heroic epic poems, sagas and songs of the Celtic and Germanic tribes. Icelandic sagas, Irish epic, Elder Edda, Younger Edda, Beowulf, Karelian-Finnish epic Kalevala.

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, i.e. songs about deeds, 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, legends 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's militia. However, very early episodic tales went beyond this environment, spread among the masses and became the property of the whole society: they were equally enthusiastic listened not only to the military class, but also to the clergy, merchants, artisans, and peasants.

The heroic epic, as an integral picture of folk life, was the most significant legacy of the literature of the early Middle Ages and occupied an important place in the artistic culture of Western Europe. According to Tacitus, songs about gods and heroes replaced history for the barbarians. The oldest is the Irish epic. It is formed from the 3rd to the 8th centuries. Created by the people in the pagan period, epic poems about warrior heroes first existed in oral form and were passed from mouth to mouth. They were sung and recited in a singsong voice by folk storytellers. Later, in the 7th and 8th centuries, after Christianization, they were revised and written down by learned poets, whose names remained unchanged. Epic works are characterized by the chanting of the exploits of heroes; interweaving of historical background and fiction; glorification of the heroic strength and exploits of the main characters; idealization of the feudal state.

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, hr. ideals;
• 3. With regard to history, the historical basis is clearly visible, but at the same time it is idealized, hyperbolized;
• 4. Heroes - defenders of the state, the king, the independence of the country and the Christian faith. All this is interpreted in the epic as a public affair;
• 5. The epic is associated with a folk tale, with historical chronicles, sometimes with a chivalric romance;
• 6. The epic has been preserved in the countries of continental Europe (Germany, France).

The heroic epic was greatly influenced by Celtic and Norse mythology. Often epic and myths are so connected and intertwined with each other that it is quite difficult to draw a line between them. This connection is reflected in a special form of epic tales - sagas - Old Norse prose narratives (the Icelandic word "saga" comes from the verb "to say"). Sagas were composed by Scandinavian poets of the 9th-12th centuries. - scalds. The Old Icelandic sagas are very diverse: the sagas about kings, the saga of the Icelanders, the sagas of ancient times ("The Saga of the Velsungs").

The collection of these sagas has come down to us in the form of two Eddas: the Elder Edda and the Younger Edda. The Younger Edda is a prose retelling of ancient Germanic myths and legends, made by the Icelandic historian and poet Snorri Sjurluson in 1222-1223. The Elder Edda is a collection of twelve verse songs about gods and heroes. The compressed and dynamic songs of the Elder Edda, dating back to the 5th century and apparently written down in the 10th-11th centuries, are divided into two groups: tales about gods and tales about heroes. The chief of the gods is the one-eyed Odin, who was originally the god of war. The second most important after Odin is the god of thunder and fertility Thor. The third is the evil god Loki. And the most significant hero is the hero Sigurd. The heroic songs of the Elder Edda are based on all-Germanic epic tales about the gold of the Nibelungs, on which there is a curse and which brings misfortune to everyone.

Sagas also became widespread in Ireland, the largest center of Celtic culture in the Middle Ages. It was the only country in Western Europe where the foot of a Roman legionnaire had not set foot. Irish legends were created and passed on to their descendants by druids (priests), bards (singers-poets) and felids (soothsayers). A clear and concise Irish epic was formed not in verse, but in prose. It can be divided into heroic sagas and fantastic sagas. The main hero of the heroic sagas was the noble, just and courageous Cuchulainn. His mother is the king's sister and his father is the god of light. Cuchulainn had three faults: he was too young, too bold, and too beautiful. In the image of Cuchulainn, ancient Ireland embodied its ideal of valor and moral perfection.

In epic works, real historical events and fairy-tale fantasy are often intertwined. Thus, the "Song of Hildenbrand" was created on a historical basis - the struggle of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric with Odoacer. This ancient German epic of the era of the migration of peoples originated in the pagan era and was found in a manuscript of the 9th century. This is the only monument of the German epic that has come down to us in song form.

In the poem "Beowulf" - the heroic epic of the Anglo-Saxons, which has come down to us in a manuscript of the early 10th century, the fantastic adventures of the heroes also take place against the backdrop of historical events. The world of "Beowulf" is the world of kings and vigilantes, the world of feasts, battles and fights. The hero of the poem is Beowulf, a brave and generous warrior from the people of the Gauts, who performs feats and is always ready to help people. Beowulf is generous, merciful, faithful to the leader and greedy for glory and rewards, he accomplished many feats, opposed the monster and destroyed it; defeated another monster in an underwater dwelling - Grendel's mother; entered into battle with a fire-breathing dragon, which was enraged by the attempt on the ancient treasure guarded by him and devastated the country. At the cost of his own life, Beowulf managed to defeat the dragon. 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. Thus, the familiar theme of gold, which brings misfortune, appears in the poem. This theme would be used later in chivalric literature as well.

The immortal monument of folk art is "Kalevala" - the Karelian-Finnish epic about the exploits and adventures of the heroes of the fairy-tale land of Kalev. "Kalevala" is composed of folk songs (runes), which were collected and recorded by a native of a Finnish peasant family, Elias Lennrot, and published in 1835 and 1849. runes are the letters of the alphabet carved on wood or stone, which were used by the Scandinavian and other Germanic peoples for religious and commemorative inscriptions. The whole "Kalevala" is a tireless praise of human labor, there is not even a hint of "court" poetry in it.

In the French epic poem "The Song of Roland", which has come down to us in a manuscript of the 12th century, it tells about the Spanish campaign of Charlemagne in 778, and the main character of the poem, Roland, has his own historical prototype. True, the campaign against the Basques turned into a seven-year war with the "infidels" in the poem, and Charles himself - from a 36-year-old man into a gray-haired old man. The central episode of the poem - the Battle of Roncevalle, glorifies the courage of people who are faithful to their duty and "sweet France".

The ideological intent of the legend is revealed by comparing the "Song of Roland" with those historical facts that underlie this legend. In 778, Charlemagne intervened in the internal strife of the Spanish Moors, agreeing to help one of the Muslim kings against another. Having crossed the Pyrenees, Charles took several cities and laid siege to Zaragoza, but after standing under its walls for several weeks, he had to return to France with nothing. When he was returning back through the Pyrenees, the Basques, annoyed by the passage of foreign troops through their fields and villages, ambushed the Ronceval Gorge and, attacking the French rearguard, killed many of them. A short and fruitless expedition to northern Spain, which had nothing to do with religious struggle and ended in a not particularly significant, but still unfortunate military failure, was turned by storytellers into a picture of a seven-year war that ended in the conquest of all of Spain, then - a terrible catastrophe during the retreat of the French army, and here the enemies were not Basque Christians, but all the same Moors, and, finally, a picture of revenge from Charles in the form of a grandiose, truly “worldwide” battle of the French with the connecting forces of the entire Muslim world.

In addition to the hyperbolization typical of the entire folk epic, which affected not only the scale of the events depicted, but also in the pictures of the superhuman strength and dexterity of individual characters, as well as in the idealization of the main characters (Roland, Karl, Turpin), the saturation of the whole story with the idea of ​​​​religious struggle against Islam is characteristic. and the special mission of France in this struggle. This idea found its vivid expression in the numerous prayers, heavenly signs, religious appeals that fill the poem, in the denigration of the "pagans" - the Moors, in the repeated emphasis on the special protection provided to Charles by God, in the image of Roland as a knight-vassal of Charles and a vassal of the Lord, to whom he before his death, he stretches out his glove, as if to an overlord, finally, in the form of Archbishop Turpin, who with one hand blesses the French knights for battle and absolves the dying of sins, and with the other he himself strikes enemies, personifying the unity of the sword and the cross in the fight against the "infidels".

However, the "Song of Roland" is far from exhausted by its national-religious idea. It reflected with great force the socio-political contradictions characteristic of the intensively developing in the 10th - 11th centuries. feudalism. This problem is introduced into the poem by the episode of Ganelon's betrayal. The reason for including this episode in the legend could be the desire of the singer-narrators to explain the defeat of the “invincible” army of Charlemagne as an external fatal reason. But Ganelon is not just a traitor, but the expression of some evil principle, hostile to any public cause, the personification of feudal, anarchist egoism. This beginning is shown in the poem in all its strength, with great artistic objectivity. Ganelon is depicted by no means as some kind of physical and moral freak. This is a majestic and brave fighter. The Song of Roland does not so much reveal the blackness of an individual traitor - Ganelon, as it exposes the fatality for the native country of that feudal, anarchic egoism, of which Ganelon is, in some respects, a brilliant representative.

Along with this opposition of Roland and Ganelon, another opposition runs through the whole poem, less sharp, but just as fundamental - Roland and his beloved friend, the betrothed brother Olivier. Here not two hostile forces collide, but two variants of the same positive principle.

Roland in the poem is a mighty and brilliant knight, impeccable in the performance of his vassal duty. He is an example of knightly prowess and nobility. But the deep connection of the poem with folk songwriting and folk understanding of heroism was reflected in the fact that all the knightly traits of Roland were given by the poet in a humanized form, freed from class limitations. Roland is alien to heroism, cruelty, greed, anarchic willfulness of the feudal lords. He feels an excess of youthful strength, a joyful faith in the rightness of his cause and in his luck, a passionate thirst for a disinterested feat. Full of proud self-consciousness, but at the same time devoid of any arrogance or self-interest, he devotes his entire strength to serving the king, people, and homeland. Seriously wounded, having lost all his comrades-in-arms in battle, Roland climbs a high hill, lies down on the ground, puts his faithful sword and Olifan's horn next to him and turns his face towards Spain so that the emperor knows that he "died, but won in battle." For Roland, there is no more tender and sacred word than "dear France"; with the thought of her, he dies. All this made Roland, despite his knightly appearance, a true folk hero, understandable and close to everyone.

Olivier is a friend and brother, Roland's "dashing brother", a valiant knight who prefers death to the dishonor of retreat. In the poem, Olivier characterizes the epithet "reasonable". Three times Olivier tries to convince Roland to blow Olifan's horn to call for help from the army of Charlemagne, but three times Roland refuses to do so. Olivier dies along with a friend, praying before his death "for the dear native land."

Emperor Charlemagne is Roland's uncle. His image in the poem is a somewhat exaggerated image of the old wise leader. In the poem, Karl is 200 years old, although in fact, by the time of the real events in Spain, he was no more than 36. The power of his empire is also greatly exaggerated in the poem. The author includes in it both countries that really belonged to her, and those that were not included in it. The emperor can only be compared with God: in order to have time to punish the Saracens before sunset, he is able to stop the sun. On the eve of the death of Roland and his troops, Charlemagne sees a prophetic dream, but he can no longer prevent the betrayal, but only pours "streams of tears." The image of Charlemagne resembles the image of Jesus Christ - the reader is presented with his twelve peers (compare with the 12 apostles) and the traitor Ganelon.

Ganelon - vassal of Charlemagne, stepfather of the protagonist of the poem, Roland. The emperor, on the advice of Roland, sends Ganelon to negotiate with the Saracen king Marsilius. This is a very dangerous mission, and Ganelon decides to take revenge on his stepson. He enters into a treacherous agreement with Marsilius and, returning to the emperor, convinces him to leave Spain. At the instigation of Ganelon, in the Ronceval Gorge in the Pyrenees, the rearguard of Charlemagne's troops led by Roland is attacked by outnumbered Saracens. Roland, his friends and all his troops perish, without stepping back from Ronceval. Ganelon personifies in the poem feudal selfishness and arrogance, bordering on betrayal and dishonor. Outwardly, Ganelon is handsome and valiant (“he is fresh-faced, in appearance and bold and proud. That was a daring man, be honest with him”). Disregarding military honor and following only the desire to take revenge on Roland, Ganelon becomes a traitor. Because of him, the best warriors of France die, so the ending of the poem - the scene of the trial and execution of Ganelon - is natural. Archbishop Turpin is a warrior-priest who bravely fights the "infidels" and blesses the Franks for battle. The idea of ​​a special mission of France in the national-religious struggle against the Saracens is connected with his image. Turpen is proud of his people, who in their fearlessness cannot be compared with any other.

The Spanish heroic epic "Song of Side" reflected the events of the reconquista - the Spaniards conquering their country from the Arabs. The protagonist of the poem is Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (1040 - 1099), a well-known figure in the reconquista, whom the Arabs called Cid (master).

The story of Cid has provided material for many gothapsego and chronicles.

The main poetic tales about Sid that have come down to us are:

• 1) a cycle of poems about King Sancho the 2nd and about the siege of Samara in the 13th - 14th centuries, according to the historian of Spanish literature F. Kel'in, “serving as a kind of prologue to“ The Song of My Side ”;
• 2) the “Song of My Sid” itself, created around 1140, probably by one of Sid’s warriors, and preserved in a single copy of the 14th century with heavy losses;
• 3) and a poem, or rhymed chronicle, "Rodrigo" in 1125 verses and adjoining romances about Side.

In the German epic "The Song of the Nibelungs", which finally took shape from individual songs into an epic legend in the 12th-13th centuries, there is both a historical basis and a fairy tale-fiction. The epic reflects the events of the Great Migration of Peoples of the 4th-5th centuries. there is also a real historical person - the formidable leader Atilla, who turned into a kind, weak-willed Etzel. The poem consists of 39 songs - "ventures". The action of the poem takes us to the world of court festivities, jousting tournaments and beautiful ladies. The protagonist of the poem is the Dutch prince Siegfried, a young knight who accomplished many miraculous feats. He is bold and courageous, young and handsome, bold and arrogant. But the fate of Siegfried and his future wife Kriemhild was tragic, for whom the treasure with the gold of the Nibelungs became fatal.

1. In the epic of the heyday of the Middle Ages, a hero is sung, fighting for the integrity and independence of his state. His opponents are both foreign conquerors and rampaging feudal lords, who inflict great harm on the national cause with their narrow egoism.

2. There is less fantasy in this epic, there are almost no mythological elements, which are replaced by elements of Christian religiosity. In form, it has the character of large epic poems or cycles of small songs, united by the personality of a hero or an important historical event.

3. The main thing in this epic is its nationality (nationality, patriotic motivation), which is not immediately realized, since in the specific situation of the heyday of the Middle Ages, the hero of an epic work often appears in the guise of a warrior-knight, seized with religious enthusiasm, or a close relative, or assistant to the king, not a man of the people. Depicting kings, their assistants, knights as heroes of the epic, the people, according to Hegel, did this "not from the preference of noble persons, but from the desire to give an image of complete freedom in desires and actions, which turns out to be realized in the idea of ​​royalty." religious enthusiasm, often inherent in the hero, did not contradict his nationality, since the people at that time attached the character of a religious movement to their struggle against the feudal lords. The nationality of the heroes in the epic during the heyday of the Middle Ages is in their selfless struggle for the cause of the whole people, in their extraordinary patriotic enthusiasm in defending their homeland, with the name of which on their lips they sometimes died, fighting against foreign enslavers and the treacherous actions of anarchist feudal lords.

4. Influence of knightly ideology and culture

5. Presence of repetitions and parallelism

6. Sometimes the drama intensifies, even leading to tragedy.

7. More flexible styling and graceful composition

Lectures:

In the heroic epic of the Middle Ages, signs can be found:

1. History confidently wins the foreground from mythology. National history either dominates or completely displaces it. In its purest form, this is manifested in the Spanish epic (only the “Song of my Sid” in 1140) in its entirety - it was born on late material. Its plot dates from the middle of the 11th century.

2. Significantly increases the importance of religious Christian motives.

3. Increased patriotic motivation. And the material motivation of the characters (“The Song of Side” - for the first time in the epic, accounting figures appear: in order to perform feats, you need to have money).

4. Increasingly distinct influence of knightly ideology and culture (this is what explains the transformation).

5. Signs of the removal of these works from folklore become more obvious: drama increases (growing to tragedy), these epics are characterized by a more harmonious composition, a large epic form is taking shape in which these works have come down to us (the principles of cyclization are preserved, but generic cyclization is increasingly being replaced national-ethical cyclization, are formed into national cycles, tribal values ​​are replaced by feudal, state and family values).

The French medieval epic is a product of young heroic feudalism. Its subject is the construction of the state of the Franks, then the empire of Charlemagne (742-814), with not only Charles himself, but also his predecessors and his descendants.

Building a Christian Empire. This is significant, given the persistence of pagan tribes in central Europe and given the powerful Arab expansion into southern Europe: the struggle between religions becomes a major topic.

The French epic is a political epic. There is no politics at all in archaic epics. The Spanish epic is also political. He has one dual theme: the reconquest (the liberation struggle of the peoples against the Moors) and the unification of Spain.

In the French epic, more than a hundred poems have come down to us, which were called "songs about deeds." They were preserved in the records of the 11th-14th centuries, but the editors of these records worked on old material (continents and oral traditions, chronicles, deeds of the Franks that have not come down to us). It is likely that these editors also worked on the material of the original poems that developed in the milieu, that is, in the 8th-9th centuries (Menendos Pedal's theory). The original plots throughout this time were subjected to various treatments. In the German adaptations of Roland we see how the role of the Bavarians increases, in the Oxford adaptations - the Normans.

Archaic and heroic epics of the Middle Ages were intended for performance (artists, players, histrions, jugglers). It is not known whether the enactment was intended in the full sense of the word. Jugglers were people of varying degrees of education. Most of the gestures are the fruit of the fantasy of jugglers. Part was written by clerics,

Tourol Abbe of Asbury is one of the possible authors of the Song of Roland.

Chanson de gesture was divided into three cycles:

1 - gestures of the king of France or the Royal cycle.

2 - gestures of good feudal lords (Gelyon Goranj - the main character).

3 - gestures of evil feudal lords, rebellious barons.

The oldest is the royal cycle. All its features are also characteristic of the "Song of Roland". In the center is Charlemagne (in the "Song of Roland" there are two heroes Charles and Roland).

In reality, Charles became the Roman emperor in 800, but all the poems of the cycle initially designate him as an emperor, awake, always awake and dreaming of rest. Karl is the first among equals (primus inter pares). The word "peer" comes from pares - equal. Karla does not solve a single issue without her peers. His orders are in the form of a request. His goal is to serve sweet, sweet France and the faith of Christ. Motherland and faith are two imperatives that govern its activities. Unkind feelings determine his activity. The same goes for Roland.

Before his death, Roland does not remember his bride Ailda, he has another lover, whom he will measure his joys - Durondal Spata (Roland's sword). He will try in vain to break it against the rock. It cannot be hidden that the name of the bride is in the name of the sword.

"The Song of Roland".

The most famous and oldest in this cycle.

The core of the plot: the rearguard of the Franks, led by Ronald, is attacked by a horde of Saracens. The treacherous attack is the fruit of the revenge of Roland's stepfather.

The time of the creation of the poem is not exactly known. About ten versions of redactions have survived, which date back to the 14th century. Of these, the most ancient is the Oxford List (1170). Meanwhile, according to the version of Menendez Pedal, the original poem and the main political concept of the song dates back to the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century. Thus, the Spanish scholar greatly shook the point of view that the "Song of Roland" is a direct product of the propaganda of the first crusades at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries (they lasted from 1095 to 1291). Menendez led to the fact that the ideology of the cross was formed much earlier. In the textbooks, the time of the creation of the "Song" is about 1100. The oldest story about the battle of Ronceval, which took place in August 778, is contained in the oldest biography of Charlemagne from 878 (Einhard). According to this description, the Basques wrote.

The chronicler of the son of Charlemagne in the middle of the 9th century does not consider it necessary to name the names of those who died in the battle, citing their common fame. Roland according to the version (Saga of Charles) was not only his nephew, but also the son of Charles's sister Gisla, one of the most famous women, who later became a nun. Charles received remission of his terrible sin as a result of intercession.

The death of Roland can be understood in this context as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of Charlemagne. Thus, without the betrayal of Ganilon, the revenge of Karl, this song captures the influence of hagiographic tradition with the main character Karl: sin, redemption, repentance. But the assessment of the people ordered otherwise: they chose Roland, chose him as their hero, despite the sinfulness of his origin. In other words, the Oxford version contains only one allusion (the mention of St. Egidius).

The first document that mentions this plot is Einhord, then an 11th century Latin manuscript containing a retelling of the Song of Roland. In this retelling, there is no embassy, ​​no betrayal, there is Trubin, Olivier, Roland dies, and revenge does not follow. Before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, a Norman juggler performed a song about Roland: by the middle of the 11th century, more than a hundred years before the Oxford list, the song about Roland already existed, which indicates its early origin.

Two storylines:

The struggle of two worlds: Muslim and Christian (the struggle of Charles with King Marsyriy). Outcome: baptism of the queen, victory over the king of the whole east, Boligamd (reminiscent of a late insert).

Ganilon's revenge on his stepson Roland. There is enmity between them even before the embassy. Death of Roland, execution.

The first plot is larger and has a general meaning. The second plot fills with vital details, it also connects the "Song of Roland" with the cycle of evil feudal lords. Giving advice to Carl, Ganilon advises appointing Roland. Ganilon is not in the most ancient plots. The line of Ganilon itself probably entered the plot about Roland not earlier than 860, since modern science associates Ganilon with the Archbishop of Sanya Vinyl, who betrayed Charles the Bald, his trial took place in 859, there was no execution over him.

Two plots correspond to two conflicts in the song:

Between the Christian and the Muslim world, which develops from the point of view of a monologue: "non-Christ is not right, but a Christian is right." The valor of the Saracens is equal to the valor of the Christians, whose world is equal to the world of the Christians, they are supposed to know that they are wrong.

The motive of religious intolerance and the struggle of the two worlds should be compared with the Song of Side. In the Spanish epic there is no motif of filthy infidels, they knew the merit of the Moors. They are fighting not against a foreign religion, but for the liberation of their land. The Song of Sid is very delicate in this matter: it is tolerance in the truest sense of the word.

"Song of Roland" second conflict:

Between vassal loyalty and feudal right to strife, which leads to betrayal. The declaration of the vassals is put into the mouth of Roland: the vassal must suffer for the lord.

The noble feudal lord Ganilon does not consider himself a traitor, he directly and publicly announced his enmity with Roland at the beginning of the song: the right to strife is his legal right. Charles's peers in the court scene do not see him as a traitor, they justify Ganilon. Only with the help of God's judgment, the duel of the parties, it turns out that it is possible for Charles to punish Ganilon. God's judgment puts an end to the relationship between the vassal and the king and the right of the vassal to internecine strife (in the Song of Sid, too, only with the help of God's judgment).

Both conflicts are resolved in favor of Charles - the personification of the Christianization of Europe.

Side story: Roland-Olivier line. It was not in the original version, it appeared only in the 11th century. Plot conflict: "Olivier is wise, and our Roland is brave" or "Roland is hot, and Olivier is reasonable." Roland refuses to blow his horn three times. Archbishop Trubin will put an end to their dispute. Roland refuses to blow the horn, since his epic immensity conflicts with his vassal duty, and this determines the tragic guilt of the hero: he cannot allow political blasphemy to reach him and the soldiers at home, that he was afraid of the Moors. He cannot change his epic heroic nature. "Roland dies not so much under the blows of enemies, but under the weight of his heroic character." Olivier, offering to blow the horn, suggests the following denouement: he considers the pride of the Rolands to be the reason for the defeat of the soldiers. Roland himself is also aware of his guilt. Again, it is appropriate to compare Roland with Sid: Sid does not perform a feat for the sake of a feat. Sid is an excellent strategist and tactician. Roland is a heroic individualist, Sid is the leader of the team, a father to his wars, a zealous master of his territory.

The epic hero in The Song of Roland does not fit into the chivalrous and even feudal ideal, despite what he himself proclaims. Roland and peers are the war party, as long as they are nice to Karl, the war will not end. The conflict between Roland and Olivier is significant. The ideal of chivalry will be based on valor, equipped with wisdom and virtue, valor subordinate to the Christian canon.

The Song of Roland is a song of defeat. The scene of Roland's death is described as a rite, a ritual of the death of an ideal Christian warrior: he is not wounded, but his head hurts terribly (trumpeting, he tore the veins in his temples). Roland faints several times, he cries, the archpastor dies in his arms, goes to die.

Roland enters the depths of the Saracen land, climbs a hill, strikes three times with a sword, lies down on the grass, under a pine tree, with his head towards Spain, feeling how he is dying, remembers the battle, heroism, relatives and king, but he does not forget his soul either: confession, repentance and the rite of the glove (the overlord handed a glove to his vassal, performed the service - he returns the glove) - before his death, Roland stretches the glove up, passing it to God, and the archangel Michael transfers Roland's soul to paradise.

Carl at Dante's in Paradise. But in his time (Karl), the heroic idealization of the emperor in the squad environment begins in the squad environment, but another trend is noticeable in the monastic environment. In a poetic arrangement in 24, he is found in Purgatory (“Introduction of Vitin”). The chronicle of the 12th century, which is contained in the legend of Roland, condemns the life of Charles. Our chronicle does not condemn him, but consistently glorifies him. To the monks, the Oxford version treats him quite tolerantly.

Turpin personifies that ideal of the cross and the sword, which is dominated by the sword. It is in his singer that the antithesis is embedded: the traditional combination of heroism and irony. In general, it is sustained in heroic tones, but the comic beginning is not alien to it.

In the Spanish song "About my Side" there is a character similar to Turpin, clinics Girom. This is not borrowing or modeling: Fat in the song is an even more historical character than Turpin, who did not take part in the campaigns of Charles.

In the heroic epic, the historical fate of monasticism of that time is essentially idealized: a monk-warrior idealized by the people.

The composition in the song about Roland is very well thought out: symmetry, parallelism of parts, two revenges of Charles (on the Saracens and Ganilon, his trial), not a mechanical connection of parts, but the visible work of the editor. See the question of authorship in the comments (it still remains unresolved).

The works of heroic poetry presented in this volume belong to the Middle Ages - early (the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf) and classical (the Icelandic songs of the Elder Edda and the German Nibelungenlied). The origins of Germanic 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 remark of the Roman historian is very significant: in the epic, memories of historical events are fused with myth and fairy tale, and the fantastic and historical elements are equally taken for reality. The distinction between "facts" and "fiction" in relation to the epic in that era was not carried out. 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 reflect the events of the period of the Great Migration of Peoples (V-VI centuries). However, according to Beowulf or Scandinavian songs, not to mention the Nibelungenlied, it is impossible to restore the spiritual life of the Germans in the era of the dominance of the tribal system. The transition from the oral art of singers and storytellers to the "book epic" was accompanied by more or less significant changes in the composition, volume and content of the songs. Suffice it to recall that in the oral tradition, the songs from which these epic works then developed existed in the pagan period, while they acquired their written form centuries after Christianization. Nevertheless, Christian ideology does not determine the content and tone of epic poems, and this becomes especially clear when comparing the Germanic heroic epic with medieval Latin literature, which, as a rule, is deeply imbued 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 Nibelungenlied: “basically pagan”; "Medieval Christian". The first assessment - Goethe, the second - A.-V. Schlegel.).

An epic work is universal in its functions. The fantastic is not separated from the real in it. 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 inalienable as its cognitive one. It covers both the tragic and the comic. At the stage when the epic arises and develops, 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 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 life span corresponds to the integrity of the characters displayed in the epic. The heroes of the epic are carved from one piece, each personifies some quality that determines his essence. Beowulf is the ideal of a courageous and determined warrior, unchanging in loyalty and friendship, a generous and merciful king. Gudrun is the incarnation of devotion to the family, a woman who avenges the death of her brothers, not stopping at killing her own sons and husband, like (but at the same time in contrast to) Kriemhild, who destroys her brothers, punishing them for killing 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 actions; His words are as clear as his actions. This solidity of the hero of the epic is explained by the fact that he knows his fate, takes it for granted and inevitable, and boldly goes to meet it. The epic hero is not free in his decisions, in the choice of a line of behavior. Actually, his inner essence and the power that the heroic epic calls Fate coincide, are identical. Therefore, the only thing left for the hero is to fulfill his destiny in the best possible way. Hence - a peculiar, maybe a little primitive for a different taste, the greatness of epic heroes.

With all the differences in content, tonality, as well as in the conditions and time of their occurrence, epic poems do not have an author. It's not that the name of the author is unknown ( In science, there have been more than once - invariably unconvincing - attempts to establish the authors of the Eddic songs or the Nibelungenlied.) - 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 in that era the concept of authorship did not exist at all. The names of many Icelandic skalds are known, who claimed their "copyright" to the songs they performed. The Nibelungenlied arose at a time when the largest German minnesingers were writing 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 Strassburg and Walter von der Vogelweide. Nevertheless, poetic work on the traditional epic plot, on heroic songs and legends, which in an earlier form were familiar to everyone, in the Middle Ages was not evaluated as creativity either by society or by the poet himself, who created such works, but did not think about it. to mention your name ( This also applies to certain types of prose writing, such as Icelandic sagas and Irish legends. 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 the heroes and plot chosen by him, pushing many other legends related to this plot to the periphery of the narrative. Just as a searchlight illuminates a separate piece of terrain, leaving most of it in darkness, so the author of an epic poem (the author in the sense indicated now, that is, a poet deprived of authorial self-consciousness), developing his theme, limited himself to allusions to its offshoots, being sure that his audience already knows all the events and characters, both sung by him, and those that he only mentioned in passing. The tales and myths of the Germanic peoples found only a 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. Laconic allusions were quite enough for the corresponding associations to arise in the minds of listeners or readers of the heroic epic. The epic usually does not report anything completely new. The strength of its aesthetic and emotional impact does not diminish in the least - on the contrary, in archaic and medieval society, the greatest satisfaction, apparently, was given not by obtaining original information, or not only it, but also by recognizing previously known, new confirmation of old ones, and therefore especially valuable 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.).

The epic poet, processing material that did not belong to him, a heroic song, myth, legend, 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 really was his contribution to the final creation of the heroic epic is great. This dialectical combination of the new and the perceived from the predecessors constantly gives rise to disputes in modern literary criticism: science tends either to emphasize the folk basis of the epic, or in favor of the individual creative principle in its creation.

The 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 a final rhyme. "Beowulf" and the songs of "Elder Edda" are sustained in the traditional alliterative form, "The Nibelungenlied" - in a new, based on rhyme. Old German versification was based on rhythm, determined by the number of stressed syllables in a line of poetry. 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 a verse, which, by virtue of this, 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 the reproduction of 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 paraphrase that replaces one noun in 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", the expression "giver of rings" was used in poetry, the common kenning of a warrior was "battle ash", the sword was called the "battle stick", etc. In Beowulf and the Elder Edda, kennings are usually binomial , in skaldic poetry there are also polynomial kennings.

The Nibelungenlied is built on the "Kurenberg stanza", which consists of four rhyming verses in pairs. Each verse is divided into two half-lines with four stressed syllables in the first half-line, while in the second half-line of the first three lines there are three stresses, and in the second half-line of the last line, which completes the stanza both formally and in meaning, four stresses. The translation of the Nibelungenlied from Middle High German into Russian does not face such difficulties as the translation of alliterated poetry, and gives an idea of ​​its metrical structure.

Beowulf

The only existing manuscript of Beowulf dates from about the year 1000. But the epic itself belongs, 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 process of the emergence of feudal ties. The poem, however, is characterized by epic archaization. In addition, she draws reality from a specific point of view: the world of Beowulf is the world of kings and vigilantes, the world of feasts, battles and fights.

The plot of this largest of the Anglo-Saxon epics is simple. Beowulf, a young knight from the people of the Gauts, having learned about the disaster that has befallen the king of the Danes Higelak - 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 tried to avenge her son's death. Showered with awards and thanks, Beowulf returns to his homeland. Here he performs new feats, and later becomes the king of the Gauts and safely rules the country for fifty years. After this period, Beowulf enters into battle with the dragon, which devastates the surroundings, being angry at the attempt on the ancient treasure he guards. Beowulf manages to defeat this monster as well, but at the cost of his own life. The song ends with the scene of the solemn burning of the hero's body on the 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 a fairy tale to historical soil and take place among the peoples of Northern Europe: Danes, Swedes, Gauts appear in Beowulf ( Who are the Gauts of Beowulf remains debatable. Different interpretations have been proposed in science: 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 with the biblical Gog and Magog in the Middle Ages.), other tribes are mentioned, the kings who once really ruled them are named. But this does not apply to the protagonist of the poem: Beowulf himself, apparently, had no historical prototype. Since then everyone unconditionally believed 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 will encounter the same fact in the songs of the Elder Edda, and partly in the Nibelungenlied.

In the spirit of the theories that prevailed in science in the middle of the 19th century, some commentators of Beowulf argued that the poem arose as a result of 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, a duel with a dragon. The point of view was expressed that the originally purely pagan poem was partially revised 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 their simple fixation; these scholars considered Beowulf as a single work, the "editor" of which, in his own way, combined and reworked the material at his disposal, setting out the traditional plots more extensively. However, it must be admitted that nothing is known about the process of becoming Beowulf.

There are many folklore motifs in the epic. At the very beginning, Skild Skevang - "foundling" is mentioned. The boat with the baby Skild washed up on the shores of Denmark, whose people were at that time defenseless due to the absence of the king; subsequently Skild became the ruler of Denmark and founded a dynasty. After the death of Skild, they put him back on the ship and sent him along with the treasures to where he came from - a purely fabulous story. The giants that 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 did not differ in valor - does this not remind you of the youth of other heroes of folk tales, for example, Ilya Muromets? The arrival of the hero on his own initiative to help those in distress, his quarrel with his opponent (exchange of speeches between Beowulf and Unferth), the test of the hero’s prowess (the story of the swimming contest between Beowulf and Breka), handing him a magic weapon (Hrunting sword), violation of the ban by the hero ( Beowulf takes away the treasure in a duel with the dragon, not knowing that a spell gravitates over the treasure), an assistant in the hero’s single combat with the enemy (Wiglaf, who came to the rescue of Beowulf at a time when he was close to death), three battles that the hero gives, moreover 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 keeps 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 the fairy tale - these are signs of a heroic epic.

Representatives of the "mythological school" in the literary criticism of the last century tried to decipher this epic in this way: monsters personify the storms of the North Sea; Beowulf - a good deity, curbing the elements; his peaceful reign is a blessed summer, and his death is the onset of winter. Thus, the epic symbolically depicts the contrasts of nature, growth and decay, rise and fall, 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 not alien to those researchers who generally deny its epic character and consider it to be the work of a cleric or monk who knew and used early Christian literature. These interpretations largely rest on the question of whether the "spirit of Christianity" is expressed in "Beowulf" or in front of us - a monument of pagan consciousness. Supporters of understanding it as a folk epic, in which the beliefs of the heroic era of the Great Migration are alive, naturally, found Germanic paganism in it and minimized the significance of church influence. On the contrary, those modern scholars who rank the poem in the category of written literature transfer the center of gravity to Christian motifs; in paganism, "Beowulf" is seen as nothing more than an antique pastiche. In the latest 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, the denial of the connection of "Beowulf" with the epic folklore tradition prevailed. Meanwhile, in recent years, a number of experts tend 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 accepted concept in science that satisfactorily explains Beowulf. Meanwhile, interpretation is indispensable. "Beowulf" is difficult for the modern reader, brought up on a completely different literature and inclined, albeit involuntarily, to transfer to ancient monuments the ideas that have developed when getting acquainted with the artistic creations of modern times.

In the heat of scientific disputes, it is sometimes forgotten that 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 also applies to the composition of Beowulf and the interpretation of religion in it. The author and his characters often commemorate the Lord God; in the epic there are hints of 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 a tool of the creator and is identical to divine Providence, or appears as an independent force. But belief in Destiny was central to 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 rather contradictory. But this is a contradiction of 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 not so much overcame the pagan worldview as pushed it out of the official sphere into 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?" - the famous church leader Alcuin asked 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 ambiguous is also confirmed by an archaeological find in Sutton Hoo (East Anglia). Here, in 1939, a burial in a boat of a noble person was discovered, dating back to the middle of the 7th century. The burial was performed according to a pagan rite, along with valuable things (swords, helmets, chain mail, cups, a banner, 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 in the center of the poem quite rightly - they express its main content. In fact, the world of culture, joyful and multicolored, is personified in Beowulf by Heorot - a hall whose radiance extends "to many countries"; in its banquet hall, the leader and his associates frolic and have fun, listening to the songs and legends of the osprey - a retinue singer and poet, glorifying their military deeds, as well as the deeds of their ancestors; here the leader generously presents the vigilantes with rings, weapons and other valuables. Such a 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 has developed, at least in the form known to us, in a retinue environment.

Heorot, the “Deer Hall” (its roof is decorated with gilded deer horns) is opposed by wild, mysterious and full of horror rocks, wastelands, swamps and caves inhabited by monsters. 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 night. The enmity 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 slain by Beowulf, but above all by the very interpretation of Grendel. This is not just a giant - in his image combined (although, perhaps, they did not merge together) different hypostases of evil. The monster of German mythology, Grendel, at the same time, is 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, as if losing his human appearance, became a werewolf , hater of people. The poet's singing 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." Old pagan beliefs are overlaid with Christian ideas. An ancient curse lies on Grendel, he is called a "pagan" and condemned to hellish torment. And at the same time, he himself is like the devil. The formation of the idea of ​​a medieval devil at the time when Beowulf was being created was far from over, and in Grendel's interpretation, 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", "the 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 the afterlife reward. On the other hand, we read in Beowulf about a "hero under heaven", about a man who cares not about saving his soul, but about affirming his earthly glory in people's 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, prey and princely awards - these are the highest values ​​for the German hero, as they are drawn in the epic, these are the main springs of his behavior. “Death awaits every mortal! - // let whoever can live deserve // ​​eternal glory! For for a warrior // the best payment is a worthy memory! (Article 1386 following). Such is the credo of Beowulf. When he has to deliver a decisive blow to his opponent, he focuses on the thought of glory. “(So hand-to-hand // a warrior should go in order to gain eternal glory // without caring about life!)” (Article 1534 next) “It’s better for a warrior // to die than to live in disgrace!” (verses 2889 - 2890).

No less than glory, warriors covet the gifts of the leader. Neck rings, bracelets, twisted or plate gold constantly appear in the epic. The steady designation of the king is “breaking hryvnias” (sometimes they gave not a whole ring, it was significant wealth, but parts of it). The modern reader, perhaps, will be depressing and seem monotonous all the newly renewed descriptions and enumerations of awards and treasures. But he can be sure: stories about gifts did not tire the medieval audience at all and found a lively response in it. Vigilantes wait for the leader's gifts, first of all, as convincing signs of their valor and merit, so they show them and are proud of them. But in that era, a deeper, sacred meaning was also invested in the act of giving jewelry by the leader to a faithful person. As already mentioned, the pagan belief in fate persisted during the period of the creation of the poem. Fate was understood not as a universal fate, but as an individual share of an individual, 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 characterization of Hrothgar: “Hrothgar has risen in battles, successful, / / ​​his relatives submitted to him without disputes ...” (v. 64 following). There was a belief that the luck of the leader extended to the squad. Rewarding his warriors with weapons and precious items - the materialization of his luck, the leader could pass on to them a particle of this luck. “Keep, O Beowulf, to your own joy // Strong Warrior with our gifts - // ring and wrists, and may good luck accompany // you!” - says the queen of Walchteov to Beowulf. (Art. 1216 next)

But the motif of gold as a visible, tangible embodiment of the warrior's luck in Beowulf is supplanted, obviously under Christian influence, by its new interpretation as a source of misfortune. In this regard, of particular interest is the last part of the poem - the hero's single combat with the dragon. In retaliation for the theft of a treasure from the treasure, the dragon that guarded these ancient treasures attacks the villages, setting the surrounding country on fire and death. Beowulf fights 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. The goal of Beowulf is to take away the treasure from the dragon. 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 having received a fatal wound, the hero expresses his dying wish: to see the gold that he pulled out from the claws of his guard. The contemplation of these riches gives him deep satisfaction. However, then something happens that directly contradicts the words of Beowulf that he conquered a treasure for his people, namely: on the funeral pyre, along with the body of the king, his associates lay all these treasures and burn them, and the remains are buried in a barrow. An ancient spell weighed over the treasure, and it is useless to people; because of this spell, broken out of ignorance, Beowulf, apparently, dies. The poem ends with a prediction of the calamities that will befall the Gauts after the death of their king.

The struggle for glory and jewels, loyalty to the leader, bloody revenge as an imperative of behavior, the dependence of a person on the Destiny reigning in the world and a courageous meeting with it, the tragic death of a hero - all these are the defining themes not only of Beowulf, but also of other monuments of the German epic.

Elder Edda

Songs about gods and heroes, conditionally united by the name "Elder Edda" ( The name "Edda" was given in the 17th century by the first researcher of the manuscript, who transferred to it the name of the book of the 13th-century Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson, since Snorri relied on songs about gods in his story about myths. Therefore, Snorri's treatise is usually called the "Younger Edda", and the collection of mythological and heroic songs - the "Elder Edda". The etymology of the word "Edda" is unclear.), are preserved in a manuscript that dates from the second half of the 13th century. It is not known whether this manuscript was the first, or whether it had any predecessors. The background of the manuscript is as unknown as the background of the Beowulf manuscript. There are, in addition, some other recordings of songs that are 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 score. The range in the 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 countless controversies about the origin of the Elder Edda, we only note that in the most general form, the development in science went from romantic ideas about the extreme antiquity and archaic nature of songs expressing the “spirit of the people” to interpreting them as book compositions of medieval scholars. - "antiquarians" who imitated ancient poetry and stylized their religious and philosophical views as a 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 skaldic poets, for almost all of whom 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 wrote down the song, even recreating it, did not consider himself its author. Before us is an epic, but the epic is very peculiar. This originality cannot but be evident when reading the Elder Edda after Beowulf. Instead of a lengthy, leisurely flowing epic, here before us is a dynamic and concise song, in a few words or stanzas setting out the fate of heroes or gods, their speeches and actions. Specialists explain this unusual for the epic style compaction of Eddic songs by the specifics of the Icelandic language. But one more circumstance cannot be overlooked. A broad epic canvas like Beowulf or the Nibelungenlied contains several plots, many scenes, united by common characters and temporal sequence, while the songs of the Elder Edda usually (though not always) focus on one episode . True, their great "segmentation" does not prevent the presence in the text of songs of various associations with plots that are developed in other songs, as a result of which the isolated reading of a single song makes it difficult to understand it - of course, understanding by a modern reader, because medieval Icelanders, there is no doubt, knew the rest. This is evidenced not only by the hints of events scattered throughout the songs that are not described in them, but also by kennings. If only habit was enough to understand a kenning such as “land of necklaces” (woman) or “blood serpent” (sword), then such kennings as, for example, “guardian of Midgard”, “son of Ygg”, “son of Odin”, “descendant Chlodyun", "husband of Siv", "father of Magni" or "owner of goats", "serpent killer", "charioteer", suggested that readers or listeners had knowledge of myths, from which it was only possible to learn that in all cases the god Thor was meant .

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 High One's Orations, has only 164 stanzas (the number of verses in stanzas varies), and no other song, except Atli's Greenlandic speeches, exceeds a hundred stanzas.). Of course, the length of the poem itself says little, but the contrast is nonetheless striking. The foregoing does not mean that the Eddic hymn in all cases was limited to the development of one episode. In the "Divination of the Volva" the mythological history of the world was preserved from its creation to the death predicted by the sorceress due to the evil that penetrated into it, and even to the rebirth and renewal of the world. A number of these plots are touched upon both in Vaftrudnir's Speeches and Grimnir's Speeches. The epic coverage also characterizes the “Prophecy of Gripir”, where the entire cycle of songs about Sigurd is summed up, as it were. But the broadest pictures of mythology or heroic life in the Elder Edda are always given very concisely and even, if you like, "concisely." This "conciseness" is especially visible in the so-called "tula" - lists of mythological (and sometimes historical) names ( See The Völva's Prophecy, v. 11-13, 15, 16, Grimnir's Speeches, vv. 27 next, "The Song of Hündl", p. 11 next.). The current reader is perplexed by the abundance of proper names, which are also given without further explanation, - they do not tell him anything. But for the Scandinavian of that time, the situation was completely different! Each name in his memory was associated 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, without difficulty gave him the necessary information, and when meeting this name in his the whole story relating to him unfolded in his mind. In other words, there is much more content "encoded" in the concise and relatively laconic Eddic song 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 tastes (for what artistic pleasure can now be obtained from reading unknown whose names!), Equally, the fact that these songs do not unfold in a wide epic, like the works of the Anglo-Saxon and German epic, testify to their archaism. Folklore formulas, clichés and other stylistic devices characteristic of oral versification are widely used in songs. The typological comparison of the "Elder Edda" with other monuments of the epic also makes us attribute its genesis to very remote 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 Nibelungenlied, Eddic poetry reflects an earlier stage of cultural and social development. This is explained by the fact that pre-class relations were not eliminated in Iceland even in the 13th century, and despite the adoption of Christianity back in 1000, the Icelanders learned it relatively superficially and retained a lively connection with the ideology of the pagan times. 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 wide military and migration 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 the salvation of the soul, the posthumous reward is a long memory left by the hero among people, and the stay of the knights who fell in battle in the hall of Odin, where they feast and engage in military amusements.

Attention is drawn to the diversity of songs, tragic and comic, elegiac monologues and dramatized dialogues, teachings are replaced by riddles, divination - stories about the beginning of the world. The tense rhetoric and frank didacticism of many of the songs contrast with the calm objectivity of the narrative prose of the Icelandic sagas. This contrast is noticeable in the Edda itself, where verses are often interspersed with prose pieces. Perhaps these were comments added later, but it is possible that the combination of a 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 constitute a coherent unity, and it is clear that only a part of them has come down to us. Individual songs seem to be versions of the same piece; thus, in songs about Helgi, about Atli, Sigurd and Gudrun, the same plot is interpreted in different ways. Atli's Speeches is sometimes interpreted as a later extended revision of the older Atli's Song.

In general, all Eddic songs are divided into songs about gods and songs about heroes. Songs about the gods contain the richest material on mythology, this is our most important source for the knowledge of Scandinavian paganism (albeit in a very late, so to speak, “posthumous” version of it).

The image of the world, developed by the thought of the peoples of Northern Europe, largely depended on their way of life. Pastoralists, hunters, fishermen and sailors, to a lesser extent farmers, they lived in an environment of harsh and poorly mastered nature, which their rich imagination easily inhabited by hostile forces. The center of their life is a separate rural yard. Accordingly, the entire universe was modeled by them in the form of a system of estates. Just as uncultivated wastelands or rocks stretched around their estates, so the whole world was conceived by them 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: “what is beyond the fence, outside the estate”) ( The composition of Utgard includes the Country of giants - jotuns, the Country of alves - dwarfs.). Above Midgard rises Asgard - the stronghold of the gods - aces. 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 volva to reveal the secrets of the future, and the country of the giants, where he asks Vaftrudnir. 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 aces or giants to Midgard. The opposition of the world of culture to 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 monuments and plots, here and there we are faced with the theme of the struggle against the carriers of the world's evil - giants and monsters.

As Asgard is an idealized dwelling of people, so the gods of the Scandinavians are in many ways similar to people, possess their qualities, including vices. The gods differ from people in dexterity, knowledge, especially in the possession of magic, but they are not omniscient in nature and gain knowledge from more ancient families of giants and dwarfs. The 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 his hammer Mjolnir. The struggle against the giants is a necessary condition for the existence of the universe; if the gods had not led her, the giants would have long ago destroyed both themselves and the human race. In this conflict, gods and humans are allies. Thor was often called the "protector of the people." One helps courageous warriors and takes the fallen heroes to him. He got the honey of poetry, sacrificing himself, got the runes - the sacred secret signs with which you can do all kinds of witchcraft. In Odin, the features of a "cultural hero" are visible - a mythical ancestor who endowed people with the necessary skills and knowledge.

The anthropomorphism of aces brings them closer to the gods of antiquity, however, unlike the latter, aces 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 Volva”, the sorceress tells Odin about the impending fatal battle. The cosmic catastrophe will be the result of moral decline, because the aces once violated their vows, and this leads to the unleashing of evil forces in the world, which it is already impossible to control. The völva paints an impressive picture of the termination 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, feuds will break out between relatives, “brothers will begin to fight each other with a friend...".

The Hellenic gods had their favorites and wards among the people, who were 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 consciousness 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, the Eddic songs about the gods paint a situation full of tragedy of the 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 has revealed it to him. What should be the position of a person who knows in advance about the troubles that threaten him and the final death? This is the problem to which the Eddic songs offer an unequivocal and courageous answer. The knowledge of fate does not plunge the hero into a fatalistic apathy and does not induce him to try to evade the doom that threatens him; on the contrary, being sure that what has fallen to him is inevitable, he defies fate, boldly accepts it, caring only for posthumous glory. Invited by the insidious Atli, Gunnar knows in advance about the danger that lies in wait for him, but without hesitation sets off on his way: this is what a sense of heroic honor tells him to do. Refusing to pay off death with gold, he perishes. “... So the brave one, who gives rings, should protect goodness!” ("The Greenlandic Song of Atli", 31).

But the highest good is the good name of a hero. Everything is transient, say the aphorisms of worldly wisdom, and relatives, and wealth, and one's own life, - only the glory of the exploits of the hero remains forever ("Speech of the High", 76, 77). As in Beowulf, in the Eddic songs, glory is denoted by a term that simultaneously had the meaning of “sentence” (Old Norse domr, Old English dom), the hero is concerned that his deeds should not be forgotten by people. For it is the people who judge him, and not 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 Khlod", which keeps the echoes of some historical events, seems to be an exception.), and the kings of the era of the Great Migrations mentioned in the Edda [Atli - king of the Huns Attila, Jormunrekk - the Ostrogothic king Germanaric (Ermanarich), Gunnar - the Burgundian king Gundacharius] have lost all connection with history. Meanwhile, the Icelanders of that time were closely interested in history, and from the 12th and 13th centuries, many historical works created by them have been preserved. 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 position in life and fate ( There was no state in Iceland during the recording of heroic songs; meanwhile, historical motifs intensively penetrate into the epic, usually in 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. Queens appear in Beowulf, serving as an ornament to the court and a 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 course of events. The role of women in the heroic songs of the Edda is no less than that of men. Revenging for the deceit into which she was introduced, Brynhild achieves the death of her beloved Sigurd and kills herself, not wanting to live after his death: “... a wife was not weak if she goes alive // ​​to the grave for a stranger’s husband ...” ("Short Song of Sigurd", 41). Sigurd's widow Gudrun is also seized with a thirst for revenge: but she takes revenge not on her brothers - the perpetrators of Sigurd's death, but on her second husband, Atli, who killed her brothers; in this case, the kindred duty operates flawlessly, and the victims of her revenge fall primarily on their sons, whose bloody meat Gudrun serves Atli as a treat, after which she kills her husband and dies herself in the fire ignited by her. 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 family, they were part of the Atli family; did not belong to her family and Sigurd. Therefore, Gudrun must take revenge on Atli for the death of her brothers, her closest relatives, but she does not take revenge on her brothers for killing Sigurd by them - even the thought of such a possibility does not occur to her! Let's remember this - after all, the plot of the Nibelungenlied goes back to the same legends, but develops in a completely different way.

Tribal consciousness generally dominates in songs about heroes. The convergence of legends of different origins, both borrowed from the south and Scandinavian ones proper, and combining them into cycles, was accompanied by the establishment of a common genealogy of the characters appearing in them. Högni was turned from a vassal of the Burgundian kings into their brother. Brynhild received a father and, more importantly, Atli's brother, as a result of which her death turned out to be causally connected with the death of the Burgundian Gyukungs: Atli lured them to him and killed them, carrying out blood vengeance for his sister. Sigurd had ancestors - the Volsungs, a clan that ascended to Odin. Sigurd also “married” with the hero of an initially completely separate legend - Helgi, they became brothers, sons of Sigmund. In the Song of Hyundl, the lists of noble families are in the center of attention, and the giantess Hyundla, 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, Gyukungs, and ultimately account 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 the world literature. The images of the Eddic songs, along with the images of the sagas, supported the Icelanders throughout their difficult history, especially at a time when this small nation, deprived of national independence, was almost doomed to extinction as a result of foreign exploitation, and from hunger 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 Nibelungenlied, we again meet with heroes known from Eddic poetry: Siegfried (Sigurd), Kriemhild (Gudrun), Brunhild (Brunhild), Gunther (Gunnar), Etzel (Atli), Hagen (Högni). Their deeds and destinies have captured the imagination of Scandinavians and Germans for centuries. But how different are the interpretations of the same characters and plots! A comparison of Icelandic songs with the 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 ascended, the death of the Burgundian kingdom in 437 and the death of the Hunnic king Attila in 453, served as an occasion for the emergence of highly original artistic creations. On Icelandic and German soil, works have developed that are deeply dissimilar to each other both in artistic terms and in their assessment and understanding of the reality they depicted.

Researchers separate the elements of myth and fairy tale from historical facts and truthful sketches of morality and everyday life, discover in the Nibelungenlied old and new layers and contradictions between them, which were not smoothed out in the final version of the song. But were all these “seams”, inconsistencies and layers noticeable to 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 the Huns are distorted beyond recognition in the Nibelungenlied, 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 Nibelungenlied paint the past of peoples and kingdoms? The historical destinies of the 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 consists in the extermination of its rulers and their troops. In the same way, the Hunnic state is entirely concentrated in Etzel. The poetic consciousness of the Middle Ages draws historical conflicts in the form of a clash of individuals whose behavior is determined by their passions, relationships of personal loyalty or blood feud, the code of tribal and personal honor. But at the same time, the epic elevates the individual to the rank of the historical. In order to make this clear, it is enough to outline, in the most general terms, the plot of the Nibelungenlied.

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 Brynhild. Siegfried undertakes to help him in the matchmaking. But this help is connected with deceit: the heroic feat, the accomplishment of which is a condition for the success of the matchmaking, was actually not done by Gunther, but by Siegfried, who took refuge under an invisibility cloak. Brynhild could not fail to notice the valor of Siegfried, but she is assured that he is only a vassal of Gunther, and she grieves because of the misalliance that her husband's sister entered into, thereby infringing on her class pride. Years later, at the insistence of Brynhilde, Gunther invites Siegfried and Kriemhilda to his place in Worms, and here, during a skirmish between queens (whose husband is more valiant?), the deceit is revealed. The offended Brynhild takes revenge on the offender Siegfried, who had the imprudence to give his wife the ring and belt he had taken from Brynhild. Revenge is carried out by Gunther's vassal Hagen. The hero is treacherously killed on a hunt, and the golden treasure, once won by Siegfried from the fabulous Nibelungs, the kings manage to lure from Kriemhild, and Hagen hides it in the waters of the Rhine. Thirteen years have passed. The Hun ruler Etzel has become a widower and is looking for a new wife. Word of Kriemhild's beauty has reached his court, and he sends an embassy to Worms. After a long struggle, the inconsolable widow Siegfried agrees to a second marriage in order to obtain the means to avenge the murder of her beloved. Thirteen years later, she gets Etzel to invite her brothers to visit them. Despite Hagen's attempts to prevent a visit that threatens to be 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, developing into a general massacre, in which the Burgundian and Hun squads, the son of Kriemhild and Etzel, the closest close associates of the kings and Gunnar's brothers die. At last Gunnar and Hagen are in the hands of the vengeful queen; she orders her brother to be beheaded, after which she kills Hagen with her own hands. Old Hildebrand, the only surviving combatant of King Dietrich of Bern, punishes Kriemhilde. Etzel and Dietrich, groaning from grief, remain alive. Thus ends "the story of the death of the Nibelungs."

In a few sentences, only the bare bones of the plot of a huge poem can be recounted. The epic, unhurried 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 magnificent and refined courtly life. The poet literally with sensual joy tells about rich weapons and precious robes, gifts that the rulers reward the knights, and the owners give to the guests. All these static images were undoubtedly of no less interest to the medieval audience than the dramatic events themselves. The battles are also depicted in great detail, and although large numbers of warriors take part in them, the fights in which the main characters enter are given in a "close-up". The song constantly anticipates the tragic outcome. Often such predictions of a fatal fate emerge in pictures of well-being and festivities - the awareness of the contrast between the present and the future gave rise to a feeling of intense expectation in the reader, despite his notorious knowledge of the plot, and cemented the epic as an artistic whole. The characters are delineated with exceptional clarity, they can not 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, 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 Nibelungenlied originated in a society essentially different from the Icelandic "people's rule" 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 chivalry. The song expresses the ideals of feudal society: the ideal of vassal loyalty to the master and chivalrous service to the lady, the ideal of the ruler, who cares about the welfare of his subjects and generously rewards the vassals.

However, the German heroic epic is not content with demonstrating these ideals. His heroes, unlike the heroes of the chivalric novel, which arose in France and was adopted in Germany just at that time, do not pass safely from one adventure to another; they find themselves in situations in which following the code of knightly honor leads them to their death. Glitter and joy go hand in hand with suffering and death. This awareness of the closeness of such opposite principles, which is also inherent in the heroic songs of the Edda, forms the leitmotif of the Nibelungenlied, in the very first stanza of which the theme is indicated: “feasts, fun, misfortune and grief”, as well as “bloody feuds”. Every joy ends in grief - the whole epic is permeated with this thought. The moral precepts of behavior, obligatory for a noble warrior, are tested in the song, and not all of its characters stand the test with honor.

In this regard, the figures of kings are indicative, courtly and generous, but at the same time constantly revealing their failure. Gunther takes possession of Brynhild 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 Brynhilde, instead of giving herself to the groom, binds him and hangs him on a nail, naturally, caused laughter from the audience. In many situations, the Burgundian king shows treachery and cowardice. Courage awakens in Gunther 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 to death his son, the Hun king is saved 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 innumerable victims. Among kings, the exception is Dietrich of Bern, who tries to play the role of 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, a model of "courtly humanity", is left to live 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, relying on German heroic traditions, apparently belonged to petty chivalry ( It is possible, however, that the Nibelungenlied was written by a clergyman. See notes.). This, in particular, explains their passion for praising princely generosity and for describing the gifts unrestrainedly squandered by lords to vassals, friends and guests. Is it not for this reason that the behavior of the 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? Such is Margrave Rüdeger, faced with a dilemma: to take the side of friends or in defense of the lord, and who fell victim to fealty to Etzel. The symbol of his tragedy, very intelligible for a medieval person, was that the margrave died from the sword, which he himself presented, having 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 faced with the harsh reality of their owner, a tragic fate awaits. The conflict between the requirements of vassal ethics, which does not take into account the personal inclinations and feelings of the participants in the fief treaty, and the moral principles of friendship are revealed in this episode with greater depth than anywhere else in medieval German poetry.

Högni does not play a major role in the Elder Edda. In the Nibelungenlied, Hagen rises to the forefront. His enmity with Kriemhild is the driving force behind the entire narrative. The gloomy, ruthless, prudent Hagen, without hesitation, goes to the treacherous murder of Siegfried, slays the innocent son of Krimhilda with a sword, 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 alone clearly understands the meaning of the invitation to Etzel: Kriemhild did not leave the thought of avenging Siegfried and considers him, Hagen, her main enemy. Nevertheless, energetically discouraging the Worms kings from going to the Hunnic state, he stops the disputes as soon as one of them reproaches him for cowardice. Having made up his mind, he shows maximum energy in the implementation of the adopted plan. Before crossing the Rhine, the prophetic wives reveal to Hagen that none of the Burgundians will return alive from the land of Etzel. But, knowing the fate to which they are doomed, Hagen destroys the canoe - the only way to cross the river so that no one can retreat. In Hagen, perhaps to a greater extent than in other heroes of the song, the old German faith in Fate is alive, which must be actively accepted. Not only does he not avoid a collision with Kriemhild, but he deliberately provokes it. What is the scene alone, 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, which he once removed from Siegfried, who he killed.

As gloomy as many of Hagen's deeds look, the song does not render him a moral verdict. This is probably explained both by the author's position (the author, who retells the "tellings of bygone days", refrains from active interference in the narrative and from assessments), and by the fact that Hagen was hardly presented as an unequivocal figure. He is a loyal vassal, serving his kings to the end. Unlike Rüdeger and other knights, Hagen is devoid of any courtesy. He has more of an old German hero than a refined knight familiar with the refined manners adopted from France. We know nothing about any of his marital and love affections. Meanwhile, serving a lady is an integral feature of courtesy. Hagen, as it were, personifies the past - heroic, but already overcome by a new, more complex culture.

In general, the difference between the old and the new is more clearly recognized in the Nibelungenlied than in the German poetry of the early Middle Ages. Fragments of earlier works that seem “undigested” to individual researchers in the context of the German epic (the themes of Siegfried’s fight with the dragon, his retaking of the treasure from the Nibelungs, martial arts with Brynhild, prophetic sisters predicting the death of the Burgundians, etc.), regardless of the author’s conscious intention , perform a certain function in it: they impart an archaic character to the narrative, which allows you to establish a temporal distance between modernity and bygone days. Probably, other scenes, marked by the stamp of logical inconsistency, 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 a whole horde of Huns . In an epic that tells about the past, such things are permissible, because in the old days the miraculous turned out to be possible. Time has brought great changes, as the poet says, and this also shows the 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 goes, as it were, in jolts. Life is at rest rather than moving. Despite the fact that the song covers a time period of almost forty years, the characters do not age. But this state of rest is disturbed by the actions of the heroes, and then a significant time comes. At the end of the action, the time "turns off". "Spasmodic" is inherent in the characters of the characters. At the beginning Kriemhilda is a meek girl, then a heartbroken widow, in the second half of the song she is a “devil” seized with a thirst for revenge. These changes are outwardly conditioned by events, but there is no psychological motivation for such a sharp change in Krimhilda's state of mind in the song. Medieval people did not imagine the development of personality. Human types play in the epic the roles assigned to them by fate and the situation in which they are placed.

The Nibelungenlied was the result of reworking the material of Germanic heroic songs and tales into an epic on a large scale. This reworking was accompanied by gains and losses. Acquisitions - for the nameless author of the epic made the ancient legends sound in a new way and managed to unusually clearly and colorfully ( 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, white colors in his descriptions are vividly reminiscent of a medieval book miniature. The poet himself, as it were, has it before his eyes (see stanza 286).), to expand in detail every scene of the legends about Siegfried and Kriemhild, more concisely and concisely presented in the works of his predecessors. It took an outstanding talent and great art to ensure that the songs, which numbered more than one century, again acquired relevance and artistic power for the people of the 13th century, who in many respects already had completely different tastes and interests. Losses - for the transition from high heroism and pathos of the inexorable struggle with Fate, inherent in the early German epic, up to the “will to die”, which owned the hero of ancient songs, to greater elegiacism and glorification of suffering, to lamentations of sorrows that invariably accompany human joys, the transition, certainly incomplete, but nonetheless quite clear, was accompanied by the loss of the epic hero's former integrity and solidity, as well as the well-known refinement of the subject matter due to a compromise between the pagan and Christian-knightly traditions; The "swelling" of old lapidary songs into a verbose epic abounding in inserted episodes led to some weakening of the dynamism and tension of presentation. The Nibelungenlied was born out of the needs of a new ethic and new aesthetics, which in many respects 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 assertion, belong to the feudal era. But the intensity of the passions that overwhelmed the heroes of the epic, the sharp conflicts in which fate collides them, still cannot but captivate and shock the reader.

Literature and library science

The world of epic texts, as a rule, is polar; it can be conditionally designated as the world of friends and foes, as the world of good and evil, the human chthonic demonic world, despite the fact that these worlds have the opposite arrangement, the structure of these two worlds is often very similar.

Tristan and Isolde. Joseph Bedier. - read

Epos of the peoples of medieval Europe.

The epic is one of the main genres of medieval literature. Epos storytelling. Epic texts have several features:

1. In epic texts, we will always find a close interweaving of fiction and real-historical events. It is often difficult to separate one from the other.
2. Epic texts were not composed, but compiled over many centuries. For a long time they existed only in oral form. Therefore, in the process of existence, the plots were often intertwined, new cycles arose, and these narratives themselves were open in nature.
3. In epic works, we are faced with a special kind of artistic space. The world of epic texts, as a rule, is polar, it can be conditionally designated as the world of friends and foes, as the world of good and evil, the human chthonic (demonic) world, despite the fact that these worlds have the opposite layout, the structure of these two worlds is often very similar .
4. Almost every epic text has a climactic scene that takes on a cosmic scale, it is not just a clash of two heroes: positive and negative, it is a clash of good and evil.
5. The characteristics of this world do not know the middle, intermediate states. The hero of the epic is always ideal, supernatural properties are attributed to him. But perfect is not always perfect. It was typical for the Middle Ages to portray everything exceptional and unusual.
6. Epic texts are characterized by a special language. It is replete with set phrases.

In the Middle Ages, new peoples entered the arena of world civilization; they were also known in the era of antiquity. But the Romans showed little interest in the barbarians who lived outside the Balkans and the Pyrenees. The word barbarian itself contains a derogatory characteristic, with this word the Greeks and Romans denoted strangers who did not know the Hellenic speech. In the early Middle Ages, most of Europe was inhabited by peoples who are called the Celts. Celts is a common name for a variety of tribal groups. The Britons settled in Britain. The Gauls lived in what is now France, hence the name Gaul. Then lived the Belgae, hence the name Belgium. And then the Helvetians lived, now the name is Switzerland. The life history of the Celts was full of dramatic events, they survived clashes with Germanic tribes, Christianization, their spiritual culture was not fully preserved, but many images in Celtic mythology became part of medieval literature. From the Celts "On King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table". The Celtic influence is clearly evident in the Breton, Welsh and Irish dialects. In central Europe, between the Rhine and the Elbe, the Germanic tribes lived, which were also divided into many groups, in the end, the Germanic tribes pushed the Celts and conquered most of their lands. And those lands began to belong to the Germanic tribes. The territory of England was conquered by the Angles and Saxons, the Franks settled on the territory, the Goths lived in central Europe, and subsequently divided into eastern and western, in eastern Spain the Sueves.

Both the Celts and the Germans lived in a tribal system. Family relationships were considered priceless. For a long time, both of them did not have a written language. They composed legends, sagas, which were based on myths and historical legends. The storytellers were called skalds, most of the works are devoted to acute conflict situations in the world of gods and in the world of people. All sagas have a harsh morality. "The saying of the high." Before you enter the house, take a closer look at the exits, if there is an enemy anywhere.

“Do not praise the day before evening. wife before her death. The weapon has not yet been tested. The girls are not yet married. Praise the ice if you survived. Beer when drunk.

The epic of the Middle Ages is usually divided into 2 periods:

Archaic and heroic, which arose during the formation of the state on the territory of Europe. Archaic: Irish and Icelandic sagas. "Beowulf". The "Song of Roland", "Song of the Nibelungs", "Song of Side" can be attributed to the heroic epic.

Icelandic sagas. Recorded at the end of the 9th beginning of the 10th century. Among the many texts, 2 main ones stand out clearly: the senior Edda (consists of poetic legends) and the junior Edda (from prose).

The narrative in the major and minor edda is divided into songs about gods (aces) and heroes. In these epic texts there is no clear temporal correlation and it is almost impossible to connect the texts with the location.

norse gods:

• One the god of war, the supreme god, lives in Valhalla (paradise for the elite).
• Valkyries warlike maidens, carry the dead warriors to Valhalla.
• Frigga wife of Odin, goddess of love and family hearth.
• Thor is the god of thunder, fertility, agriculture.
• Loki an evil and mischievous god, annoys the gods.
• Hel is the mistress of the gloomy realm of death.
• Balder god of light, brings blessings, son of Odin and Frigga.

The story about the structure of the world is in the Völva. Once there was no squeak, no sea, no land, and only one giant lived Ymir from his body and the world was created. From the blood of the lake, river, sea. The meat became the earth, the brain clouds, through the vault of heaven, the bones mountains. Yggrodrossil at the roots of this tree flows the source of wisdom, and next to it is the dwelling of the Norns. To each person, the norns determine his fate. The central event that tells the Edda. Baldr has a dream foreshadowing death, he tells his mother about this gloomy dream, and then Frigga takes an oath that from all objects that they will not harm Baldr. The only thing that the mother forgot to warn is amella (plant). The insidious Loki made a spear out of amela and gave it to the hand of the blind Khodr. And directed the movement of his blow. Thus, the god of light perished, and here the worst begins. The light has dimmed and huge monsters begin to invade the earth. A giant wolf devours the sun. We see a description of the total fall of man. Brothers fought brothers, relatives fought relatives. People are mired in bloody strife. The earth was destroyed in bloody conflagrations, but the ending of this story contains hope. The storytellers say that these dark times will end, the glorious wars will return to their halls, where happiness is destined for them. The story about people is no less tragic, the Edda tells about terrible atrocities. Actions are not given moral values.

The Icelandic sagas depict a special world, a world that is identical to the harsh northern nature. There is no compassion in this world, no humanity, but this world denies harsh greatness. The attitude of people towards the gods: people were afraid of the gods and made sacrifices to them, they first of all respected the power, and the gods possessed this power.

Picture of the world:

• The upper world of the gods
• middle world
• Underworld

The concept of life is tragic: both gods and heroes are mortal. But misfortunes do not frighten a person, they do not deprive him of strength of mind. A man heroically goes towards his fate, posthumous glory is his main asset.

The world of harsh people.

Irish Sagas.

The cosmic scale in the Irish sagas is muted. The emphasis is not on the fate of the gods, but on the deeds of individual heroes. The composition is not closed.

Sagas are combined into cycles. The focus is on the story of the hero.

The protagonist Cuchulain is the embodiment of all ideal qualities: power, strength, beauty. He was distinguished by dexterity in games, courage, clarity of mind and outward beauty too. As the sagas say, he had only 3 shortcomings: his youth, unheard of pride, and the fact that he was excessively handsome and stately. This hero combines the traits of an epic hero and a demonic character. He performs the main feat by crushing the terrible army of Queen Medb. But this feat turns out to be fatal. Fate was sealed. On the way to the battlefield, the witches treated him to dog meat.

The two main cycles are the Uladian (“The Book of the Brown Cow”) and the legends dedicated to the Finn. The story of the acquisition of secret knowledge. A story about finding love, revenge, hate. Irish sagas paint a rather harsh world. And there are no such assessments as moral and immoral yet. Strength is aestheticized, it causes admiration. And yet the archaic epic is exhausting itself. The archaic epic is replaced by the heroic epic.

Beowulf.

This is an Anglo-Saxon poem, it took shape at the end of the 7th, beginning of the 8th century, it was written down only in the 10th century. This is no longer a chain of songs, but a single narrative, unlike the Irish and Icelandic ones, there is a clear connection between geography and historical time.

Beowulf ("wolf bees") he performs 3 great feats, crushing the inhabitants of the demonic world. Beowulf heard that the terrible ogre Grendel had appeared in Denmark. He went there and defeated him. But it turned out that Grendel has a mother and she challenges him to a duel, he has to fight in the water. The third being was a dragon. But he was wounded and died. A fantastic story unfolds against the backdrop of real countries. Geographical features are mentioned. This work reflects the process of Christianization. The pagans are doomed to fail. The military virtues of Christians are praised. And the poem ends with the praise of the feast. Thus sorrow and joy coexist in human life.

The origin of the heroic epic.

Basic theories.

1. Traditionalism (Gaston Paris): lyric-epic songs, expressed the spirit of the people.
2. Anti-traditionalism (Joseph Bedier): the epic arose when it began to be recorded. Heyday in the 11th-12th centuries. Monks, poets-jugglers contributed to the spread of popularity.
3. A.N. Veselovsky: while the text exists in the oral tradition, it is the creation of a team, recording a creative process, here the individual author plays a decisive role.

Song of Roland. It is preserved according to the list of the 12th century. The historical basis is the war of the Franks with the Spanish Saracens (Arabs).

Glorious hero Roland the ideal of a valiant knight, ardent patriotism.

Realism, historicism.

Expression of the public opinion.

Song of the Nibelungs.

The historical basis is the defeat of the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns in 437.

The main character is Siegfried, a brave fairy-tale hero.

Reflection of the ideal image of feudal society.

Condemnation of fratricide.

Song about my Sid.

The historical basis is the exploits of the famous Spanish commander of the 11th century, Rodrigo Diaz.

Close to history. Tells about the reconquista. About the long liberation of the land from the Moors.

Use Lukov's textbook

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, 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, legends 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's militia. However, very early episodic tales went beyond this environment, spread among the masses and became the property of the whole society: they were equally enthusiastic listened not only to the military class, but also to the clergy, merchants, artisans, and peasants.

Since initially these folk tales were intended for oral melodious performance by jugglers, the latter subjected them to intensive processing, which consisted in expanding the plots, in their cyclization, in the introduction of inserted episodes, sometimes very large ones, conversational scenes, etc. As a result, short episodic songs took gradually the appearance of plot-and stylistically-organized poems - a gesture. In addition, in the process of complex development, some of these poems were subject to a noticeable influence of church ideology, and all without exception - to the influence of knightly ideology. Since chivalry had a high prestige for all sectors of society, the heroic epic gained the widest popularity. Unlike Latin poetry, which was practically reserved for clerics alone, gestures were created in French and were understood by everyone. Originating from the early Middle Ages, the heroic epic took on a classical form and experienced a period of active existence in the 12th, 13th, and partly 14th centuries. Its written fixation also belongs to the same time. Gestures are usually divided into three cycles:

1) the cycle of Guillaume d "Orange (otherwise: the cycle of Garena de Montglan - named after great-grandfather Guillaume);

2) the cycle of "rebellious barons" (in other words: the cycle of Doon de Mayans);

3) the cycle of Charlemagne, King of France. The theme of the first cycle is the disinterested, driven only by love for the motherland, service of the faithful vassals from the Guillaume family to the weak, vacillating, often ungrateful king, who is constantly threatened by either internal or external enemies.

The theme of the second cycle is the rebellion of the proud and independent barons against the unjust king, as well as the cruel feuds of the barons among themselves. Finally, in the poems of the third cycle (“The Pilgrimage of Charlemagne”, “Big-Legs”, etc.), the sacred struggle of the Franks against the “pagan” Muslims is sung and the figure of Charlemagne is heroized, appearing as the center of virtues and the stronghold of the entire Christian world. The most remarkable poem of the royal cycle and of 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, Christian ideals.

3) With regard to history, the historical basis is clearly visible, but at the same time it is idealized, exaggerated.

4) Heroes - defenders of the state, the king, the independence of the country and the Christian faith. All this is interpreted in the epic as a nationwide affair.

5) The epic is associated with a folk tale, with historical chronicles, sometimes with a chivalric romance.

6) The epic has been preserved in the countries of continental Europe (Germany, France).