GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.

ILCHESTER LECTURES
ON

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE
AND
ITS

EELATION TO

THE FOLK-LORE OF EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES.

two Bppenfcfces an&

flMates*

BY

PH.D.
\

LONDON:

TRUBNEK

&

CO.,

LUDGATE

HILL.

1887.
[All rights reserved.]

BALT.ANTYNE, HANSON

AND

CO.

EDINBURGH AND LONDON

TO

PROFESSOR PROFESSOR
ZTbts

G.

I.

ASCOLI

AND
F.

MIKLOSICH

GRATEFULLY DEDICATED.

PEEFACE.

THE purpose of

these Mchester Lectures, delivered

at Oxford in the spring of 1886, is to show, on

small scale, the importance of the Slavonic

lite-

rature in the literary history of modern Europe,

and

likewise to call attention to the vast materials,

hitherto untouched,
literature

which are preserved in the

and folk-lore of the Slavonic nations. In treating of the religious and popular litera-

ture,

I confined

myself to the most important

sources.

texts

and immediate
rities it

My references

to

autho-

would be very easy greatly

to increase.

In another work, however, I contemplate

publication of all
to

the

the

Slavonic texts belonging

the

apocryphal literature, in the form of an

translation,

English

with

copious

notes

and

introductions.

viii

PREFACE.
both
"

In two appendices I have traced

origin

the

and

history of the

"

Bible Historiale

and

of the Glagolitic Alphabet from a wholly new

point of view.
Finally,

I take

great pleasure in expressing

my
to

heartiest thanks to the

Trustees of the Ilchester

Fund for

honouring

me

with the invitation

deliver these lectures at the

far-famed University

of Oxford.

value the honour all the more, as

exile,

I had just arrived in England, an

by the

banished

Government from

my

native country of

Roumania.

I wish also especially

who kindly
assisted

to

thank Mr.

I.

Abrahams,

me

in reading the proofs.

M. VASTER.
London, March 1887.

CONTENTS.

i.

INTRODUCTION

VARIOUS THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF FOLK-

LORETHE

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE

...
THE APO-

II.

THE BOGOMILISM

ITS

SPREAD AND INFLUENCE

CRYPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

15

III.

THE APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

LIVES OF THE SAINTS

ANTICHRIST
"
.
.

THE LETTER FROM HEAVEN AND

45

THE FLAGELLANTS

THE " GOLUBINAYA KNIGA

IV.

EXORCISMS AND SPELLS

75

V.

ROMANTIC LITERATURE
TROJAN

FOURTH CRUSADE

ALEXANDER
89

WAR

DIGENIS

YI.

APOLOGUES AND FABLES

BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT

THE
IOQ

WISE AKIR AND SYNTIPAS

CONTENTS.

VII.

THE SLAVONIC PEOPLES IN THE BALKAN PENINSULA

OF THE SLAVONIC LITERATURE
CYRILL

ORIGIN
.

AND METHOD

125

APPENDIX

A.
.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE AND THE BIBLE OF THE POOR

147

APPENDIX

B.
. . .

THE ORIGIN OF THE GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET

209

I.

INTRODUCTION: VARIOUS THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF FOLK-LORE. THE GREEKOSL AVON 1C LITERATURE.

I.

To watch the
literatures
is,

rise of

new
it is

nationalities or of

new

without doubt,
;

one of the most

interesting spectacles

scattered

elements
all

to see before one's eyes being built up into a living

organism, with
individuality.

the marks of a characteristic

is

Such a process of development

often presented to our gaze, though at a distance, when we seek to follow out the progress which one
or other branch of culture has

made

in order to

arrive at the form in which we at present have

them,

as, for

example, the origin of language, of

writing, of civilisation.

The same problem which

such questions offer is likewise presented to us by the rise of any literature, in so far as it throws light

on the modern poetic constructions of civilised The question whether it is mechanical nations.
mixture or organic assimilation meets us at the

very outset.

Hence the investigation of sources

is

are chiefly a characteristic of our critical age. interested in finding out what are the elements

We

which the which

literary artist finds given to him,

and

he proceeds to organise into a higher unity.

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITERA TURE.

is

"What

the part played by the unconscious poetic activity of the people ? what that of the conscious art of the poet ? Nay, we must proceed
farther,

and

raise the question,

:

which has hitherto

been considered unnecessary

How

far

have the

people any creative imaginative power ? Do the peoples create independently of one another poetic

products derived immediately from the influence And how far can we of surrounding Nature ?

assume

this creative impulse in

modern times

The

investigations which
of Folk-lore have

we

include under the

name

had

their beginning quite

recently,

and have,

therefore,

undergone considerIt is

able modifications

and changes.

the merit

of the Eomantic school in Germany, which arose at the end of the preceding century, to have directed
attention to the hitherto neglected literature of the

common

people.

Herder was the

first

to collect

the folk-songs of many nations. Clemens and Brentano made collections of the German folk-songs, as
" Eeliques of Ancient Bishop Percy had done in his English Poetry." Thence they turned to other pro-

ducts of the popular imagination, especially to the fairy tales, then the sagas and legends, proverbs, First in these invesriddles, and superstitions.

both in time and importance, were the brothers Grimm, to whom Germany owes so much.
tigations,

Hand

in

hand with the

collection

tion of the popular literature,

went the explorawhich had thus passed

INTRODUCTION.

from the nursery and the chimney-corner into the

study of
the
scholar.

Grimm, the

creator

of

German mythology, is likewise the founder of the school which we may term the Mythological.
According to this school, traces of the archaic Northern mythology have been preserved in the
fairy tales

and in the whole of

folk-lore.

The old

gods and goddesses, dislodged from their thrones, have still survived in the form of demons, ghosts,
elves, dwarfs, &c.
;

and the remarkable

similarity of

the fairy tales of all nations is explained on the assumption that their mythologies were originally
identical.

By means
cially at the

of investigations into the Vedas, espe-

hands of Kuhn, a view of the ancient mythology was taken up which regards it as an

The names incorporation of natural phenomena. of these phenomena, Dyaus, Varuna, &c., were
accepted as gods and worshipped.

Thus many

mythological words have been shown to be metaphorical expressions for the sun, the moon, the
This having been shown for Hindu mythology, the method was then applied to Greek and Northern mythology, although the circlouds,

and the

rain.

cumstances were here quite different ; for among the Greek divinities were to be found many not
of

Aryan

origin, as

= Moledta, (

the

Aphrodite the Syrian Militta generatrix), or Herakles the

Phoenician Melkart.

The problem

is

still

more

6
difficult

GREEKO-SLA VON1C LITERATURE.

in the case of the Northern mythology,

which

is

of comparatively

much

later

date,

at

any
form.

rate as regards its appearance in a

written

only being the mythology, they must be explicable in the same manner, and must likewise be exrelics of

The

fairy tales

now

obscure

So, too, plained as SUD, moon, and cloud myths. all the superstitions, customs, and generally the

whole popular thought in

festations.

all its

manifold mani-

they could not be connected with the dogmatical religion, were

so
far as

All these,

referred to the

same mythological

origin.

according to this view, the poets absorbed it

the

Then, from

and developed it. This is the most wide-spread and most popular view of the origin
people
of folk-lore, especially that of Europe.

To

this I

append another theory, which, from

a chronological point of" view, is the latest, but the principle of which is closely connected with the
former.
this

The most outspoken

is

representative

of

Mr. A. Lang. He also considers theory fairy tales and customs as an ancient inheritance

of

every nation, further maintaining that they So far this are nearly related to the mythology.

theory goes hand in hand with the Mythological but the difference between the two is, that, accord-

ing to this view, which I term Prehistorical, both myths and fairy tales as well as customs, are not
the outcome of etymological speculations and the

INTRODUCTION.

embodiment of natural phenomena, but the

of a primitive state of savagery.

relics

The proofs adduced in support of this Prehisand comparisons with similar, or what are presumed to be similar, tales and beliefs current among primitive tribes and
torical theory are analogies

uncultured nations of the far East.

This analogy is thus explained as the result of a similar intellectual development, where the one

between them

retained the primitive form better and clearer than the other, and these tales are only like the flint-

stone chips covered by a later stratum of culture. But in the same way as our modern philology does not allow us to compare directly French or

English with Sanskrit or Zend, but retraces step by step the history of their evolution, in the same

way can we not compare

in time

our tales and customs

directly with those belonging to a tribe far distant

and in

space, of

which we neither know

the age nor the connection, where many links in the chain are missing, if there is a chain at all.

This theory rests, then, like the Mythological, upon the presumption that all that we call now-a-

days folk-lore

is

of hoar antiquity,

and the genuine

succeed by a often the result

property of every nation. shaken to their foundations

Both
if

will be, therefore,

we

closer inquiry to prove that it is

;

of a long development that it is relatively modern, and that the similarity between the European and

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERATURE.

is

the primitive and tribal folk-lore

one,

a deceptive

or ought to be explained in quite another

way.
/

Indeed, the Mythological theory, and in this way the Prehistorical too, received a severe blow from
another, which I term the Theory of Migration. Benfey, in his celebrated introduction to the

Pantchatantra, applied

first

this

theory to the

greatest part of European folk-tales, tracing them to their Oriental origin and proving their comparatively recent date. They passed, as he shows, from

nation to nation, very often in written form, and from this passed to the people, among whom they were assimilated more and more to the peculiarities of

each nation.

The same contents received a

different

and a national form.*

have now no longer claim to be considered as mythological, and the influence to

The

folk-tales

of this.

which they owed their origin was quite the opposite For the most part, they became the common

property of the European nations through literary This has been proved, further, for transmission.

many modern
of "
Griseldis
"

fairy tales.

Thus Boccaccio's
till

tale

has been followed

it

became a
ori-

fairy tale.
*

Thus, too, the story of Genevieve,

Max
Miiller has carried out the

In a remarkable essay Professor

same

line of thought,

and has shown the

travels of

an Eastern

tale

through a

number

of literatures,
till

step by step nationalised.

till it reached Lafontaine, and followed its traces the story becomes more and more Europeanised and

INTRODUCTION.

ginally a miracle of the Holy Virgin, has likewise become a fairy tale. Examples of this might be
easily multiplied,

written literature

showing clearly the influence of on oral tradition.

Proceeding a step farther,

we may apply

this

theory of migration, or better, this Historical theory, not only to the fairy tales to which it was confined,

but also to the other branches of popular literature,

like sagas, legends, adventures,

and

superstitions,

Northern mythology itself. Cannot the foreign and literary origin of this be proved? Are all those marvellous tales and fabulous beings

and

finally to the

originally

European

Is the naive poetic

world of

the

common

folk filled with superstitions, creeds,

and legends regarding the most unnatural and unexpected events as the most ordinary things in
the world, the remainder and residue of an old,
forgotten mythology, and of a more ancient state of savagery ? or have they been brought on the crest

mighty wave of culture to the furthermost shores of Europe, and thus form one stratum in all
of a

the peoples of Europe

Can we not

in this

way

explain their similarity to one another ? The very advance of our spiritual and imaginative life hides from us any direct vision of this

development. Much has been destroyed, and we must deal with the remainder as with a palimpsest.

We

have to take in hand some decomposing principle which shall remove the more recent writing

io

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERATURE.

and enable us to decipher the faded relics of the older signs. But that which eludes our grasp in
the

West

of Europe

is

offered to us in rich pro-

fusion
its

by the

East, especially the South-East, with

own

peculiar culture.

has remained in

The Greeko- Slavic world nearly the same condition as

Europe was when it was ruled solely by Christian thought and by Christian civilisation alone. While the West has advanced farther, the GreekoSlavic world has remained at this point,

and accord-

ingly its literature is to us of peculiar interest, as it enables us to observe accurately the process by which a written literature, generally of foreign
origin, influences oral folk-literature.

We

see the

alien element accepted

and assimilated, the popular

imagination gradually enriched.

We

can then ob-

serve the reaction of this latter on poetic genius, which takes in the feelings and thoughts of the
people,

and expresses them in elevated and

elevat-

ing artistic form. I term the body of literature with which I con-

template dealing the Greeko-Slavonic, because it is confined to works translated from the Greek into
Slavic tongues,

and where we have,

therefore, the

literary sources beyond any doubt. Bulgaria, as we shall see in the short historical

sketch with which I conclude this work, was, after a

struggle for centuries, incorporated into Byzantium, and the influence of Greek, already great, became

INTRODUCTION.
the sole influence for two centuries.

11

The whole

literature was modelled after the Greek, and even

later, after

independence had been secured under the

Asenides, Greek retained

arose the literature

much of its power. which we term for this

Thus
reason

Greeko- Slavonic.
This literature

but

is

not only that of the Bulgarians, also the Church literature of the Servians,
is

Croatians, Koumanians,

and Eussians

and

it

began

early to spread over these lands.

The Old Slavonian

tongue in which

written has remained the holy or Church language of these lands up to the present day, except in Koumania, where it was superseded
it is

in

the

seventeenth
this

Thus
offers

century by the vernacular. literature, together with the Greek,

the counterpart of the Latin civilisation, favoured in a far higher degree, as this was, by
social

and

political circumstances.

Besides the interest which this literature affords

us, as I

have sketched out above, as regards

folk-

lore

and the history of civilisation, it also gives material of no small critical worth for dealing with Greek, and especially Middle Greek literature.
a work of the Byzantine period has been preserved for us in an improved form because it

Many
was

early translated into Slavonic.

Modern science,
texts for critical

both in profane and in ecclesiastical history, has

begun to make use of these Slavonic

as purposes as yet only in a sporadic manner,

12

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

its

language have prevented access to foreign investigators. I select from the whole field of Greeko-Slavonic
literature,

both the extent of this literature and

not the dogmatical, but rather that por-

tion which shows a living course

of development, and brings before our eyes an example of the process by which the spiritual wealth of a people is

increased.

By

this

means the

clue will be given us

to

many an imaginative product which we meet with in folk-lore, and which we have hitherto re-

garded as the peculiar property of the people, or as

the survival of earlier mythological conceptions. Investigation into these matters is only in its infancy, and we have first to settle the facts, if we

do not wish to lose ourselves in the

hypotheses.
It
is,

field of

vague

therefore,

the

heretical

and

poetical literature that will engage our attention,

likewise derived from -the

Greek, yet powerfully not alone the Bulgarians, but also all influencing the other nations who came in contact^ with the

Old

Slavonian language and

I

literature.

Many

traces will be seen in the mediaeval literature of

hope to be able to prove that the religious literature was the most important factor in this branch of the development of European
civilisation,

Western Europe, and

and that the influence of the Old

Slavonian literature was just as important and decisive towards the "West as it was towards the East.

The

results at

which we

shall arrive will accordingly

INTRODUCTION.

13

permit of an application to the whole literature of the Middle Ages, in which many points will appear

under an entirely new light. The fantastic and imaginative apocryphal ture, the romances and epics, the didactic
were touched
Bulgaria,

litera-

fables,

by wide

religious

movements

in

and have exercised a deep influence on

the imagination of the nations. Folk-lore arose out of a written literature, whose traces we meet

with in saga and romance, in religious and epic poems, in riddles and tales, and even in popular
beliefs,

customs, and habits.

In the following pages

I shall

attempt to sketch this literature in a brief

outline, devoting the greatest attention to the

most

conspicuous points, as well as to those least known in Western Europe. Within the circle of our investigations

we

shall thus include the

Apocrypha of
literalitera-

the

Old and

New

Testament, the literature of

history, legend,

ture of

and amulets, and lastly, the the fable, as it was transformed from

ture into folk-lore.

II.

THE BOGOMILISM; ITS SPREAD AND INFLUENCE. THE APOCRYPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

II.

THE BOGOMILISM; ITS SPREAD AND INFLUENCE. THE APOCRYPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

IT.

AT

the same time with the culmination of the Bul-

garian power and the Bulgarian literature (which I shall portray at the end of these lectures) began
a powerful religious movement, which was accomI panied by results of far-reaching consequence.
refer to the heretical

movement known under

the

name
less

of Bogomilism, which than five centuries, and

life

ruled Bulgaria for not

left indelible traces in

the spiritual

of the Slavonic nations.

more thorough - going investigation of this movement in its spread throughout Europe leads us to still more astonishing results. We come
across
traces of it everywhere,

of the religious literature

folk-literature

and a good part which later on became

influ-

may

be traced back to the

sects.

ence of these heretical

of chivalry,

when

divested of

Even the romances their trappings, show

themselves as Oriental tales that have found their

(always a long way, and often a dark one) through many intermediaries to the place where

way

they are

now

found.
is

As

this

view of mine

more or
it

less novel, I will

permit myself to enter into

in

some

detail.

This

i8

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.
the more permissible as
earliest

is

we
and

are dealing at the

least altered literary

same time with the

called to lecture,

remains of the Slavonic literature upon which I

am

and these form besides the greater

part of it. At the time of the conversion of the Bulgarians to Christianity, there were to be found at the Bulgarian

court ambassadors or missionaries from the Paulicians or Manichseans of Asia Minor.

to these there were a

In addition

number

of Jews,

who had

also

come

to convert the people to their belief, while

still

they were

hesitating about Christianity.

The

Paulicians had settled in Thrace at an earlier date.

The Emperor Constantine Copronymos transported a large number of them in the eighth century from Asia Minor, and thus at the same time transplanted
the seed of Manichseism in the modified form intro-

duced by Constantine of Samosata. The success of these Paulicians, as they termed themselves, was very great, and in the tenth century they had there
six churches.

This religious

movement

attained

to particular importance through the appearance of

the priest (Popa) Jeremiah

self St. Paul.

(c.

940),

who

called

him-

Bogo-mil, i.e., After him his followers termed them-

Theo-philus, like the disciple of

selves Bogomili,

and Bogomilism kept a foremost place in the history of the Balkan peninsula for many centuries. In Bulgaria itself it became so

powerful in a short time, that councils were fre-

BOGOMILISM.
quently assembled at Sofia to oppose

19

its heresies.

But all these

efforts

were in vain.

Bogomilism had
;

taken too deep a root in the heart of the people This movement its power could not be destroyed.
spread even farther,
apostles of

Thrace became the cradle of

an analogous movement throughout Europe.

The

Bogomilism carried

their creed first to

the coast of the Adriatic, then to Italy,

whence the

movement spread to Germany and Southern France,

and even
as far as

England, where at Oxford in the

twelfth century a council was summoned by Henry II. to take steps to eradicate a new kind of heresy

which had made

York.

its

appearance in London and

Under different names we find practically the same heretical sects from the tenth to the thirIn Bulteenth century in the following places and even on the Black Sea, and garia, Macedonia,
:

in Russia towards the east

especially in

in the West, in Italy,

Lombardy, Mantua, Verona, Treviso,

Bergamo, Milan, Piacenza,Ferrara, Bologna, Faenza, and Orvieto in France, throughout the south, but also in Paris, Orleans, Rheims, and Brittany; and in Belgium and Holland, and over the whole basin
;

of the
Triers,

Rhine

Metz, Strassburg, Cologne, Bonn,

and

G-oslar.

We

England.*
lasting one,

It is clear

have already referred to that this movement was a

and could not have been without en-

during influence.
*

Wesselofsky, Solomon

Kitovras, St. Petersburg, 1872, p. 142

seq.

20

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITERATURE.

These sectarians called themselves simply " Good " " " Good Christian Poor Christians," by People,"
;

others they were

named Bogomils,
in Italy,

Manicliceans,
in France'

Paulicians, Patarenes

Kathars

and Germany (whence the German Ketzer), and likewise Bulgarians (whence the French Boulgres,
Bougre).
All this shows that

they everywhere

retained relations with their spiritual fatherland, and that the leaders of the movement in Bulgaria were recognised by them as authorities. Thus, in

the year 1167, Nikita, the bishop of the Bogomils of Constantinople, issued a summons for a council
of the French

Kathars

to be held in Toulouse.

survey of their doctrines also shows the same unity of belief among them. Their fundamental
principle

was Oriental dualism

as developed

by
far

Mani.

It is still

undecided whether and

how
i.e.,

Buddhist influences we're also at work.

This world
of of

they regarded as the work of Satanael,

Satan- God,
this

who
is

world

a fallen angel. therefore his work,

is

The misery
as

he fights

against the good and tries to destroy everything. But redemption had come with Christ the Old Covenant, which Adam had made with Satanael, had been broken by Christ. But only the Bogo;

mils or Kathars
followers

(i.e.,

Pure Ones) are the true

of His teaching, and

man

could only

attain to holiness

and by

this

by entering their communion, means he could save his soul from

BOGOMILISM.
farther

21

through human bodies for metempsychosis formed part of their belief. They therefore laid upon themselves all kinds of
transmigration
;

mortifications,
as ascetics.

and

their leaders

and old men lived

the other hand, they threw over the doctrines of the dominant Church, based their
faith

On

cross

more upon the Holy "Writ, excluded the from their religious symbols, and advocated
from
the

freedom

domination
nobility.

of

the

Catholic

Church and of the

Last Things.

Eschatology formed
the theory of the

also a favourite topic of theirs

Thus the two extremes of creation and destruction, beginning and end, cosmogony and eschatology, the fall and the redemption, formed the chief subjects of their thought, and
likewise the chief contents of their preaching.

Their views about an evil principle found ready acceptance among the serfs, while their antagonistic attitude

towards the Church and the nobility made them acceptable to the opponents of both
If

institutions.

we add

that they propagated their

doctrines chiefly and solely in the vernacular languages, and that they clothed their views in the

guise of fantastic and poetic tales, we can then form some idea of the deep impression their doc-

confirmed by history when it speaks of a crusade against the Albigenses and of one against the Bosnian heretics,
trines

must have made.

This

is

to

which the whole of Christendom had to be

22

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

the Pope. And yet it was not completely stamped out we find an echo of the movement in the Flagellants and the Hussites.

summoned by

Europe had been shaken to its very depths by the Crusades just before, and by this means the soil

had been prepared

ment.

for this

new

heretical

movenotice

Now
of the

in the literature of this period

we

a remarkable transformation.
cycle
of

The old

epic songs

poems filled and sagas free from the

Charlemagne gave way to new with adventure and imagination; songs

fetters of space

and time

make

their appearance

a whole cycle of popular

religious literature arises.

Can

all

this be acci-

dental and without any relation to the heretical movement ? Hitherto investigators, with but few
exceptions, have not

thought of any connection

between the two.

But a

careful examination of the chief elements

of their origin shows us that in most of them we have only the disguised figures of other w^ellknown pieces. Merlin and Arthur, as well as

Marculph and Saturn, are no other than Solomon and Asmodeus. In the saga of the Holy Grail we have echoes of Oriental tales. And more the same influence is found in folk-songs and in popular
;

manners and customs.

Satan, with
to see
it

The mediaeval

belief in

its

outcome, witchcraft, as

we shudder
is

in the protocols of the Inquisition,

the

BOGOMILISM.
child of the dualism of the Kathars

23

and Bogomils.

Here

\ve find

the rule of Satanael on earth as a

kind of counterpart of the rule of God in heaven. It was but a short step to worship him, so as to
obtain favour with him,
or,

on the other hand, to

make amulets
The

as a protection against his power.

Bogomils was indeed no means slight. Popa Jeremiah himself is said by to have written much, e.g., the "Legend of the
literary activity of the

Cross,"

"

How

Christ

became Pope," &c.

But the

was made of the Apocryphal writings, which were translated from the Greek, or rather
chief use

revised in a sense corresponding to their wishes. They were even very well read in the Holy

and at one time their bishop in Bulboasted that there was not a single one garia among his 4000 disciples who did not know the
Scriptures,

a very remarkable fact that the earliest translations of the Bible into
Scriptures

by

heart.

Now

it

is

the vernacular languages, especially into French and Italian, were not made from the Latin Vulgate,

but without doubt from the Greek, or from one of In all probability the translations derived from it.
they came from the Kathars, and were possibly translated from the Slavonian. And, in fact, we

can easily explain this for every religious reform begins with the study of the Bible; and again,
;

these sects could only influence the by means of the vernacular. \Ye

common people may now go a

24

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

what kind of Bible was
it

step farther, and ask

which they used

Did they
it

confine themselves

to the simple translation of the text, or did they

rather adorn and amplify

so

as to suit their
accessible

views and to
to the people

make

it

more pleasant and

whom

From

the earliest

they wished to convert ? times, as soon as the Bible had

become the Book, /car e^o^v, the source of all faith and knowledge, the naive readers could not remain
satisfied

with

its

plain contents, often incomplete,

and
its

times seemingly contradictory. Many of stories were too short, many names merely
at
:

mentioned in the Bible

on these points pious The reader would curiosity needed to be satisfied. ask How did Adam plough the earth, for he
:

could have no knowledge of that art? How did Cain know about death, and how did his parents

bury Abel,
that

for previously there

?

had been neither

death nor burial

Again, what
?

is

meant by saying
the punishment

God took Enoch

?

What was

of Cain

Who

called a priest

was Melchisedek, and why was he ? Such questions could be asked

ad

infinitum.

As a consequence, a number

of

legends arose already in earliest times, intended to fill these lacunae and find answers to all these questions.

the Apocryphal Literature, which only became of practical importance when

These form

it

was adapted by

heretical

sects

to their

own
cast,

needs.

These tales were often of a poetic

BIBLE-HISTORIA LE.

25

derived from the popular taste and glowing imagination, which made them most suitable for a wide
circulation

among
in

the people.

The

heretics altered

various

points

them

in

agreement with the

And since these they professed. Apocrypha were represented as the work of Biblical personages, the doctrines and sayings put in their
views which

mouths gained

additional

influence.

For

this

reason the Apocrypha were particularly favoured by all sects, whereas the Orthodox Church often

condemned them,
It is thus

as in the

well-known Decreta

Gelasii, the lists of Athanasius

and Nicephorus.
find

by no means surprising that we

the greater part of these Apocrypha in the Old Slavonian literature of the Bogomils, and for the

most part with very

slight alterations,

which

in-

creases their value for critical purposes.

Some

of

these are even attributed to

Popa Jeremiah himself,

"Legend of the Cross," as I have already mentioned. As we shall see, however, he merely altered older Apocrypha to accord with his views.

among them

the

The
of
its

original sources of this literature,

which

tra-

velled through

Europe and left permanent traces influence on literature, poetry, painting, and
are

sculpture,

Greek

texts,

which came to Con-

stantinople from the East and passed on thence to second source, equally Oriental in the Bogomils.

its origin,

was supplied by Jewish legends, found

in

26

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

the Haggadical writings, and in particular in a book This book, which has called SepJier Hayashar.
the
title of

work quoted

in the Bible (Joshua x.

13), is a

kind of Biblical history, wherein Genesis

and Exodus are completed by numerous ancient legends, which are mostly incorporated without
alteration.

Thus the
;

Biblical history

becomes a

Biblical

romance

truth and fiction are inextri-

cably mixed, and form together a complete Bible adapted to pious readers. It did not, however,

prevent separate sections existing in independent form as, for example, the story of Abraham and

Mmrod,

the struggles of the sons of Jacob with the inhabitants of Palestine, the legends of the birth and death of Moses, &c., &c.
Precisely the same thing

we have

before us in the

Old Slavonian literature of the Bogomils.

special

We have

Apocryphal writings attributed to various we have also though this has been personages an Old Slavonian Bible-story, hitherto unknown
;

in

which

all

these legends form one whole, and

which enjoyed enormous popularity and wide-spread This Bible-story, called Palcea (i.e., circulation.
IlaXata AiaQ^Krf),

may have been

originally copied

from a Greek model, but in its existent and perhaps extended form it contains several legends

which are almost

Sepher Hayashar.

literally

translated

from

the

to the tenth century, and

This Palcea belongs probably is thus several centuries

OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA.

27

older than the corresponding works in Germany and France. These are independent of Comestor's

work Historia Scliolastica, which, as I may incidentally remark, usurped later on the name of the Biblia
Historiale.

The Speculum Historiale

is

of St. Vin-

likewise a kind of Bible-story. Neither of these have hitherto been satisfactorily

cent of Beauvais

traced to their origin. It is only natural to assume that, like the earliest translations of the Bible,
these Bible-stories

may have

been derived from

the heretical sects, especially as these Bible-stories would find an even easier access to the people

owing

to their legendary

and poetic form.

It

is,

of course, also possible that they were afterwards revised and freed from their heretical elements.

A few traces

a cosmogony varying in order and in details from that of GeneOther details confirming this view must be sis.
still

of these

remain,

e.g.,

omitted, as I devote a special chapter to a more close inquiry into the origin and the sources

here

I must content myself here with these short hints and revert to the story
of these Bible-histories.*

Bible as

it

As I number
is

appears in Slavonic literature. have already remarked, this contains a

of Old Testament Apocrypha, to which it Instead of going through them all, I confined.

will select

some of them of
*

special importance for

their

wide-spread or deep influence,

Appendix A.

and follow

28

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.

these through the stages of their development till they become part and parcel of the popular mind.
I reserve

the Apocrypha of the

New

Testament for

the next chapter, as they present peculiar features, and form a transition to the literature of amulets.

Looking to the cosmogony,"" we find that it presents an unusual form. On the first day God
created

heaven and earth

stars
;

on the second, sun,

;

moon, and
the sixth,
into

on the

third, paradise

on the

fourth, the sea; on the fifth, birds

and beasts; on

Adam; and on
of
of
St.

the seventh
life.

God breathed
as
it

him the breath

It

is,

were, a

counterpart
the Bible.

Basil's

Hexaemeron,

which
to

attempted to explain the

creation according

occupy a large space, but I must here pass them over, as they do uot offer anything special, and the legend never

The

fallen angels then

existed as a separate Apocryphon.

greater length and of far wider importance are the legends which deal with the creation

Of

still

of man,

mind
upon

The repentance, and death. of Christendom has always laid great weight all this, in order to reach its scheme of
his
fall,

redemption, to which everything in the Biblical stories had to refer, as the goal of human fate.

Beginning and end of the process had to be combined, and the pious required a prophetic glimpse of the final redemption while dealing with the
*

Tihonravov, Pamjatniki otreEennoi russkoi literatury, St. Petersburg,

ii.

Moscau, 1863,

p.

443

seq.

OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA.

29

This association of ideas, perbeginning of sin. ceiving in the Biblical history a religious drama,

where the restoration of the

the
this

fallen

humanity

is

foreshadowed in the Old Testament and

fulfilled in

New

Testament,

is

an essential characteristic of

heretical

literature, to

which

I will

revert,

and which

I hope will give us the key for the of the mediaeval Biblia Historiale, and in origin connection with it the " Bible of the Poor."

Hence the extent

tales

and

number

of

apocryphal

These received dealing with this episode. various names, such as Historia Adce et Evce, or

the

"Legend

of the Cross/' or the "Pilgrimage of

Seth to Heaven."
first place,

In Slavonic we have, in the

the creation of

man

told in the favourite

fre-

form of question and answer, as we find it quently in the Middle Ages, especially in the
called Lucidarius.

so-

In a fifteenth-century copy of * we read as follows this Slavonic text

:

"

Question.

What

holds

up the earth
?

" "

Answer. The water.

Question.

And what

the water

mighty rock. Question. And what the mighty rock " Answer. Four golden fishes (whales).
"

"

Answer.

"
" "

Question.

And what

the fishes
fire.

Ansiver.
Question,

stream of

And

what holds the

*

fire

Tihonravov,

1.1.

30

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITERATURE.

"
"

Answer.

A fire

double as hot.

Question. And what holds up this fire ? "Answer. An iron tree, which was the first
created,

thing

Then

roots are supported by God." comes the cosmogony, which we have given,
its

and

only it is in the form of question and answer, which continue as follows

:

"

Question.

How

did

God

create

Adam ?

"Answer. Out of eight things:

earth, sea, stone,

wind, sun, thought, the speed of the angels, and finally from the Holy Ghost."
This
age.

made clearer in another MS, of the same "The body is made out of earth, the blood
is

from the

sea,

the eyes from the sun, the thoughts

from the clouds, the bones of stone, the breath from the wind, fertility from fire, and the living
spirit out of

God

Himself."

Both of these accounts have now-a-days become

the

common property of the people among all the Slavonic nations. These as well as the Eoumanians
them
if I

repeat

in their songs, creeds,

and in

their

religious

ideas,

and

might quote innumerable

examples

dared linger over this point.

Even

to the present day the people explain an earthquake as a movement of the fish on which the

earth rests.

Even

in the popular recitations at

is

Roumanian weddings.the origin of man exactly in the same way as the above.
*

described

Pypin, Ocferku literaturnoi

istorii

starinyhu povestei, St. Petersburg,

1858, p. 140.

ADAM AND
The
tree

EVE.
is

31

on which the earth stands

of Oriental

origin, and occurs again in Northern mythology in the form of the Ygdrasil. There we find a parallel account of the creation of man, but in inverted

order

own

the giant Ymir creates the world out of his limbs, the sea out of his own blood, the moun:

tains out of his bones, the rocks out of his teeth,

the heavens out of his skull, the clouds out of his

humour, and the trees out of

sponding cosmogony
is

his hair.*

corre-

to be found

among the

the world was Manichseans,t according to created out of the first man, the Urmensch of the

whom

Germans, the

Adam Kadmon

of the Jews.

It

also occurs in popular

Russian literature, in the

celebrated Golubinaya Kniga, in which the most

heterogeneous elements have been combined into an epic whole, and which may be regarded as the outcome of a whole cycle of apocryphal stories. I
will therefore give
it

complete in a

literal transla-

tion at the
literature.

end of the treatment of the apocryphal

been created by God, they were tempted by Satan in the form of a snake with a woman's head they fell into sin, and
After
;

Adam and Eve had

were driven out of Paradise.

with their repentance and " Confession of Eve" Satan, forms the so-called
*

All this, together their contract with

t Flugel, Mani,

Grimm, Germ. Mythology, ed. iv., p. 464 seq. p. 87 seq., and the annotations.

32

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITER A TURE.

is

(Ispovedanye Evyne), which

to the

also

an introduction

"Legend
which

of the Cross," and indeed represents

it.

a peculiar treatment of
dualistic,

Its contents are plainly

difficulty.

settles its origin

it

Slightly condensed,

without runs as follows *

:

"Eve

tells

her children that

all

when God had

But then came

created everything,

things stood under her rule,

and no beast dared

to touch her.

the Devil in the form of a bright angel and tried to seduce her. She repulsed him, and then came the
serpent as a bright angel and offered her the forbidden fruit. She trusted in the serpent, as favoured

and gave some to Adam. Immediately the leaves fell from all the trees except the Then God drove them from Paradise. The fig-tree.

by God, and

ate,

Archangel
vain.

loil

interceded for

Adam

and Eve

in

They stood for a fortnight before the gates of Paradise, and then bad to leave in order to find
eat,

something to

but they found only

thistles.

So

they returned to Paradise, and Adam complained of the good fortune which he had lost, and begged

remembrance him incense (ladan and of it. God therefore sent to At their further request, God sent them liban). the Archangel loil, and he gave them the seventh part of Paradise for them to work in at the same time he sent all the animals out of Paradise, and gave them to Adam. Adam, however, had scarcely
to give
at least a flower as a
;

God

him

Gaster, Literatura populara romana, Bucuresti, 1883, p. 271

seq.

ADAM AND
'

EVE.

33

begun to plough the earth, when Satan appeared The earth is mine and said, Paradise and heaven belong to God. If you are willing to be:

come mine, you may

wish to
belong
to
'

till

the earth

but

if

you
are

God, go back
'

to

Paradise/

Adam
God's.'

answered,

The earth and the heavens

Give

a written agreesaid, ment that you are my property, and I will leave you/ And Adam said, I and my children belong to Him whose is the earth/ Thereupon the
'

The Devil

me

Devil rejoiced, and broke a stone and wrote this

upon it. (Another variant makes Adam place his hand upon it, leaving a trace of it on the stone.) The Devil preserved this stone in the Jordan, and

When the placed four hundred devils to guard it. Saviour came, He placed Himself on this stone
when He was
it,

baptized in the Jordan, and broke so that the agreement between Adam and the

Devil was at an end.

"Adam now
and
cried

went before the gates of Paradise and mourned at last he determined to

;

do penance.
stood in
it

Eve went
;

to the river Tigris

and

forty days

nevertheless the Devil tried

to deceive her twice, once in the form of an angel,

the other time in that of Adam.

After the forty

days Adam came himself, who had done penance in the Jordan, and removed her thus they were both
;

freed from

the Devil.
ill
;

Many

years passed

by

Adam became

his children assembled

around

34

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERATURE.

them and asked them what was the matter, for they had never before seen anybody ill. Eve said that he had a longing for the fruits of Paradise,
and that
this

was the cause of

his illness.

There-

upon Seth determined to go to Paradise and bring something thence to satisfy his father. He came
there,

tree

and obtained from the angel a branch of the of which they had eaten. Adam recognised
his

the tree, drew a deep sigh, and waved the branch

round
lights

head and

died.

Three angels with

After these angels had prayed for a long time, God received the soul of Adam graciously. Adam was then buried by Seth
to bury him.

came

in the spot called Gherusia Plata.

voice called

out to

Adam,

'

Remember what

I said to

you
'

Earth thou
turn/

art,

and unto earth thou

shalt

re-

is thine,

The voice called out to the earth, It and was formed from thee to thee all And Eve died six days after. things return.' Out of Adam's head a huge tree grew." The source of this narrative is the so-called Apocalypse of Moses ;* but this does not contain
:

the characteristic point

of the contract between

Adam and
is

Satan, in which the dualistic principle

clearly expressed.

Every

single episode of this

litera-

tale occurs again in varied

ture.

form in popular
is

The complaint of

peated wherever this

*

everywhere rein Bulgaria, story reached

Adam

Tischendorf, Apocalypses Apocryphse, Leipzig, 1866, pp. 1-32.

LEGEND OF THE

CROSS.

35

Servia, Roumania, and Russia. Curiously enough, the contract survived in nearly literal form in most of the reproductions. part of these popular songs became star-songs, or, as they are called in

England, Christmas carols.

Iconography

also

made

use of the legend, and Eiissian pilgrims often refer to the stone on which Christ stood at His baptism.

"

In close connection with this legend stands the Legend of the Cross," one of the most wide-spread
of the

and celebrated

Middle Ages. It is found in Latin MSS. of the twelfth century, and finds a place

in Provengal, Italian,

German, and English literature. The legend in its simplest form is part of the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, and it has often
versified.

been

References to

it

are to be found in

Dante.

was made the subject of a poem by Gottfried and Viterbo, and of a drama by CalIt

deron.

and

of course, accepted by the Bogomils, attributed to Popa Jeremiah, their founder.

It
is,

extant in two forms, of which one is by Gregorius Theologus, the other by a certain Severian Gavalski. I will here give the verit is still

In Old Slavonic

sion which comes nearest to the original Bogomilist

form, and

is

more extensive than the

is

parallels of

Western Europe.

In the Old Slavonian version the

given, whereas in the
dealt with.

history of all the three crosses

West only that

*

of the Saviour

is

Brought
:

into proper order,* the legend runs as follows

Cf. Wesselofsky, Razyskanija, St. Petersburg, 1883, x. pp. 367-424.

36

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITER A TURE.

"

When God

created the world, only

He and
some
and

Satanael were in existence.

of
all

The

latter stole

the seeds which

God sowed

in the earth,

planted them in Paradise. Thereupon God drove him out of Paradise, and Satanael became black.

From

the seeds he had planted rose a mighty tree with three branches ; one belonging to Adam, the

other to Eve, and the third to God.

At the

Fall,

Adam's branch
out therefrom
;

fell

into the Tigris,

and was taken

place called Merra.

Eve's was carried by the Flood to a After the death of Adam, Seth

kindled a perpetual fire in his memory by the side of the tree, and placed wild beasts to guard it.

Lot sinned, Abraham set him as a penance to bring three logs from the tree, to plant them and
tend them with water, which he should bring in his mouth. His sin would be forgiven when the

When

had grown. They grew into a mighty tree. Moses took the second root, and with it made sweet
logs

the bitter waters of Marah.

Both the

trees

were

brought to Jerusalem by King Solomon to be used in the building of the Temple, but they could not
be adapted to that purpose. At times they were too short, at times too long. On one of them Queen Sivila (i.e., of Sheba) sate and burnt herself, where-

upon the

were hidden in the Temple. It was on these trees that the two thieves were crucified,
trees

the good thief on Lot's, and the wicked one on

Eve's.

LEGEND OF THE
"

CROSS.

37

Seth had brought a branch of the third tree to his father, who made himself a crown out of

Now

grew a wonderful tree, with three trunks that yet formed but one. This tree was brought by the demons to
it,

in

which he was buried.

Out

of this

Solomon,

who by

this

means obtained possession of

tree.

Adam's

skull,

which was in the roots of the

This was so huge that a servant of Solomon once took refuge in it from a storm. Solomon ordered
stoned.

the skull to be brought to Jerusalem, and to be This was the origin of the place called

This tree also was Lithostroton (also Golgotha). of no use for building purposes, and was taken up. When Christ 'It became the Cross of the Saviour.

was

crucified

on

it,

His blood

fell

through the rock

upon the head lying beneath, thus freeing Adam from sin, and redeeming him." This is the Slavonic form of the legend, and there
can be no doubt as to

how

it

arose.
its

The mention

of Satanael alone would prove

heretical origin,

and

still

more the whole

line of thought, so far as

it is preserved after the orthodox revision that it It is only from the standpoint of has undergone. Bogomilism, which rejected the cross, that we can

explain the planting of it being attributed to Satanael, or the trait that the demons brought it to

Jerusalem.

only linger over that relating to Lot, which reminds us of Aaron's rod,
I will

Of the other episodes

38

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

in the
far.

and which,

form of a symbol of repentance,

has spread so

Who

does not remember the

saga of Tannhauser, or the innumerable Slavonic,

Koumanian, German, and French legends

the

in

which

blossoming tree
?

giveness
in

Still

a sign of sin and formore numerous are the legends

is

which the appearance of blossoms on dead branches is mentioned, though these are undoubtedly derived
others, I

from the Biblical

story.

Among

a saga about Charlemagne, which is preserved in Turpin's Chronicle. Saints innumerable have performed the same miracle, and

may mention

even the beginning of Bohemian history nected with a similar miracle.

is

con-

I must pass over other apocryphal stories, and can only refer to the rich embellishment which the

stories of Cain, Laniech,

Melchisedek,

who

is

Noah, and others received. specially mentioned in the

New Testament, is

represented by three Apocrypha, which aim at explaining his omission of the name " of his parents and his character as priest of

God."
the

The best known

is

that translated from

Greek of Athanasius, which represents him meeting Abraham in the beginning and being

selected as priest

A favourite
destruction

by the latter. theme was the life

of

Abraham,

his

of the idols of Nineveh, his contest

with Nimrod, and so on up. to his death.

*

With

Gaster, I

c.

LEGENDS OF ABRAHAM.
regard to the last topic,
ture an

39

we have

in Slavonic litera-

Apocryphon which, so far as is at present has not been found in Greek, though there known, can be no doubt that it originally existed in that
language.
It is there described

how Abraham was

taken up into heaven, and saw there the judgment of men after death he returns to earth, and
;

Death struggles against death with all his might. appears to him in an attractive form, and finally
deceives

him

into

drinking his

cup of poison.

Founded on an

earlier Oriental legend dealing with the death of Moses, this Apocryphon forms a model of a whole series of similar imaginative products portraying the struggle between man

and death, and the final victory of the latter. Almost all literatures present examples of this, In modern especially in the form of folk-songs.
Greek, the conflict of the hero Aniketos (Kussian, Anika-voyn) or Digenis AJcritas with Charon and
I with death forms the subject of such songs. may also remind you of the danses macabres of

the
&c.

Middle Ages, of

Titian's

celebrated

picture,

The counterpart

of this, the flight

is

of the

hero to the land of the immortals,

an equally

wide- spread theme from Ireland to India.

But we

cannot linger here, nor even on the Testaments of the twelve sons of Jacob (of which we have a
Slavonic translation of the fourteenth century, of importance for the criticism of the Greek text), nor at

40

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

tHe minor legends about Moses, but must pass on at once to the legends about Solomon, which are of

such importance in the history of literature. The Biblical accounts of the wisdom and riches
of Solomon, the visit of the

Queen of Sheba, the

building of the Temple, and so on, caused him, even in early times, to be made the hero of a whole
cycle of legends,

round which other

stories

and

legends, derived from various sources, crystallised. These in their turn underwent so many changes
in their wanderings towards Europe, that
it

often

investigation before we can recognise the original legend in its latest form. I
requires

special

will

draw attention

to

two of the

episodes, because

one of them had great influence on Russian epic poetry, and the other is connected with the saga
of Merlin and with Bertoldo.

Let us begin with

the latter.*
order to build the Temple, Solomon tried to get Kitovras (i.e., Kentauros), the chief of the demons, into his power. His general seized Kitovras,

"In

bound him with a

chain,

on the links of

which the name of God was written, and brought him to Jerusalem. They went straight on, but as
they would have destroyed the house of a widow if they had continued to do so, Kitovras broke one of
his ribs in

two in order

to

avoid

it.

He heard a man
;

asking for shoes which should last seven years

*

he

Wesselofsky, Solom.

Kitovras, p. 209

seq.

LEGENDS OF SOLOMON.
;

41

He sees a prophet he laughs burst out laughing. He sees a wedding he weeps. Finally, again. he guides a drunkard the right way. When
;

brought before Solomon, he casts at his feet a rod

He explains to Solomon that four feet in length. the bird Nogot possesses the worm Shamir, by
which stones can be
split

without the aid of

iron,

the use of which was forbidden in

the Temple.

then explained what had happened. He had laughed at the buyer of shoes, because he had only The prophet stood over a seven days to live.

He

treasure,

and promised good luck

tell

to other people

when he could not

The newly married bride would die in three days and the drunkard was a just man, of whom it was said in heaven that he was worthy of protection. The rod gave the length of the grave which would
his

own.

receive

Solomon

at his death,

though he was now

so ambitious of power."

This remarkable tale

is

originally Talmudical,

where the demon

Ashmedai, here Kitovras, from the Greek Kentauros. The story occurs in
is

called

German form under the name

into

of

Solomon and

Markolph, and develops between a king and a sharp-witted but vulgar man. Between the two we have the saga of
a

mere dialogue

Merlin, in which Merlin plays the part of AshmedaiKitovras ; for he is brought before King Arthur,

and goes through the same exploits on the way,

42

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.
them during the interview.^

explains

We

have,

further, the dialogue between Ben Sira and NebuJcadnezar, and in a later form, in Anglo -Latin,

a dialogue
still

later

between Saturn and Marolph, and a development in Bertoldo, the well-known

like a

Italian chapbook.
Still

more

romance

is

the other specifically

Slavonic story of Solomon and Kitovras or Solomon and POT. This runs as follows Kitovras hears of
:

the beauty of Solomon's wife, and sends a magician to bewitch her. He succeeds, and brings her to
Kitovras.

Solomon comes

in disguise, after he

had

arrayed his army dressed in three uniforms before the city. His wife recognises him and delivers him up to Kitovras, who orders him to be hanged.

Solomon begs as a last favour that the trumpets be blown three times, as he is a king. At this
signal
his

army advances

in its

battalions, red,

white, and black (explained by Solomon as fire, clouds, and devils). They kill Kitovras and his
people,

and likewise the

faithless wife.

This

tale,

either in whole or in part, has passed almost literally

into

the popular literatures of these peoples, and out of it stories and tales, and especially epic
all

songs, have been made.

mention only Eoland,

who blows

three times his trumpet, &c. Less important are the legends of the destruction of Jerusalem and the seventy years' sleep of Abed*
Ellis,

Early English Metrical Romances, ed. Halliwell, 1848,

p.

31

set}.

THE BABYLONIAN KINGDOM.

melekli.

43

He

afterwards receives Jeremiah

when he

returns from exile with his people ; Jeremiah, seeing a heavenly vision, announces the coming of the

Messiah, whereupon he

is

stoned by the people.

^Ethiopic, seems

The

story, which

is

only to be found in Slavonic,

modern Greek, Eoumanian, and

also to

be one of the old apocryphal legends, which have hitherto been regarded as lost.
Finally,

we may

refer to the legend of the

Baby-

lonian kingdom, in which a king orders the image of a dragon to be placed on all objects. As a punish-

ment God causes

life

all

these dragons to spring into

immense snake

and devour the people, while round the city an coiled itself. There is the grave

of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and thence

the messenger of the Emperor Leo brings a crown sent by these saints.^ That Babylon was the home

was a wide-spread belief during the Middle Ages, and of this I might adduce many examples. I mention here only Sir John
of dragons
basilisks

and

Mandeville.

Out of all these and other smaller elements was compiled the Slavonic Bible-story, which exercised

so important an

influence

on the popular

imagination.
*
Wesselofsky, Archiv
i.

f.

Slav.

Philologie,

ii.

I,

2,

and Zametki, St

Petersburg, 1883,

pp. 9-14.

III.

THE APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, ANTICHRIST. LIVES OF THE SAINTS. THE LETTER FROM HEAVEN AND THE FLAGELLANTS. THE "GOLUBINAYA KNIGA."

III.

Pious

curiosity,

that

is,

the wish to

fill

lacunae presented

by the

Biblical relations,

up the was also

the principal cause that led to the origination of the Apocrypha of the New Testament, especially the
writings

commonly known As Mr. Cowper says in

as

Apocryphal Gospels.

his introduction to the

" Men were curious to know English translation, more than the Canonical Gospels contained. Fragmentary stories or traditions were abroad relating
to Joseph and

Mary and
trial

their families, to the birth

crucifixion of Jesus, to

and infancy, the

on.

and

Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus,

and so

How

pleasant

if all

rendered complete, and The the four Gospels could be supplemented wish was not a barren one, and from time to time
!

these fragments could be especially if the silence of

writings appeared professing to supply the information which was wanted. Some of these writings

be considered introductory to the evangelical narratives, others as appendices, but all as Joseph supplementary in one way or another.

may

and Mary were no longer the obscure individuals the Gospels have left them the incarnation, birth,
;

48

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

life

and early

of Jesus no
;

more remained imper-

fectly recorded

life were set forth with

the last days of Christ's 'earthly wondrous minuteness of

the space between the death and resurrection of the Saviour was filled up with particulars
detail
;

of
at

what happened in the unseen world, as well as Jerusalem and elsewhere. Pilate was pursued
nook and corner
;

into every

all

he did and said

was noted down, and the steps of the Nemesis which hunted him beyond the very grave were
diligently traced."

No

question that

these writings were

largely

used by heretical sects, which sought support from So we find a Apostolical or Divine authorities.
Gospel ascribed to Nicodemus, another even to These Marcian, the head of the Gnostics, &c.

books were used to support various doctrines and opinions concerning Christ, Mary, the resurrection,

and

so forth.

The Apocrypha of the

New

Testament make

indeed their appearance very early in Slavonic literature, as well as elsewhere, but under some-

what

different circumstances to those of the

Old
less

Testament.

While the

latter

were more or

inserted into the actual text of the Bible, the other

Apocrypha found no place

in the actual text of the

body

Testament, and had, as it were, an independent existence. This fact is connected with the circumstance that the Bogomils, as well
of the

New

A E W TESTA MENT A POOR YPHA

T

49

as at

and Manichseans, were opposed more or less to the Old Testament. Its only value was as an announcement and preparaearlier date the Gnostics

an

Interpolations and expansions were therefore permitted in the former.

tion for the

New

Testament.

Their relation to the

different, since
it

New

Testament was quite

their creed,
It did not,

was the foundation of

and

as such enjoyed special sanctity.

however, prevent numerous legends of Christ, of the Holy Virgin, and of the Apostles to be circulated

and modified in accordance with the

views of the heretics.
character
attributed
to

desires

and

On

the contrary, the holy

this

pseudo-epigraphical
it

literature raised its value

and made

fitting for

the propagation of those views. As is well known, the Apostle John, the author
of the Apocalypse, which answered so well to their system, was the Beloved Apostle of the Bogomils,

and many a book and revelation is ascribed to him The Gospel of St. John was especially worshipped,
and we
will see farther

on another book containing

the fundamental belief of the Bogomils ascribed also to St. John. Incidentally I will mention here the

Knights Templars and the Knights of St. John, both

later accused of heresy, as well as the

Freemasons,
St.

who

all

and had a
with

took their oath on the Gospel of special feast of St. John. The
also

John

German

Johannisminne may
this,

being

till

be brought into connection now not satisfactorily explained.

50

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

The Bogomils
apocryphal
the

attributed, further, a

number

of

tales to the Apostle Paul, as well as to

or, better,

Holy Virgin,

accepted and changed

them.

peculiarity of nearly all these

dealt with eschatological questions.

was that they While the Old

I

Testament, as enlarged by the means

scribed,

have de-

answered the inquiring or curious minds with regard to the creation of the world, of man,
or the origin of evil, the Apocrypha of the Testament solved the problem of the fate of
after death,

New man
re-

and thus completed the drama of

hell,

demption.
of heaven

These writings included descriptions

and

and gave instructions how to

reach the former or

of the latter.

how

to avoid the eternal fires

There

is

now
of the

a great

difference

between the

Apocrypha
dealing.

New

Testament and those of the

which
I

Old, especially as regards those with

am

The Apocrypha

of the

Old Testament

gradually make their way among the people, but in Their contents the process often lose their name.
are preserved, episodes out of
fied,

them

are freely modi-

and they thus

pass, as it were, into the

very

blood of the people.

Being assimilated

by the

people, they form a basis for further poetic expression, while the Apocrypha of the New Testament,

to holy personages, who are actually worshipped and form a part of the religious creed,

attributed

NEW TESTAMENT
book form.

APOCRYPHA.

5!

are preserved, with slight alterations, in a distinct

They are never incorporated into the Holy Scriptures, but have themselves body their own holiness. The very names given to them endow them with a kind of sanctity. Of greater popularity, and of greater importance
of the
for the literature

and

civilisation of the

world

is

Gospel of Nicodemus," especially through its legend of the cross, already mentioned, and above all
" by the Descent of Christ to Hell," which is there described by two eye-witnesses from hell. We have

the

"

presented to us the approach of the Saviour, the bursting open of the gates of bell,. and the liberation
of
all

souls,

from

Adam

downwards.

It also con-

tains wonderful details of the trial of Christ before

Pilate

There is scarcely a and of His passion. European language into which this Gospel has not

been translated.

The Latin

translations are very

early, and were inserted by Jacobus a Yoragine " in his Historia Lombardica, or Golden Legend," a name of which Longfellow made use. It

does not come within

work through
will content

all

our scope to follow the the literatures of the world. I

myself with referring to the AngloSaxon translation which was printed at Oxford in

1698, though this had been preceded by an English one in 1507. The well-known "Passion plays" are based on this Gospel, and the influence of its " " Descent to Hell is proved by the many imita-

52

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

Dante and
St. Patrick.
its

tions, including those of

is

It

true that classical literature had

"

Descents to

Hades," but at the time

when

this literature appears

the influence of the classical models

may

well be
clearly

doubted.

Many

references in

Dante show

" that he was acquainted with the Gospel of Nicodemus." In Slavonic literature, besides the text
itself,

we have many

Descent to Hell itself popular literature. " The Descent gave rise to a remarkable imitation, of the Holy Virgin," and it is easy to imagine the
influence
it

reminiscences of The "

it

among
"

the

especially as

would have on the popular fancy, it was from the beginning regarded
life

as the clue to the mysterious

after death,

and

therefore gave an opportunity of entering into all

possible torments, while the original Gospel only spoke of a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth.
It is not at all surprising that

we meet with

this

the popular songs deal with man's soul after death. In Koumania it plays a
great part in the so-called wakes for the dead, in the songs sung by the side of the corpse.
i.e.,

in versified form

when

On

the other hand, the story has become quite a

popular and largely circulated book, and is called " Letter of the Mother of God," as a parallel also

and counterpart to another " Letter of God self, both of which I shall shortly examine.
is

"

Him-

" In close connection with the " Descent to Hell

another apocryphal writing attributed to

St. Paul,

NEW TESTAMENT
which
is

APOCRYPHA.

53

likewise of great antiquity. This deals particularly with the condition of the soul at the

moment
from the

of death, with the severance of the soul

earth,

and with the way it must go to This too was a theme likely reach heaven or hell.
to rouse curiosity,

and

its

treatment would be wel-

come

to pious believers.
first

support for the contrast between the deaths of the righteous and the unrighteous is to be found in the Bible, where it is said, " It came
to pass that the beggar died,

The

angels into Abraham's bosom."

and was carried by This was repeated

about innumerable saints, as St. Barbara, St. Paul the Hermit, &c. But the clear contrast between
righteous and unrighteous markable manner in the
is

to be found in a reof

writings

Mani, the

founder of the sect of Manichseans,

a special chapter on the point, almost in exactly the same words. * The same picture is frequently repeated

who has

in religious

and mystical tracts, in burial and other sermons, and in other moral writings intended to

influence the imagination of

men by

this means.

We

thus find

it

books, as in the so-called

in French, t

even at the present day in folk" " Mirror of Human Life

Especially noteworthy are, further, the stations or

posts through which the soul has to pass before it reaches heaven. These are guarded by the demons
*
Of. Fltigel,

Mani, pp. 100-101.

f Nisard,

ii.

29.

54

GREEKO-SLA VON1C LITER A TURE.

of

human

passions,

which demand their rights from

first in

the soul.
the

This idea arose

Egypt,

it

occurs in

"Book

of Enoch," &c.,

and the early Fathers of

the Church concerned themselves greatly with this We meet with it also among the Maniquestion.
chaeans,

and very often among the moral writings

intended for popular reading. Several visions of the saints repeat it, St. Macarius and others, that of St.
Basil the younger at the greatest length.

The idea

took root in popular songs, and especially in popular superstitions songs at wakes wish that the departed " " may come safely through the stations of heaven. Many ceremonies connected with burial may be
:

traced back to these tales of the fate of

death.

man

after

Most remarkable of all, this description, combined with that of hell, has given the material
judgment of
careful comparison between picture out clearly the connection of the two. be traced farther back, as the Russian was

for the Russian block-book of the last

the world.

and

tale brings

This

may

originally

South Slavonic or Byzantine, and served

as frescoes in church. The picture is rightly to be " called The Last Judgment of the Soul after Death
:

its

Reward and Punishment,"

judgment
to be

for this is all of the

it.

last I

found in

have perhaps lingered too long over this Apocalypse, and must pass on to the legend in which the

same Macarius plays the principal part, namely, his journey to Paradise. This was a harder task. The

NEW TESTAMENT

APOCRYPHA.

55

Apostle Paul, it is true, saw Paradise in his ApocaIt seems as if only lypse, but he speaks little of it. the sorrows of men can make eloquent and can be
depicted, but not their happiness
little
;

so he tells very

he does say failed to find its way into the mind of the people. Others sought to find Paradise, but they only saw it from This was the afar, and could not come near to it.
this,
little

about

and what

case with Alexander of Macedon in the Alexandreis,

and this too happened

phal tale
this life
is

whose apocryentirely taken from the work of Pseudoto St. Macarius,

Callisthenes.
!

Happiness

is

not granted to

man

in

Among
souls,

those questions which have

moved men's

and still move them, is then the question of the end of all things. When and how will the end of the world come ? It is true the Apocalypse of
St.

John had given an answer

to this,

and depicted

in glowing colours the approach of Antichrist, the signs of the world's end, and the last judgment.
It is sufficiently well

known how

these thoughts
also the

interested not alone the Christian, but

Jewish and Pagan worlds. burning up of the world

This description of the

is especially emphasised in the religion of Zoroaster. meet with it too in Mani, as well as in Teutonic where

We

mythology,

it

I do not, of course, plays a principal part. to pursue these ideas farther. I will propose

content myself with remarking that

St.

Jerome

56

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

has a similar description of the signs which are to So, too, the Venerprecede the last judgment.
able Bede,
writers.

and

after

him

a crowd of ecclesiastical

The deep impression made upon the mind of the Slavonic peoples by the idea of Antichrist as the type of the godless is proved by a number of sagas, songs, fairy tales, and superstitions. The saga of

Gog and Magog

is

connected with

it.

This

is

an

episode of the Alexandreis, in which it is told how Alexander had shut up fifteen nations under mountains near the Caucasus.

These peoples will appear at the time of Antichrist and do all manner of
a legend of South Russia. The legend of Antichrist and of the last judgment often appear in the Russian
cruel deeds.

Exactly similar to this

is

picture or block books (Lubocnija Kartinki), which constitute so large a part of Russian folk-lore. Owing to the popularity of the subject, which

roused the terror of the people,

many
;

descriptions

were naturally put into circulation

among them
to

two celebrated
well

ones,

attributed

respectively

Hyppolitus and Methodius of Patara.

Both are

known

in early Slavonic literature,

and are

often repeated in later adaptations.

Besides this Apocrypha, which had so great an influence, many other Apocryphal tales were early
translated

apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, of Peter, Andrew, and

especially

into

Slavonic,

the

NEW TESTAMENT

APOCRYPHA.

57

Kufinus, and those were especially preferred which were most rich in miracles, and were thus best

assured of a favourable reception among the people. Lives of the saints were also translated, especially those

which were

full of

wonders, like that

slew a dragon in a forest and afterwards became a martyr, or like

that of St. George,

of St. Theodore Tiron,

who

who made

the Devil speak in

a statue of Apollo and drove him out of it. Especial favourites were the hermits, like the settlers
of the Thebais in Egypt, St. Anthony, St.
Stylites,
St.

Simon

Macarius,
St.

mentioned, then

have frequently Nicholas of Myra, and others

whom we

whose names are

legion.

In equal favour were the romantic lives which more or less resembled fairy tales without their
fantastic elaboration.
St. Alexius, the

For example, the

life

of

so

many

others,

man of God, St. Eustachius, and who passed through so many mar-

vellous adventures before they obtained the crown of happiness or martyrdom.

I

have named these

influence

lives because

we

can prove

their

on the popular literature. The heroic deeds of the one in knightly encounters with
monsters and demons, or the struggles of another with the passions, have raised a loud response in the harp-strings of popular poetry, and their deeds

resound in

many
is

a folk-song, in which

now one

now

the other

particularly emphasised.

58

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

Closer inquiry into the process of this transition from tales into ballads and from ballads into
lyrics

will

lead to

Thus we can

many an unexpected show that the name of the

result.

person
if

disappears gradually, and a personal song,

we

changed into a general impersonal one. Thus, to give an example, there is in the Life of St. Josaphat, which I shall have to

may

so term

it, is

deal with
flees into

later

on,

a song

describing

how he
can

the desert to his teacher, and gives up

riches,

happiness, and splendour.

this

Now we

form changed gradually in Bulgaria, Roumania, and Eussia into a song of the stranger, i.e., of a man who bemoans all that he has left behind in his home. Many
song in this

actually show how

more examples might be given of

popular
literature

this

kind in
:

the showing subject remains, but *the personal accessories disthis

transition

appear.

must, however, return to the Apocry-

phal literature. Before I treat of the complete books, I must consider a few fragmentary works which deal
directly with the life of Christ.

There
not
all

is first

the
It

Evangelium

Infantile,

which

is

extant.

occurs in the dialogues of the three saints, Basil, John, and Chrysostom, and is nothing but a kind

book many legends have been preserved, and have been transplanted
of Lucidarius.
this

From

into Christmas carols.

Among

these there

is

the

DESCENT OF THE HOLY

saga,

VIRGIN.

59

well

known

elsewhere,

of the

sacred tree

under which the Holy Family rested in .the flight The tree bends low, that the Mother to Egypt.
spreads branches out so as to shade the Holy Family. Parallel passages are easily to be found in Christmas
its

God may the more easily pluck its when the sun rises high up in heaven,
of

fruit,
it

and

carols, in songs,

and even in iconographical

descrip-

tions of the flight to Egypt.

Passing over other fragmentary Gospels, there is, further, the above-mentioned Gospel of Nicode-

mus, preserved, as it seems, only in an abridged and incomplete form in the Slavonic literature, 'but which gave rise to the "Descent of the Holy
Virgin."

This

is,

besides, one of the oldest texts

of Slavonic literature.
*
:

The contents of

it,

taken
fol-

from a copy of the twelfth century, run as

lows
" to
to

God on

Once upon a time the Holy Virgin prayed the Mount of Olives, and begged Him

send the Archangel Michael to show her the punishments of men. Then came the Archangel with a number of angels. And she asked him,

punishments are there, and are men And he answered, 'There are really punished ?' innumerable punishments and he ordered the
'
'

How many

Angel of the South

multitude of
*

to

open

hell.

And

she saw a

men and women

Tihonravov,
ii.

in great anguish.
seq.

p.

23

60

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

The angel explained to her that these were men who had worshipped created things, as gods, sun, moon, and stars, and the Slavonic gods Trojan,
Hors, Veles, and Perun, and they still hankered after evil therefore were they punished. " Farther on she saw a thick darkness which
;

covered the people. At her request this cloud disThe punished ones could appeared for a moment. not see her, because they had seen no light for an
endless time.

who had not

Virgin.

The angel said that these were they believed in the Trinity nor in the Holy

She wept bitterly over them, and went on towards the south, where there is a burning stream.
In this

men were

lying,

some completely immersed,

These were the dishonest

others only partially.

and the cannibals, i.e., those who ruined others. At one place she saw men hanged upside down, and
being gnawed by worms.
gold and
silver.

These were the lovers of

by

their teeth,

mouths.

Again, she saw women hanging and dragons coming out of their These were they that listen at doors and

then

tell lies.

North.

Thence the Holy Virgin went to the There she found a burning cloud in which

were fiery beds, on which lay men and women. They had not got up on Sunday to go to church. In another place men sat on burning stools. These

had not stood up before the

priests

in

church.

Again the iron tree.

Holy Virgin looked and saw a mighty On its boughs hung hooks with men

DESCENT OF THE HOLY VIRGIN.

61

hanging by their tongues. These were those who had caused enmity between man and man. Farther

on she

sees a

man

and three heads.

being eaten by a bird with wings With one of these it covered his

eyes, with the other his

mouth, so that he could

not pray to God for mercy. This was a man who knew the Scriptures but did not follow them.

Then she

punishment of unworthy priests, who were careless in their duties or immoral in

sees the

their lives.

At

last she

of

fire,

which

boils like

comes to a mighty stream the water in a kettle and

sea.

tosses like the

Here were Jews, heathens, and renegade Christians, who had fallen from the true faith, and had served the Devil.

waves of the

Then the Holy Virgin arose and went to the throne of God and begged for mercy for the souls
in torment.

"

She called to her aid Moses the law-

giver, Paul the apostle and spreader of the Epistles, and John the Evangelist, but all in vain. At last

she begs Michael the Archangel and the choir of angels to pray with her for mercy from God. Christ
therefore descends,
see

and when the tortured souls

Him

they pray to

Him

for mercy.

Christ

thereupon assures them, at the request of His Mother, that their punishment shall be remitted

from Green Thursday to Pentecost." So far goes this fanciful description in an abridged form. Similar descriptions, and much older even
than the Gospel of Mcodemus, we meet in the old

62

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITERA TURE.

I mention apocalyptical literature of the East. especially that of the prophet Isaiah, and the old

Persian in the Arda-Viraf-Ndmeh.

priest travels
scribes at full
hell

Here

also a

and Paradise, and dethrough length the punishments and the woe

of hell.

It is a question of special inquiry as to

how

our Apocalypse was subject to the influence of the latter, with which it shows an undoubted
far

similarity.

mentioned above, another eschatological story dealing with the previous condition of the soul from the moment of its
Besides this, there
is also,

as I

departure from the body till it reaches heaven or hell. This Apocryphon is ascribed to the Apostle
Paul,

an apocalyptical vision. In the Slavonic literature it has been preserved

it

who saw

in

in

two forms, an abridged and shorter one, and an enlarged one, corresponding more closely to the
Greek
text,

and treating not only of the departure of the soul, but also of the happiness of Paradise

and the torments of

This latter part, however, has been rendered superfluous by the account attributed to the Holy Virgin, and thus the first
hell.

part formed a separate existence, in which the departure of the soul from the body is described as
follows: *

"
of

On

God

every day there appear before the throne the angels of good men who live piously,
i

* St. Novakovicf, Primeri Knjizevnostii jezika staroga

srpsko-slovens-

koga, Belgrad, 1877,

p.

437

seq.

Tihonravov,

ii.

40

seq.

APOCALYPSE OF

ST.

PAUL.

63

and they bring their good deeds before God, full of joy and wonderment at the patient piety of man.
Opposite to these appear the angels of bad men, crying bitterly, and they ask God why they should
serve

such men.

But God

answers that they

should serve them as long as they lived, for perhaps

they might make them better. And the Apostle Paul begged of the angel that he might see the place He was first taken of the good and the bad souls.
to hell, where he

saw the wicked

spirits

who torture

bad men

they ruled the world and received the Then he saw bright angels, souls of the wicked.
;

who were

ready to receive their souls at the

the .angels of the good, and were always moment of death.

" The Apostle then looked down upon the earth, and saw it surrounded by a fiery cloud. This consisted of the sins of the

world mixed with prayers.

then desired to witness the death of a just man and of an unjust man. The angel bids him look

He

down.

He saw

a just

man and
all

nngels approaching him, and

troops of bright the good deeds

all

he had performed on earth.

soul,

These
c

receive his

and say to

it

three times,

Soul, soul, look

upon the body

in which thou hast lived, for on the

day of judgment thou shalt rejoin it.' This goes on for three days, then comes the man's angel and kisses the soul, and encourages it, for it has done
the will of God.
It is

then led up to heaven.

On

the

way

the soul has to pass

many

stations

64

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.

of bad angels,

and attempt to drag it down. But the angel supports it, and the soul reaches heaven unharmed, where it is
refer to its sins

who

greeted and welcomed

finally

by innumerable

hosts,

till

God

places

it

in the fields of Paradise.

"

Not

so the soul of the sinner.

This

is

taken

in charge

by the

evil spirits.

The guardian angel

weeps and accompanies it to heaven, where God recalls its sins and condemns it to hell."
I

have merely given a short sketch of the contents

of this apocalypse. This part is spun out at length in a similar vision which St. Macarius is said to have

had

in the wilderness.

This

is

the same Macarius

who had

a vision of three dead

men

in the desert,

which became the foundation of ihedanses macabres, which was so

called, I suppose, after the

name

of the

same Macarius, altered to Macaire, Macabre. The next question after the end of man was
that of the end of the world.
of St.

The /Apocalypse

John gave an answer to it, but this was too general for the pious and ascetic reader of the olden times, and thus another Apocalypse was
attributed to the

same

St.

John, in which he

is

re-

presented as asking questions and Christ as giving This book, answers about the end of all things.
called

"

Questions and Answers

is

of St.

John on
as it

Mount

Tabor,"

of the

more importance

became a standard book of the Bogomils. It was translated in an early period by the Kathars of

APOCALYPSE OF

ST.

JOHN.

65

Concorenzo from Slavonic into Latin, and is preserved in a much expanded form in the Acts of
the Inquisition at Carcassone, under the name of There Secretum Hsereticorum *de Concorenzio. " it is expressly mentioned, portatum de Bulgaria a Nazario suo episcopo, plenum erroribus" * The

Greek original has been published by Tischendorf, and we possess Slavonic texts of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries.

The Latin text embraces befirst

first

ginning and end, and gives Fall, and describes how Satan
earth.

came down
fishes,
it is

a picture of the to the

He found

it

resting on
;

two

and these
told

It then speaks of bapends with the question of the tism, finally second coming of Christ and the overthrow of the

on water, clouds, and fire Satan created this world.

and then

how

and

This latter part forms the chief contents of the extant Slavonic text. Here we

power of Satan.
have

also the additional trait that a

mighty book

is

shown

to

John

"Its thickness was that of seven

its

breadth so great that no human mind could grasp it and this book had seven In it was written all that is in heaven seals.
mountains, and
;

and on earth."
version

This commencement and the Latin

reminds us of the

which

is

closely connected with

Golubinaya Kniga> it, and its origin

into
relation

must be somehow brought

this

with

Apocalypse.
*
Thilo,

After this comes the story of

Codex Apocryphus,
i.

p.

884

seq.

66

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITERATURE.

the second coming, all in the form of question and answer, and then the signs of the last judgment.
First, Antichrist will appear;

he

is

thus described:

"

His face

is

dark, the hairs of his head like sharp

arrows, his gaze marvellous, his right eye like the rising star of morn, his left eye like that of a lion,
his

mouth an

ell

wide, each of his teeth a span

broad, his nails like sickles, his footsteps each

two

spans broad, and on his brow

Christ/
to hell,

is

written

'

Anti-

He

will rise
all

and do

up to heaven and descend manner of evil deeds to the

will turn the

righteous.

Then 'God

heaven into

iron, so that it will

not rain, and the clouds will

Then will come disappear and the winds cease. the Prophets Enoch and Elijah, and fight with Then Antichrist, but will be defeated by him.
the
angels
will
raise
all

the

righteous,

and

all

holy vessels and books, into the sky, and everything will be destroyed in the conflagration of the The winds will then clear it away, so that world.
the earth will be white as snow or clean parchment, prepared for the last judgment." Then fol-

lows a powerful, though fantastic, description of the advent of Christ, when the seven seals are
opened, and the dead as well as Antichrist and his
followers are judged.

One

of the

different

most popular legends, of quite a character, which plays a great part in the
is

mediaeval movement,

the

"

Legend of Sunday,"

LETTER FROM HEA VEN.

more often
called also

67

"

The Letter from Heaven."

property of all Europe. " Letter from gives this

Known
it

in the East as early as the eighth century,

soon became the

of

common

Eoger

Hovedene
it

Heaven"
to

in his Chronicle

under the year 1201,

in this year

and says that

had been brought

England by Abbot Eustachius of Flays. The letter was directly copied thence by Eoger of

Wendover

into his
is

own

Chronicle.

Saxon translation

said to

Anglobe in existence at

An

Corpus Christi College in Oxford.

The
that

fact that

makes

this letter so

important

is

it

became

the leading document of the Flagellants. These first appeared in Lombardy in the thirteenth century,

and spread as

far as

Poland and Moravia

they then disappear for a time, only to reappear with renewed vigour in the fifteenth century. " Letter from Contemporary writers mention this

Heaven"
tomed

as the writing

which they were accusflagellation.

to read

immediately after their

In Slavonic literature, MSS. of the fourteenth and

fifteenth

centuries are extant,

which are derived

from the Greek, and thus render it probable that the Latin texts also came from the same source. Its
contents, in the best known form, run as follows " Once upon a time in Jerusalem [other texts say
:

in

Eome]

there

fell

stone from heaven, which no

Patriarch and the whole

upon the Mount of Olives a man could raise. The

Synod gathered round

it,

68

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITERATURE.

for three

and prayed to God

till

days and three nights,

the stone opened of itself and therein lay a big roll with the following words, written by God
:

God, and ye are my people. I have written twice unto you, now I write for already the third and last time. Ye must fear me. I have
'

am your

already sent you many signs of my wrath, but ye have not hearkened. Ye shall keep holy my

Sunday,

know

Friday, and Wednesday. that on a Friday I created

Do ye Adam ?

not
that

on a Sunday the Archangel Gabriel brought the joyful Annunciation; that on a Sunday I was baptized in the Jordan that I rose again on a Sunday,
;

and

judge the world in that day ? On Wednesday the Jews spoke together how they might therefore shall ye on that day fast, love slay me
will
;

one another, and do good. The Pagans, though they have not our faith, still do good after their But ye do it not. Therefore would I have belief.
long ago destroyed you, but that the Holy Virgin and the Apostles have prayed for you that I should

put

your punishment. Fast ye, therefore, and keep Sunday, Friday, and Wednesday, and I will But if you do not do this, send you my blessing.
off

It will rain a terrible punishment will befall you. fire and hot water, wild beasts will destroy mankind, and among these will be animals having

the head of a lion, the wings of an eagle, hair

instead of feathers, and horses' tails/
"

LETTER FROM HEA YEN.

It goes

69

on to say that a voice from heaven announced that this message came from the invisible

Father Himself, and woe unto him who did

it,

not believe

for

upon him would come

eternal

punishment. would not read this message in church, or not copy it out and send it to far lands.
other hand, he was to be relieved of

Cursed be that priest or deacon

who who did

On

the

all his sins

who

read

it

and copied
is

it.

This

the main drift of this letter, which was

copied a thousand times, and gradually was used In later versions of it, help in exas an amulet.
tremity, freedom from fear, and protection against the attacks of the wicked spirits is promised as

a reward for

carrying

it.

Under the

title

of

"Letter from Heaven" or "The Lord's Letter,"

this

for the people in

Sunday legend had become a favourite book Eoumania and Russia, and even

serves as an amulet.

This deep reverence for the days sanctified by events in the life of the Saviour led in the East
of

Europe to a kind of

personification

of those

days.

Instead of the good fairies of Western tradition, we have in the fairy tales of those lands St.

Sunday, St. Wednesday, and St. Friday, and we meet with them in popular songs, especially in songs
for Christmas

Superstitions were connected with the proper observance of these days.

and

New

Year.

The

slightest

work would involve an immediate

70

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

punishment.

These consequences, threatened by Scripture in the form of outbursts of Nature, were taken quite literally, and to each particular deed is

own punishment, e.g., a storm for needlework, and so on. "We all know the legend of the Man in the Moon, a German form of which recognises in him a man who had collected a bundle of wood on a Sunday.*
appropriated
its

Once started on the way of attributing

sanctity to certain days

special

beyond those of the canon,

the plan was soon extended to certain Fridays on which certain important events are said to have " happened. This forms the Legends of the Twelve
Fridays," which
is still

The

basis

of

this

is

now-a-days a popular book. formed by a disputation

between Eleftherie the Christian and Tarasie the

Jew, on the result of which depends whether the former should become a Jew or the latter a Christian.

The question put by the Jew

is,

Which

are

the twelve great Fridays ? Mathia, the son of the Jew, betrays them to the Christian, and tells how

they had been written down by the Apostles and hidden by the Jews. I may give here from a MS.
of the fifteenth century the "
first

three

The

first

Friday

is

on the 6th March

on

this

day Adam
is

transgressed the command of God and was driven out of Paradise. The second Friday
before the Annunciation;
*

on

this

Cain killed

Abel and brought death into the world.

Gaster, Lit. Pop., p. 371 seq.

The

GOLUBINAYA KNIGA.
third
this

71

Friday

is

that

of

Christ's

crucifixion

oil

He

sacrificed

Himself for the redemption of

it

sinners."

And

so

goes on.

The

later the text,

the more details are given to each day, in order to make them more important and to encourage

observance of them and fasting upon them.

The most important example of all this literary influence is the Golubinaya Kniga, i.e., Glubinaya
:

the Mysterious book, with a translation of

I

which

conclude this sketch of the apocryphal literature. It is one of the most widespread and most cele-

brated of Kussian folk-songs, and forms the centre of all recent inquiry into Russian folk-lore. Its
contents will sufficiently explain the interest which attaches to it. I have selected the variant which

seems to be most complete.*

" In a land far in the East
arose a dark grey cloud.
fell the Golubinaya Kniga upon the light-giving, life-giving Cross. " Round this Kniga collected forty Tzars and Tzarevitch with many dukes and boyards. forty kings and princes " Among them were five Tzars, the greatest Tzars Isaj Tzar, Tzar Volontoman Volontomanitch and the wise Vasilej Tzar Tzar David Essevitch [son of Jesse].

"

From

the dark grey cloud

"

Then out spake Tzar Volontoman

is

Who

among

us,

my

brothers,

skilled in reading

that he

may

Golubinaya and tell us of the white world white world is made and of what the beauteous sun

read this Kniga out of what the

what the moon with her soft light and stars and of what the glorious gloaming
eve, the twilight of the
*

of

and of what the crowded

the twilight of the

dawn 1
i.,

'

Bezsonof, Kaleki PerchoSie,

Moscow, 1861, No.

8l, p.

293

seq.

72

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

"Then stood the Tzars "But the answer gave
all silent.

the wise Tzar

David Essevitch

'

I,

about the Golubinaya Kniga John the Priest (Bogoslov) wrote it the Prophet Isaiah read it for three years he read it and yet 'twas but three

my
j

brothers, will speak unto

you

leaves.

world arose

the you by heart what was in this writing from Christ the Tzar of heaven, The beauteous sun arose from God's bright face, from His bosom the moon
'

" I will

tell

with her

soft light,

from his robe the crowded

stars,

the red

and dawn from the eyes of God.' sky " Thereon bowed all the Tzars (and said) Tzar David Essevitch tell us too let us know
of eve
'
'

thou wise

from what

we Tzars arose from what the princes and boyards whence the true believers whence the men 1 " Answered then the wise Tzar ' Tzars have our origin

We

the boyards and princes from his rib the peasants from his knees from him too arose the race of women ; our body is out of the moist of the earth our bones
in the head of

Adam

out of stones

our blood out of the Black Sea

our thought of
'

the clouds.' " Bowed the Tzars and But gave their thanks and said tell us who is the greatest Tzar, which town the mother of
all

which church is the mother church V towns, " He answered Our wise Tzar is the greatest
'

because he
all

his believed in the holy Christ over the whole inhabited world

hand

is

stretched over
is

therefore

Jerusalem

is

the mother of

all cities

he mightiest. because she stands in the

centre of the world

in the midst of the

famous city stands

the holy of holies of the Mother of God and of the resurrection in this church is the tomb of Christ ever the cathedral
is

incense and ladan burning there-

hence
'

is

this the

mother most

of the churches.' " The thanked

Tzars

him
'

and asked
fish,

Which
bird,

are the

important

which

lake,

which
'

which

and what

beast is the mightiest of all 1 " The wise Tzar answered

The sea

of ocean

is

the mightiest

GOLUBINAYA KNIGA.
it

73

surrounds the whole earth

of the holy St.

out of the sea of ocean arose

the cathedral

Clement.

Lake Ilmen

is

the

but that one in mightiest of all not the one in Novgorod realm this Ilmen is near Jerusalem and from the Turkish
it rises

Little

Mother Jordan.

The mightiest

of fishes is the

whale

for the earth rests

on three whales.

The bird

strefil

it lives in the midst of the the mightiest of birds and eats and drinks after prayers two hours after midsea night the strefil shakes himself at once dawn breaks and

(ostrich) is

all

the cocks they crow.

The mightiest

of beasts is the uni-

corn

he lives on Mount Tabor

walks under the earth

and

cleans the brooks

wells boil over

wherever this beast goeth the when he comes back all beasts bow down

and wells

before him.' " The Tzars thanked

is

him

the most important

"

and asked him which stone, which

'

Which mount
and which
is

tree,

herb?'

The wise Tzar answered

because in
it

The Mount Tabor

the most

important

Christ was announced

before His

to whom He showed great glory. The most stone is the white Latyr-stone (altar-stone) Christ important stood on it as He talked with the disciples established the

apostolic disciples

cypress

The Christian faith, and spread the Bible over the earth. is the greatest tree for out of it was moulded the
cross

wondrous
is

on which Christ was

as the

crucified.

Willow-herb

the greatest
fell

Mother

of

God

her tears
herb.'

on the moist earth

was going to her son whence sprang the willow'

"

The Tzars then bowed

from far
afield

and said

Tester morn came

two hares

they tore one another till The white one went into the bright field the grey one into the darksome wood ; what sins will never be forgiven 1 " The wise Tzar answered The two hares are Justice and
' '

one was grey, the other white the grey one conquered the white.

Injustice they struggle with one another Injustice conquers Justice Justice goes to heaven above to Christ Lord Injustice

came

to this

world

to the people

and hid herself in

74

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

hence unjust deeds He that insults the Holy Ghost no repentance neither in this nor in the

the heart

for his sin there is

future world.'"

of the

In this folk-song the whole Apocryphal literature Old and New Testament is portrayed. The

variants omitted here

show other well-known

traits.

In

all

of them,

however,

we

recognise without
origin,

hesitation

the dualistic

and Bogomilistic

which

is

clearly expressed in the justice in heaven

injustice

and the
parallels

on

earth.

with German

recognise in it mythology, traces of the

We

Physiologus in the cosmogony, and what is more, the saga of the San-Grdal in the puzzling latyrstone, which I have translated altar-stone.

IV.

EXORCISMS AND SPELLS.

IV.
I HAVE already touched upon the translation of the Apocrypha of the New Testament into amulets, i.e.) into means for producing wonders or

good health, quite apart from their legendary contents.

Here we come
general folk-lore,

across
viz.,

an important division of exorcisms and spells directed

Accordagainst disease, regarded as an evil spirit. ing to old notions, the enemy of man could be the
sole

author of
it is

all

sorrows.

In an Old Slavonic
created

legend
left his

said that

when God

Adam and

into

it,

body on the ground before putting the soul Satanael came and put upon Adam seventy

diseases.

When God

bade him take them away

again,

Satanael caused

them
In this

to enter the body,

and told God that unless man suffered he would

never think of God.

way man remained

troubled with pains.* In the New Testament

of

men

possessed

many examples are given who were freed by Christ, and

who were healed by the Apostles. the invulnerability of the Apostles, as in have, too, the story of St. Paul and the viper. The more the
of invalids
*

We

Pypin,

I.

c.,

pp. 12-13.

78

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

this evil

view grew of
'

power of Satan, and other

as it naturally

would from a

dualistic standpoint,

such as that

of the Manichseans

heretics, the

more

must the healing powers of the saints increase. They had to free man from the power of the archenemy.

and the legends relative to the worship of .the Devil under the form of a cat,

The

belief in Satan

with

the orgies attributed to the heretical sects, has been further the origin of all the tales connected
all

with witches and with sorcery.

It lies outside of

the limits of the present inquiry to follow out this connection, and to prove that the accusations
against the latter have not been anything else than a transfer from the extirpated Cathars or

Bogomils or Manichseans to the innocent victims

of fanaticism

and ignorance.

The witches too

sell their

worship Satan, acknowledge his power,

souls for earthly benefit

and might, and become

thus dreaded foes of their fellow-citizens.

The very name

craft, is

of Vaulderie, denoting witch-

derived from the Vauldois or Waldenses,

just as

Boggard, a Northern provincial appellaor Bulgarian, the very

tion of a foul fiend, evidently resolves itself into

Bulgard

common
They

designa-

tion of the Albigenses,

whose dealing with Satan

belief.*
are, like

was notoriously a general

* Cf.

their master, the cause of every disease,

G. S. Faber, Valdenses, London, 1838,
p. 339,

and the
i.

No.

EXORCISMS.
exorcism
tlieir
is

79

employed as well against them and witchcraft as against the direct work of the

evil spirit.

The

parallelism between the witches

and the

heretics is perfect, the one being the suc-

cessor of the other.

The
in

belief in witchcraft can scarcely be traced

earlier

than the fourteenth century, and ranges in time also exactly with the appearance

Europe

and spread of the

dualistic creed.

As soon
ease
is

as the belief

was established that

spirit, its

dis-

the work of an evil

a symbolic form.

remedy took Certain ceremonies were adopted,

upon who in his lifetime had fought against the same spirit, and had deFirst among these, of course, we must feated him.
and a
saint

was

called

take into account Christ Himself, to

whom

the

patient has resort, trusting that the illness once

healed by

Him will be again cured. Then very the Holy Virgin was invoked, generally frequently as an interceder for the sufferer, and so the invocaand
saints.

tions go on to apostles

Any

one

who

has looked through the German Romanus-buchlein, the French JEnchantements (Nisard), or the English
superstitious

rhymes

of

Chalmers and Halliwell, or

the earlier collections in Delrio (Disquisitio Magicarum), will meet at every turn with such invocations

not more

They are equally numerous, if modern Greek, Slavonic and Koumanian folk-lore. Especially well known and celespells.
so, in

and

8o

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

is

brated

fever-fits (Tresevica).

a formula of incantation against the twelve This is attributed to Popa

himself,

Jeremiah

They

of Bogomilism. are quoted as such in the old Indices Ex-

the

founder

There is no doubt, therefore, that the purgatorii. is derived from the East, and I have elsewhere spell
proved
existence in that quarter as early as the It may have been of Manichsean eighth century.
its

and probably was translated and adapted The spell has been by Popa Jeremiah himself.
origin,

preserved up to the present day in all the lands of East Europe, and, with certain modifications,
also

among Jews and Germans.

:

The legend runs

Once upon

as follows

"

St.

Sisinie

was a brave warrior.

a time the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him in a dream, and told him to go to his sister Melintia.

She had had

five children

who had

all

been stolen

by the
Sisinie

Devil,

was

to pursue the

and was about to give birth to a sixth. demon and obtain the had made
in
for herself a
it.

children back from him. "

His

sister

marble
Sisinie

pillar,

made known to her, she opened the door. But the demon had changed himself into a milletseed, and came in with him under the hoof of his
and had shut herself
himself
St. away. Sisinie pursues him, and as he passes a willow tree, asks it if it has seen the demon with the child.

When

horse.

He

steals the child

and

flies

LEGEND OF

ST. SI SIN IE.

81

This deceives him, and says No, and is thereupon cursed by St. Sisinie with the curse that it shall Then he asks a only blossom but bear no fruit.
briar,
its

which likewise deceives him.

all

This shall have

shall

head in the earth, and

it,

men

become
it.

entangled in
last

so that they will curse at

tree,

At

he asks the olive

which

tells

the truth

and receives a blessing

for

it.

"The
sea,

saint accordingly casts his line into the

pulls out the

and

seventy-two fiery clubs

children.

demon, and beats him with till he shall restore the six

says he will give the children back when the saint shall be able to give back all the milk which he has taken from his mother's breasts.
St. Sisinie

He

demon
stolen,

does this by aid of a miracle, and the has to return all the six children he had

and the demon promises to keep away from every house where the prayer (or formula) of St. " * Sisinie was to be found.

The prayer or formula referred to here in the text has freed itself and acquired an independent
existence, or, as I

would prefer to assume,

This,

it

existed

even before the legend.

though attributed

to Sisynios, the immediate follower of Mani, as

chief of the Manichseans, seems to have been derived

from an

earlier

Oriental tale, which became the

I give it here in the

basis of all later formulae.

Roumanian form, which

*
Gaster,
I.

closely resembles the old

c.,

p.

393

sey.

82

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.
It

one.

be observed that here, as in all the other variants, the demon is a feminine one. The

may
is

following

the legend

"I, Sisoe, as I came

Olives,

down from

the

Mount

of

saw the Archangel Gabriel as he met the Avestitza wing of Satan, and seized her by the hair and asked her where she was going. And she
answered that she was going to cheat the Holy Virgin by her tricks, steal the new-born child and
drink
its

blood.

The Archangel asked her how

she could get into houses so as to steal the chiland she answered that she changed herdren
;

self into a fly or a cat, &c.

But whosoever knew her twelve (19) and a half names and wrote them She told him these names out, she could not touch.
and they were written down."
a Coptic parallel to this, more or less identical, as well as a Greek and Slavonic one.

There

is

The
is

fairy

who

steals children is called Lilitli,

and

further identified with Herod ias

and her twelve

daughters, as personifications of different kinds of

fever.

The
them.

vicissitudes of this belief in the

are too well

known
lie

for

me

Middle Ages to do more than refer to

Everywhere

vilas, elves, fairies,

and similar

female beings play in the whirlwind of the German myths connects this belief, which might appear to be very old in
Europe, with this female

in wait for children.

The part they

demon

of the Oriental tales.

SPELLS.

83

The
is

characteristic point is that this female spirit

everywhere regarded as the cause of catalepsy

fits.

or

Hence the invocation

to

St.

Sisinie

as

driving these away.

as

Then
spell.

this invocation is
I

used

an amulet and

add the translation

of one of these from the

the Holy Virgin

is

taken as the healer.

Eoumanian, in which In the

Eussian parallel the names of the twelve daughters are taken as personifications of the disease.

The Eoumanian formula

night.

is

against

cramp

in the

"There
tree.

is

a mighty hill

and on

this hill

is

a golden apple-

"

"

Under the golden apple-tree On the stool who sits there 1

sits

is

a golden stool.

" There the

the Mother of

God

with

St.

Maria.

With

hand with the cup in her left. " She looks up and sees naught she looks down and sees Mr. and Mrs. Disease. " Messieurs Cramp and Mesdames Cramp Mr. Vampyre and Mrs. Yampyre Messieurs Wehrwolf and Mesdames Wehrwolf. They are going to N. N. to drink his blood and to put in him a foul heart " The Mother of God when she saw them went down to them spoke to them and asked them 'Where go ye Mr. and Mrs. Disease 1 &c.
in her right
'

bow

"

'

We
No
!

go to

N. his blood to drink

his heart to change

to a foul one.'

"
his

ye shall go back give him his blood back restore heart and leave N. N. immediately.' . . . " Cramps of the night cramps of the midnight cramps of
*

own

the day

wind

cramps wherever they are. From water from the go out from the brain from the light of the face from

84

GREEKO-SLA VON 1C LITERATURE.

feet

the hearing of the ears from hisjheart from his hands and from the soles of his feet. " Go and hide where black cocks 'never crow where men

never go
more.

where no beast roars. " Hide yourself there stop there

N".

and [never show yourself

as

"May

N. remain

pure and glad

he was made by

God and was fated by the Mother of God. "The spell is mine the cure is God's."
give a few more of the Old Slavonian spells which are connected with holy persons.
I will

now

These are especially directed against diseases from which the saints suffered, and from which they were
freed

by their inborn divine power. Thus we have the following formula, dating from

1423, against snake-bite, under the title "Prayer of St. Paul against Snakes," just as we had before a
similar prayer of St. Sisinie
*
:

" In the

name
I

of the Father, the

Son and the

Holy Ghost,

was once a persecutor, but am now a true follower and I went from my dwelling-place
;

to Sicily, and they set light to a trunk,

and a snake

came therefrom and

from
I
it.

But
it

shook

off

my right hand and hung had in me the power of God, and into the burning fire and it was
bit
ill

destroyed, and I suffered no

laid myself

from the
'

bite.

down

to sleep, then the

mighty angel

Michael appeared to me and said, Saul, Paul, stand up and receive this writing/ and I found in
*

Tihonravov,

1.

c., ii. p.

291.

SPELLS.
it
:

85

I exorcise the following words you sixty and a half kinds of beasts that creep on the earth in the name of God, the Creator of heaven and

earth,

and in the name of the immovable throne.

evil,

Serpent of

I exorcise thee in the

name

of

the burning river which rises under the footstool of the Saviour, and in the name of his incorporeal
angels.

Thou snake

of the tribe of basilisks, thou

four-headed snake, twelve-headed snake, variegated snake, dragon-like snake, that art on the right side
of hell,

whomsoever thou

bitest

thou shalt have no

all

power to harm, and thou must go away (with

the twenty-four kinds). If a man has this prayer and this curse of the true holy Apostle, and a snake bites him, then it will die on the spot, and the man that
is

bitten shall remain unharmed, to the honour

of the Father, the Son,

and

for all time.

and the Holy Ghost, now Amen."

like

Here we have then another kind of prayer

the one above of
St.

Sisynios but attributed to St.

Paul, and already in form of an amulet in 1423. Another example may be given of a " prayer against
* toothache, to be carried about with one " St. Peter once sat on a stone and wept.
:

"

Christ
'

came

to

him and

'

said,
'

Peter,

why

weepest thou

Lord, my teeth pain me/ The Lord thereupon ordered the worm in Peter's tooth to come out of it and never more to go in again.

Peter answered,

Novakovic, Primeri,

p.

516.

86

GREEKO-SLA VON1C LITERA TURE.

Scarcely had the

ceased.

worm come
*

out

when

the pain

Then spoke Peter, I pray you, Lord, that when these words be written out, and a man
carries them,

he shall have no toothache.'

'

And

the
'

Lord answered, 'Tis well, Peter so may it be/ In the North of England we find the same charm against toothache, in the same wording
;
:

" Peter was sitting on a marble stone And Jesus passed by.
Peter said,
'

How my
Jesus said,

My Lord, my God, tooth doth ache

'
!

'

Peter, art

whole

And

whosoever keeps these words for " * Shall never have the toothache
'

my

sake

Here

is
:

a third specimen, a "

charm against nose-

bleeding

Zachariah was slain in the Lord's

Temple, and his blood turned into stone. Then I blood, for the Lord's servant N. N. stop,
exorcise thee, blood, that thou stoppest in the

of the Saviour, and

by the

fear of the priests

name when

(Liturgy) at the altar." t I might easily add other examples to these, having their origin in the same spiritual movement. There is always some mention of a holy person

they perform the

offices

who
saint

is

The story itself, telling how the was freed from his illness, becomes an amulet,
invoked.

and then passes into the spoken literature of the At this stage its contents are versified people.
Halliwell, Nursery Rhymes, t Novakovic, 1. c., p. 516.

p.

291.

SPELLS.

87

with rhyme and refrain, as a means best adapted This kind of proof fixing them in the memory.
cess is well
ture,

known throughout

the world's litera-

and the most ancient

literary products

were

preserved in this way till they were written down This happened with the Vedas and in book form.

with Homer, and exactly the same always happens

when anything

appeals to the

mind

of the illiterate
it,

people and they wish to preserve

superstitious or aesthetic reasons.

either

from

The whole theme

treatment, for
it

worthy of more extended shows us in documentary form

is

the deep influence that Christianity in its manifold forms exercised on the thought and feeling of the
people.

Perhaps

much

that

is

considered to date

from hoary antiquity, and has become the object of

a reconstructive mythology, proves, when properly investigated from a historical standpoint, to be

very

much younger.

The influence of Christianity

on the people has been sadly undervalued, because only the higher ethical characteristics were regarded, and the miraculous and legendary elements, which have the greatest attraction for the people, were almost entirely left out of account.

y.

ROMANTIC LITERATURE. FOURTH CRUSADE. ALEXANDER. TROJAN WAR.DIGENIS.

V.

THE

Slavonic nations owe to Greek literature not

literature,

only their theological

but

also

their

romances and
of the East,
religious

fables. Byzantium, at the gateway was not alone an intermediary for the

views and theological literature of the Orient, but also of its profane and poetical literaHere,
if

anywhere, the traces of classical antiquity remained. To this point flowed the literature that had taken its rise on Alexandrian soil,
ture.

and

it

was sought to keep

alive as

much

as pos-

sible the

memory

of the glorious past.

in Byzantium more than elsewhere preservation and care for ancient monuments,

One can observe

especially

when

these flattered the national vanity,

or did not hold out against a religious or allegorical application. accordingly find in Byzantine

We

literature
cycles.

legends taken from ancient epic The names of Alexander the Great and

many

Achilles, the siege of

Troy and other episodes of the ancient history, are recorded with pride and

vanity.

Not

so the legends

which have their roots in the

mythology of the Hellenes or the ancient Greeks.

92

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

romances of Tatius, Longus, Chariton, and others, with whom the history of modern romance is closely connected, these all
These legends, as
as the

much

are carefully excluded.

In Byzantium the theo-

logical spirit ruled with overwhelming power. Many pages of Byzantine history are filled with the records

of spiritual

and dogmatical

struggles, of councils of

war, and extinction of heresies.

soil

This was not a

favourable for the development of joyous life and of epic poetry. The spirit of chivalry could
rise

never

among the knights

in

the frock of a monk,

tricks

and amongst the warriors against the

Satan.

of

The Greek Orient preserved, therefore, the memory of bygone days, and only the romantic tales of prominent figures of the Greek antiquity were
changed, elaborated, and widely spread, if not altogether turned into- a religious legend. This state
of things, however,

underwent a change,

as it seems,

at the close of the tenth century,

peculiar offspring of the

poetical

when we meet a Greek epic muse in the

across later on.

account of the heroic deeds of Digenis

Akritas, which

we

shall

come

No doubt

the Oriental poetry, especially that of

the Persians, must have been more or less

at that time in Byzantium,

known

and the intercourse

between the far East and the Greek empire became a frequent one.

The

fables

and apologues of India appear, are

ROMANTIC LITERATURE.
translated and circulated, and

93

in their footsteps

came surely
lore.

also a

very richly developed oral folk-

At a fixed time, and from these Oriental sources, which we can follow step by step in their wandering from nation to nation, a new form of literature
arose in the Middle Ages, the literature of novels.

These were Oriental, for the most part Indian tales, which were collected together in one framework,

and were originally intended

for didactic purposes.

They were intended to be the mirrors in which the Eastern princes and autocrats should see themselves,

and learn lessons of

justice

and mildness
and be-

in the form of tales

and

talks.

These tales were

gradually released from their framework,

gan life on their own account. They formed most of the materials for Provencal and Southern French poets of fabliaux, and having been early
brought to Italy, the novel received its most artistic form at the masterly hand of Boccaccio.
Their somewhat free and sportive though attractive contents answered to the freer views of

modern

life,

and

the, Italian novels,

together with

their basis, the

Oriental tales, spread throughout

Europe with astonishing rapidity, giving rise everywhere to new poetic creations. English literature
itself

begins with Chaucer,

who drew from

these

sources,

Shakespeare's genius has derived thence the elements of some of his immortal pro-

and

94

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

ductions.
literature

The great reservoir into which this was poured, and from which it was

again drawn, is the collection of tales made in the thirteenth century, and well known under the name of Gesta Romanorum. Into this every thing
flowed
;

pious

legends,

myths, and
side,

Roman
of

Indian parables, classical history were received side by

in a clerical spirit.
this

and allegorised
influence

The

novel-literature

on the

peoples themselves was no slight one, nor less in They received the new materials with importance.
avidity, assimilated

them
in

to the old,

and created

new forms

out of the two.

the literature

known

This was the origin of England by the name of

Chapbooks, as well as of a large number of fairy I must, however, refrain from entering upon tales.
this

wider

field,

attractive

though

it

be,

and must

limit myself to the -narrower one before us.

Greece has here too played the part of an intermediary between East and West. Everything that came from India to Europe was early translated
into Greek,

and with only one exception was comthese writings, which in their
first

municated through the Greek.

By the side of way from the East

account

found a welcome in Greece

to take into

and the Balkan peninsula, we have

a stream of
oral

tradition
is

which

also

reached these shores.

probable than the supposition that oral folk-lore and

Nothing

now more

ROMANTIC LITERATURE.
fairy tales

95

came

-by

the same

route,

and found

from thence their way to the West.

tioned above,

As I menBenfey has explained the communi-

cation of the fairy tales through the Mongolians, ruled for a long time in Eussia. He suggests that from them Indian, and especially Buddhist,

who

tales

and

stories

reached

Europe.

But we know

other peoples of very little of any such

the

connection, and the Mongolians came to Europe as a destructive rather than as a cohesive element.

The

case

is

quite the contrary with the Byzantines

and the Slavonic peoples, who, as we have seen, were the introducers of an important religious

movement

Middle Ages, which came to the other nations not with the sword, but with
in

the

the Bible and the legends clustering around it. have, besides, to take into account another

We

point,

which has hitherto been overlooked, but which gives another source for communication

between the East and West of Europe. I mean the fourth crusade in the twelfth century, in
which Constantinople was captured by the Franks, and a new Frankish empire established there.

Now

the connection with their original home was kept up, and it is well known that travellers and soldiers are the most important element in the

spread of folk-literature.
these

How

easily, then,

could

Oriental

tales,

especially

since

they had

taken firm root in Greece, be passed on to France,

96

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

where exactly at this time the literature of fabliaux arose. These fabliaux are versified novels

and

stories
it

taken from the most various sources.

has not always been possible to point out their exact literary source this can now be
;

Hitherto

explained by the fact that many had been transplanted from the new Frankish empire in Byzan-

tium to the home in the West.

future comparison of fairy tales in Europe would probably show that those gathered in the

Balkan peninsula and in the neighbouring countries are the more primitive and less elaborate, if those
tales are of real Oriental origin.

The question of the

controversial to allow
here.
I

origin of fairy tales, and

is

especially of the European,

much

too delicate and

it

me more

than to mention

must pass on, and turn to the romances, of which some found their way into Slavonic literaand obtained a wide
of these in a Russian form
circulation.

ture,

Many
known

Greek romances were hitherto only

till

later investigations
all

established the real fact that almost

as well as the

these tales,

Church legends, had been brought to the North from the South, where they had been
In the first place, among previously translated. these is the romance of a hero who was in early
times surrounded by sagas and legends, and whose knightly deeds, bold adventures, and early death

have moved

all

nations from India to Ireland, and

LEGEND OF ALEXANDER.
formed
interest,

97

for all of

them an object of the greatest and even become their pride, so far as they

with.

could bring their own history in connection thereEven at the present day the name of Alex-

ander the Great lives on in un diminished splendour, and many a legend is still being connected with
him.
tations

No

story has gone through so many adapand ornamentations as the " Life of AlexGreat,"
falsely

ander the
thenes.
its

attributed

to

Callis-

Each nation has changed it according to desires, and adapted it to its own views and

wishes.

legend of Alexander accordingly affords one of the most instructive examples of the

The

influence of written

on oral

literature,

and of the
In con-

reaction of the latter on written literature.

the

nection with the Alexander saga we can prove origin of many mediaeval beliefs, especially

geographical and ethnical ones, which from the book found their way among the people. can also

We

see how, in its manifold wanderings

among

dif-

has adopted native elements, and was handed on, enriched by them. An accurate
ferent peoples,
it

comparison of all the versions would doubtless show us the artistic peculiarities of each people.

Among
selves

these versions are the less

versions.

known

Slavonic

and Eoumanian

These connect them-

more with the Byzantine forms, which are of later date, and expanded by many marvellous
episodes.

At

the same time they have a definite

98

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

and the

religious colouring, peculiar to the country

time.

For while in the West, Alexander serves as

a brilliant example of a knight, in the East he is a believer in the Lord Sabaoth, and figures as a

champion of the true

faith against the infidels.

He

goes to Jerusalem,
So, too,

true God.

and there recognises the Alexander burns the temple of

" If they were truly the idols in Persia, and says, gods, they would be able to show their power and save themselves," that is, he speaks and acts like

a Christian saint.
Incidentally
it

may

be remarked, that in this

story a fact of importance for Zoroastrian literature has been preserved ; for in this fire, as all Parsees
believe, the old books of Zarathustra

were destroyed.
in the Sla-

The legend of Alexander meets us

vonic versions in a double form,

viz., as

an inde-

pendent story, and a^s forming part of Chronicles. In the Slavonic translations of Malala and Hamartolos,

the

Alexander saga had been introduced

as early as the thirteenth century, unless to assume that it already existed in the
originals,

we

are

Greek

from which the Slavonic texts were deis

The independent form rived. much later date. The extent

great for

probably of not
is

of the story

too

any selections from it. I will only refer to the most striking incidents, and those which exercised the greatest influence on
to give

me

the popular fancy.

LEGEND OF ALEXANDER.
"

99

Alexander

is,

of course, the son of Nektanebus,

;

the king of

Egypt

he
(i.e.,

is

and tames Ducipal

educated by Aristotle After the Bucephalus).

death of Philip he becomes king of Macedonia. He defeats the Tartars and their king Atalmish.

then goes to Eome, where he receives some marvellous gifts, as, for example, Solomon's mantle

He

adorned with snakes' eyes, and three jewels which had twelve properties, and could heal all diseases.
then goes through the wilderness, and sees marvellous beings, with men's faces and snakes'
bodies (Gorgons).
related, arid

He

The war with Darius

he

is

then

how

hemmed
;

in the wild nations

between the mountains

in full the wonders he

and then are described

saw in the wilderness, men

with dog's heads, with one foot, others with one further, the eye, wonderful ants that eat up men pigmies who war with the storks. Then he reaches
;

the

'

Macarian

'

Isles

(of the blessed),

where he
their

holds a conversation with the

Kahmans and
all

king Ivant.
the water of
his slaves,

From him he
life
;

receives a flask with

this

is,

however,

drunk up by

who

are

now

elves that live for ever.

"

He

cannot reach
sun-tree,

then undertakes a journey to Paradise, but He comes across the it, and returns.

which prophesies his early death. He is then led down to hell, and sees there sinners and

their tears,

among them
'

Darius.

He dies

poisoned

by Levkadiush.

TOO

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

each, trait of these

Almost

complicated contents

recurs in popular literature.

The description

of

the wonders of India was

in the West.

a favourite chapbook

part of zoological mythology is derived from this. In it all the legends about

Gryphons and Arimaspians, and

similar monsters

known

to classical antiquity, found a place

and

The conversation with the Eahmans occurs again in popular riddles, and many superstitious practices and beliefs connect themthence spread farther.
selves with the

Brahmany who dwell

is

in the East,

and

for

whose happiness care

taken.

The

wellis

known legend
also connected

of St. Christopher Cynocephalos

with this cycle of sagas.

Thus the

manifold influence of the Alexander saga, which is even to-day a folk-book, is sufficiently clear.* Sir

John Mandeville
ful facts
sao*a. O

also

closure of the nations-,

the story of the enand has many other wondertells

which are derived from the Alexander

have often referred in the

I mio-ht, indeed, ' O '

course of these lectures to the Travels of Sir

John
it

Mandeville, had

not feared to repeat them, for contains a number of the sagas we treat of.
I

After the Alexandras

we may

pass on to a second

saga, which in ancient and mediaeval times was considered real history, but was later regarded as

a saga, and now-a-days, through excavations, has

*\

Wesselofsky,

Iz istorii

romana

povesti

i.

St.

Petersburg,

1886,

pp. 129-501.

TROJAN WAR.
been again placed in the foreground of
events.
I

101

historical

refer

of course

to

the Trojan

War.

Already in ancient times Homer had been supThese planted by the fictions of Dares and Dictys.

became the

basis of the great

work of Guido da

Colonna, which, in its turn,

for all

became the armoury the mediaeval representations in prose and

Of the numerous adaptations I need refer here only to that translated and printed by Caxton,
poetry.

"Kecuyell of the Historyes of Troye," the printed book in English.

first

The

lively interest taken

by European

peoples

be explained by their desire to bring their own history into connection with that of the Trojans, and to refer back their
in the Trojan legend

may

genealogy to as ancient a date as possible. Almost all the ruling families of the Middle Ages go back
Thus, in Gregory of Tours, Fredegar, in the German Kaiser- CJironik, Jornandes, the Edda even, traces back the Danes to the
Finally, the English kings are directly connected with Troy through Brut. In the South Slavonic literature we first meet
to

Troy and ^Eneas.

Trojans.

with the Trojan legend in the chroniclers, but we

find also that
it

existed

separately.

The

latter

treatment has only recently been met with in a MS. of the beginning of the sixteenth century,

now
and

at Bucharest.
it
is

The treatment

is

quite short,
to
its

remarkably interesting owing

102

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

modifications and insertion of heterogeneous eleI may venture to give it here in an ments.

abridged form " There was in the East a mighty city at the place Skamander it had fifty-six gates, out of which
:

seventy standard-bearers could march abreast. The In it was a mighty king city was named Troada. named Amor. He had once a terrible dream, and

was much

terrified thereat

his

queen bore him

a burning torch which set the city on fire and burnt it up. Soon after this the queen gave birth
to a
girl.

When

she was six months old she was

placed in a tower with dumb hand-maidens. There she grew up, and as she turned every morn to the
sun, she learnt a language

composed

of ail tongues.

All wondered at this, and her father caused

men

quarters of the world to come to her and listen, and he wrote- down the words that each

from

all

understood.
together,

Then they combined

all

the words

and the king found that his dream referred to the son who was shortly about to be born.

When

he was born, the king caused him to be He was there exposed on a lonely mountain.
brought up by a she-bear
:

after three years she

was

killed

by

hunters,

and the

child brought to

recognised his (grand) son. He sets his daughter free, giving her the name Magdona, while he calls the boy Alexander, i.e., in Greek, the

the king.

He

found (Obretenu).

Magdona

paints the picture of

TROJAN WAR.
a man, and

103

when any one

asks for her hand, she

answers that she will only take him for her husband who resembles the picture. One day she

saw a man riding through the

her father, 'That
is

sea,

and she

said to

the expected husband.' He is brought in, and it turns out that he is the king of the Saracens, and has travelled through the

world to find the beauty whom he has seen in a dream. Magdona is this beauty, and they are married. On the other hand, Alexander finds out

from the Magi where

in the world.

is

the most beautiful

is

woman

When

he learns that she

the wife

King Sion, he orders the Magi to let him see her in a dream and to cause her to see him in
of

the same way. They fall in love with one another. After two years he clothes himself as a merchant

and travels
the

to

her with
is

many

goods.

He

sees

woman whose name

Egyluda, and appears

with her before the king, who is astonished at the resemblance between this woman and his wife.

Alexander

and the injured king assembles fourteen other kings, among them King
flies

with

her,

Tog, &c., and they

sail for Troas.

When Alexander

and Egyluda came to Troas, the whole city moved, and the King Amor said, 'My dream is being
fulfilled/

Troas without success.

enemy besieged The King Sion had a councillor named Palmida; he made an artificial horse in which King Sion and three heroes hid
years

For

ten

the

104

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.
part of the army hid itself near In the morning the whole army made

themselves.

the city. a feint of going right away. They had put the horse-shoes on the horse pointing backwards. At

Alexander's

command

the horse

is

brought into
;

the

The heroes come out of it the others with Palmida follow, and the city is destroyed.
city.

Alexander

flies

to his brother-in-law,

and rouses

him against the Canaanite princes and Tog, who had marched against him. The Sultan takes their lands, and since that time they belong to the The servants of King Sion had run off Saracens.
with the wives of the
is

soldiers.

reconciliation

between Alexander and Sion, but the servants fight against their lords and destroy one
effected

another.

King Siou
destroyed.

falls

and the

city of Jeru-

salem

is

Alexander then sees what

:

trouble one

woman can bring into the world he cuts off her head and throws himself into the sea." *
Here we have the influence of the legend of Solomon and Kitovras in the abduction, not to
speak of smaller details which have so changed the The other form of this legend is legend of Troy.

based on that of Dictys, included in the Chronicle of Malala. The legend together with the Chronicle

was translated probably in the tenth century. Between the two there is still existing an intermediate form of the legend of Troy, preserved in
*

Syrku, in Archiv

f.

Slav. Philologie,

vii.

pp. 81-87.

DIGENIS.
the translation of Manasses' Chronicle
;

105

this enables

us to watch the transition between the two.*

The Middle Greek

epic of Digenis has quite the

character of a romance of chivalry, in which the

knight seeks for adventures, undergoes danger, and wins his lady-love after many hard tasks and contests.

The Slavonic translation

of this

was known

long before the Greek text was recovered and edited. Eecent investigations have not alone proved the
great age of this version, but have shown the influence it exercised on the epic songs of Eussia.

Many

Byline, as these songs are termed in Eussia, " Adventures of the Invincible are derived from the

Devgenie."

We may

go a step farther, and in

popular tales and in Slavonic fairy tales again recognise this romance. Its contents may shortly be " A Saracen or Arabic Emir loves put as follows
:

the daughter of a pious widow of royal descent who lives in Greece. He collects an army, invades
Greece, and steals the
girl.

She has three brothers,

and her mother sends them in pursuit of the Emir, and orders them not to return without their sister,
or they

may

lose

their heads.

They

fly like

hawk with golden wings and

reach the borders of

Arabia, where they kill 3000 guards, who attacked them from three sides. By this means they reach

the Emir,
of

who

allows

them

to decide

by

lot

which

them

shall fight
*

with him.
p.

Thrice does the lot

54
seq.

Pypin, Ocerku,

106
fall

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

on the youngest, and he
fights

with and conbe baptized

quers the Emir.

The

latter promises to

from love of their

the sister

sister.

The brothers then ask

She had been

how he had

treated her.

covered with jewels, and her face was veiled and had been well guarded, and she says he only saw

her once at a distance in thirty days. They all go to Greece, and the Emir becomes a Christogether
tian

and marries
at this,

her.

The mother

of the

Emir

is

vexed

and she sends three Saracens to bring him back. She gives them three horses, Wind, When they ride on Thunder, and Lightning.

Wind, they would be invisible in Greece. When they ride on Thunder, they would be heard throughout Arabia
ride

when they came

back.

When

they

on Lightning, they would be invisible to all. They come to Greece and hide themselves. The
Emir's wife has a wonderful dream
;

from

this the

Emir

learns about the three Saracens.

These are

to Christianity.

fetched from their hiding-place and are converted The three horses are given to the

three brothers-in-law." " After some time a child

is

born to the Emir,

who

receives the

names Devgenij and Akritas.

He

grows quickly and becomes a perfect hero by

his fourteenth year.

He

tears into pieces

an elk

and a

bear,

and

kills

a monster with four heads

near a marvellous brook.

He

is,

in short, the true

hero of the romance, the previous incidents only

DIGENIS.

107

which serving as an introduction to his adventures, are told form the chief contents of the book.

We

of his fights with Persians and Saracens, quite after the manner of knights, recalling in tone and colour
in a remarkable

way

the

Of

especial interest are

Shah-nameh of Firdusi. two episodes, because they

afford us parallels to the heroic tales of the North, and have, it would seem, strongly influenced certain

Kussian Byline or epic songs

as, for

songs of Dobryna and Nastasia, &c.

example, the These episodes

run as follows

Digenis fights with Filip-papa (in Greek Philiopappos), one of the greatest of heroes, and then
'with his daughter

conquers. that there Filip-papa thereupon says to Digenis is a much greater hero than he is, and that is
Stratig, with his four sons

Maximiana, whom he

and daughter, who

is

an Amazon, and had hitherto been unconquered. Digenis goes to meet her, plays on a silver harp
with golden strings, and wins the maiden's love. He conquers the father and the brothers, marries the
maiden, and receives rich gifts from her relations. In this Slavonic version the characters have become
a
little

mixed

original.

can be checked by the Greek The unconquered heroine is not the

;

this

daughter of Stratig, nor does he ever fight with her, but it is Maximiana, who is an Amazon
princess.

the counterpart of Brunhilde in Northern mythology. Stratig's daughter, in the

She

is

io8

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

is

Greek Ducas,

carried off
;

by Digenis.

He

is

pur-

sued by her relatives

he conquers them and then

follows a final reconciliation, as in the Slavonic.

The fame

of Digenis,

who

is also

called Aniketos

the Invincible, lives on to the present day in Greek He is the type of invincible strength, folk-songs.

and even struggles with Charon, the modern Greek

god of death,

till

he

is

defeated by Death.

In this

form he occurs in Kussian and Roumanian folk-tales

about heroes who struggle with death. This story has passed into a Russian song of Anika Voinu,
the hero Anika (from the Greek Aniketos), and has been pictorially represented in one of the Russian block-books (Lubocnyja Kartinki). I have
i.e.,

it

already referred to the Apocrypha of Abraham or the "Legend of Moses/' which has influenced it,
as well as the
it

belongs.

whole cycle of similar tales to which These are -the Greek epic romances,

which have

also

come

into the possession of the

Slavonic peoples.

VI.

APOLOGUES AND FABLES.

TIPAS.

BARLAAM AND

JOSAPHAT.THE WISE AKIR AND SYN-

VI.
to the legendary biography of Buddha, which, as early as the eighth century, had been The " Life of transformed into a Christian legend.
I

PASS

now

St.

Barlaam and Josaphat" was attributed to St. John of Damascus, or another St. John, and was at an early date translated into Slavonic. St. Josaphat
is

no other than Buddha himself; he too leaves house and home, honour and throne, to follow his
teacher, Barlaam, into the desert,
life

and
is

to lead the

of a hermit.

This determination

produced in
answers

him by

the sight of human misery on four occasions,

just as is told of

Buddha.

This

self-sacrifice

exactly to the ascetic spirit of the Middle Ages and the heretical movement, and it is no rash assumption
to attribute to

a part in the spread of this reIn a previous ligious romance through Europe. part I have referred to the deep impression this
it

episode made on the feeling of the people, and even to the present day the song is sung in Eussia and

Eoumania which Josaphat addresses to the solitary wood where he is about to pass his life. The spread of this tale would be likewise encouraged by the poetical parables which it contains among them
;

ii2

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.

that of the three caskets of the

"Merchant

of

Venice."

man

Almost equally celebrated is that of a flying from a unicorn, and hiding himself in a

brook, where he clings to a tree that grows there. He sees two mice, the one white, the other black, and

they gnaw at the root of the tree, while under him Then the man stands a dragon with open jaws. notices a honeycomb on the tree, and he forgets everything while he eats
it.

The unicorn

is

death, the brook the world full of evil, the tree

life

gnawed away by day and night, the dragon hell, and man forgets all this to enjoy a few drops of
earthly pleasure.

These parables were repeated times innumerable every one of them has its own history, and we
;

often meet with

literatures.

them

in Slavonic

and Eoumanian

A second biography, though

I

not of a saint, which

is

can also trace back to the East,

falsely

the

"

Life of
is

^Esop,"

attributed to Planudes.

This

also full of

marvellous tales of cleverness and wit.

Translated from Greek into Latin, these tales likeI have said wise find a place in world-literature. that this life is falsely attributed to Planudes, and I

support this conjecture by the fact that

in a few of the biographical details,

we

pos-

sess in Slavonic literature a tale only differing

it

from
is

and which
This
is

older than the epoch

of Planudes.
;

the

"Story of the Wise Akir and the Sultan Sina-

THE WISE A KIR.

grip,
is

113

and Anadam, the nephew of Akir." There almost an identical agreement of this tale, the
which
I will give,

drift of

with

many
:

passages of

the "

"

Msop."

It runs as follows

He In a land, Adar, lives a king, Sinagrip. has a wise counsellor named Akirie, who is very He therefore adopts rich, but has no children.
nephew, Anadam, and educates him in the best manner. After a time he appoints him his
his

successor in his post,

and

retires.

But Anadam

wanted

to destroy

him

entirely, so that he

may soon

inherit his wealth.

fore the king,

He

therefore accuses Akirie be-

Akirie

is

and says he wished to dethrone him. taken prisoner and condemned to death.
part,

But a friend takes his

world.

and hides him from the

When Pharaoh heard of the death of Akirie,

he sends an ambassy to Sinagrip to request that he would send him an architect to build a city in the air and to answer all riddles that one could
ask him.
Akirie.

Sinagrip regrets the death of the wise His friend thereupon informs him that

he

is

alive,

He

is

sent to

Egypt under another

all
air,

name.
riddles.

There

he makes clever answers to

In order to build the city in the

he

binds a chest to two eagles, places a child in the chest, and gives it a spit with flesh on it, and tells
it

to hold this up.

The
he

eagles fly with the chest

is

into the sky.

for bricks

When

up

there, the child asks

and mortar.

Pharaoh owns his H

defeat,

ii4

GREEKO-SLA VON1C LITER A TURE.

and recognises that his visitor must be Akirie. The latter returns home full of honours. His nephew is given up to him for punishment. He
only reminds him every day of what he has done, which he takes so much to heart that he dies."
the contents of the book, and " Life of it occurs in exactly the same form in the ^Esop," with only a change in the names. The direct
This, shortly put,
is

source of the story of Akirie is doubtless Greek. It is curious that hitherto no Greek text has been found
for
it,

and the suggestion occurs

to one that the

Greek text has passed into the "Life of Jsop."

This explains the disappearance of Akirie in Greek, and, on the other hand, the non-existence of JEsop
in

the

Old Slavonic
is

literature.

The Oriental

original

preserved in the "Arabian Nights," even Akirie is called the names there corresponding.

Heykar, and Sinagrip Sinharib, i.e., the Biblical The story, however, goes farther Sennacherib. back, and the journey through the air and the
riddles connect

with the Solomonic cycle for the Oriental fable tells of Solomon, how he flew
it
;

through the

air,

carried

by a demon.

Out

of this

was

a flying carpet, a flying chest, and even a flying horse, as we meet with them in the It is also refairy tales of all parts of the world.
later

made

ported of Buddha, of Nimrod, and of Alexander The that they flew in the air carried by eagles.
*

Gaster, Lit. Pop., p. 104

sec[.

SYNTIPAS.

115

gnomes which Akirie gives

to his

nephew, put in

striking form like proverbs, have

become popular

sayings in Eussia and Koumania. The popularity enjoyed by Akirie in the past, and even in the present, has prevented that of the " " but not from Life of
his fables,

JSsop becoming popular, which have been translated into Slavonic.

We

need not be surprised to find that the number and form of these fables varies greatly. Still less

need we be surprised that many of them have become common property and occur as so-called
animal-fables,

and

in the

form of

fairy-tales.

We may connect

with this

series of Oriental tales

the important book of

novels

Syntipas.

The

history of this book, originally Indian, and afterwards placed by its attractive contents at the head

of the novel-literature of the Middle Ages, is by itself a striking example of how such literature
spread.

Early translated into Syriac,

it

was trans-

lated into

century.

Greek by From an Arabic

Andreopulos in the eleventh

translation

was derived
it

Hebrew one, then found a home in all

a
travels it

a Latin one, and

vernaculars.

thence
its

But during

grew larger and larger. Tales belonging to quite a different source were introduced into it,

and

it

received a different

name

in each country.

The

oldest

and favourite one

of a sage
versions

who

it is

is Syntipas, the name takes the chief part in it. In other " called The Book of the Seven Wise

ii6

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.
it.

Masters," because seven sages appear in

Even their number was increased, and so we get a "Book " of the Ten Wise Masters," and even Of the Forty
Veziers."

be thus abridged After many years without a child, a king at last As soon as he is grown, he gives obtains a son.
Its contents

may

"

him

to the care of the sage Syntipas, the wisest

man

in his kingdom.
is

Many

years pass and the

The prince sage searches the stars, and finds a great danger threatening the prince, and that there is only one
means of evading
is
it,

about to return home to his father.

and that
This
it.

is

that he should be

silent for seven days.

is

done, and the king

The stepmother of the prince causes him to be brought to her, on the preThere is text of being able to cause him to speak. then a repetition of the old episode of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. The queen accuses him, and seeks
in great trouble over

to have

him

killed.

Then there appear seven

the moral of which
is

sages,

and each

tells

tale,

that a

man

be trusted.

should not be too hasty, for woman In this way the punishment

is is

not to

put

off

from day to day. The queen also appears each day and tells on her side a story, intended to induce the king not to listen to his counsellors. Thus the fateful seven days pass over, and on the eighth
appear Syntipas and the prince, who, being able now to speak, tells the truth." This is the frame-

work story by which the

others are connected, their

SYNTIPAS

117

number being increased and the form

time goes on.
tales, like the

altered as

This

is

also true of other Oriental

"Arabian Nights," Pantchatantra, &c. The novel-writers of the Middle Ages followed
their example, as Boccaccio, Cinthio,

Margaret of

Navarra, and Chaucer.

the literature of the

So

far as

we yet know

Southern Slavs, the book of Syntipas, as a book, has not been preserved in it. The Russian version of the sixteenth century was
derived from a Polish one which came from the

West.
in
it

But a

large

number

of the stories contained

have been preserved in the folk-literature of the Southern Slavonic nations, especially in their
jest-books.

On

the other hand,

we

possess a translation of

early date of the no less important Pantchatantra. The history of its travels is no less interesting than

that of Syntipas.

While the

latter is

more

closely

connected with the novel literature, the Pantcliatantra

is

more

closely connected with tales.

The

investigation

of this

connection was, as I have

already said, a turning-point in the history of folklore, with which the name of Benfey will ever be

connected.

Brought at an early date from India, the book was first translated into Pehlevi, in the mixed

From this were dialect of the Sassanide epoch. made Syrian and Arabic versions, under the name of Kalilag and Damnag, or Kalila and Dimna.

ii8

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.
jackals,

These names are derived from those of two

Karataka and Damanaka, which play a

rdle in the frame work- story.

principal
it

From
in

Arabic

was

translated

by Symeon Seth

1080 into Greek,

and from
century.

this into Slavonic, perhaps in the twelfth

Owing to a mistake about the proper Seth called Kalila Stephanit and Dimna names, Ihnilates, and these names also occur in the
Slavonic translations.
I

cannot here of course

pursue the history of the Arabic version, which was translated into no less than five different
languages, and thus passed into the folk-literature of Europe. I will merely give a few examples out of the Slavonic translation, which, like the Greek,
is

shorter than the other versions.

I will preface
is

these with the remark that the book

in Slavonic to St.

attributed

John of Damascus, owing to a

title,

mistake about the

also of

because Seth was said to be

Damascus.
It is related that in

Of a Merchant.
on business, and
a pledge.

a certain
to travel
as

city there was a merchant

left

who wished

some iron with a man

When he came back, he went to the man with whom he had left the iron, and said " to him, Friend, give me the iron that I left He answered him, " I placed your with you."
iron in one
of

my

cellars,

and the mice have

eaten

it

up.

that, for

But do not trouble yourself about you have come back safe and sound.

SYNTIPAS.

119

Come

to us one of these days,

and we

will

have
After

a feast and rejoice over your return."

The other

man

agreed,

and came to eat with him.

dinner he went home with him.

the son of the
iron, seized

There he saw
he had
left

man

with

whom

the

him, carried him to his

own

house, and

hid

him

there.

Coming out

again, he

saw the

man

seeking everywhere for his son.

He

then

said to him,

"If you are looking for your son, (know) that I have seen an eagle carrying him through the air." But the other turned round
eagle carrying a " In a the merchant answered, But man ? place where mice eat iron, an eagle can carry a man
said, "

and

"

Have you ever seen an

away."
his iron,

The other understood, and gave him back on which he gave him back his son.*
story,

Here ends the

jest-books.

which recurs in innumerable

is

Another story
poor

the celebrated fable,

La

Fontaine's Perette. " was once a

There

man who had

received

from a friend some butter and honey, which he hung up in a pot. One night he thought to himself

butter and honey with this I'll get ten she-goats, and these will in In five five months give birth to as many kids.

and

"

said,

I'll

sell

this

years I shall have at least 750, and so they will go

I shall then sell them, and buy on increasing. 100 oxen, with which I will plough, and from their
*

A. Viktorov, Stefanit

Ihinlat,

Moscow, 1881,

pp. 32-33.

120

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERATURE.

produce I shall become very rich, and build a house four storeys high and covered with gilding,

and
She
gel"

I'll

buy
"in
and

several

slaves

and marry a

wife.

shall bear
(i.e.,
;

me
all
if I

who shall be called Pangood"), "and I'll bring him up

a son,
find

as I like

him with

this rod."

him disobedient, I'll punish At this he seized the rod

which lay near him, and, without intending it, struck the pot with the butter and honey and
broke
it,

As
is

in

and the butter and honey ran away.* the Greek original, the Slavonic contains
on the king's dreams, which
it still exists

in addition the chapter

wanting in the Arabic version, while in the Syrian and Tibetan versions.
bolic

These sym-

dreams and their interpretations exist inde" The Dreams of the pendently, with the title
Tzar

Mamer and

Shahaisha."

Besides these, other

Oriental tales are included in the Slavonic

these, it

MSS.

be conjectured, also occurred in the Greek original, and were translated from it.

may

Having arrived

at the conclusion of this short

sketch of the Greeko- Slavonic literature, I

may

take a short retrospect of the line of argument. The first thing that meets us is the fact, estab-

by numerous examples, that we can no longer consider the soul-lives of the European peoples in the Middle Ages as independent from
lished
*

Viktorov,

I.e.,

p. 67.

ROMANTIC LITERATURE.
one another.
other, along
cises

121

Paths lead from one nation to an-

which passes a
influence

literature

which exerof

a uniform

on

all,

the traces

which
also in

are to be found not alone in mediseval, but

modern

folk-lore.

It follows, further, that

the literature of the people, as we now have it, is throughout dependent on a previous literary It is from literary works that there passed period.
into the consciousness of the nations

almost

all

legends, sagas, fairy tales,

and even amulets,

spells,

and other superstitious customs. As a third result, we have seen that the common
sources out of which these have been derived are

mostly of Oriental origin, and are seldom known

Europe before the tenth century. It is by no means implied that the peoples of Europe had nothing of the sort before, or that no mythologiin

views were prevalent in earlier times. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does the human mind.
cal

But the earlier possessions must have been of poor and unenduring quality, and few positive traces
can be shown of this early mythology. The similarity of legends and customs which used to be

and that the same

given as proofs for the existence of a mythology, for all nations, will henceforth

be considered as proofs to the contrary. Not a little of this folk-lore can be traced back to one

and the same

literary source,

and we have thereand customs

fore explained the identity of legends

122

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

different nations of Europe, not

amongst

by means

of

any hypothetical identity of their mythology, but by

I the actual identity of their literary substratum. have had to confine myself to narrow limits, other-

other Oriental and Christian legends might have been traced through all forms of folk-

wise

many

literature in their subsequent changes

at first saga

or legend, then chronicle, knightly adventure,

fairy tale,

and
Re-

then

epic,

and

finally lyrical song.

miniscences of these might have been found in

superstitions, customs,

and

habits.

Further, their

influence on art

might have been traced in iconography and sculpture, and many other branches. The few examples I have adduced will have

proved, I hope, that the folk-literature of Western Europe is derived for the most part from the literature of the East,

and

especially

from the Christian

have recognised and often
of East

and Buddhist

literatures.

We

in Greeko-Slavonic literature the chief,

the only factor, in the

communion

and

Apocryphal and imaginative works, early introduced into Greece, were brought thence into
West.
the Slavonic lands, and the missionaries of dualism
quarters these religious tales, which were easily taken up and assimilated by the It was also from the South-East, and propeople. bably by oral tradition, that the knights and
all

thence carried to

soldiers of the fourth crusade brought

romances

of chivalry

and Buddhistic

fables,

which must

ROMANTIC LITERATURE.'
have

123

found their way with other works from India through Persia and Asia Minor to Byzantium and the Balkan peninsula. The veil that
has hitherto hidden the history and importance of Slavonic and Middle Greek literature is gradually

beginning to be raised, and we obtain a new fertile source for the critical inquiry of our time. The connection between Western and Greeko-Slavonic
literature

has

been broken and their unity dis-

solved,
is

and

I shall consider

myself fortunate

if it

granted to me to have restored this connection, and to have shown, even if only on a small scale, that all these elements worked harmoniously together in religion and poetry, fable and tale, creating a new birth of the spirit in Europe, the results
of which
to-day.

are

to

be seen in the civilisation of

VII.

THE SLAVONIC PEOPLES IN THE BALKAN PENINSULA. ORIGIN OF THE SLAVONIC LITERATURE. CYRILL AND METHOD.

VII.

AFTER the

brief sketch of Greeko-Slavonic litera-

ture given in the preceding pages, it is absolutely necessary that we should attempt to form some idea

of the background on which our picture was painted. I must content myself here with the merest sketch
of the
in the

most important events which took place Balkan peninsula, viz., the invasion and

settlement of the Slavonic tribes, their struggles with the Greeks, the arrival of the Bulgarians, and the influence exercised
peoples.

We

shall

by them on neighbouring then come to the conversion

two apostles of

of the Slavs to Christianity, the

the Slavs, Cyrill and Method, the inventors of the Slavonic alphabet and the founders of Slavonic
literature.

Probably no country in Europe, with the exception of the neighbouring Eoumania, has been the
scene of so
peninsula.

many
It

invasions and raids as the Balkan

first

was the

stage reached

by the
the

Aryans

as they crossed over

from Asia, at

first

mysterious Pelasgians, then the Hellenes, who supplanted them, then the Thracians in the north,

with their numerous tribes and divisions.

If the

28

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

is

Albanians, as

generally assumed, are descended

from the Thracians, then these last two peoples, the Hellenes and Thracians, have kept their hold
on the Balkan peninsula to the present day. Innumerable are the names of the more recent
peoples who have passed through the peninsula, from the Gauls to the Romans, Goths, Huns,

Avars, Petchenegs, and Cumans. I merely mention these names and pass at once to the Slavs, who

more nearly
it

interest us.

Slavs. Suffice question of the original to remark, that the Bulgarians and Servians of

Nor will home of the

go into the

to-day were originally identical with the Slovenes in Pannonia, and that they wandered from there
in the course of

many
At

centuries into Mcesia, which

had been

laid
it.

waste and depopulated by the hordes

last, in

traversing

the fifth century, they

became powerful enough to undertake expeditions

against the Byzantine empire. Many investigators place the Slovenes in Bourn ania about this time, basing their conclusions on the

on their

own account

Some have gone so far as to Slavonic place-names. Critical investigacall the ancient Dacians Slavs.
tion brings to light the fact that these Slavonic placenames are of comparatively recent date, and bear
trace of specific sounds

which belong to a

late period

of the Slavonic language,

into dialects

split up and came under Bulgarian influence. The Slavonic population of the Balkan peninsula

when this began to

THE BULGARIANS.

129

displayed no power of cohesion, just as that of Its Eussia failed to show any in the early period.
organisation is that of the clan, each clan being settled in a separate hamlet, with its Jcnez at its head.

This word, which in Slavonic, and thence in Kou-

manian, means leader or chief, is of peculiar interest, as it is borrowed from the Goths, among whom the

word appears
0.

as kuni.

The English word

it,

Icing is

absolutely identical with

coming through the

It is further well

H. G. cunic,

A.-S. cuning.

known

that in consequence of the Arian movement Bishop Ulfilas, the translator of the Bible into Gothic, led part of his people across the Danube
settled in Mcesia,

and

and

it is

from this quarter

that the Slavs,

who

arrived there later, took this

name.

This

may

serve us as an index to settle

the date of the invasion and settlement of the

Slavs in the Balkan peninsula.

This must have

been consummated about 670 A.D. Even earlier than this Byzantine chroniclers mention struggles with
the Sklavinoi.

Thus Constantine

II.

led an excalled

pedition against the people of the land Sklavinia in 657 A.D., and conquered them.

Southern Slavs

turning-point in the political life of the is formed by the invasion of the

Finno-Tartar nation of the Bulgarians, who came, under the guidance of Isperich, in 679 A.D. from
the north through the present Dobrugea to Moesia. Like the German Yarsegians in Kussia, they coli
.

130

GREEKO-SLA VON1C LITER A TURE.

and united them
into

lected their scattered clans

one nation, to which they gave their name, unlike

the Varsegians, whose name disappeared."" The few relics of the Bulgarian language which
still

mostly consisting of proper names not permit us at present to determine exactly do

remain

their

ethnological
is

character.

The most

recent

that they are related to the TcJiuvashians, whose descendants, it is probable, are

hypothesis

the present Tartars at Kazan. The name Bulgar has been connected with that of the river Volga.

They

certainly

belong

to

the

Turkish peoples who ruled in centuries, and of whom the Chazars are the best

family of South Eussia for

great

known.

They did not come, however, alone, but with them came also Finnish tribes, absorbed afterwards into one nation, t

Contemporary writers have given us a few details about their customs, which confirm this guess. I will merely mention their burial customs. As
soon as a great

man

died, he

was

laid out in

mortuary in which were also shut up his favourite wife and his slaves. They occur most frequently
in

South Eussia, and in Eoumania.

is still

this point Bulgaria

As regards a terra incognita.

The number of

these conquerors cannot have

it

been inconsiderable, as
*
Of. Jirecek, C. T.

took two or more centu-

t Miklosich,
pp. 1-4.

Geschichte der Bulgaren Prag, 1876, p. 126 seq. in Miscellanea di Filolologia e Linguistica Florence, 1886,

THE BULGARIANS.
ries before

131

the Bulgarian language died away, and conquerors and conquered were remodelled into a

new

This period is filled with mighty which roused the Byzantine empire, as struggles under Krum, Boris, Ormortag, &c. The power of
people.

the Bulgarians spread over almost the whole of the Balkan peninsula all its inhabitants were sub;

dued.

By

the side of Greeks and Slovenes, and

older than the latter, there was a

tion throughout the

Eoman populaMiddle Ages known by the

and destined
to play

name

of Wallachians,

an im-

Besides portant rdle in the history of Bulgaria. these there were the Albanians, and likewise scattered remnants of other peoples like the Goths and Over all these the Avars, who had settled there.

power of the Bulgarians spread, and yet it is generally assumed that no trace of their influence
remains.
I

I call attention to this point, as the

all

view

have to bring forward contradicts

If

these theories.

we observe the languages

of the

Balkan pen-

insula as they appear before us to-day, they all betray a surprising similarity in their grammatical

formation.

This

is

especially the case, as it

is

im-

portant to notice, in their inflexions, a point in which every language shows itself, as is well

known, remarkably sensitive, and only loses them under some striking influence of another language.
English
that
I

prominent an example of need only refer to this point.

is

so

this fact,

132

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.

Now Albanian,
identical

Eoumanian, Neo-Greek, and Bul-

garian, as well as

Servian in part, offer us such phenomena, that the influence which

all

has produced this change in

four languages must, under every circumstance, have been simultaneous. This consideration excludes any Thracian

influence,

which was
is

first

assumed by Thunmann

Acgenerally accepted. cording to this theory, the Roumanians, Greeks,

and Kopitar, and

now

and Bulgarians, through intermixture with the

indigenous Thracian population, lost

many

of their
it
is

grammatical inflexions.
Thracian,

As a proof

of this,

urged that the Albanian, which represents the old

much

But presents the same phenomena. has been overlooked which renders this view
;

impossible, as I believe

for

between the
supposed
at

influ-

ence of the Dacians,

who

are

to

be

identical with the Thracians, on the

Roumanians,
least

and the same on the

several centuries.

Slavs, intervene

It is

not to be assumed that

a language could have remained unchanged for many centuries, and should have produced exactly
the

same

linguistic

medium,
Latin.

in

on a quite different one case Slavonian and in the other

results
I

not press the point that at the time of the Slavonic invasion only Roman colonies in Moesia and descendants
will

For the moment

of Goths are referred to, whereas there

slightest

is

not the

reference

to

any Thracian population,

THE LANGUAGES OF BALKAN PENINSULA.

133

though this must have been very numerous, to Of far greater judge from the influence assumed.
importance

To

the difficulty offered by Albanian. the present day no one has succeeded in deis

finitely

settling

this language.

the linguistic characteristics of By the side of the Thracian theory

there exists also a Greek theory, which recognises in Albanian an archaic (Pelasgian) form of Greek.
I

need not discuss such an hypothesis

of
interest
is

farther.

The

point

grammatical similarity with the other tongues. The philosophy of language does not permit us to regard this as the
original type after

the

which the remaining languages

have formed themselves.

Phenomena such

as those

before us only occur as the result of a conflict, of

a struggle between the two languages, in which both suffer losses, and become elevated into a third

language having a higher unity. We must, thereIt fore, regard these forms in Albanian as late.

would be otherwise inexplicable how a form should have been preserved in Albanian which in the
other languages
Finally, if
is

undoubtedly of later formation.

we

pass to

Modern Greek, we

find the

same objection against a Thracian origin which

we adduced when speaking

there

was

of Bulgarian, viz., that never so numerous a Thracian population

as could transform

Greek in

so essential a manner.

In addition to

all

these points

we have

to take

into account the fact, which comes out irrepressibly

34

GREEKO-SLA VON1C LITER A TURE.

in

an analytical investigation of, for example, the Bourn anian language this is, that these changes
;

must have taken place

period

at

a late

period

at

when the Latin language had already been transformed into the Koumanian in particular,
;

after the

end of the change of consonants, but

If

before the determination of the inflexions.

we

assume that

this transformation of Slavonic into

Bulgarian, and of Greek into Modern Greek is of late date, we are necessarily obliged to assume

some thoroughgoing simultaneous influence spreading over the whole Balkan peninsula between the
seventh and the tenth century, and transforming all the toDgues there and then in existence in precisely the

same way.
is

But there
ascribe this

no other nation

to

whom we

can

change but that of the Bulgarians,

its

which made

appearance in so striking a manner about this time, establishing a kingdom which

flourished for centuries.

The number

of the Bul-

garians could not have been inconsiderable, as one can perceive if one thinks of the numerous populations

whom

they ruled.

keep

alive their

managed to language about more than two

Besides, they
;

centuries, although in a continuous struggle with

other peoples and languages and though it passed over into these, yet not, as was previously thought,

without leaving deep traces on them.

CONVERSION OF THE BULGARIANS.

The next important
Christianity,
factor

135

was the acceptance of which had a most extensive influence

;

on the development of the Slavonic peoples for by the side of their faith, and in consequence of
their faith, there

grew up

for

them a

literature

and

progress.

In course of time the whole of Western Europe had been converted to Christianity even the Slavic
;

tribes in Moravia, Pannonia,

and Croatia had been

baptized.

Threatened by Christian Byzantium in

all

the south, Boris, Prince of the Bulgars, saw himself

surrounded on

sides

by

Christians, and, to

relieve himself

from the threatening danger and to ensure his political security, he determined to

proceed to Byzantium and to accept Christianity. Accordingly, about the year 864-865, he was baptized at Constantinople, and received the name
of Michael.
It

was only

after a long hesitation

between Koine and Constantinople that he decided in favour of the latter, and received thence the first
Bulgarian bishop, by

name

Joseph.

Boris-Michael

withdrew in old age into a monastery, and after his death became the first Bulgarian saint. The news
of the conversion of the Bulgarian ruler and of part of his people soon spread, and attracted missionaries

desirous of winning over a people who had shown themselves ready to give up their old faith. I may mention specially the Paulicians or Manichseans,

who came about

this time into Bulgaria,

and

also

136

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.

the Jews,

who had
I

likewise converted the Chazars

to Judaism.

draw particular attention to these

two

factors, as they were of great importance in the spiritual and literary movements of the follow-

ing centuries.

The Bulgarian power reached its culmination under Boris's successor, Tzar Samuel (893-927).

The whole peninsula was

called
i

in his hands,

and he

himself

Tzar

Grekamu,

i.e.,

Samoderzetz Bulgaramu Tzar (Csesar) and independent

i

ruler of Bulgarians

and Greeks.
is

His time, and

that of his successor Peter,

likewise the golden

age of Slavonic literature, which had now found a The seed true home and reached its highest limit. which the apostles of the Slavonians had sown in
the

West

rose, strange to say, in the East.

At

this

point, then, I will follow out in a few

words the

careers

and activity of- the apostles of the Slavs. Constandin was born in 827 A.D., of a distin:

guished family, probably in Thessalonica it is not known whether he was of Slavonic origin. He

was sent

to Constantinople,

and brought up at the

Imperial Court.

His remarkable knowledge of

languages was peculiarly noticeable, especially of But I will not enter into the Oriental languages.
details

of his biography, contenting myself with

He early became a monk, and the chief points. received the name of Cyril. In this character he travelled among the Chazars, whom he is said in a

CYRIL AND METHOD.

legend to have converted to Christianity.

137

His

younger some official

brother, Methodius,
post,

who had

at first held

but afterwards also became a

monk
him

in the monastery at

Olympus, accompanied

in his journey to the Chazars.

In the year 862 A.D. they were both dispatched by the Emperor, Michael III., to Katislav, in
Moravia, where they proceeded to
literary labours.

develop their

They

first

and the Liturgy into which lay in their path they were enabled to overcome by aid of the Pope for Cyril jourto Kome, and the Slavic Mass was thrice neyed
;

translated the Gospel Slavonic. All difficulties

repeated in the churches of Eome, with the permission of the Pope. Cyril died in the year 869 A.D. Methodius henceforth continued by himself
the work which he and Cyril had begun. The Pope revived the long-disused Bishopric of Pannonia,

and appointed Methodius

also specially favoured

to this See.

He was
re-

by Prince Kocel, who

sided at Blatna (nowadays L. Platten). In 885 A.D. Methodius died at Velegrad, then the capital of

Bohemia.

years ago pilgrimages to his grave, on the thousandth anniversary of his death, were

Two

performed by

all

the Slavonic nations.

Scarcely had Methodius closed his eyes in death when persecution on the part of the German
bishops,
started already in
force.

his lifetime,

was

re-

newed with greater

The numerous

disciples

38

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITER A TURE.

Methodius had collected around him
fled to

whom

Bulgaria, alphabet.

and brought with them the Slavonic

Up

to a very recent time the so-called

was regarded as the genuine work But many texts were found of the Apostle Cyril. written in an entirely different character, termed
Cyrillian alphabet

Glagolitza,

and

this

was studied

first

by Kopitar,

then by Schafarik, Miklosich, and Jagic, and, mostly on philological grounds, was declared to be the true
Cyrillian alphabet, the so-called Cyrillian being of The chief proof of this position and it later date.

was more and more confirmed

as time

went on by

was that the texts the discovery of new texts written in this character came nearest to the language in which Cyril worked, viz., the Pannonian, now termed Old Slavonic. They were, besides, the
oldest relics of the language,

some of them not

The most ima hundred years later- than Cyril. portant evidence of all was that Cyrillian palimpsests

were invariably written over Glagolitic texts. Cyrillian text is, in such cases, invariably written

over a Glagolitic one that had been erased, and This proves incontestably that never vice versd. The the Cyrillian is later than the Glagolitic.

most important Glagolitic texts are Clozianus (edit. Kopitar), Codex Zographos (Athos, ed. Jagic), and the Codex Assemani
Eome), and others. Not a few attempts have been made to explain
(at

the origin of this curious alphabet.

The

difficulties

THE SLAVONIC ALPHABETS.

are

139

many.

In the
;

first place,

the remarkable form

of the letters

then their no

less

remarkable names,

which are completely unsystematic, and, when transAll kinds of suerlated, become unintelligible. O O
'

gestions have been made, none of which have led

to

positive results.

Some have thought

of the

Eunes (Hanush), others of the Gothic alphabet of Ulfilas (Schafarik), others again of the Greek Tahygraphs (Taylor), and, finally, resort has been had to the idea of a peculiar and prototypal (Greekobut none of Latin) Albanian alphabet (Geitler)
;

these explain either the

names and arrangement

of the letters, or even their form.

I

may

new

venture to suggest what I believe to be a solution, which seems to me to remove the

greatest difficulties,

and

carries

with

it

no inherent
above, the

improbability.

As I have remarked

literary labours of the brothers Cyril

after their return

and Methodius

from the Chazars, where began they, according to legend, held disputations with Jews, Mohammedans, and Schismatics, i.e., Manichseans. as these

The
were

last were,

without doubt, Armenians,

at that time the chief representatives

of Manichsean ideas,
all directions.

and sent out missionaries in

this

How

easily

might Cyril have adopted

Arme-

nian or a similar alphabet, when it became known to him among the Chazars, as most suitable for his
purpose, and have adapted
it

to express the Slavonic

140

GREEKO-SLA VONIC LITERA TURE.

?

sounds
is

That

this

must have been

if

really the case

proved by the similarity of the Glogolitza with

Armenian and Georgian,

in the former.

we

disregard, as

is

only

natural, a few modifications

which have taken place The other so-called Cyrillian was

probably compiled by Clement, one of Cyril's disHe took the Greek uncials as ciples in Bulgaria.
a foundation, because they were then better known, and took the characters still wanting, from the Clement was later Bishop of Velica, Glogolitic.

and died 916 A.D. This is the origin of this alphabet, which drove the other from the field and
usurped
its

name

and

in this

manner was the

foundation laid for a Slavonic literature, with which

we have now
The

to deal.

Further details are to be

found in the Appendix B.

chief representatives of this literature are the

Seven Saints^ viz., Cyril and Methodius themselves, and their five immediate disciples, Cleso-called

ment, Gorazd, Angelar, Naum, and Sava, to

for the
its

whom
owes

most part the

"

ecclesiastical literature

Slavonic form.

They

translated the Bible, the

Liturgy,
struj, or

Legends of the Saints," Synaxaria, as

;

they were called

as
it

homilies,

among which

the Zlato-

"Golden Stream," deserves to be mentioned, was attributed to Tzar Samuel, and contains a

collection of

more than 100

(Slav. Zlatoust).

(?

105) homilies of St.

Chrysostom

Under

his auspices

the Byzantine chronicles of Malalas and Gregorios

THE SEVEN

SAINTS.

141

Hamartolos (Slav. Greshnyj) were translated, and the great Slavonic encyclopaedia arose termed
Izbornik,

or

" Collection
of the

of

Knowledge Hexaemeron

Time."

Important In imitation of the

all

the

of Basil, Joanes, the Exarch, compiled

a similar compilation of theological, philosophical, and scientific views on cosmogony, connecting them

with the

known

The book is chapter of Genesis. under the name of Shestodnev, i.e., " Hexafirst

emeron on the Six Days," &c. The impulse once given, continued through the centuries, even through the two centuries during
which Bulgaria had ceased to
joined to Byzantium.
Asenides,
till

exist,

and was

entirely

It continued later

under the

who

it

fell

again made Bulgaria independent, under the power of the Turks. Tzar

Samuel had often beaten the Greeks, and came near

taking Constantinople
;

but after his death a political

decline succeeded, though the progress of thought, on the other hand, went on increasing. Under the
influence of Tzar Peter
sity of spiritual life

(927-968 A.D.) a rich diverwas shown. The state was

often disturbed

by the Greeks, and in 971 East was conquered by Emperor John Zimiski. Bulgaria
Symeon, and likewise his
successor,

Basil II. frequently beat Tzar Samuel, grandson of

John Vladislav,

who met

his death in the battle of

Durazzo in 1018.

In the same year Bulgaria became a Byzantine province, to rebel again, and fall afterwards into the

142

GREEKO-SLAVONIC LITERATURE.

hands of the Turks until the liberating war of

1878.

The Slavonic

literature

became meanwhile the

South Slavonic

literature of the orthodox peoples of the

West

of Europe,

and

especially of the

nations.

Naturally in the

MSS.
in,

peculiarities of the

special languages

have crept

which enable us to
I will

determine the

home

of each at a glance.

only mention one of these peculiarities, though that The nasal vowels is a specially important one. e are replaced by one or other of the remain&,
,

ing vowels when the MS.

not written in Bulgaria. During recent centuries the chief place of refuge
is

for this literature, as well as its chief place of cultivation,

have been the monasteries on Mount Athos.

To the present day many a precious MS. is preserved there, and from there most of the best MSS. Thus to be found in Eussia derive their origin.
the celebrated

Zographos Gospel," now in Moscow, once belonged to the Zographos Monastery on Mount The connection with Eoumania and Russia Athos.
has never ceased.

"

most important monasteries are foundations of the Eoumanian

Many

of the

princes.

The important

position that
is

holds for Greek literature

well

Mount Athos known to all con-

cerned with the subject, nor can it be said that the whole matter has been as yet thoroughly invesStill less can we say that we have a tigated.

complete control over the whole of old Bulgarian

THE SLAVONIC LITERATURE.

literature.

143

Slavonic
all

MSS.

are to be found scattered

throughout

the libraries of Europe, and in many monasteries of Bulgaria itself, of Roumania, and of
Russia, which have not yet been explored.

But

what we have

in

hand

is sufficient

to enable us to
characteristics

settle its extent,

and determine

its

with some amount of precision.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX

A.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

IN close connection with the history of the Bible
proper, of its translation,

and of the influence

it

exercised, especially during the Middle Ages, is the history of the so-called Bible Historiale,viz., the historical part of the Bible, enriched and embellished

by legendary and exegetical means, to serve same time homiletical and edifying purposes.
There
is,

at the

however,

notwithstanding

its

great

importance, no special study which, as far as I know, endeavours to fill the gap of our knowledge
in this respect, to

trace the development of the

Bible Historiale through the literatures of Europe,

The following probable origin. pages claim to be no more than an attempt to gather scattered elements and to bring this literary
and to discover
its

problem
Oriental,

under a new

light,

furnished

by the

and

especially

by the Slavonic
There
is

literature

with which

we

are dealing.

no need to

add that

only a brief sketch, in consideration of the literature it embraces, the wide space it
it is

covers,

and the

results to

which

it leads.

148

APPENDIX

A.
is

Under the name

understood the

of Bible Historiale

generally

Latin compilation of Pierre le Mangeur, or Petrus Comestor, vice-chancellor of the University of Paris in the thirteenth century,

termed by himself Historia Scholastica.

about 1175,
it is

Composed

compilation embracing the entire contents of the Old and New Testament.

the

first

At

short intervals there are also introduced special chapters referring to the history of the world.

The author excluded from his work the dogmatical and prophetical portions of the Bible, and the rest
is

not rendered in a

literal translation,

but in a mere
is

paraphrase of the text.

Sometimes

this

shortened,

very often explanatory glosses of an exegetic or Not seldom the polemical character are added.
author inserts legendary traits or entire legends drawn from non- canonical sources. Almost every
episode
is

treated

and commented in an

allegorical

and the author has often the opportunity of showing his profound learning, and his deep acquaintance with the philosophical and schoor spiritual way,
lastical speculations of

the time.

By

the success this compilation shortly afterit

wards acquired

seems that

it

perfectly suited
after its appear-

the taste of the time.

Not long

ance the book was translated into the vernacular

French, and
it

served as a basis and model for

many

similar productions both in prose

and verse

in various countries.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

One

149

question, however, has not even yet been satisfactorily settled, namely, from what sources

did Comestor draw his legendary stories, and how far is he indebted to some other similar compilation ?

This question is the more difficult to answer, as hitherto under the heading of Bible Historiale

many books have been

resemblance to each other.

classed

which bear some

A closer inquiry proves,

however, that there existed at least two different Bible-histories, one of which is the older and
genuinely popular, while the second is the Historia Scholastica, with all its variations and translations.

on this very interesting branch of universal literature is thrown on it by the older

true
light

version,

whose existence

prove, and which I

am

endeavouring to now going to examine indeI

am now

pendently of the other. Before entering into this research, it is desirable to mention another work, the Speculum of Vincentius of Beauvais, that unparalleled encyclopaedia,

which comprised in one book facts and ideas then current in

all

the different
Christian

the

world.

In the fourth division of this Miroir, Vincentius passes in review and relates the history of
to the resurrection

man from Adam down

of the world.

and end
of

Here

are also inserted a

number

legends and apocryphal narratives similar to the previous, and a century-older Historia Scholastica.

This too served as a source for the following period.

150

APPENDIX

A.

The question
derived
If
is

as to the origin

whence these

are

also unsettled.

we now compare the vernacular

translations

of the Bible as they have been preserved

up

to

the present time, and if we include in this our inquiry not only the prosaic and literal, but also the versified and amplified translations extant in France and Germany, not to speak for the moment
of the Italian, Slavonic, and other versions, and
if

we add

to these the

"Mysteries" based upon the

inevitably compelled to affirm of them an undoubted inde-

versified Bible,

we are

for a distinct part

pendence from the Historia Scholastica as well as from the Speculum. And we must further

acknowledge that they represent a different version, richer in legends and tales, less acquainted or
blended with world-history and sophistical speculations,

and distinctly

at variance in the allegorical

and
this

spiritual explanations to those

put forth in

the above-mentioned works.

hitherto unnoticed fact,

In order to explain we must go a step

translated
into the

farther,

and ask when and under what circumwas the Bible

no doubt
itself

stances

vernacular?

There

is

that, curious as it

may

seem,

with the exception of the Gothic translation by

Ufilas, the Slavonic translation is the oldest extant

in Europe.

Above we have already

traced a rough

sketch of the literary activity of the two Slavonic

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

apostles, Cyril

151

and Method, and

laid stress

upon

the importance which their translation had for the development of the Slavonic literature, which clusters

round

it

as its natural centre.

this

Almost contemporaneously with

tion, that

transla-

is, as early as the ninth century, and as a consequence of it, there appears in the Slavonic language also a Bible Historiale, with all its

peculiar

characteristics, widely circulated,

and of

enormous influence upon the Church and profane

literature.

The Apocrypha of the Old Testament mentioned and referred to in the course of these Lectures were mostly taken from this Bible Historiale, in which
the Biblical history is interwoven with legends. This Slavonic Bible has a peculiar value, because it is at least two centuries older than the corre-

sponding work in the Western literature, and especially than the Historia Scholastica, and also because
it is

richer in tales

inquiry prove to ginal form.

and legends, which on close be of a more primitive and ori-

The age

of this Slavonic version can be fairly

well traced, as

we

find reference to

it

in the earliest

Russian chronicle of Nestor.

tire

We

further find en-

embedded in the Eussian Hronographi, just as we find traces of Biblical legends in the analogous works in the German liteparts of the Palcea
rature,

which are world-histories, beginning with

152

APPENDIX

A.

the creation of the world, and containing the whole Biblical history, after which in these Hronographi
follows the Byzantine,

and with

this, lastly, is con-

nected the Kussian or Slavonic history. The Byzantine literature, with the chronicles of
Mala! as, Hamartolos, Syncellus, and others, and latter on Dorotheas of Monembasia, offered the ma-

and the example for similar Slavonic works. They were, and this at an early period, translated and the chronicle of Georgius Hamartolos (Slavonic
terial
;

Greshnyi) in especial forms the basis of the HronoWhat is now an essential point is that the graphi.
Biblical history therein contained
is

not drawn from

the

Holy Writ

directly,

but from the embellished

Bible, the Palcea.

The

references in these

also to establish the fact

Hronographi help us that from the two forms

latter is the older

in which the PctZflea-now-a-days exists as a shorter

one,

and a more developed, the

form, while the shorter represents only an epitome In the Hronographi the longer version is of it.
generally quoted, proving thus its greater antiquity. The difference between the two versions is by no

means
same
;

essential.

The text

is

nearly always the

number and extent of the legends inserted in the text. We shall meet ]ater on with a similar fact in the German versithey vary only in the
fied

Bible Historiale. of which there are also two

forms, a shorter and a longer, filled with legends.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

So
also in

153

the

Komance

literatures.

The Slavo-

nic Palcea being all but

will

absolutely unknown, I
its

endeavour to give here a brief sketch of

contents, in order to enable

relation in

us to elucidate the

which

it

stands to the literature with

I hope,

which we are dealing.

of the legends
in,

however, to have an

early opportunity of publishing an exact translation

and apocryphal

tales contained there-

with the necessary commentary. The Palcea, as has been said, is an embellished
;

Bible

but

it

would be a mistake to consider

it

as

a work of only an exegetical character, intending to explain the words of the text by legendary interpretation.
;

Besides

this,

it

has also a definite

as well as

tendency exegetic and homiletic.

that there
is

it is

apologetic and polemic,

The fundamental idea developed

in the Palcea

is

no event mentioned in the

New

Tes-

tament which has not been adumbrated and typified The New is only the fulfilin the Old Testament.

and prototypes of the Old hence the truth of the former, and hence, on this
of the prophecies

ment

theory, also the unavoidable acceptance of the New Testament by the followers of the Old Testament.

the polemic argument used in the Palcea against Jews, and in a less prominent way against Mohammedans, who are often addressed directly.

This

is

"We find expressions like the following scattered " Jew over the book, as, for example Listen,
: !

all
.

154
I

APPENDIX

A.

ask thee,

Jew

...

ye sinful Jews

and ye
. .

unclean Besserman (Slavonic Musulman). hold the wonder and thank the Lord.
.

Be-

Open

your ears

up your eyes," and so forth. This direct attack, and the typical parallelism between the hope of the Old and the fulfilment in
.
.

and

lift

the

New

Testament

is

a characteristic feature of

the greatest value, which I point out here, as I shall have the opportunity later on to refer to it
frequently.

The Palcea

begins, as

is

natural, with the descrip-

tion of the six days of the creation,

especially at the

and

lingers

episode of the creation

of the

angels, being intimately connected with the fall of

Satan.

According to the Palcea, ten hosts of angels

first

were created at the

day.

The

leader of the

fourth group was Satanael, who rebelled against the authority of the Lord, and was therefore cast from

heaven down into the depths of all his mutinous followers.

hell,

together with

This hierarchy of angels is one of the most important events of creation, and the Palcea accord-

have therein ingly deals with it at some length. the accurate and minute description of the angels' rank and
are ruled
dignities, also

We

which elements of nature

by

special angels.

So there are enumer-

ated the angels of snow, rain, bail, &c., as they are to be found in the heavenly hierarchy of Dionysius

Areopagita and

its sources.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

Abounding with
particular incidents,

155

and very

fied

elaborated, is the description of the magniworks created during each day, just as is the case in the so-called Hexaemera, and in the com-

amply

mentaries on Genesis of the oldest fathers of the

Church.

Among

other tales, they are full of legends

of animals

drawn from the Physiologus, and other

similar productions.

space is further devoted to the creation of men, and the entire drama the centre of which
is

A large
Adam.

It deals

with the

life

in Paradise, the

tree of knowledge, the creation of Eve, the various

experiences

Adam and Eve

Paradise
;

go through

till

their

ejection from

goes on

till

their death

and the legendary story telling us, at the same

time, of the travelling of Seth to the gates of Paradise, and including, therefore, the famous

Legend

of the Cross.

This part
refer

may
it,

be considered as the real centre

of this Biblical History, as

we have very

often to

back to

and

as all the following events

are only natural consequences of the first sin,

and

point to the last catastrophe

the crucifixion and

redemption already foreshadowed at the commencement.

We

have already given (pp. 36-38) the contents

Suffice it

of this legend.

now

to add, that in the

Slavonic text the oldest and most complete form of it has been preserved, which, as we shall see, is

156

APPENDIX

A.

Historiales.
losing

a consistent and constituent part of all the Bible But whilst it is stunted in the West,
primitive elements, the Slavonic form greater completeness helps to explain it in a

many

by its more satisfactory way.

of Mr.
ofsky.

The non- consideration

of

the latter prejudiced the otherwise valuable

W. Meyer,

as has been proved

study Wesselby

The seeming incoherence and contradiction

in the statement of the

Legend of the Cross by

is

Liutwin and Calderon, for instance,

the Slavonic versions.

made

clear

and comprehensible through the comparison with

Following the account given by the Bible, we are told of the murder of Abel by means of a stone,
the death of Cain, shot by Lamech, and led by a child. We learn also

who
all

is blind,

the other

legends relative to the Biblical personages, and all the apocryphal stories connected with them. So also the wills of the twelve sons of Jacob, the
life

and adventures of Joseph, the prototype of

Christ in every detail, his being sold, the temptation,

&c.

The

life

of Moses
I

is

also

adorned with legends,

out of which

select the episode relating to his

The daughter of Pharaoh brought home youth. the child Moses to her father, who took him kindly
to caress him,

when Moses suddenly

seized the
it

crown, tore

down.

from Pharaoh's head, and threw The crown had an image of an idol
it

as

ornament.

Pharaoh seeing

this,

remembered an

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

157

old prophecy warning him against a son of his slaves, who would at a time depose him from his

throne.
as an
killed.
kill

He

therefore considered the deed of

Moses

ill-boding

omen, and ordered him to be

"
said,

But a councillor
;

It is

not right to

us put him to a test. Two plates shall be brought in, one filled with precious stones, the other with fiery coals, and we will place them
a child

but

let

before the child.

If

he stretches out his hand for

is
;

the precious stones, then the child

intelligent,

knows what he
touches the coals,

does,

and must

die

but

if

he

from killing him." The two plates were brought, and Moses grasped some of the coals, put them in his mouth, and
will desist

we

burned

his tongue.

He was
life.*

saved, but he remained

a stammerer for his

quickly pass over the rest, as the deof the ten plagues, the Pascha and its scription identity with the self-sacrifice of Christ, the manna

We now

and

its

wonderful properties, the death of Moses,

and the very short sketch of the Judges till the advent of David. Some texts stop at the history of Saul others extend the narrative as far as
;

Solomon, including all the remarkable legends of which he is the centre.

These are the meagre outlines of the Slavonic PalcBa, two-thirds of which at least deal with the
contents of Genesis and Exodus, while the later
*
Gaster, Lit. Pop., pp. 318-320.

158

APPENDIX
is

A.

portion

added only to form the link between

rest of the
is

Moses and Solomon, who occupies the

book.

Therefore the Palcea

often

and rightly
and which

called the enlarged or interpreted Genesis.

The

first

question which
is,

now
what

arises,
is

the origin of the Palcea, and which the sources whence it has
I will proceed to answer,

drawn
as a

its

materials

Is this

book to be considered

genuine production of a Slavonic author,

who
it

out of

many books compiled

whence
it

this Bible with his-

tories, or is

the Slavonic literature indebted for

to another,

The name Palcea

of foreign, specially

itself leaves

was only translated ? no doubt that

it is

Greek production, just

as the
is is

contemporaneous Slavonic literature The name Palcea rived from the Greek.
other

de-

the

Greek
time.

IIa\\at,a SiaOyKrj,

viz.,

the Old

Testament,

the last word having been dropped in the course of

The
what

relationship in which the Slavonic translais

tion stands to its Greek original

difficult to decide, as

a matter some-

no Greek text has yet

been published, and there is, indeed, only one copy supposed to be in existence a MS. in the library
of Vienna.

The

texts of the Palcea, in spite of their general

unity, vary as to the extent of their contents,

and

we

find in other contemporaries of the Slavonic

literature

and in the Hronographi legends which

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

159

no doubfc formed part of the Palcea, and which are now missing entirely, or are found only in
a fragmentary form.
to

Some
by
the

of the
are

legends,

as,

for instance, that of the Cross,

further due
heretical

remodelling

Bulgarian

sects.

All these and similar considerations lead us to

the conclusion that, based upon a Greek original, the Palcea, as a popular book, and a book of pro-

nounced tendency, underwent

in its Slavonic

form

a change during the centuries, which, however, It became in part did not alter it essentially.
shortened, partly

amplified

by

materials

drawn

from many sources, and developed according to special views and purposes, but all are of the

same

origin ,

namely, Byzantine, and ultimately

theological literature

Oriental.

The whole

of Byzantium

points clearly to the East as its cradle, and there we must look also for the origin of the Bible Historiale.

Not a few of the

especially such as

allegorical interpretations

meet us

in the early literature of the fathers of the Church,

Ephraem Syrus
is

in his Homilies,

and
the

others.

The East

also the

homestead of the Apocrypha

constituent

in
this

acknowledged one word, all

literature

elements of

are

Oriental.

The works
book

of Josephus, the

in ancient times as well as in the

most widely spread Middle

160

APPENDIX

A.

Ages, contain
writers of
contents.

many

legends which passed later on

into the ecclesiastical literature, as nearly all the

the

Occident

made

large

use

of its

Not

in these incidental references nor in these

scattered legends do

we

see,

however, the imme-

diate original of the Bible Historiale, but in entirely similar books existent in the Jewish literature.

The connection between these

later

and the Bible

Historiale has been totally overlooked, because the link was missing which united them with the

Western
I see

literature.

the most ancient instance of an enlarged history of the principal events of the Bible in the book called the Book of the Jubilees, or rather
the

Book of Adam, which

dates from at least as

early a period as one century before Christ. This book contains, the Biblical history from the
creation
till

the institution of the

clothed in the form of a revelation

during his stay on Mount Sinai. the first time compiled in the form of a book nearly We are at all the minor legends of the Palcea.
the beginning of the poetical and legendary activity, which much later, and through various influences,
into which I need not

Pascha (Passover), made to Moses Here we meet for

now

enter, developed itself

and produced the greater legends.

So we find here those relating to Cain and Lamech, to Noah, Abraham, and his children, &c. Here, also,

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

we
find the

161

minute description of the creation of the angels, and of the elements over which they preside further, of the number of works accomplished in
the six days of the creation, and so on. characteristic feature of this book

is

that

it

gives the
rations.

names of the women of the

Biblical nar-

From

this treatise they enter into all the

other compilations of later times, and especially into the Bible Historiale, and into the so-called

Prophecies of Pseudo- Methodius. The whole matter is chronologically arranged, and the time is equally divided into jubilees, each
of forty-nine years, hence the

name

of the book.

But the book

is

more renowned under the name of

Leptogenesis, that is, Parva Genesis the smaller Genesis. No doubt the meaning thereof is smaller
in authority, as
its

size is greater It

than that of

the

real

Genesis.

has been also termed the

is

Book of Adam,
prominent.*

as the part he plays

the most
"

The legendary matter included

the Jubilees
"

in the

Book

of

can be shown, then, in a Palestinian

of the Pentateuch extant in

Commentary
*

two

texts,

one complete and the other fragmentary.

By
the

Being

way

may

here mention that

many

other books of the same

legendary character exist in the Jewish literature, from which one is called the greater, the other the smaller, the cause of this not being very clear. So we have also a Magna Genesis (JBereshitk Rabba), perhaps in opposition
to the above

Parva Genesis ; so, further, Seder Olam Rabba and Seder Olam Zutta ; Eliah Rabba and Eliah Zutta ; Pesikta Rabba and Pesikta

Zuttarta, &c.

62

APPENDIX

A.

connected with the Hebrew text, this commentary has a loose form, and not the compact arrangement
of an independent book. Its value lies in the fact that by means of it we can pursue step by step the

growth of the legend, this commentary not being at any rate later than the fifth century.
century, again, is ascribed another work, this time again a book, which has never been

To the seventh

considered in this connection

mean the Pirke de

R. Eliezer, or the book called the Chapters of R. Eliezer, which bears this title because it is divided
into fifty-four chapters,

and the authorship

is falsely

ascribed to K. Eliezer,

who

lived in the

first

cen-

tury

(A.C.)
if

But

we look

nearer,

we

see that it

is

unfor-

tunately a fragment of a larger book purporting to be a kind of legendary development of the Penta-

teuch (or rather only of Genesis and Exodus), " similar to the Book of the Jubilees," with which
it

has in

common

calendarial calculations,

and the

division of the matter in accordance with a special

view.

Out

of these fifty-four chapters not less than

forty treat of the events contained in the book of Genesis namely, nine are devoted to the descrip;

tion of the creation, ten to

dants

till

last chapters

Noah, and so has been transposed, the book

Adam, two to his descenforth. The order of the

is

sud-

denly interrupted, and remains without a real end.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

The contents

163

are nearly all of a legendary character,

akin to that of the afore-mentioned book.

striking resemblance to the Slavonic Palcsa

is

further afforded by the last book of Jewish origin which I have occasion to mention the Sepher

The major portion of this book deals with Genesis and Exodus, the other three books of Moses, together with Joshua and the Judges,
Hayashar.
being dealt with in two to three pages out of
nearly 150.

Many
here,
I

of the principal legends of the Palcea have

may

say, their

immediate source.

Parts

correspond word for word with each other, as, for example, the legend of Lamech, the above-quoted legend of Moses, of his wonderful rod, originating

from Paradise, which becomes afterwards in Christian transformation the tree of the cross, and
others

we

shall

meet with in the course of

this

investigation.

Out

of this Sepher

Boole of the

Hayashar, together with the Jubilees, arose the Greek Bible HisThat explains

toriale, the original for the Palcea.

also the curious disappearance at a certain period

from the Byzantine literature of the " Book of the Jubilees," which till that time was very well known,

As has been shown by " Book of the Konsch, the

and quoted by nearly every Byzantine chronicler. Fabricius, and now by

Jubilees
"

was known to

the fathers of the Church as early as the fourth cen-

64

APPENDIX
;

A.

tury and down to the sixth century they, as well as the Byzantine writers, cite large passages from
it
;

while from that time no trace of that book

It

is

left.

had been absorbed

~by

the Bible Historiale.

That the Sepher Hayashar, or a very similar

book, contributed to the formation of that work,
there cannot be any doubt, seeing the literal agree-

ment between the two books on one

the other, that there
is

side,

and, on
for

no other source known

legends of the Palcea and of the Western Bible Historiale than the Sepher Hayashar.

many

In order to become the Palcea, this compilation had to be adjusted to the Christian and ecclesiastical

The whole matter had to be point of view. recast in a new mould, symbolical and allegorical
explanations had to be added, and the work from a book of amusement changed into a book of polemical tendency.

Amongst
detect

other

new

elements,

we can

easily

some derived from the

all

literary activity of

the Bogomils, who, like

adopted old

legends in

heretical sects, eagerly order to turn them, by

slight changes

and

interpolations, into

means

of

diffusion of their teachings.

people more than allegories fore the Palcea very soon became a popular book, and exercised the deepest influence upon popular

Nothing pleases the and parables. There-

fancy and

outcome, popular literature. To this heretical influence is due the introduction

its

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

165

of Satanael, the chief character of this dualistic

heresy, and the role played by him as the patron of the earth and especially the Legend of the Cross,
;

which, as
to
is

we know

(p.

35), is directly attributed

Popa Jeremiah, the founder

of Bogomilism,

who

expressly mentioned as its author. Many incidents in its contents confirm the heretical origin of
this legend in its present form.

a point upon which I lay the greatest stress, as the Legend of the Cross forms an essential

This

is

part in
toriale.

all

the different versions of the Bible Hisis

not one in the group we are studying from which this legend is missing, while the Comestor group is denuded of it.

There

It is one of the numerous links uniting the Eastern with the Western Bible Historiale to which

we now

pass.

In the West, France was the cradle of the study of the Bible and of its translation into the vernacular.

As

will

be seen hereafter, traces of this

translation

can be followed out as early as the

tenth century or the beginning of the eleventh. The oldest translations seem to be lost, and also

They were no doubt supplanted by the translations of ComeBut we can reconstor's Historia Scholastica.
the translations of a Bible Historiale.
struct

the

contents of that old Bible Historiale

by many means. First of all, through the versified Bibles, some of them dating from the twelfth

66

APPENDIX
(c.
;

A.

century

1140) then through the Mysteres du Viel Testament, based upon such a Bible Historiale.

Besides this

we have some modern copies,

There

all

of

them
to

representing an amplified

text, corresponding
is,

the amplified text of the Palcea.

also

finally,

an abridged form preserved in the Catalan, Bearnais, and Provencal dialect, discovered only in
the last ten to fifteen years, and known to students under the most inappropriate name of Romanische

Weltchronik.

This

is also

nothing

else

than t^e

Bible Historiale in a form resembling that of the short text of the Palcea.
I will

now

try to

summarise

briefly the

con-

tents of each of these works, as far as their particulars bear resemblance to those of the Palcea or

Sepher Hayashar, and are independent of Comestor,

thus proving their identity of origin with the

start

former.

We

with the versified Bibles, following

closely the

meagre extracts given by Bonnard,*

who, however, pursued another purpose in his precis, and is anything but satisfactory as regards
his account of the contents of the texts he dealt

with.

comparison with the texts themselves

will furnish, I

am

sure,

more incidents confirming

other

the views

now expounded, and perhaps some

investigator
closely
*

may
I

be induced to follow out more

what

only briefly indicate here.

la Bible

Bonnard, Traductions de

en Frangais

au Moyen Age,

Paris, 1884.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

The
ciennes
first

167

to be

mentioned

is

Herman

de Valen-

whose versified Bible extends to (c. 1140), He cannot be thought the history of Solomon.

dependent from Comestor, as he is much older than the latter, who lived dr. 1 1 75. The history
of the Bible is adorned by legends, amongst them the legend of Moses, different from the version of Comestor, and corresponding to that quoted above

from the Palcea.

child,

Two

plates are brought to the

with

one with precious stones and the other filled coals, and not only one, as is said by Gomestor.^ The two plates we find also in all other versified Bibles

and

in the

Romance
is

Chronicle.

Peculiar to these Bibles

the division of the

world into seven periods, after which the end of At the end of some periods the world shall come.

Herman sums up the principal events, interrupting in an abrupt way the course of the narration. Exactly the same is the case in the Romance
Chronicle.
fois

Bonnard says
fait

"
(p.

26)

Par deux

principaux evenements de la Bible une rapide recapitulation qui ne se lie a rien et qui coupe brusquement le recit."
des

Herman

This division of the history is a faint echo of the old divisions in the Oriental prototypes of the Bible Historiale, and the number seven is chosen
in accordance with the seven days of the creation,

alluded to already by Barnabas (cap.

*

xii.

v.

4)

Bonnard,

p. 16.

i68

APPENDIX

A.

"

Consider,

my

children,

what that

signifies,

He

finished
this

them in six days. The meaning of it is that in six thousand years the Lord God will find it further bring all things to an end." and what is more important said by August inus*

We

in this connection, in the apocryphal

book of the

Bogomils, attributed to
above,
p. 64),

St.
is

Johannes (mentioned

where

it

also expressly stated

that the power of Satan will last for seven days, that is, seven periods.t Other ecclesiastical writers,

such as Bede,

St. Isidorus,

&c.,

adopted the same

division, current in the Middle Ages.

I

mention this at some length, because, as we

supposed de-

shall see, it served as a proof for the

pendence of the Romance Chronicle upon Isidorus. The legend of the Cross originating from Paradise is
also contained in the versified Bible,

and

other particulars of minor importance. Decidedly independent of Comestor

is

also the

next author, Geffroi de Paris. He is identical " les legendes introduites dans with Herman pour
le

texte sacreV' J

Mace de
fied Bible,

la Charite,

author of another versialso

borrowed his numerous glosses

"
It is

from

another source than Comestor.

citly (pp. 72, 73):

Bonnard says explicertain that the abundant

by Mace to adorn his narrative are not derived from P. Comes tor's Historia Scholastica."
glosses used
*

End

of

De

Civitate .Dei.

TMo,

i.

p. 890.

Bonnard,

p. 43.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

169

The foreign source can be much more clearly proved for Evrat's versified Genesis. (He lived He cites Josephus, Bede, and Hieronyc. 1198.)
but surely only at secondhand. Comestor is never mentioned, and what he quotes from the
rnus,

maitre

this is the title for

is

Comestor in writings

of later period

not to be found in the Historia

Scholasiica*
the contrary, from the brief extracts given by Bonnard, we can recognise the identity with the Bible
Historiale, and the author divides the history also
into periods.

On

We

find the death of Cain caused

is

by

Lamech.

Continual reference

made

to parallel

passages in the history of the New Testament, with the same allegorical and symbolical explanations so in the lives of Jacob and Rachel ; so is Joseph
sold for thirty deniers although the Bible clearly
y

This change, made with the purpose of finding a parallelism between Joseph and Christ, occurs already in chap-

speaks of only twenty pieces of silver.

ter

ii.

of the apocryphal Testament of

son of Jacob.t

So also in

Gad, the " Hronothe Roumanian

graf"
Christ

cap. xi.
is

The comparison between Joseph and

topic of the old writers of

a favourite

homilies, such as

Treating the
to
*

Ephraem Syrus and others. blessing of Jacob, when Evrat comes

"
said,

Dan, where

it is

Dan
ii.

shall be a serpent
The Slavonic
transla-

Bonnard, p. in. t Fabricius, Vet. Test.,

tion,

i.

p.

677

c/.

p.

79.

Tihonravov,

i.

p. 207.

i;o

APPENDIX

A.

in the way, an adder in the path," he gives at full length the legend of Antichrist.

The explanation of Dan's blessing as pointing to Antichrist is likewise given in the Palcea, and in
more ancient
This
sources, such as Hippolytus
*

and

St.

Theodoret of Cyprus (457).

is

the more characteristic, as Evrat also

who

denounces very strongly the clergy and the bishops, " are arrogant, and despise le pauvre monde."

The attack on the clergy and the advocacy of "the poor men," in combination with the legend
of Antichrist, cannot be a

mere

incident.

It is

well known formed the most important book of the " Poor Men," the " Pauvres de Lyon," or the Poor Valdenses. The Antichrist is represented

that this

here by the Pope, residing in Borne-Babylon. Add to this the fact that Evrat lived in the

Champagne, and so
self

we,

may presume

that he him-

belonged to the Society of the Poor," which hypothesis will be confirmed when I shall establish

"

the origin of the Bible Historiale in France. Another point worthy of consideration is the
inversion in the order of the creation.

According

to Evrat, the animals are said to be created on the

day, although the Bible fixes their creation on the sixth day. This is also no accident, as, curiously
fifth

enough, the order of the creation in the Mystere du Viel Testament differs widely from the authorised
*

Upenski, Tolkovaya Paleya, Kazan, 1876, pp. 87-88.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

version.

171

According to the Mystbre, there were created on the first day the four elements and the
angels ; on the second, the water was separated from the earth, and fishes and trees were created

on the

third, the sun and the

;

moon

on the fourth

the stars

on the
similar

fifth,

the

birds
;

and animals
on the
sixth,

(just as in Evrat),

and the Paradise

transposition

man.*

of the

creation

we meet
P
.

also in the Slavonic version (vide above,

28).

In the same

way the

other translations and texts

exist-

of versified Bibles furnish support for the

ence of a Bible Historiale earlier than and inde-

pendent of the Historia Scholastica, and even more widely spread and better known than the latter,
as it

formed the basis for the versifications of the

Bible.

One

single legend I will further

cites it as
it

mention

here, as

Bonnard
and not
author.

of the poet, whilst

at all

an example of the invention is in fact an Oriental legend,

due to the inventive power of the

In an anonymous versified Bible it is said that the father of the daughters of Zelophehadt is
identical with the

being found gathering sticks upon a Sabbath-day, was stoned by the conThis identification is many centuries gregation.
;[;

man who,

J.

de Rothschild, Le Miste"re du Viel Testament, Paris, 1878,

xxvii.
I
ff.

i.

p. xl.

t Numbers

Numbers

xv. 32

ff.

172

APPENDIX

A.

older than the versification,

being already men-

tioned in the Talmud.*

The instances

cited are scanty, as I could not

here enter into details, and as the work of Bonnard

gives only small extracts. not accessible to me.

The book

of Berger

was

Much

richer

is

the harvest
lies

we can gather from

printed before us in the handy edition of Baron J. de Eothschild. In this dramatised Bible, as we may term it,

the Mystere, which

we

find again all the legends hitherto quoted in

the course of this volume.

these are also joined many others, about which the editor says nothing, but that " there are in these Mysteres allu.

To

sions to Jewish legends not

mentioned by Nicolas de Lyra, and we do not know by what means they

came
"
II

to be

known by

Christian writers"
. . .

(i.

p. x.)

a dans notre myatere

di verses allusions

a des legendes juives dont Nicolas de Lyre n'a pas parle, et nous ignorons par quelle voie elles ont ete

connues des auteurs chretiens."

The story

of the creation, to begin with,

is,

as
it

we know,
follows

at variance with the Biblical.

fall

After

the

of Satan, the sin of

Adam, and

the expulsion from Paradise. Here is inserted the Proces du Paradis (v. 1295-1882), which has

no foundation whatsoever in the

*
,

Bible.

When God
.

b Sabbath, fol. 96 b Sifri, ed. Friedmann, fol. 33 , 113; Talmud, fol. 228 a - b i. c. Jerush. Synhedrin, Jalkut, i. 743-750, 5
;

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

173

arises is about to condemn mankind, a dispute between Justitia and Misericordia. Justitia asks for

severe punishment, whilst Mercy pleads the cause of man, pointing out his weakness. The Lord then
decides in favour of Mercy, and promises the salvation through His

own

Son.
this

The prototype for shown by the editor

whence
it

heavenly drama

is,

as

in the

Sepher Hayashar, to

be found also in the much older Genesis

has been borrowed
;

Rabba*
here,

but what he failed

to remark,
is

and what we have already noticed

the identical legend in the German Historien Bibel. The dispute in this version is before the

Jewish form, but the rest approaches the French, thus forming a link between these two offshoots of the old Bible Historiale.
creation,
like the

more

We
that

pass over smaller details

suffice it to say,

we

also find here the legend of the Cross

men-

tioned at the death of

Adam,

just as in the Palcea.

Cain marries his sister Calmana, Abel Delbora, as " No doubt it is told in the Book of Jubilees."

from the same source are

wife and of his "

also the

names

of Noah's

although they are not similar to the names given to them in the
sons' wives,

Book

of Jubilees."

Still

we must not think

that

this latter served as a direct source, or that it

was

even known to the author of the Mysteres. The names are rather due to the prophecies of Pseudo* Sect.
8.

174

APPENDIX

A.

Methodius, referred to above, which were also well

known and widely spread

rature.

in the old Slavonic lite-

In the Mystere Cain also dies, shot by Lamech Nimrod builds the Tower of Babel Ninus appears
;
;

here together with Nimrod, as in the Palcea and Hronograf. The death of Haran, Abraham's brother, is related as in the
is

Sepher Hayashar. Haran thrown into the furnace and burnt to death.
life

The

of Joseph

typifies

that

of

Christ,

as

in Evrat, the Palcea,

and other Oriental

writers.

Joseph's encounter with Potiphar's wife happens on the occasion of a festival given by Pharaoh that
;

why Potiphar and all the servants are absent from the house. This is likewise to be found in
is

the above-named books.

is

From

the same

source

derived Joseph's prayer, which is shortly referred to in the Palcea. Further, in the Moses episode with the crown he tramples upon it, and so on many
parables occur
till

like the Palcea, concludes

the end of the Mystere, which, with Solomon, and con-

tains a tale existing, as I

have proved, only in the

Palcea in the older

literature.

This short sketch of the contents clearly proves that the Mystere is independent of the Historia Scholastica, and has many a part in common with the Palcea, thus pointing necessarily to another

Bible Historiale as
is

its

foundation, the same which

the basis for the Versifications.

And

really such

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

175

a Bible Historiale seems to be preserved, but only in a copy of the fifteenth century. M. Rothschild tells us that there is in the National Library in Paris

containing almost every legendary or holy episode which has been brought on the stage as a mystery (" a peu pres sans exception
a manuscript
les episodes sacrees

portees sur la has the title Le Viel Testament lequel traicte les Histoires de la Bible, que aucuns appellent les

ou legendaires, qui ont ete transThis manuscript scene/' i. p. xi.)

Histoires des Hebrieux ou des Juifes that is, "the Old Testament which treats the histories of

the Bible,

called

by some the

histories

of the

Hebrews or of the Jews." This is just the title of the Mystere, also called Viel Testament, and likewise the name of the Palcea, the Old Testament, with the addition " of the Jews," and also like the
title of

the French manuscript

Palaa na Judie

Palaea Secundum Judaeos*

The French manuscript, being modern, has

tainly passed through purifying hands,

cer-

which elimi-

nated as far as they could the apocryphal or other not very orthodox parts. Not so was the older text upon which the Mystere is directly based,
differing

from the former in

this point.

The

editor

The differences (between the Mystere and says the manuscript) prove sufficiently that the authors
:

"

nicle.

,To the Books of the Jews Vide Lespy, i. p. 19.

is

also

made

reference in the

Romance Chro-

i;6

APPENDIX

A.

of the Mystere did not have in their hands the

same version

as our manuscript contains, but

an

older and simpler version, which did not distinguish the orthodox and the apocryphal books. This text,

which may perhaps be found some day, has furnished them with the mystical comparisons between the Bible and the New Testament, in which really consisted the exegesis of the

Middle Ages"

(i.

pp.

xi., xii.)

In a few bold lines we find thus here sketched the

principal features of the Palcea, viz., the blending together of apocryphal with canonical books, and

the allegorical and mystical exegesis characteristic of the Middle Ages.

Besides the complete or ample texts, also an abridged Bible Historiale in three
dialects, of

we have Eomance

third, viz.,

which two only are translations of the a Provencal, Bearnesian, and Catalan

Bible Historiale.

Of

these, only the last

is

two have been published,

still

The unpublished. Catalan has been minutely studied by Bhode,* who came to somewhat curious conclusions with
while the Provencal

regard to
to

it.

The

fact

that mediaeval historioBiblical

graphy begins with the

joins
it

narrative

and

later

developments, had as a result

that the Palcea was incorporated into the Kussian chronicles, and that almost all mediaeval chronicles
*

In Suchier Denkmseler der provenzalischen Literatur

ff.

u.

Sprache,

Halle, 1883, i p. 589

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

177

begin their history of the world with the Bible. This misled Mr. Rhode, who took this short Bible
Historiale for a chronicle, although it stops at Solomon, like all Bible Historiales we have heretofore noticed.

The

result to

which Mr. Rhode

:

comes

be shortly summarised as follows The Romance original, from which this

may

is

translation, belongs to the thirteenth century,

is

and

compiled,

or,

better,

pieced together, from six

different sources, viz., (a) the

estor)
;

Vulgata

(resp.

Com;

Apocrypha in the widest sense Elucidarium of Honorius Augustodinensis

(b)

(c)

six great legends

;

(e)

the Chronicon

(d) of Isidorus
;

Hispalense and (f) an unknown source. Let us now see how far each of these sources
has contributed to our compilation, and in what way. According to Mr. Rhode, the division of the
history into distinct epochs
is

due to Isidorus's
it

Chronicon

but the comparison proves

that

to be so

insufficient,

Rhode himself

is

compelled to

acknowledge that it is only in the general outline, This similarity namely, the division into periods.
is

and merely accidental, because we find precisely the same division in all
absolutely irrelevant
167).

other French Bible Historiales, as I have shown

above

(p.

The comparison in the contents between this Romance Chronicle and the Elucidarium shows Out of the sixty-seven even more discrepancy.

i;8

APPENDIX

A.

columns the latter occupies in the edition of Migne, vol. clxxii., only a few traits are alike, and then we

must assume that the author of the Romance Chronicle

had

selected

them out without any

visible

from here and a portion from there, never following the sequence of the Elucidarium.
order, a portion

The apparent

likeness comes therefore from the

com-

mon source from which they have both been drawn. What Mr. Rhode did further not succeed in showing
is

the source of the Apocrypha and of the six

He legends embodied in this supposed chronicle. them simply as sources, without telling us admits
how they
penetrated to the South of France as early The six legends are the as the thirteenth century.
following.

The Legend of the

to us as

Cross,

which

is

very

well

known

an

essential part of the Bible

Historiale, and we need not look for Viterbo and Beleth, to which Mr: Rhode refers (pp. 625-626),
as being similar to the

form of the Chronicle.

The

Denar

legend,
its

connected with Terah, Abraham's

a fact which was not noticed

father, has

source in the Orient, and occurs in an

by and Evrat already points to the thirty silverlings when he mentions that Joseph was also

Oriental writer,
*
;

Rhode

further legends of Judas, Veronica, and Constantine occur very often in

sold for thirty silverlings.

The

Slavonic literature and at an early period, so that they might also have crept into the Bible Historiale.
*
Fabricius, Vet. Test.,
ii.

pp, 79-81.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

This view
to
is

179

further

confirmed when
source.

we

try

legends a legend of Abraham, according to which Abraham destroys the idols of his father, and places the axe in the hands of the
are taken from this, viz.,

ascertain

the

unknown

Two

undestroyed, in order to say that, for the sake of his gluttony, he killed the others,

supreme idol,
to

left

save

all

the

dishes

for

himself alone.

The

source^ which was unknown to Mr. Rhode, is the Sepher Hayashar, so often quoted, and to the same

source belongs also the other legend of Moses, in the well-known form, as by Herman de Valenciennes,

Palcea, &c.

Considered as a chronicle, this book has the aspect of a mosaic pieced together in so curious a

manner, that often two consecutive lines are taken from two different sources while considered, as I
;

regard

it,

as a Bible Historiale, all

is

of one piece, of

one and the same source, and corresponds entirely

to other compilations belonging to the

same

class

of works.

For in an abridged manner we find here again

the principal characteristics, such as Bible history interwoven with Apocryphal tales, the mystical
exegesis,

and the

New

Testament predicted in the

Cross,

the chronological recapitulations, as in Herman, and also one peculiar point misunderstood hitherto. In this short
of the

Old, the legend

Bible Historiale, as well as in some of the versified

i8o

APPENDIX
"
!

A.

Bibles,

we "Hearken From this

find not unfrequently the exhortation

!

listen

see

and other similar

passages.

the editors and Mr.

that the book was read in

and hence the exhortation.

that the contents
is

Ehode presumed churches and schools, But if we bear in mind

orthodox, and that

not at

all

the Bible in vernacular was never read in Catholic

churches, this explanation one. Quite otherwise is the
is

at least a defective

meaning when we compare these phrases with the same exhortations so frequent in the Palcea, to which I drew attention

when

describing

it.

It is a polemical

work

in the

Slavonic language, and addresses itself to the Jew In the Eomance Chronicle or other unbeliever.

we have
Before

the faint echo of

it.

Hence the otherwise

incomprehensible address.
passing on to Italy, I will briefly notice also the Noble Leyczon of the Waldenses,
consisting of a kind of short Bible history, with expressed tendency. To each deed or command in

now

the Old Testament

the

New

opposed a similar passage of Testament, which proves, according to

is

their views, the progress

latter.

and superiority of the

Our knowledge of the

It begins

Italian literature is scanty.

with Dante, who, as I have said, was well " " Legend of the Cross and acquainted with the

other Apocryphal writings. noteworthy fact is, further, that in Northern Italy arose the standard

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

181

book of legends, the Legenda Aurea, compiled out of many spurious sources by Jacobus a Voragine.
can be proved to have existed also in Italian, although of a relatively late period. At the Council of Trent (1545-63), a book bearing
the
title

A Bible Historiale

Fioretti

di tutta la

BMia
it,

was condemned

as full of heretical legends.

like to

Konsch
called

mentions also a second book

El

Fiore di tutta la Biblia Historiato.

I

I regret that
;

have not been able to see either of them

they
as

are wanting even in the British

far as I can ascertain

Museum.

But

from Fabricius,^ Konsch, t

\ these

and some quotations of Wesselofsky,

likely
to

are

nothing with the same or similar Apocryphal Historiales,

contents.
(viz.,

be

else

than

Italian

Bible

Konsch describes

it

as follows in the

"
:

Both

Fioretti
;

and El Fiore) are

main part

identical

entire chapters, especially those at the

The matter is in both beginning, being analogous. the same, only slightly changed in the latter, and the number of chapters is different. The first has

As far 137 (short) chapters, and the second 156. as could be ascertained at a fleeting glance, the
matter was not derived directly from the Book of the Jubilees/ but from other books like Pseudo'

Methodius
to

and from our comparison with regard the legends of Adam, they seem to be in nearer
;

* Vet. Test., ii. 122 ; cf. i. 864. t Das Buch der Jubilaeen, Leipzig, 1874, + Razyskaniya, x. p. 377, No. 4.

p.

469.

82

APPENDIX
Gadela

A.

relation to the
"

Adam

lated from the Ethiopia, than to the

Vita Adami), transBook of the

'

Jubilees/

To
cius,

this description

we add

that given

by Fabri-

says that it contains the history from the creation down to the time of Christ. It is full
of absurd legends, and those relative to Christ are very much akin to the Apocryphal Gospels of the
Infancy.

who

In the life of Adam there is also a reference to the " Legend of the Cross," according to the quotation of Wesselofsky.

Thus we have here the

principal elements con-

stituting the Bible Historiale, the legendary his" Book of the Jubilees," though tory similar to the

only through
Biblical

the

mediation

of

Pseudo-Metho-

dius, just as in the Mystere, &c.,

legends of the personages, ,Adam, and the Cross, and

occurring also in Bible Historiales. versified French
tales,

the

apocryphal Infancy

some of the

We may now

fairly

admit the existence of a Bible

Historiale in Italy, independent of the Historia Here also Seliolastica, and nearer to the Palcea.
I

must leave
It

to others the fuller inquiry.

remains

in the

now to pursue the Bible Historiale German literature also. More than forty

manuscripts were studied by Merzdorf,^ the editor

* T. Merzdorf, Historienbibel,
Stuttgard.
vol.
c.

and

ci.

of Literarischer Verein,

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

of the
is

183

German Historien Bibel, and yet

the material

from being exhausted. This proves the great favour that book enjoyed in Germany, and confar

More sequently the great influence it exercised. than one literary point, however, is left unsettled.
In his valuable introduction, Merzdorf classifies the different extant versions, and comes to the conclusion that there are

two

distinct classes of Bible

Historiales falsely united under the same title. One is entirely dependent on the Historia Scholastica
of Comestor, and the other
transcription of Kudolf
is
is

more

or less a prose
It

von Ems's Chronicle.

now

established

that the Historia Scholastica

into French
(c.

was early translated

1286 or 1289) by a certain Guiars de Moulin, canon of St. Peter's in Aire (Aeria), near the frontier of Flanders, and

upon
is

this version the later

French Bible Historiale

This was also translated and widely circulated in Germany, and forms Group L, edited by
based.

Merzdorf as the real Historien Bibel.

As

such,

we have nothing

to do with

it.

Besides this, Group II. is subdivided by Merzdorf into two branches (a) and (&), the first corre-

sponding entirely to the Chronicle of Eudolf, the other, less complete, but more amplified, belonging,
as he asserts, to a later
nicle,
*

development of that chro-

due to another anonymous author.

xiii.

Reusz, in Herzog, Real Encyclopaedia,

p.

30

ff. s. v.

Romanische

Bibeliibersetzung.

84

APPENDIX

A.
It is

We

will deal shortly

to enter

with Ha.

not

my

purpose the priority of the versified to the prosaical form, in so far as it regards mediaeval literature. I, for

now

into the vexed question as to

my own
poem
is

part, strongly believe that every artificial

based upon a prose original and not vice versd ; and thus this falsely termed chronicle is only the Bible history from the creation to the time
of Solomon, exactly like the Palcea, the

work of

Herman

of Valenciennes, &c.

and

is

no doubt based

upon a prose original. Hence the apparent identity of the present prose version Ila. with the poem,
which
form.
is

It

explained as a transcription of that metrical may be that this latter exercised some

but the comparison with the other literatures shows that we may assume
influence

upon the present

text,

a prose original for the poem of Eudolf of Ems. It is a remarkable fact that almost all the productions of this poet are more or less based upon
" Barlaam foreign or Oriental themes it is so with and Josaphat," the Oriental tale of Buddha, and with the " War of Troy," for the first time treated
;

in

French by Benoit de
in the

St.

Maur, but before un-

known

" Good and, finally, with the Gerhard of Koln," the Oriental origin of which I

West

proved some years ago.

for his chronicle also.

It is therefore not unjusa foreign and prose original tifiable to presume also

Unfortunately the

poem

is

not printed, and we

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

are reduced to

185

draw our information from the pamphlet published in 1839 by Vilmar, who was the
first

to devote a special inquiry to the subject.

at was, that Rudolf
is

The conclusion he arrived

dependent upon Comestor, but only in a remote way, and he may have also made use of the Pantheon
of Godfrey of Viterbo
13).

and
is

Solinus'

Polyto

histor (Vilmar, p.

That

to say, that the

Chronicle of Rudolf bears some resemblance

the above-mentioned, without being a verbal copy of them, as is the case with the Bible history of

Group

I.

thus the chronicle has the same charac-

teristic features as the

French and Romance Bible

studied,

Historiales which

we have previously

and

might rightly
Moreover,
it

also

be termed Bible Historiale.

cannot be assumed, as some might be induced to think, that Rudolf borrowed from the

his chronicle

Speculum Historiale of Vincentius of Beauvais, as was finished c. 1251, whilst the latter
call

composed his Speculum after 1254. The same mistake which induced Rhode to
the

the

Romance Bible Historiale "Chronicle" induced German writers to give the same name to the
of Rudolf,

poem

which does not extend farther

than to the time of Solomon, in a manner identical with that of all the other Bible Historiales and
the Palcea.

But, like the literary development of Byzantium, where Malalas or Hamartolos or other chroniclers incorporated the history of the Biblical

86

APPENDIX

A.

period into their chronicle, joining the later world history to the end of the Biblical, so it happened
in

Germany and Russia

also,

where the chronicles

with
its

began with the Palcea

resp.,

German

counterpart, the versified Bible of Rudolf of Ems.

Hence the misleading name, which I hope will soon be dispensed with. Richer in details, and better known by some
extracts, is version 116.,

which

is also

considered as

a transliteration of a
tion based

poem into a prose composia development of Rudolfs Bible, upon due to an anonymous author. This more amplified version is called the Christ Herre version, after the
beginning words, whilst Rudolf's is distinguished as the Richter Gott version, after the two initial words.

According to Vilmar, this 116. is nothing else than a literal translation of Comestor's Historia Scholastica and the

Pantheon

of Godfrey of Viterbo.

But

if

we

are to believe the assertion of Merz-

dorf, that 116. represents exactly that unpublished poem, then matters stand quite otherwise. Among the manuscripts of 116. there are some true Bible

Historiales.

To these belongs

also

a MS., once

in possession of a certain Mr. Schroder, " The the following description of it.

who gives MS. is a

contempo-

copy from

c.

1430-50, whose author might have

is,

lived in the thirteenth century (that

raneously with Rudolf

the' Biblical

!).

It contains an abstract of

history down to the Maccabeans, without

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

187

The text is not couched the Prophets and Psalms. is probably taken from an after the Vulgata, but older German codex."

What
that
it

especially strikes us here

is

is,

that the text

of the Bible
is

not translated from the Vulgate, but due to some other source the author

presumes a German version without any proof.

It is not necessary to
is full

add that

this Bible history

of legends, apocryphal

and otherwise.

A
with

similar manuscript of the fifteenth century,

illustrations, is

noted by

Yon

der Hagen,

who

published the complaint of Adam after his expulsion from Paradise in a wording like to the legend of Adam in the Palcea, &c., and a parallel to it

from the above manuscript. Mr. Merzdorf, who numbered

this manuscript,
116., unfor-

and

also arranged it

amongst those of

tunately considered the legendary parts to be irrelevant, and omitted them entirely, being satisfied

only with a few remarks.

He

did not pay

any great attention to this smaller group generally, as it was of secondary importance to him, although a better inquiry would have disclosed to him the
real value of this version.

remains a third manuscript belonging to the same group, once in possession of a certain
still

There

J.

D. Muller, afterwards in that of the Pastor Goetze, famous through his controversies with Les*

Merzdorf, pp. 34-35.

88

APPENDIX
and

A.

sing,

at present in the municipal library of

Hamburg.
tracts of

Out

of this manuscript, also from the

(c.

fifteenth century

1458), Mtiller gave

some ex-

the creation reproduced

by

Fabricius,*

enabling us thus to recognise the relationship between these manuscripts and the Bible Historiale.

The history begins with the dispute between Mercy and Justice, as in the French Mystery. The mystical
parallelism
is

between the Old and

New

consistently pursued throughout the history. Very detailed is the description of the angels who fell, during three days and three nights, from heaven into hell. The rank and order
of the angels
is

Testament

explicitly stated.

how
it is

the world and

said that

Adam

The description of were created follows, and

a deep slumber, wherein he saw prophetical visions telling him of the future redemption. During this time Eve was created, not

Adam fell into

by Grod Himself, but by an

angel.

Here the author

mentions the Jewish legend that Adam had had another wife, created, like him, out of loam and
outside Paradise, while
rib in Paradise.

Eve was

created from his

is

The legend
literature,

referred to

well

and appears in the Alfabetum Pseudo-Siracidicum (GIT. eighth cenin

known

Jewish

tury).t

The Bible Historiale goes on

* Vet. Test.,
i.

to

say that the

36-47.
f.

t Ed. Steinschneider, Berlin, 1858,

2$a.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

serpent which deceived

189

Eve was Lucifer, and the serpent walked upright and had a woman's head. After the sin Adam and Eve repented of it by a
This penitence in the waters of Gihon. with the version pubepisode corresponds exactly are told also that lished by Yon der Hagen.
severe

We

Cain was born together with his sister Calmana, and Abel with Delbora,whom he marries afterwards,
just as in the

Mystery and Pseudo-Methodius.

are the death of

Amply developed

Adam and

the legend of the Cross, intimately connected with it. Seth goes to the gates of Paradise to bring food for his sick father. The angel Michael appears,

and

tells

him

that 5200 years

will

must

elapse before

the sin of

Adam

be atoned, and then God's

come with the oil of mercy. Seven days all as in the similar after Adam dies, and also Eve legend in the Palcea, Mystere, &c., drawn from the
Son
will
;

same apocryphal source. The extract given by Fabricius stops here, but it suffices to show that we have before us a work quite
analogous to the Bible Historiale described above. Naturally the more modern a copy is the more
probable
it is

that

it

was influenced by other similar

all

works, But,

as, for

instance, the Historia Scholastica.

nevertheless,

the characteristic features

have been preserved, and point to another independent and certainly older source.

One

point (which

we

reserved for the last) in the

190

APPENDIX

A.

description of this

German Bible Historiale

is

of

the highest importance, as it will enable us to find the connecting link between this and the Slavonic
version, viz.,

and

earth,

"When God was going to create heaven He created first the angel Satael, and

afterwards the other angels." This Satael is nobody else than the Satanael of the PalcBa, occurring

only in Bogomilian writings, and due solely to their In perfect harmony with this heretical influence.
the presumption that Satanael was the first being created, the most powerful, and superior to the other angels, whence his arrogance and fall.
is also

Curiously enough, Satanael is also mentioned in the Historia Scholastica of Comestor, where he is
identified

with Lucifer,

but falsely explained as

:

Satan

adversary

El

to

God

(sic

dictus est ante

lapsum, vel forte post lapsum, Satan, quasi adverThis sarius, El : Deo (Glosse to Genesis, c. iv.)
brings us to the question as to the origin of the Bible Historiale in France, and also to the other
question,

whence did Comestor draw the materials

which
cannot enter here

for his Historia Scholastica, especially that

regards the Biblical legends

into this difficult question in

any detailed manner.

As
others,

sources,

Comestor himself mentions, among Methodius and Josephus. The former is,

as I have proved, a compilation of the "Book of " the Jubilees ; and as to Josephus, it is remarkable

that

many

a legend professedly taken from his

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

works
is

191

not to be found in them

so, for instance,

the story of Potiphar is nowhere to be found in Josephus, although contained in the Jerusalem

Targum
Then

(Genesis xxxix. i) and in the Talmud* the story of Moses's two marvellous rings, and

that Cain married his sister Calmana, said to be

taken from Josephus,

so forth.

is

really

from Methodius, and

On

the other hand, a comparison with the old

versified Bibles,

French

and even the German,

shows, notwithstanding great discrepancies, a similarity which cannot be denied, and which can only be explained by admitting a common source. It

ought not to be forgotten that these

very often refer
their works.

latter also

Josephus and Hieronymus, although they certainly never made direct use of
to

Noteworthy

is

the same fact in the

also

Palcea, where Josephus

and

here,

also,

avowedly quoted, surely through the mediation of

is

some other work.

The source
in

for the

Western Bible Historiale, and

some way

for the Historia Scholastica, is there-

fore to be sought in the Greeko-Slavonic Palcea,

brought by currents, we shall soon learn, from the East into France and Provence.
of the striking features is the free admission of apocrypha and their blending together in one

One

Bible.

These apocrypha do not appear before that

*

Tractat Sotah,

f.

136.

192

APPENDIX

A.

period in the West, with the exception of England, where the Evangelium Nicodemi seems to have

penetrated very early (eighth or ninth century), but which exercised no influence upon the surrounding
literatures.

The Infancy Gospels

are also of a recent date.

Herman
sify the

Gospels.

who was the first to verBible, was also the first who versified the Comestor did not know them only a
of Valenciennes,
;

century later

they were inserted in the Speculum

of Vincentius.*

Not

in orthodox, but in heterodox circles did

the Apocryphal literature have its rise and development and here also arose the Bible Historiale,
;

whose appearance coincided strangely with a remarkable movement which took place at that time- in
France and throughout the centre of Europe.

At the beginning

of -the thirteenth century arose

a society in Metz for the purpose of reading the Bible in the vernacular. Till that time the Bible was

only

known

in the Latin translation of Hieronymus,

being thus accessible only to the clergy, while the The result of people were absolutely ignorant of it. the reading and understanding the Bible was that

members of that society soon began to despise the priests and the bishops, whose deeds and docthe
trines did not at all harmonise with the teaching
*

R Rheinsch, die Pseudoevangelien in

PP,

d.

rom.

u.

germ. Literatur, Halle,

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

of the Bible.

193

The Bishop of Metz immediately denounced the society to Pope Innocent III., who
allowed the reading of the Bible in the vernacular, as there was no law which forbade it. The
first

gap between the clerics and laymen consequently widened more and more, and threatened to become
irreparable.

This could never be in the interest

;

of the Church

so the Bishop remonstrated ener-

getically against it to the Pope, urging the adoption

of a speedy remedy, as the members of the Biblereading society rebelled also against the authority

of the

Innocent being compelled to do something in the matter, appointed a com-

Pope

himself.

mission, consisting of the Bishop of Metz, the

Abbot

of Cistercium, and three other Abbots, to investi-

gate

it,

and to examine the proceedings of that

was that the members of the Bible-

society.

The

result

reading society were convicted of being heretics and their Bible was pronouncedfull ofheretical contents.

In consequence thereof the society was dissolved and With this fact begins the perthe Bible burnt.
secution of the

Bible in the

vernacular by the

Catholic Church, which finally decreed the prohibition of reading the Bible in the vernacular at the

Council held at Toulouse in the year 1229. After this no layman dared read the Bible unless in Latin. *

This early date proves that at the beginning of

*

Neander, Kirchengeschichte, 4th

ed.,

Gotha, 1864,

vol. viii. pp.

37-42.

194

APPENDIX

A.

the thirteenth century the Bible must have been widely circulated and eagerly read in the vernacular.

Indeed, the translated Bible read

in

by the

society

Metz was an imported

the Waldenses, as
is

one,

brought

thither

by

expressly stated.*

We

are thus

in possession of the link which

connects the translation of the Bible into the ver-

nacular and the circulation of

sects flourishing

it,

with the heretical

about that time, especially in the

South of France.
evidence to prove the existence of such a translation, and the profound knowis

There

now every

ledge of it amongst the heretical sects, said by all the contemporary writers to be very well versed
in the Bible.

This

is

common

characteristic for every dis-

senting movement which appears in the history of religion, and especially of the Christian Church.

The

by
of

separation the real or

is

based

upon and

supported

Holy

pretended better understanding Without going into further Scripture.

details,

already Petrus Siculus, speaking of the Paulicians in Asia Minor, asserts that even before
their

emigration from Armenia they possessed a translation of the Bible, and that their women

were well acquainted with its contents. Cedrenus adds that they brought it with them, coming into
the Byzantine empire.
*

Neander,

I.

c.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

195

That the Slavonians had the Bible translated at

an early period has been often enough stated in In the year 1007 the heretical these pages.
were already accused of reading the Old and New Testament, only with polemical purposes, and with the intention of
sects

in

the

Occident

denying the truth therein contained.

Reinerius,

And

finally,

who

is

the chief source for our know-

ledge

Albigenses, states that almost every heretic in the twelfth and thirteenth cen-

about

the

turies

knew

at least the

New

Testament by heart

in the vernacular.*

they not only knew the Bible in the vernacular, but also taught that the translated Bible had the same power as the Latin
Bible, t

And

Internal evidence proves further that the oldest French Bible was not translated from the Vulgate,

but from a Greek

in its turn

original, or

from another which

was translated from the Greek version of

the

LXX.

One

at least of the

German

texts

the

others have not yet been studied from this point of

view

is not derived from the Vulgate, but from another text, supposed by Schroder to be an older German but this, lastly, is also not more than a
;

translation,

and a

different

one from the Vulgate.

The
genses
*

literary
is

and missionary activity of the Albi-

too well established to be doubted.

We

Faber, Waldenses, p. 400, No. i, and p. 492. t C. U. Hahn, Geschichte der Ketzer im Mittelalter, Stuttgart, 1845,
vol.
i.

p. 94.

196

APPENDIX

A.

find already in 1025 the record of their schools,

where they taught their doctrines and expounded the Bible.* The same Eeinerius tells us that the
Cathari had more schools than the theologians, and his own words are " In almost every locality
:

in

Lombardy, Provence, and other

places,

their

number exceeded by far that of the theologians, and they had more pupils, who disputed openly and
induced the people to enter into discussions with

them

and they preached in tents and fields, and nobody dared stop them, as they had powerful and
;

numerous

protectors.

In the diocese of Padua alone

they had more than forty-one schools, not counting those of Germany and France." t

At the same time the

into

translation of the Bible

the
(c.

vernacular was undertaken

1 1

Valdo
denses,

70),
is

founder of the sect

said to have paid

by Petrus of the Walpriests

for their

who
as at

two

Stephan de Ansa and Bernhard Ydras

work,
his

command they

translated

the

Gospels and other Biblical books into the Komance language.^ Soon afterwards (1179), that is, only
eight years later,

waited upon time when a Council was held in Eome, with the

a deputation of the Waldenses the Pope, Alexander III., during the

object of obtaining his approbation for a French translation of the Psalms wr ith glosses, and several
*

Faber,

I.

c., p. 358 ff. Neander, I. c.,

t
viii. p.

Ibid.,
p.

c.,

p.

361.

409

Faber,

456.

THE BIBLE HIST OKIALE.

other
of the Old

and of

New

Testament.

Gualterus Mapes, who gives a graphic description

of their appearance, was also appointed to discuss

with them concerning their dogmas.

The

result

was a scornful dismissal of

There
is

their

demand.*

no doubt, as is expressly stated, that the dismissed translation was not at all literal, but was
amplified by glosses, that
translation.!
is, it

was a paraphrastic
is

Further noteworthy

the difference

wording when the New and when the Old Testament is spoken of. The Old Testament is never mentioned entirely; only parts of it are
in the
translated, whilst generally the Gospels are wholly translated.
in

mind

This is easily explained when we bear the form of the Bible Historiale, that the

translation confined itself to the historical parts,

leaving out the rest, and therefore of parts of the Bible.

If

is

only spoken

we might draw
Bible,

a conclusion from the con-

temporary Jewish
paraphrastic

literature, the character of this

or

Bible

with

explanatory

glosses, might have been somewhat similar to the text of the Bible together with the Commentary

of R. Salomo Itzhaki (Rashi), who lived in Troyes, and died 1105, with the single difference that here
all is
*

written in Hebrew, while in the former case

Faber, I. c., p. 471. " Qui librum Domino Papae prsesentaverunt lingua conscriptum gallica in quo textus et glossa Psalterii plurimorumque Legis utriusque librorum con tine batur."

198
all is translated.

APPENDIX

A.

This Commentary, which

may be

considered as consisting of glosses to the Biblical text, is full of legendary explanations, drawn from the old Aggadic literature, and the influence it exercised even

pretty well

upon the Christian commentators is shown by the example of Nicolas de

greatly indebted to Eashi.

Lyra, who
It
is

is

not

my

intention to follow out here the

friendly relations which existed between the

Jews
they
it

and the

heretical sects in France,

and how

far

mutually borrowed from each other.

say,

Suffice

to

that

many

a zealous priest of the Catholic

bitterly about this free inter-

Church complained
course.*

Eeturning to the Bible of the Waldenses and of the other sects, its contents must have been amplified

by

glosses of a legendary character,

and no
to be

doubt contrasting with the dogmas of the ruling

Church, as the Council of Metz declared
heretical,
it

and condemned

it

to the pile.

This points clearly to our Bible Historiale, whose prominent peculiarity is the adoption to so large

an extent of apocryphal tales and legends, which

constitute its chief elements.

The
Europe

diffusion
is

apocryphal literature in due in a certain measure to the activity

of the

of the heretical sects, originating especially in the Middle Ages in Bulgaria, with which country they
*

Neander,

I.

c., viii. p.

43

ff.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

never lost connection.
this

199

Thence they also carried literature to the West, and it is by no means

an exaggeration to presume the original identity of the Western Bible Historiale with the Palcea.
brought under consideration is so striking, that there cannot be any other explanation for it than to assume the
so

The coincidence of

many

facts

former unity, preserved even through the manifold changes which the Bible Historiale underwent in
course
of time

and

in different countries.

The

main

features remained,

and we have been able to

trace the existence of such a Bible Historiale back

to the twelfth century as the basis for the versified

Bible, for the Mystere,

and

for the abbreviation in

the three Komance dialects

of

Beam, Provence,

and Catalonia.

The crusade against the Albigenses broke down the poetical life of Provence, and at the same
time stamped out every trace of the heretical literature. What wonder that the Bible Historiale
suffered the fate encountered

by

all

similar works.

But the

influence could not be totally obliterated,

and even in the orthodox disguise we could recognise the old Bible Historiale.

Merely as an additional remark, for wide field for conjecture and special

it

leaves a
I

studies,

venture to give an explanation of the name of that illustrated Bible commonly called Bible of the Poor.

200

APPENDIX
to

A.

the present day nobody has succeeded in either tracing the origin of that Bible or in

Up

explaining its name. Berjeau, if I am not mistaken, is the last who devoted a study to this question.

(The later publication of Laib and Schwarz deals merely with the windows of Hirschau and the Ger-

man

texts of the Biblia

Pauperum).
:

He

describes

the Biblia

Pauperum

as follows

" The Biblia Pauperum is a set in the first edition of forty, and in the second of fifty woodcuts, disposed in three horizontal compartments, which we will call upper, middle, and lower, each being itself arranged in three vertical divisions, which may
be distinguished as left, centre, and right, all divided from each other by an architectural framework, uniform alternately for all
the verso and redo pages of the work. "The left division of the upper

compartment contains a

number

of lines (which are not rhythmical) in black letter, with contracted abbreviations, in which the subject of the Old very

Testament immediately under

is

explained in few words, with a

reference to the centre subject, taken from the New Testament. " The right division contains likewise the explanation of the

subject on the right, with its reference to the same subject of the New Testament represented in the centre of the page. " The centre vertical division of the upper compartment

represents a double window, with a prophet on each side of a The name of the prophet is inscribed under his central pillar. bust, which generally holds the end of a scroll, on which is

written some sentence from that prophet, referring to the central

subject.

horizontal compartment, with its three vertical forms the principal part of the woodcut, the left and divisions, right subjects being taken from the Old Testament, while the central subject is always taken from the New Testament ; this
latter only being in chronological order.

"

The middle

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

"

201

The lower compartment

scroll,

centre, in a double

holding a

contains, like the upper one, in the window, the busts of two prophets, each with his name and a sentence taken from his

In the blank prophecies, and referring to the centre subject. spaces on each side is a leonine verse explaining the subject
above
busts of the prophets,

while at the bottom of the page, immediately under the is another leonine verse explaining the central design." *
;

In order to make

it clearer, I

here give the trans-

lated contents of leaf v. "

left.

The Holy Family in Egypt.

Upper com-

read in the thirty-first and partment, thirty-third chapters of Exodus that when Moses had come to the foot of Mount Sinai, he alone

"We

ascended the mountain to receive the Law; and when he had done- this and was descending, he

which Aaron had made of gold. Moses himself having thrown away the Tables,

saw the molten

calf

destroyed the calf and broke it up figured the idols falling in a heap entered Egypt."

which well
Christ

when

Next
*

to it the double

window

at the left

is

the
:

bust of the Prophet Hosea, with the inscription He shall break down (their altars),' taken from

Hosea

x. 2.

Nahum

In the next window, to the right, is with the scroll Out of the house of thy
' :

gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image' (Nahum i. 14). The next white
square, forming the upper right compartment, con*

Berjeau, Biblia Pauperum, London, 1859, pp. 3-4.

202

APPENDIX
c
:

A.

tains the following passage

We read

in the first

book of Samuel (chap, v.) that the Philistines

had

placed the ark of the Lord, that they had taken in

Those who entered war, near Dagon, their god. the temple in the morning found Dagon lying on
the ground, and both his hands broken off which figure was truly fulfilled when the Blessed Virgin came with Christ, her child, into Egypt then
:

the idols of Egypt fell into a heap ; and it figures the Virgin, who with Christ enters the state
of trial into
collapsed/

which

infidels

through error have

The middle is occupied by the three designs described, and underneath the lower compartment
contains on the left front the leonine verse
'
:

By
:

Moses the sacred image of the

calf

was destroyed.'

Then the bust

'

of Zachariah, with the inscription

I will
'

cut off the

(Zach.
xiii.

names of the
2).

idols out of the

it
is

earth

Next
'
:

to

the bust of

The Lord will famish Zephaniah, with the words Above it all the gods of the earth (Zeph. ii. 1 1 ).
'

is
'

the other leonine verse, explaining the design The ark is made the cause of the sudden ruin of
:

Dagon/

And

finally, at

the bottom of the page,

just under the lower double window y and thus under the design of the centre, is the third leonine

verse

'
:

The
'

idols fell

swiftly

when

Christ

was
to

present/

Berjeau says further

"It would not be easy

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

ascertain

203

who was the author of the Biblia Pauperum, who conceived the idea of such a book, and who composed the three lines of poetry which
The rest explain the three subjects on each page. of the text contained on both sides of the upper compartment is not rhythmical, as it has been said,
but contains mere quotations from the Old Testa-

ment and Prophets with

subject taken from the
theless,

reference to the central

New Testament."

Never-

suggests that Vincentius of Beauvais might be the author of the text, on no other ground than that he is now acknowledged to

Berjeau

be the author of the Speculum

tionis,

Humance Salva-

which was likewise engraved and printed by the xylographer of Haarlem to whom the engravings

Pauperum are attributed. But before we enter into the study of this, for us, most important point, we will deal shortly with
the history of this Biblia
"

of the Biblia

Pauperum,

its date,

and

the origin of the drawings.

It is pretty certain that the author or copyist of
this text

was not the

artist

who made the

designs.

The circumstance that there

are sensible variations

its

between the drawing of the subject and explanations shows sufficiently that the
not understand the
text." J
literal

Latin

artist did

meaning of the Latin

period, and the

*
Loc.
cit.,

This text belongs, therefore, to an earlier original manuscript may be traced

p. 5.

Loc.

cit., p.

23.

J Loc.

cit.,

p. 5.

204

APPENDIX

A.

to the twelfth or thirteenth century, as the leonine

verse and the abbreviations used in the text point clearly to that period.

The costumes
at

of the block-book announce a

more
this

recent period, namely,

1410-20.

The conclusion

which Berjeau arrives

it

as to the time

when

first

block-book arose, and the circumstances to

which

owes

its origin, is

"By

its

architectural

framework our block-book may be said to belong to the Tuscan school, as illustrated in the Duomo

San The drawings, imitated from the fresco paintings of Italian convents, most likely by John van Eyck, ornamented some costly MS. before being engraved on wood by some of the
Ministo di Firenze.

di Orvieto, in Santa Maria di Toscanella, in

figuersnyders so numerous in the Netherlands at the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the

The block-book was afterwards the model on which were made and painted the windows of the celebrated Convent of Hirschau, arid was the starting-point of numberless imitations by the early German painters and wood and
fifteenth century.

metal engravers, such as Springinklee, Albert Durer,

Schauffelein,

Hans Hemmling,

&c."

Other reproductions of later periods have sometimes

changed these drawings.

to enter into the difficult

I will

not attempt here

as

and unsettled question

to the origin of those Italian wall-paintings which

*

Loc.

cit., p.

II.

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

served as a model for the block-book.

205

How

did this

kind of picture arise just in a place and in a time at which a strong religious, or more properly heterodox,

movement was prevalent

was
it

in that country

How

that

it

was just there that

art for the first

time emancipated itself from the official Byzantine influence ? Tischendorf has dwelt at length on
another very interesting point, viz., when and how far did the apocryphal tales creep into the Christian art of painting ? Traces of this are also extant in our block-book ; for instance, on folio 2, where

the ox and ass are drawn standing near the crib in which Christ is lying, though no mention is made

them in the Gospels. They are derived from the apocryphal Gospel of Infancy. Or on folio 6, the story of the fall of the idols in Egypt, related
of

above, and so forth.

the

This and other similar questions must be left for moment undecided, and so also the question

as to

whether there was not an illustrated block-

book or MS. older than that now known, and which

underwent the same refinement and change through John van Eyck as was effected in the case of his
drawings by his followers. There is no doubt, however, that the original text is much older; and yet some have tried to explain the

Poor, as

name Biblia Pauperum, or Bible of the the name given to the block-book, which
illustrated

was naturally cheaper than the

MS.,

206

APPENDIX

A.

" Bible of the Poor," as and therefore termed the every man was enabled to buy it. But whoever
is

acquainted, however slightly, with the prices such works fetched in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen-

would immediately recognise that even in the shape of a block-book such a book was by far The name too dear to be bought by a poor man.
turies

must

be, therefore, of quite

was surely the name

a different origin, and of the text itself, which is a

kind of abridged Bible, and served as a basis for

the later or contemporary drawings. Indeed, if we look more accurately into this text,

we

again find the elements of the Bible Historiale, with the same characteristic opposition of the Old
to the

New

Testament, and fulfilment in the latter

What is of the predictions given in the former. more, out of eighty texts which form the forty pages,
two
less

upper compartment of each page, not than seventy-six are taken from the Old Testain the
:

ment, and especially from the following books Twenty-one from Genesis (fol. i, 5, 8, 10 bis, 12,
16, 17 bis,
1

8,

23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 32, 33, 34,

38,

39); six

fr

Exodus
(4)
;

(2,

6,

9,

18,

26, 35);
(2, 9,

one from Leviticus

four from

Numbers

13, 25); one from Deuteronomy (38); four from Judges (28, 29, 33) ; twelve from Samuel (3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 13, 14,
(3,
7,
1

6,

21, 28, 37)

fourteen from Kings

23, 24, 34, 35, 36,

ii

bis,

14,

19

bis,

22,

37); two from Jonah

(27, 29); three

from Daniel

THE BIBLE HISTORIALE.

(12, 22, 31)
;

207

three from

Song
;

of

Solomon

(30, 31,
;

one from Esther (36) 40) one from Ezra (15) one from Job (39) two from Maccabees (15, 21)
;

whilst from the

New

Testament there are one from

;

Matthew

(20)

one from Luke (32)

and two from

the Apocalypse (20, 40).

From

this proportion

we

see that all the texts,

without any exception, are taken from the historical books of the Bible only, like those of which the

Bible Historiale

is

composed, and none from the

Prophets. The text itself closely resembles that examined by us as the Bible Historiale. Thus we again find here the identification of Joseph with Christ.

Joseph is further sold for thirty pieces of silver, which clearly denotes that the author did not take
the passage directly from the canonical Bible, but

from an uncanonical source, here the Bible Historiale. The quotations are also never literal, but
are rather contractions of the

they are to be found in

Holy Writ, just the above-named book.

as

these internal evidences as to the origin of this short Bible is also added the name it bears as

To

Biblia Pauperum.
of the

The Waldenses were best known under the name Poor of Lyons (Pauperes Lugdunenses).
this

name they appeared at the Council in Home, and under the same name they became famous
Under
for centuries.

208

APPENDIX
a

A.

point between their Bible and their Noble Leyczon induces me to ascribe to them

Many

common

also the authorship of this short Biblical treatise,

perhaps from the beginning already accompanied with rough sketches, out of which arose the later O
'

more refined drawings. And so it got the name of Biblia Pauperum, or the "Bible of the Poor," viz., the Bible of the Poor of Lyons, preserved as such until the present time.
It is not
all

the

first

without interest to notice that nearly block-books deal with subjects favoured

by the heretical sects, and became popular books. Thus the Antichrist, the Legend of the Cross, the Apocalypse of St. John,
in the highest degree

are

among

the oldest block-books,

all

containing
familiar in

subjects with which

we have become

the course of these pages. The identification of the Poor with the Waldenses,
or the
it

not only not far-fetched, as might seem at the first glance, but is also the
is

Poor of Lyons,

only plausible explanation of the title, as it explains at the same time the origin of the book.

APPENDIX

B.

THE ORIGIN OF THE GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET.

DOBROVSKY, the founder of Slavonic philology,
at

the close of the last century for the first time drew attention to a mode of writing employed in

some Slavonic books

Cyrillian.

totally

different

from the

by Kopitar when he published

This question was vigorously taken up in 1836 the Slavonic

text written with such characters, and known thence" forth under the name of Glagolita Clozianus"

The problem which presented

students
of Slavonic

itself

thus to the

philology was to ascertain

the date and the probable origin of this long-for-

gotten or totally neglected alphabet. The most opposite views were taken upon the matter, and a discussion ensued which lasted nearly
half a century,
till

at least one point

was generally

agreed upon,

viz.,

the greater age of the Glagolitic

alphabet and its priority to the Cyrillian. The reasons brought forward are twofold
logical

philo-

and

palaeographical.

close inquiry into

the nature of the language represented

by the Glagoo

210
litic

APPENDIX
texts proves
it

B.

to be of the most archaic form,

lan-

and to approach
guage which
or
is

as closely as possible that

considered by

Professor Miklosich

to be the basis of the so-called

Church Slavonic

Old Slavonic language the Slavonic dialect, namely, into which the Apostles Cyril and Method
are said to have translated the Bible for the first

In these Glagolitic texts are thus preserved the oldest specimens of the Slavonic literature,
time.

whilst the language of the Cyrillian text is more modern, and already contains traces of dialectic
influences,

chiefly

Bulgarian

peculiarities,

as

is

only natural,

when we remember

the rise and de-

velopment of the Slavonic literature in Bulgaria. Among these texts we do not find anything of so hoar an antiquity as some of the Glagolitica
possess,

where one or another

is

considered to be

no more than a hundred years distant from the

lifetime of the apostles.

So

far the philological reason.

To

this the palseo-

graphical
as

now comes

as a powerful support.

Just

that

Europe palimpsests, which have been written upon is, parchments twice, the first writing having been erased, so we
find

we

find in the

West

of

them
thing

in the Slavonic literature,

is,

and the pecu-

liar

that ihe first writing has always been a Glagolitical, which was erased and a new Cyrillian text written upon it. Never up to the present day

has the contrary been discovered.

We know

of no

THE GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET.

instance
in

211

which a Glagolitical text has been

written upon a primitive Cyrillian. For these two reasons the Glagolitza, as
in

we

will

future

term

this

Cyrillitza, is

now

alphabet, calling the other universally accepted to be the

alphabet, superseded in a later period by a more modern, which usurped its name, and not the opposite of this, as was formerly believed.
older

The palimpsests had Glagolitical

Is
it

also

show that the

Cyrillian writers

texts at hand.
is

The next question

latter,
it

the origin of this alphabet.

?

a primitive one or a derived

and

if

the
is

whence
?

is it

derived,

and on what model

formed

here only to enter into the discussion of the origin of the Glagolitza, and not into

My

purpose

is

the

history

literature,

and development of the Glagolitic that is, of the works written and pubI confine

lished in these characters.

myself to the
oft

characters themselves, to point out their peculiarity,

endeavouring to give a new solution to this

discussed problem.

first the forms of the and then the order in which they are letters, Of minor importance, and yet still imarranged.

We

have to consider

portant, are the curious

names the

letters of this

alphabet possess. The difficulty of explaining the names and the order of the Cyrillitza, as these are
identical with the Glagolitza,

was no

less in

former

212

APPENDIX

B.

Moretimes when the Glagolitza was unknown. over, the form of some letters of the Cyrillian
alphabet was puzzling, as their origin could not easily be traced.
regards this alphabet, it is now proved that the main part of it was taken from the Greek uncial

As

writing,

and the signs employed for sounds strange to the Greek are due to the Glagolitza, whence
they were borrowed by the later compiler of this alphabet, who, as it seems to be, was St. Clemens
(t

916) in Bulgaria,
"

for in

his biography

it

is

that he invented other clearer expressly stated letters than those which were invented by the

wise Cyrill
/ULOLTCOV

"
(ea-ofyivaTO

KOI

^apaKTripag cTepovs ypa/m?

ou9

TTpos

TO

crct(j)6crTepov

e^evpev

0-0(^)09

KvpiXXo?).*

The Greek
was

literature

and the Greek

adopt the better
to adopt

writing were generally

period,

known

in Bulgaria at that

and

it

o'nly natural to

known

signs for their

own language than

an entirely new alphabet, as the Glagolitic was, taking from this only the signs not wanting in the Greek alphabet, just as was done many centuries before,
at the

under the same circumstances and

in Bulgaria

same spot

by Bishop

Ulfilas

when he invented the so-called Gothic alphabet. Not so, however, with the order and the names
of the letters
*
;

they were both transferred from one

und Gruber,
vol. Ixviii.

Miklosich, Algemeine Encyclopaedic, Ersch

p.

1859,

413.

THE GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET.

to the other
Cyrillitza
;

213

the Glagolitza was changed into the

with respect only to what belongs to the rest remained unchanged. the form The
;

letters

alphabet serve further as ciphers indicating the numbers, the value depending upon the place the letter occupies in the alphabet. By
this

of the

numerical value attributed to the letters the

order of the alphabet has been maintained. More complete than the Cyrillitza is the Glagolitza,

the end of the book shows.

which numbers forty signs, as the plate at There are the forms of
I

both alphabets, together with others to which

shall refer hereafter.
I

give the name of every letter, with its translation, numerical value, and pronunciation, indicating at the same time which letter does not
exist in the Cyrillitza

now

and

vice versa.

The num-

ber assigned to them corresponds entirely with the number in the plate, and is the same as that

adopted by Kopitar and Miklosich

1.

azu

ego,
:

i, a.

2.

bukuvi
vede
:

littera, 2, b.

3. 4.
5.

scio, 3, v.
:

glagoli

loquere, 4, g.

dobro
esti
:

bonum,
e.

5, d.

6.

est, 6,
:

7.

zivete
zelo
:

vivite, 7, z (English j).

8. 9.

valde, 8, dz.
:

zemiya
:

terra, 9, z.
i.

10. ize
11. i

qui, 10,

20,

i.

214
12.

APPENDIX
dya kako
30,
:

B.

dy

(only Glagol.)
k.
1.

13.

quomodo, 40,
:

14. lyudiye

homines, 50,
:

15. myislete
1 6.

cogitate, 60,

m.

nasi

noster, 70, n.
ille,
:

1 7.
1 8.

onu

80,

o.

pokoy
:

quies, 90, p.
r.

19.

rici: die, 100,

20. slovo
21.

verbum, 200,
:

s.
t.

tvrudo
:

durum, 300,
(?),

22. uk\i

doctrina

400, u.
500,
f

23. frutii
24. cherii
:

(pb).

600, h.
st

25. otii
26.

ab, 700, o.

sta
ci
:

800,

(sht).

27.

900, c (tz).
vermis, 1000, c (ch).
s (sh).
ii

28. criivi
29. &a
:

30. yerii:
31. yeruy:

(a dull sound).

iiy.
5.

32. yeri
33. eti

e (a kind of yea).

34.

yusu:

yu.

35-

(nasal vo
II.
39ye.

W e,s).

40. 41. 42.

4344.

ya.

x (only
th.
u.

Cyrill.)

ps (only Cyrill.)

The

translation

is

given after Miklosich.

The

in different

strange mixture of substantives, adverbs, and verbs, moods and teoses, indicates clearly that

THE GL A OOLITIC ALPHABET.

215

they must be corruptions of words not understood

their

by the people, who tried to bring them nearer to own understanding by the well-known process of popular etymology.

They became Slavo-

nised, if I

may

coin such a term.

effort

This increased the perplexity, and thwarted every made to solve the problem but even greater
;

was the
It

difficulty with regard to the form. would be useless to summarise here

all

that

has been said on this subject. Professor Miklosich, with his usual thoroughness and mastery of his subject, has summed up the

whole matter and given the entire bibliography.* His opinion, of course, is of the greatest weight.

He

proves the absolute dependence of the Cyrillitza upon the Glagolitza, and considers the latter to be

the alphabet used by the apostles of the Slavonians themselves. In order to explain why they accepted such a complicated alphabet, Professor Miklosich
suggests that
it

may have

been in use among

Cyril

previously existed and the Slovenes, and that therefore

it.

and Method adopted

"Nevertheless,"
is

says Professor Miklosich, "this alphabet

not a

primitive and invented, but 'an adopted alphabet, taken over from somewhere else," without, however,

giving us the slightest hint as to the alphabet from

whence
*

it

was

derived.
of

Allgemeine Encyclopaedic
s. v.

Ersch und Gruber,

vol.

Ixviii.,

1859,

pp. 403-422,

Glagolitisch.

216

APPENDIX

B.
is

The

decisive point of his utterance

is

that the

Glagolitza

an alphabet originally destined for

another language, and in later times adapted to the Slavonian.

From

this point of

view only can we explain the

of
signs

superfluous

richness

observable in

the

enumeration above.
original,

serving for

They were necessary in the the expression of some lan-

guage very rich in sounds, and taken over entirely as it was, and adapted to the expression of the Slavonic alphabet, itself very rich, but not nearly
so

much

so as the other.

This must be the starting-point of our inquiry.

That many have endeavoured to ascertain the origin of the Glagolitza has already been mentioned.
Professor Miklosich reviews these opinions, and his condemnation renders it unnecessary for us to
reiterate

them and

refute

them.

But

after the

publication of that essay by Professor Miklosich there appeared two other attempts, with which I will now deal shortly.

suggests that the Greek cursive alphabet and the combination of signs in the tachygraphical writing of the

The

first

is

that of Mr. Taylor,

who

Greek might have served as a model for the GlaThe comparison, however, shows such a golitic.
complicated mode of passing from one into the other, that on formal grounds alone this idea must

be rejected.

To

this

may further

be added the fact

THE GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET.

217

that sounds like sh, ch, j, and others not existing in the Greek could not be borrowed from these,

even not as combinations of

ever

letters,

o-^

retained for

its 0-%, and only nowadays do we decompose the combined sounds into their elements

sound as

physiological inquiries into the nature of human speech, a process unheard of in ancient times, when

by

for each

sound one simple sign was used.

better
is

the theory of Geitler, who developed it in an elaborate and otherwise very remarkable treatise.* He assumes that the strange

Not much

alphabet from which the Glagolitza is derived was an old autochthonous Albanian alphabet, preserved to the present time in a mutilated form in some

Albanian manuscripts. Not only the form of the characters, but also their names are derived from
part has been thoroughly annihilated by the profound criticism of Professor Jagic f and as to the names, it will suffice to show

the Albanian.

The

first

that some of them, considered by Geitler to be Albanian, are Turkish elements of a very recent
origin, later than the fourteenth century,

and there-

fore impossible to be of such

an age as to be adopted
is,

by

Cyril in the eighth century, that

six centuries

before.

So, for instance, Albanian meseletti,

from

which he derives Slavonic myslete, is plural of mesel, Turkish, Arabic, and Hebrew mashal] Albanian lula
*

L. Geitler, Die Albanesischen

und Slavischen

Schriften,

Wien, 1883.

t Archiv fur Slav. Philologie.

218
is

APPENDIX

B.

the Turkish luleh, pipe, with the same meaning, and has nothing whatsoever to do with lyudye, &c.*

litza is

Glagotaken from another people, my view is that we must seek to find at the time when Cyril
flourished such an alphabet, rich in

Once agreed upon that

point, that the

sounds and
easily be

not so far distant, that

reached or

it

could not

known by

Cyril.

Some, induced by an apparent similarity between the Glagolitic sh and ge with the Coptic, sought
the origin in the latter; but, in addition to the difficulty of proving Cyril's acquaintance with the
Coptic, there
is,

moreover, no further similarity

the remainder, consisting of thirty-eight This view may therefore be disregarded. signs. The Latin and Greek, through the scantiness of

among

all

sounds, and therefore

of signs

and

difference of

form and order, also *need not be brought under consideration, and it is quite another direction to

which

turn in order to find the probable proto-

type of the Glagolitza.

Nobody has up till now taken into consideration the Armenian alphabet and the other kindred
alphabet of Georgia, so rich in sounds and signs,
that they are unequalled and unsurpassed
others.

by any

The relationship and dependence of

litza

the Glagoto it

upon

this or
*
v.

another alphabet akin

Geitler,
I.

of

c.,

pp. 168-171.

THE GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET.

those regions is

219

now for me beyond any

it

doubt,

and

I will

endeavour to prove

in the following

pages.

Let us

first

examine the

historical conditions

and

establish the connection

between Cyril and these

alphabets.

As

it

has been said above

(p.

136), Cyril

was

brought up

at the court of Constantinople, receiv-

ing the best education, and his knowledge of Eastern One of the most languages was especially praised.

important Eastern languages of the time was the Armenian, the language of a rich literature and a
powerful Church, often mixed up with ecclesiastical disputes, and playing an important role in the
It is further noteworthy history of Manichseism. that the Armenians sent emissaries everywhere

challenging the orthodox,

their speeches

and the

halls

of the

palace in Byzantium resounded often enough with

and

disputes.
Cyril, the learned

There

is

no doubt that

monk,

himself was sent later on as an emissary to the Khazars, and who took part at the conversion
of the Pannonian Slavonians,
this

who

must have known

language, spoken

at

the gates of Constan-

tinople.

no matter of consequence to ask now the origin of the Armenian alphabet itself, but even the history of this invention is so striking an
It is

analogy to the history of the Glagolitza, that

it

is

220

APPENDIX
it

B.

worth while to mention

so as
it

here briefly, the more

also explains the apparent similarity be-

tween Coptic and Glagolitic characters. All the Dative writers are unanimous in ascribing
the invention of the present Armenian alphabet to the Bishop Mesrup (fifth century), who succeeded

by

these

means
and

in freeing himself from the

Greek

influence

establishing

Church
Bible

and

literature.

He

a genuine Armenian first translated the

into the

Armenian language, thus forming

as to the question

the basis for the

There are

new literature. now different views

by Mesrup

of the model taken

I,

for

my own

against

for his new alphabet. derive it in its essential parts, part, the opinion of Mr. F. Mtiller,* from the

Zendic alphabet of the neighbouring Persians, with which the Armenians were avowedly well acquainted.
similarity

One

single glance suffices to

show the
But the

between these two alphabets.

poor in signs, as the Persian dialect has not so many sounds, and this want had to be
is

Zendic

The chief source supplied from other sources. was here the Coptic alphabet. If we remember that some of Mesrup's prominent pupils, Moses of
Chorene,
the

famous

Armenian

chronicler,

and

others, spent a long time in Alexandria, then the

difficulty arising

from the distance between Armeis

nia and
*

Egypt

easily removed.
Academy

For they had

Sitzungsberichte of the

of Vienna, vol. xlviii. pp. 431-438.

THE GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET.

221

been sent by their master to collate the oldest Greek manuscripts of the Bible preserved in the
great library of Alexandria, with their translation
into Armenian.

The only alphabet of a Christian people rich in signs, and thus serving their purpose, was the Coptic, and so they took from it
the elements wanting to complete their
alphabet.

own new

From Armenia
it

this alphabet spread to the North,

and was soon adopted by the Georgians, who adapted

to their

own

and there the shape of the

requirements, also changing here letters ; for instead of

being angular with sharp corners, they rounded the edges and added spirals and flourishes. This

makes that alphabet somewhat more

Glagolitza,
flourishes.

similar to the
spirals

also

characterised

by

its

and

The same alphabet no doubt also spread in South Russia, and most probably was known in the empire of the Khazars, at that time very powerful,

and having a language judging from the other Turko-Turanian languages to which this belonged
rich in both vowels
It is at least

and consonants.

remarkable to find in a peculiar

late

Greek alphabet of Mariupol, discovered by the

Dr. Blau,* the characteristic letter sh represented in the same way as in the Armenian alphabet,
* Zeitschrift der Deutsch Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft,
vol. xxviii. pp.

562-576, and

vol. xxix.

166-167.

222

APPENDIX
is

B.

which

the same as

we have noted

here in the

Glagolitza,

and hence

in the Cyrillitza.

Our

investigation

would be much furthered

if

anything written in the Khazaric characters had been preserved, such as it was used by them in
their proceedings.

Unfortunately we have only,

and

this

in

letter sent

in Spain.

more modern copy, the Hebrew the Khazars to Hisdai ibn Shaprut by Also of Khazaric origin, and this time
a

genuine, I consider, is another Hebrew manuscript, recently discovered and described by Professor

Harkavy, who does not, however, recognise its origin, and considers it, without any internal proof,
to be from Crete.

As

and a

Biblical text,

was a well-known alphabet, there was no need to introduce

it

any

different letter, as is

the case

when writing

down, even with the same characters, other foreign words or names. It is therefore difficult to prove
the influence of a genuine alphabet. Nevertheless, I think that, for instance, the peculiar flourished

m can be traced only to such an influence, as

in the

it

offers

way

of its

upward

spiral a striking resem-

blance to the Armenian and Georgian m. What further induces me to see in this
text written

MS. a

ence
also

by a Khazar is that there is no differmade between ch (cheth) and h (he), unknown to the Karaims, who are surely remnants of the
have insisted especially upon
this point, it

Khazars, and so forth.

If I

THE GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET.

is

223

because the

life

of Cyril

is

also intimately con-

nected with the Khazars, as he was sent thither by

the Emperor to convert

them

to Christianity.

His biography describes with

with Jews and Mohammedans.

many

details his

stay at the court, and the disputations he had there

Here, no doubt, already more or less acquainted with the Armenian, he came across another similar alphabet,

and when he decided to compose a

special alphabet for his Slavonic translations, he

only adopted this alphabet as the most fitting for He followed also at the same time its purpose.
the

example given by Mesrup centuries

before.

In this connection we can now explain the hitherto unknown origin of* the Glagolitic alphabet, and we proceed to a minute examination to ascertain how far the historical explanation is backed by
the
similarity

between

the

alphabet
Georgian.

closely

resembling

Glagolitza and an the Armenian and

consider ike forty signs of the Glagolitical alphabet in the annexed plates, we can easily
If

we now

detach at least seven as composed from two other primitive elements, thus reducing the total number
of signs to thirty-three.

The composed
4-

are the

following
31, of

No. 22, out of 17

10
;

30

26, of 29

+ 21

30+
;

38, of 17

37; 39, of ii

37 or
;

37 37 (Miklosich) and, finally, 34, which seems to be composed of

-f

of 6

40, of 10

37 or 30

224

APPENDIX
;

B.

30 + 17 this latter turned on one side. Nos. 30 and 32 seem originally to be identical, but we leave
that for the

moment

unsettled.
i,

The elements of
(u), p, $,

combination are the vowels

the peculiar Slavonic preyoted vowels. simply composed of the two elements sh
It is

forming No. 26 is
t.

now noteworthy
u.
9,

that the vowel

is

formed
viz.,

of o

and

We

have further two doublets,

Nos. 8 and

both representing a similar (z) sound, and Nos. 10 and 1 1, both i. In this alphabet there

are also
is

two signs
although

for o, Nos. 17

and 25

and what
4,

more
g,

curious, No. 24,

when compared with No.

both

Miklosich admits a difference

All these peculiarities where the alphabet
signs,

between the two sounds.

consisted of at least the

point clearly to a foreign origin,

same number of

and where none of these signs were doublets, each of them representing u distinct sound.
If

we now examine the Armenian

alphabet,

we

shall find it

composed which three represent peculiar Armenian

of thirty-six letters, out of

sibilants,

not to be met with in any other language, and not to be distinguished from three other sibilants, ex-

These are rightly cept by a stronger pronunciation. considered to be doublets of c, z, and tz, and therefore left out, and

we have thus the exactly correspond-

ing

number
shall

we

soon

of thirty-three letters, representing, as see, the same sounds as the characters

of the Glagolitza.

The

similarity also extends to the

GLAGOLITIC
(CYKILI.IAN).

ARMENIAN
GEORGIAN.
MODERN AND OLD
PRONUNCIATION.

Ilk
I
3

+
(1)

#-

C
S

C
&>
ft

I V
nr
9
d,

&
ni.
fir

^ ?* 2o
fir

631
&

ru

.. t d
e
v
e,

(ft

3&
f

e-

2
i.

O 'S

P
$

ft
/J

B
h
?V

/i jp

M
>
/t
(YT\s

AT
if>

/m.

%
9 9

m,
o
if

if.

iS -T
/* 6

P p
B
ffff

P
i

^
*

lo 8 Li en
It

t
Hfyg

GLAGOLITIC
(CYRILLIAN).

ARMENIAN
GEORGIAN.
MODERN AND OLD
PRONUNCIATION.

f
14 If
if>

4,

<

4A,

//
X
(9

/4/

Q 9
u/n yt
** L
'

5
*t

P 5

zg # 13 Hi 10 4

V %
X
V
x>

Z!

ee
u
+

31

e.

e c

36

W
>
r* ^^

1
c
Oi

nr.
c

39
40

4/

CT/

"yy

University of Toronto

Library

DO NOT REMOVE THE CARD FROM

THIS

POCKET

Acme

Library Card Pocket

LOWE-MARTIN CO. LIMITED