Baker boy legend

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Andernacher Rheintor, built around 1200 as Korenporzen , restored in 1899 according to plans from the 17th century
The so-called baker boy figures inside the Rhine Gate
Baker's boy fountain on the market square
Sculpture on the fountain, view from the southwest

The saga of the baker's boy is a saga from Andernach based on three historical events , since the middle of the 19th century in the form of several poems, later also in prose and as a performance. For once, the material does not come from the vernacular, but rather has a literary background. Karl Simrock , professor of German studies from Bonn , published the story in the 1869 edition of his "Rheinsagen". As early as 1855 , Wilhelm Reuter from Andernach had published a poem with the same subject. Afterwards, the people of Linz wanted to take revenge for the relocation of the Rhine toll to Andernach by a nightly attack, which was thwarted by two baker boys who were awake - the rest of the city was asleep - by throwing beehives at the attackers who were already in position with the battering ram and put out of action. The city guard was alerted by a storm bell on the walls, so that the Linzers now had no more option than to pull off rather stabbed with bloody noses. Historically, there has been no quarrel between the two cities in which the archbishop had his own city castle.

The story becomes even more interesting when one reads the previous version of the legend that the Koblenzer Friedrich Wilhelm Carové sent to the Brothers Grimm in 1816 with other stories . In his view, the figures in the Rheintor brewer that in Sweden war are said to have saved the city by the fact that they poured hot water on the attacking Sweden, 1633 for the second time Andernach - wanted to take - this time in vain. This "beer brewer version" of an Andernach rescue saga, in contrast to the later established "baker boy saga", refers to the actual event mentioned, which theoretically could have happened in this or a similar way, apart from the fact that the stone figures in the Rheintor clearly show neither baker boys nor beer were or are brewers and have never been involved in any attack. Nobody knows, however, from where Carové, who was the collector of the Rhine shipping fees in Andernach in 1816 , got the story. In his time the baker boy legend had not yet come about. The tuff stone figures in the Rheintor are clearly visible to everyone, two warrior figures from the late Romanesque period ( 13th century ). They act as symbolic guardians of the city and may have been set up there during or shortly after the gate was built.

Historical background

The legend mixes three historical events that have nothing to do with each other:

  • 100 years later, in the Burgundian War (1474–1477), Andernach stood on the side of Archbishop Hermann IV of Hesse (archbishop administrator for Ruprecht von der Pfalz ), to whom it was legally subject, and supported him and Emperor Friedrich III. against the Burgundian Duke Charles I the Bold with 150 rifle shooters. These had the task of defending an earth fortification at Kripp against the city of Linz, which had sided with Charles the Bold. When Burgundian troops shot at the earth fortification with a cannon from Linz on February 16, 1475, around 150 Andernach riflemen were killed by the explosion of their own powder magazine. In gratitude for the blood toll, the emperor moved the Rhine toll back to Andernach in the same year and donated an imperial altar in the cathedral . From this Simrock derived the dispute between Andernach and Linz, which did not exist, because the Andernach provoked the displeasure of the archbishop of his time, who responded in his own way with a siege of the city, rebuilding of the castle by the city and tariff withdrawal. Thanks to the loss of support from the Archbishop and Emperor 100 years later, Andernach received the Rhine toll back as recognition. Under these circumstances, the city of Linz could not expect that the archbishop and emperor, as their opponents, would not react to their disadvantage.
  • The third woven into the legend historical event was the raid by the Brabant commander Olivier van den Temple of the city in the confusion after the (Olivier van 1540 to 1603 the Tympel,) Cologne War ( 1583 - 88 ), and Cologne War called, in which the Kornpforte (Rheintor) was partially destroyed in 1591. Colonel van den Tempel had come to the Rhine with troops from the Netherlands to fight the southern part of the archbishopric against his successor Ernst von Bayern on behalf of Archbishop Gebhard I von Waldburg, who had fled to the Netherlands . The attack failed because of the resistance of the Andernach citizens. This story provided the basis for the attack on the Rheintor and had nothing to do with Linz.

The baker boys from Andernach also have names, "Fränzje" and "Döres" ("Fränzchen and Theodor"). According to the legend, they were awake alone - in contrast to the other Andernach people, who liked to party in the evenings and slept late , which is why they were called "Andernacher Siebenschläfer" (in the local dialect, the "Annenache Platt" : Annenache Siwweschlöwe ). The two were able to thwart the attack by deliberately throwing beehives and alerting the city guard.

The bee sting is said to have been created to celebrate the expulsion of the people of Linz.

Simrock's baker boys

The Andernach people sleep late;
Nobody is killed in sleep;
But fear of the Linzers gives way
Aside, because you are threatened with fatal death.
Once had between Andernachern
And Linzers long raged war;
You know that with the adversaries
No girl got engaged today.
"We bless the dormice!"
It was said in Linz in the morning light.
“Well, that's the way the lazy sleepers should
The last bread to be baked. "
To do the math without a host
An old word contradicts that.
Because even if everything is asleep, watch
The bakers in the laziest place.
“We can trust the bakers;
You get up to bake the bread;
When they see the enemy from afar,
So they wake us into buying. "
There was one thing that remained unreasonable;
That baker and baker's child too
Not drawn from afar
No, they are dormice themselves.
When they have baked the bread
So they lie stretched out in front of it
To feast on the morning slumber,
If the enemy bares his teeth.
The Linzers would have succeeded
They ate Andernach bread,
If not two strange baker boys
The masters helped out of need.
They ran up the tower
And stood fed up with fresh honey;
Then they saw the Linz crowd,
Who wants to take the city by surprise.
But when they move to the city gate
What was the baker boy greeting?
The beehives in a thousand pieces
Hurl them at their feet.
There are countless buzzers
And a hundred kill a man;
Certainly the best number took off
Who escaped with unbroken skin.
The boys tug the bells
The Andernach lords stand up;
You find in the milk to chunk,
But no more enemy near and far.
“We had made an excellent bed;
Yes, such vigilance advised reason;
And has no baker saved us
So that's the young bakers' guild. "
If you come into the gate, you see inside
The baker's boys are still standing today.
And keep the watch constantly
No Linz can be seen easily anymore.

Source: Karl Simrock : Rheinsagen - from the mouths of the people and German poets . Tenth edition. Eduard Weber's Verlag (Julius Flittner), Bonn 1891

literature

The Andernach baker boys : Background to a legend. Booklet accompanying the special exhibition in the Andernach City Museum. Editor Klaus Schäfer. 1996.

Web links

The baker's boy tale in prose

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Goethe Institute: The Andernach baker boys. In: www.goethe.de. Retrieved August 18, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Alexander Kaufmann: Sources and comments on Karl Simrock's Rheinsagen and Alexander Kaufmann's Mainsagen. In: reader.digitale-sammlungen.de. Retrieved August 18, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Sagas from the Rhineland from - Text in the Gutenberg project. In: projekt-gutenberg.org. Retrieved August 18, 2015 .
  4. ^ Rhine sagas from the mouth of the V - title - foreign holdings - University and State Library Bonn. In: digital-sammlungen.ulb.uni-bonn.de. Retrieved August 18, 2015 .