Plautus in the nunnery

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Plautus im Nonnenkloster is a novella written and published by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer in 1882 . Meyer had published a first version in 1881 under the title Das Brigittchen von Trogen . While Poggio Bracciolini , the hero of the story, really existed, its plot is pure fiction .

main characters

  • Poggio Bracciolini :
    Poggio was one of the most important humanists of the Italian Renaissance and the secretary of five popes. The deposition of the last of these ( John XXIII. ) And the length of the Council of Constance (1414-1418) gave him the time to search the libraries and monasteries in the area for classical texts that were known to the early humanists, but no longer existed in Italy.
  • Abbess :
    Described by Hänschen (Hans von Splügen) as a nasty little woman with a talent for administration, who established the dilapidated household of the monastery and raised it. She comes from the Appenzellerland and is popularly known as “Brigittchen von Trogen”.
  • Hans von Splügen (Anselino de Spiuga) :
    An unhappy lover, he moves to the monastery as Poggio's assistant, not because of the Plautus, but because he wants to see Gertrude dressed up.
  • Gertrude :
    She is in love with Hans, but because of a vow she has to leave him and go to the monastery.

action

Like many of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's novels, this one also has a general plot : after a hot summer's day, a society of educated Florentines around Cosmus Medici (Cosimo de Medici, 1389–1464) meets to enjoy the coolness of the evening. Cosmus Medici gets Poggio, the current secretary of the Florentine Republic and formerly the secretary of five popes, to tell one of his facets .

Poggio reports on his discovery of a manuscript with comedies by Plautus . During the Council of Constance, in the autumn of 1417, he was told that a Plautus codex was being kept in the nearby Münsterlingen monastery (canton of Thurgau ), whereupon the humanist - shortly before the foreseeable election of the new Pope - left for the monastery, to get the manuscript. Hans von Splügen accompanied him on his journey as an assistant. He is an unhappy lover who goes with Poggio because he wants to be present when his lover Gertrude is dressed . Gertrude withdrew from Hans for no apparent reason to become a nun. She is to be accepted into the order the following day.

When he arrives at the monastery, Poggio sees a bizarre spectacle. In the freedom of the monastery meadow, a large, indistinct object is auctioned or shown for another purpose. Around the abbess of the monastery, who is surrounded by her nuns, lay people and monks who have come to form a colorful circle in the most intimate positions. Now and then there is a nobleman among the peasants; but also banter, gypsies, traveling people, prostitutes and rabble of every kind mingle in the strange group. One after the other emerges from this and weighs an object that Poggio recognizes as a gruesome, ancient, gigantic cross as he approaches. It seems very difficult, because after a short while it begins to sway dangerously even in the hands of the strongest, until the wearer collapses. Suddenly the abbess notices Poggio and waves him over and tries to get him to carry the cross once. But the abbess insults Poggio with her caustic remarks about his stature, and so he leaves to visit the church of the monastery.

There he meets a girl, a novice who, completely in her mind, does not notice that Poggio is watching her. When she does notice him, she wants to get up and leave. But he holds her back and asks her to point out the large stone image that hangs in the church. It shows a huge, thorn-crowned woman who carries the large cross. Although the woman is very strong, she almost collapses under the weight of the cross. In front of her is a small, delicate lady who helps the woman with the carrying. It is the holy mother Mary. The novice explains to Poggio the meaning of the picture, namely that it represents the founder of this monastery, who had sinned badly. After a long and heavy penance, the founder wanted a sign that God had forgiven her. So she had this heavy cross made and tried to carry it. She would have collapsed if the Mother of God had not forgiven and helped her.

Poggio is amazed and after a while he asks the novice whether she is not the Gertrude that Hans von Splügen told him about? Without hesitation, she answers yes and smiles. She ponders a moment and then begins to tell why she left Hans without a word and wanted to enter the monastery. Gertrude tells of an oath she once swore to the Mother of God. She was then 10 years old and her mother was seriously ill. For fear of being alone (her father had also died), she sent an eulogy to heaven and vowed to go to the monastery as soon as she was 20 years old, if Mary would receive her mother by then. The Holy Mother kept her word, and Gertrude's little mother only died when Gertrude turned twenty. Since Gertrude was now a lot alone, she made friends with Hans, who soon became more than just a friend to her. At the same time, however, Gertrude's vow was due, and every time she sounded the avel, she remembered the monastery and her promise.

After Gertrude has left, Poggio sits down in a confessional and thinks about Plautus, whom he suspects to be somewhere in this monastery. And he also thinks about the stone image on the church wall. Suddenly it falls like scales from his eyes: It may be that the founder lifted the heavy cross in her desperation and remorse. But Poggio suspects that there is still a forgery of this cross somewhere, which is then worn every time by the novices when they are dressed. Of course, this fake is much lighter than the original and so even a small child can wear the false cross without any effort. This is how a so-called “false miracle” was created to deceive the spectators of the costumes and to convince them of the power of God. Poggio gets up, slowly climbs the steps of the choir and reaches the sacristy, where the heavy cross (the original) leans against the wall. In a side room he finds the church's small library. His heart beats faster. Could it be that Plautus is hidden here? But no, disappointed, he leafed through a few uninteresting liturgies and rituals. Then he is surprised by the little abbess, she strikes him like lightning, cursing and scolding, even getting physical. She screams, she saw it right at Poggio's long nose that he is a French-Swiss Books Marder was and the intention was to take the Plautushandschrift itself. But an Appenzell abbess could not be so easily fooled. She has been hiding the Plautus for a long time and is waiting for an honest buyer.

In order to reassure her, he tells her that he is a messenger from the council who goes through the monasteries looking for writings that are dangerous to morality. Poggio pretends to read this from a sheet of paper, in truth he is holding an inn bill in his hand. He also adds that the council pursues juggling miracles with relentless severity. Wherever fraud is found, atone for the culprit, and if it is the abbess, with death by fire. The abbess turns pale as chalk and is frightened. She leads Poggio to the cupboard where the juggler's cross is kept. It's a perfect imitation, nobody would notice any difference from the original. The abbess realizes that she no longer has a chance and promises the monk to fetch the Plautus. When she hears her nuns, she says goodbye to Poggio and leaves him with the key to the cupboard of the juggler's cross. After a while, Poggio also leaves the sacristy and hides the key in a crack between two chairs, where it may still be today.

Later, Poggio meets the abbess again, she confesses to him that she was cheating. He orders her to burn the juggler's cross after Gertrude has been dressed and to hand over the Plautus without notice. She reluctantly obeys. Poggio withdraws to his little room in the monastery and begins to read Plautus. In front of the window of the room where Poggio is reading, a couple of girls begin to sing teasing rhymes: “I'm not going to the monastery. No! I'm not going to be a nun! ”These rhymes refer to Gertrude's dressing up tomorrow. Soon it will be too dark to read and Poggio falls into a restless sleep.

When he wakes up, he hears moaning and screaming. Assuming it must be Gertrude, he gets up and goes to the sacristy. There he sees Gertrude kneeling in front of the heavy cross, who is completely exhausted and is no longer sure whether she can stand it in the monastery. She asks the Mother of God to let her collapse under the weight of the cross so that she does not have to go to the monastery. Poggio feels infinite pity. He pretends not to see Gertrude, steps in front of the cross and says: "If I want to recognize an object, I mark it." He pulls out his sharp travel dagger and cuts a not exactly small chip out of the cross. Then he pretends to be talking to himself and lets us know that there is still a false cross. Gertrude is sitting in the dark of a corner and slowly understands what Poggio is trying to say to her. Poggio leaves and with a clear conscience he goes to sleep again.

As the festival bells ring, the ceremony begins. Gertrude, pale to die, is dressed and at the end the juggler's cross is placed on her shoulder and she takes a few steps with him. Gertrude notices that the cross has no mark. She smashes it and pulls out the real, heavy cross and drags it in front of the crowd. But soon the cross becomes too heavy for her and she collapses under it. The other nuns help her and free her from her burden. Overjoyed not to have to go to the monastery now (after all, the Mother of God did not ease her burden and thus freed her from her vows), she calls for Hans and asks if he would like to marry her. He answers with a radiant yes.

While Poggio is informed by a messenger that Otto von Colonna has been elected Pope ( Martin V ), Gertrude leaves the church with Hans. The crowd rages and insults the abbess as a cheat, and Gertrude as a sinner. Poggio returns to the monastery and takes Plautus out of his room. When he wants to say goodbye to the abbess, she furiously chases him away. Poggio returns to Constance.

With that Poggio closes his story. Cosmus thanks and soon the conversation from Plautus moves on to other topics.

construction

structure

  • Beginning ( part of the frame ): Poggio begins telling his friends a story.
  • Transition ( part of the facetie ): The first part of Poggio's story.
  • Interruption ( part of the frame ): Poggio interrupts his narration and asks a listener something.
  • Transition ( part of the facetie ): The second part of Poggio's story.
  • End ( part of the frame ): Poggio finishes his story and continues to spend the evening with his friends.

High point and turning point

At the climax , Gertrude's dressing takes place and she notices that the cross is not real. Up to this point in time you don't know what will happen to Gertrude, whether she will really choose the monastery or her love for Hans.

The turning point is Poggio's pity for Gertrude and his decision to help her. Without this help, Gertrude would have become a nun. So this story would have turned out very differently.

Others

To classify the novella, the following statement is noteworthy from today's perspective: The fact that Jan Hus was burned as a heretic at the Council of Constance , of this event and its far-reaching consequences is only mentioned in passing in this novella.

Secondary literature

  • Sigurd Paul Scheichl: The Brigittchen von Trogen. Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's “Plautus in the nunnery” - monastery satire or humanist satire? In: Brigitte Mazohl, Ellinor Forster (Hrsg.): Frauenkloster im Alpenraum (= Schlern-Schriften. 355). Wagner, Innsbruck 2012, ISBN 978-3-7030-0491-9 , pp. 209-226 (interpretation of the novella).

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