Translations. "Richard the Lionheart" - undeservedly exalted

ECHO OF MOSCOW, transcript of the radio broadcast "Everything is so"

A.VENEDIKTOV: Richard the Lionheart is a hero without fear or reproach, a knight on a white horse... So, Richard Lion Heart. I know it from Ivanhoe, I know it from Talisman, I know it from the film Robin Hood - King of Thieves.

N. BASOVSKAYA: And many others. He's popular. But before we talk about it real - the quintessence of it romantic image, from a ballad by Heinrich Heine:

A rider rushes through a deserted oak grove,

In a luxurious wooded gorge,

He sings and laughs and blows his horn,

There is joy in the soul and in the eyes.

He is dressed in strong steel armor,

His sword is familiar to the Saracens,

Either Richard, or the color of Christ’s warriors,

And they call him the Heart of a Lion...

Translation by Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, who is also no stranger to poetic interest in history. And what an image - it couldn’t be more beautiful!

A. VENEDIKTOV: Immediately our listeners began to react. Alexander believes that “Lionheart” is a literary epithet and such an epithet never existed during Richard’s lifetime.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Not true. During the Third Crusade, one of the leaders of which was Richard, who became the Lionheart during this crusade, he received this nickname. The campaign took place in 1189-1192. - for his life two very important milestones. 1189 - Richard crowned English king in London. And then he wasn’t there for a long, long time, he was only there one more time.

A.VENEDIKTOV: When Ivanhoe came to save

N. BASOVSKAYA: When I escaped from captivity, that’s absolutely true.

A. VENEDIKTOV: He came, saved and left!

N. BASOVSKAYA: ...in 1192. And during this campaign, when he captured, as one of the famous pre-revolutionary authors writes, “stations on the Mediterranean” - today it sounds somehow very interesting.... He captured Sicily, Cyprus - that’s where his personal behavior was in the battles.. He's really in the front row, he really cut it. He was strong, physically strong. He threw one of his enemies so hard that they could barely collect him, along with his armor. When he got angry, it wasn’t in battle, he got angry, in a quarrel.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Did the armor weigh forty kilograms?

N. BASOVSKAYA: Forty to fifty, up to fifty. And during this campaign they began to call him the Lionheart. This was included in the memoirs of Richard, written by his contemporaries, primarily the famous Ambroise. But it’s worth talking about his work a little later. And first - about the life of Richard. He is the elder brother of John the Landless, born in 1157 in Oxford, this is also his short stay there. Died in 1199. And he actually lived in France all his life. Because he grew up in Aquitaine, at the court of his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, and then created his own court. And his destiny, from birth, was to be a troubadour.

A. VENEDIKTOV: He was not the eldest son, he did not lay claim to the English throne.

N. BASOVSKAYA: No, he was the third son. John - he was actually the fourth, which is why he was completely angry. And this one is the third. He also had few chances, but they came to him faster. The first two brothers died, and it became clear that it was now Richard. But in the year of his coronation, in 1189, immediately after it, he went on a crusade. During his lifetime he was compared (and continues to be compared) with Achilles. And the comparison is justified in one most important point - fame. Fame attracted him. He was attracted by personal glory, for which he was ready to die. He risked his life endlessly! There were so many enemies in front of him - he was the first to jump into formation, and then his comrades began to follow him. And this glory, as much as he was pious, but not extremely, he did not value human life very much, he did not spend hours in prayer, like, for example, the French king Philip P. Augustus, much more pious... Still, glory, the glory of the liberator of lands in the east, who were conquered by Western European knights in the First Crusade in 1099, and now recaptured by Sultan Saladin, the brightest figure, the brilliant commander of the east.... To defeat Saladin is to remain in world history, to recapture the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is to remain in history twice...

A.VENEDIKTOV: And God be with her, with England...

N. BASOVSKAYA: In general, yes. In this scenario, England is simply his treasury. And that's how he used it. He robbed her. Not personally, but by collecting money for the crusades. And when his mother, Eleanor, began to collect money for his ransom - Richard was in captivity - she was robbed very much. That is, for England it is ruinous, expensive, little seen, but beloved. This is an amazing effect to think about. There are several reasons. First of all, people love winners at all times. And alas, our era is not diametrically opposed in this sense. Winners, victory, ringing military victory- attractive. And those times when the word “humanism” was not born, when the idea that victory was worth human lives, it never occurred to anyone - love for the winner...

A. VENEDIKTOV: Well, what is the winner? All his military exploits began with the fact that he rebelled against his father, if I understand correctly.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Twice. Together with my brothers and the whole family.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Wonderful! He didn’t win the campaign, he spent time in captivity - what did he win?

N. BASOVSKAYA: The Age of Chivalry. His personal qualities, personal movement in the front row, in the ranks, his victory in tournaments, the thrown out unloved Duke, the torn banner of the unloved Duke of Austria... He said - well, come out, who dares to object to me - what a winner he is! He's a knight. He was born in the age of chivalry. He grew up at his mother's knightly court, then created his own. He surrounded himself with a dense crowd of troubadours. He encouraged being sung. It was sung by Bertrand de Born himself, the great singer of chivalry. What Bertrand wrote - how I like the sound of swords; how I adore it when horses fall, when the wounded and dead lie, and seas of blood... This is such an age. And in the eyes, of course, only of this century he could be a winner. Yes, and Achilles too. After all, it was not Achilles who took Troy, but Troy was captured thanks to the cunning Odysseus, or Ulysses. And Richard had his own Ulysses - this is Philip P Augustus, the French king, who was a thousand times more cunning than him, did not fight in these open battles, outplayed him politically a thousand times, and after the death of Richard he took almost all these French possessions. But in people's memory, in mass consciousness these individual qualities so attractive that people don’t want to think about reality.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Or maybe it was precisely people like Bertrand de Born, such writers, who created the postscript after his death... It’s also surprising that there were no False Richards...

N. BASOVSKAYA: They are contemporaries. Bertrand de Born knew him personally. At first he quarreled with Richard because Richard took away some estate from him. He took away what he could from everyone who was richer. Then, there is a version that, not without a second thought, he returned him, so that he would love him, and Bertrand, by virtue of his profession (if a troubadour can be called a profession), began to vigorously praise him too. And his contemporaries wrote about him, he had rabid fans. This famous “Holy War”, written by Ambroise... This is a participant in the Crusade who writes about Richard every day and in whose lines one can see bad qualities Richard, but Ambroise tries to either justify them or soften them. His immeasurable temper, injustice, and cruelty appear there. By his order, 2 thousand prisoners were executed under the walls of Accra. But, really, Saracens. But, really, there is no idea of ​​humanism. But still, this is 2 thousand people! According to the ideology of that time, this does not lower the knight and knightly honor. He is generous. He was generous even to his malicious younger brother. Going on a crusade and hoping that his brother would behave decently (but his brother did not), Richard showered him with gifts with a generous hand. Generosity is also a chivalrous quality... That is, he is a hero of a certain era. And it seems to me that with his famous sword he marked the rift of eras, as if he cut it. His reign, 1189 - 1199, is the end of the heyday of knighthood and the beginning, the very, very beginning of the decline of knighthood as a corporation, as the elite of society. The beginning of his end, which is still far away. Everything will change completely somewhere in the 15th century, and in the 14th it will already be noticeable. But Richard, this "singing king" as in modern novel they named him, this troubadour with a sword and heavy fists - Richard, as it were, marks and cuts the boundary between these eras. I will repeat that this was very no coincidence. And the setting of his childhood, surrounded by troubadours at the court of his mother Eleanor, and even his great-grandfather, Duke Guillaume of Aquitaine, was a famous trouvère. It is even believed that the age of the Minnesang begins with him. His grandfather, Guillaume under a different number, is also a troubadour. Moreover, both - the great-grandfather and the grandfather - and the authors of these poems, and the bearers of this culture of knightly blossoming magnificent... And female fans, crazy... In this Richard was not so much like them, but everyone unanimously describes his appearance . She is beautiful, unlike John the Landless. And this is suspicious. But this is what I'm suspicious about. In the description of these features, something Viking and Norman appears. But he is a descendant of the dynasty that came there. A lot of things were mixed there in England, including the Norman element. And throughout Western Europe There are Viking features: fair hair, very large build, physically strong, with heavy fists. Well, how can you not love something like that in that age!

A. VENEDIKTOV: And how did he strum the strings with his heavy fists?

N. BASOVSKAYA: Strumming!

A. VENEDIKTOV: Did you strum it yourself?

N. BASOVSKAYA: He sang. And it was accepted. He could pluck the strings and the troubadours could pick up around him.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Just two pictures don’t split together. Such a brutal brute who throws an opponent wearing 40 kg of iron with heavy fists - and a mellifluous troubadour.

N. BASOVSKAYA: This is a full-fledged, three-dimensionally drawn image of a knight. Should there be features of idealization here? I guess so. But it was he who was idealized, because there were, apparently, some reasons. By virtue of his youth in Aquitaine, surrounded by troubadours and, ultimately, inheritance from his great-grandparents, these are the cultural traditions of the family. And a knight is generally a very controversial figure. On the one hand, he is considered wonderful: generous, a defender of the ladies... On the other hand, he is rude, dirty, and cruel. It’s just that the consciousness of that era is structured in such a way that the first aspects are highlighted.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Maybe there was no Richard, and this is a mythological image, just ideal, on the one hand, in the sense that it exactly corresponds to the task.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Indeed, everything is not so, and among the cloak of this wonderful knight on a white horse with a white sword, a completely different medieval man can be seen.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. He was a very medieval man, apparently - and that’s why his era liked him so much. He came to her just at the moment of her heyday. You are right to ask yourself the question: how is it that he did so many bad things, betrayed his father twice, robbed England... There were even rumors, and they were spread by Philip II, the French king (they seemed to have a very justified quarrel in the crusade) that Richard poisoned him. .. And what’s funny is that Philip says: “... and as a result I went bald.” This is somehow very much in the spirit of Philip - not heroic, but something so everyday. How can one explain that in England, where he had never been, whose language he did not know how to speak (he spoke a completely different language of the continent), he ended up in the best folk ballads, in tradition and in symbols of nobility. Another motive for this. It seems to me that in Richard’s life there were several serious reasons to consider him unfairly offended by the laws of that era, namely: Philip II treacherously abandoned him under the walls of Accra...

A. VENEDIKTOV: Betrayed, in our opinion.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Betrayed - both in our way and in theirs. And I myself read the documents of that era, very rare documents. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s mother, wrote to the Pope: “While my son, like Achilles, fought under the walls of Accra, the traitor Philip, king of the French...”

A. VENEDIKTOV: So that’s where the image of Achilles comes from - from his mother!

N. BASOVSKAYA: From my mother, and because in that cultural environment high nobility antique images lived. They were greatly distorted and simplified, but they lived. These names are not dead. Even under Charlemagne, in his court academy (and this is the 8th-9th centuries, the turn of the century), members of this academy, not very educated people, still took ancient nicknames for themselves: Hector, Homer, etc. That is, the elements lived. And they came to Richard. And Eleanor was an educated woman, it was not for nothing that she said so. So, when he was abandoned there and betrayed, it was no longer good, it was already something big... He was for Christ’s cause, and the French king ran away. And when he fought there for the cause of Christ, fell ill with a fever, and failures began, and reports came from England that Philip was preparing a war against him (and was preparing!) - he was forced to leave...

A. VENEDIKTOV: He abandoned his troops. Like Napoleon, who abandoned in Egypt...

N. BASOVSKAYA: Absolutely right, in Egypt and near Moscow... And they adore Napoleon! And they still adore him.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Why?

N. BASOVSKAYA: This is some kind of mysticism of martyrdom for a great cause, beauty.... On the way through Europe (he made his way incognito), the Austrian Duke, whose banner he trampled, takes him prisoner. But a crusader, except in battle, cannot be taken prisoner. The highest commandments have been violated. Again he is a victim. He is taken prisoner and imprisoned in a castle somewhere on the Danube, no one knows exactly where. He seems to disappear, a missing king... And, apparently, later, in the 13th century, it is believed that a charming legend appears about how he was found. A certain troubadour wandered from castle to castle (in general, the figure of a troubadour in Europe at that time was a great figure) and sang a ballad that he had composed together with Richard. And then at the next castle he sang the first verse, and high up from the window in the tower a voice answered him and sang the next verse. "Richard is here!" - the troubadour understood and spread it throughout Europe... Most likely, a legend. But again - the quality of the legend, the focus: he suffers there... I myself read documents, not legends, very serious documents that in addition to the ransom that was collected in England... There is a large ransom for the king. Philip II, the French king, paid the German Emperor, who ransomed Richard from the Duke... Like modern football players, they bought up captives... First, the Austrian Duke sold him to the German Emperor, the German Emperor will release him for the ransom, but for each additional day, held in captivity, Philip II of France, John the Landless, his younger brother, paid the emperor additionally...

A. VENEDIKTOV: Just keep it!

N. BASOVSKAYA: Just hold it, just don’t let go! And a lot of money. I counted these documents myself. And here’s the rumor – what a betrayal! The younger brother and the French king, who was officially considered his great friend, knighted him, they were literally inseparable, as they say in everyday life - and suddenly such a betrayal! What compared to this are the 2 thousand executed infidels, the rudeness, the outbursts that are so characteristic of Richard... His long-standing struggle with his father, but this is with his brothers together, and his father was a painful circle - as if all this in the eyes of that era outweighs disproportionately . And besides, his contemporaries wrote a wonderful work... And of course, Ambroise, first of all, is famous story holy war. This is a huge poem, which experts call the “Iliad” of the 12th century... It is apparently not as talented and not as readable as the translations of the “Iliad”, or Gnedich was not found... About 12 thousand verses... As they say excellent specialists, for example, our Russian medievalist Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaya, rather it should have been called “The Song of Richard.” Here, for example, from there: “Like sheep before a wolf, Richard’s enemies scatter before him”... He is also compared to Achilles. That one is there again beautiful image. Although Ambroise writes about difficulties and rumors that the French king was bald, and gives everyday pictures of the difficult life of this camp, sometimes touching to the point of tears, how difficult it was sometimes for the crusaders under the walls of Accra, in Syria, at smaller fortresses: the heat , fever... He writes that there were women there, he calls them all old women (but after 25 years they are all old women), who touchingly washed the clothes and heads of the crusaders, and were superior to monkeys in catching fleas... That is, such everyday little things... And how Richard, when he was seized by a fever (they all got sick in the east, of course), how he couldn’t even stand up, how he was brought on a stretcher to battle near the walls of another fortress and he, lying down, shot from a bow. That is, of course, idealized, decorated, but it gave something, some kind of basis for this. He was simply very much in keeping with his age.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Do you think that’s why?

N. BASOVSKAYA: This is one of the reasons. Also, personal courage. In general, courage does not interfere at any time, and people respect it. But at that time physical strength and personal courage, and even the talent of a poet and love for poets, those poets... We must generally take this into account for those figures who want to be popular.

A. VENEDIKTOV: But you must agree that if you clear him of pity that he was unfairly offended either by the French king, or by the Austrian Duke, or by his own brother, it is an injustice to him, that he is a fighter for a just cause, and to him...

N. BASOVSKAYA: He is a crusader!

A. VENEDIKTOV: But I would go back to the beginning. A young man, very ambitious, the third son, twice rebelled against his father, as a result of the second rebellion, the father died, as I understand it. He humiliated his father, forcing him to sign peace, he humiliated him in public...

N. BASOVSKAYA: He pursued him, he chased him at first in pursuit, he then insulted him... And this peace was signed very hard - but still it was signed, a bad peace, with Richard. But when, after this peace, Heinrich II said - show me the entire list of conspirators... They showed it to him, and he found his youngest, beloved John on the list - here, as sources write, he was struck down. That is, they were somewhat similar to Richard. They did not like each other, they were at enmity, but in some ways they were similar: both were so frantic, chivalrous, capable of a direct blow. But John is not.

A. VENEDIKTOV: John - we have already talked about him. Here's Richard. He reigns. I'm walking on an even line now. He reigned - and immediately went on a crusade, robbing England. Confiscation...

N. BASOVSKAYA: It got even worse when there was also a ransom.

A. VENEDIKTOV: We’ll still get to the ransom. During the crusade, he endlessly quarrels with his allies. He killed 2 thousand hostages, although Saladin did not have time to fulfill his demands, but Saladin did not touch a single one.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Some people think that they didn’t have time, some people think that they didn’t want to - but Saladin didn’t touch a single one.

A. VENEDIKTOV: And Richard interrupted, cut

N. BASOVSKAYA: That's true.

A. VENEDIKTOV: I insulted this unfortunate Leopold of Austria. For what? It's an honor! Suppose he made the French king bald, refused to marry the sister of the French king - publicly, insulted the girl...

N. BASOVSKAYA: This is a special story. Apparently, this girl was made his concubine by his father, Heinrich P., a long time ago. Agree, to go through such a trauma that your father made your bride his concubine, and apparently, this is so...

N. BASOVSKAYA: The army, of course, feels bad without him.

A. VENEDIKTOV: The army is in bad shape. Then the ransom, which was collected for him. Comes to England. It seems that everything, your mother bought you. And a year later he leaves and begins to fight in France...

N. BASOVSKAYA: Less than a year. He almost immediately leaves for France, because Philip threatens his possessions there.

A. VENEDIKTOV: And the last thing. A seriously wounded man dies from blood poisoning, because the wound was not fatal, but the infection began... He appoints as his heir... Who? This John the Landless leaves England to him. He didn't care about England. Here is Brittany, where his son Arthur is....

N. BASOVSKAYA: In Brittany - nephew, Arthur of Breton

A. VENEDIKTOV: But he appoints as heir not the son of his elder brother Arthur, but his scoundrel John the Landless. What kind of person is this - Richard the Lionheart?

N. BASOVSKAYA: Controversial, passionate, full of unexpected decisions. And maybe that’s partly why I like it too. He betrayed his father twice, I told you about the list of conspirators... It was the whole family like that. They say that the curse of Merlin, the famous medieval sorcerer, weighed heavily on them, and it was believed that they came from the devil, and Merlin said - to the devil and they will go, and in this family there will be son rebelling against son, brother against brother... And all This is how their life turned out. So here it seems to be in a family context. His relationship with John the Landless - this generosity with which he showered him when leaving for the Crusade, this desire to transfer the throne to him... But everything is not so precisely expressed there; rather, John showed a decent initiative and made sure that there was no other option it wasn’t... Arthur of Brittany died mysteriously...

A. VENEDIKTOV: Was it Jeffrey’s son? Older brother?

N. BASOVSKAYA: The second. The first was Henry, the second Geoffrey. And eventually he was there again.

A. VENEDIKTOV: He even decided to leave his sons. He didn't even think about succession to the throne.

N. BASOVSKAYA: No, he was thinking about succession to the throne. You are probably right that he reconciled with the power of John the Landless... After all, he returned from the crusade... These are the ballads that everyone dreams of how he will punish the villain - he did nothing of this. And here there is some kind of mystery that no one will ever solve, and even literature has not yet offered any definite version. Because it is either a strangely flared up love for the last brother - and this group of Plantagenets ends... Or he did not punish anyone, returning from this Crusade - this is preserving the image of a warrior of Christ. Although there were his outbursts of anger and cruelty, here it was necessary to preserve, at least, the appearance of high Christianity.... And again the legends around his death. It is known that a certain knight hit him with an arrow; during a skirmish over a minor issue with a rebellious vassal, Richard fought on his own lands... The second version is that he wanted to rob this vassal. It is very possible that the vassal had bags of gold in his basement. And this knight, who deliberately shot at Richard I, allegedly said that his family suffered from Richard, and the arrow was apparently poisoned... I once read in one of our Soviet books that Richard was killed in the south of France I Lionheart by chance an arrow flew by... No, it wasn’t by chance that it flew there. He was on the verge of a war with Philip Augustus, the French king was very afraid of this war, and it was quite possible, that is, not very difficult, to find such a knight who was offended, whose family was offended by Henry. And the arrow, apparently, was poisoned. Because the wound was not fatal. It was impossible to simply remove this arrow or was it some kind of cunning system... And again, the legends around how he dealt with his killer... Having invited this killer, and people loyal to Richard around him, he said that he prohibits him from being punished even in the event of Richard's death. Let this knight leave in a Christian way... He, having abandoned the crusader army, wanted very much to be a crusader. And his attitude towards his enemies is often around him... For example, Walter Scott, who read a lot about Richard, puts the following words into his mouth: “The lion does not feed on carrion” - and he releases the evil enemy, and, on the contrary, has mercy on this knight, Having learned that the family suffered: let him go, almost give him money... And further, rumor says, as soon as Richard died, his entourage immediately strung up this knight in an impossible rage.... That is, there are always such legends around. And he gives them such a reason! And what he conveyed to John the Landless was to a well-known acquaintance, slandered by history, which we talked about (probably he was not so primitive), and not to an unknown boy, the very young Arthur of Brittany... Brittany is far away. Joffre died a long time ago. Who he is, this Arthur, is generally unknown. And you can say it the way you look at it: he didn’t care about the crown of England.... But you can doubt and think. Because none are the most accurate historical information they will not give us the definitive truth. We have to endlessly search for it, clarify some details, get documents. But the current state historical science more and more, since the first half of the 20th century, with Marc Bloch, it shows: involve psychology, philology, and linguistics, build an anthropological history - and then, perhaps, you will understand a little more about it. That's why it seems to me that literary view on history, with all the costs, amendments, exaggerations, at the same time it gives something that cannot be found in any documents. Compare Richard with Achilles, and Philip with Ulysses - and you will see some facet of this Third Crusade that you would never find in any document of the era, or in a letter, even if Eleanor writes it (and she is almost in verse: "...my son is like Achilles..."). Probably a very good combination. And these purely anti-prological moments... How Marc Bloch, the great French historian, valued psychohistory, psychological analysis! He described, without any fear of comparing eras, the behavior of people during the First World War, where he himself was very young. This explained a lot to me about researching medieval battles. Not at all afraid that he will be reproached that these are different social relations, different, as they would say under Marxism, social economic formations, but where is the class struggle... Without being afraid to see history as human history... And Marc Bloch, having written his famous “Miracle-Working Kings,” an outstanding book, showed that if we want to understand something about medieval kings, our Richard the Lionheart or simply Richard I of England, we must also take into account what literature can quickly find...

Full of dreams and thoughts.
The waves roam and foam.

Let the waves foam, wandering.

Autumn 1856 (?)

Raising my head from the waters,
Lileya looks thoughtfully;
Smiling from the heights, the month
He burns with quiet love for her.

Liley bowed bashfully
Head on the mirror of waters,
And he’s already at her feet, poor thing,
It trembles and its shine shines.

Autumn 1856 (?)

In the shower and there is joy in the eyes.

His sword is familiar to the Saracens,

And ivy green walls, -

He senses his rebirth
And he spurs his horse in ecstasy.

“Hugging each other, we sat…”

Having embraced each other, we sat
You and I are in a light boat,
We sailed to an unknown goal
Across the sea under a dim moon.

Everything glowed and sounded,
And it was fun moving there.

And so we are unstoppable
Called and beckoned in the distance,
And we - inconsolably we pass by
We sailed across the dark sea.

I was playing the drama as a joke!

It's like I'm playing a drama.

That pain turned out to be alive -

“The sky is cloudless, there is no wind in the morning...”

Cloudless sky, no wind in the morning,
The weather vanes stick out in great difficulty:
No matter how they guess, they will never achieve it,
Which way should they turn?

Autumn 1856 (?)

“I’m sitting on a steep cliff by the sea...”

I'm sitting on a steep cliff by the sea,
Full of dreams and thoughts.
Only the wind, clouds, and seagulls all around,
The waves roam and foam.

I knew both friends and affectionate maidens -
Now I want to remember them:
Where have you gone? Only the wind and roar,
Let the waves foam, wandering.

Autumn 1856 (?)

Raising my head from the waters,
Lileya looks thoughtfully;
Smiling from the heights, the month
He burns with quiet love for her.

Liley bowed bashfully
Head on the mirror of waters,
And he’s already at her feet, poor thing,
It trembles and its shine shines.

Autumn 1856 (?)

A rider rushes through a deserted oak grove,
In luxury wooded gorge,
He sings and laughs and blows his horn,
There is joy in the soul and in the eyes.

He is dressed in strong steel armor,
His sword is familiar to the Saracens,
Either Richard, or the color of Christ’s warriors,
And they call him the Lion's Heart.

“Great, our king! - sheets babble
And ivy green walls, -
Hello, our king! We are glad that you
Left Austrian captivity!

He is free to breathe in freedom,
He senses his rebirth
And he remembers the stuffy prison,
And he spurs his horse in ecstasy.

“Hugging each other, we sat…”

Having embraced each other, we sat
You and I are in a light boat,
We sailed to an unknown goal
Across the sea under a dim moon.

And visible as if through a veil,
There was an island mysterious to us,
Everything glowed and sounded,
And it was fun moving there.

And so we are unstoppable
Called and beckoned in the distance,
And we - inconsolably we pass by
We sailed across the dark sea.

"Enough! It's time for me to forget this nonsense..."

Enough! It's time for me to forget this nonsense
It's time for me to return to my sanity!
Enough with you, like a skilled actor,
I was playing the drama as a joke!

The scenes were colorfully painted,
I recited so passionately,
And the robes shine, and there is a feather on the hat,
And the feelings - everything was wonderful.

But now, even though I’ve thrown off these rags,
At least there is no theatrical rubbish,
It still hurts my heart,
It's like I'm playing a drama.

And what I thought was fake pain,
That pain turned out to be alive -
Oh God, I was playing wounded to death,
Gladiator death representing!

"I wish I could fade away like the dawn..."

I wish I could fade away like the dawn
Like the scarlet tides of the sky;
Like the glow of evening grief,

I wish I could fade away like the dawn
Like the scarlet tides of the sky;
Like the glow of evening grief,
I would like to pour myself into God's bosom.

I would like, like a bright star,
Enter, shining in the undying flicker.
I would like to drown without a trace
In the depths of the azure glow.

May my death be easy
And my life passed away so quietly,
Like the light scent of a spring flower,
Like blue smoke running from a censer.

And how a faint ringing flies from the harp,
Quietly fading within the distant limits,
Thus, freed from earthly prison,
I would like to fly to my native land.

No, you won’t come as a bright star,
You will not fade away, blazing with a glow,
You will not die like a flower of the field,
You won’t fly away ringing to your native land.

You will fade away, but the formidable hand
First it will touch you mercilessly;
Nature's death is calm and easy -
The heart, dying, is torn into pieces!

A. VENEDIKTOV: Good evening, it’s been a while since we met at the console!

N. BASOVSKAYA: At the very beginning of this program, we worked a lot for its benefit, and with great pleasure.

A. VENEDIKTOV: We will continue to do this with no less pleasure. Our listeners probably know that we launched new series. We know a lot of stories of historical characters either from fiction, or from the movies... I myself taught Alexander Nevsky from the film “Alexander Nevsky”, the history of France from “The Three Musketeers”, and history medieval England based on the novels of Walter Scott. And then the films came... And so the myths remain, I would say. And there are a lot of characters in history who were slandered, maybe on purpose, maybe not on purpose, by literature and films. Artists created their own Malut Skuratovs, Birons, Richards III - starting from Shakespeare’s grandfather...

N. BASOVSKAYA: Let’s remember Shakespeare more than once. But you immediately pronounced a verdict on Richard, Alexey Alekseevich. He is justifiably exalted. Let's check it out!

A. VENEDIKTOV: Let’s check now. I want you to know: I got very excited after listening to the program that my colleague Sergei Buntman and Natalya Basovskaya hosted about John the Landless, smeared with black paint by all the films, all the fiction books. Now we know that there was another, its antipode. It is smeared with white paint. This is Richard the Lionheart - a hero without fear or reproach, a knight on a white horse... So, Richard the Lionheart. I know it from Ivanhoe, I know it from Talisman, I know it from the film Robin Hood - King of Thieves.

N. BASOVSKAYA: And many others. He's popular. But before we talk about the real him - the quintessence of his romantic image, from the ballad of Heinrich Heine:

A rider rushes through a deserted oak grove,

In a luxurious wooded gorge,

He sings and laughs and blows his horn,

There is joy in the soul and in the eyes.

He is dressed in strong steel armor,

His sword is familiar to the Saracens,

Either Richard, or the color of Christ’s warriors,

And they call him the Heart of a Lion...

Translation by Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, who is also no stranger to poetic interest in history. And what an image - it couldn’t be more beautiful!

A. VENEDIKTOV: Immediately our listeners began to react. Alexander believes that “Lionheart” is a literary epithet and such an epithet never existed during Richard’s lifetime.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Not true. During the Third Crusade, one of the leaders of which was Richard, who became the Lionheart during this crusade, he received this nickname. The campaign took place in 1189-1192. – two very important milestones in his life. 1189 - Richard is crowned King of England in London. And then he wasn’t there for a long, long time, he was only there one more time.

A.VENEDIKTOV: When Ivanhoe came to save

N. BASOVSKAYA: When I escaped from captivity, that’s absolutely true.

A. VENEDIKTOV: He came, saved and left!

N. BASOVSKAYA: ...in 1192. And during this campaign, when he captured, as one of the famous pre-revolutionary authors writes, “stations on the Mediterranean” - today it sounds somehow very interesting... He captured Sicily, Cyprus - that’s where his personal behavior was in battles... He was really in the first row, he really fought. He was strong, physically strong. He threw one of his enemies so hard that they could barely collect him, along with his armor. When he got angry, it wasn’t in battle, he got angry, in a quarrel.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Did the armor weigh forty kilograms?

N. BASOVSKAYA: Forty to fifty, up to fifty. And during this campaign they began to call him the Lionheart. This was included in the memoirs of Richard, written by his contemporaries, primarily the famous Ambroise. But it’s worth talking about his work a little later. And first - about the life of Richard. He is the elder brother of John the Landless, born in 1157 in Oxford, this is also his short stay there. Died in 1199. And he actually lived in France all his life. Because he grew up in Aquitaine, at the court of his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, and then created his own court. And his destiny, from birth, was to be a troubadour.

A. VENEDIKTOV: He was not the eldest son, he did not lay claim to the English throne.

N. BASOVSKAYA: No, he was the third son. John - he was actually the fourth, which is why he was completely angry. And this one is the third. He also had few chances, but they came to him faster. The first two brothers died, and it became clear that it was now Richard. But in the year of his coronation, in 1189, immediately after it, he went on a crusade. During his lifetime he was compared (and continues to be compared) with Achilles. And the comparison is justified in one most important point - fame. Fame attracted him. He was attracted by personal glory, for which he was ready to die. He risked his life endlessly! There were so many enemies in front of him - he was the first to jump into formation, and then his comrades began to follow him. And this glory, as much as he was pious, but not extremely, he did not value human life very much, he did not spend hours in prayer, like, for example, the French king Philip P. Augustus, much more pious... Still, glory, the glory of the liberator of lands in the east, who were conquered by Western European knights in the First Crusade in 1099, and now repulsed by Sultan Saladin, the brightest figure, the brilliant commander of the east... To defeat Saladin is to remain in world history; to recapture the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is to remain in history twice...

A.VENEDIKTOV: And God be with her, with England...

N. BASOVSKAYA: In general, yes. In this scenario, England is simply his treasury. And that's how he used it. He robbed her. Not personally, but by collecting money for the crusades. And when his mother, Eleanor, began to collect money for his ransom - Richard was in captivity - she was robbed very much. That is, for England it is ruinous, expensive, little seen, but beloved. This is an amazing effect to think about. There are several reasons. First of all, people love winners at all times. And alas, our era is not diametrically opposed in this sense. Winners, victory, resounding military victory are attractive. And those times when the word “humanism” was not born, when the idea that victory was worth human lives did not occur to anyone - love for the winner...

A. VENEDIKTOV: Well, what is the winner? All his military exploits began with the fact that he rebelled against his father, if I understand correctly.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Twice. Together with my brothers and the whole family.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Wonderful! He didn’t win the campaign, he spent time in captivity - what did he win?

N. BASOVSKAYA: The Age of Chivalry. His personal qualities, personal movement in the front row, in the ranks, his victory in tournaments, the thrown out unloved Duke, the torn banner of the unloved Duke of Austria... He said - well, come out, who dares to object to me - what a winner he is! He's a knight. He was born in the age of chivalry. He grew up at his mother's knightly court, then created his own. He surrounded himself with a dense crowd of troubadours. He encouraged being sung. It was sung by Bertrand de Born himself, the great singer of chivalry. What Bertrand wrote - how I like the sound of swords; how I adore it when horses fall, when the wounded and dead lie, and seas of blood... This is such an age. And in the eyes, of course, only of this century he could be a winner. Yes, and Achilles too. After all, it was not Achilles who took Troy, but Troy was captured thanks to the cunning Odysseus, or Ulysses. And Richard had his own Ulysses - this is Philip P Augustus, the French king, who was a thousand times more cunning than him, did not fight in these open battles, outplayed him politically a thousand times, and after the death of Richard he took almost all these French possessions. But in the people's memory, in the mass consciousness, these individual qualities are so attractive that people do not want to think about reality.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Or maybe it was precisely people like Bertrand de Born, such writers, who created the postscript after his death... It’s also surprising that there were no False Richards...

N. BASOVSKAYA: They are contemporaries. Bertrand de Born knew him personally. At first he quarreled with Richard because Richard took away some estate from him. He took away what he could from everyone who was richer. Then, there is a version that, not without a second thought, he returned him, so that he would love him, and Bertrand, by virtue of his profession (if a troubadour can be called a profession), began to vigorously praise him too. And his contemporaries wrote about him, he had rabid fans. This famous “Holy War”, written by Ambroise... This is a participant in the Crusade who writes about Richard every day and in whose lines Richard’s bad qualities are visible, but Ambroise tries to either justify them or soften them. His immeasurable temper, injustice, and cruelty appear there. By his order, 2 thousand prisoners were executed under the walls of Accra. But, really, Saracens. But, really, there is no idea of ​​humanism. But still, this is 2 thousand people! According to the ideology of that time, this does not lower the knight and knightly honor. He is generous. He was generous even to his malicious younger brother. Going on a crusade and hoping that his brother would behave decently (but his brother did not), Richard showered him with gifts with a generous hand. Generosity is also a chivalrous quality... That is, he is a hero of a certain era. And it seems to me that with his famous sword he marked the rift of eras, as if he cut it. His reign, 1189 - 1199, is the end of the heyday of knighthood and the beginning, the very, very beginning of the decline of knighthood as a corporation, as the elite of society. The beginning of his end, which is still far away. Everything will change completely somewhere in the 15th century, and in the 14th it will already be noticeable. But Richard, this “singing king,” as he was called in a modern novel, this troubadour with a sword and heavy fists - Richard, as it were, marks and cuts the boundary between these eras. I will repeat that this was very no coincidence. And the setting of his childhood, surrounded by troubadours at the court of his mother Eleanor, and even his great-grandfather, Duke Guillaume of Aquitaine, was a famous trouvère. It is even believed that the age of the Minnesang begins with him. His grandfather, Guillaume under a different number, is also a troubadour. Moreover, both - the great-grandfather and the grandfather - and the authors of these poems, and the bearers of this culture of knightly, blossoming, magnificent... And the female fans, crazy... In this Richard was not so much like them, but everyone unanimously describes his appearance. She is beautiful, unlike John the Landless. And this is suspicious. But this is what I'm suspicious about. In the description of these features, something Viking and Norman appears. But he is a descendant of the dynasty that came there. A lot of things were mixed there in England, including the Norman element. And throughout Western Europe there are Viking features: blond, very large build, physically strong, with heavy fists. Well, how can you not love something like that in that age!

A. VENEDIKTOV: And how did he strum the strings with his heavy fists?

N. BASOVSKAYA: Strumming!

A. VENEDIKTOV: Did you strum it yourself?

N. BASOVSKAYA: He sang. And it was accepted. He could pluck the strings and the troubadours could pick up around him.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Just two pictures don’t split together. Such a brutal brute who throws an opponent wearing 40 kg of iron with heavy fists - and a mellifluous troubadour.

N. BASOVSKAYA: This is a full-fledged, three-dimensionally drawn image of a knight. Should there be features of idealization here? I guess so. But it was he who was idealized, because there were, apparently, some reasons. By virtue of his youth in Aquitaine, surrounded by troubadours and, ultimately, inheritance from his great-grandparents, these are the cultural traditions of the family. And a knight is generally a very controversial figure. On the one hand, he is considered wonderful: generous, a defender of the ladies... On the other hand, he is rude, dirty, and cruel. It’s just that the consciousness of that era is structured in such a way that the first aspects are highlighted.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Maybe there was no Richard, and this is a mythological image, just ideal, on the one hand, in the sense that it exactly corresponds to the task.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Indeed, everything is not so, and among the cloak of this wonderful knight on a white horse with a white sword, a completely different medieval man can be seen.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Yes. He was a very medieval man, apparently - and that’s why his era liked him so much. He came to her just at the moment of her heyday. You are right to ask yourself the question: how is it that he did so much bad, betrayed his father twice, robbed England... There were even rumors, and they were spread by Philip II, the French king (they seemed to quarrel very justifiably in the crusade), that Richard poisoned him... And, What’s funny is that Philip says: “... and as a result I went bald.” This is somehow very much in the spirit of Philip - not heroic, but something so everyday. How can one explain that in the same England, where he had never been, whose language he did not know how to speak (he spoke a completely different language of the continent), he ended up in the best folk ballads, in traditions and in symbols of nobility. Another motive for this. It seems to me that in Richard’s life there were several serious reasons to consider him unfairly offended by the laws of that era, namely: Philip II treacherously abandoned him under the walls of Accra...

A. VENEDIKTOV: Betrayed, in our opinion.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Betrayed - both in our way and in theirs. And I myself read documents from that era, very rare documents. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s mother, wrote to the Pope: “While my son, like Achilles, fought under the walls of Accra, the traitor Philip, king of the French...”

A. VENEDIKTOV: So that’s where the image of Achilles comes from - from his mother!

N. BASOVSKAYA: From my mother, and because ancient images lived in that cultural environment of the highest nobility. They were greatly distorted and simplified, but they lived. These names are not dead. Even under Charlemagne, in his court academy (and this is the 8th-9th centuries, the turn of the century), members of this academy, not very educated people, still took ancient nicknames for themselves: Hector, Homer, etc. That is, the elements lived. And they came to Richard. And Eleanor was an educated woman, it was not for nothing that she said so. So, when he was abandoned there and betrayed, it was no longer good, it was already something big... He was for Christ’s cause, and the French king ran away. And when he fought there for the cause of Christ, fell ill with a fever, and failures began, and reports came from England that Philip was preparing a war against him (and was preparing!) - he was forced to leave...

A. VENEDIKTOV: He abandoned his troops. Like Napoleon, who abandoned in Egypt...

N. BASOVSKAYA: Absolutely right, in Egypt and near Moscow... And they adore Napoleon! And they still adore him.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Why?

N. BASOVSKAYA: This is some kind of mysticism of martyrdom for a great cause, beauty... On the way through Europe (he made his way incognito), the Austrian Duke, whose banner he trampled, takes him prisoner. But a crusader, except in battle, cannot be taken prisoner. The highest commandments have been violated. Again he is a victim. He is taken prisoner and imprisoned in a castle somewhere on the Danube, no one knows exactly where. He seems to disappear, a missing king... And, apparently, later, in the 13th century, it is believed that a charming legend appears about how he was found. A certain troubadour wandered from castle to castle (in general, the figure of a troubadour in Europe at that time was a great figure) and sang a ballad that he had composed together with Richard. And then at the next castle he sang the first verse, and high up from the window in the tower a voice answered him and sang the next verse. "Richard is here!" - the troubadour understood and spread it throughout Europe... Most likely, a legend. But again - the quality of the legend, the focus: he suffers there... I myself read documents, not legends, very serious documents that in addition to the ransom that was collected in England... There is a large ransom for the king. Philip II, the French king, paid the German Emperor, who ransomed Richard from the Duke... Like modern football players, they bought up captives... First, the Austrian Duke sold him to the German Emperor, the German Emperor would release him for the ransom, but for each additional day spent in captivity, Philip II of France, John the Landless, his younger brother, paid the emperor additionally...

A. VENEDIKTOV: Just keep it!

N. BASOVSKAYA: Just hold it, just don’t let go! And a lot of money. I counted these documents myself. And here’s the rumor – what a betrayal! The younger brother and the French king, who was officially considered his great friend, knighted him, they were literally inseparable, as they say in everyday life - and suddenly such a betrayal! What compared to this are the 2 thousand executed infidels, the rudeness, the outbursts that are so characteristic of Richard... His long-standing struggle with his father, but this is with his brothers together, and his father was a painful circle - as if all this in the eyes of that era outweighs disproportionately. And besides, his contemporaries wrote a wonderful work... And of course, Ambroise, first of all, is the famous story of a holy war. This is a huge poem, which experts call the “Iliad” of the 12th century... It is apparently not as talented and not as readable as the translations of the “Iliad”, or Gnedich was not found... About 12 thousand poems... As excellent experts say, for example, ours Russian medievalist Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaya, rather it should have been called “The Song of Richard.” Here, for example, from there: “Like sheep before a wolf, Richard’s enemies scatter before him”... He is also compared to Achilles. That is again a beautiful image. Although Ambroise writes about difficulties and rumors that the French king was bald, and gives everyday pictures of the difficult life of this camp, sometimes touching to the point of tears, how difficult it was sometimes for the crusaders under the walls of Accra, in Syria, at smaller fortresses: the heat , fever... He writes that there were women there, he calls them all old women (but after 25 years they are all old women), who touchingly washed the clothes and heads of the crusaders, and were superior to monkeys in catching fleas... That is, such everyday little things... And like Richard, when he was seized by a fever (they all got sick in the east, of course), how he couldn’t even stand up, how he was carried on a stretcher into battle near the walls of another fortress and he, lying down, shot from a bow. That is, of course, idealized, decorated, but it gave something, some kind of basis for this. He was simply very much in keeping with his age.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Do you think that’s why?

N. BASOVSKAYA: This is one of the reasons. Also, personal courage. In general, courage does not interfere at any time, and people respect it. But at that time, physical strength and personal courage, and even the talent of a poet and love for poets, those poets... In general, this should be taken into account by those figures who want to be popular.

A. VENEDIKTOV: But you must agree that if you clear him of pity that he was unfairly offended either by the French king, or by the Austrian Duke, or by his own brother, it is an injustice to him, that he is a fighter for a just cause, and to him...

N. BASOVSKAYA: He is a crusader!

A. VENEDIKTOV: But I would go back to the beginning. A young man, very ambitious, the third son, twice rebelled against his father, as a result of the second rebellion, the father died, as I understand it. He humiliated his father, forcing him to sign peace, he humiliated him in public...

N. BASOVSKAYA: He pursued him, he chased him at first in pursuit, he then insulted him... And this peace was signed very hard - but still it was signed, a bad peace, with Richard. But when, after this peace, Henry II said - show me the entire list of conspirators... They showed it to him, and he found his youngest, beloved John on the list - here, as sources write, he was struck down. That is, they were somewhat similar to Richard. They did not like each other, they were at enmity, but in some ways they were similar: both were so frantic, chivalrous, capable of a direct blow. But John is not.

A. VENEDIKTOV: John - we have already talked about him. Here's Richard. He reigns. I'm walking on an even line now. He reigned - and immediately went on a crusade, robbing England. Confiscation...

N. BASOVSKAYA: It got even worse when there was also a ransom.

A. VENEDIKTOV: We’ll still get to the ransom. During the crusade, he endlessly quarrels with his allies. He killed 2 thousand hostages, although Saladin did not have time to fulfill his demands, but Saladin did not touch a single one.

N. BASOVSKAYA: Some people think that they didn’t have time, some people think that they didn’t want to - but Saladin didn’t touch a single one.

A. VENEDIKTOV: And Richard interrupted, cut

N. BASOVSKAYA: That's true.

A. VENEDIKTOV: I insulted this unfortunate Leopold of Austria. For what? It's an honor! Suppose he made the French king bald, refused to marry the sister of the French king - publicly, insulted the girl...

N. BASOVSKAYA: This is a special story. Apparently, his dad, Heinrich P., made this girl his concubine a long time ago. Agree, to go through such a trauma that your dad made your bride his concubine, and apparently, this is so...

N. BASOVSKAYA: The army, of course, feels bad without him.

A. VENEDIKTOV: The army is in bad shape. Then the ransom, which was collected for him. Comes to England. It seems that everything, your mother bought you. And a year later he leaves and begins to fight in France...

N. BASOVSKAYA: Less than a year. He almost immediately leaves for France, because Philip threatens his possessions there.

A. VENEDIKTOV: And the last thing. A seriously wounded man dies from blood poisoning, because the wound was not fatal, but the infection began... He appoints as his heir... Who? This John the Landless leaves England to him. He didn't care about England. Here is Brittany, where his son Arthur is...

N. BASOVSKAYA: In Brittany - nephew, Arthur of Breton

A. VENEDIKTOV: But he appoints as heir not the son of his elder brother Arthur, but his scoundrel John the Landless. What kind of person is this - Richard the Lionheart?

N. BASOVSKAYA: Controversial, passionate, full of unexpected decisions. And maybe that’s partly why I like it too. He betrayed his father twice, I told you about the list of conspirators... It was the whole family like that. They say that the curse of Merlin, the famous medieval sorcerer, weighed heavily on them, and it was believed that they came from the devil, and Merlin said - to the devil and they will go, and in this family there will be son against son, brother against brother... And their whole life That’s how it turned out. So here it seems to be in a family context. His relationship with John the Landless - this generosity with which he showered him when leaving for the Crusade, this desire to transfer the throne to him... But everything is not so precisely expressed there; rather, John showed a decent initiative and made sure that there was no other option ...Arthur of Brittany died mysteriously...

A. VENEDIKTOV: Was it Jeffrey’s son? Older brother?

N. BASOVSKAYA: The second. The first was Henry, the second Geoffrey. And eventually he was there again.

A. VENEDIKTOV: He even decided to leave his sons. He didn't even think about succession to the throne.

N. BASOVSKAYA: No, he was thinking about succession to the throne. You are probably right that he reconciled with the power of John the Landless... After all, he, having returned from the crusade... These ballads are all dreaming of how he will punish the villain - he did nothing of this. And here there is some kind of mystery that no one will ever solve, and even literature has not yet offered any definite version. Because it is either a strangely flared up love for the last brother - and this group of Plantagenets ends... Or he did not punish anyone, returning from this Crusade - this is preserving the image of a warrior of Christ. Although there were his outbursts of anger and cruelty, here it was necessary to preserve, at least, the appearance of high Christianity... And again there are legends surrounding his death. It is known that a certain knight hit him with an arrow, during a skirmish over a minor issue with a rebellious vassal, Richard fought on his own lands... The second version is that he wanted to rob this vassal. It is very possible that the vassal had bags of gold in his basement. And this knight, who shot at Richard I deliberately, allegedly said that his family suffered from Richard, and the arrow was apparently poisoned... I once read in one of our Soviet books that Richard I of the Lion was killed in the south of France The heart flew by like an arrow by chance... No, it wasn’t by chance that it flew there. He was on the verge of a war with Philip Augustus, the French king was very afraid of this war, and it was quite possible, that is, not very difficult, to find such a knight who was offended, whose family was offended by Henry. And the arrow, apparently, was poisoned. Because the wound was not fatal. It was impossible to simply remove this arrow or was it some kind of cunning system... And again, the legends around how he dealt with his murderer... Having invited this murderer, and people loyal to Richard around him, he said that he forbids even punishing him in the event of Richard's death. Let this knight leave in a Christian way... He, having abandoned the crusader army, wanted very much to be a crusader. And his attitude towards his enemies is often around him... For example, Walter Scott, who read a lot about Richard, puts the following words into his mouth: “The lion does not feed on carrion” - and he releases the evil enemy, and, on the contrary, he has mercy on this knight, having learned that the family suffered: let him go, almost give him money... And then, rumor says, as soon as Richard died, his entourage immediately strung up this knight in an impossible rage... That is, there are always such legends around. And he gives them such a reason! And what he conveyed to John the Landless was to a well-known acquaintance, slandered by history, which we talked about (probably he was not so primitive), and not to an unknown boy, the very young Arthur of Brittany... Brittany is far away. Joffre died a long time ago. Who he is, this Arthur, is generally unknown. And you can say it the way you look at it: he didn’t care about the crown of England…. Or you can doubt and think. For none of the most accurate historical information will give us the ultimate truth. We have to endlessly search for it, clarify some details, get documents. But the modern state of historical science more and more, since the first half of the 20th century, with Marc Bloch, shows: involve psychology, philology, and linguistics, build an anthropological history - and then, perhaps, you will understand a little more about it. That is why it seems to me that the literary view of history, with all the costs, corrections, and exaggerations, at the same time gives something that cannot be found in any documents. Compare Richard with Achilles, and Philip with Ulysses - and you will see some facet of this Third Crusade that you would never find in any document of the era, or in a letter, even if Eleanor writes it (and she is almost in verse: “...my son is like Achilles...”). Probably a very good combination. And these purely anti-prological moments... How Marc Bloch, the great French historian, valued psychohistory and psychological analysis! He described, without any fear of comparing eras, the behavior of people during the First World War, where he himself was very young. This explained a lot to me about researching medieval battles. Not at all afraid that he will be reproached, that these are different social relations, different, as they would say under Marxism, social economic formations, but where is the class struggle... Not afraid to see history as human history... And Marc Bloch, having written his famous “Kings - Miracle Workers,” an outstanding book, showed that if we want to understand something about medieval kings, our Richard the Lionheart or simply Richard I of England, we must also take into account what literature can quickly find...

A. VENEDIKTOV: At one time, you and I talked about this, when the “Not So” program was just starting and you did it at the Russian State University for the Humanities... By the way, who doesn’t know, I refer you to the novel “Two Captains”... Remember, there was a trial above literary characters or historical figures, we talked about this 10 years ago, your students did it. Tell me, if you were a lawyer and you were asked to participate in the trial of Richard, would you rather lean towards the prosecutor or towards the lawyer?

N. BASOVSKAYA: By no means the prosecutor. One of the reasons why I personally don’t really yearn for the courts of history, although they were amazingly bright, the students lived by them... But one of the points is that the need for a prosecutor and the need to accuse people of the past, to brand the historical past - it is always a little doubtful. Because do not judge, lest you be judged. It should not be branded, but learned more and more. I would not become a prosecutor, even if we accept this convention. Probably because of my profession. Because a historian cannot help but understand how organic Richard I is in his era.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Can a writer? But John the Landless is also organic to his era, but everyone who writes about him is prosecutors.

N. BASOVSKAYA: In the knightly era - no.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Is he a bourgeois?

N. BASOVSKAYA: He is physically frail - maybe closer to the bourgeoisie. Very greedy.

A. VENEDIKTOV: That bourgeois is meant, the original one.

N. BASOVSKAYA: But it could be presented differently from the knightly context. There was a French king, Charles V. 14th century. He did not fit into the knightly era at all.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Is this the one who is Wise? But wise!

N. BASOVSKAYA: That’s why. He is physically weak, but he collected the largest library in Europe, a bookworm - he solved this problem. He never entered the tournament. He found Du Guesclin. And everything knightly that was needed was replaced by the great commander Du Guesclin. And Richard the Lionheart - he doesn’t have Du Guesclin. He is his own Du Guesclin, and his own chief of staff, and yet a troubadour...

A. VENEDIKTOV: But not the ruler.

N. BASOVSKAYA: But the time has not yet come for realizing state interest.

A. VENEDIKTOV: But Henry II, his father, realized it very well!

N. BASOVSKAYA: No. While still alive, to divide all the lands between your sons means you are dooming England to strife... During his lifetime, before the birth of John the Landless, he unified everything. Aquitaine was intended for Richard. There is no full awareness... It's like having your own estate. How the son of Charlemagne divided the famous Verdun division among the grandchildren of Charlemagne... Share your land like an estate, like an allod. The concept of state interest is close, but it has not yet arrived. Just like the nation has not yet fully realized itself as a nation.

A. VENEDIKTOV: Yes, but not even 16 years have passed since death... What is 16 years in history? Nonsense! The Magna Carta comes into being... Just 16 years!

N. BASOVSKAYA: Just a turning point. I am truly grateful to you, as you emphasized. We are at the turn of eras with Richard the Lionheart - the era of the rise of chivalry and the era of the beginning of its end.

A. VENEDIKTOV: That is, Richard did not go over the fence. He stayed on this fence, and that’s why he’s visible...

N. BASOVSKAYA: No, after him they will cross. John the Landless will be pushed over the fence, and then volunteers will come, such as Edward I, of course, in England - he already has a presentiment that it is impossible to rule purely feudally... Everything is ahead...

A.VENEDIKTOV: And Richard III not so far.

N. BASOVSKAYA: He is already at the turn of the next era. Everything is ahead, as in our program, in our desire to understand literary and real images of the past.

TRANSLATIONS

Andre Chenier

"The winged god of love, bending over the plow..."
"Here he is, the Nizian god, the pacifier of wild countries..."
"Come to me, young Chromide, look how beautiful I am!.."
"The husband of lascivious goats, unclean and arrogant..."
"The crimson day is fading; people are crowding behind the fence..."
“Instead of my mother, I’m already counting the herd...”

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

God and Bayadera
Corinthian bride
"Joy and sorrow, excitement of thoughts..."
"The drums are cracking and the trumpets are thundering..."

Heinrich Heine

"The sky is cloudless, there is no wind in the morning..."
"I'm sitting on a steep cliff by the sea..."
"Rising my head from the waters..."
Richard the Lionheart
"Hugging each other, we sat..."
"Enough! It's time for me to forget this nonsense..."

Georg Herweg

"I wish I could fade away like the dawn..."

Scottish folk poetry

TRANSLATIONS

Andre Chenier

The winged god of love, bending over the plow,
Orataem follows the cut reins;
His harnessed bodies are obedient to his will;
With a diligent hand he sows the field
And, raising his bold gaze, to the ruler of heaven
Calls: “Take care of my harvest, Zeus!
Otherwise, the passion for Europe is again exciting in you,
I will bend your bellowing head into the yoke!"

Autumn 1856

Here he is, the Nizian god, the pacifier of wild countries,
With a virgin look and a cluster of crowns,
Drawn by the yellow lion and the multicolored leopard,
The return one is on its way to its treasured gardens!

Autumn 1856

Come to me, young Chromide, look how I
beautiful!
O young man, I loved you passionately!
Equal to Diana, when, at sunset,
I walked, looking down, with delight at me
The shepherds looked at each other, asking:
“Is it a mortal coming or an unearthly maiden?
Neera, do not trust yourself to the waves of the sea,
Otherwise you will become a goddess, and swimmers
You will have to call in the storm, losing faith to the stern,
White Thetis and white Neera!"

Autumn 1856

The husband of lascivious goats, unclean and arrogant,
Seeing that a lustful satyr had sneaked up on them,
And I feel in him dangerous enemy,
Rising up, he caught the jealous horns.
The satyr bows his forehead - and the sound of their ardent meeting
Marshmallows are carried away through the forests, laughing.

Autumn 1856

The crimson day is fading; crowds behind the fence
The returned heifers are an unmilked herd.
They have lush grass piled in the manger,
And they wait, chewing, while you, sleeves
Having rolled up to the elbows and thrown back his hair,
You prepare a ringing row of painted jugs.
The lazy ones look at you carelessly,
Only the red-brown one, mind you, has an unkind look;
There is anger in her eyes that has long been hidden,
It was not for nothing that she grazed separately from others;
But if together we approach the shrew
And we will bind our strong legs with a belt,
We will conquer her, and under your hand
The milk flows in a babbling stream.

Autumn 1856

Instead of my mother, I’m already counting the herd,
Going to the fields with my father is now my joy,
We work together. I force the copper
In the spring the fragrant ringing in the bee garden;
With his queen, hearing a heavy sound,
Young bees want to fly away in fear,
But, preparing for their new family new house,
We hit the forged basins harder and harder,
And the free swarms, frightened by us,
Among the greenery they hang in buzzing clusters.

Autumn 1856

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

GOD AND BAYADERA

INDIAN LEGEND

Magadev, ruler of the earth,
It descends to us for the sixth time,
So that from young to old
Experience us for yourself;
Wants on a difficult journey
To experience sorrow and joy,
So that the judge is just
We are punished and rewarded.
He walked around the city as a tired traveler,
Having penetrated the mighty, listening to the small ones,
He goes out into the suburbs to continue his journey.

Here he stands under the gate,
Dressed in silk and in rings,
With dark eyebrows,
The fallen virgin is alone.
"Hello, maiden!" - "Guest, not in moderation
There is honor in your greetings to me!"
“Who are you?” - “I am a bayadera,
And you see a home for love!”
Rattles tambourines with a familiar hand,
Whirling, she shakes above herself
And, bending his waist, he goes around.

And, caressing, carries away
Stranger on the threshold:
"Just enter and it will shine
This hut is like a palace;
I will wash your feet
I'll give you shelter from the sun's arrows,
I will refresh and calm,
You're tired and exhausted!"
And she helps imaginary suffering,
The immortal notices everything with a smile,
He pure soul in the fallen he received his sight.

Like with a slave, harshly
He treats her
But she, throwing away the shackles,
Everything is more submissive and tender,
And involuntarily, in greater thirst
Humiliating services
Feels real passion
Growing illness.
But the knower of the depths and heights of the universe,
Torturing, he carries it out gradually
Through grief, and fear, and torment.

He touches with his lips
Painted cheeks on her -
And unexpected tears
The mercenary's face is drenched;
I fell on my face in heartache,
And she doesn’t need gifts,
And there is no will to dance,
And there are no words for speech.
But the sun goes down and darkness comes,
The cleaned bed receives the couple,
And the night fell over them.

At dawn, in strange excitement,
Waking up from sleep,
The guest is dead, lifeless
She sees with horror.
Crying in vain! The cry is fruitless!
The fateful judgment has been completed,
And the Brahmins are a cold corpse
They carry you to the fiery pit.
And she hears funeral singing,
And it bursts and divides the crowd into a frenzy...
"Who are you? What do you want, crazy one here?"

She rushed to the ground screaming
Before your beloved:
"I will embrace my wife's ashes,
I want to die with him!
Is beauty unearthly
Will it become ashes and cinders?
He was mine in the kisses of heaven,
He will be mine even in death!
But the verse is heard from the sacred choir:
"We carry to the grave, we carry indiscriminately
And old age and youth with its beauty!

You believe in the teachings of Brahma:
He was not your husband
You are called bayadera
And you are not connected with him.
Only for widowed wives
The honor of burning is destined
Only the shadow follows the body,
And behind the husband there is only the wife.
Sound out, trumpets, cymbals, thunder,
You, gods, accept the young man in the flames,
Take me from my last dream!"

So, her sufferings multiply,
The choir sings mercilessly
And on the cruel death bed,
Into the fierce fire, she will fall;
But from the fiery mouth
God rose, unharmed,
And in his arms is a maiden
Soars to the skies with it.
The repentance of sinners is loved by the gods,
Lost children with hands of fire
The good ones ascend to their palaces.

August-September 1867

THE CORINTHIAN BRIDE

From Athens to Corinth multi-columned
A young guest comes, unknown, -
There was once a supportive resident there
He brought bread and salt with his father;
And they are children
In their younger days
They named her the bride and groom.

But what kind of welcome
Will they demand prices from him?
He is a child of a pagan home,
And they were recently baptized!
Where is there a dispute over faith?
There, like rubbish blown by the wind,
And love and friendship are swept away!

The whole family has been on vacation for a long time,
Only the mother is still awake,
Receives the guest graciously
And he hurries to give him peace;
Best wine
She contributed
The table is covered with bread and dishes.

And, saying goodbye, the night light was lit for him
The mother puts it, but from all the worries
He's already tired and half asleep,
Without food, without undressing, I lay down,
Like darkness through the doors
Moving towards him
A strange guest silently appears on the threshold.

The maiden enters slowly and modestly,
Everything is covered with a white veil:
Around her braids, thick and dark,
The black and gold corolla shines.
Having seen the young man,
She became timid,
With a raised pale hand.

“Apparently, I’m already a stranger in the house,”
So she says with a sigh, -
That she entered without knowing about this guest,
And now I am overcome with shame;
Go to sleep restful sleep
On his bed,
I’ll go back to my dark hermitage!”

“Virgin, stay,” he exclaimed, “with me
Wait until morning!
Look, Ceres is golden,
These are the gifts sent by Bacchus;
And he will come with you
Young Eros,
Games and feasts are bright for them!”

"Retreat, O young man, I am no longer
Not involved in earthly joy;
The step was completed by the will of the parents:
On the bed of fatal illness
Mother swore
Give to heaven
My life, and youth, and peace!

And my dear swarm of merry gods
The force expelled the new faith,
And now the invisible one reigns,
Praise be to the crucified one!
The lambs are no longer here
They won't fall victim
But the human casualties are countless!"

And he weighs her speeches:
"Is it really possible now, in the silence of the night,
Not looking forward to meeting the groom,
Is the bride standing in front of me?
Oh, give yourself to me
Be mine completely
We were crowned with a double oath!”

"I can't be yours, dear boy,
Don't cherish your dreams in vain,
Soon I will be taken by the grave,
You are already assigned to my sister;
But in a blissful dream
Think about me,
About me when you're with her!"

"No, let the flame of this lamp shine
Hymen to us with a holy torch,
And you for life, for joy
I'll take you to my penates!
Believe me, friend, oh believe me,
The two of us now
We will celebrate the wedding feast unexpectedly!”

And they exchange gifts:
She hurries to take off the golden chain, -
It has a bowl with patterned edges
As a sign of alliance he wants to give it to her;
But she says to him:
"I will not accept the cup,
I’ll just take a strand of your hair!”

Midnight strikes - and the gaze is still cold
Shining, face animated,
And colorless lips drink greedily
Wine is similar to dark blood;
Bread from the table
I didn’t take it at all
As if she was forbidden to eat.

And she brings him a vial,
Together with her he drinks the crimson current,
But no matter how he asks for her hug,
She still resists - and so,
I'm seriously upset
He fell on the bed
And in impotent passion she sheds tears.

And she sat down towards him, caressing him:
"It's a pity for me to torment you, but, oh,
Mine when you touch my body,
An unearthly fear will seize you:
I'm as pale as snow
I'm as cold as ice
I won’t get warm in your hands!”

But, boiling with vitality,
He pulled her into his arms:
"At least you came out of the grave,
I would warm you and revive you!
Oh, what a twosome
We're on fire
How my ardor penetrates you!”

Their desire brings them closer and closer together,
She, having fallen on his chest,
Drinks his hot breath
And he can’t open his mouth.
Boys love
The blood warmed her
But her heart doesn't beat at all.

Meanwhile, the late patrol passed by
Mother is still passing behind the door,
Hears an inexplicable noise inside
And he tries to understand:
That's a disease of love
The sound of kisses
And again, and again, and again!

And motionless, holding my breath,
She is waiting - there is no more doubt -
Sighs, tears, passion babbling
And mad delirium of delight:
"Soon the day will come - but again
Love will bring us together!"
“Tomorrow again!” was the answer with a kiss.

How long the mother cannot contain her anger,
She takes out her secret key:
"Is there such a maiden in the house,
Why is he giving himself to aliens?"
So outraged
She comes in the door -
And the dear child will recognize it.

And, rising up, the young man was frightened
Wants to hide the window with a curtain,
He wants to hide his friend with a blanket;
But, discarding the folds of the canvas,
From the bed, all straight,
As if not myself
Slowly she rises.

"Mother, oh mother, are you deliberately
Are you coming to poison my night?
With this warm you made my bed
Are you driving away into the darkness and cold again?
And from you already
Until now, little
Why did you bury your daughter?

But me from the cramped grave
Some fate sends back to the living,
The singing of your clears is powerless,
And the priests burn incense to me in vain;
Young passion
No power
Neither the earth nor the coffin will cool!

This youth named after Venus
Was promised to me from youth,
You are in vain in the name new faith
She made an unheard of vow!
To accept it
In heaven, oh mother,
There is no such god in heaven!

Know that death is a fatal force
Couldn't chain my love
I found the one I loved
And I sucked his blood!
And, having finished with him,
I'll go to others -
I must go for life again!

Dear guest, far from my native land
You are condemned to wither and wither,
I gave you my chain,
But I take a strand of your hair.
Do you see their color?
Tomorrow you'll be gray
The Russians will only appear there again!

Mother, hear my last prayer,
Order a fire to be built for us,
Free me from captivity
Give peace on fire to loving hearts!
So out of the smoke of darkness
We are in flames, in sparks
Let's fly to our ancient gods!"

August-September 1867

Joy and sorrow, excitement of thoughts,
A troubled mind with sweet torment,
A thrill of delight, heavy sadness again,
Only the one who has love is happy!

August 1870

The drums are cracking and the trumpets are thundering,
My darling in armor leads his troop,
Preparing for battle, commanding the formation,
How hard my heart suddenly began to beat.

Oh, if only they had given me a uniform and a gun!
I would go bravely with my friend,
I would go everywhere with him through the regions,
Our firing repels the enemies -
Oh, how happy is the fate of men!

August 1870

Heinrich Heine

Cloudless sky, no wind in the morning,
The weather vanes stick out in great difficulty:
No matter how they guess, they will never achieve it,
Which way should they turn?

Autumn 1856 (?)

I'm sitting on a steep cliff by the sea,
Full of dreams and thoughts.
Only the wind, clouds, and seagulls all around,
The waves roam and foam.

I knew both friends and affectionate maidens -
Now I want to remember them:
Where have you gone? Only the wind and roar,
Let the waves foam, wandering.

Autumn 1856 (?)

Raising my head from the waters,
Lileya looks thoughtfully;
Smiling from the heights, the month
He burns with quiet love for her.

Liley bowed bashfully
Head on the mirror of waters,
And he’s already at her feet, poor thing,
It trembles and its shine shines.

Autumn 1856 (?)

RICHARD THE LIONHEART

A rider rushes through a deserted oak grove,
In a luxurious wooded gorge,
He sings and laughs and blows his horn,
There is joy in the soul and in the eyes.

He is dressed in strong steel armor,
His sword is familiar to the Saracens,
Either Richard, or the color of Christ’s warriors,
And they call him the Lion's Heart.

“Great, our king!” the sheets babble
And ivy green walls, -
Hello, our king! We are glad that you
Left Austrian captivity!

He is free to breathe in freedom,
He senses his rebirth
And he remembers the stuffy prison,
And he spurs his horse in ecstasy.

Having embraced each other, we sat
You and I are in a light boat,
We sailed to an unknown goal
Across the sea under a dim moon.

And visible as if through a veil,
There was an island mysterious to us,
Everything glowed and sounded,
And it was fun moving there.

And so we are unstoppable
Called and beckoned in the distance,
And we - inconsolably we pass by
We sailed across the dark sea.

Enough! It's time for me to forget this nonsense
It's time for me to return to my sanity!
Enough with you, like a skilled actor,
I was playing the drama as a joke!

The scenes were colorfully painted,
I recited so passionately,
And the robes shine, and there is a feather on the hat,
And the feelings - everything was wonderful.

But now, even though I’ve thrown off these rags,
At least there is no theatrical rubbish,
My heart still hurts,
It's like I'm playing a drama.

And what I thought was fake pain,
That pain turned out to be alive -
Oh God, I was playing wounded to death,
Gladiator death representing!

Georg Herweg

I wish I could fade away like the dawn
Like the scarlet tides of the sky;
Like the glow of evening grief,
I would like to pour myself into God's bosom.

I would like, like a bright star,
Enter, shining in the undying flicker.
I would like to drown without a trace
In the depths of the azure glow.

May my death be easy
And my life passed away so quietly,
Like the light scent of a spring flower,
Like blue smoke running from a censer.

And how a faint ringing flies from the harp,
Quietly fading within the distant limits,
Thus, freed from earthly prison,
I would like to fly to my native land.

No, you won’t come as a bright star,
You will not fade away, blazing with a glow,
You will not die like a flower of the field,
You won’t fly away ringing to your native land.

You will fade away, but the formidable hand
First it will touch you mercilessly;
Nature's death is calm and easy -
The heart, dying, is torn into pieces!

1856 or 1857 (?)

Scottish folk poetry

SCOTTISH FOLK BALLAD

“Whose blood did you stain your sword with?
Edward, Edward?
Whose blood did you stain your sword with?
Why are you looking so stern?"
"Then I got angry and killed the falcon,
My mother, mother,
Then I got angry and killed the falcon,
And I have nowhere to get another one!”

"A falcon's blood doesn't run so red,
Edward, Edward!
A falcon's blood doesn't run so red,
Your sword is bloodier than red!"
"My red-brown horse was killed by me,
My mother, my mother!
My red-brown horse was killed by me,
I yearn for a good horse!"

"Your horse is old, this blood is not his,
Edward, Edward!
Your horse is old, this blood is not his,
Not so in your gloomy gaze!"
"I have now stabbed my father,
My mother, my mother!
I have just stabbed my father to death,
And fierce grief burns me!”

"And with what heavy sin will you atone for your sin,
Edward, Edward?
How will you atone for your heavy sin?
How can you remove the burden from your conscience?”
"I will sit in a boat in bad sea weather,
My mother, my mother!
I will sit in a boat in bad sea weather,
And I’ll throw all my sails to the wind!”

"And what will happen to the tower and your house,
Edward, Edward?
What will happen to the tower and your house?
When will the boat set sail for the sea?”
"Let the wind and storm walk over them,
My mother, my mother!
Let the wind and storm walk through them,
Until they are crushed to dust!"

"What will happen to your children and your wife,
Edward, Edward?
What will happen to your children and your wife?
In their bitter, helpless lot?
"Let them go around the world for bread with a bag,
My mother, my mother!
Let them go around the world for bread with a bag,
I won't hang out with them anymore!"

"And what will you leave to your mother,
Edward, Edward?
What will you leave to your mother?
Are you rocking at your chest?"
"Curse you until the end of days,
My mother, my mother!
Damn you until the end of days,
You whispered a sin to me!”

Late 1871

TRANSLATIONS

ANDRE CHENIER

A. Chenier (1762-1794) - French poet, author of elegies and idylls; his
creativity is imbued with a deep interest in the ancient world, pagan cult
beauty. Tolstoy also addressed Chenier after 1856: “At times for me
It’s a real pleasure to translate Chenier,” he wrote to Markevich on March 20, 1860
g., - physical and plastic pleasure, pleasure in form, allowing
surrender exclusively to the music of verse." However, other translations, or at least
their rough sketches have not reached us.
"The winged god of love, bending over the plow...". - Translation of the poem
"Tire de Moschus". Oratai is a plowman. Not so, passion for Europe, etc. -
According to Greek myth, Zeus appeared to the daughter of the Phoenician king Europe in the form
bull and kidnapped her.
“Here he is, the Nizian god, the pacifier of wild countries.” - Translation of the poem
"C"est le dieu de Niza, c"est le vainqueur du Gange..." Niza god -
Bacchus. According to myth, he was raised by nymphs in Nysa, who went crazy
ancient in Egypt, then in Arabia, then in India. It was believed that he passed through
Hellas, Syria, Asia up to India and returned to Europe through France. On
On his way, he taught people winemaking and performed various miracles.
“Come to me, young Chromide, look how beautiful I am!..”. - Translation
poem "Accours, jeune Chromis, je t"aime, et je suis belle...".
Sterno is the steering wheel. Thetis (Greek myth.) - the eldest of the Nereid sea nymphs.
“The husband of lascivious goats, unclean and arrogant...” - Translation of the poem
"L"impur et fier epoux que la chevre desire...".
“The crimson day is fading; people are crowding behind the fence...” - Translation of the poem
"Fille du vieux pasteur qui d"une main agile...".
“Instead of my mother, I’m already counting the herd...” - Translation of the poem "A
compter nos brebis je remplace ma mere...".

JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE

Tolstoy held Goethe in high esteem. From childhood, the poet retained the memory of
his visit together with A.A. Perovsky in Weimar. According to
S.A. Tolstoy, he returned several times to the idea of ​​​​translating Faust and
“I even started it. We talked a lot about it” (letter to A.A. Fet dated February 5
1881). But only numerous versions of several lines have reached us,
translated by Tolstoy from Faust.
God and bayadera. - Translation of the poem "Der Gott und die Bayadere". Myself
Tolstoy appreciated it this way: “It turned out very harmoniously in Russian and, it seems to me,
completely transports the reader to the desired sphere, identical with the original"
(letter to his wife, September 1867). Magadev (Indian myth.) - nickname of one of
three main Indian gods Shiva; the other two are Brahma (Brahma) and Vishnu.
Bayadera is an oriental dancer. Brahmins are one of the most privileged
castes in India.
Corinthian bride. - Translation of the poem "Die Braut von Korinth". By
According to Tolstoy, Goethe's "Corinthian Bride" belongs to his first-class
works by the strength of the verse, the elegance of the paintings and the objectivity with which
he takes the point of view of paganism in his then struggle with
triumphant Christianity." Ceres (Roman myth.), or Demeter (Greek myth.)
- goddess of fertility and agriculture. Hymen, or Hymen (Greek and Roman myth.) -
god of marriage. Penates (Roman myth.) - deities, guardians of the hearth; V
figuratively - home, native home. Clergy - clergy
some church or parish.
"Joy and sorrow, excitement of thoughts...". - Translation of Clerchen's song from the tragedy
"Egmont": "Freudvoll und leidvoll...".
"The drums are cracking and the trumpets are blowing...". - Translation of Klerchen's song from
tragedy "Egmont": "Die Trommel geruhrt...".

HEINRICH HEINE

The great interest in Heine’s poetry was clearly reflected in his work
Tolstoy. He not only translated several of Heine's poems. In ballads
humorous and satirical works there are a number of undeniable echoes with
German poet.
"The sky is cloudless, there is no wind in the morning...". - Free translation of the latter
stanzas of the poem "An den Nachtwachter".
“I’m sitting on a steep cliff by the sea...” - Translation of the poem "Es ragt ins
Meer der Runenstein...".
“Rising my head from the waters...” - Translation of the poem "Die schlanke"
Wasserlilie..."
Richard the Lionheart. - Translation of the poem "Konig Richard". Richard
Lionheart (1157-1199) - English king, participant in the third crusade
hike.
"Hugging each other, we sat..." - Translation of the poem "Mem Liebchen,
wir sassen beisammen...".
“Enough! It’s time for me to forget this nonsense...” - Translation of the poem "Nun
ist es Zeit, daB ich mit Verstand...", made at the request of I.A. Goncharov
for the fifth part of his novel "The Precipice".

GEORGE GERWEG

G. Herwegh (1817-1875) - German poet and politician, one of
major political lyricists of the period of preparation for the revolution of 1848;
subsequently moved away from his previous views.
“I wish I could fade away like the dawn...” - Translation of the poem "Ich mochte
hingehn wie das Abendrot...".

SCOTTISH FOLK POETRY

Edward. - Tolstoy translated a Scottish ballad from a German translation
T. Fontane; after the translation was made, he managed to find
original, and apparently he made a few corrections in connection with this.
"Edward" made a huge impression on Tolstoy. "I was completely depressed
when I read it,” the poet wrote to Markevich on December 13, 1871, “...I didn’t
I will believe it so that no one can be shocked from head to toe. I am this
I still feel it every time I re-read it, and I can
compare only with the scene of Lady Macbeth." O strongly impressed, which
produced “Edward” on N.S. Leskov and others, Markevich told Tolstoy.