[1] He wrote his name Heliae or Eliae.
HELIACAL, relating to the sun ([Greek: helios]), a term applied in the
ancient astronomy to the first rising of a star which could be seen
after it emerged from the rays of the sun, or the last setting that
could be seen before it was lost from sight by proximity to the sun.
HELIAND. The 9th-century poem on the Gospel history, to which its first
editor, J. A. Schmeller, gave the appropriate name of _Heliand_ (the
word used in the text for "Saviour," answering to the O. Eng. _haelend_
and the Ger. _Heiland_), is, with the fragments of a version of the
story of Genesis believed to be by the same author, all that remains of
the poetical literature of the old Saxons, i.e. the Saxons who continued
in their original home. It contained when entire about 6000 lines, and
portions of it are preserved in four MSS. The Cotton MS. in the British
Museum, written probably late in the 10th century, is nearly complete,
ending in the middle of the story of the journey to Emmaus. The Munich
MS., formerly at Bamberg, begins at line 85, and has many lacunae, but
continues the history down to the last verse of St Luke's Gospel,
ending, however, in the middle of a sentence. A MS. discovered at Prague
in 1881 contains lines 958-1106, and another, in the Vatican library,
discovered by K. Zangemeister in 1894, contains lines 1279-1358. The
poem is based, not directly on the New Testament, but on the
pseudo-Tatian's harmony of the Gospels, and it shows acquaintance with
the commentaries of Alcuin, Baeda and Hrabanus Maurus.
The questions relating to the _Heliand_ cannot be adequately discussed
without considering also the poem on the history of Genesis, which, on
the grounds of similarity in style and vocabulary, and for other reasons
afterwards to be mentioned, may with some confidence be referred to the
same author. A part of this poem, as is mentioned in the article CAEDMON,
is extant only in an Old English translation. The portions that have
been preserved in the original language are contained in the same
Vatican MS. that includes the fragment of the _Heliand_ referred to
above. In the one language or the other, there are in existence the
following three fragments: (1) The passage which appears as lines
235-851 in the so-called "Caedmon's _Genesis_," on the revolt of the
angels and the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve. Of this the part
corresponding to lines 790-820 exists also in the original Old Saxon.
(2) The story of Cain and Abel, in 124 lines. (3) The account of the
destruction of Sodom, in 187 lines. The main source of the _Genesis_ is
the Bible, but Professor E. Sievers has shown that considerable use was
made of the two Latin poems by Alcimus Avitus, _De initio mundi_ and _De
peccato originali_.
The two poems give evidence of genius and trained skill, though the
poet was no doubt hampered by the necessity of not deviating too widely
from the sacred originals. Within the limits imposed by the nature of
his task, his treatment of his sources is remarkably free, the details
unsuited for poetic handling being passed over, or, in some instances,
boldly altered. In many passages his work gives the impression of being
not so much an imitation of the ancient Germanic epic, as a genuine
example of it, though concerned with the deeds of other heroes than
those of Germanic tradition. In the _Heliand_ the Saviour and His
Apostles are conceived as a king and his faithful warriors, and the use
of the traditional epic phrases appears to be not, as with Cynewulf or
the author of _Andreas_, a mere following of accepted models, but the
spontaneous mode of expression of one accustomed to sing of heroic
themes. The _Genesis_ fragments have less of the heroic tone, except in
the splendid passage describing the rebellion of Satan and his host. It
is noteworthy that the poet, like Milton, sees in Satan no mere
personification of evil, but the fallen archangel, whose awful guilt
could not obliterate all traces of his native majesty. Somewhat
curiously, but very naturally, Enoch the son of Cain is confused with
the Enoch who was translated to heaven--an error which the author of the
Old English _Genesis_ avoids, though (according to the existing text) he
confounds the names of Enoch and Enos.
Such external evidence as exists bearing on the origin of the _Heliand_
and the companion poem is contained in a Latin document printed by
Flacius Illyricus in 1562. This is in two parts; the one in prose,
entitled (perhaps only by Flacius himself) "_Praefatio ad librum
antiquum in lingua Saxonica conscriptum_"; the other in verse, headed
"_Versus de poeta et Interpreta hujus codicis_." The Praefatio begins by
stating that the emperor Ludwig the Pious, desirous that his subjects
should possess the word of God in their own tongue, commanded a certain
Saxon, who was esteemed among his countrymen as an eminent poet, to
translate poetically into the German language the Old and New
Testaments. The poet willingly obeyed, all the more because he had
previously received a divine command to undertake the task. He rendered
into verse all the most important parts of the Bible with admirable
skill, dividing his work into _vitteas_, a term which, the writer says,
may be rendered by "_lectiones_" or "_sententias_." The Praefatio goes
on to say that it was reported that the poet, till then knowing nothing
of the art of poetry, had been admonished in a dream to turn into verse
the precepts of the divine law, which he did with so much skill that his
work surpasses in beauty all other German poetry (_ut cuncta Theudisca
poemata suo vincat decore_). The _Versus_ practically reproduce in
outline Baeda's account of Caedmon's dream, without mentioning the dream,
but describing the poet as a herdsman, and adding that his poems,
beginning with the creation, relate the history of the five ages of the
world down to the coming of Christ.
The suspicion of some earlier scholars that the _Praefatio_ and the
_Versus_ might be a modern forgery is refuted by the occurrence of the
word _vitteas_, which is the Old Saxon _fittea_, corresponding to the
Old English _fitt_, which means a "canto" of a poem. It is impossible
that a scholar of the 16th century could have been acquainted with this
word, and internal evidence shows clearly that both the prose and the
verse are of early origin. The _Versus_, considered in themselves, might
very well be supposed to relate to Caedmon; but the mention of the five
ages of the world in the concluding lines is obviously due to
recollection of the opening of the _Heliand_ (lines 46-47). It is
therefore certain that the _Versus_, as well as the _Praefatio_,
attribute to the author of the _Heliand_ a poetic rendering of the Old
Testament. Their testimony, if accepted, confirms the ascription to him
of the Genesis fragments, which is further supported by the fact that
they occur in the same MS. with a portion of the _Heliand_. As the
_Praefatio_ speaks of the emperor Ludwig in the present tense, the
former part of it at least was probably written in his reign, i.e. not
later than A.D. 840. The general opinion of scholars is that the latter
part, which represents the poet as having received his vocation in a
dream, is by a later hand, and that the sentences in the earlier part
which refer to the dream are interpolations by this second author. The
date of these additions, and of the _Versus_, is of no importance, as
their statements are incredible. That the author of the _Heliand_ was,
so to speak, another Caedmon--an unlearned man who turned into poetry
what was read to him from the sacred writings--is impossible, because in
many passages the text of the sources is so closely followed that it is
clear that the poet wrote with the Latin books before him. On the other
hand, there is no reason for rejecting the almost contemporary testimony
of the first part of the _Praefatio_ that the author of the _Heliand_
had won renown as a poet before he undertook his great task at the
emperor's command. It is certainly not impossible that a Christian
Saxon, sufficiently educated to read Latin easily, may have chosen to
follow the calling of a _scop_ or minstrel[1] instead of entering the
priesthood or the cloister; and if such a person existed, it would be
natural that he should be selected by the emperor to execute his design.
As has been said above, the tone of many portions of the _Heliand_ is
that of a man who was no mere imitator of the ancient epic, but who had
himself been accustomed to sing of heroic themes.
The commentary on the gospel of Matthew by Hrabanus Maurus was finished
about 821, which is therefore the superior limit of date for the
composition of the _Heliand_. It is usually maintained that this work
was written before the Old Testament poems. The arguments for this view
are that the _Heliand_ contains no allusion to any foregoing poetical
treatment of the antecedent history, and that the Genesis fragments
exhibit a higher degree of poetic skill. This reasoning does not appear
conclusive, and if it be set aside, the limit of date for the beginning
of the work is carried back to A.D. 814, the year of the accession of
Ludwig.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The first complete edition of the _Heliand_ was
published by J. A. Schmeller in 1830; the second volume, containing
the glossary and grammar, appeared in 1840. The standard edition is
that of E. Sievers (1877), in which the texts of the Cotton and Munich
MSS. are printed side by side. It is not provided with a glossary, but
contains an elaborate and most valuable analysis of the diction,
synonymy and syntactical features of the poem. Other useful editions
are those of M. Heyne (3rd ed., 1903), O. Behaghel (1882) and P. Piper
(1897, containing also the Genesis fragments). The fragments of the
_Heliand_ and the _Genesis_ contained in the Vatican MS. were edited
in 1894 by K. Zangemeister and W. Braune under the title _Bruchstucke
der altsachsischen Bibeldichtung_. Among the works treating of the
authorship, sources and place of origin of the poems, the most
important are the following: E. Windisch, _Der Heliand und seine
Quellen_ (1868); E. Sievers, _Der Heliand und die angelsachsische
Genesis_ (1875); R. Kogel, _Deutsche Literaturgeschichte_, Bd. i.
(1894) and _Die altsachsische Genesis_ (1895); R. Kogel and W.
Bruckner, "Althoch- und altniederdeutsche Literatur," in Paul's
_Grundriss der germanischen Philologie_, Bd. ii. (2nd ed., 1901),
which contains references to many other works; Hermann Collitz, _Zum
Dialekte des Heliand_ (1901). (H. Br.)