LEGEND. - I. NOTIONS
From the gerundive of legere (legenda, “to be read”), with reference to passages from the lives of the saints whose reading was prescribed or recommended in divine worship or meditation, the word came to designate any account in which the historical element is associated with the fantastic, as has occurred in more than one case in the narration of the life and deeds of martyrs and other champions of the Catholic faith. The l. is therefore an account that disregards history and distorts it, but refers to persons who actually lived, or also to imaginary figures connected with a given place and active at a given moment in time. Thus the saga (= account, from the German sagen, “to say”) of the Nibelungs, while containing fantastic elements, refers to the Burgundian people and has the Rhine as the setting for their deeds. Through this reference to a place and a time, the l. differs from the fable, which is an account indeterminate in time and space (all fables begin with: “Once upon a time”), has human beings and animals as its actors, is narrated solely to entertain, and does not imply religious faith, just as the novella or tale does not, which is likewise indeterminate in time and space, but whose protagonists are human beings rather than animals.
The l., besides requiring a historical or topographical connection with reality, always has a purpose of a religious or civil character relating to the life of the human group to which it refers. Given the higher utilitarian aim of the l., it is understandable that its content is ideally amplified because it serves as a synthesizing symbol of the group’s history and as a norm for its action. From this point of view, the l. possesses a profound truth of its own, inasmuch as it is a mirror of the popular soul and of its aspirations.
II. CHARACTER OF THE L
It is simple as a narrative because this is what the popular mentality requires, since it loves to syn-
thesize in a few lines the whole of the group’s fundamental institutions.
The l. may also be transposed, that is, applied to another personage and another setting, while the fundamental theme remains unchanged: for example, the Christian l. of the ss. Barlaam and Joasaph is the transposition of the l. of the Buddha in search of his enlightenment; or it may be transformed into another account of a different nature and value. Thus Gog, king of the land of Magog (Ez., 38-39), who fights against the kingdom of Israel but is defeated, becomes, through the contamination of his l. with that of Alexander the Great, the leader of a barbarian people whom Alexander has shut behind an iron wall in a territory of Central Asia, from which they will emerge at the end of the world to lend support to the Antichrist.
III. THEMES OF THE L
By the theme or motif of the l. is meant its elementary plot. Themes are not necessarily linked to a geographical area, a race, or a cultural region, but are found spread across vast areas which, for tales (that is, l. lacking a historical connection and a religious or utilitarian purpose), may nevertheless be distributed among the following thematic zones: northern Europe and Asia; central Europe; the Mediterranean basin and the Niger basin; the Congo basin; the Far East, together with Tibet, India, and Indonesia; Oceania; Australia (van Gennep).There are, however, certain themes found in each of these zones, and which may therefore properly be called universal. Above all, these are themes connected with magical beliefs and practices characteristic of the primitive mentality, which survive even among culturally advanced civilizations. Such are the theme of the marvelous object (whoever possesses the object can perform astonishing feats), the theme of the taboo of the name (to know a person’s true name is to hold that person’s life in one’s hands), and the theme of the magic word (whoever knows it is capable of creating and destroying). In these universal themes the details may vary (for example, the object may here be a ring, there a rod or a little bag, etc.), but the motif remains identical.
IV. CLASSIFICATION OF THE L
The l. are naturalistic, intended to explain the phenomena of the natural world: sky, earth, vegetation, etc. (v. MITO); supernatural, when they refer to beings of a superhuman nature: heroes, demons, etc., to whom the primitive mentality is inclined to attribute the effects of causes that elude it; or they exalt the few reliable facts of history (as in the legend of the Buddha, which the Indian poet Ashvagosh celebrated in verse) insofar as these are to serve as norms for the moral life of the individual or group; or they see in the sublimated figure the type of the national hero, as the Greeks did with the figure of Eracle, born of the love of Zeus and Alcmena, exceedingly strong from the cradle, where he strangled two serpents sent against him by Era, victor over twelve labors, and, after death upon a pyre that he himself had prepared, elevated among the gods of Olympus; and historical.V. L. STORICHE. — These are those in which popular imagination deforms the facts of reality, magnifying them by exalting or diminishing them, in order to supplement information about the origins of a given people, the deeds it accomplished at a given moment, and the circumstances that determined the establishment of particular customs or rites. They tend to synthesize, by referring them to a single person and presenting them in broad lines that are intuitively clear and easy to remember, everything relating to the origins and early history of the group. Thus Romolo is the son of Marte, the national god of the Romans, and of Rhea Silvia, the Vestal who connects Rome with Alba Longa; he asserts his supremacy over Lazio, founds the city according to the traditional rite on 21 Apr., lives on the Palatino, where his house is displayed, and finally disappears in a cloud, becoming the indigete deity of his homeland. The same may be said of Numa as institutor of the priesthoods and sacred rites. Naturally, in order to fulfill this normative function, the l. magnifies certain elements, suppresses others, and connects places with precise memories relating to the hero whom it wishes to exalt. Epic l. too have a historical basis, insofar as they arise around a real event, which they develop in a manner congenial to the character of the people
and all redounding to his honor, even though the events unfolded in an entirely different manner. Thus the episode of the defeat at Roncisvalle (788)—in which the rear guard of Carlomagno was overcome by the attack of the Guasconi—is attributed in the Chanson de Roland to the treachery of Garellone, who, offended at having been placed behind Orlando, hurls it against the Saracen army, which the Emperor will naturally ultimately defeat, exacting just revenge upon the traitor.
VI. DIFFUSION OF THE L
Born among the people, it is carried about by shepherds, merchants, soldiers, and pilgrims. Centers of encounter and dissemination are inns, monasteries, and sanctuaries, where travelers stop and which become sites of fairs and markets, with performances of songs exalting the heroes or patron saints of the locality. J. Bedier demonstrated that the chansons de geste spread precisely through the stages along pilgrimage routes: to S. Giacomo di Compostella, Rome, and Jerusalem.Historical and epic legends remain alive until the abandonment or destruction of the places associated with them, changes in surroundings brought about by the progress of culture, or the superimposition of other peoples. Having declined from their privileged position, they may remain alive in novella literature or be preserved through the work of poets. Thus the exploits of the paladin Orlando, and generally those of the Carolingian cycle, live again, albeit in altered form, in the poems of Pulci, Boiardo, and Ariosto.
VII. HAGIOGRAPHIC LEGENDS
From the Greek ἄγιος = holy, these are legends of the supernatural type that refer to the life and work of some martyr or hero of sanctity. All normative religions (Judaism, Islam, Buddhism) can boast of them, but Christianity possesses the greatest number and has made them the object of more careful and profound study.Hagiographic legends too, although containing fantastic elements, are connected with reality through some historical or topographical element. Thus, in the Roman Forum, the Mamertine Prison gave rise to the legend of Peter’s imprisonment there; and, likewise in the valley of the Forum, within the church of S. Maria Nova, there is preserved a travertine slab bearing the supposed imprints of the knees of St Peter, who, while praying there, is said to have triumphed over Simon Magus, who had claimed that he could fly by the power of magic.
The hagiographic legend may transfer older elements, even non-Christian ones, to Christian figures, without being overly concerned with geography and history. Thus, the significant legend of Domine qua vadis was perhaps localized at that point on the Appian Way because nearby stood the sanctuary of the god Rediculus, which recalled a return beneficial to the city—namely, that of Hannibal, who was advancing menacingly (though in reality not from that place) against Rome. The story of SS Barlaam and Joasaph (= Bodhisattva) is likewise an adaptation of the legend of Buddha: Joasaph, the young son of an Indian king, lives, by order of his father, isolated in a palace of delights that is intended to conceal from him the world’s suffering; one day, leaving it secretly from his father, he encounters, as in the legend of Buddha, a blind man, a leper, and a corpse, and is deeply troubled by them. But the Christian ascetic Barlaam, disguised as a merchant, appears before him, converts him to Christianity, and persuades him to devote himself to the ascetic life in the desert (v. BARLAAM E JOASAF).
For the sources, method, and various periods of the work of historical criticism concerning Christian legends, V. AGIOGRAFIA. For the Acts of the Martyrs that constitute the foundation of the legendary, their classification according to their regions of origin, and their varying historical value, V. ATTI DEI MARTIRI.