The heroic epic of the Middle Ages in brief. Features of literature of the ancient Middle Ages
The early epic of Western European literature combined Christian and pagan motifs. It was formed during the period of decomposition of the tribal system and the formation of feudal relations, when Christian teaching replaced paganism. The adoption of Christianity not only contributed to the process of centralization of countries, but also to the interaction of nationalities and cultures.
Celtic tales formed the basis of medieval chivalric romances about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; they were the source from which poets of subsequent centuries drew inspiration and plots for their works.
In the history of the development of Western European epic, two stages are distinguished: the epic of the period of decomposition of the tribal system, or archaic(Anglo-Saxon - "Beowulf", Celtic sagas, Old Norse epic songs - "Elder Edda", Icelandic sagas), and epic of the feudal era, or heroic(French - “The Song of Roland”, Spanish - “The Song of Cid”, German - “The Song of the Nibelungs”).
In the archaic epic there remains a connection with archaic rituals and myths, cults of pagan gods and myths about totemic ancestors, demiurge gods or cultural heroes. The hero belongs to the all-encompassing unity of the clan and makes a choice in favor of the clan. These epic monuments are characterized by brevity, formulaic style, expressed in the variation of some artistic tropes. In addition, a single epic picture arises by combining individual sagas or songs, while the epic monuments themselves developed in a laconic form, their plot is grouped around one epic situation, rarely combining several episodes. The exception is Beowulf, which has a completed two-part composition and recreates a complete epic picture in one work. The archaic epic of the early European Middle Ages developed in both poetic and prose forms (Icelandic sagas) and in poetic and prose forms (Celtic epic).
Characters going back to historical prototypes (Cuchulainn, Conchobar, Gunnar, Atli) are endowed with fantastic features drawn from archaic mythology. Often archaic epics are presented as separate epic works (songs, sagas) that are not combined into a single epic canvas. In particular, in Ireland such associations of sagas were created already during the period of their recording, at the beginning of the Mature Middle Ages. Archaic epics, to a small extent, sporadically, bear the stamp of dual faith, for example, the mention of the “son of error” in “The Voyage of Bran, son of Phebal.” Archaic epics reflect the ideals and values of the era of the clan system: thus, Cuchulainn, sacrificing his safety, makes a choice in favor of the clan, and when saying goodbye to life, he calls the name of the capital Emain, and not his wife or son.
Unlike the archaic epic, where the heroism of people fighting for the interests of their clan and tribe, sometimes against infringement of their honor, was glorified, in the heroic epic a hero is glorified, fighting for the integrity and independence of his state. His opponents are both foreign conquerors and rampaging feudal lords, who with their narrow egoism cause great damage to the national cause. There is less fantasy in this epic, there are almost no mythological elements, 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 the hero or an important historical event.
The main thing in this epic is its nationality, which is not immediately realized, since in the specific situation of the heyday of the Middle Ages, the hero of the epic work often appears in the guise of a warrior-knight, seized with religious enthusiasm, or a close relative, or an assistant to the king, and not a person from the people. Depicting kings, their assistants, and knights as heroes of the epic, the people, according to Hegel, did this “not out of preference for noble persons, but out of a desire to give an image of complete freedom in desires and actions, which is realized in the idea of royalty.” Also, the religious enthusiasm, often inherent in the hero, did not contradict his nationality, since the people at that time gave their struggle against the feudal lords the character of a religious movement. The nationality of the heroes in the epic during the heyday of the Middle Ages is in their selfless struggle for the national cause, in their extraordinary patriotic inspiration in defense of their homeland, with the name of which on their lips they sometimes died, fighting against foreign enslavers and the treasonous actions of anarchist feudal lords.
3. "Elder Edda" and "Younger Edda". Scandinavian gods and heroes.
A song about gods and heroes, conventionally united by the title "Elder Edda" preserved in a manuscript that dates back to the second half of the 13th century. It is not known whether this manuscript was the first or whether it had any predecessors. There are, in addition, some other recordings of songs also classified as Eddic. The history of the songs themselves is also unknown, and on this score a variety of points of view and contradictory theories have been put forward ( Legend attributes the authorship to the Icelandic scientist Samund the Wise. However, there is no doubt that songs originated much earlier and were passed down through oral tradition for centuries). The range in dating of songs often reaches several centuries. Not all songs originated in Iceland: among them there are songs that go back to South German prototypes; in the Edda there are motifs and characters familiar from the Anglo-Saxon epic; a lot was apparently brought from other Scandinavian countries. It can be assumed that at least some of the songs arose much earlier, even in the unwritten period.
Before us is an epic, but a very unique epic. This originality cannot but strike the eye when reading the Elder Edda after Beowulf. Instead of a lengthy, slowly flowing epic, here we have before us a dynamic and concise song, in a few words or stanzas, outlining the fate of heroes or gods, their speeches and actions.
Eddic songs do not form a coherent unity, and it is clear that only a part of them has reached us. The individual songs feel like versions of the same piece; Thus, in the songs about Helgi, Atli, Sigurd and Gudrun, the same plot is interpreted differently. The "Speeches of Atli" are sometimes interpreted as a later, expanded reworking of the more ancient "Song of Atli."
In general, all Eddic songs are divided into songs about gods and songs about heroes. Songs about the gods contain a wealth of material on mythology; this is our most important source for knowledge of Scandinavian paganism (albeit in a very late, so to speak, “posthumous” version of it).
The artistic and cultural-historical significance of the Elder Edda is enormous. It occupies one of the honorable places in world literature. The images of the Eddic songs, along with the images of the sagas, supported the Icelanders throughout their difficult history, especially during the period when this small people, deprived of national independence, was almost doomed to extinction as a result of foreign exploitation, and from famine and epidemics. The memory of the heroic and legendary past gave the Icelanders the strength to hold out and not die.
Prose Edda (Snorr Edda, Prose Edda or simply Edda)- a work by the medieval Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson, written in 1222-1225 and intended as a textbook on skaldic poetry. Consists of four parts containing a large number of quotations from ancient poems based on stories from German-Scandinavian mythology.
The Edda begins with a euhemeristic prologue and three separate books: Gylfaginning (approx. 20,000 words), Skáldskaparmál (approx. 50,000 words) and Háttatal (approx. 20,000 words). The Edda survives in seven different manuscripts, dating from 1300 to 1600, with textual content independent of each other.
The purpose of the work was to convey to contemporary Snorri readers the subtlety of alliterative verse and to grasp the meanings of the words hidden under the many kennings.
The Younger Edda was originally known simply as the Edda, but was later given its name to distinguish it from the Elder Edda. The Younger Edda is associated with many verses quoted by both.
Scandinavian mythology:
Creation of the world: initially there were two abysses - ice and fire. For some reason they mixed, and from the resulting frost the first creature arose - Ymir, the giant. Afterwards, Odin appears with his brothers, kills Ymir and creates a world from his remains.
According to the ancient Scandinavians, the world is the ash tree Yggdrasil. Its branches are the world of Asgard, where the gods live, the trunk is the world of Midgard, where people live, the roots are the world of Utgard, the kingdom of evil spirits and the dead who died an improper death.
Gods live in Asgard (they are not omnipotent, they are mortal). Only the souls of heroically dead people can enter this world.
The mistress of the kingdom of the dead, Hel, lives in Utgard.
The appearance of people: the gods found two pieces of wood on the shore - ash and alder and breathed life into them. This is how the first man and woman appeared - Ask and Elebla.
The Fall of the World: The gods know that the world will end, but they do not know when this will happen, for the world is ruled by Fate. In the "Prophecy of Volva" Odin comes to the soothsayer Volva and she tells him the past and the future. In the future, she predicts the day of the fall of the world - Ragnarok. On this day, the world wolf Fenrir will kill Odin, and the serpent Ermungard will attack people. Hel will lead the giants and the dead against gods and people. After the world will burn, its remains will be washed away by water and a new life cycle will begin.
The gods of Asgard are divided into Aesir and Vanir. ( Aces - the main group of gods led by Odin, who loved, fought and died, because, like people, they did not have immortality. These gods are contrasted with the vanirs (gods of fertility), giants (etuns), dwarfs (miniatures), as well as female deities - diss, norns and valkyries. Vanir - a group of fertility gods. They lived in Vanaheim, far from Asgard, the abode of the aesir gods. The Vanirs had the gift of foresight, prophecy, and also mastered the art of witchcraft. They were attributed to incestuous relationships between brothers and sisters. The Vanir included Njord and his offspring - Frey and Freya.)
One- First among the aces, One god of poetry, wisdom, war and death.
Thor- Thor is the god of thunder and one of the most powerful gods. Thor was also the patron of agriculture. Therefore, he was the most loved and respected of the gods. Thor is the representative of order, law and stability.
Frigga- As Odin's wife, Frigga is the first among the goddesses of Asgard. She is the patroness of marriage and motherhood; women call upon her during childbirth.
Loki- God of fire, creator of trolls. It is unpredictable, and represents the opposite of a fixed order. He is smart and cunning, and can also change his appearance.
Heroes:
Gylvi, Gylfi- the legendary Swedish king who heard Gytheon’s stories about the Aesir and went in search of them; after long wanderings, as a reward for his zeal, he got the opportunity to talk with three aces (High, Equally High and Third), who answered his questions about the origin, structure and fate of the universe. Gangleri is the name given to King Gylfi, who was accepted for conversation by the Asami.
Groa- the sorceress, wife of the famous hero Aurvandil, treated Thor after the duel with Grungnir.
Violectrina- appeared to Tohru before his escape.
Volsung- the son of the king of the Frans Rerir, given to him by the Aesir.
Kriemhilda- Siegfried's wife.
Mann- the first man, the progenitor of the Germanic tribes.
Nibelungs- the descendants of the miniature who collected countless treasures, and all the owners of this treasure, which carries a curse.
Siegfried (Sigurd)
Hadding- a warrior hero and wizard who enjoyed the special patronage of Odin.
Högni (Hagen)- the hero is the killer of Siegfried (Sigurd), who flooded the Nibelungen treasure in the Rhine.
Helgi- a hero who accomplished many feats.
Ask- the first man on earth whom the aces made from ash.
Embla- the first woman on earth made by the Ases from willow (according to other sources - from alder).
4. German heroic epic. "Song of the Nibelungs."
“The Song of the Nibelungs,” written around 1200, is the largest and oldest monument of the German folk heroic epic. 33 manuscripts have survived, representing the text in three editions.
The “Song of the Nibelungs” is based on ancient German legends dating back to the events of the period of barbarian invasions. The historical facts to which the poem goes back are the events of the 5th century, including the death of the Burgundian kingdom, destroyed in 437 by the Huns. These events are also mentioned in the Elder Edda.
The text of the “Song” consists of 2400 stanzas, each of which contains four paired rhyming lines (the so-called “Nibelung stanza”), and is divided into 20 songs.
In terms of content, the poem is divided into two parts. The first of them (songs 1 - 10) describes the story of the German hero Siegfried, his marriage to Kriemhild and the treacherous murder of Siegfried. Songs 10 to 20 talk about Kriemhild's revenge for her murdered husband and the death of the Burgundian kingdom.
One of the characters that most attracts researchers is Kriemhild. She enters the picture as a tender young girl who does not show much initiative in life. She is pretty, but her beauty, this beautiful attribute, is nothing out of the ordinary. However, at a more mature age, she achieves the death of her brothers and beheads her own uncle with her own hands. Has she gone crazy or was she cruel to begin with? Was it revenge for her husband or a thirst for treasure? In the Edda, Kriemhild corresponds to Gudrun, and one can also be amazed at her cruelty - she prepares a meal from the meat of her own children. In studies of the image of Kriemhild, the theme of treasure often plays a central role. The question of what prompted Kriemhild to action, the desire to take possession of the treasure or the desire to avenge Siegfried, and which of the two motives is older, is discussed again and again. V. Schröder subordinates the theme of treasure to the idea of revenge, seeing the importance of the “Rhine gold” not in wealth, but in its symbolic value for Kriemhild, and the motive of the treasure is inseparable from the motive of revenge. Kriemhild is a useless mother, greedy, a devil, not a woman, not even a person. But she is also a tragic heroine who lost her husband and honor, an exemplary avenger.
Siegfried is the ideal hero of the "Song of the Nibelungs". The prince from the Lower Rhine, the son of the Dutch king Siegmund and Queen Sieglinde, the conqueror of the Nibelungs, who took possession of their treasure - the gold of the Rhine, is endowed with all the virtues of knighthood. He is noble, brave, courteous. Duty and honor are above all for him. The authors of the “Song of the Nibelungs” emphasize his extraordinary attractiveness and physical strength. His very name, consisting of two parts (Sieg - victory, Fried - peace), expresses the national German identity at the time of medieval strife. Despite his young age, he visited many countries, gaining fame for his courage and power. Siegfried is endowed with a powerful will to live, a strong belief in himself, and at the same time he lives with passions that awaken in him by the power of foggy visions and vague dreams. The image of Siegfried combines the archaic features of the hero of myths and fairy tales with the behavior of a feudal knight, ambitious and cocky. Offended at first by the insufficiently friendly reception, he is insolent and threatens the King of the Burgundians, encroaching on his life and throne. He soon resigns himself, remembering the purpose of his visit. It is characteristic that the prince unquestioningly serves King Gunther, not ashamed to become his vassal. This reflects not only the desire to get Kriemhild as a wife, but also the pathos of faithful service to the overlord, invariably inherent in the medieval heroic epic.
All the characters in “The Nibelungenlied” are deeply tragic. The fate of Kriemhild is tragic, whose happiness is destroyed by Gunther, Brunhild and Hagen. The fate of the Burgundian kings, who perish in a foreign land, as well as a number of other characters in the poem, is tragic.
In “The Song of the Nibelungs” we find a true picture of the atrocities of the feudal world, which appears before the reader as a kind of gloomy destructive principle, as well as a condemnation of these atrocities so common to feudalism. And in this, first of all, the nationality of the German poem, closely connected with the traditions of the German epic epic, is manifested.
5. French heroic epic. "The Song of Roland"
Of all the national epics of the feudal Middle Ages, the most flourishing and diverse is the French epic. It has come down to us in the form of poems (about 90 in total), of which the oldest are preserved in the records of the 12th century, and the latest date back to the 14th century. These poems are called “gestures” (from the French “chansons de geste”, which literally means “songs”) about deeds" or "songs about exploits"). They vary in length - from 1000 to 2000 verses - and consist of unequal length (from 5 to 40 verses) stanzas or "tirades", also called "laisses". The lines are interconnected by assonances, which later, starting from the 13th century, are replaced by precise rhymes. These poems were intended for singing (or, more precisely, recitation). The performers of these poems, and often their compilers, were jugglers - traveling singers and musicians.
Three themes make up the main content of the French epic:
1) defense of the homeland from external enemies - Moors (or Saracens), Normans, Saxons, etc.;
2) faithful service to the king, protection of his rights and the eradication of traitors;
3) bloody feudal strife.
Of all the French epics, the most remarkable is “The Song of Roland,” a poem that had a European resonance and represents one of the peaks of medieval poetry.
The poem tells of the heroic death of Count Roland, Charlemagne's nephew, during the battle with the Moors in the Roncesvalles Gorge, the betrayal of Roland's stepfather, Ganelon, which was the cause of this disaster, and Charlemagne's revenge for the death of Roland and twelve peers.
The Song of Roland originated around 1100, shortly before the First Crusade. The unknown author was not devoid of some education (to the extent available to many jugglers of that time) and, no doubt, put a lot of his own into the reworking of old songs on the same topic, both in plot and stylistically; but his main merit lies not in these additions, but precisely in the fact that he preserved the deep meaning and expressiveness of the ancient heroic legend and, connecting his thoughts with living modernity, found a brilliant artistic form for their expression.
Ideological plan the legend about Roland is clarified by comparing the “Song of Roland” with the 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 the other. Having crossed the Pyrenees, Charles took several cities and besieged Zaragoza, but, having stood under its walls for several weeks, he had to return to France with nothing. When he was returning back through the Pyrenees, the Basques, irritated by the passage of foreign troops through their fields and villages, set up an ambush in the Roncesval Gorge and, attacking the French rearguard, killed many of them; according to the historiographer Charlemagne Eginhard, among other nobles, “Hruotland, Margrave of Brittany” died. After this, Eginhard adds, the Basques fled, and it was not possible to punish them.
A short and fruitless expedition to northern Spain, which had nothing to do with the religious struggle and ended in a not particularly significant, but still annoying military failure, was turned by singer-storytellers into a picture of a seven-year war that ended with the conquest of all of Spain, then a terrible catastrophe during the retreat of the French army, and here the enemies were not the Basque Christians, but the same Moors, and, finally, a picture of revenge on the part of Charles in the form of a grandiose, truly “world” battle of the French with the united forces of the entire Muslim world.
The epic song at this stage of development, expanding into the picture of an established social structure, turned into an epic. Along with this, however, it preserved many common features and oral techniques folk poetry, such as, for example, constant epithets, ready-made formulas for “typical” positions, direct expression of the singer’s assessments and feelings about what is depicted, simplicity of language, especially syntax, coincidence of the end of the verse with the end of the sentence, etc.
Main characters poems - Roland and Ganelon.
Roland in the poem is a powerful and brilliant knight, impeccable in fulfilling his vassal duty, formulated by the poet as follows:
The vassal serves his lord, He endures the winter cold and heat, He is not sorry to shed blood for him.
He is, in the full sense of the word, an example of knightly valor and nobility. But the deep connection of the poem with folk songwriting and the popular understanding of heroism is reflected in the fact that all the knightly traits of Roland are given by the poet in a humanized form, freed from class limitations. Roland is alien to selfishness, cruelty, greed, and the anarchic self-will of the feudal lords. One can feel in him an excess of youthful strength, a joyful belief in the rightness of his cause and in his luck, a passionate thirst for selfless achievement. Full of proud self-awareness, but at the same time alien to any arrogance or self-interest, he devotes himself entirely to serving the king, people, and homeland.
Ganelon is not just a traitor, but an expression of some powerful evil principle, hostile to any national cause, the personification of feudal, anarchic egoism. This beginning in the poem is shown in all its strength, with great artistic objectivity. Ganelon is not depicted as some kind of physical and moral monster. This is a majestic and brave fighter. When Roland offers to send him as an ambassador to Marsilius, Ganelon is not afraid of this assignment, although he knows how dangerous it is. But by attributing to others the same motives that are fundamental to himself, he assumes that Roland had the intention of destroying him.
The content of “The Song of Roland” is animated by its national-religious idea. But this problem is not the only one; the socio-political contradictions characteristic of the intensively developing in the X-XI centuries were also reflected with enormous force. feudalism. This second 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 singers-storytellers to explain the defeat of the “invincible” army of Charlemagne as an external fatal cause. In “The Song of Roland,” it is not so much that the blackness of the act of an individual traitor, Ganelon, is revealed, but rather that it exposes the disastrousness for the native country of that feudal, anarchic egoism, the representative of which, in some respects, is brilliant, Ganelon.
6. Spanish heroic epic. "Song of my Sid"
The Spanish epic reflects the specifics of the history of Spain early Middle Ages. In 711, Spain was invaded by the Moors, who within a few years captured almost the entire peninsula. The Spaniards managed to hold out only in the far north, in the mountains of Cantabria, where the kingdom of Asturias was formed. However, immediately after this, the “reconquista” began, that is, the reconquest of the country by the Spaniards.
The kingdoms - Asturias, Castile and Leon, Navarre, etc. - sometimes fragmenting, and sometimes uniting, fought first with the Moors, then with each other, in the latter case sometimes entering into an alliance with the Moors against their compatriots. Spain made decisive progress in the reconquista in the 11th and 12th centuries, mainly thanks to the enthusiasm of the popular masses. Although the reconquista was led by the highest nobility, who received the largest part of the lands conquered from the Moors, its main driving force was the peasantry, townspeople and minor nobles close to them. In the 10th century A struggle unfolded between the old, aristocratic kingdom of Leon and Castile, which was subject to it, as a result of which Castile achieved complete political independence. Submission to the Leonese judges, who applied ancient, extremely reactionary laws, weighed heavily on the freedom-loving Castilian knighthood, but now they had new laws. According to these laws, the title and rights of knights were extended to everyone who went on a campaign against the Moors on horseback, even if he was of very low origin. However, at the end of the 11th century. Castilian liberties suffered greatly when Alfonso VI, who had been King of Leon in his youth and now surrounded himself with the old Leonese nobility, ascended the throne. Anti-democratic tendencies under this king intensified even more due to the influx of French knights and clergy into Castile. The former sought there under the pretext of assisting the Spaniards in their fight against the Moors, the latter, allegedly to organize a church in the lands conquered from the Moors. But as a result of this, the French knights captured the best plots, and the monks captured the richest parishes. Both of them, having arrived from a country where feudalism had a much more developed form, implanted feudal-aristocratic skills and concepts in Spain. All this made them hated by the local population, whom they brutally exploited, caused a number of uprisings and for a long time instilled in the Spanish people distrust and hostility towards the French.
These political events and relationships were widely reflected in the Spanish heroic epic, whose three main themes are:
1) fight against the Moors, with the goal of reconquest native land;
2) discord between feudal lords, portrayed as the greatest evil for the entire country, as an insult to moral truth and treason;
3) the struggle for the freedom of Castile, and then for its political primacy, which is seen as the key to the final defeat of the Moors and as the basis for the national-political unification of all of Spain.
In many poems these themes are not given separately, but in close connection with each other.
The Spanish heroic epic developed similarly to the French epic. It was also based on short episodic songs of a lyrical-epic nature and oral unformed legends that arose in the druzhina environment and soon became the common property of the people; and in the same way, around the 10th century, when Spanish feudalism began to take shape and for the first time there was a sense of the unity of the Spanish nation, this material, falling into the hands of jugglers-huglars, through deep stylistic processing took shape in the form of large epic poems. The heyday of these poems, which for a long time were the “poetic history” of Spain and expressed the self-awareness of the Spanish people, occurred in the 11th-13th centuries, but after that they continued to live an intensive life for another two centuries and died out only in the 15th century, giving way to new form folk epic legend - romances.
Spanish heroic poems are similar in form and method of execution to French ones. They stand in a series of stanzas of unequal length, connected by assonances. However, their metric is different: they are written in folk, so-called irregular, meter - verses with an indefinite number of syllables - from 8 to 16.
In terms of style, the Spanish epic is also similar to the French. However, it is distinguished by a drier and more business-like way of presentation, an abundance of everyday features, an almost complete absence of hyperbolism and an element of the supernatural - both fairy-tale and Christian.
The pinnacle of Spanish folk epic form legends about Sid. Ruy Diaz, nicknamed Cid, is a historical figure. He was born between 1025 and 1043. His nickname is a word of Arabic origin meaning "lord" ("seid"); this title was often given to Spanish lords who also had Moors among their subjects: Ruy is a shortened form of the name Rodrigo. Cid belonged to the highest Castilian nobility, was the commander of all the troops of King Sancho II of Castile and his closest assistant in the wars that the king waged both with the Moors and with his brothers and sisters. When Sancho died during the siege of Zamora and his brother Alfonso VI, who had spent his youth in Leon, ascended the throne, hostile relations were established between the new king, who favored the Leonese nobility, and the latter, and Alfonso, taking advantage of an insignificant pretext, expelled Sida from Castile.
For some time, Sid served with his retinue as a mercenary for various Christian and Muslim sovereigns, but then, thanks to his extreme dexterity and courage, he became an independent ruler and won the principality of Valencia from the Moors. After this, he made peace with King Alphonse and began to act in alliance with him against the Moors.
There is no doubt that even during Sid’s lifetime, songs and tales about his exploits began to be composed. These songs and stories, having spread among the people, soon became the property of the Khuglars, one of whom, around 1140, composed a poem about him.
Content:
The Song of Sid, containing 3,735 verses, is divided into three parts. The first (called by researchers the “Song of Exile”) depicts Sid’s first exploits in a foreign land. First, he gets money for the campaign by pawning chests filled with sand to Jewish moneylenders under the guise of family jewelry. Then, having gathered a detachment of sixty warriors, he enters the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña to say goodbye to his wife and daughters there. After this he travels to Moorish land. Hearing of his expulsion, people flock to his banner. Cid wins a series of victories over the Moors and after each of them sends part of the booty to King Alphonse.
The second part (“The Wedding Song”) depicts the Cid’s conquest of Valencia. Seeing his power and touched by his gifts, Alphonse makes peace with Sid and allows his wife and children to move to Valencia with him. Then Sil meets with the king himself, who acts as a matchmaker, offering Sid the noble infantes de Carrion as his son-in-law. Sil, although reluctantly, agrees to this. He gives his sons-in-law two of his battle swords and gives a rich dowry for his daughters. A description of the magnificent wedding celebrations follows.
The third part (“Song of Korpes”) tells the following. Sid's sons-in-law turned out to be worthless cowards. Unable to tolerate the ridicule of Sid and his vassals, they decided to take it out on his daughters. Under the pretext of showing their wives to their relatives, they prepared for the journey. Having reached the Korpes oak grove, the sons-in-law got off their horses, severely beat their wives and left them tied to the trees. The unfortunates would have died if not for Sid's nephew Felez Muñoz, who found them and brought them home. Sid demands revenge. The king convenes the Cortes to try the guilty. Sid comes there with his beard tied up so that no one will insult him by pulling his beard. The case is decided by judicial duel (“God’s court”). Sid's fighters defeat the defendants, and Sid triumphs. He unties his beard, and everyone is amazed at his majestic appearance. New suitors are wooing Sid's daughters - the princes of Navarre and Aragon. The poem ends with a praise to Sid.
In general, the poem is more historically accurate than any other Western European epic known to us.
This accuracy corresponds to the general truthful tone of the narrative, usual for Spanish poems. Descriptions and characteristics are free from any elevation. Persons, objects, events are depicted simply, concretely, with businesslike restraint, although this does not exclude sometimes great inner warmth. There are almost no poetic comparisons or metaphors at all. There is a complete absence of Christian fiction, except for the appearance of the Archangel Michael in Sid's dream on the eve of his departure. There is also no hyperbolism at all in the depiction of combat moments. Images of martial arts are very rare and are of a less brutal nature than in the French epic; Mass fights predominate, with nobles sometimes dying at the hands of nameless warriors.
The poem lacks the exclusivity of knightly feelings. The singer openly emphasizes the importance of booty, profit, and the monetary base of any military enterprise for a fighter. An example is the way in which at the beginning of the poem Sid obtained the money necessary for the campaign. The singer never forgets to mention the size of the war booty, the share that went to each fighter, and the portion sent by the Sid to the king. In the scene of the litigation with the infantes de Carrion, Cid first of all demands the return of swords and dowry, and then raises the issue of insult to honor. He always behaves like a prudent, reasonable owner.
In accordance with everyday motives of this kind, family themes play a prominent role. The point is not only what place is occupied in the poem by the story of the first marriage of Sid’s daughters and the bright ending of the picture of their second, happy marriage, but also by the fact that family, family feelings with all their sincere intimacy gradually come to the fore in the poem.
Sid's image: The Sid is presented, contrary to history, only as an “infanson,” that is, a knight who has vassals, but does not belong to the highest nobility. He is depicted as full of self-awareness and dignity, but at the same time good-natured and simple in his dealings with everyone, alien to any aristocratic arrogance. The norms of knightly practice inevitably determine the main lines of Sid’s activities, but not his personal character: he himself, as free as possible from knightly habits, appears in the poem as a truly folk hero. And all of Sid’s closest assistants are also not aristocratic, but popular - Alvar Fañez, Felez Muñoz, Pero Bermudez and others.
This democratization of the image of Sid and the deeply democratic popular tone of the poem about him are based on the above-mentioned folk character reconquista.
During the early Middle Ages, oral poetry, especially heroic epic, actively developed, which was typical primarily for England and the countries of Scandinavia.
The collective memory of the people was heroic epic, which reflected his spiritual life, ideals and values. The origins of the Western European heroic epic lie in the depths of the barbarian era. Only by the VIII - IX centuries. the first records were compiled epic works. The early stage of epic poetry, associated with the formation of early feudal military poetry - Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Old Scandinavian - has reached us only in fragments.
The early epic of Western European peoples arose as a result of the interaction of a heroic fairy tale-song and a primitive mythological epic about the first ancestors - “cultural heroes”, who were considered the ancestors of the tribe.
Heroic epic came to us in the form of grandiose epics, songs, in mixed poetic and song form, and less often - prose.
Ancient Icelandic literature according to the time of origin, it includes the poetry of the skalds, Eddic songs and Icelandic sagas (prose tales). The most ancient songs of the skalds have been preserved only in the form of quotations from the Icelandic sagas of the 13th century. According to Icelandic tradition, skalds had social and religious influence, and were brave and strong people. The poetry of the skalds is dedicated to the praise of some feat and the gift received for it. Skaldic poetry is unknown to lyricism; it is heroic poetry in the literal sense of the word. The poems of about 250 skalds have survived to this day. The first of the Icelandic sagas, “The Saga of Egil,” tells about one of them, the famous poet-warrior Egil Skallagrimson (10th century).
Celtic epic is the oldest European literature. Irish sagas originated in the 1st century. AD and took shape over several centuries. They have existed in written form since the 7th century. - (came down to us in the records of the 12th century). The early Irish sagas are mythological and heroic. Their content is the pagan beliefs of the ancient Celts, the mythical history of the settlement of Ireland. In the heroic sagas, the main character Cuchulainn reflected the national ideal of the people - a fearless warrior, honest, strong, generous.
Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, dating back to the end of the 7th - beginning of the 8th century, was formed on the basis of earlier oral heroic songs. The hero of the epic is a brave knight from the South Scandinavian tribe of Gauts, who saves the Danish king Hrothgar who is in trouble. The hero performs three miraculous feats. He defeats the monster Grendal, who exterminated the king's warriors. Having mortally wounded Grendal and defeated his mother, who was avenging her son, Beowulf becomes king of the Gauts. Being already old, he accomplishes his last feat - he destroys the terrible dragon, taking revenge on the Gauts for the golden cup stolen from him. The hero dies in a duel with the dragon.
"Beowulf" is a bizarre interweaving of mythology, folklore and historical events. Snake wrestling, three wonderful duels - elements folk tale. At the same time, the hero himself, fighting for the interests of his tribe, his tragic death - character traits a heroic epic, historical in its core (some names and events described in the epic are found in the history of the ancient Germans). Since the formation of the epic dates back to the end of the 7th - beginning of the 8th centuries, i.e. more than a century after the adoption of Christianity by the Anglo-Saxons, Christian elements are also found in Beowulf.
In the 12th century. the first written monuments appear medieval heroic epic in adaptations. Being original, they are based on the folk heroic epic. Images medieval epic are in many ways similar to the images of traditional epic heroes - they are fearless warriors, valiantly defending their country, brave, faithful to their duty.
At the same time, since the medieval heroic epic in adaptations was created during a period of already quite developed culture of its time, in traces of the influence of knightly and religious ideas of the era of its creation are obvious. The heroes of the medieval epic are faithful defenders of the Christian faith (Sid, Roland), vassals devoted to their lords.
Spanish epic - "Song of my Cid"- was composed during the period of the “Reconquista” (XII century), the time of the Spaniards’ struggle to return the lands captured by the Moors. The prototype of the hero of the poem was a historical figure - Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (the Moors called him “Sid”, i.e. master).
The Song tells how Cid, exiled by King Alfonso of Castile, wages a brave fight against the Moors. As a reward for his victories, Alphonse wooed Sid's daughters to noble infantes from Carrion. The second part of the "Song" tells about the treachery of Sid's sons-in-law and his revenge for the desecrated honor of his daughters.
The absence of fiction, the realistic depiction of the life and customs of the Spaniards of that time, the very language of the “song”, close to the folk one, make “The Song of My Cid” the most realistic epic in medieval literature.
An outstanding monument of the German epic - "The Song of the Nibelungs"- was recorded around 1225. The plot of the “Song” is based on ancient German legends from the time of the Great Migration of Peoples - the death of one of the German kingdoms - Burgundy - as a result of the invasion of the Huns (437).
The early epic of Western European literature combined Christian and pagan motifs. It was formed during the period of decomposition of the tribal system and the formation of feudal relations, when Christian teaching replaced paganism. The adoption of Christianity not only contributed to the process of centralization of countries, but also to the interaction of nationalities and cultures.
Celtic tales formed the basis of medieval chivalric romances about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; they were the source from which poets of subsequent centuries drew inspiration and plots for their works.
In the history of the development of Western European epic, two stages are distinguished: the epic of the period of decomposition of the tribal system, or archaic(Anglo-Saxon - "Beowulf", Celtic sagas, Old Norse epic songs - "Elder Edda", Icelandic sagas), and epic of the feudal era, or heroic(French - “The Song of Roland”, Spanish - “The Song of Cid”, German - “The Song of the Nibelungs”).
In the archaic epic there remains a connection with archaic rituals and myths, cults of pagan gods and myths about totemic ancestors, demiurge gods or cultural heroes. The hero belongs to the all-encompassing unity of the clan and makes a choice in favor of the clan. These epic monuments are characterized by brevity, formulaic style, expressed in the variation of some artistic tropes. In addition, a single epic picture arises by combining individual sagas or songs, while the epic monuments themselves developed in a laconic form, their plot is grouped around one epic situation, rarely combining several episodes. The exception is Beowulf, which has a completed two-part composition and recreates a complete epic picture in one work. The archaic epic of the early European Middle Ages developed in both poetic and prose forms (Icelandic sagas) and in poetic and prose forms (Celtic epic).
Characters going back to historical prototypes (Cuchulainn, Conchobar, Gunnar, Atli) are endowed with fantastic features drawn from archaic mythology. Often archaic epics are presented as separate epic works (songs, sagas) that are not combined into a single epic canvas. In particular, in Ireland such associations of sagas were created already during the period of their recording, at the beginning of the Mature Middle Ages. Archaic epics, to a small extent, sporadically, bear the stamp of dual faith, for example, the mention of the “son of error” in “The Voyage of Bran, son of Phebal.” Archaic epics reflect the ideals and values of the era of the clan system: thus, Cuchulainn, sacrificing his safety, makes a choice in favor of the clan, and when saying goodbye to life, he calls the name of the capital Emain, and not his wife or son.
Unlike the archaic epic, where the heroism of people fighting for the interests of their clan and tribe, sometimes against infringement of their honor, was glorified, in the heroic epic a hero is glorified, fighting for the integrity and independence of his state. His opponents are both foreign conquerors and rampaging feudal lords, who with their narrow egoism cause great damage to the national cause. There is less fantasy in this epic, there are almost no mythological elements, 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 the hero or an important historical event.
The main thing in this epic is its nationality, which is not immediately realized, since in the specific situation of the heyday of the Middle Ages, the hero of the epic work often appears in the guise of a warrior-knight, seized with religious enthusiasm, or a close relative, or an assistant to the king, and not a person from the people. Depicting kings, their assistants, and knights as heroes of the epic, the people, according to Hegel, did this “not out of preference for noble persons, but out of a desire to give an image of complete freedom in desires and actions, which is realized in the idea of royalty.” Also, the religious enthusiasm, often inherent in the hero, did not contradict his nationality, since the people at that time gave their struggle against the feudal lords the character of a religious movement. The nationality of the heroes in the epic during the heyday of the Middle Ages is in their selfless struggle for the national cause, in their extraordinary patriotic inspiration in defense of their homeland, with the name of which on their lips they sometimes died, fighting against foreign enslavers and the treasonous actions of anarchist feudal lords.
3. "Elder Edda" and "Younger Edda". Scandinavian gods and heroes.
A song about gods and heroes, conventionally united by the title "Elder Edda" preserved in a manuscript that dates back to the second half of the 13th century. It is not known whether this manuscript was the first or whether it had any predecessors. There are, in addition, some other recordings of songs also classified as Eddic. The history of the songs themselves is also unknown, and on this score a variety of points of view and contradictory theories have been put forward ( Legend attributes the authorship to the Icelandic scientist Samund the Wise. However, there is no doubt that songs originated much earlier and were passed down through oral tradition for centuries). The range in dating of songs often reaches several centuries. Not all songs originated in Iceland: among them there are songs that go back to South German prototypes; in the Edda there are motifs and characters familiar from the Anglo-Saxon epic; a lot was apparently brought from other Scandinavian countries. It can be assumed that at least some of the songs arose much earlier, even in the unwritten period.
Before us is an epic, but a very unique epic. This originality cannot but strike the eye when reading the Elder Edda after Beowulf. Instead of a lengthy, slowly flowing epic, here we have before us a dynamic and concise song, in a few words or stanzas, outlining the fate of heroes or gods, their speeches and actions.
Eddic songs do not form a coherent unity, and it is clear that only a part of them has reached us. The individual songs feel like versions of the same piece; Thus, in the songs about Helgi, Atli, Sigurd and Gudrun, the same plot is interpreted differently. The "Speeches of Atli" are sometimes interpreted as a later, expanded reworking of the more ancient "Song of Atli."
In general, all Eddic songs are divided into songs about gods and songs about heroes. Songs about the gods contain a wealth of material on mythology; this is our most important source for knowledge of Scandinavian paganism (albeit in a very late, so to speak, “posthumous” version of it).
The artistic and cultural-historical significance of the Elder Edda is enormous. It occupies one of the honorable places in world literature. The images of the Eddic songs, along with the images of the sagas, supported the Icelanders throughout their difficult history, especially during the period when this small people, deprived of national independence, was almost doomed to extinction as a result of foreign exploitation, and from famine and epidemics. The memory of the heroic and legendary past gave the Icelanders the strength to hold out and not die.
Prose Edda (Snorr Edda, Prose Edda or simply Edda)- a work by the medieval Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson, written in 1222-1225 and intended as a textbook on skaldic poetry. Consists of four parts containing a large number of quotations from ancient poems based on stories from German-Scandinavian mythology.
The Edda begins with a euhemeristic prologue and three separate books: Gylfaginning (approx. 20,000 words), Skáldskaparmál (approx. 50,000 words) and Háttatal (approx. 20,000 words). The Edda survives in seven different manuscripts, dating from 1300 to 1600, with textual content independent of each other.
The purpose of the work was to convey to contemporary Snorri readers the subtlety of alliterative verse and to grasp the meanings of the words hidden under the many kennings.
The Younger Edda was originally known simply as the Edda, but was later given its name to distinguish it from the Elder Edda. The Younger Edda is associated with many verses quoted by both.
Scandinavian mythology:
Creation of the world: initially there were two abysses - ice and fire. For some reason they mixed, and from the resulting frost the first creature arose - Ymir, the giant. Afterwards, Odin appears with his brothers, kills Ymir and creates a world from his remains.
According to the ancient Scandinavians, the world is the ash tree Yggdrasil. Its branches are the world of Asgard, where the gods live, the trunk is the world of Midgard, where people live, the roots are the world of Utgard, the kingdom of evil spirits and the dead who died an improper death.
Gods live in Asgard (they are not omnipotent, they are mortal). Only the souls of heroically dead people can enter this world.
The mistress of the kingdom of the dead, Hel, lives in Utgard.
The appearance of people: the gods found two pieces of wood on the shore - ash and alder and breathed life into them. This is how the first man and woman appeared - Ask and Elebla.
The Fall of the World: The gods know that the world will end, but they do not know when this will happen, for the world is ruled by Fate. In the "Prophecy of Volva" Odin comes to the soothsayer Volva and she tells him the past and the future. In the future, she predicts the day of the fall of the world - Ragnarok. On this day, the world wolf Fenrir will kill Odin, and the serpent Ermungard will attack people. Hel will lead the giants and the dead against gods and people. After the world will burn, its remains will be washed away by water and a new life cycle will begin.
The gods of Asgard are divided into Aesir and Vanir. ( Aces - the main group of gods led by Odin, who loved, fought and died, because, like people, they did not have immortality. These gods are contrasted with the vanirs (gods of fertility), giants (etuns), dwarfs (miniatures), as well as female deities - diss, norns and valkyries. Vanir - a group of fertility gods. They lived in Vanaheim, far from Asgard, the abode of the aesir gods. The Vanirs had the gift of foresight, prophecy, and also mastered the art of witchcraft. They were attributed to incestuous relationships between brothers and sisters. The Vanir included Njord and his offspring - Frey and Freya.)
One- First among the aces, One god of poetry, wisdom, war and death.
Thor- Thor is the god of thunder and one of the most powerful gods. Thor was also the patron of agriculture. Therefore, he was the most loved and respected of the gods. Thor is the representative of order, law and stability.
Frigga- As Odin's wife, Frigga is the first among the goddesses of Asgard. She is the patroness of marriage and motherhood; women call upon her during childbirth.
Loki- God of fire, creator of trolls. It is unpredictable, and represents the opposite of a fixed order. He is smart and cunning, and can also change his appearance.
Heroes:
Gylvi, Gylfi- the legendary Swedish king who heard Gytheon’s stories about the Aesir and went in search of them; after long wanderings, as a reward for his zeal, he got the opportunity to talk with three aces (High, Equally High and Third), who answered his questions about the origin, structure and fate of the universe. Gangleri is the name given to King Gylfi, who was accepted for conversation by the Asami.
Groa- the sorceress, wife of the famous hero Aurvandil, treated Thor after the duel with Grungnir.
Violectrina- appeared to Tohru before his escape.
Volsung- the son of the king of the Frans Rerir, given to him by the Aesir.
Kriemhilda- Siegfried's wife.
Mann- the first man, the progenitor of the Germanic tribes.
Nibelungs- the descendants of the miniature who collected countless treasures, and all the owners of this treasure, which carries a curse.
Siegfried (Sigurd)
Hadding- a warrior hero and wizard who enjoyed the special patronage of Odin.
Högni (Hagen)- the hero is the killer of Siegfried (Sigurd), who flooded the Nibelungen treasure in the Rhine.
Helgi- a hero who accomplished many feats.
Ask- the first man on earth whom the aces made from ash.
Embla- the first woman on earth made by the Ases from willow (according to other sources - from alder).
4. German heroic epic. "Song of the Nibelungs."
“The Song of the Nibelungs,” written around 1200, is the largest and oldest monument of the German folk heroic epic. 33 manuscripts have survived, representing the text in three editions.
The “Song of the Nibelungs” is based on ancient German legends dating back to the events of the period of barbarian invasions. The historical facts to which the poem goes back are the events of the 5th century, including the death of the Burgundian kingdom, destroyed in 437 by the Huns. These events are also mentioned in the Elder Edda.
The text of the “Song” consists of 2400 stanzas, each of which contains four paired rhyming lines (the so-called “Nibelung stanza”), and is divided into 20 songs.
In terms of content, the poem is divided into two parts. The first of them (songs 1 - 10) describes the story of the German hero Siegfried, his marriage to Kriemhild and the treacherous murder of Siegfried. Songs 10 to 20 talk about Kriemhild's revenge for her murdered husband and the death of the Burgundian kingdom.
One of the characters that most attracts researchers is Kriemhild. She enters the picture as a tender young girl who does not show much initiative in life. She is pretty, but her beauty, this beautiful attribute, is nothing out of the ordinary. However, at a more mature age, she achieves the death of her brothers and beheads her own uncle with her own hands. Has she gone crazy or was she cruel to begin with? Was it revenge for her husband or a thirst for treasure? In the Edda, Kriemhild corresponds to Gudrun, and one can also be amazed at her cruelty - she prepares a meal from the meat of her own children. In studies of the image of Kriemhild, the theme of treasure often plays a central role. The question of what prompted Kriemhild to action, the desire to take possession of the treasure or the desire to avenge Siegfried, and which of the two motives is older, is discussed again and again. V. Schröder subordinates the theme of treasure to the idea of revenge, seeing the importance of the “Rhine gold” not in wealth, but in its symbolic value for Kriemhild, and the motive of the treasure is inseparable from the motive of revenge. Kriemhild is a useless mother, greedy, a devil, not a woman, not even a person. But she is also a tragic heroine who lost her husband and honor, an exemplary avenger.
Siegfried is the ideal hero of the "Song of the Nibelungs". The prince from the Lower Rhine, the son of the Dutch king Siegmund and Queen Sieglinde, the conqueror of the Nibelungs, who took possession of their treasure - the gold of the Rhine, is endowed with all the virtues of knighthood. He is noble, brave, courteous. Duty and honor are above all for him. The authors of the “Song of the Nibelungs” emphasize his extraordinary attractiveness and physical strength. His very name, consisting of two parts (Sieg - victory, Fried - peace), expresses the national German identity at the time of medieval strife. Despite his young age, he visited many countries, gaining fame for his courage and power. Siegfried is endowed with a powerful will to live, a strong belief in himself, and at the same time he lives with passions that awaken in him by the power of foggy visions and vague dreams. The image of Siegfried combines the archaic features of the hero of myths and fairy tales with the behavior of a feudal knight, ambitious and cocky. Offended at first by the insufficiently friendly reception, he is insolent and threatens the King of the Burgundians, encroaching on his life and throne. He soon resigns himself, remembering the purpose of his visit. It is characteristic that the prince unquestioningly serves King Gunther, not ashamed to become his vassal. This reflects not only the desire to get Kriemhild as a wife, but also the pathos of faithful service to the overlord, invariably inherent in the medieval heroic epic.
All the characters in “The Nibelungenlied” are deeply tragic. The fate of Kriemhild is tragic, whose happiness is destroyed by Gunther, Brunhild and Hagen. The fate of the Burgundian kings, who perish in a foreign land, as well as a number of other characters in the poem, is tragic.
In “The Song of the Nibelungs” we find a true picture of the atrocities of the feudal world, which appears before the reader as a kind of gloomy destructive principle, as well as a condemnation of these atrocities so common to feudalism. And in this, first of all, the nationality of the German poem, closely connected with the traditions of the German epic epic, is manifested.
5. French heroic epic. "The Song of Roland"
Of all the national epics of the feudal Middle Ages, the most flourishing and diverse is the French epic. It has come down to us in the form of poems (about 90 in total), of which the oldest are preserved in the records of the 12th century, and the latest date back to the 14th century. These poems are called “gestures” (from the French “chansons de geste”, which literally means “songs”) about deeds" or "songs about exploits"). They vary in length - from 1000 to 2000 verses - and consist of unequal length (from 5 to 40 verses) stanzas or "tirades", also called "laisses". The lines are interconnected by assonances, which later, starting from the 13th century, are replaced by precise rhymes. These poems were intended for singing (or, more precisely, recitation). The performers of these poems, and often their compilers, were jugglers - traveling singers and musicians.
Three themes make up the main content of the French epic:
1) defense of the homeland from external enemies - Moors (or Saracens), Normans, Saxons, etc.;
2) faithful service to the king, protection of his rights and the eradication of traitors;
3) bloody feudal strife.
Of all the French epics, the most remarkable is “The Song of Roland,” a poem that had a European resonance and represents one of the peaks of medieval poetry.
The poem tells of the heroic death of Count Roland, Charlemagne's nephew, during the battle with the Moors in the Roncesvalles Gorge, the betrayal of Roland's stepfather, Ganelon, which was the cause of this disaster, and Charlemagne's revenge for the death of Roland and twelve peers.
The Song of Roland originated around 1100, shortly before the First Crusade. The unknown author was not devoid of some education (to the extent available to many jugglers of that time) and, no doubt, put a lot of his own into the reworking of old songs on the same topic, both in plot and stylistically; but his main merit lies not in these additions, but precisely in the fact that he preserved the deep meaning and expressiveness of the ancient heroic legend and, connecting his thoughts with living modernity, found a brilliant artistic form for their expression.
The ideological concept of the legend about Roland is clarified by comparing the “Song of Roland” with the 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 the other. Having crossed the Pyrenees, Charles took several cities and besieged Zaragoza, but, having stood under its walls for several weeks, he had to return to France with nothing. When he was returning back through the Pyrenees, the Basques, irritated by the passage of foreign troops through their fields and villages, set up an ambush in the Roncesval Gorge and, attacking the French rearguard, killed many of them; according to the historiographer Charlemagne Eginhard, among other nobles, “Hruotland, Margrave of Brittany” died. After this, Eginhard adds, the Basques fled, and it was not possible to punish them.
A short and fruitless expedition to northern Spain, which had nothing to do with the religious struggle and ended in a not particularly significant, but still annoying military failure, was turned by singer-storytellers into a picture of a seven-year war that ended with the conquest of all of Spain, then a terrible catastrophe during the retreat of the French army, and here the enemies were not the Basque Christians, but the same Moors, and, finally, a picture of revenge on the part of Charles in the form of a grandiose, truly “world” battle of the French with the united forces of the entire Muslim world.
The epic song at this stage of development, expanding into the picture of an established social structure, turned into an epic. Along with this, however, it preserved many common features and techniques of oral folk poetry, such as constant epithets, ready-made formulas for “typical” positions, direct expression of the singer’s assessments and feelings about what is depicted, simplicity of language, especially syntax, coincidence the end of a verse with the end of a sentence, etc.
The main characters of the poem are Roland and Ganelon.
Roland in the poem is a powerful and brilliant knight, impeccable in fulfilling his vassal duty, formulated by the poet as follows:
The vassal serves his lord, He endures the winter cold and heat, He is not sorry to shed blood for him.
He is, in the full sense of the word, an example of knightly valor and nobility. But the deep connection of the poem with folk songwriting and the popular understanding of heroism is reflected in the fact that all the knightly traits of Roland are given by the poet in a humanized form, freed from class limitations. Roland is alien to selfishness, cruelty, greed, and the anarchic self-will of the feudal lords. One can feel in him an excess of youthful strength, a joyful belief in the rightness of his cause and in his luck, a passionate thirst for selfless achievement. Full of proud self-awareness, but at the same time alien to any arrogance or self-interest, he devotes himself entirely to serving the king, people, and homeland.
Ganelon is not just a traitor, but an expression of some powerful evil principle, hostile to any national cause, the personification of feudal, anarchic egoism. This beginning in the poem is shown in all its strength, with great artistic objectivity. Ganelon is not depicted as some kind of physical and moral monster. This is a majestic and brave fighter. When Roland offers to send him as an ambassador to Marsilius, Ganelon is not afraid of this assignment, although he knows how dangerous it is. But by attributing to others the same motives that are fundamental to himself, he assumes that Roland had the intention of destroying him.
The content of “The Song of Roland” is animated by its national-religious idea. But this problem is not the only one; the socio-political contradictions characteristic of the intensively developing in the X-XI centuries were also reflected with enormous force. feudalism. This second 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 singers-storytellers to explain the defeat of the “invincible” army of Charlemagne as an external fatal cause. In “The Song of Roland,” it is not so much that the blackness of the act of an individual traitor, Ganelon, is revealed, but rather that it exposes the disastrousness for the native country of that feudal, anarchic egoism, the representative of which, in some respects, is brilliant, Ganelon.
6. Spanish heroic epic. "Song of my Sid"
The Spanish epic reflected the specifics of the history of Spain in the early Middle Ages. In 711, Spain was invaded by the Moors, who within a few years captured almost the entire peninsula. The Spaniards managed to hold out only in the far north, in the mountains of Cantabria, where the kingdom of Asturias was formed. However, immediately after this, the “reconquista” began, that is, the reconquest of the country by the Spaniards.
The kingdoms - Asturias, Castile and Leon, Navarre, etc. - sometimes fragmenting, and sometimes uniting, fought first with the Moors, then with each other, in the latter case sometimes entering into an alliance with the Moors against their compatriots. Spain made decisive progress in the reconquista in the 11th and 12th centuries, mainly thanks to the enthusiasm of the popular masses. Although the reconquista was led by the highest nobility, who received the largest part of the lands conquered from the Moors, its main driving force was the peasantry, townspeople and minor nobles close to them. In the 10th century A struggle unfolded between the old, aristocratic kingdom of Leon and Castile, which was subject to it, as a result of which Castile achieved complete political independence. Submission to the Leonese judges, who applied ancient, extremely reactionary laws, weighed heavily on the freedom-loving Castilian knighthood, but now they had new laws. According to these laws, the title and rights of knights were extended to everyone who went on a campaign against the Moors on horseback, even if he was of very low origin. However, at the end of the 11th century. Castilian liberties suffered greatly when Alfonso VI, who had been King of Leon in his youth and now surrounded himself with the old Leonese nobility, ascended the throne. Anti-democratic tendencies under this king intensified even more due to the influx of French knights and clergy into Castile. The former sought there under the pretext of assisting the Spaniards in their fight against the Moors, the latter, allegedly to organize a church in the lands conquered from the Moors. But as a result of this, the French knights captured the best plots, and the monks captured the richest parishes. Both of them, having arrived from a country where feudalism had a much more developed form, implanted feudal-aristocratic skills and concepts in Spain. All this made them hated by the local population, whom they brutally exploited, caused a number of uprisings and for a long time instilled in the Spanish people distrust and hostility towards the French.
These political events and relationships were widely reflected in the Spanish heroic epic, whose three main themes are:
1) the fight against the Moors, with the goal of reconquering their native land;
2) discord between feudal lords, portrayed as the greatest evil for the entire country, as an insult to moral truth and treason;
3) the struggle for the freedom of Castile, and then for its political primacy, which is seen as the key to the final defeat of the Moors and as the basis for the national-political unification of all of Spain.
In many poems these themes are not given separately, but in close connection with each other.
The Spanish heroic epic developed similarly to the French epic. It was also based on short episodic songs of a lyrical-epic nature and oral unformed legends that arose in the druzhina environment and soon became the common property of the people; and in the same way, around the 10th century, when Spanish feudalism began to take shape and for the first time there was a sense of the unity of the Spanish nation, this material, falling into the hands of jugglers-huglars, through deep stylistic processing took shape in the form of large epic poems. The heyday of these poems, which for a long time were the “poetic history” of Spain and expressed the self-awareness of the Spanish people, occurred in the 11th-13th centuries, but after that they continued to live an intensive life for another two centuries and died out only in the 15th century, giving way to a new form folk epic legend - romances.
Spanish heroic poems are similar in form and method of execution to French ones. They stand in a series of stanzas of unequal length, connected by assonances. However, their metric is different: they are written in folk, so-called irregular, meter - verses with an indefinite number of syllables - from 8 to 16.
In terms of style, the Spanish epic is also similar to the French. However, it is distinguished by a drier and more business-like way of presentation, an abundance of everyday features, an almost complete absence of hyperbolism and an element of the supernatural - both fairy-tale and Christian.
The pinnacle of the Spanish folk epic is formed by the tales of Cid. Ruy Diaz, nicknamed Cid, is a historical figure. He was born between 1025 and 1043. His nickname is a word of Arabic origin meaning "lord" ("seid"); this title was often given to Spanish lords who also had Moors among their subjects: Ruy is a shortened form of the name Rodrigo. Cid belonged to the highest Castilian nobility, was the commander of all the troops of King Sancho II of Castile and his closest assistant in the wars that the king waged both with the Moors and with his brothers and sisters. When Sancho died during the siege of Zamora and his brother Alfonso VI, who had spent his youth in Leon, ascended the throne, hostile relations were established between the new king, who favored the Leonese nobility, and the latter, and Alfonso, taking advantage of an insignificant pretext, expelled Sida from Castile.
For some time, Sid served with his retinue as a mercenary for various Christian and Muslim sovereigns, but then, thanks to his extreme dexterity and courage, he became an independent ruler and won the principality of Valencia from the Moors. After this, he made peace with King Alphonse and began to act in alliance with him against the Moors.
There is no doubt that even during Sid’s lifetime, songs and tales about his exploits began to be composed. These songs and stories, having spread among the people, soon became the property of the Khuglars, one of whom, around 1140, composed a poem about him.
Content:
The Song of Sid, containing 3,735 verses, is divided into three parts. The first (called by researchers the “Song of Exile”) depicts Sid’s first exploits in a foreign land. First, he gets money for the campaign by pawning chests filled with sand to Jewish moneylenders under the guise of family jewelry. Then, having gathered a detachment of sixty warriors, he enters the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña to say goodbye to his wife and daughters there. After this he travels to Moorish land. Hearing of his expulsion, people flock to his banner. Cid wins a series of victories over the Moors and after each of them sends part of the booty to King Alphonse.
The second part (“The Wedding Song”) depicts the Cid’s conquest of Valencia. Seeing his power and touched by his gifts, Alphonse makes peace with Sid and allows his wife and children to move to Valencia with him. Then Sil meets with the king himself, who acts as a matchmaker, offering Sid the noble infantes de Carrion as his son-in-law. Sil, although reluctantly, agrees to this. He gives his sons-in-law two of his battle swords and gives a rich dowry for his daughters. A description of the magnificent wedding celebrations follows.
The third part (“Song of Korpes”) tells the following. Sid's sons-in-law turned out to be worthless cowards. Unable to tolerate the ridicule of Sid and his vassals, they decided to take it out on his daughters. Under the pretext of showing their wives to their relatives, they prepared for the journey. Having reached the Korpes oak grove, the sons-in-law got off their horses, severely beat their wives and left them tied to the trees. The unfortunates would have died if not for Sid's nephew Felez Muñoz, who found them and brought them home. Sid demands revenge. The king convenes the Cortes to try the guilty. Sid comes there with his beard tied up so that no one will insult him by pulling his beard. The case is decided by judicial duel (“God’s court”). Sid's fighters defeat the defendants, and Sid triumphs. He unties his beard, and everyone is amazed at his majestic appearance. New suitors are wooing Sid's daughters - the princes of Navarre and Aragon. The poem ends with a praise to Sid.
In general, the poem is more historically accurate than any other Western European epic known to us.
This accuracy corresponds to the general truthful tone of the narrative, usual for Spanish poems. Descriptions and characteristics are free from any elevation. Persons, objects, events are depicted simply, concretely, with businesslike restraint, although this does not exclude sometimes great inner warmth. There are almost no poetic comparisons or metaphors at all. There is a complete absence of Christian fiction, except for the appearance of the Archangel Michael in Sid's dream on the eve of his departure. There is also no hyperbolism at all in the depiction of combat moments. Images of martial arts are very rare and are of a less brutal nature than in the French epic; Mass fights predominate, with nobles sometimes dying at the hands of nameless warriors.
The poem lacks the exclusivity of knightly feelings. The singer openly emphasizes the importance of booty, profit, and the monetary base of any military enterprise for a fighter. An example is the way in which at the beginning of the poem Sid obtained the money necessary for the campaign. The singer never forgets to mention the size of the war booty, the share that went to each fighter, and the portion sent by the Sid to the king. In the scene of the litigation with the infantes de Carrion, Cid first of all demands the return of swords and dowry, and then raises the issue of insult to honor. He always behaves like a prudent, reasonable owner.
In accordance with everyday motives of this kind, family themes play a prominent role. The point is not only what place is occupied in the poem by the story of the first marriage of Sid’s daughters and the bright ending of the picture of their second, happy marriage, but also by the fact that family, family feelings with all their sincere intimacy gradually come to the fore in the poem.
Sid's image: The Sid is presented, contrary to history, only as an “infanson,” that is, a knight who has vassals, but does not belong to the highest nobility. He is depicted as full of self-awareness and dignity, but at the same time good-natured and simple in his dealings with everyone, alien to any aristocratic arrogance. The norms of knightly practice inevitably determine the main lines of Sid’s activities, but not his personal character: he himself, as free as possible from knightly habits, appears in the poem as a truly folk hero. And all of Sid’s closest assistants are also not aristocratic, but popular - Alvar Fañez, Felez Muñoz, Pero Bermudez and others.
This democratization of the image of Sid and the deeply democratic popular tone of the poem about him are based on the above-mentioned popular character of the reconquista.
1). The question of the origin of the heroic epic - one of the most difficult in literary science - has given rise to a number of different theories. Two of them stand out: “traditionalism” and “anti-traditionalism.” The foundations of the first of them were laid by the French medievalist Gaston Paris (1839-1901) in his major work “The Poetic History of Charlemagne” (1865). The theory of Gaston Paris, called the “cantilena theory,” boils down to the following main principles. The primary basis of the heroic epic were small lyrical-epic cantilena songs, widespread in the 8th century. Cantilenas were a direct response to certain historical events. For hundreds of years, cantilenas existed in... oral tradition, and from the 10th century. the process of their merging into large epic poems begins. The epic is the product of long-term collective creativity, the highest expression of the spirit of the people. Therefore, it is impossible to name a single creator of an epic poem; the recording of poems itself is a more mechanical process than a creative one,
The positions of “traditionalists” and “anti-traditionalists” were to a certain extent brought together in his theory about the origin of the heroic epic by Alexander Nikolaevich Veselovsky. The essence of his theory is as follows. The beginning of epic creativity was small songs - lyrical-epic cantilenas, born as a response to events that excited the people imagination. After a while, the attitude towards the events described in the songs becomes calmer, the severity of emotions is lost and then an epic song is born. Time passes, and songs, in one way or another close to each other, develop into cycles. And finally the cycle turns into an epic poem While the text exists in the oral tradition, it is the creation of a collective. At the last stage of the formation of the epic, the individual author plays a decisive role. The recording of poems is not a mechanical act, but a deeply creative one.
The fundamentals of Veselovsky’s theory retain their significance for modern science(V. Zhirmunsky, E. Meletinsky), which also dates the emergence of the heroic epic to the 8th century, believing that the epic is the creation of both oral collective and written individual creativity.
Only the question of the fundamental principles of the heroic epic is corrected: they are considered to be historical legends and the richest arsenal of figurative means of the archaic epic.
It is no coincidence that the beginning of the formation of the heroic (or state) epic dates back to the 8th century. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476), over the course of a number of centuries there was a transition from slaveholding forms of statehood to feudal ones, and among the peoples of Northern Europe there was a process of final decomposition of patriarchal-tribal relations. Qualitative changes associated with the establishment of a new statehood definitely made themselves felt in the 8th century. In 751, one of the largest feudal lords in Europe, Pepin the Short, became king of the Franks and founder of the Carolingian dynasty. Under the son of Pepin the Short, Charlemagne (reign: 768-814), a huge state was formed, including a Celtic-Roman-Germanic population. In 80b, the pope crowned Charles with the title of emperor of the newly revived Great Roman Empire. In turn, Kara completes the Christianization of the German tribes, and seeks to turn the capital of the empire, Aachen, into Athens. The formation of the new state was difficult not only because of internal circumstances, but also because of external ones, among which one of the main places was occupied by the ongoing war between Christian Franks and Muslim Arabs. This is how history powerfully entered the life of medieval man. And the heroic epic itself became a poetic reflection of the historical consciousness of the people.
The focus on history determines the decisive features of the difference between the heroic epic and the archaic epic. The central themes of the heroic epic reflect the most important trends historical life, a specific historical, geographical, ethnic background appears, mythological and fairy-tale motivations are eliminated. The truth of history now determines the truth of the epic.
Heroic poems created by different peoples of Europe have much in common. This is explained by the fact that a similar historical reality was subjected to artistic generalization; this reality itself was comprehended from the point of view of the same level of historical consciousness. In addition, the medium of image was an artistic language that has common roots in European folklore. But at the same time, in the heroic epic of everyone separate people many unique, nationally specific features.
The most significant of the Heroic poems of the peoples Western Europe considered: French - “The Song of Roland”, German - “Song of the Nibelungs”, Spanish - “Song of My Sid”. These three great poems make it possible to judge the evolution of the heroic epic: “The Song of the Nibelungs” contains a number of archaic features, “The Song of My Sid” shows the epic at its end, “The Song of Roland” is the moment of its highest maturity.
2) GENERAL FEATURES OF THE HEROIC EPIC
During the Mature Middle Ages, the development of the traditions of folk epic literature continued. This is one of the significant stages in its history, when the heroic epic became the most important link in medieval book literature. The heroic epic of the Mature Middle Ages reflected the processes of ethnic and state consolidation and the emerging seigniorial-vassal relations. The historical themes in the epic expanded, displacing the fairy-tale-mythological ones, the importance of Christian motifs increased and patriotic pathos intensified, a larger epic form and a more flexible style were developed, which was facilitated by some distance from purely folklore samples. However, all this led to a certain impoverishment of the plot and mythopoetic imagery, so subsequently the chivalric romance again turned to folklore fiction. All these features of the new stage in the history of the epic are closely interconnected internally. The transition from epic archaics to epic classics, in particular, was expressed in the fact that the epics of nationalities that had reached the stage of clear state consolidation abandoned the language of myth and fairy tales and turned to developing plots taken from historical legends(while continuing to use, of course, old plot and language clichés dating back to myths).
Clan and tribal interests were pushed aside by national interests, albeit still in their infancy, therefore in many epic monuments we find pronounced patriotic motives, often associated with the fight against foreign and other religious conquerors. Patriotic motives, as is specific to the Middle Ages, partly appear in the form of contrasting Christians with “infidel” Muslims (in Romanesque and Slavic literatures).
As said, the epic at the new stage depicts feudal strife and seigniorial-vassal relations, but due to the epic specificity, vassal loyalty (in the “Song of the Nibelungs”, “Song of Roland”, “Song of my Sid”), as a rule, merges with loyalty to clan, tribe, native country, state. A characteristic figure in the epic of this time is the epic “king”, whose power embodies the unity of the country. He is shown in a complex relationship with the main epic hero - the bearer of folk ideals. Vassal loyalty to the king is combined with a story about his weakness, injustice, with a very critical depiction of the court environment and feudal strife (in the cycle of French poems about Guillaume of Orange). The epic also reflects anti-aristocratic tendencies (in songs about Dietrich of Bern or in “Song of My Sid”). In epic-heroic works of the XII-XIII centuries. At times, the influence of the courtly (knightly) novel also penetrates (in “The Song of the Nibelungs”). But even with the idealization of courtly forms of life, the epic mainly preserves folk-heroic ideals and heroic aesthetics. The heroic epic also displays some tendencies that go beyond its genre nature, for example, hypertrophied adventurism (“Raoul de Cambrai” and others), material motivations for the behavior of the hero who patiently overcomes adverse circumstances (in “The Song of My Sid”), drama , reaching the point of tragedy (in “The Nibelungs” and in “The Song of Roland”). These various trends testify to the hidden possibilities of the epic kind of poetry and anticipate the development of the novel and tragedy.
The stylistic features of the epic are now largely determined by a departure from folklore and deeper processing folklore traditions. In the process of transition from oral improvisation to recitation from manuscripts, numerous enjambements appear, i.e. transfers from verse to verse, synonymy develops, the flexibility and variety of epic formulas increases, sometimes the number of repetitions decreases, a clearer and more harmonious composition becomes possible (“Song of Roland").
Although broad cyclization is also familiar to oral creativity (for example, in folklore Central Asia), but basically the creation of large-scale epic works and their arrangement in cycles is supported by the transition from oral improvisation to a handwritten book. Apparently, bookishness also contributes to the emergence of “psychological” characteristics, as well as the interpretation of the heroic character in terms of a kind of tragic guilt. However, the interaction between folklore and book literature actively continues: in the composition and especially the performance of many epic works, the participation of shpilmans and jugglers was great during this period.
6) One of the most remarkable monuments of medieval literature is considered to be the epic tale of the French people - “The Song of Roland”.
Minor historical fact formed the basis of this heroic epic and over time, enriched by a number of later events, helped the widespread dissemination of tales about Roland and the wars of Charlemagne in many literatures of Western Europe.
The Song of Roland clearly expresses the ideology of a feudal society, in which the faithful service of a vassal to his overlord was an untouchable law, and violation of it was considered betrayal and treason. However, the traits of courageous steadfastness, military valor, selfless friendship and a thoughtful attitude to what is happening were not given a class-feudal connotation in the poem, as in the remarkable monument of creativity of the Russian people “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”; on the contrary, these convincing properties of the valiant defenders of the homeland - military leaders-peers and their vassals, were perceived as typical, national. To an even greater extent, recognition and sympathy from the broad masses were facilitated by thoughts about the defense of the fatherland, about the shame and danger of defeat, which run like a red thread through the entire poem.
General features of the heroic epic of the Mature Middle Ages
History of world literature: In 8 volumes / USSR Academy of Sciences; Institute of World Lit. them. A. M. Gorky. - M.: Nauka, 1983-1994.T. 2. - 1984. - pp. 516-517.
During the Mature Middle Ages, the development of the traditions of folk epic literature continued. This is one of the significant stages in its history, when the heroic epic became the most important link in medieval book literature. The heroic epic of the Mature Middle Ages reflected the processes of ethnic and state consolidation and the emerging seigniorial-vassal relations. The historical themes in the epic expanded, displacing the fairy-tale-mythological ones, the importance of Christian motifs increased and patriotic pathos intensified, a larger epic form and a more flexible style were developed, which was facilitated by some distance from purely folklore samples. However, all this led to a certain impoverishment of the plot and mythopoetic imagery, so subsequently the chivalric romance again turned to folklore fiction. All these features of the new stage in the history of the epic are closely interconnected internally. The transition from epic archaics to epic classics, in particular, was expressed in the fact that the epics of nationalities that had reached the stage of clear state consolidation abandoned the language of myth and fairy tales and turned to developing plots taken from historical legends (while still continuing to use, of course, old plot and language clichés dating back to myths).
Clan and tribal interests were pushed aside by national interests, albeit still in their infancy, therefore in many epic monuments we find pronounced patriotic motives, often associated with the fight against foreign and other religious conquerors. Patriotic motives, as is specific to the Middle Ages, partly appear in the form of contrasting Christians with “infidel” Muslims (in Romanesque and Slavic literatures).
As said, the epic at the new stage depicts feudal strife and seigniorial-vassal relations, but due to the epic specificity, vassal loyalty (in the “Song of the Nibelungs”, “Song of Roland”, “Song of my Sid”), as a rule, merges with loyalty to clan, tribe, native country, state. A characteristic figure in the epic of this time is the epic "king", whose power embodies the unity of the country. He is shown in a complex relationship with the main epic hero - the bearer of folk ideals. Vassal loyalty to the king is combined with a story about his weakness, injustice, with a very critical depiction of the court environment and feudal strife (in the cycle of French poems about Guillaume of Orange). The epic also reflects anti-aristocratic tendencies (in songs about Dietrich of Bern or in “Song of My Sid”). In epic-heroic works of the XII-XIII centuries. At times, the influence of the courtly (knightly) novel also penetrates (in “The Song of the Nibelungs”). But even with the idealization of courtly forms of life, the epic mainly preserves folk-heroic ideals and heroic aesthetics. The heroic epic also displays some tendencies that go beyond its genre nature, for example, hypertrophied adventurism (“Raoul de Cambrai” and others), material motivations for the behavior of the hero who patiently overcomes adverse circumstances (in “The Song of My Sid”), drama , reaching the point of tragedy (in “The Nibelungs” and in “The Song of Roland”). These various trends testify to the hidden possibilities of the epic kind of poetry and anticipate the development of the novel and tragedy.
The stylistic features of the epic are now largely determined by a departure from folklore and a deeper processing of folklore traditions. In the process of transition from oral improvisation to recitation from manuscripts, numerous enjambements appear, i.e. transfers from verse to verse, synonymy develops, the flexibility and variety of epic formulas increases, sometimes the number of repetitions decreases, a clearer and more harmonious composition becomes possible (“Song of Roland").
Although broad cyclization is also familiar to oral creativity (for example, in the folklore of Central Asia), the creation of large-scale epic works and their arrangement in cycles is mainly supported by the transition from oral improvisation to a handwritten book. Apparently, bookishness also contributes to the emergence of “psychological” characteristics, as well as the interpretation of the heroic character in terms of a kind of tragic guilt. However, the interaction between folklore and book literature actively continues: in the composition and especially the performance of many epic works, the participation of shpilmans and jugglers was great during this period.