Anthony of Pforr

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Antonius von Pforr (born in Breisach ; died 1483 ) was the translator of the Book of Examples , an influential translation of the Indian collection of stories Panchatantra .

Life

Antonius von Pforr came from the Breisach patrician family of the Pforr . In 1436 he was first documented as a chaplain in Jechtingen , from 1455 he was documented as dean and parish lord on the Upper Rhine , especially in Endingen and Müllheim . From the 1460s he appeared as a spiritual advisor, legal advisor and mediator of the Habsburg Duke Albrecht of Austria and above all in the circle around his wife Mechthild . In addition, he appears in 1466 as the authorized representative of Duke Siegmund of Tyrol and in several legal cases as a representative of Bishop Hermann von Breitenlandenberg from Constance . In 1472 he was church lord in Rottenburg am Neckar , the seat of the duchess, who in 1468 appointed him one of the "executors" of her will and in 1477, after leaving Rottenburg church lord, gave him a pension. In 1483 he died in high years.

The book of examples of the ancient sages

Antonius von Pforr is significant in literary history through the book of examples of the old wise men , a collection of moral stories, fables and animal stories. The collection goes back to the Panchatantra , a classical Indian text that became known in Europe through the Arabic translation Kalīla wa Dimna . This was translated into Latin by Johann von Capua in the 13th century under the title Directorium humanae vitae . The German translation made by Antonius von Pforr is based on the Latin text by Johann von Capua, but the exact Latin original is unknown. He dedicated the work to Count Eberhard von Württemberg-Urach , who is also accepted as the initiator of the translation. Both authorship and dedication can be found in the initial sequences ( acrostics ) in the text ( ANTHONYVS V PFOR or EBERHART GRAF Z WIRTENBERG ATTEMPTO , the name and motto of the count). In addition, manuscripts of the work show the coat of arms of Pforr (handwriting by Chantilly) and Count Eberhard (Heidelberg manuscript, Codex Palatinus Germanicus 84).

The origin of the book from Indian on Persian, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin is dealt with in a preface. In the first chapter Berosias, a doctor and sage from Edom , reports in first-person form how he translated the book from Indian into Persian, which then begins the framework of the collection, in which the manner Sendebar is commissioned by the Indian King Dißles To give examples and parables on a variety of subjects: deceit, envy, malicious glee, infidelity, gullibility, anger, virtue, vice, and divine providence. Emphasis is placed on the contrast between hasty and deliberate action, which means that "prudence" is presented as the very principle of prudence in life. The actors in the examples are always animals that speak with a human voice and act in a human manner.

The exact time of the creation of the translation is uncertain, but it was long before Count Eberhard's wedding in 1474. The text has survived in six manuscripts and 17 prints. The oldest manuscript dates from around 1474 and is associated with Count Eberhard. The oldest of the documented prints was made in 1479/80 with illustrations by Konrad Feyner in Eberhard's residence city of Urach. In the prints, the book of examples has been edited and redesigned many times with the aim of opening up the story inventory and preparing it as moral examples.

The literary effect on the example and swank collections of the 16th century can be demonstrated, for example, in the little night book by Valentin Schumann and in Hans Wilhelm Kirchhoff's Wendunmuth . The book of examples also served as a template for translations into Danish (Christen Nielssen, 1618), Dutch (Zacharias Heyns, 1623) and Icelandic (17th century).

expenditure

  • Friedmar Geissler (Ed.): Antonius von Pforr. The book of examples of the ancient sages . 2 vols. German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Institute for Orient Research, publication 61. Berlin / GDR 1964 a. 1974 (critical edition based on the Strasbourg manuscript with the readings of all known prints from the 15th and 16th centuries).
  • Hans Wegener: The book of examples of old wise men. An ancient Indian collection of fables and novels based on the German translation of a 16th century manuscript. Volksverband d. Book friends, Berlin 1926 (free adaptation by Heidelberg, cpg 84).
  • Rudolf Payer von Thurn (ed.): The book of wisdom. Printed and completed by Lienhart Hollen after the birth of Christ MCCCCLXXXIII jar on the XXVIII day des mayens. Facsimile print. Vienna Bibliophile Society, Vienna 1925.
  • Wilhelm Ludwig Holland : The book of examples of the old wise men. Library of the Litterarian Society in Stuttgart No. 56, Stuttgart 1860. Reprint: Rodopi, Amsterdam 1969 (text based on the oldest print, readings from three manuscripts and four other prints).

literature

  • Theodor Benfey : About the old German translation of the Kalîlah and Dimnah, written by order of Count Eberhardt von Würtenberg. In: Orient u. Occident 1 (1862), pp. 138-187.
  • Friedmar Geissler: About some European variants of the “Pañcatantra”. In: Research and Progress Vol. 36 (1962), pp. 205-208.
  • Friedmar Geissler: Manuscripts and prints of the "Directorium vitae humanae" and the "Book of examples of the old wise". In: Mitteilungen des Institut für Orientforschung Vol. 9 (1963), pp. 433–461.
  • Friedmar Geissler: Anton von Pforr, the translator of the "Book of Examples". In: Journal for Württemberg State History, Vol. 23 (1964), pp. 141–156.
  • Friedmar Geissler: The incunabula of the Directorium vitae humanae. In: Contributions to incunabula, 3rd part, vol. 1 (1965) pp. 7–47.
  • Udo Gerdes: Antonius von Pforr. In: Author's Lexicon - The German Literature of the Middle Ages. De Gruyter, Berlin & New York 1978, vol. 1.
  • Sabine Obermaier: The fable book as a frame story. Intertextuality and intratextuality as ways of interpreting the “Book of Examples of the Ancient Wise Men” Anton von Pforr . Heidelberg 2004.
  • Iris Höger: Text and image in the first Ulm print of the 'Book of Examples of the Old Wise Men' . Dissertation Hamburg 2010.
  • Christian Kiening: Antonius von Pforr. In: Wilhelm Kühlmann (Ed.): Killy Literature Lexicon . Authors and works from the German-speaking cultural area. 2., completely revised Ed. De Gruyter, Berlin 2008, vol. 1, p. 177.
  • Gerhard Meissner: Contributions to the book of examples of the old wise men. Dissertation Halle 1922.
  • Wolfgang Stammler :  Antonius von Pforr. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 320 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedmar Geissler: Critical edition based on the Strasbourg manuscript. Berlin 1974, Vol. 2, pp. 33-105.
  2. ↑ Regina Cermann: Stephan Schriber and the Uracher Hof including a new interpretation of Count Eberhard's palm in the beard . In: New Research. City, castle and residence of Urach. Edited by State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg and Klaus Gereon Beuckers (Institute of Art History at Kiel University), Regensburg 2014, pp. 53–83, here pp. 80–82.
  3. ^ Lilli Fischel: series of images in early book printing. Studies of incunabula illustration in Ulm and Strasbourg . Constance [u. a.] 1963.
personal data
SURNAME Anthony of Pforr
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pforr, Anton von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German translator of the "Book of Examples"
DATE OF BIRTH before 1420
PLACE OF BIRTH Breisach
DATE OF DEATH 1483