''Elene'' is a
poem
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...
in
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
, that is sometimes known as ''Saint Helena Finds the True Cross''. It was translated from a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
text and is the longest of
Cynewulf
Cynewulf (, ; also spelled Cynwulf or Kynewulf) is one of twelve Old English poets known by name, and one of four whose work is known to survive today. He presumably flourished in the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the late 8th ...
's four signed poems. It is the last of six poems appearing in the
Vercelli manuscript
The title Codex Vercellensis Evangeliorum refers to two manuscript codices preserved in the cathedral library of Vercelli, in the Piedmont Region, Italy.
Old Latin Codex Vercellensis
The Old Latin Codex Vercellensis Evangeliorum, preserved ...
, which also contains ''
The Fates of the Apostles'', ''
Andreas
Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...
'', ''
Soul and Body I'', the ''Homiletic Fragment I'' and ''
Dream of the Rood
''The'' ''Dream of the Rood'' is one of the Christian poems in the corpus of Old English literature and an example of the genre of dream poetry. Like most Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. ''Rood'' is from the Old Englis ...
''. The poem is the first English account of the finding of the
Holy Cross by
Saint Helena, the mother of
Emperor Constantine
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterrane ...
. The poem was written by Cynewulf some time between 750 and the tenth century. It is written in a
West Saxon dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
, but certain Anglianisms and metrical evidence concerning false rhymes suggest it was written in an
Anglian rather than Saxon dialect. It is 1,321 lines long.
Author and date
Cynewulf's signature, which is always in
rune
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...
s, appears on ''
Christ II'', ''
Juliana
Juliana (variants Julianna, Giuliana, Iuliana, Yuliana, etc) is a feminine given name which is the feminine version of the Roman name Julianus.
Juliana or Giuliana was the name of a number of early saints, notably Saint Julian the Hospitaller, wh ...
'', ''
The Fates of the Apostles'' and ''Elene''. The dialect in his poems suggests that he was either
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era= Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ...
n or
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
n.
He most likely flourished during the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the late 8th and early 10th century;
some research allows for a late floruit of the mid-to-late 10th century.
The ''
Vercelli Book
The Vercelli Book is one of the oldest of the four Old English Poetic Codices (the others being the Junius manuscript in the Bodleian Library, the Exeter Book in Exeter Cathedral Library, and the Nowell Codex in the British Library). It is an ant ...
'' containing the poem is an anthology compiled in the late 10th century,
There have been a number of suggestions identifying the poet Cynewulf with historically attested men, but there is not enough evidence to favour any of these with any certainty. ''Cynewulf'' was a frequently given
Anglo-Saxon given name
Germanic languages, Germanic given names are traditionally wikt:dithematic, dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements, by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, Ethelred II of England, King Æþelred's name was derived from ', f ...
.
The most plausible candidate for an early date of the poem is
Cynewulf of Lindisfarne
Cynewulf of Lindisfarne was appointed as Bishop of Lindisfarne in either 737 or 740. He resigned the see in 779 or 780 and died in 782 or 783.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219
In 750 Cynewulf was imprisoned by Eadberht of No ...
(d. c. 780), based on the argument that the poet's elaborate religious pieces must lend themselves to "the scholarship and faith of the professional ecclesiastic speaking with authority";
alternative suggestions for the poet's identity include Cynwulf, a
Dunwich
Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast.
In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was ...
priest (fl. 803), Cynewulf, the father of
Bishop Cyuneweard of Wells, who died in 975, and Cenwulf, Abbot of
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
(d. 1006).
Plot summary
The story is loosely based on historical events and takes place within an
anachronistic
An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...
setting that amalgamates wars of the fourth-century involving the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, the
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
and the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
. ''Elene'' fits into a subgenre of ''
inventio'', the search for sacrosanct
relics of the saints. Cynewulf's source for the legend of St. Helena's Finding of the Cross was probably the ''Acta Cyriaci'' and a version of it is written in the ''
Acta Sanctorum
''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. The project w ...
'' for May 4.
The poem begins with
Constantine, emperor of Rome, riding out to battle the Huns and Hrethgoths. He is a mighty king made strong by God, though he is not aware of the Christian God yet. He sees a vision in the sky and he is told that he will halt his enemies with the symbol that is shown to him by the heavens. The battle begins and Constantine reveals the symbol that he was shown, a
cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
. The cross sends his enemies running in all directions and they are easily defeated by the Romans.
Constantine returns home and addresses an assembly on whether they know the meaning of the symbol that saved his people. Only the wisest know that the cross is the symbol of the Lord in Heaven,
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. Constantine is
baptized and becomes a devout
Christian, due to his experience. He learns from the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
how and where Christ was killed, so he orders Helen, his mother, to lead an army to the land of the
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
to find where the true cross is buried. She leads an army of men onto a ship and begins the journey to
Palestine.
Once in the city of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, she calls an assembly of sage Jews and scorns them for having condemned Jesus to death, leaving them wondering what they have done to anger the queen. Judas tells his fellow Jews that he knows the queen searches for the cross. Judas was brought up on Christian teachings, and his brother
Stephen
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
was stoned to death for being a Christian. The Jews refuse to help Helen find the cross, so she threatens them with death. Frightened, they hand over Judas. He also refuses to tell her where it is, so she locks him in a dark prison for seven days without food. On the seventh day he cries out that he cannot take the torture any longer and will reveal where the cross is. He leads the queen to the hill where Jesus was crucified.
Judas
Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...
converts to Christianity in a passionate speech to God acknowledging Jesus as his Savior. God gives Judas a smoke sign in the sky, which convinces him of his new-found belief. He digs and finds three crosses. A crowd forms, but no one knows which of the three was the cross of Christ. They set the crosses up in the city hoping that Christ would show them the truth. A corpse is brought forth, and each cross is held over him. The third cross brings him back to life.
Satan appears in grotesque form angry that he has had a soul stolen from him. Judas cleverly argues with Satan with his new faith, but Satan leaves with a threat that he will raise up a king to retaliate. Helen sends word home to Constantine, who tells her to build a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
on the hillside where the crosses were found. She encases the true cross in
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
and jewels and places it in the church. Judas is baptized and puts away his false religion. He is appointed to priesthood and is renamed Cyriacus because of his rebirth.
Helen then decides she needs to find the nails that held Christ up on the cross. Cyriacus searches for them, and God again gives him a sign in the form of fire to show where they are buried. Helen receives the gift with tears of joy, and the
Holy Spirit fills her with the gift of wisdom and forever protects the saint. She goes to a wise man to find out how she should use the nails, and he advises her to use them in the bit of Constantine's horse so that he would always be victorious in battle. The
epilogue
An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...
of the poem is devoted to the personal reflection of Cynewulf and his interpretation of
Doomsday. Cynewulf tells of how he has experienced a spiritual metamorphosis. His depiction of the
Last Judgement
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
resembles a sort of
Purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
where people are divided into three groups, two of which undergo cleansing to reach salvation, while the third is damned to eternal
Hell.
Analysis
Helen is depicted as heroic, more like certain women in
Old Norse literature
Old Norse literature refers to the vernacular literature of the Scandinavian peoples up to c. 1350. It chiefly consists of Icelandic writings.
In Britain
From the 8th to the 15th centuries, Vikings and Norse settlers and their descendants colon ...
than the Graeco-Roman saints. Cynewulf does not include her death in the poem as the Latin version does and he does not have her submitting to Constantine and Cyriacus as she does in the Latin version. In fact it is the opposite. We see Cyriacus completely submitting himself to Helen: ''hæfde Ciriacus / eall gefylled swa him seo æðele bebead, / wifes willan'' (line 1129b), ''('Cyriacus had completely done as the noble woman bade him to do, the will of the woman')''.
[Olsen 224]
Helen can be understood as an allegory of the
Christian Church and its mission to lead men to salvation through acceptance of the Cross. Literally, her mission is to find the true cross, but allegorically, her mission is to evangelize the Jews. Helen is referred to as a warrior queen and she has an army of warriors, but they never fight. The warriors are there to subjugate a powerful enemy, which could be Satan or non-believers. Judas and Helen are an allegory for the relationship of the Church with its members. Judas's dialogue reveals him to be of the human condition; he has the capacity for saintliness and wickedness.
Helen's oppressive tactics towards the Jewish elders being rewarded in the end have been discussed in terms of
anti-semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
. A
Marxist argument can also be made when looking at how Judas eventually submits to his oppressor. He arises from the pit as a heroic-type figure and it seems the reins of authority Elene exercises only do good in the end in apparent support of royal authority on the part of Cynewulf.
In terms of symbolism, the good-bad dichotomy, which is prevalent in Old English verse, finds itself in the oppositions of light and dark imagery in the poem. For instance, it is observed in the poem that Judas spends seven nights in a pit, and the 'darkness' can be seen to convey his obstinacy in refusing to see the 'light' of Christianity.
Along with alliteration, which is a key part to all Old English poetry, there are also places in the poem where Cynewulf applies rhyme in order to emphasize certain words, such as in the battle scene (50-55a):
''Ridon ymb rofne, ðonne rand dynede,
camp wudu clynede, cyning ðreate for,
herge to hilde. Hrefen uppe gol,
wan ond wælfel. Werod wæs on tyhte.
Hleopon hornboran, hreopan frican,
mearh moldan træd.''
''('They rode about the famous one; then the shield dinned, the battle-tarp clanged, the king advanced with a troop, a battalion to the battle. The raven yelled from above, dark and greedy for carrion. The troop was on the march. The horn-bearers ran, the heralds called out, the horse trod the earth''), In this example, the rhymes emphasize the din of voices and the crash of weapons, which builds excitement throughout the battle scene.
[Zacher 354]
Editions and translations
''Elene'' is preserved in a single manuscript version of the late 10th century, in the ''
Vercelli Book
The Vercelli Book is one of the oldest of the four Old English Poetic Codices (the others being the Junius manuscript in the Bodleian Library, the Exeter Book in Exeter Cathedral Library, and the Nowell Codex in the British Library). It is an ant ...
'', fol. 121a-133b.
The first edition of the text was prepared by
Benjamin Thorpe
Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature.
Biography
In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated him for tuberculosis.
A ...
in 1835, but it remained unpublished, although copies of his text circulated among scholars, and one such copy was the basis of the
Jacob Grimm's edition published in 1840.
John Mitchell Kemble
John Mitchell Kemble (2 April 1807 – 26 March 1857), English scholar and historian, was the eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor and Maria Theresa Kemble. He is known for his major contribution to the history of the Anglo-Saxons and philolog ...
partly based his 1856 ''Poetry of the Codex Vercellensis'' on Grimm's edition.
A critical edition by C. W. M. Grein appeared in ''Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie'' in 1858.
Later editions include:
*1889: Kent, Charles W. (ed.) ''Elene: An Old English Poem''. London: Ginn & Company.
*1958: Gradon, P.O.E. (ed.). ''Cynewulf's Elene''. London: Methuen.
*1932: Krapp, George Philip (ed.). ''Vercelli Book''. ASPR. New York: Columbia University Press. 67-102. 132-152.
*1991: Nelson, N. (ed. and tr.). ''Judith, Juliana, and Elene. Three Fighting Saints''. American University Studies 4. English Language and Literature 135. New York, 114-87.
*2019: Foys, Martin et al. (ed. to digital facsimile and tr.)
''Old English Poetry in Facsimile Project'' Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture. Madison, 2019.
Modern English translations:
*Bradley, S.A.J. (tr.). ''Anglo-Saxon Poetry''. London: Everyman's Library, 1982. 164-197.
*Kennedy, Charles W. (tr.). "St. Helena Finds the True Cross." In ''Early English Christian Poetry''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1961. 179-214.
References
*Anderson, Earl R. ''Cynewulf: Structure, Style, and Theme in his Poetry''. London: Associated University Presses, 1983. 15-27, 103-23.
*Bjork, Robert E. “Cynewulf (fl. Early 9th –late 10th century?).” ''Medieval England: An Encyclopedia'', eds. Paul E. Szarmach, M. Teresa Tavormina, and Joel T. Rosenthal. New York: Garland, 1998.
*Bjork, Robert E. ''The Old English Verse Saints’ Lives: A Study in Direct Discourse and the Iconography of Style''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985. 62-89.
*Bridges, Margaret Enid. ''General Contrast in Old English Hagiographical Poetry''. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1984. 69-84. 212-252.
*Cameron, Angus. “Anglo-Saxon Literature.” ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages'', ed. Joseph R. Strayer. 13 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1987.
*Fulk, R.D. and Christopher M. Cain. ''A History of Old English Literature.'' Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
*Greenfield, Stanley B. ''A Critical History of Old English Literature''. New York: New York University Press, 1965.
*Hermann, John P. ''Allegories of War: Language and Violence in Old English Poetry''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989. 91-118.
*Kennedy, Charles W. ''Early English Christian Poetry''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1963.
*Klein, Stacy S. "Elene.” ''The Literary Encyclopedia''. The Literary Dictionary Company. 30 October 2006.
*Olsen, Alexandra Hennessey. “Cynewulf’s Autonomous Women: A Reconsideration of Elene and Juliana.” New Readings on Women in Old English Literature. Eds. Helen Damico and Olsen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. 222-232.
*Regan, Catherine A. "Evangelicalism as the Informing Principle of Cynewulf’s ''Elene''." ''Traditio'' 29 (1973): 29.
*Zacher, Samantha. “Cynewulf at the Interface of Literacy and Orality: The Evidence of the Puns in ''Elene''.” ''Oral Tradition'' 17/2 (2002): 346-387.
External links
Old English Poetry in Facsimile ProjectTranslation by Charles W. KennedyTranslation by Lucius Hudson Holt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elene (Poem)
Old English poems
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Fiction about the Devil