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Andreas Meier
Michael Kaufmann

SQL & NoSQL

Databases
Models, Languages, Consistency Options
and Architectures for Big Data Management
SQL & NoSQL Databases
Andreas Meier · Michael Kaufmann

SQL & NoSQL Databases

Models, Languages, Consistency
Options and Architectures for
Big Data Management
Andreas Meier Michael Kaufmann
Department für Informatik Departement für Informatik
Universität Fribourg Hochschule Luzern
Fribourg, Switzerland Rotkreuz, Switzerland

Translated from German by Anja Kreutel.

ISBN 978-3-658-24548-1 ISBN 978-3-658-24549-8 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-24549-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019935851

Springer Vieweg
© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the
material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage
and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or
hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does
not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective
laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer Vieweg imprint is published by the registered company Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH
part of Springer Nature
The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany
Foreword

The term “database” has long since become part of people’s everyday vocabulary, for
managers and clerks as well as students of most subjects. They use it to describe a logi-
cally organized collection of electronically stored data that can be directly searched and
viewed. However, they are generally more than happy to leave the whys and hows of its
inner workings to the experts.
Users of databases are rarely aware of the immaterial and concrete business values
contained in any individual database. This applies as much to a car importer’s spare parts
inventory as to the IT solution containing all customer depots at a bank or the patient
information system of a hospital. Yet failure of these systems, or even cumulative errors,
can threaten the very existence of the respective company or institution. For that rea-
son, it is important for a much larger audience than just the “database specialists” to be
well-informed about what is going on. Anyone involved with databases should under-
stand what these tools are effectively able to do and which conditions must be created
and maintained for them to do so.
Probably the most important aspect concerning databases involves (a) the distinction
between their administration and the data stored in them (user data) and (b) the economic
magnitude of these two areas. Database administration consists of various technical and
administrative factors, from computers, database systems, and additional storage to the
experts setting up and maintaining all these components—the aforementioned database
specialists. It is crucial to keep in mind that the administration is by far the smaller part
of standard database operation, constituting only about a quarter of the entire efforts.
Most of the work and expenses concerning databases lie in gathering, maintaining,
and utilizing the user data. This includes the labor costs for all employees who enter data
into the database, revise it, retrieve information from the database, or create files using
this information. In the above examples, this means warehouse employees, bank tellers,
or hospital personnel in a wide variety of fields—usually for several years.
In order to be able to properly evaluate the importance of the tasks connected with
data maintenance and utilization on the one hand and database administration on the
other hand, it is vital to understand and internalize this difference in the effort required

v
vi Foreword

for each of them. Database administration starts with the design of the database, which
already touches on many specialized topics such as determining the consistency checks
for data manipulation or regulating data redundancies, which are as undesirable on the
logical level as they are essential on the storage level. The development of database solu-
tions is always targeted at their later use, so ill-considered decisions in the development
process may have a permanent impact on everyday operations. Finding ideal solutions,
such as the golden mean between too strict and too flexible when determining consist-
ency conditions, may require some experience. Unduly strict conditions will interfere
with regular operations, while excessively lax rules will entail a need for repeated expen-
sive data repairs.
To avoid such issues, it is invaluable that anyone concerned with database develop-
ment and operation, whether in management or as a database specialist, gain systematic
insight into this field of computer sciences. The table of contents gives an overview of
the wide variety of topics covered in this book. The title already shows that, in addition
to an in-depth explanation of the field of conventional databases (relational model, SQL),
the book also provides highly educational information about current advancements and
related fields, the keywords being “NoSQL” or “post-relational” and “Big Data.” I am
confident that the newest edition of this book will, once again, be well received by both
students and professionals—its authors are quite familiar with both groups.

Carl August Zehnder

Preface

It is remarkable how stable some concepts are in the field of databases. Information
technology is generally known to be subject to rapid development, bringing forth new
technologies at an unbelievable pace. However, this is only superficially the case. Many
aspects of computer science do not essentially change at all. This includes not only the
basics, such as the functional principles of universal computing machines, processors,
compilers, operating systems, databases and information systems, and distributed sys-
tems, but also computer language technologies such as C, TCP/IP, or HTML, which are
decades old but in many ways provide a stable fundament of the global, earth-spanning
information system known as the World Wide Web. Likewise, the SQL language has
been in use for over four decades and will remain so in the foreseeable future. The the-
ory of relational database systems was initiated in the 1970s by Codd (relation model
and normal forms), Chen (entity and relationship model) and Chamberlin and Boyce
(SEQUEL). However, these technologies have a major impact on the practice of data
management today. Especially, with the Big Data revolution and the widespread use of
data science methods for decision support, relational databases, and the use of SQL for
data analysis are actually becoming more important. Even though sophisticated statistics
and machine learning are enhancing the possibilities for knowledge extraction from data,
many if not most data analyses for decision support rely on descriptive statistics using
SQL for grouped aggregation. In that sense, although SQL database technology is quite
mature, it is more relevant today than ever.
Nevertheless, a lot has changed in the area of database systems lately over the years.
Especially the developments in the Big Data ecosystem brought new technologies into
the world of databases, to which we pay enough attention to. The nonrelational database
technologies, which are finding more and more fields of application under the generic
term NoSQL, differ not only superficially from the classical relational databases, but
also in the underlying principles. Relational databases were developed in the twentieth
century with the purpose of enabling tightly organized, operational forms of data man-
agement, which provided stability but limited flexibility. In contrast, the NoSQL data-
base movement emerged in the beginning of the current century, focusing on horizontal

vii
viii Preface

partitioning and schema flexibility, and with the goal of solving the Big Data problems
of volume, variety, and velocity, especially in Web-scale data systems. This has far-
reaching consequences and has led to a new approach in data management, which devi-
ates significantly from the previous theories on the basic concept of databases: the way
data is modeled, how data is queried and manipulated, how data consistency is handled,
and the system architecture. This is why we compare these two worlds, SQL and NoSQL
databases, from different perspectives in all chapters.
We have also launched a website called sql-nosql.org, where we share teaching and
tutoring materials such as slides, tutorials for SQL and Cypher, case studies, a work-
bench for MySQL and Neo4j, so that language training can be done either with SQL or
with Cypher, the graph-oriented query language of the NoSQL database Neo4j.
At this point, we would like to thank Anja Kreutel for her great effort and success
in translating the eighth edition of the German textbook to English. We also thank
Alexander Denzler and Marcel Wehrle for the development of the workbench for rela-
tional and graph-oriented databases. For the redesign of the graphics, we were able to
win Thomas Riediker and we thank him for his tireless efforts. He has succeeded in giv-
ing the pictures a modern style and an individual touch. For the further development
of the tutorials and case studies, which are available on the website sql-nosql.org, we
thank the computer science students Andreas Waldis, Bettina Willi, Markus Ineichen,
and Simon Studer for their contributions to the tutorial in Cypher and to the case study
Travelblitz with OpenOffice Base and with Neo4J. For the feedback on the manuscript
we thank Alexander Denzler, Daniel Fasel, Konrad Marfurt, and Thomas Olnhoff, for
their willingness to contribute to the quality of our work with their hints. A big thank you
goes to Sybille Thelen, Dorothea Glaunsinger, and Hermann Engesser of Springer, who
have supported us with patience and expertise.

February 2019 Andreas Meier

Michael Kaufmann
Contents

1 Data Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Information Systems and Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 SQL Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.1 Relational Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.2 Structured Query Language (SQL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.3 Relational Database Management System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 Big Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 NoSQL Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.4.1 Graph-based Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.4.2 Graph Query Language Cypher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.4.3 NoSQL Database Management System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.5 Organization of Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.6 Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2 Data Modeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1 From Data Analysis to Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2 The Entity-Relationship Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.1 Entities and Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.2 Association Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2.3 Generalization and Aggregation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.3 Implementation in the Relational Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3.1 Dependencies and Normal Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3.2 Mapping Rules for Relational Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.3.3 Structural Integrity Constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.4 Implementation in the Graph Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.4.1 Graph Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.4.2 Mapping Rules for Graph Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
2.4.3 Structural Integrity Constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2.5 Enterprise-Wide Data Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

ix
x Contents

2.6 Formula for Database Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

2.7 Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3 Database Languages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.1 Interacting with Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.2 Relational Algebra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.2.1 Overview of Operators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.2.2 Set Operators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3.2.3 Relational Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.3 Relationally Complete Languages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
3.3.1 SQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
3.3.2 QBE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
3.4 Graph-based Languages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
3.4.1 Cypher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.5 Embedded Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
3.5.1 Cursor Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
3.5.2 Stored Procedures and Stored Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
3.5.3 JDBC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
3.5.4 Embedding Graph-based Languages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
3.6 Handling NULL Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
3.7 Integrity Constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.8 Data Protection Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
3.9 Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
4 Ensuring Data Consistency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.1 Multi-User Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.2 Transaction Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.2.1 ACID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.2.2 Serializability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4.2.3 Pessimistic Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
4.2.4 Optimistic Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
4.2.5 Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.3 Consistency in Massive Distributed Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.3.1 BASE and the CAP Theorem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.3.2 Nuanced Consistency Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
4.3.3 Vector Clocks for the Serialization of Distributed Events. . . . . . . . 137
4.4 Comparing ACID and BASE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
4.5 Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
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Contents xi

5 System Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

5.1 Processing of Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.2 Storage and Access Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.2.1 Indexes and Tree Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.2.2 Hashing Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.2.3 Consistent Hashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.2.4 Multidimensional Data Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
5.3 Translation and Optimization of Relational Queries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5.3.1 Creation of Query Trees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5.3.2 Optimization by Algebraic Transformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
5.3.3 Calculation of Join Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.4 Parallel Processing with MapReduce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
5.5 Layered Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
5.6 Use of Different Storage Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
5.7 Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6 Postrelational Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.1 The Limits of SQL—and Beyond. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.2 Federated Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.3 Temporal Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
6.4 Multidimensional Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
6.5 Data Warehouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
6.6 Object-Relational Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6.7 Knowledge Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
6.8 Fuzzy Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
6.9 Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7 NoSQL Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
7.1 Development of Nonrelational Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
7.2 Key-Value Stores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
7.3 Column-Family Stores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.4 Document Stores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
7.5 XML Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
7.6 Graph Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
7.7 Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Architecture and components of information systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fig. 1.2 Table structure for an EMPLOYEE table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Fig. 1.3 EMPLOYEE table with manifestations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Fig. 1.4 Formulating a query in SQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Fig. 1.5 The difference between descriptive and procedural languages. . . . . . . . 8
Fig. 1.6 Basic structure of a relational database management system . . . . . . . . . 9
Fig. 1.7 Variety of sources for Big Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Fig. 1.8 Section of a property graph on movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Fig. 1.9 Section of a graph database on movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Fig. 1.10 Basic structure of a NoSQL database management system. . . . . . . . . . . 17
Fig. 1.11 Three different NoSQL databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Fig. 1.12 The four cornerstones of data management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Fig. 2.1 The three steps necessary for data modeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Fig. 2.2 EMPLOYEE entity set. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Fig. 2.3 INVOLVED relationship between employees and projects. . . . . . . . . . . 29
Fig. 2.4 Entity-relationship model with association types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Fig. 2.5 Overview of the possible cardinalities of relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Fig. 2.6 Generalization, illustrated by EMPLOYEE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Fig. 2.7 Network-like aggregation, illustrated by
CORPORATION_STRUCTURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Fig. 2.8 Hierarchical aggregation, illustrated by ITEM_LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Fig. 2.9 Redundant and anomaly-prone table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Fig. 2.10 Overview of normal forms and their definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Fig. 2.11 Tables in first and second normal forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Fig. 2.12 Transitive dependency and the third normal form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Fig. 2.13 Table with multivalued dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Fig. 2.14 Improper splitting of a PURCHASE table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Fig. 2.15 Tables in fifth normal form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Fig. 2.16 Mapping entity and relationship sets onto tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

xiii
xiv List of Figures

Fig. 2.17 Mapping rule for complex-complex relationship sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Fig. 2.18 Mapping rule for unique-complex relationship sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Fig. 2.19 Mapping rule for unique-unique relationship sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Fig. 2.20 Generalization represented by tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Fig. 2.21 Network-like corporation structure represented by tables. . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Fig. 2.22 Hierarchical item list represented by tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Fig. 2.23 Ensuring referential integrity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Fig. 2.24 A Eulerian cycle for crossing 13 bridges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Fig. 2.25 Iterative procedure for creating the set Sk(v). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Fig. 2.26 Shortest subway route from stop v0 to stop v7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Fig. 2.27 Construction of a Voronoi cell using half-spaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Fig. 2.28 Dividing line T between two Voronoi diagrams
VD(M1) and VD(M2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Fig. 2.29 Sociogram of a middle school class as a graph and as
an adjacency matrix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Fig. 2.30 Balanced (B1–B4) and unbalanced (U1–U4) triads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Fig. 2.31 Mapping entity and relationship sets onto graphs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Fig. 2.32 Mapping rule for network-like relationship sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Fig. 2.33 Mapping rule for hierarchical relationship sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Fig. 2.34 Mapping rule for unique-unique relationship sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Fig. 2.35 Generalization as a tree-shaped partial graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Fig. 2.36 Network-like corporation structure represented as a graph. . . . . . . . . . . 74
Fig. 2.37 Hierarchical item list as a tree-shaped partial graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Fig. 2.38 Abstraction steps of enterprise-wide data architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Fig. 2.39 Data-oriented view of business units. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Fig. 2.40 From rough to detailed in ten design steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Fig. 3.1 SQL as an example for database language use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Fig. 3.2 Set union, set intersection, set difference,
and Cartesian product of relations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Fig. 3.3 Projection, selection, join, and division of relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Fig. 3.4 Union-compatible tables SPORTS_CLUB and PHOTO_CLUB. . . . . . . 89
Fig. 3.5 Set union of the two tables SPORTS_CLUB and PHOTO_CLUB. . . . . 90
Fig. 3.6 COMPETITION relation as an example of Cartesian products. . . . . . . . 91
Fig. 3.7 Sample projection on EMPLOYEE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Fig. 3.8 Examples of selection operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Fig. 3.9 Join of two tables with and without a join predicate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Fig. 3.10 Example of a divide operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Fig. 3.11 Recursive relationship as entity-relationship model
and as graph with node and edge types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Fig. 3.12 Unexpected results from working with NULL values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Fig. 3.13 Truth tables for three-valued logic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
List of Figures xv

Fig. 3.14 Definition of declarative integrity constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Fig. 3.15 Definition of views as part of data protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Fig. 4.1 Conflicting posting transactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Fig. 4.2 Analyzing a log using a precedence graph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Fig. 4.3 Sample two-phase locking protocol for the transaction TRX_1 . . . . . . . 129
Fig. 4.4 Conflict-free posting transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Fig. 4.5 Serializability condition for TRX_1 not met. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Fig. 4.6 Restart of a database system after an error. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Fig. 4.7 The three possible combinations under the CAP theorem. . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Fig. 4.8 Ensuring consistency in replicated systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Fig. 4.9 Vector clocks showing causalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Fig. 4.10 Comparing ACID and BASE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Fig. 5.1 Processing a data stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Fig. 5.2 B-tree with dynamic changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Fig. 5.3 Hash function using the division method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Fig. 5.4 Ring with objects assigned to nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Fig. 5.5 Dynamic changes in the computer network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Fig. 5.6 Dynamic partitioning of a grid index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Fig. 5.7 Query tree of a qualified query on two tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Fig. 5.8 Algebraically optimized query tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Fig. 5.9 Computing a join with nesting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Fig. 5.10 Going through tables in sorting order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Fig. 5.11 Determining the frequencies of search terms with MapReduce . . . . . . . 162
Fig. 5.12 Five-layer model for relational database systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Fig. 5.13 Use of SQL and NoSQL databases in an online store. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Fig. 6.1 Horizontal fragmentation of the EMPLOYEE and
DEPARTMENT tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Fig. 6.2 Optimized query tree for a distributed join strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Fig. 6.3 EMPLOYEE table with data type DATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Fig. 6.4 Excerpt from a temporal table TEMP_EMPLOYEE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Fig. 6.5 Data cube with different analysis dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Fig. 6.6 Star schema for a multidimensional database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Fig. 6.7 Implementation of a star schema using the relational model. . . . . . . . . . 179
Fig. 6.8 Data warehouse in the context of business intelligence processes. . . . . . 182
Fig. 6.9 Query of a structured object with and without
implicit join operator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Fig. 6.10 BOOK_OBJECT table with attributes of the relation type. . . . . . . . . . . 185
Fig. 6.11 Object-relational mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Fig. 6.12 Comparison of tables and facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Fig. 6.13 Analyzing tables and facts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Fig. 6.14 Derivation of new information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
xvi List of Figures

Fig. 6.15 Classification matrix with the attributes Revenue and Loyalty. . . . . . . . 192
Fig. 6.16 Fuzzy partitioning of domains with membership functions. . . . . . . . . . . 194
Fig. 7.1 Massively distributed key-value store with sharding and
hash-based key distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Fig. 7.2 Storing data in the Bigtable model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Fig. 7.3 Example of a document store. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Fig. 7.4 Illustration of an XML document represented by tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Fig. 7.5 Schema of a native XML database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Fig. 7.6 Example of a graph database with user data of a website. . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Data Management
1

1.1 Information Systems and Databases

The evolution from an industrial to an information and knowledge society is represented

by the assessment of information as a factor in production. The following characteristics
distinguish information from material goods:

• Representation: Information is specified by data (signs, signals, messages, or lan-

guage elements).
• Processing: Information can be transmitted, stored, categorized, found, or converted
into other representation formats using algorithms and data structures (calculation
rules).
• Combination: Information can be freely combined. The origin of individual parts
cannot be traced. Manipulation is possible at any point.
• Age: Information is not subject to physical aging processes.
• Original: Information can be copied without limit and does not distinguish between
original and copy.
• Vagueness: Information is unclear, i.e., often imprecise and of differing
validities (quality).
• Medium: Information does not require a fixed medium and is, therefore, independent
of location.

These properties clearly show that digital goods (information, software, multime-
dia, etc.), i.e., data, are vastly different from material goods in both handling and eco-
nomic or legal evaluation. A good example is the loss in value that physical products
often experience when they are used—the shared use of information, on the other hand,
may increase its value. Another difference lies in the potentially high production costs

© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2019 1

A. Meier and M. Kaufmann, SQL & NoSQL Databases,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-24549-8_1
2 1 Data Management

for material goods, while information can be multiplied easily and at significantly lower
costs (with only computing power and a storage medium). This causes difficulties in
determining property rights and ownership, even though digital watermarks and other
privacy and security measures are available.
Considering data as the basis of information as a production factor in a company has
significant consequences:

• Basis for decision-making: Data allows well-informed decisions, making it vital for
all organizational functions.
• Quality level: Data can be available from different sources; information quality
depends on the availability, correctness, and completeness of the data.
• Need for investments: Data gathering, storage, and processing cause work and
expenses.
• Degree of integration: Fields and holders of duties within any organization are con-
nected by informational relations, meaning that the fulfillment of said duties largely
depends on the degree of data integration.

Once data is viewed as a factor in production, it has to be planned, governed, monitored,

and controlled. This makes it necessary to see data management as a task for the exec-
utive level, inducing a major change within the company: In addition to the technical
function of operating the information and communication infrastructure (production),
planning and design of data flows (application portfolio) are crucial.
As shown in Fig. 1.1, an information system enables users to store and connect infor-
mation interactively, to ask questions, and to obtain answers. Depending on the type
of information system, acceptable questions may be limited. There are, however, open

Information System

Software system
with
Knowledge base
User
 User guidance
 Dialog design Request
 Query language
Method database  Manipulation
Communication network Response
or WWW language
 Research help
 Access permissions
Database  Data protection

Fig. 1.1  Architecture and components of information systems

1.2 SQL Databases 3

information systems and online platforms in the World Wide Web that use search engines
to process arbitrary queries.
The computer-based information system in Fig. 1.1 is connected to a communication
network/the World Wide Web in order to allow for online research and global informa-
tion exchange in addition to company-specific analyses. Any information system of a
certain size uses database technologies to avoid the necessity to redevelop data manage-
ment and analysis every time it is used.
Database management systems are software for application-independently describ-
ing, storing, and querying data. All database management systems contain a storage and
a management component. The storage component includes all data stored in an organ-
ized form plus their description. The management component contains a query and data
manipulation language for evaluating and editing the data and information. This compo-
nent does not only serve as the user interface, but also manages access and editing per-
missions for users.
SQL databases (SQL = Structured Query Language, cf., Sect. 1.2) are the most com-
mon in practical use. However, providing real-time web-based services referencing het-
erogeneous data sets is especially challenging (Sect. 1.3 on Big Data) and calls for new
solutions such as NoSQL approaches (Sect. 1.4). When deciding whether to use rela-
tional or nonrelational technologies, the pros and cons have to be considered carefully—
in some use cases, it may even be ideal to combine different technologies (cf., operating
a web shop in Sect. 5.6). Depending on the database architecture of choice, data manage-
ment within the company must be established and developed with the support of quali-
fied experts (Sect. 1.5). References for further reading are listed in Sect. 1.6.

1.2 SQL Databases

1.2.1 Relational Model

One of the simplest and most intuitive ways to collect and present data is in a table. Most
tabular data sets can be read and understood without additional explanations.
To collect information about employees, a table structure as shown in Fig. 1.2 can
be used. The all-capitalized table name EMPLOYEE refers to the entire table, while the
individual columns are given the desired attribute names as headers; in this example, the
employee number “E#,” the employeeʼs name “Name,” and their city of residence “City.”
An attribute assigns a specific data value from a predefined value range called domain
as a property to each entry in the table. In the EMPLOYEE table, the attribute E# allows
individual employees to be uniquely identified, making it the key of the table. To mark
key attributes more clearly, they are italicized in the table headers throughout this book.
The attribute City is used to label the respective places of residence and the attribute
Name for the names of the respective employees (Fig. 1.3).
4 1 Data Management

Table name

EMPLOYEE Attribute
E# Name City

Key attribute

Fig. 1.2  Table structure for an EMPLOYEE table

Column
EMPLOYEE

E# Name Ort
E19 Stewart Stow

E4 Bell Kent

E1 Murphy Kent

E7 Howard Cleveland

Data value Record

(row or tuple)

Fig. 1.3  EMPLOYEE table with manifestations

The required information of the employees can now easily be entered row by row.
In the columns, values may appear more than once. In our example, Kent is listed as
the place of residence of two employees. This is an important fact, telling us that both
employee Murphy and employee Bell live in Kent. In our EMPLOYEE table, not only
cities, but also employee names may exist multiple times. For this reason, the aforemen-
tioned key attribute E# is required to uniquely identify each employee in the table.

u Identification key The identification key or just key of a table is one attribute or a min-
imal combination of attributes whose values uniquely identify the records (called rows or
tuples) within the table.
1.2 SQL Databases 5

This short definition lets us infer two important properties of keys:

• Uniqueness: Each key value uniquely identifies one record within the table, i.e., dif-
ferent tuples must not have identical keys.
• Minimality: If the key is a combination of attributes, this combination must be mini-
mal, i.e., no attribute can be removed from the combination without eliminating the
unique identification.

The requirements of uniqueness and minimality fully characterize an identification key.

Instead of a natural attribute or a combination of natural attributes, an artificial attrib-
ute can be introduced into the table as key. The employee number E# in our example is
an artificial attribute, as it is not a natural characteristic of the employees.
While we are hesitant to include artificial keys or numbers as identifying attributes,
especially when the information in question is personal, natural keys often result in
issues with uniqueness and/or privacy. For example, if a key is constructed from parts
of the name and the date of birth, it may not necessarily be unique. Moreover, natural or
intelligent keys divulge information about the respective person, potentially infringing on
their privacy.
Due to these considerations, artificial keys should be defined application-independent
and without semantics (meaning, informational value). As soon as any information can
be deduced from the data values of a key, there is room for interpretation. Additionally, it
is quite possible that the originally well-defined principle behind the key values changes
or is lost over time.

u Table definition To summarize, a table or relation is a set of tuples presented in tabu-

lar form and meeting the following requirements:

• Table name: A table has a unique table name.

• Attribute name: All attribute names are unique within a table and label one spe-
cific column with the required property.
• No column order: The number of attributes is not set, and the order of the col-
umns within the table does not matter.
• No row order: The number of tuples is not set, and the order of the rows within
the table does not matter.
• Identification key: One attribute or a combination of attributes uniquely identifies
the tuples within the table and is declared the identification key.

According to this definition, the relational model considers each table as a set of unor-
dered tuples.

u Relational model The relational model represents both data and relationships
between data as tables. Mathematically speaking, any relation R is simply a subset of a
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6 1 Data Management

Cartesian product of domains: R ⊆ D1 × D2 × … × Dn with Di as the domain of the i-th

attribute/property. Any tuple r is, therefore, a set of specific data values or manifesta-
tions, r = (d1, d2, …, dn). Please note that this definition means that any tuple may only
exist once within any table, i.e., R = {r1, r2, …, rm}.

The relational model is based on the work of Edgar Frank Codd from the early 1970s.
This was the foundation for the first relational database systems, created in research
facilities and supporting SQL or similar database languages. Today, their sophisticated
successors are firmly established in many practical uses.

1.2.2 Structured Query Language (SQL)

As explained, the relational model presents information in tabular form, where each table
is a set of tuples (or records) of the same type. Seeing all the data as sets makes it pos-
sible to offer query and manipulation options based on sets.
The result of a selective operation, for example, is a set, i.e., each search result is
returned by the database management system as a table. If no tuples of the scanned table
show the respective properties, the user gets a blank results table. Manipulation opera-
tions similarly target sets and affect an entire table or individual table sections.
The primary query and data manipulation language for tables is called Structured
Query Language, usually shortened to SQL (see Fig. 1.4). It was standardized by
ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and ISO (International Organization for
Standardization)1.
SQL is a descriptive language, as the statements describe the desired result instead of
the necessary computing steps. SQL queries follow a basic pattern as illustrated by the
query in Fig. 1.4:
“SELECT the attribute Name FROM the EMPLOYEE table WHERE the city is
Kent.”
A SELECT-FROM-WHERE query can apply to one or several tables and always gen-
erates a table as a result. In our example, the query would yield a results table with the
names Bell and Murphy, as desired.
The set-based method offers users a major advantage, since a single SQL query can
trigger multiple actions within the database management system. It is not necessary for
users to program all searches themselves.
Relational query and data manipulation languages are descriptive. Users get the
desired results by merely setting the requested properties in the SELECT expres-
sion. They do not have to provide the procedure for computing the required records.

1ANSI is the national standards organization of the US. The national standardization organizations
are part of ISO.
1.2 SQL Databases 7

EMPLOYEE
E# Name City
E19 Stewart Stow
E4 Bell Kent
E1 Murphy Kent
E7 Howard Cleveland

Example query:
“Select the names of the employees living in Kent.”

Formulation with SQL: Results table:

SELECT Name Name
FROM EMPLOYEE
WHERE City = ‘Kent’ Bell
Murphy

Fig. 1.4  Formulating a query in SQL

The database management system takes on this task, processes the query or manipulation
with its own search and access methods, and generates the results table.
With procedural database languages, on the other hand, the methods for retrieving the
requested information must be programmed by the user. In this case, each query yields
only one record, not a set of tuples.
With its descriptive query formula, SQL requires only the specification of the desired
selection conditions in the WHERE clause, while procedural languages require the user
to specify an algorithm for finding the individual records. As an example, let us take a
look at a query language for hierarchical databases (see Fig. 1.5): For our initial oper-
ation, we use GET_FIRST to search for the first record that meets our search criteria.
Next, we access all other corresponding records individually with the command GET_
NEXT until we reach the end of the file or a new hierarchy level within the database.
Overall, we can conclude that procedural database management languages use record-
based or navigating commands to manipulate collections of data, requiring some experi-
ence and knowledge of the databaseʼs inner structure from the users. Occasional users
basically cannot independently access and use the contents of a database. Unlike proce-
dural languages, relational query and manipulation languages do not require the specifi-
cation of access paths, processing procedures, or navigational routes, which significantly
reduces the development effort for database utilization.
If database queries and analyses are to be done by company departments and end
users instead of IT, the descriptive approach is extremely useful. Research on descriptive
8 1 Data Management

Natural language:

“Select the names of the employees living in Kent.”

Descriptive language:

SELECT Name
FROM EMPLOYEE
WHERE City = ‘Kent’

Procedural language:

get first EMPLOYEE

search argument (City = ‘Kent’)
while status = 0 do
begin
print (Name)
get next EMPLOYEE
search argument (City = ‘Kent’)
end

Fig. 1.5  The difference between descriptive and procedural languages

database interfaces has shown that even occasional users have a high probability of suc-
cessfully executing the desired analyses using descriptive language elements. Figure 1.5
also illustrates the similarities between SQL and natural language. In fact, there are mod-
ern relational database management systems that can be accessed with natural language.

1.2.3 Relational Database Management System

Databases are used in the development and operation of information systems in order to
store data centrally, permanently, and in a structured manner.
As shown in Fig. 1.6, relational database management systems are integrated sys-
tems for the consistent management of tables. They offer service functionalities and the
descriptive language SQL for data description, selection, and manipulation.
Every relational database management system consists of a storage and a manage-
ment component. The storage component stores both data and the relationships between
pieces of information in tables. In addition to tables with user data from various applica-
tions, it contains the predefined system tables necessary for database operation. These
contain descriptive information and can be queried but not manipulated by users.
The management componentʼs most important part is the relational data definition,
selection, and manipulation language SQL. This component also contains service func-
tions for data restoration after errors, for data protection, and for backup.
Relational database management systems are common bases for businessesʼ informa-
tion systems and can be defined as follows:
1.2 SQL Databases 9

Relational Database System



+


 Data and relationships in tables
 Metadata in system tables

 Query and manipulation language SQL

 Special functions (recovery, reorganization,
security, data protection, etc.) with SQL

Fig. 1.6  Basic structure of a relational database management system

u Relational database management system Relational database management systems

(RDBMS) have the following properties:

• Model: The database model follows the relational model, i.e., all data and data
relations are represented in tables. Dependencies between attribute values of tuples
or multiple instances of data can be discovered (cf., normal forms in Sect. 2.3.1).
• Schema: The definitions of tables and attributes are stored in the relational data-
base schema. The schema further contains the definition of the identification keys
and rules for integrity assurance.
• Language: The database system includes SQL for data definition, selection, and
manipulation. The language component is descriptive and facilitates analyses and
programming tasks for users.
• Architecture: The system ensures extensive data independence, i.e., data and
applications are mostly segregated. This independence is reached by separating the
actual storage component from the user side using the management component.
Ideally, physical changes to relational databases are possible without the need to
adjust related applications.
• Multi-user operation: The system supports multi-user operation (Sect. 4.1), i.e.,
several users can query or manipulate the same database at the same time. The
RDBMS ensures that parallel transactions in one database do not interfere with
each other or, worse, with the correctness of data (Sect. 4.2).
• Consistency assurance: The database management system provides tools for
ensuring data integrity, i.e., the correct and uncompromised storage of data.
• Data security and data protection: The database management system pro-
vides mechanisms to protect data from destruction, loss, or unauthorized access
(Sect. 3.8).
10 1 Data Management

NoSQL database management systems meet these criteria only partially (Sect. 1.4.3 and
Chaps. 4 and 7). For this reason, most corporations, organizations, and especially SMEs
(small and medium enterprises) rely heavily on relational database management systems.
However, for spread-out web applications or applications handling Big Data, relational
database technology must be augmented with NoSQL technology in order to ensure
uninterrupted global access to these services.

1.3 Big Data

The term Big Data is used to label large volumes of data that push the limits of conven-
tional software. This data is usually unstructured (Sect. 5.1) and may originate from a
wide variety of sources: social media postings, e-mails, electronic archives with multi-
media content, search engine queries, document repositories of content management sys-
tems, sensor data of various kinds, rate developments at stock exchanges, traffic flow
data and satellite images, smart meters in household appliances, order, purchase, and
payment processes in online stores, e-health applications, monitoring systems, etc.
There is no binding definition for Big Data yet, but most data specialists will agree
on three v’s: volume (extensive amounts of data), variety (multiple formats, structured,
semi-structured, and unstructured data, Fig. 1.7), and velocity (high-speed and real-time
processing). Gartner Group’s IT glossary offers the following definition:

Multimedia

Text Graphics Image Audio Video

 Continuous text  City map  Photograph  Language  Film

 Structured text  Road map  Satellite image  Music  Animation
 Collection of  Technical  X-ray image,  Sounds  Ads
texts drawing etc.  Animal sounds  Phone
 Tags, etc.  3D graphics,  Synthetic conference, etc.
etc. sounds, etc.

Fig. 1.7  Variety of sources for Big Data

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 other side my household slaves, with collars splendid, two at our
heads, and two hawks; let also lie between us both the keen-edged
sword, as when we both one couch ascended; also five female thralls,
eight male slaves of gentle birth fostered with me."[48]

All were burnt together; yet Gudrun the widow continued motionless by the
corpse, and could not weep. The wives of the jarls came to console her, and
each of them told her own sorrows, all the calamities of great devastations
and the old life of barbarism.

"Then spoke Giaflang, Giuki's sister: 'Lo, up on earth I live most

loveless, who of five mates must see the ending, of daughters twain
and three sisters, of brethren eight, and abide behind lonely.' Then
spake Herborg, Queen of Hunland: 'Crueller tale have I to tell of my
seven sons, down in the Southlands, and the eight man, my mate,
felled in the death-mead. Father and mother, and four brothers on the
wide sea the winds and death played with; the billows beat on the
bulwark boards. Alone must I sing o'er them, alone must I array them,
alone must my hands deal with their departing; and all this was in one
season's wearing, and none was left for love or solace. Then was I
bound a prey of the battle when that same season wore to its ending;
as a tiring may must I bind the shoon of the duke's high dame, every
day at dawning. From her jealous hate gat I heavy mocking, cruel
lashes she laid upon me."[49]

All was in vain; no word could draw tears from those dry eyes. They were
obliged to lay the bloody corpse before her, ere her tears would come. Then
tears flowed through the pillow; as "the geese withal that were in the
home-field, the fair fowls the may owned, fell a-screaming." She would
have died, like Sigrun, on the corpse of him whom alone she had loved, if
they had not deprived her of memory by a magic potion. Thus affected, she
departs in order to marry Atli, king of the Huns; and yet she goes against
her will, with gloomy forebodings: for murder begets murder; and her
brothers, the murderers of Sigurd, having been drawn to Atli's court, fall in
their turn into a snare like that which they had themselves laid. Then
Gunnar was bound, and they tried to make him deliver up the treasure. He
answers with a barbarian's laugh:
 "'Högni's heart in my hand shall lie, cut bloody from the breast of the
valiant chief, the king's son, with a dull-edged knife.' They the heart cut
out from Hialli's breast; on a dish, bleeding, laid it, and it to Gunnar
bare. Then said Gunnar, lord of men: 'Here have I the heart of the
timid Hialli, unlike the heart of the bold Högni; for much it trembles as
in the dish it lies; it trembled more by half while in his breast it lay.'
Högni laughed when to his heart they cut the living crest-crasher; no
lament uttered he. All bleeding on a dish they laid it, and it to Gunnar
bare. Calmly said Gunnar, the warrior Niflung: 'Here have I the heart of
the bold Högni, unlike the heart of the timid Hialli; for it little trembles
as in the dish it lies: it trembled less while in his breast it lay. So far
shalt thou, Atli! be from the eyes of men as thou wilt from the
treasures be. In my power alone is all the hidden Niflung's gold, now
that Högni lives not. Ever was I wavering while we both lived: now am
I so no longer, as I alone survive.'"[50]

It was the last insult of the self-confident man, who values neither his own
life nor that of another, so that he can satiate his vengeance. They cast him
into the serpent's den, and there he died, striking his harp with his foot. But
the inextinguishable flame of vengeance passed from his heart to that of
his sister. Corpse after corpse fall on each other; a mighty fury hurls them
open-eyed to death. She killed the children she had by Atli, and one day on
his return from the carnage, gave him their hearts to eat, served in honey,
and laughed coldly as she told him on what he had fed. "Uproar was on the
benches, portentous the cry of men, noise beneath the costly hangings.
The children of the Huns wept; all wept save Gudrun, who never wept or
for her bear-fierce brothers, or for her dear sons, young, simple."[51] Judge
from this heap of ruin and carnage to what excess the will is strung. There
were men amongst them, Berserkirs,[52] who in battle seized with a sort of
madness, showed a sudden and superhuman strength, and ceased to feel
their wounds. This is the conception of a hero as engendered by this race in
its infancy. Is it not strange to see them place their happiness in battle,
their beauty in death? Is there any people, Hindoo, Persian, Greek, or
Gallic, which has formed so tragic a conception of life? Is there any which
has peopled its infantine mind with such gloomy dreams? Is there any
which has so entirely banished from its dreams the sweetness of
enjoyment, and the softness of pleasure? Endeavors, tenacious and
mournful endeavors, an ecstasy of endeavors—such was their chosen
condition. Carlyle said well, that in the sombre obstinacy of an English
laborer still survives the tacit rage of the Scandinavian warrior. Strife for
strife's sake—such is their pleasure. With what sadness, madness,
destruction, such a disposition breaks its bonds, we shall see in
Shakespeare and Byron; with what vigor and purpose it can limit and
employ itself when possessed by moral ideas, we shall see in the case of
the Puritans.

SECTION IV.—Saxon Heroes

They have established themselves in England; and however disordered the

society which binds them together, it is founded, as in Germany, on
generous sentiment. War is at every door, I am aware, but warlike virtues
are within every house; courage chiefly, then fidelity. Under the brute there
is a free man, and a man of spirit. There is no man amongst them who, at
his own risk,[53] will not make alliance, go forth to fight, undertake
adventures. There is no group of free men amongst them, who, in their
Witenagemote, is not forever concluding alliances one with another. Every
clan, in its own district, forms a league of which all the members, "brothers
of the sword," defend each other, and demand revenge for the spilling of
blood, at the price of their own. Every chief in his hall reckons that he has
friends, not mercenaries, in the faithful ones who drink his beer, and who,
having received as marks of his esteem and confidence, bracelets, swords,
and suits of armor, will cast themselves between him and danger on the
day of battle.[54] Independence and boldness rage amongst this young
nation with violence and excess; but these are of themselves noble things;
and no less noble are the sentiments which serve them for discipline—to
wit, an affectionate devotion, and respect for plighted faith. These appear
in their laws, and break forth in their poetry. Amongst them greatness of
heart gives matter for imagination. Their characters are not selfish and
shifty, like those of Homer. They are brave hearts, simple and strong,
faithful to their relatives, to their master in arms, firm and steadfast to
enemies and friends, abounding in courage, and ready for sacrifice. "Old as
I am," says one, "I will not budge hence. I mean to die by my lord's side,
near this man I have loved so much. He kept his word, the word he had
given to his chief, to the distributor of gifts, promising him that they should
return to the town, safe and sound to their homes, or that they would fall
both together, in the thick of the carnage, covered with wounds. He lies by
his master's side, like a faithful servant." Though awkward in speech, their
old poets find touching words when they have to paint these manly
friendships. We cannot without emotion hear them relate how the old "king
embraced the best of his thanes, and put his arms about his neck, how the
tears flowed down the cheeks of the gray-haired chief.... The valiant man
was so dear to him. He could not stop the flood which mounted from his
breast. In his heart, deep in the chords of his soul, he sighed in secret after
the beloved man." Few as are the songs which remain to us, they return to
this subject again and again. The wanderer in a reverie dreams about his
lord:[55] It seems to him in his spirit as if he kisses and embraces him, and
lays head and hands upon his knees, as oft before in the olden time, when
he rejoiced in his gifts. Then he wakes—a man without friends. He sees
before him the desert tracks, the seabirds dipping in the waves, stretching
wide their wings, the frost and the snow, mingled with falling hail. Then his
heart's wounds press more heavily. The exile says:

"In blithe habits full oft we, too, agreed that nought else should divide
us except death alone; at length this is changed, and as if it had never
been is now our friendship. To endure enmities man orders me to dwell
in the bowers of the forest, under the oak-tree in this earthy cave. Cold
is this earth-dwelling: I am quite wearied out. Dim are the dells, high
up are the mountains, a bitter city of twigs, with briars overgrown, a
joyless abode.... My friends are in the earth; those loved in life, the
tomb holds them. The grave is guarding, while I above alone am
going. Under the oak-tree, beyond this earth-cave, there I must sit the
long summer-day."

Amid their perilous mode of life, and the perpetual appeal to arms, there
exists no sentiment more warm than friendship, nor any virtue stronger
than loyalty.
Thus supported by powerful affection and trysted word, society is kept
wholesome. Marriage is like the state. We find women associating with the
men, at their feasts, sober and respected.[56] She speaks, and they listen to
her; no need for concealing or enslaving her, in order to restrain or retain
her. She is a person and not a thing. The law demands her consent to
marriage, surrounds her with guarantees, accords her protection. She can
inherit, possess, bequeath, appear in courts of justice, in county
assemblies, in the great congress of the elders. Frequently the name of the
queen and of several other ladies is inscribed in the proceedings of the
Witenagemote. Law and tradition maintain her integrity, as if she were a
man, and side by side with men. Her affections captivate her, as if she were
a man, and side by side with men. In Alfred[57] there is a portrait of the
wife, which for purity and elevation equals all that we can devise with our
modern refinements. "Thy wife now lives for thee—for thee alone. She has
enough of all kind of wealth for this present life, but she scorns them all for
thy sake alone. She has forsaken them all, because she had not thee with
them. Thy absence makes her think that all she possesses is nought. Thus,
for love of thee, she is wasted away, and lies near death for tears and
grief." Already, in the legends of the Edda, we have seen the maiden Sigrun
at the tomb of Helgi, "as glad as the voracious hawks of Odin, when they of
slaughter know, of warm prey," desiring to sleep still in the arms of death,
and die at last on his grave. Nothing here like the love we find in the
primitive poetry of France, Provence, Spain, and Greece. There is an
absence of gayety, of delight; outside of marriage it is only a ferocious
appetite, an outbreak of the instinct of the beast. It appears nowhere with
its charm and its smile; there is no love-song in this ancient poetry. The
reason is, that with them love is not an amusement and a pleasure, but a
promise and a devotion. All is grave, even sombre, in civil relations as well
as in conjugal society. As in Germany, amid the sadness of a melancholic
temperament and the savagery of a barbarous life, the most tragic human
faculties, the deep power of love and the grand power of will, are the only
ones that sway and act.
This is why the hero, as in Germany, is truly heroic. Let us speak of him at
length; we possess one of their poems, that of Beowulf, almost entire. Here
are the stories, which the thanes, seated on their stools, by the light of
their torches, listened to as they drank the ale of their king: we can glean
thence their manners and sentiments, as in the Iliad and the Odyssey those
of the Greeks. Beowulf is a hero, a knight-errant before the days of chivalry,
as the leaders of the German bands were feudal chiefs before the
institution of feudalism.[58] He has "rowed upon the sea, his naked sword
hard in his hand, amidst the fierce waves and coldest of storms, and the
rage of winter hurtled over the waves of the deep." The sea-monsters, "the
many-colored foes, drew him to the bottom of the sea, and held him fast in
their gripe." But he reached "the wretches with his point and with his war-
bill. The mighty sea-beast received the war-rush through his-hands," and
he slew nine Nicors (sea-monsters). And now behold him, as he comes
across the waves to succor the old King Hrothgar, who with his vassals sits
afflicted in his great mead-hall, high and curved with pinnacles. For "a grim
stranger, Grendel, a mighty haunter of the marshes," had entered his hall
during the night, seized thirty of the thanes who were asleep, and returned
in his war-craft with their carcasses; for twelve years the dreadful ogre, the
beastly and greedy creature, father of Orks and Jötuns, devoured men and
emptied the best of houses. Beowulf, the great warrior, offers to grapple
with the fiend, and foe to foe contend for life, without the bearing of either
sword or ample shield, for he has "learned also that the wretch for his
cursed hide recketh not of weapons," asking only that if death takes him,
they will bear forth his bloody corpse and bury it; mark his fen-dwelling,
and send to Hygelác, his chief, the best of war-shrouds that guards his
breast.
He is lying in the hall, "trusting in his proud strength; and when the mists
of night arose, lo, Grendel comes, tears open the door," seized a sleeping
warrior: "he tore him unawares, he bit his body, he drank the blood from
the veins, he swallowed him with continual tearings." But Beowulf seized
him in turn, and "raised himself upon his elbow."

"The lordly hall thundered, the ale was spilled,... both were enraged;
savage and strong warders; the house resounded; then was it a great
wonder that the wine-hall withstood the beasts of war, that it fell not
upon the earth, the fair palace; but it was thus fast.... The noise arose,
new enough; a fearful terror fell on the North Danes, on each of those
who from the wall heard the outcry, God's denier sing his dreadful lay,
his song of defeat, lament his wound.[59]... The foul wretch awaited
the mortal wound; a mighty gash was evident upon his shoulder; the
sinews sprung asunder, the junctures of the bones burst; success in
war was given to Beowulf. Thence must Grendel fly sick unto death,
among the refuges of the fens, to seek his joyless dwelling. He all the
better knew that the end of his life, the number of his days was gone
by."[60]

For he had left on the ground, "hand, arm, and shoulder"; and "in the lake
of Nicors, where he was driven, the rough wave was boiling with blood, the
foul spring of waves all mingled, hot with poison; the dye, discolored with
death, bubbled with warlike gore." There remained a female monster, his
mother, who, like him, "was doomed to inhabit the terror of waters, the
cold streams," who came by night, and amidst drawn swords tore and
devoured another man, Æschere, the king's best friend. A lamentation
arose in the palace, and Beowulf offered himself again. They went to the
den, a hidden land, the refuge of the wolf, near the windy promontories,
where a mountain stream rusheth downwards under the darkness of the
hills, a flood beneath the earth; the wood fast by its roots overshadoweth
the water; there may one by night behold a marvel, fire upon the flood; the
stepper over the heath, when wearied out by the hounds, sooner will give
up his soul, his life upon the brink, than plunge therein to hide his head.
Strange dragons and serpents swam there; "from time to time the horn
sang a dirge, a terrible song." Beowulf plunged into the wave, descended,
passed monsters who tore his coat of mail, to the ogress, the hateful
manslayer, who, seizing him in her grasp, bore him off to her dwelling. A
pale gleam shone brightly, and there, face to face, the good champion
perceived

"the she-wolf of the abyss, the mighty sea-woman; he gave the war-
onset with his battle-bill; he held not back the swing of the sword, so
that on her head the ring-mail sang aloud a greedy war-song.... The
beam of war would not bite. Then caught the prince of the War-Geáts
Grendel's mother by the shoulders... twisted the homicide, so that she
bent upon the floor... She drew her knife broad, brown-edged (and
tried to pierce), the twisted breast-net which protected his life.... Then
saw he among the weapons a bill fortunate in victory, an old gigantic
sword, doughty of edge, ready for use, the work of giants. He seized
the belted hilt; the warrior of the Scyldings, fierce and savage whirled
the ring-mail; despairing of life, he struck furiously, so that it grappled
hard with her about the neck; it broke the bone-rings, the bill passed
through all the doomed body; she sank upon the floor; the sword was
bloody, the man rejoiced in his deed; the beam shone, light stood
within, even as from heaven mildly shines the lamp of the firmament."
[61]

Then he saw Grendel dead in a corner of the hall; and four of his
companions, having with difficulty raised the monstrous head, bore it by the
hair to the palace of the king.
That was his first labor; and the rest of his life was similar. When he had
reigned fifty years on earth, a dragon, who had been robbed of his
treasure, came from the hill and burned men and houses "with waves of
fire. Then did the refuge of earls command to make for him a variegated
shield, all of iron; he knew well enough that a shield of wood could not help
him, lindenwood opposed to fire.... The prince of rings was then too proud
to seek the wide flier with a troop, with a large company; he feared not for
himself that battle, nor did he make any account of the dragon's war, his
laboriousness and valor." And yet he was sad, and went unwillingly, for he
was "fated to abide the end." Then "he was ware of a cavern, a mound
under the earth, nigh to the sea wave, the clashing of waters, which cave
was full within of embossed ornaments and wires.... Then the king, hard in
war, sat upon the promontory, whilst he, the prince of the Geáts, bade
farewell to his household comrades.... I, the old guardian of my people,
seek a feud." He "let words proceed from his breast," the dragon came,
vomiting fire; the blade bit not his body, and the king "suffered painfully,
involved in fire." His comrades had "turned to the wood, to save their lives,"
all save Wiglaf, who "went through the fatal smoke," knowing well "that it
was not the old custom" to abandon relation and prince, "that he alone...
shall suffer distress, shall sink in battle. The worm came furious, the foul
insidious stranger, variegated with waves of fire,... hot and warlike fierce,
he clutched the whole neck with bitter banes; he was bloodied with life-
gore, the blood boiled in waves."[62] They, with their swords, carved the
worm in the midst. Yet the wound of the king became burning and swelled;
"he soon discovered that poison boiled in his breast within, and sat by the
wall upon a stone"; "he looked upon the work of giants, how the eternal
cavern held within stone arches fast upon pillars." Then he said—

"I have held this people fifty years; there was not any king of my
neighbors, who dared to greet me with warriors, to oppress me with
terror.... I held mine own well, I sought not treacherous malice, nor
swore unjustly many oaths; on account of all this, I, sick with mortal
wounds, may have joy.... Now do thou go immediately to behold the
hoard under the hoary stone, my dear Wiglaf.... Now, I have purchased
with my death a hoard of treasures; it will be yet of advantage at the
need of the people.... I give thanks... that I might before my dying day
obtain such for my peoples... longer may I not here be."[63]

This is thorough and real generosity, not exaggerated and pretended, as it

will be later on in the romantic imaginations of babbling clerics, mere
composers of adventure. Fiction as yet is not far removed from fact; the
man breathes manifest beneath the hero. Rude as the poetry is, its hero is
grand; he is so, simply by his deeds. Faithful, first to his prince, then to his
people, he went alone, in a strange land, to venture himself for the delivery
of his fellow-men; he forgets himself in death, while thinking only that it
profits others. "Each one of us," he says in one place, "must abide the end
of his present life." Let, therefore, each do justice, if he can, before his
death. Compare with him the monsters whom he destroys, the last
traditions of the ancient wars against inferior races, and of the primitive
religion; think of his life of danger, nights upon the waves, man grappling
with the brute creation; man's indomitable will crushing the breasts of
beasts; man's powerful muscles which, when exerted, tear the flesh of the
monsters; you will see reappear through the mist of legends, and under the
light of poetry, the valiant men who, amid the madness of war and the
raging of their own mood, began to settle a people and to found a state.

SECTION V.—Pagan Poems

One poem nearly whole and two or three fragments are all that remain of
this lay-poetry of England. The rest of the pagan current, German and
barbarian, was arrested or overwhelmed, first by the influx of the Christian
religion, then by the conquest of the Norman-French. But what remains
more than suffices to show the strange and powerful poetic genius of the
race, and to exhibit beforehand the flower in the bud.
If there has ever been anywhere a deep and serious poetic sentiment, it is
here. They do not speak, they sing, or rather they shout. Each little verse is
an acclamation, which breaks forth like a growl; their strong breasts heave
with a groan of anger or enthusiasm, and a vehement or indistinct phrase
or expression rises suddenly, almost in spite of them, to their lips. There is
no art, no natural talent, for describing singly and in order the different
parts of an object or an event. The fifty rays of light which every
phenomenon emits in succession to a regular and well-directed intellect,
come to them at once in a glowing and confused mass, disabling them by
their force and convergence. Listen to their genuine war-chants, unchecked
and violent, as became their terrible voices. To this day, at this distance of
time, separated as they are by manners, speech, ten centuries, we seem to
hear them still:

"The army goes forth: the birds sing, the cricket chirps, the war-
weapons sound, the lance clangs against the shield. Now shineth the
moon, wandering under the sky. Now arise deeds of woe, which the
enmity of this people prepares to do.... Then in the court came the
 tumult of war-carnage. They seized with their hands the hollow wood
of the shield. They smote through the bones of the head. The roofs of
the castle resounded, until Garulf fell in battle, the first of earth-
dwelling men, son of Guthlaf. Around him lay many brave men dying.
The raven whirled about, dark and sombre, like a willow leaf. There
was a sparkling of blades, as if all Finsburg were on fire. Never have I
heard of a more worthy battle in war."[64]

This is the song on Athelstan's victory at Brunanburh:

"Here Athelstan king, of earls the lord, the giver of the bracelets of the
nobles, and his brother also, Edmund the ætheling, the Elder a lasting
glory won by slaughter in battle, with the edges of swords, at
Brunanburh. The wall of shields they cleaved, they hewed the noble
banners: with the rest of the family, the children of Edward....
Pursuing, they destroyed the Scottish people and the ship-fleet.... The
field was colored with the warriors' blood! After that the sun on high,...
the greatest star! glided over the earth, God's candle bright! till the
noble creature hastened to her setting. There lay soldiers many with
darts struck down, Northern men over their shields shot. So were the
Scots; weary of ruddy battle.... The screamers of war they left behind;
the raven to enjoy, the dismal kite, and the black raven with horned
beak, and the hoarse toad; the eagle, afterwards to feast on the white
flesh; the greedy battle-hawk, and the grey beast, the wolf in the
wood."[65]

Here all is imagery. In their impassioned minds events are not bald, with
the dry propriety of an exact description; each fits in with its pomp of
sound, shape, coloring; it is almost a vision which is raised, complete, with
its accompanying emotions, joy, fury, excitement. In their speech, arrows
are "the serpents of Hel, shot from bows of horn"; ships are "great sea-
steeds," the sea is "a chalice of waves," the helmet is "the castle of the
head"; they need an extraordinary speech to express their vehement
sensations, so that after a time, in Iceland, where this kind of poetry was
carried on to excess, the earlier inspiration failed, art replaced nature, the
Skalds were reduced to a distorted and obscure jargon. But whatever be
the imagery, here, as in Iceland, though unique, it is too feeble. The poets
have not satisfied their inner emotion, if it is only expressed by a single
word. Time after time they return to and repeat their idea. "The sun on
high, the great star, God's brilliant candle, the noble creature!" Four times
successively they employ the same thought, and each time under a new
aspect. All its different aspects rise simultaneously before the barbarian's
eyes, and each word was like a fit of the semi-hallucination which
possessed him. Verily, in such a condition, the regularity of speech and of
ideas is disturbed at every turn. The succession of thought in the visionary
is not the same as in a reasoning mind. One color induces another; from
sound he passes to sound; his imagination is like a diorama of unexplained
pictures. His phrases recur and change; he emits the word that comes to
his lips without hesitation; he leaps over wide intervals from idea to idea.
The more his mind is transported, the quicker and wider the intervals
traversed. With one spring he visits the poles of his horizon, and touches in
one moment objects which seemed to have the world between them. His
ideas are entangled without order; without notice, abruptly, the poet will
return to the idea he has quitted, and insert it in the thought to which he is
giving expression. It is impossible to translate these incongruous ideas,
which quite disconcert our modern style. At times they are unintelligible.[66]
Articles, particles, everything capable of illuminating thought, of marking
the connection of terms, of producing regularity of ideas, all rational and
logical artifices, are neglected.[67] Passion bellows forth like a great
shapeless beast; and that is all. It rises and starts in little abrupt lines; it is
the acme of barbarism. Homer's happy poetry is copiously developed, in full
narrative, with rich and extended imagery. All the details of a complete
picture are not too much for him; he loves to look at things, he lingers over
them, rejoices in their beauty, dresses them in splendid words; he is like the
Greek girls, who thought themselves ugly if they did not bedeck arms and
shoulders with all the gold coins from their purse, and all the treasures from
their caskets; his long verses flow by with their cadences, and spread out
like a purple robe under an Ionian sun. Here the clumsy-fingered poet
crowds and clashes his ideas in a narrow measure; if measure there be, he
barely observes it; all his ornament is three words beginning with the same
letter. His chief care is to abridge, to imprison thought in a kind of mutilated
cry.[68] The force of the internal impression, which, not knowing how to
unfold itself, becomes condensed and doubled by accumulation; the
harshness of the outward expression, which, subservient to the energy and
shocks of the inner sentiment, seek only to exhibit it intact and original, in
spite of and at the expense of all order and beauty—such are the
characteristics of their poetry, and these also will be the characteristics of
the poetry which is to follow.
 SECTION VI.—Christian Poems

A race so constituted was predisposed to Christianity, by its gloom, its

aversion to sensual and reckless living, its inclination for the serious and
sublime. When their sedentary habits had reconciled their souls to a long
period of ease, and weakened the fury which fed their sanguinary religion,
they readily inclined to a new faith. The vague adoration of the great
powers of nature, which eternally fight for mutual destruction, and, when
destroyed, rise up again to the combat, had long since disappeared in the
dim distance. Society, on its formation, introduced the idea of peace and
the need for justice, and the war-gods faded from the minds of men, with
the passions which had created them. A century and a half after the
invasion by the Saxons,[69] Roman missionaries, bearing a silver cross with
a picture of Christ, came in procession chanting a litany. Presently the high
priest of the Northumbrians declared in presence of the nobles that the old
gods were powerless, and confessed that formerly "he knew nothing of that
which he adored"; and he among the first, lance in hand, assisted to
demolish their temple. Then a chief rose in the assembly, and said:

"You remember, it may be, O king, that which sometimes happens in

winter when you are seated at table with your earls and thanes. Your
fire is lighted, and your hall warmed, and without is rain and snow and
storm. Then comes a swallow flying across the hall; he enters by one
door, and leaves by another. The brief moment while he is within is
pleasant to him; he feels not rain nor cheerless winter weather; but the
moment is brief—the bird flies away in the twinkling of an eye, and he
passes from winter to winter. Such, methinks, is the life of man on
earth, compared with the uncertain time beyond. It appears for a
while; but what is the time which comes after—the time which was
before? We know not. If, then, this new doctrine may teach us
somewhat of greater certainty, it were well that we should regard it."

This restlessness, this feeling of the infinite and dark beyond, this sober,
melancholy eloquence, were the harbingers of spiritual life.[70] We find
nothing like it amongst the nations of the south, naturally pagan, and
preoccupied with the present life. These utter barbarians embrace
Christianity straightway, through sheer force of mood and clime. To no
purpose are they brutal, heavy, shackled by infantine superstitions, capable,
like King Canute, of buying for a hundred golden talents the arm of
Augustine. They possess the idea of God. This grand God of the Bible,
omnipotent and unique, who disappears almost entirely in the Middle Ages,
[71] obscured by His court and His family, endures amongst them in spite of
absurd or grotesque legends. They do not blot Him out under pious
romances, by the elevation of the saints, or under feminine caresses, to
benefit the infant Jesus and the Virgin. Their grandeur and their severity
raise them to His high level; they are not tempted, like artistic and talkative
nations, to replace religion by a fair and agreeable narrative. More than any
race in Europe, they approach, by the simplicity and energy of their
conceptions, the old Hebraic spirit. Enthusiasm is their natural condition;
and their new Deity fills them with admiration, as their ancient deities
inspired them with fury. They have hymns, genuine odes, which are but a
concrete of exclamations. They have no development; they are incapable of
restraining or explaining their passion; it bursts forth, in raptures, at the
vision of the Almighty. The heart alone speaks here—a strong, barbarous
heart. Cædmon, their old poet,[72] says Bede, was a more ignorant man
than the others, who knew no poetry; so that in the hall, when they
handed him the harp, he was obliged to withdraw, being unable to sing like
his companions. Once, keeping night-watch over the stable, he fell asleep.
A stranger appeared to him, and asked him to sing something, and these
words came into his head: "Now we ought to praise the Lord of heaven, the
power of the Creator, and His skill, the deeds of the Father of glory; how
he, being eternal God, is the author of all marvels; who, almighty guardian
of the human race, created first for the sons of men the heavens as the
roof of their dwelling, and then the earth." Remembering this when he
woke,[73] he came to the town, and they brought him before the learned
men, before the abbess Hilda, who, when they had heard him, thought that
he had received a gift from heaven, and made him a monk in the abbey.
There he spent his life listening to portions of Holy Writ, which were
explained to him in Saxon, "ruminating over them like a pure animal, turned
them into most sweet verse." Thus is true poetry born. These men pray
with all the emotion of a new soul; they kneel; they adore; the less they
know the more they think. Someone has said that the first and most sincere
hymn is this one word O! Theirs were hardly longer; they only repeated
time after time some deep passionate word, with monotonous vehemence.
"In heaven art Thou, our aid and succor, resplendent with happiness! All
things bow before Thee, before the glory of Thy Spirit. With one voice they
call upon Christ; they all cry: Holy, holy art Thou, King of the angels of
heaven, our Lord! and Thy judgments are just and great; they reign forever
and in all places, in the multitude of Thy works." We are reminded of the
songs of the servants of Odin, tonsured now, and clad in the garments of
monks. Their poetry is the same; they think of God, as of Odin, in a string
of short, accumulated, passionate images, like a succession of lightning-
flashes; the Christian hymns are a sequel to the pagan. One of them,
Adhelm, stood on a bridge leading to the town where he lived, and
repeated warlike and profane odes as well as religious poetry, in order to
attract and instruct the men of his time. He could do it without changing his
key. In one of them, a funeral song, Death speaks. It was one of the last
Saxon compositions, containing a terrible Christianity, which seems at the
same time to have sprung from the blackest depths of the Edda. The brief
metre sounds abruptly, with measured stroke, like the passing bell. It is as
if we hear the dull resounding responses which roll through the church,
while the rain beats on the dim glass, and the broken clouds sail mournfully
in the sky; and our eyes, glued to the pale face of a dead man feel
beforehand the horror of the damp grave into which the living are about to
cast him.

"For thee was a house built ere thou wert born; for thee was a mould
shapen ere thou of thy mother earnest. Its height is not determined,
nor its depth measured; nor is it closed up (however long it may be)
until I thee bring where thou shalt remain; until I shall measure thee
and the sod of the earth. Thy house is not highly built; it is unhigh and
low. When thou art in it, the heel-ways are low, the sideways unhigh.
The roof is built thy breast full high; so thou shalt in earth dwell full
cold, dim, and dark. Doorless is that house, and dark it is within. There
thou art fast detained, and Death holds the key. Loathly is that earth-
house, and grim to dwell in. There thou shalt dwell, and worms shall
share thee. Thus thou art laid, and leavest thy friends. Thou hast no
friend that will come to thee, who will ever inquire how that house
liketh thee, who shall ever open for thee the door, and seek thee, for
soon thou becomest loathly and hateful to look upon."[74]

Has Jeremy Taylor a more gloomy picture? The two religious poetries,
Christian and pagan, are so like, that one might mingle their incongruities,
images, and legends. In Beowulf, altogether pagan, the Deity appears as
Odin, more mighty and serene, and differs from the other only as a
peaceful Bretwalda[75] differs from an adventurous and heroic bandit-chief.
The Scandinavian monsters, Jötuns, enemies of the Æsir,[76] have not
vanished; but they descend from Cain, and the giants drowned by the
flood.[77] Their new hell is nearly the ancient Nástrand,[78] "a dwelling
deadly cold, full of bloody eagles and pale adders"; and the dreadful last
day of judgment, when all will crumble into dust, and make way for a purer
world, resembles the final destruction of Edda, that "twilight of the gods,"
which will end in a victorious regeneration, an everlasting joy "under a
fairer sun."
By this natural conformity they were able to make their religious poems
indeed poems. Power in spiritual productions arises only from the sincerity
of personal and original sentiment. If they can relate religious tragedies, it
is because their soul was tragic, and in a degree biblical. They introduce
into their verses, like the old prophets of Israel, their fierce vehemence,
their murderous hatreds, their fanaticism, all the shudderings of their flesh
and blood. One of them, whose poem is mutilated, has related the history
of Judith—with what inspiration we shall see. It needed a barbarian to
display in such strong light excesses, tumult, murder, vengeance, and
combat.

"Then was Holofernes exhilarated with wine; in the halls of his guests
he laughed and shouted, he roared and dinned. Then might the
children of men afar off hear how the stern one stormed and clamored,
animated and elated with wine. He admonished amply that they should
bear it well to those sitting on the bench. So was the wicked one over
all the day, the lord and his men, drunk with wine, the stern dispenser
of wealth; till that they swimming lay over drunk, all his nobility, as
they were death-slain."[79]

The night having arrived, he commands them to bring into his tent "the
illustrious virgin"; then, going to visit her, he falls drunk on his bed. The
moment was come for "the maid of the Creator, the holy woman."

"She took the heathen man fast by his hair; she drew him by his limbs
towards her disgracefully; and the mischiefful odious man at her
pleasure laid; so as the wretch she might the easiest well command.
She with the twisted locks struck the hateful enemy, meditating hate,
with the red sword, till she had half cut off his neck; so that he lay in a
swoon, drunk and mortally wounded. He was not then dead, not
entirely lifeless. She struck then earnest, the woman illustrious in
 strength, another time the heathen hound, till that his head rolled forth
upon the floor. The foul one lay without a coffer; backward his spirit
turned under the abyss, and there was plunged below, with sulphur
fastened; forever afterward wounded by worms. Bound in torments,
hard imprisoned, in hell he burns. After his course he need not hope,
with darkness overwhelmed, that he may escape from that mansion of
worms; but there he shall remain; ever and ever, without end,
henceforth in that cavern-house, void of the joys of hope."[80]

Had anyone ever heard a sterner accent of satisfied hate? When Clovis
listened to the Passion play, he cried, "Why was I not there with my
Franks!" So here the old warrior instinct swelled into flame over the Hebrew
wars. As soon as Judith returned,

"Men under helms (went out) from the holy city at the dawn itself.
They dinned shields; men roared loudly. At this rejoiced the lank wolf
in the wood, and the wan raven, the fowl greedy of slaughter, both
from the west, that the sons of men for them should have thought to
prepare their fill on corpses. And to them flew in their paths the active
devourer, the eagle, hoary in his feathers. The willowed kite, with his
horned beak, sang the song of Hilda. The noble warriors proceeded,
they in mail, to the battle, furnished with shields, with swelling
banners. ... They then speedily let fly forth showers of arrows, the
serpents of Hilda, from their horn bows; the spears on the ground hard
stormed. Loud raged the plunderers of battle; they sent their darts into
the throng of the chiefs.... They that awhile before the reproach of the
foreigners, the taunts of the heathen endured."[81]

Amongst all these unknown poets[82] there is one whose name we know,
Cædmon, perhaps the old Cædmon who wrote the first hymn; like him, at
all events, who, paraphrasing the Bible with a barbarian's vigor and
sublimity, has shown the grandeur and fury of the sentiment with which the
men of these times entered into their new religion. He also sings when he
speaks; when he mentions the ark, it is with a profusion of poetic names,
"the floating house, the greatest of floating chambers, the wooden fortress,
the moving roof, the cavern, the great sea-chest," and many more. Every
time he thinks of it, he sees it with his mind, like a quick luminous vision,
and each time under a new aspect, now undulating on the muddy waves,
between two ridges of foam, now casting over the water its enormous
shadow, black and high like a castle, "now enclosing in its cavernous sides"
the endless swarm of caged beasts. Like the others, he wrestles with God in
his heart; triumphs like a warrior over destruction and victory; and in
relating the death of Pharaoh, can hardly speak from anger, or see, because
the blood mounts to his eyes.

"The folk was affrighted, the flood-dread seized on their sad souls;
ocean wailed with death, the mountain heights were with blood be-
steamed, the sea foamed gore, crying was in the waves, the water full
of weapons, a death-mist rose; the Egyptians were turned back;
trembling they fled, they felt fear: would that host gladly find their
homes; their vaunt grew sadder: against them, as a cloud, rose the fell
rolling of the waves; there came not any of that host to home, but
from behind enclosed them fate with the wave. Where ways ere lay
sea raged. Their might was merged, the streams stood, the storm rose
high to heaven; the loudest army-cry the hostile uttered; the air above
was thickened with dying voices.... Ocean raged, drew itself up on
high, the storms rose, the corpses rolled."[83]

Is the song of the Exodus more abrupt, more vehement, or more savage?
These men can speak of the creation like the Bible, because they speak of
destruction like the Bible. They have only to look into their own hearts in
order to discover an emotion sufficiently strong to raise their souls to the
height of their Creator. This emotion existed already in their pagan legends;
and Cædmon, in order to recount the origin of things, has only to turn to
the ancient dreams, such as have been preserved in the prophecies of the
Edda.

"There had not here as yet, save cavern-shade, aught been; but this
wide abyss stood deep and dim, strange to its Lord, idle and useless;
on which looked with his eyes the King firm of mind, and beheld these
places void of joys; saw the dark cloud lower in eternal night, swart
under heaven, dark and waste, until this worldly creation through the
word existed of the Glory-King.... The earth as yet was not green with
grass; ocean cover'd, swart in eternal night, far and wide the dusky
ways."[84]

In this manner will Milton hereafter speak, the descendant of the Hebrew
seers, last of the Scandinavian seers, but assisted in the development of his
thought by all the resources of Latin culture and civilization. And yet he will
add nothing to the primitive sentiment. Religious instinct is not acquired; it
belongs to the blood, and is inherited with it. So it is with other instincts;
pride in the first place, indomitable self-conscious energy, which sets man in
opposition to all domination, and inures him against all pain. Milton's Satan
exists already in Cædmon's, as the picture exists in the sketch; because
both have their model in the race; and Caedmon found his originals in the
northern warriors, as Milton did in the Puritans:

"Why shall I for his favor serve, bend to him in such vassalage? I may
be a god as he. Stand by me, strong associates, who will not fail me in
the strife. Heroes stern of mood, they have chosen me for chief,
renowned warriors! with such may one devise counsel, with such
capture his adherents; they are my zealous friends, faithful in their
thoughts; I may be their chieftain, sway in this realm; thus to me it
seemeth not right that I in aught need cringe to God for any good; I
will no longer be his vassal."[85]

He is overcome: shall he be subdued? He is cast into the place "where

torment they suffer, burning heat intense, in midst of hell, fire, and broad
flames; so also the bitter seeks smoke and darkness"; will he repent? At
first he is astonished, he despairs; but it is a hero's despair.

"This narrow place is most unlike that other that we ere knew,[86] high
in heaven's kingdom, which my master bestow'd on me.... Oh, had I
power of my hands, and might one season be without, be one winter's
space, then with this host I—But around me lie iron bonds, presseth
this cord of chain: I am powerless! me have so hard the clasps of hell,
so firmly grasped! Here is a vast fire above and underneath, never did
I see a loathlier landskip; the flame abateth not, hot over hell. Me hath
the clasping of these rings, this hard-polish'd band, impeded in my
course, debarr'd me from my way; my feet are bound, my hands
manacled,... so that with aught I cannot from these limb-bonds
escape."[87]

As there is nothing to be done against God, it is His new creature, man,

whom he must attack. To him who has lost everything, vengeance is left;
and if the conquered can enjoy this, he will find himself happy; "he will
sleep softly, even under his chains."
 SECTION VII.—Primitive Saxon Authors

Here the foreign culture ceased. Beyond Christianity it could not graft upon
this barbarous stock any fruitful or living branch. All the circumstances
which elsewhere mellowed the wild sap, failed here. The Saxons found
Britain abandoned by the Romans; they had not yielded, like their brothers
on the Continent, to the ascendancy of a superior civilization; they had not
become mingled with the inhabitants of the land; they had always treated
them like enemies or slaves, pursuing like wolves those who escaped to the
mountains of the west, treating like beasts of burden those whom they had
conquered with the land. While the Germans of Gaul, Italy, and Spain
became Romans, the Saxons retained their language, their genius and
manners, and created in Britain a Germany outside of Germany. A hundred
and fifty years after the Saxon invasion, the introduction of Christianity and
the dawn of security attained by a society inclining to peace, gave birth to a
kind of literature; and we meet with the venerable Bede, and later on,
Alcuin, John Scotus Erigena, and some others, commentators, translators,
teachers of barbarians, who tried not to originate but to compile, to pick
out and explain from the great Greek and Latin encyclopædia something
which might suit the men of their time. But the wars with the Danes came
and crushed this humble plant, which, if left to itself, would have come to
nothing.[88] When Alfred[89] the Deliverer became king, "there were very
few ecclesiastics," he says, "on this side of the Humber, who could
understand in English their own Latin prayers, or translate any Latin writing
into English. On the other side of the Humber I think there were scarce
any; there were so few that, in truth, I cannot remember a single man
south of the Thames, when I took the kingdom, who was capable of it." He
tried, like Charlemagne, to instruct his people, and turned into Saxon for
their use several works, above all some moral books, as the "de
Consolatione" of Boethius; but this very translation bears witness to the
barbarism of his audience. He adapts the text in order to bring it down to
their intelligence; the pretty verses of Boethius, somewhat pretentious,
labored, elegant, crowded with classical allusions of a refined and compact
style worthy of Seneca, become an artless, long-drawn-out and yet
desultory prose, like a nurse's fairy tale, explaining everything,
recommencing and breaking off its phrases, making ten turns about a
single detail; so low was it necessary to stoop to the level of this new
intelligence, which had never thought or known anything. Here follows the
Latin of Boethius, so affected, so pretty, with the English translation affixed:
"Quondam funera conjugis
Vates Threicius gemens,
Postquam flebilibus modis
Silvas currere, mobiles
Amnes stare coegerat,
Junxitque intrepidum latus
Sævis cerva leonibus,
Nec visum timuit lepus
Jam cantu placidum canem;
Cum flagrantior intima
Fervor pectoris ureret,
Nec qui cuncta subegerant
Mulcerent dominum modi;
Immites superos querens,
Infernas adiit domos.
Illic blanda sonantibus
Chordis carmina temperans,
Quidquid praecipuis Deæ
Matris fontibus hauserat,
Quod luctus dabat impotens,
Quod luctum geminans amor,
Deflet Tartara commovens,
Et dulci veniam prece
Umbrarum dominos rogat.
Stupet tergeminus novo
Captus carmine janitor;
Quæ sontes agitant metu
Ultrices scelerum Deæ
Jam mœstæ lacrymis madent.
Non Ixionium caput
Velox præcipitat rota,
Et longa site perditus
Spernit flumina Tantalus.
Vultur dum satur est modis
Non traxit Tityi jecur.
Tandem, vincimur, arbiter
Umbrarum miserans ait.
 Donemus comitem viro,
Emptam carmine conjugem.
Sed lex dona coerceat,
Nec, dum Tartara liquerit,
Fas sit lumina flectere.
Quis legem det amantibus!
Major lex fit amor sibi.
Heu! noctis prope terminos
Orpheus Eurydicem suam
Vidit, perdidit, occidit.
Vos hæc fabula respicit,
Quicunque in superum diem
Mentem ducere quæritis.
Nam qui tartareum in specus
Victus lumina flexerit,
Quidquid præcipuum trahit
Perdit, dum videt inferos."
—Book III. Metre 12.
The English translation follows:

"It happened formerly that there was a harper in the country called
Thrace, which was in Greece. The harper was inconceivably good. His
name was Orpheus. He had a very excellent wife, called Eurydice. Then
began men to say concerning the harper, that he could harp so that
the wood moved, and the stones stirred themselves at the sound, and
wild beasts would run thereto, and stand as if they were tame; so still,
that though men or hounds pursued them, they shunned them not.
Then said they, that the harper's wife should die, and her soul should
be led to hell. Then should the harper become so sorrowful that he
could not remain among the men, but frequented the wood, and sat on
the mountains, both day and night, weeping and harping, so that the
woods shook, and the rivers stood still, and no hart shunned any lion,
nor hare any hound; nor did cattle know any hatred, or any fear of
others, for the pleasure of the sound. Then it seemed to the harper
that nothing in this world pleased him. Then thought he that he would
seek the gods of hell, and endeavor to allure them with his harp, and
pray that they would give him back his wife. When he came thither,
then should there come towards him the dog of hell, whose name was
Cerberus—he should have three heads—and began to wag his tail, and
play with him for his harping. Then was there also a very horrible
gatekeeper, whose name should be Charon. He had also three heads,
and he was very old. Then began the harper to beseech him that he
would protect him while he was there, and bring him thence again
safe. Then did he promise that to him, because he was desirous of the
unaccustomed sound. Then went he further until he met the fierce
goddesses, whom the common people call Parcæ, of whom they say,
that they know no respect for any man, but punish every man
according to his deeds; and of whom they say, that they control every
man's fortune. Then began he to implore their mercy. Then began they
to weep with him. Then went he farther, and all the inhabitants of hell
ran towards him, and led him to their king: and all began to speak with
him, and to pray that which he prayed. And the restless wheel which
Ixion, the king of the Lapithæ, was bound to for his guilt, that stood
still for his harping. And Tantalus the king, who in this world was
immoderately greedy, and whom that same vice of greediness followed
there, he became quiet. And the vulture should cease, so that he tore
not the liver of Tityus the king, which before therewith tormented him.
And all the punishments of the inhabitants of hell were suspended,
whilst he harped before the king. When he long and long had harped,
then spoke the king of the inhabitants of hell, and said, Let us give the
man his wife, for he has earned her by his harping. He then
commanded him that he should well observe that he never looked
backwards after he departed hence; and said, if he looked backwards,
that he should lose the woman. But men can with great difficulty, if at
all, restrain love! Wellaway! What! Orpheus then led his wife with him
till he came to the boundary of light and darkness. Then went his wife
after him. When he came forth into the light, then looked be behind his
back towards the woman. Then was she immediately lost to him. This
fable teaches every man who desires to fly the darkness of hell, and to
come to the light of the true good, that he look not about him to his
old vices, so that he practise them again as fully as he did before. For
whosoever with full will turns his mind to the vices which he had before
forsaken, and practises them, and they then fully please him, and he
never thinks of forsaking them; then loses he all his former good
unless he again amend it."[90]
A man speaks thus when he wishes to impress upon the mind of his
hearers an idea which is not clear to them. Boethius had for his audience
senators, men of culture, who understood as well as we the slightest
mythological allusion. Alfred is obliged to take them up and develop them,
like a father or a master, who draws his little boy between his knees, and
relates to him names, qualities, crimes and their punishments, which the
Latin only hints at. But the ignorance is such that the teacher himself needs
correction. He takes the Parcæ for the Erinyes, and gives Charon three
heads like Cerberus. There is no adornment in his version; no delicacy as in
the original. Alfred has hard work to make himself understood. What, for
instance, becomes of the noble Platonic moral, the apt interpretation after
the style of Iamblichus and Porphyry? It is altogether dulled. He has to call
everything by its name, and turn the eyes of his people to tangible and
visible things. It is a sermon suited to his audience of thanes; the Danes
whom he had converted by the sword needed a clear moral. If he had
translated for them exactly the last words of Boethius, they would have
opened wide their big stupid eyes and fallen asleep.
For the whole talent of an uncultivated mind lies in the force and oneness
of its sensations. Beyond that it is powerless. The art of thinking and
reasoning lies above it. These men lost all genius when they lost their
fever-heat. They lisped awkwardly and heavily dry chronicles, a sort of
historical almanacs. You might think them peasants, who, returning from
their toil, came and scribbled with chalk on a smoky table the date of a year
of scarcity, the price of corn, the changes in the weather, a death. Even so,
side by side with the meagre Bible chronicles, which set down the
successions of kings, and of Jewish massacres, are exhibited the exaltation
of the psalms and the transports of prophecy. The same lyric poet can be
alternately a brute and a genius, because his genius comes and goes like a
disease, and instead of having it he simply is ruled by it.

"AD. 611. This year Cynegils succeeded to the government in Wessex,

and held it one-and-thirty winters. Cynegils was the son of Ceol, Ceol
of Cutha, Cutha of Cynric.
"614. This year Cynegils and Cnichelm fought at Bampton, and slew
two thousand and forty-six of the Welsh.
"678. This year appeared the comet-star in August, and shone every
morning during three months like a sunbeam. Bishop Wilfrid being
 driven from his bishopric by King Everth, two bishops were consecrated
in his stead.
"901. This year died Alfred, the son of Ethelwulf, six nights before the
mass of All Saints. He was king over all the English nation, except that
part that was under the power of the Danes. He held the government
one year and a half less than thirty winters; and then Edward his son
took to the government.
"902. This year there was the great fight at the Holme, between the
men of Kent and the Danes.
"1077. This year were reconciled the King of the Franks, and William,
King of England. But it was continued only a little while. This year was
London burned, one night before the Assumption of St. Mary, so
terribly as it never was before since it was built."[91]

It is thus the poor monks speak, with monotonous dryness, who, after
Alfred's time, gather up and take note of great visible events; sparsely
scattered we find a few moral reflections, a passionate emotion, nothing
more. In the tenth century we see King Edgar give a manor to a bishop, on
condition that he will put into Saxon the monastic regulation written in Latin
by Saint Benedict. Alfred himself was almost the last man of culture; he,
like Charlemagne, became so only by dint of determination and patience. In
vain the great spirits of this age endeavor to link themselves to the relics of
the fine, ancient civilization, and to raise themselves above the chaotic and
muddy ignorance in which the others flounder. They rise almost alone, and
on their death the rest sink again into the mire. It is the human beast that
remains master; the mind cannot find a place amidst the outbursts and the
desires of the flesh, gluttony and brute force. Even in the little circle where
he moves, his labor comes to nought. The model which he proposed to
himself oppresses and enchains him in a cramping imitation; he aspires but
to be a good copyist; he produces a gathering of centos which he calls
Latin verses; he applies himself to the discovery of expressions, sanctioned
by good models; he succeeds only in elaborating an emphatic, spoiled
Latin, bristling with incongruities. In place of ideas, the most profound
amongst them serve up the defunct doctrines of defunct authors. They
compile religious manuals and philosophical manuals from the Fathers.
Erigena, the most learned, goes to the extent of reproducing the old
complicated dreams of Alexandrian metaphysics. How far these
speculations and reminiscences soar above the barbarous crowd which
howls and bustles in the depths below, no words can express. There was a
certain king of Kent in the seventh century who could not write. Imagine
bachelors of theology discussing before an audience of wagoners, not
Parisian wagoners, but such as survive in Auvergne or in the Vosges.
Among these clerks, who think like studious scholars in accordance with
their favorite authors, and are doubly separated from the world as scholars
and monks, Alfred alone, by his position as a layman and a practical man,
descends in his Saxon translations and his Saxon verses to the common
level; and we have seen that his effort, like that of Charlemagne, was
fruitless. There was an impassable wall between the old learned literature
and the present chaotic barbarism. Incapable, yet compelled, to fit into the
ancient mould, they gave it a twist. Unable to reproduce ideas, they
reproduced a metre. They tried to eclipse their rivals in versification by the
refinement of their composition, and the prestige of a difficulty overcome.
So, in our own colleges, the good scholars imitate the clever divisions and
symmetry of Claudian rather than the ease and variety of Vergil. They put
their feet in irons, and showed their smartness by running in shackles; they
weighted themselves with rules of modern rhyme and rules of ancient
metre; they added the necessity of beginning each verse with the same
letter that began the last. A few, like Adhelm, wrote square acrostics, in
which the first line, repeated at the end, was found also to the left and
right of the piece. Thus made up of the first and last letters of each verse,
it forms a border to the whole piece, and the morsel of verse is like a piece
of tapestry. Strange literary tricks, which changed the poet into an artisan.
They bear witness to the difficulties which then impeded culture and
nature, and spoiled at once the Latin form and the Saxon genius.
Beyond this barrier, which drew an impassable line between civilization and
barbarism, there was another, no less impassable, between the Latin and
Saxon genius. The strong German imagination, in which glowing and
obscure visions suddenly meet and abruptly overflow, was in contrast with
the reasoning spirit, in which ideas gather and are developed only in a
regular order; so that if the barbarian, in his classical attempts, retained
any part of his primitive instincts, he succeeded only in producing a
grotesque and frightful monster. One of them, this very Adhelm, a relative
of King Ina, who sang on the town-bridge profane and sacred hymns
alternately, too much imbued with Saxon poesy, simply to imitate the
antique models, adorned his Latin prose and verse with all the "English
magnificence."[92] You might compare him to a barbarian who seizes a flute
from the skilled hands of a player of Augustus's court, in order to blow on it
with inflated lungs, as if it were the bellowing horn of an aurochs. The
sober speech of the Roman orators and senators becomes in his hands full
of exaggerated and incoherent images; he violently connects words, uniting
them in a sudden and extravagant manner; he heaps up his colors, and
utters extraordinary and unintelligible nonsense, like that of the later
Skalds; in short, he is a latinized Skald, dragging into his new tongue the
ornaments of Scandinavian poetry, such as alliteration, by dint of which he
congregates in one of his epistles fifteen consecutive words, all beginning
with the same letter; and in order to make up his fifteen, he introduces a
barbarous Græcism amongst the Latin words.[93] Amongst the others, the
writers of legends, you will meet many times with deformation of Latin,
distorted by the outburst of a too vivid imagination; it breaks out even in
their scholastic and scientific writing. Here is part of a dialogue between
Alcuin and prince Pepin, a son of Charlemagne, and he uses like formulas
the little poetic and bold phrases which abound in the national poetry.
"What is winter? the banishment of summer. What is spring? the painter of
the earth. What is the year? the world's chariot. What is the sun? the
splendor of the world, the beauty of heaven, the grace of nature, the honor
of day, the distributor of the hours. What is the sea? the path of audacity,
the boundary of the earth, the receptacle of the rivers, the fountain of
showers." More, he ends his instructions with enigmas, in the spirit of the
Skalds, such as we still find in the old manuscripts with the barbarian
songs. It was the last feature of the national genius, which, when it labors
to understand a matter, neglects dry, clear, consecutive deduction, to
employ grotesque, remote, oft-repeated imagery, and replaces analysis by
intuition.

SECTION VIII.—Virility of the Saxon Race

Such was this race, the last born of the sister races, which, in the decay of
the other two, the Latin and the Greek, brings to the world a new
civilization, with a new character and genius. Inferior to these in many
respects, it surpasses them in not a few. Amidst the woods and mire and
snows, under a sad, inclement sky, gross instincts have gained the day
during this long barbarism. The German has not acquired gay humor,
unreserved facility, the feeling for harmonious beauty; his great phlegmatic
body continues savage and stiff, greedy and brutal; his rude and unpliable
mind is still inclined to savagery, and restive under culture. Dull and
congealed, his ideas cannot expand with facility and freedom, with a
natural sequence and an instinctive regularity. But this spirit, void of the
sentiment of the beautiful, is all the more apt for the sentiment of the true.
The deep and incisive impression which he receives from contact with
objects, and which as yet he can only express by a cry, will afterwards
liberate him from the Latin rhetoric, and will vent itself on things rather
than on words. Moreover, under the constraint of climate and solitude, by
the habit of resistance and effort, his ideal is changed. Manly and moral
instincts have gained the empire over him; and amongst them the need of
independence, the disposition for serious and strict manners, the inclination
for devotion and veneration, the worship of heroism. Here are the
foundations and the elements of a civilization, slower but sounder, less
careful of what is agreeable and elegant, more based on justice and truth.
[94] Hitherto at least the race is intact, intact in its primitive coarseness; the
Roman cultivation could neither develop nor deform it. If Christianity took
root, it was owing to natural affinities, but it produced no change in the
native genius. Now approaches a new conquest, which is to bring this time
men, as well as ideas. The Saxons, meanwhile, after the wont of German
races, vigorous and fertile, have within the past six centuries multiplied
enormously. They were now about two millions, and the Norman army
numbered sixty thousand.[95] In vain these Normans become transformed,
gallicized; by their origin, and substantially in themselves they are still the
relatives of those whom they conquered. In vain they imported their
manners and their poesy, and introduced into the language a third part of
its words; this language continues altogether German in element and in
substance.[96] Though the grammar changed, it changed integrally, by an
internal action, in the same sense as its continental cognates. At the end of
three hundred years the conquerors themselves were conquered; their
speech became English; and owing to frequent intermarriage, the English
blood ended by gaining the predominance over the Norman blood in their
veins. The race finally remains Saxon. If the old poetic genius disappears
after the Conquest, it is as a river disappears, and flows for a while
underground. In five centuries it will emerge once more.
[8]Malte-Brun, IV. 398. Not counting bays, gulfs, and canals, the
sixteenth part of the country is covered by water. The dialect of
Jutland bears still a great resemblance to English.
[9]See Ruysdaal's painting in Mr. Baring's collection. Of the three
Saxon islands, North Strandt, Busen, and Heligoland, North
Strandt was inundated by the sea in 1300, 1483, 1532, 1615, and
almost destroyed in 1634. Busen is a level plain, beaten by
storms, which it has been found necessary to surround by a dyke.
Heligoland was laid waste by the sea in 800, 1300, 1500, 1649,
the last time so violently that only a portion of it remained.—
Turner, "History of Anglo-Saxons," 1852, I. 97.
[10]Heine, "The North Sea," translated by Charles G. Leland. See
Tacitus, "Annals," book 2, for the impressions of the Romans,
"truculentia cœli."
[11]Watten, Platen, Sande, Düneninseln.
[12]Nine or ten miles out near Heligoland, are the nearest
soundings of about fifty fathoms.
[13]Palgrave, "Saxon Commonwealth," vol. I.
[14]"Notes of a Journey in England."
[15]Léonce de Lavergne, "De l'Agriculture anglaise." "The soil is
much worse than that of France."
[16]There are at least four rivers in England passing by the name
of "Ouse," which is only another form of "ooze."—Tr.
[17]Tacitus, "De moribus Germanorum," passim: Diem noctemque
continuare potando, nulli proborum.—Sera juvenum Venus.—Totos
dies juxta focum atque ignem agunt. Dargaud, "Voyage en
Danemark. They take six meals per day, the first at five o'clock in
the morning. One should see the faces and meals at Hamburg
and at Amsterdam."
[18]Bede, v. 10. Sidonius, VIII. 6. Lingard, "History of England,"
1854, I. chap. 2.
[19]Zozimos, III. 147. Amm. Marcellinus, XXVIII. 526.
[20]Aug. Thierry, "Hist. S. Edmundi," VI. 441. See Ynglingasaga,
and especially Egil's Saga.
[21]Lingard, "History of England," I. 164, says, however, "Every
tenth man out of the six hundred received his liberty, and of the
rest a few were selected for slavery."—Tr.
[22]Franks, Frisians, Saxons, Danes, up the gaps that exist in the
history of Norwegians, Icelanders are one and the same people.
Their language, laws, religion, poetry, differ but little. The more
northern continue longest in their primitive manners. Germany in
the fourth and fifth centuries, Denmark and Norway in the
seventh and eighth. Iceland in the tenth and eleventh centuries,
present the same condition, and the muniments of each country
will fill up the gaps that exist in the history of the others.
[23]Tacitus, De moribus Germanotum, XXII: Gens nec astuta nec
callida.
[24]William of Malmesbury. Henry of Huntingdon, VI. 365.
[25]Tacitus, "De moribus Germanorum," XXII, XXIII.
[26]Kemble, "Saxons in England," 1849, I. 70, II. 184. "The Acts
of an Anglo-Saxon parliament are a series of treaties of peace
between all the associations which make up the State; a continual
revision and renewal of the alliances offensive and defensive of all
the free men. They are universally mutual contracts for the
maintenance of the frid or peace."
[27]A large district; the word is still existing in German, as
Rheingau, Breiasgau.—Tr.
[28]Turner, "History of the Anglo-Saxons," II. 440, Laws of Ina.
[29]Such a band consisted of thirty-five men or more.
[30]Milton's expression. Lingard's History, I. chap. 3. This history
bears much resemblance to that of the Franks in Gaul. See
Gregory of Tours. The Saxons, like the Franks, somewhat
softened, but rather degenerated, were pillaged and massacred
by those of their Northern brothers who still remained in a savage
state.
[31]Vita S. Dunstani, "Anglia Sacra," II.
[32]It is amusing to compare the story of Edwy and Elgiva in
Turner, II. 216, etc., and then Lingard, I. 132, etc. The first
accuses Dunstan, the other defends him.—Tr.
[33]"Life of Bishop Wolstan."
[34]Tantæ sævitiæ erant fratres illi quod, cum alicujus nitidam
villam conspicerent, dominatorem de nocte interfici juberent,
totamque progeniem illius possessionemque defuncti obtinerent.
Turner, III. 27. Henry of Huntingdon, VI. 367.
[35]"Pene gigas statura," says the chronicler. Henry of
Huntingdon, VI. 367. Kemble, I. 393. Turner, II. 318.
[36]Grimm, "Mythology," 53, Preface.
[37]Tacitus, XX. XXIII., XI., XII. et passim. We may still see the
traces of this taste in English dwellings.
[38]Ibid. XIII.
[39]Tacitus, XIX., VIII., XVI. Kemble, I. 232.
[40]Tacitus, XIV.
[41]"In omni domo, nudi et sordidi... Plus per otium transigunt,
dediti somno, ciboque, otos dies juxta focum atque ignem agunt."
[42]Grimm, 53, Preface. Tacitus, X.
[43]"Deorum nominibus appellant secretum illud, quod sola
reverentia vident." Later on, at Upsala for instance, they had
images (Adam of Bremen, "Historia Ecclesiastica"). Wuotan
(Odin), signifies etymologically the All-Powerful, him who
penetrates and circulates through everything (Grimm,
"Mythology").
[44]"Sæmundar Edda, Snorra Edda," ed. Copenhagen, three vols.,
passim. Mr. Bergmann has translated several of these poems into
French, which Mr. Taine quotes. The translator has generally
made use of the edition of Mr. Thorpe, London, 1866.
[45]Hel, the goddess of death, born of Loki and Angrboda.—Tr.
[46]Thorpe, "The Edda of Sæmund, the Vala's Prophecy," str. 48-
56, p. 9 et passim.
[47]"Fafnismâl Edda." This epic is common to the Northern races,
as is the Iliad to the Greek populations, and is found almost entire
in Germany in the Nibelungen Lied. The translator has also used
Magnusson and Morris's poetical version of the "Völsunga Saga,"
and certain songs of the "Elder Edda," London, 1870.
[48]"Thorpe, The Edda of Sæmund, Third Lay of Sigurd
Fafnicide," str. 62-64, p. 83.
[49]Magnusson and Morris, "Story of the Volsungs and Nibelungs,
Lamentation of Guaran," p. 118 et passim.
[50]Thorpe, "The Edda of Sæmund, Lay of Atli," str. 21-27, p.
117.
[51]Ibid., str. 38, p. 119.