The New International Encyclopædia/Heliand

HELIAND, Hā'lḗ-änd (OS. Hēliand, Savior). A Saxon poem of the ninth century. The portion still preserved relates the life of Christ as told by the four Evangelists, whose various narratives the author seeks to harmonize. It is thought to have been composed by a Saxon writer of unknown name at the request of the Emperor Louis the Pious. Like all early Germanic poems, the Heliand is written in alliterative verse, in the use of which the author shows marked skill. Until the publication by Zangenmeister and Braune in 1894 of fragments of a Saxon paraphrase of Genesis, the Heliand was the only important monument of Saxon known to the present age. Apart from its great value to the student of language, the Heliand is of interest because of its spirited and sympathetic treatment of the Gospel narrative. The author shows himself to be no mere slavish transcriber, but a true poet. In accordance with the taste and knowledge of the age, scenes and incidents are strongly localized, the spirit of the whole work being Germanic rather than Christian. To modern readers the intense reality of the characterization often seems irreverent, suggesting the later treatment of biblical narratives in the religious drama; but the purpose of the poet is evidently earnest and extremely reverent. It is doubtful whether an historically correct treatment of the New Testament would have appealed to the primitive audience for whom the poem was composed. The most recent and the fullest edition of the Heliand is that of Piper, the first volume of which, containing the text, appeared in 1897. The latest German translation is by E. Behringer (Aschaffenburg, 1898).