Anglo-Saxon culture and the Russian soul. Anglo-Saxon mentality. Anglo-Saxon literature in Latin

Kunewulf “Christ” - not in Russian, for those who speak English - modern English translation - http://www.apocalyptic-theories.com/literature/christiii/mechristiii.html

Important:

Tolkien J.R.R. - The Return of Bjorntot - http://bookz.ru/authors/tolkien-djon-ronal_d-ruel/bjorntot/1-bjorntot.html

1. Book culture

Pre-literate period and the early period of the emergence of writing

In the initial period of the early Middle Ages, at least in the first century and a half after the start of the migration to Britain, the Anglo-Saxons did not yet have a written language. They developed oral poetry, especially heroic epics, which preserved historical legends, everyday and ritual songs - drinking, wedding, funeral, as well as songs associated with hunting, agricultural work and pre-Christian religious beliefs and cults. Skilled singer-musicians, the so-called gleomans, those who composed and performed songs accompanied by musical instruments were highly respected by the Anglo-Saxons. With the strengthening of the role of the princely and royal squads, the Anglo-Saxons had warrior singers, the so-called ospreys. Using clan and tribal legends, they composed songs about the exploits of ancient heroes and modern military leaders (VII-VIII centuries).

About ospreys

A small work of Anglo-Saxon poetry " " (i.e. “multi-wanderer”), which has long been considered one of the oldest surviving monuments of Anglo-Saxon literature, paints an image of just such a singer. Its main part is occupied by a “catalogue” of countries allegedly visited by the singer, and those residences where he was received with honor. Among the glorious rulers whom Vidsid visited are the names of the most famous heroes of Germanic epic tales.

Another work in which the singer, "skop" is described, is called " ". It is a lyrical monologue put into the mouth of a court singer named Deor. Deor says that he once sang under the Geodenings and was loved by them, until he was replaced by the “lord of songs” Heorrenda, who took away from him both the favor of the court and fief possession (landryht). Intrigues in the world of people of art: (Deor finds consolation only in the fact that he recalls a whole string of famous images of heroic sagas, heroes of ancient legends. Initially, the poem dated back to the 7th-8th centuries, now it is increasingly attributed to the 9th and even 10th centuries. But the examples used by the author clearly point to an ancient epic tradition.

The emergence of writing in England.

Writing in the modern sense of the word began to be used at the court of the Anglo-Saxon kings along with the adoption of Christianity, when, after the arrival of the Roman mission of St. Augustine, the first books appeared in Latin. Most likely these were books used in worship, and, of course, the Bible. From 597, Latin became the official language of the Christian Church in England, and Latin writing was practically the only type of writing that was soon adapted for writing in Old English. On the basis of the Latin alphabet, the Old English alphabet was created, which was distinguished by the special designs of some letters, characteristic of the so-called “insular” (“insular”) Latin letter, as well as the use of two runic signs.

Runic writing

There is evidence that the Anglo-Saxons who arrived in Britain owned the oldest native Germanic script, the so-called runic alphabet.

Anglo-Saxon runes are a variety of the older runic alphabet, known from the 2nd to 7th centuries. among all Germanic tribes. One should distinguish from the senior runes the junior runes, which spread only among the Scandinavian tribes during the Viking Age from the 9th to the 11th centuries.

Most of the older runic inscriptions found on the continent or in Scandinavia are single sentences, difficult to interpret, or individual runes, sometimes the entire runic alphabet. Elder runes were not used to record texts of a narrative nature - laws, charters, epic tales. All these spheres of verbal creativity among the Germans were of an oral nature, and their transition to writing was associated among all ancient Germanic peoples with the influence of Latin books.

There are two main Anglo-Saxon monuments with runic inscriptions: this is the so-called. “Franks Casket” and “Ruthwell Cross”, both monuments of the 7th century.

“” is a box on which, in one sentence, it is reported about a whale (or walrus), from whose bone a box was made, intended to contain relics - perhaps holy gifts. The box is decorated with carved images that represent a mixture of ancient, Christian and pagan Germanic subjects. The mythical blacksmith Völund, a famous character from Scandinavian mythology, is placed here side by side with the wise men bringing gifts to the Christ child.

Franks Casket Details:

Ruthwell cross is a huge stone crucifix from Northumbria, found at the site of Ruthwell near the Scottish border. Several stanzas of a poem dedicated to the history of the Holy Cross are carved on it in runes (the full version of the poem was preserved in a later manuscript). The appearance of such crosses is associated with the establishment of the cult of the Cross in the 7th century. after his return to Constantinople. Individual runic signs are also found at the end of some of the poems written in Old English by the Anglo-Saxon poet Cunewulf (early 9th century). Each of the signs replaces the word in the text that the rune was called. The sequence of their appearance in the text allows us to reconstruct the name Kynewulf.

The upper part of the Ruthwell Cross from the front (photo on the left), from the back (photo in the center) and the painted upper part of a copy of the Ruthwell Cross (photo on the right)

Such data indicate that runes continued to be used for some time after the introduction of Christianity, and not only for the purposes of pagan magic. Apparently, their preservation is associated with an attempt to enhance the impact of the inscription on the addressee, regardless of the context in which the inscription appeared. Thus, the poet Kynewulf not only weaves his name into the text with runes, but also calls on the reader to pray for his soul. However, in the context of the fight against paganism, the runes could not be preserved for a long time.

The first monuments in Old English

The bulk of the monuments of the 7th-8th centuries, that is, immediately after Christianization, was written in Latin. On the use of Old English in writing in the 7th century. there are only isolated mentions, but the monuments themselves have not reached us. Apparently, however, Latin from the very beginning was not the only official language in England, as in the Frankish state, Germany and other countries: thus, the first legal codes (for example, “Ethelbert’s Laws” - Kent, between 597 and 616) were written down in Old English (later King Alfred included them in his “Laws” in the 9th century).

Legal texts and translations of liturgical texts

In the early period from the 7th to the beginning of the 9th century. monuments in Old English are predominantly legal texts(laws, charters, donations to monasteries), as well as individual passages translations of liturgical texts- Gospels and Psalms). Obviously, the oldest way of using the Latin alphabet for writing in Old English is the so-called “ glosses”, that is, superscript translations of individual Latin words in the text of the Gospel and Psalms. From these individual gloss inscriptions, glossaries were subsequently compiled - Latin-Old English dictionaries. The gloss technique shows the primary use of the Latin alphabet for writing in Old English - this was the teaching of Anglo-Saxon clergy in Latin as a foreign language. This training apparently began immediately after Kent’s baptism, as evidenced by the “Laws of Ethelbert” written in Old English.

From the 7th to the beginning of the 9th century. there is no literary standard as such, and four dialects are attested in writing: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish and Wessex. The first two were dialects of English. They showed great similarities among themselves, but territorial boundaries contributed to the development of some distinctive features in them. The Kentish dialect was formed on the basis of the dialect of the Jutes, the Wessex dialect - on the basis of the dialect of the West Saxons who settled Wessex. A unified written norm began to take shape only from the end of the 9th century. - beginning of the 10th century based on the Wessex dialect in the era when England is united under the auspices of Wessex.

Monastic book culture

From the 7th century Churches were erected throughout the country, monasteries were built, and the number of people educated in these monasteries and on the continent, mainly in France, grew. Monasteries play a vital role as centers of learning. Anglo-Saxon monks and church leaders are engaged in theology and literature, history and natural sciences. The outstanding works of many representatives of the Anglo-Saxon church are included in the golden fund of European literature, and the monasteries in Canterbury, York, and Jarrow already in the 8th century. become the leading centers of Europe not only in the field of theology, but also in Latin and Greek scholarship.

After the adoption of Christianity, Anglo-Saxon society joined the sphere of culture that had already been formed in the Christian world. Its preachers were both major church figures sent by Rome: abbots of monasteries, bishops, papal legates, and Anglo-Saxon clergy who traveled to France and Rome. A major role was played by the arrival after the Council of Whitby (664) of a new mission from Rome, associated with the official victory of the Roman version of Christianity over the Celtic (the reason was the death of the last of the archbishops appointed by Rome). Theodore of Tarsus (668-690), sent by the Pope as Bishop of Canterbury in 668, brought many manuscripts with ecclesiastical and secular works. Theodore carried out extensive educational activities, promoted literacy and founded the first monastic scriptoria in England. The difficult work of a scribe is vividly depicted by the monk Alcuin, who compared it to the work of a plowman. All early manuscripts include works of religious content: gospels, liturgical texts, writings of the church fathers.

Anglo-Saxon literature in Latin

Its formation took place under the strong influence of pan-European Christian writing, the aesthetic principles of which, like literary forms, had already developed by the 7th century. But the existing tradition was not mechanically adopted by the Anglo-Saxon authors. Its creative processing and development led to the fact that already a century later, in the 8th century, some of the works of Anglo-Latin literature gained European fame and took pride of place among the most famous monuments of European literature.

The earliest in the galaxy of outstanding writers in England was Aldhelm (640-709), brother of the Wessex king Ine, abbot of one of the first Anglo-Saxon monasteries (Malmesbury), later Bishop of Sherborne.

An outstanding scientist and writer of his time was the Benedictine monk of the monastery of Yarrow Bed the Venerable (673-735), about whom it was written in detail earlier.

Beda had many students who later became prominent figures in the English church. One of them, Egbert, turned the monastery at York into a world-famous cultural center, where a few decades later Alcuin (735-804), one of the inspirers of the Carolingian Renaissance, was educated. The role of Alcuin in the history of Western European culture is somewhat different from the role of Beda. He is an outstanding organizer and educator, an initiator of initiatives unprecedented in scope and concept, but not an original writer. Alcuin studied at York with Bade's student Egbert and became Bishop of Canterbury. In 780 he was sent to Rome and on his way back met with Charlemagne. From that time on, Alcuin lived at Charles's court, heading the Academy he created. He is considered the founder of the "seven liberal arts" system.

Alcuin's literary heritage is represented by works of exclusively ecclesiastical content: these are treatises on theology, on ethical topics, and commentaries on the Bible.

Viking raids, destruction of monasteries

After Alcuin's death, a certain stagnation occurred in the development of church culture in England, caused by Viking raids: the robbery and destruction of monasteries on the North Sea coast led to their loss of their former significance. First half of the 9th century. marked by a decline in literacy. This allowed Alfred the Great to write 50 years later: “There were few people this side of the Humber who could understand the service in English or translate what was written from Latin into English. And I think there aren’t too many of them beyond the Humber either. And they were so few that I cannot remember a single person south of the Thames when I began to rule this kingdom.”

Anglo-Latin literature by the beginning of the 9th century. ended its heyday. This is due to certain reasons. Monuments of Latin-language literature were designed for an educated reader who understood the intricacies of the theological, historical and natural scientific thought of his time. However, such readers became fewer and fewer.

The need to spread the Christian faith among the masses determined two subsequent rises in English prose:

1) in the era of Alfred himself (late 9th century)

2) in the era of his successors (second half of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century).

Enlightenment in the Age of Alfred.

Continuing the humanistic traditions of Alcuin, Alfred undertook a work unprecedented for his time - the translation of the largest Latin-language works of the European Middle Ages into Old English. Alfred gathered around him, following the example of Charlemagne, the most prominent representatives of theology, philosophy and literature. Alfred and his associates translated five works, the selection of which reveals the depth of knowledge and subtlety of understanding of the culture of the era. These works: the most complete history of their people (“Ecclesiastical History of the Angles” by Bade), a presentation of world history and geography (“Seven Books of History against the Pagans” by Paul Orosius), the largest example of philosophical thought (“On the Consolation of Philosophy” by Boethius), an accessible presentation of patristic worldview (“Monologues” of Augustine the Blessed), code of Christian ethics (“Duties of a Shepherd” by Pope Gregory I). Thanks to Alfred's educational activities, the circle of readers of these outstanding works expanded. Alfred did not set out to accurately translate these works. He rather retold and commented on what he was translating, and sometimes supplemented it with his own information - for example, the stories of travelers about the life of the peoples of northern Europe, included in his Old English “History” of Orosius.

During the era of Alfred, and probably on his direct instructions, the compilation of the first “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” began, containing a weather report of events that took place both in Wessex and in other kingdoms. These are artless narratives that do not pretend to be stylistic sophistication or pomp. However, they provide a broad picture of life in Anglo-Saxon society.

With the death of Alfred, the first rise of English-language prose ended, and in the next 50 years it did not give the world any outstanding works. Even the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of the first half of the 10th century. reveals a decline in narrative prowess.

Benedictine Revival

The Benedictine Renaissance - the second rise of English-language prose - occurs in the second half of the 10th - first half of the 11th century. It is associated with church reform (named after Benedict of Anyan). In English monasteries, weakened at that time by the attacks of the pagan Scandinavians, spiritual activity is being revived, the copying of books is taking on a wide scale, and new collections of church and secular works are being compiled. It is from this time that the main manuscripts that have reached us, containing epic monuments, date back to this time.

Central to this activity is the dissemination and deepening of theology, Christian exegesis and ethics. A huge number of sermons, commentaries on the Bible and the writings of the church fathers, lives and original works on theological topics appears, incomparable to the previous period. Among the numerous authors of this period, Ælfric (995-1020/1025) and Wulfstan (? - 1023) stand out.

Elfric and Wulfstan

Continuing the traditions of Alfred, Ælfric translates a significant part of the Old Testament into Old English, providing it with his own comments and supplementing it with the lives of three Wessex kings: Alfred, Æthelstan and Edgar.

The rise of Anglo-Saxon prose at the end of the 10th - first half of the 11th century. took place within the framework of church literature in contrast to Alfred's predominantly secular literary activities. This determined the main features of the work of Ælfric and Wulfstan. These features also influenced the “mass” genres of secular literature that became widespread at the same time.

"Mass" literature

One of them is Anglo-Saxon poetic "Bestiary"("Physiologist"). In numerous “Physiologists”, which were very popular among medieval readers, various real and fantastic animals were depicted in the spirit of Christian symbolism: a unicorn, a phoenix, a whale, the properties of which were interpreted from an ethical and didactic position. The Anglo-Saxon “Bestiary” contains descriptions of the panther, whale and partridge, inhabiting three elements: land, sea and air.

There are three main sources of “mass” literature of the Anglo-Saxon period: classical (ancient), biblical and native traditions. The influence of Christian ethical and aesthetic ideas was extremely strong. The Bible and church narrative literature became an inexhaustible source of themes and plots. The themes of the creation of the world, individual episodes of the life of Jesus Christ, stories about the life of the apostles, Christian saints were developed again and again, and they were put into familiar forms, and therefore accessible to recently converted members of Christian communities. Sermons and narrative works reveal a desire to acquaint the audience with the main stories of the Old and New Testaments.

All these trends are revealed by one of the most popular genres of “mass” medieval literature - the lives of saints. The foundations of Anglo-Saxon hagiography were laid by Bada in brief lives included in the “Ecclesiastical History” and in one of the first lengthy lives of the local Anglo-Saxon saint, Cuthbert. The canonical form of life, developed in Western Europe, was adopted by Bada, and through him by other Anglo-Saxon authors. However, both in Bada, and especially in subsequent works, the genre undergoes changes under the influence of the desire to adapt the text to the perception of a wide audience.

Old English poetry

By the X-XI centuries. include four manuscripts that preserve Old English poetry. It is uniform in verse and style (it uses so-called alliterative verse, based on consonances of roots, mainly initial consonants, and clichéd phraseology), but diverse in content. It includes:

1. Heroic epic telling about the legendary history of the continental Germans (“Beowulf”);

2. Retelling of the Old Testament (Genesis and Exodus) (Kaedmon)

3. Fragmentary retelling of the New Testament (poem “Christ”) (Kynewulv)

4. Lives of the saints (“Andrew”, “Elena”, “Juliana”, “Gutlak”) (Kynewulv)

5. Small elegiac and didactic works (“The Wife’s Complaint”, “The Seafarer” and others).

Old Testament retelling associated with figure Caedmon(second half of the 7th century), which Beda talks about; New Testament and hagiographic works - with a name Cynewulf.

"Beowulf"

The greatest monument of Old English poetry remains the epic poem Beowulf, which tells about the battle of the legendary hero Beowulf with monsters. Despite the fairy-tale plot, the poem contains references to a number of historical figures and events of the 5th-6th centuries; the situation it describes reflects the life and concepts of the leaders and their squads of the era of the Great Migration of Peoples. Glorifying the Germanic ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons (the action in the poem takes place in Denmark and Sweden), the poem at the same time develops the motif of the frailty of this world and the fragility of the existence of people in this world.

Lyrics: "The Wife's Complaint" ( 9th century)

In "The Wife's Complaint" we feel a drama, the meaning of which can only be guessed at. At first happy, the spouses lived only for each other; while the husband wandered the distant seas, the wife waited for him with impatience and anxiety. But

she was slandered in front of her husband, separated from him, and now she lives in exile.

Separated from all the joys of life, she sometimes feels overwhelmed by grief,

then, on the contrary, she becomes embittered at the thought of the injustice that has befallen her

I'm sad because

That I found a husband for myself, created just for me,

But unhappy and full of sadness in his mind.

He hid his heart from me, having the thoughts of a killer,

But a joyful look. Often we promised each other

That no one will separate us,

Except for one death: but everything has changed a lot,

And now everything goes as if it never happened

Our friendship did not exist. I'm forced from far and near

Tolerate my lover's hatred.

I was forced to live in the forest

Under an oak tree in a dugout.

This earthen house is old, but I am still tormented by one long desire.

These valleys are gloomy, these hills are high,

The hedges of an enclosed place, full of thorns, are bitter to me.

My home is gloomy. Often absence

Here my master subjected me to torment!

Spiritual ideals of early medieval England, reflected in literature

The concepts and ideals of early medieval England, reflected in its literature, represent a peculiar combination of Christian and pre-Christian ideas. The latter can be divided into two groups: pagan beliefs and heroic-epic ideas.

Pagan beliefs.

The methods of introducing Christianity and the initial forms of church ideology in England were characterized by considerable tolerance. A subtle politician, Pope Gregory I wrote to his missionaries in 601 “... the temples of idols in this country should not be destroyed at all, but should be limited only to the destruction of idols alone... for if these temples are well rebuilt, then it is more useful to simply convert them from serving demons to serve the true God.”

Heroic-epic performances

Heroic-epic ideas were preserved mainly in oral poetic creativity, which was brought by the Anglo-Saxons from the continent. Already a Roman historian of the 1st century AD. Tacitus wrote that the events of the past were recorded by the Germans in poetic form and these chants were loved by everyone. The Anglo-Saxons brought to the British Isles legends about heroes who lived during the great migration of peoples.

The relative tolerance of the Anglo-Saxon Church towards folk culture led to the fact that some monuments of folk literature were written down in monasteries and performed not only at royal feasts and at meetings of the carls, but also in monastic refectories. Despite appropriate selection and processing, they retained the ethics and ideas of the pre-Christian era. These songs were loved by everyone, including the monks, which sometimes caused concern among church leaders, as evidenced by Alcuin’s letter to the monks of Lindisfarne: “What has Ingeld and Christ in common?.. Let the words of the Lord resound loudly at the tables in your refectory. One should listen to the reader, not the flutist, the fathers of the church, and not pagan songs...”

Heroics and Christianity

The heroic ethic permeates Old English literature.

The cornerstone of this ethic is the lifelong bond between the leader and his vassal (combatant), based on personal devotion.

The leader's devotion is manifested in the donation of treasures. Through grants, the lord increases his own glory and the glory of his vassal, entrusting him with the obligation of further service. The given object - a horse, a ring or a weapon - becomes a tangible reminder of mutual responsibilities when the time comes for war or vengeance. Hrothgar's last word to Beowulf before the battle with the monsters is an assurance of a generous reward. Upon returning home, Beowulf gives his leader Hygelac horses, weapons and treasure, and in return receives gold, honors and land. This maintains mutual connection and mutual glory.

The warrior's devotion to his leader is manifested in glorious exploits. A warrior's primary goal is to gain eternal glory. “Glory is more precious than anything else,” for only posthumous glory gives a warrior hope for life in eternity. Therefore, the dying Beowulf expresses the desire to be buried in a high mound on a sea cape, so that all seafarers can pay him posthumous honor. A warrior’s desire for glory was considered one of the virtues: the last praise for the main character of “Beowulf” (his kind of epitaph), with which the poem ends, is the epithet “greedy for glory.” Fame acts as an alternative to oblivion, which can bring death with it.

However, death is also a frequent companion of glory: eternal glory is adjacent to the risk of life. As the first lines of the poem “The Battle of Brunanburg”, recorded in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” in 937, say, Athelstan and his relative Edmund won for themselves “everlasting glory,” that is, continuing to live on for generations. The means of conveying such glory throughout the centuries has been heroic verse. Even the afterlife, as seen in The Seafarer, is described in terms of earthly glorification.

A vassal's loyalty to his lord can also be seen in exile. The characters in poetic lives were guided by the same heroic ethics as the heroes of German legends. One place in the life of St. Andrei suggests that if a lord went into exile, then his warriors were obliged to go with him. When Andrei decides to go alone to Mermedonia to suffer for his faith, his comrades declare that “deprived of a master” (hlafordlease), they will not be accepted by anyone and will not be able to find refuge for themselves anywhere.

The main task of the warrior was to protect the lord and take revenge for him.

Before the battle with the dragon, Beowulf's nephew Wiglaf reproaches the warriors for not wanting to repay their leader for previous feasts and not taking part in the battle. The price of their cowardice is the loss of rights to the land, and the shameful life that awaits them is tantamount to exile. Wiglaf's speech ends with the aphorism: “Death for a warrior is better than life in dishonor!”

The manifestation of loyalty to the leader - the manifestation so praised in Beowulf - is revenge. Hygelak takes revenge on the Swedish king Ongentheov for the death of his brother, King Hadkyun; Beowulf kills Daghreven, the murderer of King Hygelac; Hengest takes revenge on Finn for the death of his leader Hnef - all these are acts of revenge by a vassal for the death of his master. Revenge was not always instant: Hengest spent the whole winter with Finn after the forced truce before his plan for revenge matured; Beowulf repaid Onela many years later by supporting his enemy Hengest.

The Christian Church in England condemned the custom of blood feud and tried to completely replace it with wergeld. Despite the fact that the duty of revenge is justified and even glorified in Beowulf, the poet is clearly worried by the idea that this custom, which satisfies the claims of the victim, cannot restore order in society.

At the same time, duty to the master sometimes came into conflict with the more ancient duty to the family. This conflict is clearly revealed in a passage from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (755), dedicated to the feud between Cunewulf and Cuneheard. The end of this feud shows that the duty to the king was higher than the duty to the family.

In the era of Christianization, this highest law was associated with the Christian understanding of good and evil. Beowulf’s heroic response to Hrothgar after the death of his beloved warrior Eskhera - “it is better to avenge friends, rather than cry fruitlessly” - is justified in light of the fact that revenge is directed against Cain’s kinsman, who is the name of the monster Grendel in the poem. In general, heroic ethics in Beowulf receives recognition not only in itself, but also due to the fact that the hero’s opponent, Grendel, is interpreted as a “spawn of hell” and “an enemy of the human race.” Beowulf acts as a selfless savior - first of the Danish people (from monsters), then of his own Geat people (from a fire-breathing dragon), in which some researchers even see his resemblance to Christ.

Tolkien rightly notes that the choice of the hero’s three battles with monsters as the central episodes of the poem is not accidental: it was the superhuman nature of Beowulf’s opponents that made it possible to take the conflict itself beyond the boundaries of individual tribal feuds and make the hero a champion of good against evil.

In the short poems “The Seafarer” and “The Wanderer,” usually called “elegies,” lamentation of the heroic past is associated with the development of the motif of “the frailty of all earthly things” in the spirit of Christian sermons, with a call to see the true fatherland in heaven.

An attempt to combine the Christian and pre-Christian worldview is characteristic not only of the heroic epic, but also of poetic works that develop biblical or hagiographic themes. In various poems, Christ is called a “brave warrior”, “guardian of the people”, “mighty leader”, that is, metaphors typical of a German king, and Satan is presented as an outcast who has no place in the social hierarchy. Like the ideal king of the Germanic epic, God is not only merciful and generous, but gives gifts to his faithful warriors and demands devotion in return. Satan appears to be the same leader before his fall. God creates angels to make up his squad, and Satan takes the place of the most experienced and worthy warrior in it, he is a “proud commander”, a commander.

A certain combination of heroic and Christian moral values ​​is found in the famous poem "The Battle of Maldon", which glorifies Beorhthnoth, an ealdorman from Essex, who also unsuccessfully fought the Vikings in 991, but died as a hero on the battlefield and was buried in a monastery in Eli.

The peculiarity of Beorhthnoth's behavior in this battle is that he makes a tactical mistake, allowing the Vikings to cross the river ford and thereby giving them an equal chance of victory as the Anglo-Saxons. However, this mistake was interpreted by the unknown author of the poem as a heroic step, showing the immeasurable courage of the leader. The text emphasizes that Burkhtnot takes this step for ofermode “out of excessive spirit,” that is, immeasurable courage. Despite the fact that this term in Christian monuments could serve as a designation of pride (it is this term that is included in the name of Satan as the “angel of pride”), here it does not detract from the merits of Beorchnoth, whose behavior during the battle represents an example of courage. Burkhtnot fulfills his duty to his people and army to the end and dies like a true German hero and at the same time, before his death, turns on his knees in prayer to God. The Vikings are called “pagans” in the same context, which strengthens the martyrdom of Burhtnot as someone who died for his faith.

The Anglo-Saxons were the predecessors of modern Englishmen who lived in Britain in the 5th - 11th centuries. At first it was a conglomerate of different Germanic tribes, which gradually became the basis of a single nation. The evolution of the Anglo-Saxon people into the English occurred after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.

Angles and Saxons

To understand who the Anglo-Saxons were, it is necessary to turn to the ancient and medieval history of Britain. This people appeared as a result of the merger of several Germanic tribes. These were the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Until the 3rd century they lived in the territory of modern Germany and Denmark. At that time it was a pagan territory bordering the Roman state.

The Empire controlled Britain for several centuries. When the first legions entered the island, there lived a Celtic tribe of Britons, from whose name this land received its name. In the 3rd century it began and spread to the Germanic tribes. Knowledge of these ancient migration processes helps to understand who the Anglo-Saxons were. The onslaught of nomads from the east forced the Angles, Saxons and Jutes to travel west, cross the sea and settle in Britain. The local population received the strangers with hostility, and long wars began for control of the island.

Formation of the Seven Kingdoms

When figuring out who the Anglo-Saxons were and where they came from, one cannot help but mention that they exterminated the Celtic population of Britain, which was subject to strong Roman influence. Until the 5th century, this war was part of one big war between a dying empire and the barbarians. In the 6th century, Roman power on the island became a thing of the past, and the Britons were destroyed.

On new lands, Germanic tribes founded their own kingdoms. The Angles - Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia, the Saxons - Wessex, Essex and Sussex, and the Jutes - Kent. Despite their national similarities, they began to regularly fight each other. Political fragmentation into seven kingdoms and several other small principalities persisted until the 9th century.

Alfred the Great

Gradually, the ethnic and linguistic boundaries between the Germanic tribes were completely erased. Many factors contributed to this: long life side by side, trade, dynastic marriages between the ruling dynasties, etc. The Anglo-Saxons are the people who appeared in the 9th century on the territory of the seven kingdoms. An important part of uniting the population was its Christianization. Before moving to the island, the Angles and Saxons, like all Germans, were pagans and worshiped their own pantheon of deities.

King Ethelbert of Kent was the first to be baptized in 597. The ceremony was performed by Saint Augustine of the Catholic Church. Over time, the new teaching spread among all German Christians - that's who the Anglo-Saxons were, starting from the 7th - 8th centuries. The ruler of Wessex, Egbert, who reigned from 802 to 839, managed to unite all seven kingdoms under his rule. Today, historians consider him the first monarch of England, although he himself did not bear such a title. His grandson Alfred the Great at the end of the 9th century led the national liberation struggle against the Vikings who were encroaching on Britain. Having cleared the island of invaders, he accepted the well-deserved title. A new period began in the history of the development of the nation. Today, historians are studying the 9th century in order to find out in more detail who the Anglo-Saxons were. In the modern world, knowledge about them is based on the texts of medieval chronicles and archaeological finds.

Peasantry

The bulk of the British population of that period was engaged in agriculture. Who are the Anglo-Saxons from a social point of view? These were free peasants (they were called curls). These small landowners were completely independent, did not depend on the aristocracy and were subject only to royal authority. They paid food rent to the state, and also participated in the fyrd - the national militia.

Until the 8th century, the chronicles do not mention the existence of a layer of dependent peasants. The devastating raids of the Vikings became a serious threat to their freedom. Robbers from Scandinavia arrived on the island unexpectedly. They burned peaceful villages, and killed or captured the inhabitants. Even if a peasant managed to escape from the Vikings, he was left with nothing. In a difficult situation, he had to seek guardianship from the nobles who owned large land plots. In addition, during the wars, the state significantly increased taxes each time. Extortions hit hard even on those farms that were located in relatively peaceful regions. So the history of the Anglo-Saxons naturally gradually came to the appearance of serfs.

Norman Conquest

Over time, it became more difficult to find out who the Anglo-Saxons were and where they came from, due to the fact that this ethnic culture gradually became a thing of the past after England was conquered by the army of the Norman Duke William I. In 1066, his fleet departed from fragmented France and arrived in Britain. William the Conqueror's goal was the English throne, which was occupied by the Anglo-Saxon dynasty.

The kingdom was weakened due to a simultaneous attack by the Vikings, who also wanted to gain a foothold on the island. The Normans defeated the army of the monarch Harold II Godwinson. Soon all of England was in the hands of William. This event was not a simple rotation of rulers, as often happened in the Middle Ages. Wilhelm was a foreigner - he spoke a foreign language and was brought up in a different society.

The appearance of the British

Having come to power, the new king brought his Norman elite to the island. French briefly became the language of the aristocracy and, in general, of all the upper classes. However, the old Anglo-Saxon dialect survived among the vast peasantry. The gap between social strata did not last long.

Already in the 12th century, the two languages ​​merged into English (an early version of the modern one), and the inhabitants of the kingdom began to call themselves English. In addition, the Normans brought with them the classical and military fief system. Thus a new nation was born, and the term “Anglo-Saxons” became a historical concept.

The relative tolerance of the Anglo-Saxon church towards folk culture during the era of the spread of Christianity led to the fact that monasteries became not only conductors of the new religion in society, but also centers where the recording of monuments of folk literature was concentrated, however, with its appropriate selection and processing. This explains the rather large number of monuments of folk poetry that have survived to our time. After all, only small fragments have survived from the Central German poetic tradition: a fragment of the “Song of Hkldebrant” and two spells. We know practically nothing about the ancient poetry of the Franks. The epic tradition of the Goths disappeared, leaving only minor traces in the epic of other peoples. And only Scandinavia brought to us the richest poetic heritage of the “heroic era”: the mythological and heroic songs of the Edda. Of course, we know only a small part of the works performed by the Anglo-Saxons; most of the epic poems are lost forever. However, four surviving manuscripts of Old English poetic texts (all written around 1000) and several fragments reveal a rare richness and variety of themes, plots, and poetic forms. It is no coincidence that the 8th-10th centuries are considered the heyday of the Anglo-Saxon epic.

It was based on a circle of ideas and ideas that made up what can be conventionally called the artistic consciousness of that part of the population in whose environment epic works arose and were passed on from generation to generation, recreated in each new performance. Aesthetic needs were combined with ethical and legal views. The epic reflected ideas about world history (no matter how limited the “whole world” may be) history and the place in it of the history of its people; it embodied and passed on to subsequent generations information about the past; Through epic legends, both the introduction of each new generation into history and the continuous connection of times from the past to the future were carried out. The epic contained a cosmological model and an ideal model of society, recreating the macro- and microcosm in poetic forms. By its nature, epic creativity was syncretic and multifunctional and was the main form of expression of the knowledge, feelings, aspirations and ideals of its creators.

That is why the role of the performer and creator of epic tales - the osprey - in Anglo-Saxon society was extremely great. Osprey is a close associate of the king, sitting at his feet at a feast, receiving generous gifts and being greeted with honor when he travels around the world. Skop is the keeper of the wisdom he conveys to people, a storehouse of knowledge. Therefore, in the Anglo-Saxon poems, one of the first virtues of a wise person is his knowledge of many songs: Moses (“Exodus”), Hrothgar (“Beowulf”), Solomon, and many others have this dignity. “As precious stones belong to a queen, weapons to warriors, so a good osprey belongs to people,” read one of the Old English gnomic poems. It was impossible to do without an osprey at a feast or on a campaign; he was next to the king both in days of war and in times of peace to glorify his exploits. Only in songs could the glory of the hero, the memory of his valor and generosity, be preserved and passed on to descendants:

... and a close associate, the king’s favorite, a much-memorable expert on hymns, a preserver of the legends of ancient times, he, combining words in his own way, began a speech - the praise of Beoaulf; combining consonances in a skillful manner, he wove into the chant a new story, unknown to people, he told a true story...

(Beowulf, 867-874)

Osprey, as a rule, is a vigilante who also took part in hostilities. But there are many references to the fact that both noble people and kings often acted as singers: this is what they say about St. Dunstan and Aldhelm, about Alfred the Great and many others. The performance of songs was not considered something shameful, unworthy of a noble or simply pious person. On the contrary, the ability to tell about the past in sonorous verse is evidence of wisdom, knowledge, and God's chosenness. It is no coincidence that images of ospreys are so common in miniatures of Old English manuscripts, and even biblical characters, such as David, are represented with a harp in their hands.

As recounted in the poem “Vidsid” - “The Wanderer”, the osprey often passed from one ruler to another, spreading fame and blasphemy throughout the world:

So, as fate has destined, the singers of songs wander through distant lands, composing words about adversity, about good generous givers: both in the north and in the south, everywhere there is a sophisticated ruler in songs, not stingy with offerings, eager to strengthen his deeds with praise before his squad, until he sees the good of life and the light.

(Vidsid, Ш-142)

Wandering from kingdom to kingdom, singing songs at the courts of rulers of different lands and peoples, the osprey told the story about the deeds of the long-dead rulers Ermanaric and Attila, about victories over monsters, giants and dragons that threatened the death of their fellow tribesmen, brave and mighty heroes - Beowulf, Sigmund . The thirst for battle sounded in his tales of strife and bloody battles between the Danes and Jutes, the Huns and Burgundians, the Geats and the Swedes, and it did not matter that many of these tribes were no longer in the world. They inhabited the epic world of the Anglo-Saxon osprey and its listeners and in it they acquired a new full-blooded life.

There were also new songs among the osprey - songs born of Christianity:

...there the harp sang and the clear voice of the hymn-teller, that legend led from the beginning, from the creation of peace; he sang about how the Creator created a dry land washed by the sea, about how the Creator strengthened the sun and the month in the sky so that they would shine for all earthly creatures, and how He decorated the earth with greenery, and how He endowed life to the creatures that breathe and move .

(Beowulf, 89-98)

There were also sad songs - about a hero who was torn away from the world in which he lived and who was left only with memories of past happiness in the circle of friends at the banquet table. All this material, varied in origins, plots and moods, was united in his memory by the squad singer.

The integrity of the epic fund of the Anglo-Saxons was based, on the one hand, on the unity of a comprehensive image of the world created by the artistic rethinking of reality in the minds of many generations of Ospreys, on the other hand, on a general system of versification with a traditional complex of poetic means and techniques. There was a set of metaphors, comparisons, and stereotypical descriptions developed over centuries that could be used in a wide variety of works30. The osprey's memory helpfully suggested to him the words and expressions that should be used when talking about a particular situation, when describing a certain event, regardless of whether it happens to a Christian saint, Beowulf, the giant Grendel or a pagan ruler.

The stereotypical means of expression, along with a unified system of stylistic devices (repetitions, stringing of synonyms, etc.) created the unity of the poetic fabric of monuments with different characters and plots, and cemented the heroic world of the Anglo-Saxon epic. Moreover, the unity of the poetics of epic works cannot hide the diversity of their types. The development of artistic consciousness as a result of the beginning of differentiation of individual aspects of social consciousness as a whole, on the one hand, and the influence of Christian literature with its conscious and theoretically meaningful literary forms, on the other, led to the gradual complication and stratification of epic literature, to the emergence of new narrative types. This process probably proceeded gradually, slowly. But we don't know anything about him. Only its outcome is known - in the VIII-X centuries. On English soil, many epic monuments of various themes were created, reflecting various aspects of life, influenced to varying degrees by the Christian worldview and literature.

What are the types of these works, can they be considered independent genres of epic literature, which allows us to isolate them?

The most obvious feature, on the basis of which separate groups of monuments are usually distinguished, is the plot and its orientation towards reflecting a certain range of events and phenomena. Thus, in the poems classified as heroic epics, the central place is occupied by the fight against monsters, tribal feuds and wars. The content of short poems, usually called heroic elegies, is the psychological state of a person who has lost his master and loved ones and is acutely aware of his loneliness. The religious epic is a treatment of plots from biblical legends and the lives of saints. Historical songs are dedicated to a poetic story about real events. The differentiation of themes and plots entails a number of other significant features, the totality of which allows us to consider the selected groups as independent genres in the system of Anglo-Saxon epic. The most important points are: the relationship of monuments of various genres with the pan-German epic tradition and with Christian literature; their attitude to history, i.e. the level and nature of their historicism; the interaction of truth and fiction in them and the understanding of both; their compositional structure, interpretation of the hero’s image, as well as the main elements of the epic world of monuments, primarily their spatial and temporal characteristics. There are also some differences in the social functioning of various genres and in their intended audience, although this circumstance is not always sufficiently obvious.

At the same time, one cannot exaggerate the independence and isolation of genres in Anglo-Saxon epic poetry. “They are not clearly opposed to each other as different art forms,” and therefore the boundaries between them are blurred and uncertain. It is no coincidence that there is no agreement on the question of, for example, which poems should be classified as heroic elegies, and in Beowulf there are episodes that - if they were written separately - would be considered heroic elegies, religious-epic and even religious-didactic works. The permeability and interweaving of genres testifies not only to the initial stage of their development, but also to the still existing unity and integrity of the epic poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, genre differences within which appear primarily as variants, modifications of the poetic picture of the world.

This is precisely what makes the historical classification of epic genres impossible, especially since all the monuments were created in the editions that have reached us between the middle of the 8th and the end of the 10th century, i.e., almost simultaneously. With the exception of a few works - the earliest ("Hymn" of Caedmon - around 680) and the latest (historical songs) - there is no basis for dating them, although attempts of this kind have been made several times. Therefore, the only possible solution seems to be to clarify the typology of epic genres.

The earliest, from a typological point of view, are the monuments of the heroic epic itself - “Beowulf” (which does not exclude the possibility of a later origin of its edition that has survived to this day), “Waldera”, “The Battle of Finnsburg”. These are tales based on traditional subjects, going back mainly to the all-German epic and having parallels in it. The influence of Christian ideology is revealed in them to the extent that it penetrates into artistic consciousness as one of its constituent (but not defining) elements. However, it should be noted that this group includes works that are typologically heterogeneous. The poem "Beowulf", which tells about the hero's victories over monsters, obviously goes back to the archaic forms of the epic of the ancient Germans, of which only isolated traces have survived in the Scandinavian narrative mythological songs. All the more surprising is the combination of motifs, plots, and ideas from many eras within the framework of one, integral work. In it we find elements of various epic genres: elegies (for example, the lament of a warrior), other heroic tales (the song of Sigmund, the song of Ingeld, etc.), religious epic (the song of the creation of the world or Hrothgar's appeal to Beowulf). It combines the ideas of tribal society with feudal ethics, the heroic ideal of a warrior-hero with the image of a “fair ruler.”

Other heroic-epic works have a different character, of which, however, very few have survived, and mostly in fragments. Their heroes, as a rule, are legendary historical figures, the plot is intertribal (or interstate) feuds, they are dedicated to any one event or chain of events that make up a single plot, the ideal epic world is endowed with some features of reality.

Typologically later genres are religious epic and heroic elegies. Both genres arise under the strong influence of the Anglo-Saxon Christian literary tradition, but from different aspects.

In the monuments of the religious epic, the interaction of two layers of Anglo-Saxon culture and their intertwining in the consciousness of the Anglo-Saxons is most clearly manifested. Biblical and hagiographic stories are processed in the forms of traditional German heroic epic. This reworking, however, cannot be considered as “pouring new wine into old wineskins,” that is, as a mechanical combination of Christian content with traditional epic form. The use of ancient German epic poetics inevitably entailed the reconstruction (in more or less complete volume) of the picture of the world characteristic of German pre-Christian society. It transformed the concepts of Christian ethics into familiar and accessible heroic-epic concepts and thereby included Christian stories in the familiar world of heroic tales. It is no coincidence that most of the monuments are based on plots that have heroic features; those biblical characters and saints are chosen whose actions are consistent with ideas about the heroic. This is Judith, who killed Holofernes and thereby saved her hometown from the hordes of Assyrians. This is St. Andrew, crushing the cannibal Myrmidons in order to free St. who was captured by them. Matthew. This is Moses, a wise leader and ruler who knows many songs, leading his tribe from captivity and organizing a worthy rebuff to the Egyptian army that is overtaking them (the poem “Exodus”). The biblical plot unfolds and grows in accordance with the requirements of heroic-epic poetics, although the temporal and spatial framework is strictly limited by the original. Many episodes are introduced, mostly of heroic content, the chain of which creates a gradual development of the action.

In the heroic elegies a completely different aspect of Christian literature was developed. These are the oldest works in Western European literature in the folk language, where the narrator’s focus is on the psychological world of the hero. Of course, he is stereotypical, just as the situation itself is stereotypical in all works of this genre. Moreover, attention is focused only on one side of this world - on feelings of sadness, loneliness, an acute sense of the variability of the world, the transitory nature of its joys and sorrows. The juxtaposition of the happy past and the tragic present creates a contrast that underlies the composition of the elegies. But all the hero’s experiences unfold against the backdrop of an ideal heroic world. He is present in the hero's memories of a happy past. It defines the tragedy of the situation - the hero’s isolation from this world, the impossibility for him to show his heroic essence. The hero is faceless, he (with the exception of singer Deora) does not even have a name.

Historical songs represent a later stage in the development of the epic. Their connection with the pan-German tradition is manifested only in the system of stylistic devices and images; they are focused on depicting a specific, real, historically reliable event, although the principles of its reflection contain many traditional, sometimes fantastic, features. As a story about one event, they are compositionally built on the sequential unfolding of action over time; the place and time of action, as a rule, are strictly limited, one-dimensional, confined to the real place and time, where and when the event underlying the plot of the work took place.

1. Spiritual culture of the Anglo-Saxons. Individual recruitment of Anglo-Saxons gave way to resettlement. The invasion of Germanic tribes became the beginning of the foundation of new state formations. Anglo-Saxon mythology differs little from Celtic mythology. The head of the pantheon of Germanic gods was.... Boden. Sutsello. Christianization began at the end of the 6th century. Influenced by Roman missionaries. Irish Church. The great role of the monastery and priests as centers of science and culture. About the process of Christianization evidence from handwritten books of the 7th-8th centuries. Monuments of Irish handwritten books.

The further development of writing testifies to the development of Christianity. Events related to the resettlement of Germanic tribes are covered in three sources. Two of them belong to Christian authors (Gildes, a Celtic monk, about the death and conquest of Britain, Bede the Venerable chronicle “Ecclesiastical History of the Angles”, the period from the conquests of Caesar to 700). Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 9th century. was compiled on the initiative of the ruler Alfred the Great. The chronicles describe the struggle between Celtic and Germanic tribes.

Soon the differences between the Germans and the Celts were erased. IN late 9th century King Alfred the Great the ruler of Susex named his language English, and called his subjects (southern and central England) English. The main role in Christianization was played by Pope Gregory 1 (590-604). In 595 he ordered Anglo-Saxon slaves to be bought from the slave market to serve in the monasteries of Britain. A year later he sends 40 Benedictine monks to Britain. At the same time, the Roman Church abandoned the total eradication of paganism. This policy was well suited to the specific cultural development of the Anglo-Saxons. You cannot touch the temple, only destroy the images of idols. Build Christian churches on the site of the temples. As a result of such tolerance of the RCC, Christianity rapidly took hold. In 664, at the Council of Winbury, Christianity was recognized as the official religion of the Anglo-Saxons. The successes of Christianity were twofold - two cultural streams were formed: the Latin-religious-monastic tradition, the folk tradition (based on pre-Christian culture). The result was a synthesis. This factor was decisive in the formation of Anglo-Saxon medieval literary culture.

The first Anglo-Saxon writer is considered Aldheim (640-703). Author of theological treatises in Latin, as well as the author of poems. The treatises have survived to this day. Poems in Old English were only mentioned by William Somebody (12th century). He also compiled a collection of “Riddles” - hundreds of small poems describing mythological animals and constellations. They were later translated into Old English and included in a short collection of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Beda the Venerable .(673-775) Graduated from a monastery school. He studied in Jarrow (the monastery is a famous center of theology). His works cover a wide range of issues about theology, medicine, mathematics, grammar, and poetry. The largest work is “Ecclesiastical History of the Angles” 731. here is a detailed description of the conquest of Britain by the Romans, geographical features. In his work he relies on earlier chronicles. It was a model until the Renaissance. Dante describes in his Divine Comedy in Paradise placing the Venerable among Plato, Aristotle and others.

The heyday of epic creativity - 8th-9th centuries. There are 4 main genres:

1. Heroic epic - the central place is stories about the fight against monsters, about wars, etc.

2. Heroic elegies - short works about the mental, psychological state of a hero who experiences loneliness, suffering, and the loss of parents.

3. Religious epic - treatment of biblical legends and lives of saints.

4. Historical songs - depicted this or that event.

Transmitted orally. They were called carriers and creators in droves- performers and creators of these tales. These people were considered God's chosen ones. This was one of the most revered figures. He sat at the feet of the king and was showered with gifts. Guardian of wisdom. Mostly they were warriors, as well as representatives of the nobility. Sometimes even kings acted as ospreys. Alfred the Great himself acted as an osprey.

Poems – Weowulf, Vidsid. Weowulf (8th century)– the only major work of the Anglo-Saxons that has survived in its entirety, the richness of themes and plots, the complexity and versatility of the content. Widseed (7th century) – unusual in content, consists of 3 special cycles. 1 - a list of names of famous names of various peoples, 2 - a list of famous groups of tribes, 3 - a list of rulers with whom Vidsid stayed.

Despite the flourishing of oral Anglo-Saxon culture, the written tradition developed rather slowly in the 8th and 9th centuries. At this time, the British Isles were attacked by the Vikings, who destroyed the monasteries. As a result, only one cultural center remained - Yorsky Monastery. He received an excellent theological education there. Alcuin - the first Anglo-Saxon thinker. Was sent by the Pope to lead the bishopric of Keldebery. In 780 he went to Rome to the Pope on a mission. On the way back I met Charlemagne. Alcuin became his chief advisor. At the court of the Great Card, an Academy was organized in the city of Aachen. In Tours he created a philosophical school in France. Alcuin left a large written legacy. Alcuin's work was a symbol of the Carolina Revival. - restoration of the greatness of Rome.

Britain remained on the periphery of the Carolingian Renaissance. Britain had its own cultural center and its own renaissance under the auspices of Alfred the Great. There was a revival of Anglo-Saxon culture. At the court of Alfred the Great, a circle of theologians, philosophers, and writers was formed. They traveled around the country, recording works of the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Monologues of Aurelius Augustine, writings of Pope Gregory 1.

10-11th century – The Benedictine Renaissance is the last rise of Anglo-Saxon culture. Elfric and Wulfstan are the main representatives. Everyday literature, intended for the mass reader, gained popularity. " Bestiary"contains a description of 3 creatures: a panther, a whale and a partridge. The panther symbolizes Christ, the dragon symbolizes the Devil. The panther's three-day dream is the death and resurrection of Christ. It was written in poetic form.