Alexander von Roes

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Alexander von Roes (* around 1225 in Cologne ; † shortly before 1300) was a medieval German scholar and canon .

Life

Little is known about Alexander's life. He worked as a canon at the St. Maria im Kapitol in Cologne (a noble canonical office) and is possibly identical with the documented Alexander von Leysberg (or Leysburg) there. In 1280/81 he stayed at the Curia in Rome and was there apparently in the vicinity of the cardinal deacon Giacomo Colonna , who came from one of the most influential urban Roman families and was politically pro-imperial. Alexander seems to have died before 1300.

Works

Memoriale de prerogativa imperii Romani

It is a political memorandum written in 1281 and dedicated to Giacomo Colonna. The main theme is the political primacy of the Holy Roman Empire in Latin Christianity, which is also justified in terms of salvation history. Alexander relies on several sources, including the treatise by Jordanus von Osnabrück . Alexander may have been friends with him, or at least he praised his writing, which he adopted in full (Chapters 4 to 9).

The memorial is significant in terms of state theory, as Alexander once again emphasized the importance of the medieval empire, which was understood as universal, in the form of a pamphlet after the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. This was done in a deliberate conflict and disregard for competing French claims after the empire had lost political importance as a result of the interregnum , while France rose to the new supremacy in Latin Europe. Alexander also emphasized the independence of the empire from the papacy, as opposed to universal curialist claims (as in the writings of Tolomeo of Lucca).

Alexander was evidently seriously worried about the state of the empire, which he perceived as critical. Jordanus and Alexander, and a little later Engelbert von Admont and Dante , continued to advocate the imperial universal idea. The idea of ​​an “end of the world ” also played a role, but according to a widespread prophecy this would not occur until the fall of the Roman Empire. Since the western medieval empire in the sense of the Translatio imperii was understood as a continuation of the ancient Roman empire, the end could not come as long as the empire and empire continued. Alexander also developed a hierarchy of peoples ("world offices"), according to which in Europe the Germans are entitled to rule ( Imperium or regnum ), the Italians to the spiritual realm ( Sacerdotium ) and the French to science ( study ). This idea was based on the idea that the world must follow a certain order.

In the further course of the late Middle Ages , the memorial found some distribution; an abbreviated German translation was made in the 15th century. The script is one of the oldest German political prose treatises.

Noticia saeculi

The Noticia is a work written in 1288 on the time and space of Christianity, which is dedicated to an unknown urban Roman nobleman. Alexander here also refers to the “end of the world” and also refers to the theory of the three “world offices”. Above all, Scripture deals with the questions about the coming omens of the end times and when the anti-Christ will appear.

Pavo

In contrast to the two previous prose writings, the third known work by Alexander is an allegorical poem written around 1285 and critical of the Pope. It makes a mocking reference to the Council of Lyons in 1245, but in this context alludes clearly to contemporary circumstances. Pope Martin IV , whom Alexander viewed very critically, appears as a puffed-up peacock (Latin Pavo ) who, together with the rooster (France), agitates against the “German eagle” at the “Bird Council” and wants to depose it. The stylistic devices suggest an original and unconventional poet.

expenditure

literature

  • Hermann Heimpel:  Alexander von Roes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 194 f. ( Digitized version ). (after the relaunch of deutsche-biographie.de the link leads to Jordan von Osnabrück)
  • Harald Horst: World Office and End of the World with Alexander von Roes. The writings of the Cologne canon as a counterpoint to medieval end-time expectations. Cologne 2002.
  • Walter Mohr: Alexander von Roes. The crisis in the universal conception of the empire after the interregnum . In: Miscellanea mediaevalia 5. Berlin 1968, pp. 270-300.
  • Heinz Thomas : Alexander von Roes, canon . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 379.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (Ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, p. 2f.
  2. ↑ Cf. generally Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, p. 16ff .; Edition ibid., P. 91ff.
  3. ↑ Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (Ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, p. 10.
  4. ^ Cf. Walter Mohr: Alexander von Roes. The crisis in the universal conception of the empire after the interregnum . In: Miscellanea mediaevalia 5. Berlin 1968, pp. 274ff.
  5. ^ Walter Mohr: Alexander von Roes. The crisis in the universal conception of the empire after the interregnum . In: Miscellanea mediaevalia 5. Berlin 1968, p. 279.
  6. ^ Walter Mohr: Alexander von Roes. The crisis in the universal conception of the empire after the interregnum . In: Miscellanea mediaevalia 5. Berlin 1968, pp. 288f.
  7. ↑ Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (Ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, p. 35ff.
  8. ^ Edition in Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (Ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, pp. 149ff.
  9. ↑ See Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (Ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, p. 21.
  10. ↑ See Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (Ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, pp. 31-35; Edition ibid., P. 172ff.
  11. ↑ See Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (Ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, p. 8.
  12. ↑ Herbert Grundmann, Hermann Heimpel (Ed.): Alexander von Roes. Fonts. Stuttgart 1958, p. 33.


personal data
SURNAME Roes, Alexander von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Reich theologian
DATE OF BIRTH around 1225
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH before 1300