Frühmittelalterliche Studien

Band 40

Zusammenfassungen der Beiträge in englischer Sprache (abstracts)

 

Gerd Althoff, Tränen und Freude, S. 1–11

Nowadays many disciplines of medieval studies – and not only these – are interested in the research of emotions. This interest also includes the treatment of anthropological questions, which, nevertheless, have to be modified in an adequate way concerning the era discussed. The article tries to clearify the conditions, which should be considered when dealing with the emotions of medieval people. This, in particular, means that we are only told about forms of how emotions were expressed – mostly written by others. According to these forms of emotions one can practically distinguish between those which modern people would also show in comparable situations and those which seem to be very strange to us. Actually the latter are most interesting. Therefore, the article discusses the question, how these differences can be explained, and it finally states that emotional forms of expression are shown by ritual behaviour and, thus, testify their seriousness. Such written emotional forms of expression are contradictory to our demands for the of the emotions expressed.

 

Thomas Ertl, Byzantinischer Bilderstreit und fränkische Nomentheorie, S. 13–42

Frankish historiographers around 800, when writing about the Carolingian kingdom and empire, used a strikingly homogeneous diction. They drew distinctions between the power and the title of a ruler, and they considered that the world order was preserved if res and nomen matched. In contrast to previous research, this linguistic coping with the Carolingian ascent is interpreted here, not as revival of patristic thought, but as a result of the disputes on Byzantine iconoclasm that produced a distinction between image and prototype. Alcuin and other scholars at the Frankish court used the transferral of the discussions about image/prototype into political language in order to celebrate the imperial conduct of the Frankish king, lifting it up to a new linguistic level.

 

Steffen Patzold, Eine „loyale Palastrebellion“ der „Reichseinheitspartei“?, S. 43–77

In earlier historiographical studies – and particularly in German surveys – the rule of Louis the Pious has been considered as deeply influenced by the question of unity of the realm (). Thus, the political development between 814 and the crisis of the years 830 to 833 has been described as a political struggle for the unity of the realm, which has been pursued by the so called . The present article questions this older perspective mainly based on the of 817. Instead, it proposes to put more emphasis on other explanations for the rebellions against Louis the Pious in 830 and 833, such as the balance of power among the Frankish nobility and within the Carolingian family.

 

Nikolaus Staubach, Regia sceptra sacrans, S. 79–101

For a long time the legend of the Ste. Ampoule, which served as a reference for the French kings’ claim for pre-eminence, was said to be an invention by Hincmar of Rheims.This view was revised after Godescalc’s works were rediscovered in the last century, because he quotes texts of an old Office for the feast of St. Remi in which the chrism of divine origin used at the baptism of Clovis is already mentioned. On the basis of this rediscovery, Hincmar was freed from the allegations of forgery. However, it has been overlooked that Godescalc critizised the legend of the Ste. Ampoule as an contemporary interpolation, thus indirectly incriminating Hincmar. Furthermore, Hincmar himself legitimates his creative adaption of the sources of St. Remi’s life by comparing it to the rearrangement of the lost biblical tradition by the prophet Ezra. Johannes Trithemius, the Benedictine abbot, can be seen as one of his late successors, who likewise thought that his historiographical fictions where a prophetical reconstruction of a past, which had disappeared due to a loss of historical tradition.

 

Ingrid Heidrich, Wandbehänge und Decken des Frühmittelalters, S. 103–125

Textile remnants of the early middle ages are scarce. Most of them are silks which originally served as envelopes for relics. Though since the second half of the 12th century an increasing number of tapestries survived, we only know two of them until the end of the 11th century, both of them embroideries: the wellknown tapestry of Bayeux and the less known tapestry of Girona/Spain. The tapestry of Girona, a skilful work of 12 m2, presents an elaborated theological program. In search of textual evidence for tapestries, their material, patterns and design, themes, and liturgical use, the lifes of the popes in the from Leon III. to Leon IV., thus in the first half of the 9th century, furnish the best details, next the of the abbots of Saint-Wandrille at the estuary of the Seine. Both sources name those textiles amongst the treasury and emphazise their importance as donations. The descriptions in the show pattern parallels with the tapestry of Girona and inform us about the different uses, particularly during the liturgy for separating lay people from clerics. Both, and , refer to ‚spanish cloth‘, stragulum hispanicum and spanisca, and there is some evidence that those references appeal to a tradition for worthy (perhaps woollen) textiles in Northern Spain, wellknown in the 9th century. As the word spanisca refering to textiles survives in Italy to the 11th century, it is rather plausible that the tapestry of Girona relies on this Spanish tradition. In other continental native sources of the 10th and 11th century there is evidence of the continuous use of tapestries in churches. The emphasis and detailed description of tapestries, illustrating scenes of the New Testament and the legends of Saints, in the for the time from ca. 750 to 850, can be related to the iconoclastic struggle between Constantinople and Rome in this time: Rome defended figured representations not only in paintings and sculptures but also in tapestries.

 

Gerd Althoff, Zum Verhältnis von Norm und Realität in sächsischen Frauenklöstern, S. 127–144

For some time the judgement on the clerical and secular life in convents has been discussed – a life which in several respects took place within a field of conflict between church and world. The earlier disdain of achieving female religiousness is nowadays confronted with an increasingly positive recognition. The Saxon convents which were settled in the Ottonians’ environment had always been a centre of relevant research efforts because of the still existing records. Based on these records, the article tries to discuss examples showing the conflict between norm and reality which results in the fact, that the convents and their communities were absolutely incorporated into the ruling norms represented by kings and nobility. According to this subject, the article especially concentrates on the question which statements the clerical plays by Hrotswith of Gandersheim will allow.

 

Jacek Banaszkiewicz, Ein Ritter flieht, oder wie Kaiser Otto II. sich vom Schlachtfeld bei Cotrone rettete, S. 145–165

The battle of Cotrone between Otto II and Saracens has produced numerous accounts – either more detailed or merely reporting ones – all of which describe the unexpected emperor’s defeat.We focus on the most intrinsic of them (among others: Alpert, Thietmar, Johannes Diaconus) in order to figure out how different messages concerning the fight were arranged by mediaeval authors and incorporated into certain narrative models which best served the needs of creating the pictures of the event according to the respective author’s own premise. It appears that Otto II’s escape from the battlefield shown in the narratives, long-lasting and full of sudden turns, agrees with the scheme of a knight’s devestiture, which was the solution applied in chivalric pics to those heros who were forced, for whatever the reason, to hastily retreat from the battle. Thus such a hero is deprived of the accessories, so is Otto II, which confirm his knightly status and in a sense pushed outside his own world. Later, his previous embodiment has to begin anew, therefore, each of the listed chroniclers, on the basis of some symbolic actions and in their own way, restores Otto II’s temporarily lost status as a knight and ruler. The analysis of the accounts regarding the battle of Cotrone also serves to show an important issue: reality created by narrative sources produces its own, well justified world, where one cannot simply cut out the favoured fragments or what just suits our premises.

 

Wojtek Jezierski, Monasterium panopticum. On Surveillance in a Medieval Cloister, S. 167–182

This article aims to explore the practice of surveillance of monks in the early medieval monasteries on the example of St. Gall as described in Ekkehard IV’s . Based on Erving Goffman’s concept of total institution the study presents the available disciplinary measures of social control. Discussing with the restrictive methods and absolute attitude towards supervision that emerge from the normative sources of that time it is argued that in the everyday monastic life uses and importance attached to the apparatus of surveillance were far more nuanced and adjustable to circumstances.

 

Hagen Keller, Die Verantwortung des Einzelnen und die Ordnung der Gemeinschaft, S. 183–197

The text, originally designed as a lecture, closely connects two developments which are both considered to be significant of the 12th century: firstly, the more explicit emergence of the individual in society and secondly, a change in the politicalecclesiastical order which increasingly subjects the people to explicit, universally valid norms. The author states that both developments have to be understood as the expression of one and the same underlying tendency, a claim which he supports with a survey of important of the 12th century.

 

Claudia Garnier, Die Zeichen der Fremden, S. 199–221

The situation of occidental-Mongol relations in the thirteenth century analyzed in this essay represents a special case of intercultural exchange, since here it was not a matter of relationships within an institutionalised system of power, but rather of making first contact. The experiences of the Franciscans John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruk offer extremely fertile sources of fundamental information about the chances, opportunities, and problems of intercultural communication. In this context, the concept of communication should be understood in its broadest sense: it refers to verbal communication just as much as gestures and rituals. Since the lack of knowledge of the language and the difficult incidents concerning translation initially determined the chances of any exchange of thoughts and information, the Western guests’ observations were often limited to signs and gestures that initially presented fewer difficulties through visual perception.

 

Marlene Ciklamini, Hidden and Revealed, S. 223–261

Gujmundr Arason (1161–1237), Bishop of Hólar, Iceland, had been a controversial figure both during his life and after death. For many decades his successors had to confront two realities, his reputation for sainthood among the populace and the disturbing fact that his episcopacy had been erratic, even chaotic. The writer of Gujmundr’s last vita, Arngrímr Brandsson (d. 1396), composed, therefore, a programmatic apologia. For this he seized on the image of the Virgin, the patroness of the cathedral of Hólar, and demonstrated her presence in Gujmundr’s life from birth to death. Arngrímr’s vita was a spiritual weapon and this he wielded with erudite, apodictic efficacy. In re-establishing Gujmundr’s fama, Arngrímr also acknowledged historical facts. Gujmundr’s episcopacy was rent in conflict, but in this, as in other matters, Gujmundr labored under the aegis of the Virgin. His fierce struggle had been essential for ultimately securing the liberty of the church, manifesting that even then traditional ecclesiastical compliance with the rights of chieftaincy was obsolete. His suffering for a righteous cause was, accordingly, as important as his miracles and virtues to establish him finally as Iceland’s foremost saint.

 

Nine Miedema, Stichomythische Dialoge in der mittelhochdeutschen höfischen Epik, S. 263–281

With Heinrich von Veldeke’s and Eilhart von Oberge’s , stichomythic dialogues first make their entrance into Middle High German literature. The immediate sources for this poetic style were without doubt French courtly epics, even though the German authors may also have known the antique dramatic texts which served as a model for the rhetorical devices used in the French texts (especially Terence). However, the early authors of German courtly epics develop the use of stichomythic dialogues in a specific way, often discussing the texts’ most important topics in this agitated and form. Whereas Veldeke and Oberge more or less follow the traditional use of stichomythia (dialogues with messengers, expression of strong emotions such as anger or love), though not always in places corresponding with their French sources, the article argues that Hartmann von Aue uses it as a negative example of uncourtly, impolite speech. The interruption of the descriptio of Enite’s horse by a fictitious listener, which leads to a stichomythic dialogue between the listener and , unmasks the listener’s lack of understanding of the poetics of fictional epic, and thus underlines the authority of the narrator. Some of the later medieval authors, such as Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg, apparently follow Hartmann in his negative interpretation of stichomythia and avoid its use in their own courtly epics. Thus, the individual profiles of German medieval authors can be described more precisely by studying their use of stichomythia.

 

Christina Deutsch, Vom Zettel zum Gerichtsurteil, S. 283–296

Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the later middle ages is characterized by an extraordinary high level of literacy. The importance of case records, written procedure and formalized language is stressed by contemporary authors as well as by legal historians. However, most of the cases were negotiated orally, espacially the summary proceedings in marriage litigation. All participants (litigants, judges and clerks) had extremely different competences in jurisdictional vocabulary, language and knowledge at their disposal. Communication in court therefore had to reconcile the gap between vernacular language and legal jargon, between personal statements and legal facts, between orality and literacy. One strategy to cope with this complex situation was to use cedulae as non-formal and non-durable pieces of paper, which could convey information to the participants without being filed in the records of ecclesiastical courts.

 

Hartmut Beyer, Tragik und Weltverachtung im frühhumanistischen Drama Italiens, S. 297–325

This essay deals with the first neo-latin tragedies in the Senecan tradition, written in 14th- and 15th century Italy, starting with Albertino Mussato’s (1315). It focuses on Antonio Loschi’s (c. 1387) and Gregorio Correr’s (c. 1427). Authors and recipients of these works were not only interested in skilled imitation of antique drama, but they regarded tragedy as particularly useful for demonstrating the transitoriness of earthly existence. Understood in this way, early neo-latin tragedy can be linked to the tradition of contemptus mundi-literature, flourishing since the 12th century and presenting in various literary forms the physical, aesthetic and moral corruption of human life on earth, among which by Innocent III gained much importance. This interpretation, blasting the traditional opposition of humanism and contemptus mundi, is supported by the important role antique pagan poetry played in high medieval contemptus mundi-literature. By considering the works and non-literary self-representation of north italian humanists like Giovanni Conversini da Ravenna, Poggio Bracciolini and Vittorino da Feltre, who stood in contact with the authors of neo-latin tragedies, evidence is found for a rigid moralizing and ascetic mentality, that made them open-minded about both the ideas of contemptus mundi and tragedy. In the second half of the 15th century this mentality apparently changed, probably caused by a stronger involvement of humanism in public affairs. This led to a re-assessment of senecan tragedy, which was now either rejected as excessively cruel or regarded as a moralizing play that doesn’t on principle refuse worldly greatness.

 

Bernd Roling, Zwischen epischer Theologie und theologischer Epik, S. 327–382

The study focusses on the long continuity of biblical poetry, which has its place in Late Antiquity like in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times. How innovation in this genre was possible in the Middle Ages? Although the variations of biblical episodes were limited by the authority of the Holy Text, beside an epical adaption, theology itself could enlarge the dimensions of a biblical poem and could free the author. A detailed analysis of a single episode, the temptation of Christ, demonstrates, how in the Middle Ages a poetical treatment, based on theology, took place in the writings of e. g. Fulcoius of Beauvais or Henry of Augsburg, instead of a merely rhetorical paraphrasis, which was dominant in Late Antiquity. Although the biblical poets of the Renaissance like Marco Vida made an extensive use of the instruments of classical epics, they didn’t give up the achievements of their medieval predecessors. In the 17th century a poet like Robert Clarke demonstrates their vitality.

 

Morten Axboe – Kurt Düwel – Wilhelm Heizmann – Sean Nowak – Alexandra Pesch, Aus der Frühzeit der Goldbrakteatenforschung, S. 383–426

It is a little known but notable fact that the wealth of matters Wilhelm Grimm treated includes the Scandinavian migration-period gold bracteates, and it is intriguing to study Grimm’s writings in the light of modern research. An incredible amount of our understanding of the gold bracteates is owed to Karl Hauck, to whom this paper is dedicated on the occasion of his 90th birthday, 21 December 2006; and it is consequently largely thanks to him that many of Grimm’s assumptions, based on a fraction of the material known today, can be said to find themselves academically confirmed while others have to be dismissed – which, of course, is said without the slightest disrespect to the great scholar. As concerns bracteate research, the importance of the quality of illustrations cannot be overstated. As a young man, H. G. F. Holm, a prominent figure in Danish art history, engaged in the production of drawings of bracteates that served as basis for engravings which would prove to be authoritative through much of the 20th century – and some of which Wilhelm Grimm had at his disposal.