Old Saxon Genesis
The old Saxon Genesis is next to the Heliand the only great seal of the 9th century in old Saxon (altniederdeutscher) language. It was written around 840 by an unknown author in long lines as all-in-all . It introduces the biblical genesis , using stylistic elements of Germanic heroic poems and including contemporary legal ideas. Presumably, apocryphal sources were also used ( Antichrist and Enoch legends, Engelsturz ).
Today three fragments of a total of 337 verses are still preserved from the Old Saxon Genesis. They are available as supplements together with an excerpt from the Heliand in a computist manuscript from the 9th century. from Mainz. A close affiliation with Heliand is also expressed in the fact that the Latin Heliand-Praefatio (preface) mentions that King Ludwig ( the pious ? The German ?) Should also have given the Saxon poet the order to produce uetus ac nouum Testamentum in Germanicam linguam poetice transferre ("to poetically transfer the old and the new testament into the German language"). The praefatio is likely to have been written some time apart, and the Genesis poet is considered to be a successor to the style-defining model rather than the same man. Further conclusions on form and content emerge from the Anglo-Saxon Genesis (B), which in parts is a faithful translation of Old Saxon poetry.
- Fragment I: After the Fall
- Fragment II: After the murder of Abel
- Fragment III: The Fall of Sodom
See also
literature
- Burkhard Taeger: Old Saxon Genesis. In: Autorlexikon , Vol. 1, 1978, pp. 313-317.