Melusine

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Melusine (disambiguation) .

Melusine
Literary testimonies

Melusine is a mythical figure from the Middle Ages . In the narrative core, the legend is that Melusine marries a knight under the condition of a special taboo , according to which he should not see her in her true form: that of a water fairy , usually with a snake body. Melusine becomes the source of his reputation and wealth until the knight breaks the taboo .

Melusine is also known under the name Melusina , in French literature also Merlusigne and similar.

The oldest traditions of the Melusinen fabric date from the 12th century. Possible origins can already be found in pre-Christian worlds of legends of the Hellenic, Celtic and Near Eastern cultures. As a historical and genealogical legend, it goes back to the Lusignan family from the French region of Poitou .

The texts have changed over time. If Melusine appeared early as a demon , she became more and more Christianized in the courtly novels of the Middle Ages as the ancestor of some families. Since the modern era , the elements of family history have disappeared, more emphasis has been placed on the tragic love relationship. Melusine was one of the extremely popular stories of European cultures until the 20th century. Adaptations exist in many European languages. However, it has lost its presence since the 20th century.

Origin of the Melusin myth

Ancient coin of the Atargatis, equated with Derketo (r.)

Melusine portrayed by Julius Hübner (19th century)

Cupid and Psyche
François-Édouard Picot (1819)

Susanna in the bath
Sebastiano Ricci , Susanna and the two elders (1713)

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The stories of the Melusine are among the popular ancient European myths . Its sources date back to the 12th century, while its actual origins are largely obscure. This is because, on the one hand, stories used to be passed down orally and, on the other hand, a more precise localization is made more difficult by the fact that the narrative motif is still widespread in European cultures today: a person connects with an unearthly being. One speaks here of the so-called " Mahrtenehe ".

The legends of ancient Greece know similar stories of connections between a superhuman being and a human being: for example that of Zeus and Semele , in which Semele, after a hint from the jealous Hera , Zeus' wife, the beloved who hides in the form of a mortal , ceaselessly asks to show himself to her in all its splendor. Finally Zeus gives in, but Semele burns his shine. Another story of this kind is that of Cupid and Psyche : Because the mortal psyche is more admired for its beauty than Venus , its son Cupid is said to marry it to an ugly being. But he falls in love with her and has her brought to a safe place where he can visit her, but only at night to hide from her. When Psyche's sisters are allowed to visit her, they get jealous and tell her that she has married a snake. Psyche then breaks the taboo by lighting an oil lamp when Cupid returns. Venus learns of the deception, is angry and lets Psyche perform various tasks. Eventually Zeus redeems them.

Other stories that use the motif of marriages are those of Friedrich von Schwaben , Peter von Staufenberg , Lohengrin (Swan Knight) and Undine .

Due to her transformation into a snake, fish or dragon creature, possible connections to other legends are also recognizable. Snake women are known from Near Eastern myths. The basic motif of the Melusine story can also be found in Japanese myths as a story about Princess Toyotama , who separates from her earthly husband after seeing her in her birth hut in the shape of a dragon. The oldest known version can be found in Kojiki (712). There is also a possible relationship with the goddess Derketo , a chief goddess of Ascalon , whose story may have been imported from Cyprus or Jerusalem. Herodotus tells in his Histories (I, 105) that their fish were supposed to have been sacred and that the inhabitants of Askalon therefore did not eat them, a totemic idea that seems to point to the motifs of sea creatures and taboo. The fact that many Arabic texts were translated into Latin at this time would also speak in favor of such a positioning, which means that Europeans and Arabs still have similar stories in the field of fairy tales, legends and myths.

Because of this appearance, relationships with other narratives that deal with characters resembling the Melusine are conceivable, in particular the Undine, but also other aquatic creatures such as mermaids , mermaids and sirens .

Relations between the saga and the lais of the 12th and 13th centuries can also be seen, which come from the Celtic stories. In addition to the biblical story about Susanna in the bath , in which, as with Melusine, the connection between the motifs of the bath and the suspicion of fraud are centralized.

There is no evidence of which narratives from which cultures contributed directly or indirectly to the history of the Melusine and its changes. The fact that there are relationships and similarities does not prove that they are actually origins.

Early lore

Walter Map

A very early tradition comes from Walter Map (* around 1140; † between 1208 and 1210) from the 12th century. In his book De nugis curialium you can find Celtic legends and the story Henno cum dentibus (Henno with the tooth).

In the forest, Henno meets a beautiful woman whom he marries. Henno's mother spies on her, however, and sees how she soon transforms into a dragon in the bathroom, whereupon she puts both son and wife in bed and lets a priest drive the demon away with holy water.

That this legend is found alongside Celtic ones is not necessarily unusual in this case. Walter Map came from Wales , but had also studied theology in Paris, which is why he might have heard of this legend.

Gervasius of Tilbury

The literary version of the Melusinen material, which is much closer to that of the later medieval novels, can be found in Gervasius von Tilburys Otia imperialia , a kind of medieval description and explanation of the world. The text was written in 1211/14 and is dedicated to Emperor Otto IV .

It describes that Raymund, as lord of Castrum Russetum near Aix-en-Provence on the river Lar, meets a very beautiful woman on a richly decorated horse, whom he greets and returns the greeting and calls him by name. He then tries to conquer her with his words, but she refuses to accept her because she does not want to belong to anyone outside of marriage. Should he marry her, she promises him the highest earthly happiness, at least as long as he does not see her naked. However, as soon as he does not keep this condition, he will lose all happiness again. He agrees, they marry and in fact the knight's luck increases, he becomes famous for his fame and valor. He is generous, educated, and his daughters and sons are of the greatest beauty. It wasn't until a few years later, when he came home from the hunt and his wife was still bathing, that he wanted to see her naked while the meal was being prepared. Despite her requests, he pulls the linen sheet from in front of the tub and sees her naked, before she turns into a snake, submerges in the water of the pool and disappears forever. She appears only to see her children from time to time. The guards only hear her without being able to recognize her. But the knight loses much of his luck and reputation.

There are different interpretations of this version of the story. On the one hand, the mythical being is demonized in this pious Christian conception, as it was very relevant to Gervasius and other scholars of his time. Conversion is therefore an important part of history. On the other hand, it also tells of the mythical, superhuman origins of the noble families, as it is already emphasized in the clerical texts of this time that these beings lived on into the narrative time . You can find quite a few of these families who refer to this myth. You can read about it in a chronicle of the barons of Zimmer from the 16th century or in the legend of the Knight of Staufenberg. The Zimmer Chronicle also reports about it: “The same is before. . . . jaren mr. Pettern the wrestling of Staufenberg, knights, met with such faiin too ” . But these strategies also served to stigmatize . Giraldus von Cambrai, for example, tried this with the English royal family of the Plantagenet . But the story is also an allegory of the “chivalrous” behavior. Moral conditions should definitely precede happiness, which clearly includes fame and bravery. A violation of principles that never lose their validity leads to the worst: love turns into a snake and all other happiness disappears with it.

The Lusignan

In fact, the story is already in the 13./14. Century associated with the dynasty of the Lords of Lusignan . These lived near Poitiers and allegedly carried a coat of arms with a female serpent. At the same time, they had ruled the island of Cyprus for several centuries from 1192 after Guy de Lusignan bought them from Richard the Lionheart . It is therefore sometimes assumed that the myth or elements of it came to southern France through the Lusignan's relations with Cyprus.

The Lusignans carried out a mythization of their gender, Melusine was supposed to glorify it, which is not unusual. The only unusual thing is that, unlike other sexes, they used a rather pagan-demonic being for this purpose.

It was explained by folk etymology that Melusine originated from Mere and Lusignan . At the same time, the historical and the fictional were combined, that is, historicized. So the story of Count Geoffroy I. de Lusignan, who burned down the Maillezais monastery in 1232 before going on a penitential trip to Rome.

The sources that connect the legend with the Lusignan family go back to the 14th century in the book Reductorium morale by Petrus Berchorius . In it the legend is handed down that the sea fairy Melusine would show herself every time a new master moved into Lusignan Castle. Reports of such alleged apparitions are documented, for example, by Duke Jean de Berry .

As an ancestor of this sex, the obvious stigma of the demonic also had to be removed, which is why a Christian revaluation of the Melusine took place as "mother and reclaimer".

The Melusinen Novels of the Middle Ages

The castle that Melusine is said to have built, as a monthly picture "March" by the Très Riches Heures of the Limburg brothers for the Duke of Berry (1413/16)

Breaking the taboo: Raymond surprises his wife Melusine in the bathroom and discovers her snake body. Illustration from Le livre de Mélusine , Jean d'Arras, 1478.

Page from the German version of the Melusinen history (Augsburg: Johann Bämler, 1474). The print edition tells again how the handwritten template came about as a commissioned work.

It was not until the late Middle Ages that the Melusin myth was strongly Christianized. A pagan demon as the ancestor of a family no longer fit into the social picture. This also had to be corrected and manifested literarily. From then on, Melusine appears as a Christian, God-faithful princess, who is strongly positive in this context. She builds castles, increases property and wealth, fights pagans and calls for Christian virtues . This strong apostrophization makes it clear that the point is to completely dismantle a possible pagan suspicion. She should appear as the one who is doing the will of God . This is what the texts of the three authors have in common who wrote the great Melusinen novels of this time and at the same time the first surviving novels on this subject. What they also have in common is that they all follow their own narrative strategies, so they don't simply offer variants of the same story.

Jean d'Arras

Jean d'Arras wrote Melusine's first story in the form of the novel , which he wrote in prose. He received the order for this from the Duke of Berry , brother of the King of France, Charles V. This duke is well known for such orders, for example the Très Riches Heures go back to him . One of the monthly pictures in it also shows the castle that Melusine is said to have built according to legend. As a dragon she hovers over the roof of the tower. (See fig.)

Marie (* September 12, 1344; † 1404; see also Johann II. (France) - children ), sister of the Duke of Berry and married to Robert I, Duke of Bar , had her brother - allegedly to research the "truth “Tried hard - asked for the story, as d'Arras mentions. Both her grandfather Johann von Luxemburg and her husband Robert I, a Duke of Bar , invoked the descent from Melusine. The client, Jean de Berry himself, was the Count of Poitou , the area from which the rise of the House of Lusignan began. He had besieged Lusignan during the Hundred Years War when the English occupied the castle. It is said that when he conquered it, as legend has it, he met Melusine.

D'Arras tells how Elynas, the King of Albany (Scotland), meets Presine, the mother of Melusine, while hunting. He convinces her to marry him, but she makes him promise never to go into her room while she is giving birth or bathing her children. She gives him triplets. When he breaks the taboo, she leaves him and goes to Avalon with her daughters Melusine, Melior and Palestine . Fifteen years later, the daughters take revenge - they bury Elynas alive in a mountain. As a punishment, the sisters are cursed by their mother, Melior becomes a sparrowhawk in Cyprus, Palestine a dragon to guard his father's treasure on the Pic du Canigou (in the Pyrenees). Melusine, on the other hand, has to turn into a queue from the waist down every Saturday until she finds a man who marries her and promises not to see her that day. She finally meets Raymond of Poitou in a forest in France, and history repeats itself: Melusine marries Raymond on the condition that he never go into her bathroom on a Saturday. Melusine builds Lusignan Castle on it, Raymond receives courage and prestige and they have ten sons who acquire knightly fame and honor, some of them become kings. But they all have marks of their descent. Thuringia describes that they are unformed under the face / and otherwise completely from the body. When Raymond breaks the taboo because his jealous brother tells him that she is cheating on him during this time, he finds her half-human, half-snake. At first she forgives him, Raymond chases his brother away, but when he calls her a "snake" in front of his court, she is cursed, she turns into a kite and flies away.

The text represents a connection between the classic heroic saga of the Middle Ages and the courtly novel . The mother of Melusine, after d'Arras a sister of the fairy Morgan , comes from the fairy world of the mountain Avalon (this is located in France according to the story, but is identical to the mythical island), one of the most popular narrative worlds of this time. In this way the connection is established between the sexes who refer to the Melusine and the legendary world of King Arthur . An important part of the plot and popular theme of the French heroic epic are also the pagan fights of the sons of Melusine. D'Arras brings together a wide variety of literary motifs: the heroic adventures of the knights, the politics of the dynasties and their courtly life as well as the well-known magical worlds.

Coudrette

Coudrette, also Couldrette, who wrote the saga, for which he alone is still known today, around 1400 in the form of the French verse novel , is significantly more historical than d'Arras, who wrote his prose novel only a little earlier. On the one hand, Coudrette himself came from Poitou and was certainly eager to reproduce the genealogy of the family that supported him, and on the other hand, he also claims to rely on various sources. These are an older rhyming version of the saga, two Latin books in French translation and a book by an Earl of Salisbury (it cannot be ruled out that this was also Gervasius of Tilbury). Coudrette also wrote the book on behalf of the Parthenay family , who, like many others, referred to Melusine. Guillaume VII. Larchevêque, who commissioned Coudrette, died prematurely in 1401, but his son Jean II, Seigneur de Mathefelon († 1427) wanted the work to be finished. This must probably have happened before 1405, as the Parthenay reign was sold to the Duke of Berry in that year, which is no longer mentioned in Coudrette's text.

What is emphasized again and again in this edition of the Melusine is the rightful rule of the family. In the same way, however, according to the aristocratic warrior society, the fantastic elements are now pushed back, more strongly than in d'Arras, in favor of the deeds described by the sons, who do not need pagan sorcery for the knightly acquisition of wife and land.

This gives the book the form of a courtly gentleman's service : the late medieval aristocratic world of France and Burgundy celebrates itself and recognizes itself in the stories. Although the pagan origins are also undergoing Christian corrections here, it is definitely questionable whether this saga of the Melusine was actually still authentic, especially for the client, and was not read as pure fiction. Ultimately, this also puts the apparently intended historicity in a different light.

Thuringia from Ringoltingen

A German version had to stand out clearly from the original in this context. It comes from the Bernese patrician Thuringia von Ringoltingen (1415–1483). This himself came from aristocratic circles, his family had risen to the city nobility of Bern. His text is a translation of Coudrette's version in prose form, at the same time it is a very heavily edited version in terms of content, for which Thuringia distinguishes between meaning and substance: and whether I have set the synn der materyen nit gantz after the welsh buoch. So I understood the substantz of the materyen as best as I could . He dedicates the text zuo eren und zuo dienste of Margrave Rudolf von Hochberg , Count of Neuchâtel (it is possible that Thuringia was also able to convey the version of Couldrette by this Rudolf von Hochberg). He had close ties to the court of Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy . At that time, Burgundy was the center of knightly courtly culture. On the one hand, the dedication documents the political alliances and relationships between high society in Bern and the prestigious European courts and their exclusive life. On the other hand, their need to belong: Bern was not a place for high European nobility, but Thuringia adheres to court norms in a much stronger way than Coudrette: etiquette, dialogues as a model of elegant speech, norms such as origin, honor, upbringing. In Thuringia, Melusine became the origin of an entire aristocratic world that continued into his presence, which now includes the lower nobility, i.e. himself.

An important leitmotif of the stories, especially in Thuringia, is guilt . Reymund, the protagonist of the novel, is guilty of the manslaughter of his foster father right from the start, even if it was only a hunting accident. Everything that follows must result (for him!) As a logical explanation pattern. That is the only reason why the demon connects with him and fathered a son like Geffroy, who burned down a monastery with monks and abbot. That is the only reason why tragedy occurs. A form of individual responsibility only appears conceivable through an explanatory conflict in the story between divine control and fantastic-mythological causes. Although Thuringia enormously restricts the deeds of the now pious Christian and rather wise advisor (because fairy) Melusine, the personified goddess of luck Fortuna is also called, who explains that misfortune must follow luck .

Stories of the Melusine in Modern Times

Melusin representation at the Lieblerhaus in Tauberbischofsheim from 1628

In modern times there have been numerous adaptations of the Melusinen material, and not just in German or French. There are versions of the story in Russian, English (based on Couldrette and d'Arras), Spanish (based on the French folk book) and in Dutch and Flemish (both based on the German folk book ). The history of fun der schene Melusina , written in West Yiddish, was also probably based on a German-language model and is documented with two print fragments from the 18th century from the Geniza von Alsenz and the Geniza von Memmelsdorf in Lower Franconia . There is also a young manuscript in Icelandic from 1824, Rémundar saga og Melusine .

In Germany the German Volksbuch (Simrock Vol. 6) was the model for some texts. So for dramas by Hans Sachs ( Die Melusina , 1556) and Jakob Ayrer (1598). Jean Nodot turns the French material (1698) into a gallant baroque novel by dividing the originally loosely connected components of the fairy tale and knight adventure. Another adaptation can be found by Just Friedrich Wilhelm Zachariae (1772), in whose trivial narrative a dispute over Melusine's favorite kitten leads to the separation from Raimund. Others come from Ludwig Tieck (1800, 1807), who designed a kind of chantefable from the people's book , and from Gustav Schwab . Fragments also exist by Achim von Arnim , Carl Zuckmayer (Versspiel, 1920) and Casimir Delavigne .

Even Goethe wrote of Melusine. With him, however, it has little to do with the melusine material of the Middle Ages. In 1807 the fairy tale The New Melusine was published as part of Wilhelm Meister's years of traveling . Perhaps the strongest reference to this material is the title of the little story. There is no female snake, but a woman who turns into a dwarf from time to time and lives in a box during this time. She insists that the man who loves her don't open the box. But after one day the latter recognizes her through a crack in the box, she forgives him, but insists that he never talk about it in front of anyone. After being drunk and jealous in a society dwarf called, she forgives him but again, ultimately, when he decides to come back to their miniature world. But after he has to marry her there, he runs away. The Melusine herself provides another clue at the end of the story when she reveals herself to her lover. From time to time her species, which has become few in number, needs fresh blood and sends out a princess for this purpose - and Melusine is actually very pregnant at the end of the story. But she can only surrender to a knight, as she tells, and she has chosen the narrator of the story as such. This, however, is in contrast to both the narrator's action, who is more of a gamer and do-it-all, and his self-assessment, as he describes himself as someone who would have done nothing right all his life.

With Goethe, the taboo of the Middle Ages no longer has any force. In addition, the condition of marriage, which was at the very beginning, is the reason for his flight only at the end, because now this can only take place in the dwarf world. As a result, the little story seems to parody the historical material, but also stands for free will, which cannot be bound by any taboos or barriers. It is also significant that here the story is restricted to the personal relationship alone. It is also interesting that Goethe establishes the relationship to the story of Amor and Psyche without any references from the historical version of Melusine. On the one hand, this happens through the box that the first-person narrator should keep but never open. This is reminiscent of the last task that Psyche was given by Venus after Venus realized that Psyche is expecting a child ( Voluptas ) from Amor, her son . With Psyche there is a beauty ointment (for Proserpina ) in the box , which she then throws herself into a death-like sleep. On the other hand, Psyche was able to solve previous tasks with the help of ants, among other things. The narrator in Goethe's story also encounters ants as a dwarf.

The Melusine by Ludwig Schwanthaler from 1845

Melusine became the core motif of the Undine theme in two cases: Friedrich Baron de la Motte Fouqués Undine (1811) and Jean Giraudouxs Ondine (1939). The difference to Melusine is that the man knows about the supernatural and the breach of loyalty, not the discovery of the secret, leads to separation and death.

In 1833 Conradin Kreutzer wrote the music for Melusina - Romantic Opera in three acts , which Franz Grillparzer had created as an opera libretto version of Goethe's fairy tale in 1823. In contrast to the Goethe text, Raimund throws himself into a well after his escape from the fairy kingdom. Melusine was thus brought closer to Tannhauser (first performance in 1845), who finally longed for the realm of Venus. Even Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy called an overture The Tale of the beautiful Melusine (Opus 32). In the 20th century, the Czech composer Jan Evangelista Zelinka wrote the opera Meluzína based on a libretto by František Kožík , which was premiered in Pilsen in 1950. The composer Aribert Reimann wrote his opera Melusine in 1970 based on a libretto by Claus H. Henneberg , based on the play of the same name by Yvan Goll (1922).

Gustav Schwab's Die Schöne Melusine and, as a variant of the material, Eddystone , a novel by Wilhelm Jensen, date from the 19th century .

Since the Romantic era , the Melusine motif has deteriorated more and more, so that in the 20th century not even the core fable, rather only references, can be found in culture: Theodor Fontane wrote the novel Der Stechlin in 1895–1897 , in which he played a character Melusine called. His main interest in the material was the emotional type of woman.

Two poems by Georg Trakl (1887–1914) are titled Melusine .

Jakob Wassermann's first work from 1896 was Melusine. A romance novel .

Heinrich Vogeler : Melusine , triptych, around 1910

The melusine motif is also taken up in André Breton's surrealist anti-novel Nadja (1928) . The protagonist Nadja identifies herself completely with the image of Melusine both in her being and in her external appearance and thereby poets herself.

Richard Billinger wrote the drama Melusine in 1941 , he modernized the material into a married drama . Billinger designed the tableau as in the Heimatfilm, by transferring the changeability of the weather to human fates and sensitivities, with metaphors and comparisons that mark emotional struggles and the dangers of sensual seduction.

Hans Steinhoff shot the feature film Melusine for Terra Film in 1943/1944 : After an accident, Nora and Stefan fall in love, but then they lose sight of each other. Later Stefan saves the life of the young Christine, Nora's daughter, ignorantly and becomes engaged to her. However, when she learns of the love between Stefan and her mother, she drives out onto the lake in stormy weather, unhappy. But the anticipated disaster associated with a bronze figure named "Melusine" does not occur. Stefan finds Christine safe and stays with her. Nora now renounces Stefan and goes back to her former husband. After its completion, the film was banned by the Nazis and therefore no longer shown.

In her 1990 novel Obsessive , the author AS Byatt also took up the motif of the Melusine.

In the 1991 film Pappa ante portas , Loriot, in his role as Lothar Frohwein, recites the following poem, based on Trakl's poetics:

Melusine!
Kraweel, Kraweel!
Deaf ginst at the Musenhain!
Cloudy grove on Musenginst!
Kraweel, Kraweel!

The Luxembourgish youth adventure film Treasure Knight and the Secret of Melusina from 2012 also takes up the motif.

Walter Moer's novel The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books mentions “Melusinen” at one point. They are a form of existence from the “ Zamonian water mythology” and are listed next to “frog princes, silt witches, mist sirens, coral guys” and “Klabautergeistern”.

Reception history

The attempts to interpret the Melusine go back a long way. Paracelsus (1493–1541) already interpreted it as one of the elemental spirits in the context of the problem of soul acquisition.

According to recent research, it is viewed as a modified form of Echidna or Kekrops (see Hamadryas ). In addition, an external relationship to Semele , the goddess Lucina and Mrs. Venus is seen in her.

The interpretations of gestalt are dominated by psychoanalytic, political and feminist approaches. So she was seen as the woman oppressed by men in the Middle Ages. Further interpretations see a demonization of women in the late Middle Ages. It is not unlikely that the authors of the Middle Ages also noticed that the female position dominated the story disproportionately and, not least because of this, they gave more narrative space to the heroic deeds of men.

Trivia

The beautiful Melusine is the name of a dish made from baked cauliflower that is attributed to Clemens Wilmenrod (1906–1967). Since 1995 Depuis Publishing has published a series of French comics under the title Mélusine , in which there is also no reference to the legend of Melusine. It is reduced to the figure of a witch. Also reduced, in this case to a representation, is a figure resembling Melusine, a siren with a double fishtail, as the Starbucks company logo . Mélusine is also the name of a TGV measuring vehicle from the French railway company SNCF. The legendary figure also plays a central role in The Treasure Knights and the Secret of Melusina (2012).

literature

expenditure

• Jean d'Arras: Mélusine. Roman du XIV ^e siècle by Jean d'Arras, publié […] by Luis Stouff, Dijon and Paris 1932.
• Jean d'Arras: L'Histoire de la Belle Mélusine de Jean d'Arras. Reproduction en fac-similé de l'edition de Genève, imprimée par A. Steinschaber en 1478 […], éditée avec une préface par W.-J. Meyer, Bern 1923/24.
• Couldrette: Le Roman de Mélusine ou Histoire de Lusignan par Coudrette. éd. par Eleanor Roach, Paris 1982.
• Thuringia from Ringoltingen: Melusine. After the manuscripts, critically edited. by Karin Schneider . Berlin 1958 (texts from the late Middle Ages; 9).
• Thuringia from Ringoltingen: Melusine. [According to tradition from 1467] In: Jan-Dirk Müller (Ed.): Novels of the 15th and 16th centuries. After the first prints with all woodcuts. In: Library of the early modern period. Twenty-four volumes. With illustrations. Edited by Wolfgang Harms, Conrad Wiedemann and Franz-Josef Worstbrock. First department. Literature in the Age of Humanism and the Reformation. Twelve volumes. Edited by Wolfgang Harms and Franz-Josef Worstbrock. Volume 1. Deutscher Klassiker Verlag: Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-618-66310-2 (linen cover) , ISBN 3-618-66315-3 (leather cover).
• Thuringia von Ringoltingen (Ed. Christine Hensel): The history of the beautiful Melusina. With 54 illustrations after woodcuts from the edition of the Volksbuch from 1474. Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1979 ( Insel-Bücherei 629/2).
• Thuringia from Ringoltingen: Melusine. [In the version of the Book of Love from 1587]. Edited by Hans-Gert Roloff. Philipp Reclam Jun, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-001484-0 .
• Thuringia from Ringoltingen: Melusine. [1456] After the first printing in Basel: Richel around 1473/74. Edited by André Schnyder in conjunction with Ursula Rautenberg. 2 vol. (Edition, translation and facsimile of the image pages; commentary and essays). Reichert, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-89500-508-8 .
• Melusine - Ein Deutsches Volksbuch - story of the noble and beautiful Melusine, who was a sea wonder and King Helmas' daughter. Reading and Leisure Publishing, Ravensburg, ISBN 3-88884-216-6

Secondary literature

• Secondary literature on Melusinen material

Fiction

• Hannes Anderer : On the way to Melusine. Book 1. Annweiler 2006
  • dsb .: Meeting with Melusine. Book 2. ibid. 2007
• Jakob Wassermann : Melusine. A romance novel. Series (2009): The Great Aquarian Library in 25 volumes. First Querido Verlag , Amsterdam 1935; Greifen again, Rudolstadt 2009, ISBN 3-89793-211-3 , 2nd edition, ibid. 2009 ISBN 3-86939-291-6
• Franz Hellens: Mélusine. Novel. La Voile rouge-Emile-Paul Frères, Paris & Brussels 1920 (in French)
  • dsb .: Mélusine ou La Robe de saphir. Roman d'aventures. Éditions Gallimard , Paris 1952 & Les Eperonniers, Brussels 1987 (edition without subtitles; these Hellens novels: review see web links)

Web links

Commons : Melusine  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• A translation of the French version of Coudrette's Melusine into English, for download (unformatted and as a pdf)
• Review of Hellens by Babiag, French (PDF; 253 kB)
• Claudia Steinkämper, dissertation on the entire reception history of V&R 2007
• Zurich: (PDF; 64 kB) Sirens, mermaids, mermaids. The feminine in water and in literature. Strauhof-Museum 2005, list of references to the exhibition (4 pages)
• Kathrin Bilgeri: (PDF; 1.22 MB) Theodor Fontane's adultery novels. A figure-psychological, socio-historical and myth-poetic analysis and interpretation. Diss. Phil. Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg 2007

Remarks

1. ↑ The Romanist Jean Firges thinks that the second half of the word comes from "lusen", Breton for snake. See below literature, fiction: Hannes Anderer: Melusine. Book 2nd page 87
2. ↑ As the day of the Sabbath, Saturday also makes the taboo plausible .
3. ↑ on the meaning of the Melusinen motif in the Stechlin see the article there under the web link to Mi-Ae Chon: Character and function of Melusines in Fontane's old age novel “Der Stechlin”.
4. ↑ at the same time he was the screenwriter

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See also: Coudrette (French)
2. ↑ See: Claude Lecouteux: Melusine. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 9, p. 556.
3. ↑ See: Jan-Dirk Müller (Ed.): Novels of the 15th and 16th centuries. P. 1023.
4. ↑ See: Lecouteux: Melusine. P. 556
5. ↑ See also: Book of Daniel 13 EU
6. ↑ See also: De nugis curialium: Distinctio quarta: XI. Item de apparicionibus. in the transcription of the bibliotheca Augustana (lat.)
7. ↑ See: Müller: Novels of the 15th and 16th centuries. P. 1023.
8. ↑ See also: Transcription of the Latin text on: www.fh-augsburg.de and 12koerbe.de
9. ↑ See: Karl Heisig: Melusinensage. P. 171 f.
10. ↑ See also: Zimmer (noble family) and the report in the Chronicle in Wikisource ( Zimmer Chronicle, Volume 1, p. 27)
11. ^ Brothers Grimm : Mr. Peter Dimringer von Staufenberg in the Gutenberg-DE project
12. ↑ See: Wikisource (Zimmer Chronicle, Volume 1, p. 28)
13. ↑ See: Müller: Novels of the 15th and 16th centuries. P. 1023 ff.
14. ↑ See: Hans-Gert Roloff: Melusine. P. 158 ff.
15. ↑ See also: List of the Bishops of La Rochelle
16. ↑ ^{a b} cf .: Müller: Novels of the 15th and 16th centuries. P. 1025.
17. ↑ See: Müller: Novels of the 15th and 16th centuries. P. 1025 ff.
18. ↑ See also: Coudrette (French)
19. ↑ See also: Seigneurs de Parthenay (French)
20. ↑ See e.g. E.g .: Jan-Dirk Müller: Thuringia from Ringoltingen. In: The German literature of the Middle Ages: author lexicon. Pp. 908-914.
21. ↑ See: Müller: Novels of the 15th and 16th centuries. P. 1021 f.
22. ↑ From the introduction to the Melusine. Compare: Thuringia von Ringoltingen: Melusine. Edited by Hans-Gert Roloff, Stuttgart 2000, p. 148.
23. ↑ See: Müller: Novels of the 15th and 16th centuries. P. 1035.
24. ↑ See: Elisabeth Singer-Brehm: History of the beautiful Melusina. In: Rebekka Denz and Gabi Rudolf (eds.): Genisa sheets. Potsdam 2015, pp. 85–93.
25. ↑ See: Claude Lecouteux: Melusine. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 9, p. 557.
26. ↑ Elisabeth Frenzel : Substances of world literature. A lexicon of poetry-historical longitudinal sections. (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 300). 9th, revised and expanded edition, Kröner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-520-30009-5 , p. 515.
27. ↑ See also: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: The new Melusine in the Gutenberg-DE project
28. ↑ See: Claude Lecouteux: Melusine. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 9, p. 558.
29. ↑ Claudia Steinkämper: Melusine - from snake woman to "Beaute with the fish tail" . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-35889-4 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
30. ↑ Elisabeth Frenzel: Substances of world literature. A lexicon of poetry-historical longitudinal sections. Stuttgart 1998, p. 516.
31. ↑ Gustav Schwab : The beautiful Melusine in the Gutenberg-DE project
32. ↑ See also: Fontane: The Stechlin . In: Wikisource
33. ↑ Walter Moers: The labyrinth of dreaming books , Munich 2011, p. 317f.
34. ↑ See Paracelsus' works. 3rd ed. Darmstadt 1967. pp. 462-498.
35. ↑ See: W. Aly: Folk tales, sagas and novels in Herodotus and his contemporaries. Goettingen 1921.
36. ↑ See: Ulrike Junk: That's how women have to be! To analyze a pattern of interpretation of femininity using the example of the Melusine of Thuringia from Ringoltingen. In: Ingrid Bennewitz: Der frauwen buoch. Göppingen 1989, ISBN 3-87452-756-5 , pp. 327-352.
    Also: Bea Lundt: Melusine and Merlin in the Middle Ages. Drafts and models of female existence in the relationship discourse of the sexes; a contribution to historical narrative research. Munich 1991.
37. ↑ See: Albrecht Classen: Sexual and Marital Relationships in the 15th Century: The "Melusine" case by Thuring von Ringoltingen. A social and literary historical study from a mentality-historical perspective. In: German Studies Review , Vol. 17, No. 2 (May 1994), pp. 233-268. (See also: Sexual and Marital Relationships in the 15th Century: The "Melusine" case from Thuringia von Ringoltingen. A social and literary historical study from a mentality history perspective , on jstor.org)
38. ↑ Clemens Wilmenrod on www.artfond.de ( Memento from April 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
39. ↑ Results melusine , at www.dupuis.com
40. ↑ See also the illustration of the earlier logo: de.wikipedia.org

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 15, 2007 .