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Heliand

Heliand excerpt from the German Historical Museum

The Heliand (/ˈhɛliənd/) is an epic alliterative verse poem in Old Saxon, written in the first half of the 9th century. The title means "savior" in Old Saxon (cf. German and Dutch Heiland meaning "savior"), and the poem is a Biblical paraphrase that recounts the life of Jesus in the alliterative verse style of a Germanic epic. Heliand is the largest known work of written Old Saxon.

The poem must have been relatively popular and widespread because it exists in two manuscript versions and four fragmentary versions.[1] It takes up about 6,000 lines. A praefatio exists, which could have been commissioned by either Louis the Pious (king from 814 to 840) or Louis the German (806–876). This praefatio was first printed by Matthias Flacius in 1562, and while it has no authority in the manuscripts it is generally deemed to be authentic.[2] The first mention of the poem itself in modern times occurred when Franciscus Junius (the younger) transcribed a fragment in 1587.[3] It was not printed until 1705, by George Hickes. The first modern edition of the poem was published in 1830 by Johann Andreas Schmeller.[4]

  1. ^ Mierke 2008, pp. 31–37.
  2. ^ Mierke 2008, pp. 52–55.
  3. ^ Kees Dekker, 'Francis Junius (1591-1677): Copyist or Editor?', Anglo-Saxon England, 29 (2000), 279-96 (p. 289).
  4. ^ Mierke 2008, pp. 1.

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