Abstract
This essay aims to be an interpretive reading of the Hêliand as a reconciliatory work, where I try to gain greater insight into what strategies were used by the recently converted Saxons in coping with the forced conversions and integration into the Carolingian Empire, their mentality and way of thinking. How can we access the Hêliand as a resource, to learn more about the Christianisation and inculturation processes in mid-9th century Saxony? My original point of departure was to look at which aspects of the Hêliand could be remnants of Saxon thought and culture, about which we know very little. This has proven to be based on the common false assumption, that the Hêliand is a germanised version of the gospel and that it can be used as a source of information about Saxon culture and religion prior to Charlemagne s conquest at all. I have therefore moved away from this supposition, and instead studied the picture the poet draws of Christianity, later Christianisation strategies and Frankish integration politics. In order to understand the interaction between Saxons and Franks in the mid-9th century, I want to take a closer look at the vocabulary used, and more specifically at the names used for God and the words used to describe Him in the Hêliand-epic.