Heer Halewijn
Encyclopedia
Heer Halewijn is a Dutch-Flemish folk tale which survives in folk ballad. Although the first printed version of the song only appears in an anthology published in 1848, the ballad itself dates back to the 13th century and is one of the oldest Dutch folk songs with ancient subject matter to be recorded. The story of lord Halewijn itself is even older and contains elements going back to Carolingian
culture. Many of its mytheme
s even range back to Germanic
pre-Christian legends.
The song's subject matter is similar in many respects to several Germanic songs circulating in the Middle Ages Europe, notably close to the English ballad May Colvin or False Sir John
and its variations, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
. The legends may have been the prototype of the Legend of Bluebeard
.
A princess (In one version her name is given as 'Machteld', but in most versions she remains nameless) hears the song and is drawn into the forest to meet Lord Halewijn. In some versions she knows about his reputation but has a plan, in others, she is warned on her way by a white bird. She meets Halewijn and lets herself fall under his spell. Together they ride to a field of gallows where he declares his intention to kill her, but impressed by her beauty, he allows her to pick her own death. The princes chooses to be beheaded, but implores Halewijn to take off his shirt so her blood will not stain him.
Lord Halewijn lays off his sword and starts to undress, which was the princess' plan. In some versions, while he is pulling his robe over his head, the cloth of the robe muffles the magical song. In other versions, as he pulls the robe over his head, he can no longer use his spellbinding gaze. Other versions have him turn his back to the princess while undressing. Whatever version however, while undressing, the princess awakens from his spell and cuts off the head of the now helpless Halewijn with his own sword.
The princess takes the head with her and triumphantly returns home. On her way back she meets Halewijn's mother who asks her about her son. The princess then reveals to her Halewijn's fate. In the kings castle, the head is shown all over and the tale ends with a great celebration. One version however adds a footnote saying that the princess remained unmarried all her life because no suitor could ever match the passion she felt for Lord Halewijn.
, who combined several oral and printed sources into 40 verses. Most of the more popular versions do away with the more descriptive parts or delete several scenes (for instance the confrontation with Halewijn's mother) thus shortening the song to about 20 verses.
collected and wrote down the lyrics of the ballad around 1830 and published it in 1848 on pages 116-119 of his book "Oude Vlaemsche Liederen" (Old Flemish Songs). Willems is said to have copied it from several one-sheet prints sold by market singers and before that the song was passed along orally. The nature of the story itself dates it back to the early Middle Ages, yet it contains several elements of Carolingian
culture and therefore is generally accepted to be much older than the comparable Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
.
Since the ballad was passed along for centuries, it has been updated and changed all over its life and some verses may even been added at centuries after its original inception. In particular the ending line is thought to have been added after the 16th century as it uses the word 'Banket' (banquet
) that only came into use around that time.
As an example of the odd balance of the ballad compared to the story: A whole eight couplets tell of the princess asking first her father, then her mother, then her sister and finally her brother for permission to go to see Halewijn. After her brother finally gives her permission another six verses are used to describe the robes she dresses herself in. In contrast to that, the actual slaying of Halewijn only takes two lines and even there it is mentioned rather than described:
Also it is never fully stated who lord Halewijn is and why, or even how he kills the women he lures into his forest. This may be because the lines doing so have been lost over time, but more likely is that the ballad did not aim to tell the whole story, just to sing about it. The story itself was already known and did not need much explication.
In contrast to this, the ballad contains an element seldom mentioned in the stories: After Halewijn was decapitated, his head still continues speaking and implores the princess first to rub on his neck a pot of ointment taken from beneath the gallows, then to take Halewijn's horn, go into a cornfield and blow it "Dat al myn vrienden het hooren!" (so all my friends will hear). Of course the princess does neither but replies to the head "Moordenaers raed en doen ik niet" (A murderer's advice I will not do). This time it might be the legend that has been streamlined while the ballad retained the original story.
Over the course, several key verses add a third line rhyming with the two others.
this third line might be the remnant of another verse merged onto the previous one. It can also have been used to condense key scenes rather than string them out over two verses. Another possibility is that the song was originally sung in verses of three lines: In a normal verse, the singer would sing the first and second line once, then repeat the second as a conclusion. In key scenes, the third line replaces the repeated second line to speed up the action.
Similar tales are Fitcher's Bird
, The Old Dame and Her Hen
, and How the Devil Married Three Sisters
and the tale shares more than a likeness with the various versions of Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
, Child ballad 4. Also noteworthy is the similarity between lord Halewijn and the legendary Bluebeard
.
The Halewijn legend shares with all those tales the main theme of a woman lured by a powerful, handsome and implicitly sexual stranger who is in some way "otherworldly" or magical and hence has a bad fate in store for her. In contrast to most of the stories, the heroine rescues herself instead of being saved by her brothers or other kin.
In this, the tale is the closest to the 'Lady Isabel' ballads. Yet it differs from them by including several themes dating back to pre-medieval time and therefore is thought to be much older. In particular the scenes where the princess first asks her father, then her mother, then her sister for permission to go to see Halewijn before finally her brother gives her permission "Als gy uw eer maer wel bewaerd / En gy uw kroon naer rechten draegt!" (...as long as you keep your honor and wear your crown with dignity) alludes to the Carolingian
custom of a brother watching over the honor of his sisters. Also the fact that for her voyage she choose her father's best battlehorse and rode it astride suggests that she was more likely the daughter of a 8 to 9th century chieftain than of a medieval noble.
Next to the allusions to Bluebeard, the legend also contains elements (mytheme
s) of ancient Germanic legend, notably the idea that a nature spirit or faery can use a song to lure people into his realm, most typically his forest, where he causes their death. The name Halewijn or Halewyn compares to the day of Halloween
, the day the boundaries between the physical and the spirit world fade. This may suggest that Halewijn was a pagan spirit rather than a human.
Another mytheme
is the outspoken sexual nature of Halewijn and his desires. Historically, Halewijn, handsome, powerful and sexual, might well be the deity of an ancient pagan fertility
ritual
. The fact that he is also a dangerous murderer might find its roots in the shunning of pagan folk rites by Christianity
. The princess, although no saint, embodies Christian restraint. Even when she submits to being killed, she implores Halewijn to take off his shirt because it would be unfitting if her maiden (virgin) blood were to leave a stain on him. "Want maegdenbloed dat spreidt zoo breed / Zoot u bespreide, het ware my leed" (For maiden's blood it spreads so far, if it would stain you, it would be my grief)
The story also compares to the legend of the Scandinavian Nix
en (strömkarlen), water spirits who played enchanted songs, luring women and children to drown (Meijer 1971:35). Several versions of the tale have the decapitation scene take place near a spring and in one version Halewijn boasts to the princess that he has drowned as many woman as he has hanged. The ballad itself only refers to the place of decapitation as a gallow field "Zy kwamen al aen een galgenveld / Daer hing zoo menig vrouwenbeeld." (They came upon a gallow's field / There hung a many woman), it clearly mentions that the princess did wash Halewijn's head in a well Zy nam het hoofd al by het haer, / En waschtet in een bronne klaer. (She took the head by his hair / and washed it in a spring well clear)
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
culture. Many of its mytheme
Mytheme
In the study of mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element, a minimal unit that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways—"bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image— or linked in more...
s even range back to Germanic
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
pre-Christian legends.
The song's subject matter is similar in many respects to several Germanic songs circulating in the Middle Ages Europe, notably close to the English ballad May Colvin or False Sir John
Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads. The subject matter is frequently associated with the genre of the Halewyn legends circulating in Europe...
and its variations, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads. The subject matter is frequently associated with the genre of the Halewyn legends circulating in Europe...
. The legends may have been the prototype of the Legend of Bluebeard
Bluebeard
"Bluebeard" is a French literary folktale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...
.
The Story
Several versions of the story of Halewijn exist. In all of them, Lord Halewijn (Halewyn) is either an evil man, a magician, a demon or a faery lord who sings a magical song. Every woman (maiden) who hears this song is drawn towards him and goes to meet him in his forest, where he kills them. In one version he beheads them, in another he touches them with his magical sword upon which they turn into stone.A princess (In one version her name is given as 'Machteld', but in most versions she remains nameless) hears the song and is drawn into the forest to meet Lord Halewijn. In some versions she knows about his reputation but has a plan, in others, she is warned on her way by a white bird. She meets Halewijn and lets herself fall under his spell. Together they ride to a field of gallows where he declares his intention to kill her, but impressed by her beauty, he allows her to pick her own death. The princes chooses to be beheaded, but implores Halewijn to take off his shirt so her blood will not stain him.
"Maer trekt eerst uit uw opperst kleed.
Want maegdenbloed dat spreidt zoo breed,
Zoot u bespreide, het ware my leed."
(But first lay off your upper robe
for maiden's blood it spreads so far
if it stained you, it would be my grief)
Lord Halewijn lays off his sword and starts to undress, which was the princess' plan. In some versions, while he is pulling his robe over his head, the cloth of the robe muffles the magical song. In other versions, as he pulls the robe over his head, he can no longer use his spellbinding gaze. Other versions have him turn his back to the princess while undressing. Whatever version however, while undressing, the princess awakens from his spell and cuts off the head of the now helpless Halewijn with his own sword.
The princess takes the head with her and triumphantly returns home. On her way back she meets Halewijn's mother who asks her about her son. The princess then reveals to her Halewijn's fate. In the kings castle, the head is shown all over and the tale ends with a great celebration. One version however adds a footnote saying that the princess remained unmarried all her life because no suitor could ever match the passion she felt for Lord Halewijn.
The Balad
Het Lied van Heer Halewijn, (The song of Lord Halewijn) is a ballad in rhyme dating back to the Middle Ages. It was first recorded about 1830 by Jan Frans WillemsJan Frans Willems
Jan Frans Willems , Flemish writer and father of the Flemish movement.Willems was born in the Belgian city of Boechout, while that was under French occupation. He started his career in the office of a notary in Antwerp....
, who combined several oral and printed sources into 40 verses. Most of the more popular versions do away with the more descriptive parts or delete several scenes (for instance the confrontation with Halewijn's mother) thus shortening the song to about 20 verses.
Dating
Jan Frans WillemsJan Frans Willems
Jan Frans Willems , Flemish writer and father of the Flemish movement.Willems was born in the Belgian city of Boechout, while that was under French occupation. He started his career in the office of a notary in Antwerp....
collected and wrote down the lyrics of the ballad around 1830 and published it in 1848 on pages 116-119 of his book "Oude Vlaemsche Liederen" (Old Flemish Songs). Willems is said to have copied it from several one-sheet prints sold by market singers and before that the song was passed along orally. The nature of the story itself dates it back to the early Middle Ages, yet it contains several elements of Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
culture and therefore is generally accepted to be much older than the comparable Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads. The subject matter is frequently associated with the genre of the Halewyn legends circulating in Europe...
.
Since the ballad was passed along for centuries, it has been updated and changed all over its life and some verses may even been added at centuries after its original inception. In particular the ending line is thought to have been added after the 16th century as it uses the word 'Banket' (banquet
Banquet
A banquet is a large meal or feast, complete with main courses and desserts. It usually serves a purpose such as a charitable gathering, a ceremony, or a celebration, and is often preceded or followed by speeches in honour of someone....
) that only came into use around that time.
Daer wierd gehouden een banket,
Het hoofd werd op de tafel gezet.
(There was held a banquet
(and) the head was set on the table)
Text and story
The ballad is written in the third person and although it focusses on the princess rather than Halewijn, it describes her actions rather than to tell the story from her point of view. As already mentioned, the version noted by Willems, which is the most complete, has 40 verses. Yet, as some key elements of the story are barely explained other minor details are elaborated over several lines.As an example of the odd balance of the ballad compared to the story: A whole eight couplets tell of the princess asking first her father, then her mother, then her sister and finally her brother for permission to go to see Halewijn. After her brother finally gives her permission another six verses are used to describe the robes she dresses herself in. In contrast to that, the actual slaying of Halewijn only takes two lines and even there it is mentioned rather than described:
Eer dat zyn kleed getogen was,
Zyn hoofd lag voor zyn voeten ras.
(before his shirt was pulled
his head was laying before his feet already)
Also it is never fully stated who lord Halewijn is and why, or even how he kills the women he lures into his forest. This may be because the lines doing so have been lost over time, but more likely is that the ballad did not aim to tell the whole story, just to sing about it. The story itself was already known and did not need much explication.
In contrast to this, the ballad contains an element seldom mentioned in the stories: After Halewijn was decapitated, his head still continues speaking and implores the princess first to rub on his neck a pot of ointment taken from beneath the gallows, then to take Halewijn's horn, go into a cornfield and blow it "Dat al myn vrienden het hooren!" (so all my friends will hear). Of course the princess does neither but replies to the head "Moordenaers raed en doen ik niet" (A murderer's advice I will not do). This time it might be the legend that has been streamlined while the ballad retained the original story.
Rhyme and rhythm
The ballad is made up of 40 short verses, most of them consisting of two lines of equal length rhyming at the end.Heer Halewyn zong een liedekijn
Al die dat hoorde wou bi hem zijn.
(Lord Halewyn sang a song
and all who heard it wanted to be with him)
Over the course, several key verses add a third line rhyming with the two others.
Alsdan heeft hy tot haer gezeid:
Mits gy de schoonste maget zyt,
Zoo kiest uw dood! het is noch tyd.
(Then he said to her
since you are the fairest maiden
choose your death (while) you still have time)
this third line might be the remnant of another verse merged onto the previous one. It can also have been used to condense key scenes rather than string them out over two verses. Another possibility is that the song was originally sung in verses of three lines: In a normal verse, the singer would sing the first and second line once, then repeat the second as a conclusion. In key scenes, the third line replaces the repeated second line to speed up the action.
Context
According to the Aarne-Thompson system of classifying folktale plots, the tale of Halewijn is type 311 (the heroine rescues herself from a supernatural foe).Similar tales are Fitcher's Bird
Fitcher's Bird
Fitcher's Bird is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 46.It is Aarne-Thompson type 311, the heroine rescues herself and her sisters. Another tale of this type is How the Devil Married Three Sisters. It is closely related to the tale Bluebeard...
, The Old Dame and Her Hen
The Old Dame and Her Hen
The Old Dame and her Hen is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr.The Brothers Grimm noted its relationship to Fitcher's Bird.-Synopsis:An old woman had three daughters...
, and How the Devil Married Three Sisters
How the Devil Married Three Sisters
How the Devil Married Three Sisters is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales.It is Aarne-Thompson type 311, the heroine rescues herself and her sisters...
and the tale shares more than a likeness with the various versions of Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads. The subject matter is frequently associated with the genre of the Halewyn legends circulating in Europe...
, Child ballad 4. Also noteworthy is the similarity between lord Halewijn and the legendary Bluebeard
Bluebeard
"Bluebeard" is a French literary folktale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...
.
The Halewijn legend shares with all those tales the main theme of a woman lured by a powerful, handsome and implicitly sexual stranger who is in some way "otherworldly" or magical and hence has a bad fate in store for her. In contrast to most of the stories, the heroine rescues herself instead of being saved by her brothers or other kin.
In this, the tale is the closest to the 'Lady Isabel' ballads. Yet it differs from them by including several themes dating back to pre-medieval time and therefore is thought to be much older. In particular the scenes where the princess first asks her father, then her mother, then her sister for permission to go to see Halewijn before finally her brother gives her permission "Als gy uw eer maer wel bewaerd / En gy uw kroon naer rechten draegt!" (...as long as you keep your honor and wear your crown with dignity) alludes to the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
custom of a brother watching over the honor of his sisters. Also the fact that for her voyage she choose her father's best battlehorse and rode it astride suggests that she was more likely the daughter of a 8 to 9th century chieftain than of a medieval noble.
Next to the allusions to Bluebeard, the legend also contains elements (mytheme
Mytheme
In the study of mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element, a minimal unit that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways—"bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image— or linked in more...
s) of ancient Germanic legend, notably the idea that a nature spirit or faery can use a song to lure people into his realm, most typically his forest, where he causes their death. The name Halewijn or Halewyn compares to the day of Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, the day the boundaries between the physical and the spirit world fade. This may suggest that Halewijn was a pagan spirit rather than a human.
Another mytheme
Mytheme
In the study of mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element, a minimal unit that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways—"bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image— or linked in more...
is the outspoken sexual nature of Halewijn and his desires. Historically, Halewijn, handsome, powerful and sexual, might well be the deity of an ancient pagan fertility
Fertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
. The fact that he is also a dangerous murderer might find its roots in the shunning of pagan folk rites by Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. The princess, although no saint, embodies Christian restraint. Even when she submits to being killed, she implores Halewijn to take off his shirt because it would be unfitting if her maiden (virgin) blood were to leave a stain on him. "Want maegdenbloed dat spreidt zoo breed / Zoot u bespreide, het ware my leed" (For maiden's blood it spreads so far, if it would stain you, it would be my grief)
The story also compares to the legend of the Scandinavian Nix
Nix
The Neck/Nixie are shapeshifting water spirits who usually appear in human form. The spirit has appeared in the myths and legends of all Germanic peoples in Europe....
en (strömkarlen), water spirits who played enchanted songs, luring women and children to drown (Meijer 1971:35). Several versions of the tale have the decapitation scene take place near a spring and in one version Halewijn boasts to the princess that he has drowned as many woman as he has hanged. The ballad itself only refers to the place of decapitation as a gallow field "Zy kwamen al aen een galgenveld / Daer hing zoo menig vrouwenbeeld." (They came upon a gallow's field / There hung a many woman), it clearly mentions that the princess did wash Halewijn's head in a well Zy nam het hoofd al by het haer, / En waschtet in een bronne klaer. (She took the head by his hair / and washed it in a spring well clear)
Adaptations
Several modern adaptations of the story have been produced:- Choral: Heer Halewijn by Willem PijperWillem PijperWillem Pijper ; Zeist, 8 September 1894 - Utrecht, 18 March 1947) was a Dutch composer, music critic and music teacher.-Life:Pijper was born at Zeist, near Utrecht, on 8 September 1894 of strict Calvinist working-class parents. His father, who sometimes played psalm accompaniments on the harmonium,...
, (1920). - Opera: Heer Halewijn by Willem PijperWillem PijperWillem Pijper ; Zeist, 8 September 1894 - Utrecht, 18 March 1947) was a Dutch composer, music critic and music teacher.-Life:Pijper was born at Zeist, near Utrecht, on 8 September 1894 of strict Calvinist working-class parents. His father, who sometimes played psalm accompaniments on the harmonium,...
, libretto written by Martinus NijhoffMartinus NijhoffMartinus Nijhoff was a Dutch poet and essayist. He studied literature in Amsterdam and law in Utrecht. His debut was made in 1916 with his volume De wandelaar...
, (1932–34).