herodias the wild huntress in the legend of the middle ages, pt 1

7/27/2019 Herodias the Wild Huntress in the Legend of the Middle Ages, pt 1

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Herodias the Wild Huntress in the Legend of the Middle Ages.

Author(s): Waldemar KlossSource: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Mar., 1908), pp. 82-85Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2916467 .

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82 MODERN LANGUAGENOTES. FVol. xiii', o. 3.moval of a bodyto clearthe stage,becomesnShakespeare'shands a movingand dramaticincident, nd he will see once more justifiedwhat De Quincey said of Shakespeare, hat"the furtherwe press in our discoveries, hemore we shall see proofsof designand self-supportingrrangement, here he careless yehad seen nothingbut accident."

W. STRUNK, JR.Cornel University.

HERODIAS THE WILD HUNTRESS INTHE LEGEND OF THEMIDDLE AGES.With regardto an articleby Mr. Jacob N.Beam, concerningerodias and Salomein mod-ern literature,ublishedn the January ssueoftheModernLanguage Notes, have a fewre-marks o offer. The writer xpresses heopinionthat the love element s entirely f nineteenthcenturyomanticrigin,nd that hewellknown

fertilitynd perversityf Heine's imaginationmakes t probable hathe invented he sagapureand simple nd assigned fictitiousource, s hehad done beforewiththe saga of the "FlyingDutchman in Die Memoirenes HermSchna-blewopski. n the famous hapter f Atta TrollwhereHerodiasappears n companywithothermythologicaladies,Heine tells us thatHerodiashad John heBaptistbeheaded n account f herunrequitedove."In der ibel tehts nicht,DochmVolke ebt ie ageVonHerodias'lutigeriebe."Thus Heine indicatesthat his conception fHerodias is based on a popular legend. Thevague term im Volke" givesno clue whetherwe are referredo Jewishor Christianegends.It is, however, asyenough o show that Heinehas not "invented the saga pureand simple"nor venany importanteature f the same. Irefernly othe haptersnthe" FuriousHost,on " Bertha," Abundia, Holda, the " witchesjaunt," etc., nJac. Grimm's eutonic ythology,

where abundant references o Herodias, thewind'sbride re to befound. Although einrichHeineoften noughruthlesslycoffedt his mostintimatebject f hatred,Massmann:"Nur altdeutscherstandr,derPatriot,NurJacobGrimmischndZeunisch,"theres ample vidence hathe followed blush-ingly JacobGrimm's ootsteps.After ll Heine's satirehad referencenly totheexaggerationsf someofGrimm's ollowers.Heinewas throughoutn ardent dmirerfJacobGrimm'almost uperhuman ork n thefield ffolklore. In " ElementargeisterndDimonen,publishedn 1834, hepays thefollowingnthusi-astic tribute o Jacob Grimm: " Der einzigeJacob Grimmhat furSprachwissenschaftehrgeleistetls eineganzefranz6sischekademie eitRichelieu. Seine Deutsche Grammatik st einkolossalesWerk, in gothischerom, worimllegermanischen6lker hre timmenrheben,edesin seinem ialekte. Jacob Grimm at vielleichtdemTeufel eine eeleversclirieben,amit r hmMaterialieniefertend hm lsHandlanger ientebeidiesem ngeheurenprachbauwerke. n derThat, um diese Quadern von Gelehrsamkeitherbeizuschleppen,maus diesenhunderttausend

Citaten inenM6rtel u stampfen, azu geh6rtmehr ls einMenschenlebenndmehr ls Men-schengeduld."So t s nodaringssumptionhatHeinemay avestudied hesechapters erycarefully;herethegraceful, airy bundia,whom e has treated ithsuch tendernessn the samechapter,may havesmiledt thepoet. HeinrichHeine took rom isearlyyouth deep nterestn all popularegendsandmythology,ndhe remained rue o thispas-sion otheendof his ife. Thisabsorbingnterestis splendidlyttestedy uchworks s Elementar-geisterndDaimonen1834), Die,G(ttermExil(1836) andDr. Faust, inTanz.poem,ebst urio-senBerichtenberTeufel, exen undDictkunst(1847). Makinghispreparationsor heseworks,heundoubtedlyad to reada good dealon occultsciences,magic,witchcraftnd related ubjects.Here he must have met Herodias the WildHuntress lmost t every tep,forHerodias,asweshall ee,was for everalcenturiesmost m-portant ame, ndalthough nly spectre, direreality. In likemannerwasHis HellishMajesty,

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March,1908.] MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. 83as whose manation r incarnation erodiaswasconsidered,orHeine a very ascinatinagerson-ality. He mentionsim ftennough, ornstance:

Menscli, erspotteicht enTeufel,or Ich rief enTeufel nd r kam, tc.Modernpsychologistspeak of the mythologicalfacultyf ourdream-life.Heine would robablyhave taken the opposite oint fview and haveinterpretedhe formationf mythologys thedreaming f the "Volksseele." And just herewe find he psychologicalxplanationf Heine'sstrong affinity or everythingmythological."Traumbilder" were,we may say, theovertureofhiscareer s a lyric oet.Another ointof attraction orHeine in thesubjectof "Herodias" was the dance-element.Heineentertainedhroughoutis life an exorbi-tant nthusiasmor he rtof Terpsichore.HereI mention nlyhis dithyrambicsn " Pomare,"the celebrated ancer. The poetbecomeso ex-cited over the grandioseperformancehatheimagines e is Herod and Pomare s Salome, ndhe windsup withtheorder,"Man schlage bdas Haupt demTiiufer (to decapitate ohn heBaptist).

Sie tanzt.Derselbe anz stdas,Den einst ie Tochter erodias'Getanzt ordemJudenk8nigerodes.IhrAuge priiht, ieBlitze esTodes.Sie tanztmich asend-ichwerdeoll-SprichWeib,was chDirschenkenoil?Du lichelst!Heda! Trabanten,iiuferMan schlage bdasHauptdemTiiufer

Ofthealmostnnumerableassagesnmedievalliterature, hereHerodias is mentioneds theleaderoroneof he eaders fthe" FuriousHost,I shallmentionnly few. The mostfamous fall is the o-calledCanon pi8copiwhich asbeenconsidereddocumentfthehighestuthoritynmatters f witchcrafturing hemiddle ges,nayevenuntilthe beginning f the eventeenthen-tury. This Canon has been attributedo thecouncilof Ancyra n 314; this of course s anunwarrantedssumption;t sfound, owever,orthe first ime in the Ingtructionorthevigit fa diocese, ritten y Regino who was abbot ofPrumuntil899 and diedat Treves n 915. Itcan hardlybe doubted hatthis Canon dates at

least from he eventh entury. This s howeverof no importanceere, s I wish nly o ndicatethe ourceswhereHeine might avefound t leasttracesor features f the Herodias egend. JulesBaissac in his interesting,ut by no means ex-haustiveHistoirede la DiablerieChretienne;eDiable, la personne u dia.ble, e Personnel udiable Paris, 1882), quotes, . 275, the Canon nfull; inGrimm'sMIythologyheCanon s quoted nablidged orm. TheCanonreads s follows:"IThere re some riminialomenwho, educedby tlle illusions ndphantoms f the Devil, haveplaced themselvesnder heyoke f Satan; andthey elieve nd assert hatduringhenight heyride nd roamwithDiana, Goddess f theHeath-ens,or withHerodias nd an innumerablerowdof otherwomen, stride n certain nimals, ndthat hey raverse reatdistancesnthe ilence fdarkness; they laim hatthey o homage o thisGoddessacknowledginger for their overeign;and thatthey re sometimesalled on forper-sonal service. The priests hall in the churchesentrustedo their areemploy reat diligence oinstructhepeople and toteach hem hat ll thisis false, hatthey re the victims f pure phan-tasms entnto he oulsoftheunbelievers,otbythe divine spirit,but by the Evil One. ForSatan,who ransfiguresimself ntoan angeloflight,having ecome ordandmasterf the oulof a poorwoman n account fher nfidelityndlack of faith, akesuntohimselfheform nd theappearancesf differentersons. In thismannerhe mocks hepoorsoulduring leep, holdingtin captivitynd presentingo suchsoul visions,sometimesriste,ometimesay,of things nownand unknown,eading uchpoor oulastray romthe traight ath. All this akesplaceonly nthemind, uttheunbelievingoul sfirmlyonvincedthat t is real." Who has not seen in his sleep many hingswhichhe neversaw whileawake And who isignorantndsilly nough obelieve hat ll whichtakesplace inthemindhas likewisen externalreality? For instance,when Ezechiel had thevisions f theLord,itwas nhismind,not nthebody, nd when heapostleJohnwasenrapturedin ecstasy,was tinthemind r nthebody? Itdevolveson us to declarepublicly hatwhoeverbelieves uch hings ndothersf the amekind,



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84 MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. [Vol. xxiii, No. 3.has lost hisfaith, nd whohas lostfaith n theLord,doesnotbelong o the Lord buttohim nwhomhe believes,hat s theDevil. WVhosoeverthen elieves hat nythinganbe created,rthatanycreatureanbe changednto better rworseform,xcept ytheCreator imself: uchperson,we declare,s beyond oubt, n infidelndworsethan pagan."I have given the admonition f the CanonEpiscopi in extenso, or the following easonPaul Hoensbroeckn hisworkDas Pa.psttumnseiner social-kulturellenirkearnkeiteferso theadmonition, herein he imaginaryharacter fthenightly itch-jaunts asserted,s "pronounc-ing a verdict of condemnationn the horriblebulls ndblood-curdlinganifestationsf hevice-gerents f Christn later enturies; ntheotherhand,all thegreatest romotersf the ncinera-tionofwitchesoudly rotestgainst uch mpiousinterpretation,ndthey ppeal,as itwere, nani-mously a CanoneEpiscopimale interpretatodCanonemmeliusnterpretandum." Ifweappre-ciatethespiritualisticharacter f theconceptionof the world n the middleages, we cannot,think, ailto conclude hatthe questionwhethertheseroamingsre to be conceived n realisticterms,r as taking lace only n the maginationof theadherents f the devil,and at the sametime fthe pectators,s entirelyecondary.The" maleficiumconsistsnthepactwith hedeviland the submissiono his sovereignty.This,ofcourse,seasily xplained n a purelypiritualisticbasis. The pact with hedevilmaybe implicit,i. e., consistn merely assivesubmissiono hispower.But inorder o set ourdoubts t rest, etustulmfor nlightenmento thehighest, ostrrefragableauthorityn suchmatters,heMalleusMfalefica-,rum,heWitch-HammerftheDominicanathersSprengernd Inistitoris,hich n theyearof theLord 1484made tsappearancewith heapproba-tionof theUniversityfColognendprovingtsrightof existence by prefixinghe execrablewitch-bullf InnocensVIII, "Summis deside-rantes. For later ditionshereverenduthorssucceedednsecuring diploma fEmperorMax-imilian. Supported y thisformidablerrayofauthority,oth piritual nd secular, hese lood-thirstyanatics eliver heevangel f thepersecu-

tionofwitches, s itwere, x cathedra.They ayespecial tress n thefollowingoints:Everypreacher,herefore,ughtto inculcatethefollowingourmportantoints:1) BesidesGod there s no otherdivineBeing.2) When the witchesboast of theirnightlyroamingsnthe uite fDiana andHerodias, heyare infact, njoying hecompanyfthedevil.3) This happens n the imaginationnly, hedeviloperating n the soul in suchmannerhatthewitch magines o ridethroughhe ir,whilesheremains t home.4) That wizards ndwitchesbey hedevil nall things.We cannot xpect onsistencyffanaticsftheclass ofSprengerndInstitoris; ftennough he

MalleusMaleficartmpeaksof thenightlyxcur-sions na thoroughlyealistic ashion.Nearly ll thepromotersf thepersecutionfwitches xpress heir ordial greement iththeCanon Episcopi, for instanceSpina; and theyprotestnergeticallygainst n interpretationhatwould ttemptoexplain way heclime f witch-craft. I believe, heirpoint s welltaken. Thecanoncontains ll themost rdent" crushersfwitches may desire. Mark well the expres-sion,"theybelong o him nwhom heybelieve,that s theDevil." Can thismean nythinglsethanwhat heWitch-Hamnmeralls "the implicitpact with the Devil?" Furthermore,o theterms infidelity,"lack offaithb" worse hanpagans," imply hecrime f apostasy ndheresywhich n theeyesofmediavaltheologians asacrime eserving apitalpunishment.Thequota-tion of isolatedpassages froma document rauthor s more r lessmisleading; hedanger sthegreater hemorethe pirit f those imes Iisremoved rom thespirit f our time. Goethecompared past times" to a book withsevenseals,and warns snotto introjectur deas ntoour interpretationf other ges. It wouldbe,in myopinion, otparticularlyifficulto makeup a fairlyubstantialollectionf dictafrom hewritings ofthemostnotoriousbscurantists,hichwill make themappear in the lightof high-minded,unprejudiced, umanitarianentlemen.I cannot eave theCanonEpiscopi withoutdd-ing a fewremarks oncerninghemythologicalimplications f this important ocument. We



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lMarch, 908.] MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. 85findhereHerodias ssociatedwithDiana, butnotin the ame sense as in Heine'sAtta Troll. ForHerodias and Diana in the Calon Ep)iscopireiiot obe interpreteds twodistinct ersonalities.Theyare only two "avatars" of theEvil One,whonowtakesuntohimself he form f Diana,now fHerodias,now ombiningttributesf bothinoneapparition. We have here hedream-likesuspensionf thebonds f dentity,o beautifullyillustrated ll GerhardHauptmann' IlannelesHIimnelfahrt,here hepersonalityfherbelovedteacher nd that of the Saviour low ogethernthe apparition f "the Stranger." Diana waswellknown otheclergy s an incarnationftheEvil One from he New Testamenttory f theDiana of the Ephesians. The CanonFpiscopigives us no informationoncerniinghe questioniwhether erodiasthe WildHuntress nd leaderof the"Furious Host" is understoodobe thewife fKing Herodwhosemalicebroughtboutthe doomof JohntheBaptist,or herdaughterSalome. Origentells us that the maidenwhodancedbeforehe kingand to whom hehead ofthe Baptistwas given n a goldenchargervasalso knownas "Herodias." It is well knownthat in Hellenistic iterature atronymics ereemployedn a very ooseway. So thedamsel nquestionwould evenas a step-daughterf Herodhave beenentitled o thenameof "Herodias."Moreover,we know she was the daughter fHerodes Philippus. And thus her claim to becalled" Herodias cannotbedisputed.Furthermore,tis oneofthefundamentalhar-acteristics f mythologicalvolution,hat func-tions, riginallyttributedothefather re at alater stageof thesaga attributedo theson, ndthoseof the mother o the daughter nd viceversa. It is easyto follow p thisdevelopmentin classicalas well as in Germanicmythology.The somewhat rivialprinciple:" No difference,that remainsn thefamily," is everywherenevidence. In the egendwhich owconcernsurattention,trequires o furtherrgumentoshowthatmothernd daughter ave continuouslyx-changed laces. Nay,weshouldhavenoright obe surprisedf wewere tomeet Herod heWVildHunter nsteadofHerodias theWild Huntress.I have notput myself o anytroublen order o" nail" Herod theWildHuniter.Fr. Perreaud,

whoin theyear of the Lord 1653published isDentonologier Traitg es demons t oreiers, ellsus on page 126: "I have learnedfromverytrustworthyersons hat at differentimes f thenight,especially bout Christmas ime, such aterrible erocious oise was heard n the ir thatyotu ouldhavesaid : all thedogsofthecountryare barking o theirheart's ontent;the peoplegenerally laimthat this s King IIerodleadingtlle Furious Host and that he is condemnedothis exercise; but the moreenlightenedre ofopinion hat t is the Devil himselfwhomakesthisnoise n order o disturb hepeople n theirdevotion." Here we haveenlightenment,s Fr.Perreaudunderstoodt. In this ase,of course,it is Herod whokilledtlle innocents, hom hepeople redited ith his reimendousoise-makingfaculty. But after ll to themythologicalancyof thepeople "all Herodswill look alike," andwemay nticipateo meet KingHerodas leaderoftheFuriousHostwhowillbe an amalgamationofthe woHerods.

WALDEMAIR Loss.Oambridge, ase.

ROBINSON CRUSOE'S ISLAND.Thelocation fRobinson rusoe'sslandhavingcomeup as a question, wellknown yclopedia fnameswasconsulteds an authorityhat ouldbecited. UnderRobinson rusoe ndunder elkirktherewas somethingbout Crusoe,butnothingabouthis sland.WilliamA. Wheeler'sEx.planatoryntdPro-

ntouncizgictionaryf heNAotedames fFiction,17th d. (Boston1882), was next xamined, ndunderCrusoe, obinsonl, asthis:"The hero of DeFoe's greatnovel; a ship-wrecked ailorwhoformany ears eadsa solitaryexistence n an uninihabitedslandofthetropics,and whoalleviateshis ongreclusionyan inex-haustiblerodigalityfcontrivance."MIr.Wheeler's "Names" werecontributedyhimto one of ourbestknown ictionariesf the

English anguage. In the volumesdated1890,1901 and 1907, the namesand explanationsre


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