八喜电子书 > 经管其他电子书 > historical lecturers and essays >

第4部分

historical lecturers and essays-第4部分

小说: historical lecturers and essays 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!






William of Normandy is mingled with the blood of the very Harold who



fell at Hastings。  And so; by the bitter woes which followed the



Norman conquest was the whole population; Dane; Angle; and Saxon;



earl and churl; freeman and slave; crushed and welded together into



one homogeneous mass; made just and merciful towards each other by



the most wholesome of all teachings; a community of suffering; and



if they had been; as I fear they were; a lazy and a sensual people;



were taught











That life is not as idle ore;



But heated hot with burning fears;



And bathed in baths of hissing tears;



And battered with the strokes of doom



To shape and use。











But how did these wild Vikings become Christian men?  It is a long



story。  So stanch a race was sure to be converted only very slowly。



Noble missionaries as Ansgar; Rembert; and Poppo; had worked for 150



years and more among the heathens of Denmark。  But the patriotism of



the Norseman always recoiled; even though in secret; from the fact



that they were German monks; backed by the authority of the German



emperor; and many a man; like Svend Fork…beard; father of the great



Canute; though he had the Kaiser himself for godfather; turned



heathen once more the moment he was free; because his baptism was



the badge of foreign conquest; and neither pope nor kaiser should



lord it over him; body or soul。  St。 Olaf; indeed; forced



Christianity on the Norse at the sword's point; often by horrid



cruelties; and perished in the attempt。  But who forced it on the



Norsemen of Scotland; England; Ireland; Neustria; Russia; and all



the Eastern Baltic?  It was absorbed and in most cases; I believe;



gradually and willingly; as a gospel and good news to hearts worn



out with the storm of their own passions。  And whence came their



Christianity?  Much of it; as in the case of the Danes; and still



more of the French Normans; came direct from Rome; the city which;



let them defy its influence as they would; was still the fount of



all theology; as well as of all civilisation。  But I must believe



that much of it came from that mysterious ancient Western Church;



the Church of St。 Patric; St。 Bridget; St。 Columba; which had



covered with rude cells and chapels the rocky islets of the North



Atlantic; even to Iceland itself。  Even to Iceland; for when that



island was first discovered; about A。D。 840; the Norsemen found in



an isle; on the east and west and elsewhere; Irish books and bells



and wooden crosses; and named that island Papey; the isle of the



popessome little colony of monks; who lived by fishing; and who



are said to have left the land when the Norsemen settled in it。  Let



us believe; for it is consonant with reason and experience; that the



sight of those poor monks; plundered and massacred again and again



by the 〃mailed swarms of Lochlin;〃 yet never exterminated; but



springing up again in the same place; ready for fresh massacre; a



sacred plant which God had planted; and which no rage of man could



trample outlet us believe; I say; that that sight taught at last



to the buccaneers of the old world that there was a purer manliness;



a loftier heroism; than the ferocious self…assertion of the



Berserker; even the heroism of humility; gentleness; self…restraint;



self…sacrifice; that there was a strength which was made perfect in



weakness; a glory; not of the sword but of the cross。  We will



believe that that was the lesson which the Norsemen learnt; after



many a wild and blood…stained voyage; from the monks of Iona or of



Derry; which caused the building of such churches as that which



Sightrys; king of Dublin; raised about the year 1030; not in the



Norse but in the Irish quarter of Dublin:   a sacred token of amity



between the new settlers and the natives on the ground of a common



faith。  Let us believe; too; that the influence of woman was not



wanting in the good workthat the story of St。 Margaret and Malcolm



Canmore was repeated; though inversely; in the case of many a



heathen Scandinavian jarl; who; marrying the princely daughter of



some Scottish chieftain; found in her creed at last something more



precious than herself; while his brother or his cousin became; at



Dublin or Wexford or Waterford; the husband of some saffron…robed



Irish princess; 〃fair as an elf;〃 as the old saying was; some



〃maiden of the three transcendent hues;〃 of whom the old book of



Linane says:











Red as the blood which flowed from stricken deer;



White as the snow on which that blood ran down;



Black as the raven who drank up that blood;











… and possibly; as in the case of Brian Boru's mother; had given his



fair…haired sister in marriage to some Irish prince; and could not



resist the spell of their new creed; and the spell too; it may be;



of some sister of theirs who had long given up all thought of



earthly marriage to tend the undying fire of St。 Bridget among the



consecrated virgins of Kildare。







I am not drawing from mere imagination。  That such things must have



happened; and happened again and again; is certain to anyone who



knows; even superficially; the documents of that time。  And I doubt



not that; in manners as well as in religion; the Norse were



humanised and civilised by their contact with the Celts; both in



Scotland and in Ireland。  Both peoples had valour; intellect;



imagination:   but the Celt had that which the burly angular Norse



character; however deep and stately; and however humorous; wanted;



namely; music of nature; tenderness; grace; rapidity; playfulness;



just the qualities; combining with the Scandinavian (and in Scotland



with the Angle) elements of character which have produced; in



Ireland and in Scotland; two schools of lyric poetry second to none



in the world。







And so they were converted to what was then a dark and awful creed;



a creed of ascetic self…torture and purgatorial fires for those who



escape the still more dreadful; because endless; doom of the rest of



the human race。  But; because it was a sad creed; it suited better;



men who had; when conscience re…awakened in them; but too good



reason to be sad; and the minsters and cloisters which sprang up



over the whole of Northern Europe; and even beyond it; along the



dreary western shores of Greenland itself; are the symbols of a



splendid repentance for their own sins and for the sins of their



forefathers。







Gudruna herself; of whom I spoke just now; one of those old Norse



heroines who helped to discover America; though a historic



personage; is a symbolic one likewise; and the pattern of a whole



class。  She too; after many journeys to Iceland; Greenland; and



Winland; goes on a pilgrimage to Rome; to get; I presume; absolution



from the Pope himself for all the sins of her strange; rich; stormy;



wayward life。







Have you not readmany of you surely haveLa Motte Fouque's



romance of 〃Sintram?〃  It embodies all that I would say。  It is the



spiritual drama of that early Middle Age; very sad; morbid if you



will; but true to fact。  The Lady Verena ought not; perhaps; to



desert her husband; and shut herself up in a cloister。  But so she



would have done in those old days。  And who shall judge her harshly



for so doing?  When the brutality of the man seems past all cure;



who shall blame the woman if she glides away into some atmosphere of



peace and purity; to pray for him whom neither warnings nor caresses



will amend?  It is a sad book; 〃Sintram。〃  And yet not too sad。  For



they were a sad people; those old Norse forefathers of ours。  Their



Christianity was sad; their minsters sad; there are few sadder;



though few grander; buildings than a Norman church。







And yet; perhaps; their Christianity did not make them sad。  It was



but the other and the healthier side of that sadness which they had



as heathens。  Read which you will of the old sagasheathen or half…



Christianthe Eyrbiggia; Viga Glum; Burnt Niall; Grettir the



Strong; and; above all; Snorri Sturluson's 〃Heimskringla〃 itself



and you will see at once how sad they are。  There is; in the old



sagas; none of that enjoyment of life which shines out everywhere in



Greek poetry; even through its deepest tragedies。  Not in



complacency with Nature's beauty; but in the fierce struggle with



her wrath; does the Norseman feel pleasure。  Nature to him was not;



as in Mr。 Longfellow's exquisite poem; {3} the kind old nurse; to



take him on her knee and whisper to him; ever anew; the story



without an end。  She was a weird witch…wife; mother of storm demons



and frost giants; who must be fought with steadily; warily; wearily;



over dreary heaths and snow…capped fells; and rugged nesses and



tossing sounds; and away into the boundless seaor who could live?…



…till he got hardened in the fight into ruthlessness of need and



greed。  The poor strip of flat strath; ploughed and re…ploughed



again in the short summer days; would yield no more; or wet harvests



spoiled the crops; or heavy snows starved the cattle。  And so the



Norseman launched his ships when the lands were sown in spring; and



went forth to pillage or to trade; as luck would have; to summerted;



as he himself called it; and came back; if he ever came; in autumn



to the women to help at harvest…time; with blood upon his hand。  But



had he stayed at home; blood would have been there still。  Three out



of four of them had been mixed u

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的