Brun Candidus of Fulda

Brun Candidus (also Bruun ) (* approx. 770–780; † 845 ), painter and writer, was a priest monk in the Fulda monastery , where he is documented several times from 811 to 813. On the one hand, he is the author of two abbot biographies, the lost vita of Abbot Baugulf of Fulda and the surviving vita of Abbot Eigils of Fulda, which he dedicated to his brother Reccheo Modestus. (Other theological-philosophical textbooks handed down under the name Candidus come from the Alcuin student Candidus Wizo ). On the other hand, it is very likely that he was a master master of the Fulda painting school of the 9th century (see Carolingian book painting ), who was active in both book painting and wall painting.

Life

Brun seems to have been a little older than Hrabanus Maurus and is therefore likely to have been born in the seventies of the 8th century. According to his own information, he was brought up in the monastery, so he must have been handed over to the monastery as an oblate by his parents as a child, where he was also given the name Candidus . There he must have passed the convent school and have attracted attention due to his special talent. That is why he became one of the most versatile figures at the court of Charlemagne , the head of the court workshops and later , from the third Fulda abbot Ratgar , who tried to raise the level of education of his monastery during the Carolingian Renaissance to complete his education at the court school Emperor biographer Einhard , sent. From 811 to 813 he is documented writer. A codex of the Benedictine Rule (Würzburg, Universitätsbibl., Mpth.q.22) in insular minuscule with the colophon of a Bruun monachus (fol. 57 r) possibly comes from his hand. At an unknown time, he was ordained a priest. Within the monastery hierarchy, Brun Candidus has since been one of the most educated and Einhard scholars to the closest leadership class, because he calls himself magister, which seems to be a title that does not necessarily include teaching, and most recently headed one of the so-called officia, i.e. a center of economic administration outside the main monastery. He may also have headed one of the Fuldaer scholae exteriores, schools for non-members of the convent. However, he did not have at least advanced students, complaining in the preface that he had no one with whom he could discuss theological topics. In addition, according to his own statements, he had close personal contacts with Eigil and Hrabanus Maurus, from whom he had been encouraged to write the Vita Abbot Eigil. In the crisis situation of 817, which led to the overthrow of Abbot Ratgar, he apparently played a mediating role, despite the sharp criticism he later exercised in his Vita Abbot Eigil of Ratgar's administration, because it seems to have been he who fled the monastery Brothers to return. Possibly at the time of writing this biography he was speculating on the successor of his abbot Hrabanus Maurus, whose position by taking part in the dispute between the sons of Ludwig the Pious in favor of the first-born Emperor Lothar I and against Ludwig the German , in whose sphere of influence the Fulda monastery lay became more and more untenable. But Hatto prevailed as his successor . In 845, Brun's name appears in the Fulda death annals .

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Brun Candidus as a writer and illuminator: The Vita Abbot Eigil, an opus geminum illustrated by the author

The vita abbot Eigil, as the fourth Fulda abbot successor to Ratgar, who was deposed in 817 due to serious disagreements with the Fulda convent and predecessor of the famous Hrabanus Maurus , is a literary monument of considerable historical and literary significance. On the one hand, it is one of the most important sources on the history of Fulda in the age of the so-called Anian monastery reform , which was promoted by Benedict von Aniane on behalf of Emperor Louis the Pious with the aim of the nationwide standardization of monastic rules and monastic consuetudines, the supplementary provisions. On the other hand, it is a highly interesting literary monument of the Carolingian Renaissance , which should meet the highest formal and stylistic requirements. In terms of formal history, it is a so-called opus geminum , ie a work that deals with the same subject twice, once in prose and once in verse. In addition, Brun Candidus provided the second book of Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis , written in hexameters , with a cycle of images. This makes it the oldest known illustrated biography. This work, preserved alone, represents a formal experiment in many other respects, because it integrates two imperial speeches, an archbishop's speech (Book I), consecration notes in prose as well as altar titles and epitaphs in distiches as well as versifications of the Te Deum in hexameters and the Gloria in Terentianeen (Book II). Dedication letter, list of chapters and a dedication poem in the exquisite meter of Terentianeus mark the author's claim. This is based on no less a model than the figure poem cycle in praise of the holy cross De laudibus sanctae crucis by Hrabanus Maurus, probably the most ambitious work of the entire epoch, which is also written in prose and verse and similar in number symbolism and biblical allegories to play an important role. However, Eigil's Vita is not designed as a figure poem, but is content with an illustration accompanying the text. One of the first known examples of the interpretation of the architectural symbolism of a church, the Michaelskirche in Fulda, is of architectural historical interest . The vaulted central building, erected on eight pillars above a crypt with a central column, is interpreted as an image of the salvation history begun by Christ (central column), continued by the church he founded (eight columns) and which will one day be completed (keystone) upon his return. The figure eight is a sign of the resurrection, the ring shape is a sign of eternity. The dispute over the choice of the successor of the overthrown Abbot Ratgar is of historical interest. Brun Candidus shows, on the one hand, an awareness of historical changes heightened by the history of reforms, and on the other hand, a high level of self-reflexivity that was unusual at this time. He justifies his criticism of Abbot Ratgar and the behavior of many of his confreres during the conflict with the help of biblical examples against the conceivable accusation that it was an abuse, with reference to the importance of confronting one's own transgressions for achieving salvation through repentance and reversal., The Vita sees itself as an abbot and a monastery mirror. In Book I, the prose version, the moral, in Book II, the constitution, the salvation-historical interpretation of the event prevails, in which the meaning of the double form can be seen. The only manuscript was destroyed when the Fulda library was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War, so that only the first print of the Vita by the Jesuit Christoph Brouwer in his Sidera illustrium et sanctorum virorum (Albinus, Mainz 1616) saved the text from destruction. Brouwer also passed on three of the illustrations in his Antiquitatum Fuldensium libri IV (Plantinus Moretus, Antwerp 1612) through copperplate reproductions, namely the dedication picture at the beginning of Liber II with the handing over of the open book to the brother Modestus, and also the illustration for chapter 5 with the The allegorical representation of Abbot Ratgar as a unicorn, which recurs on Psalm 21, is one of the earliest representations of this animal, and finally the illustration for Chapter 8 with the return of the embassy from the court of Emperor Louis the Pious, which brings the brothers his approval to elect an abbot. In addition to the three illustrations reproduced by Brouwer in Antiquitatum Fuldensium libri IV, according to his remarks, there must have been several more in the manuscript that were assigned to the “sections and altar titles” ( lemmata et tituli ) of Liber II, which was composed in verse, but “mostly remained unfinished or not even started ”(pleraque impolita mansere, aut ne inchoata quidem). The cycle remained unfinished, but space must have been created in the manuscript for the intended images, insofar as they remained unexecuted.

Brun Candidus as church painter and main master of the Fulda painting school: the wall painting in the west apse of St. Salvator

Candidus had once been sent by Abbot Ratgar to the biographer of Charlemagne Einhard in order to perfect his training. As the head of the imperial workshops, he was also highly competent in artistic matters. Whether this also included practical skills in painting is not known, but he certainly had extensive knowledge of iconography and ornamentation , which were the indispensable basis for artistic production according to the new standards of the Carolingian Renaissance. In the titulus to chapter 18 of Liber II of his Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis , Brun Candidus describes himself as a painter and poet ( Supplicatio pictoris et poetae ). He asks for the help of prayer from the reader, whom he immediately pointed out in a Sphragis bursting with the usual modesty topoi that it was none other than himself who consecrated the apse of the western choir on November 1, 819, the feast of All Saints' Day so-called Ratgar basilica , St. Salvator. Since Boniface's grave and thus the most important cult center of the church was located there, this was undoubtedly an extremely prominent commission in the field of church painting, which flourished again in the age of the Carolingian Renaissance . This apse painting probably corresponded iconographically to the picture type handed down in the Fulda sacramentaries of the 10th century for the feast of All Saints , an adoration of the lamb by the heavenly hosts , the bottom row of which is occupied by the monks. Carolingian models can be assumed for these Ottonian sacramentaries, which in turn went back to the prominent apse painting. Brun Candidus must therefore have been the or at least one of the main masters of the Fulda painting school of the 9th century, which is attested by excellent works of book illumination , above all Gospels and copies of De laudibus sanctae crucis by Hrabanus Maurus , as well as sparse remains of wall painting, and thus belongs to the few artist personalities of the early Middle Ages who are known by name.

literature

• Gereon Becht-Jördens: The Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis of Brun Candidus. An opus geminum from the age of the Anian reform in a biblical-figural background style. (Fuldaer Hochschulschriften 17). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1992.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: The Vita Aegil of Brun Candidus as a source for questions from the history of Fulda in the age of the Anian reform. In: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 42, 1992, pp. 19–48.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: Text, image and architecture as carriers of an ecclesiological conception of monastery history. The Carolingian Vita Aegil by Brun Candidus von Fulda (approx. 840). In: Gottfried Kerscher (Ed.): Hagiography and Art. The cult of saints in writing, images and architecture . Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 1993, pp. 75-106.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis a Candido ad Modestum edita proasa et versibus. An opus geminum of IX. Century. Introduction and critical edition. Self-published, Marburg 1994.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: Litterae illuminatae. On the history of a literary form type in Fulda. In: Gangolf Schrimpf (Hrsg.): Fulda monastery in the world of the Carolingians and Ottonians (Fuldaer Studien 7). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 325–364.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: Sturmi or Bonifatius. A conflict in the age of the Anian reform about identity and monastic self-image as reflected in the altar rituals of Hrabanus Maurus for the Salvator Basilica in Fulda. With appendices to the tradition and critical edition of the tituli as well as to text sources on the architecture and building history of the Salvator Basilica . In: Marc-Aeilko Aris, Susanna Bullido del Barrio (ed.): Hrabanus Maurus in Fulda. With a Hrabanus Maurus bibliography (1979-2009) (Fuldaer Studien 13). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 2010, pp. 123–187, here pp. 133–144; Pp. 149-156; Pp. 160-163. ISBN 978-3-7820-0919-5
• Franz Brunhölzl : History of Latin Literature of the Middle Ages, Vol. 1. Wilhelm Fink, Munich 1975, pp. 341–343; P. 557.
• Franz Brunhölzl: Bruun (Candidus) from Fulda. In: Burghart Wachinger et al. (Hrsg.): The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon . 2nd, completely revised edition, Berlin / New York 1978-2008, ISBN 3-11-022248-5 , Volume 1 ( 'A solis ortus cardine' - Colmar Dominican chronicler. ), 1978, Colmar . 1077 f.
• Engelbert, Pius: The Vita Sturmi of the Eigil of Fulda. Literary-critical-historical investigation and edition. (Publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse and Waldeck 29). NG Elwert Verlag (Kommissionsverlag), Marburg 1968, pp. 5–15.
• Christine Ineichen-Eder: Artistic and literary activity of Brun Candidus von Fulda. In: Fuldaer Geschichtsblätter 56, 1980, pp. 201-217; also in: Winfried Böhne (Ed.): Hrabanus Maurus and his school. Festschrift of the Rabanus Maurus School 1980 . Self-published, Fulda 1980 (without notes, but with images).
• Hartmut Hoffmann: Autograph of the earlier Middle Ages . In: German Archive for Research into the Middle Ages 57 (2001) 1–62, here pp. 30–32.
• Mechthild Sandmann: Article: Brun Candidus . In: Karl Schmid (Ed.): The monastery community of Fulda in the early Middle Ages (Münstersche Mittelalterschriften 8), here vol. 2.1, p. 238 f.
• Alois Wachtel:  Bruun. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 691 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Bruun in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"
• Colophon of a Bruun monachus in the handwriting Würzburg, Universitätsbibl., Mpth.q.22, fol. 57r

Remarks

1. ↑ See article Candidus (floruit 793-802) of the English Wikipedia . The two are always confused, most recently by Steffen Patzold, Ich and Charlemagne. The life of the courtier Einhard. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2013, note 38, p. 337. Christine E. Ineichen wrote the letter erroneously assigned to Brun Candidus von Fulda due to incorrect information from Martina Stratmann (ed. Monumenta Germaniae Historica Epistolae V, p. 615–616) -Eder recognized as the work of Candidus Wizzo, cf. Ineichen-Eder, Theological and philosophical teaching material from the Alkuinkkreis in: German Archive for Research of the Middle Ages 34, 1978, pp. 192–201, here p. 194; No. 12, p. 196.
2. ↑ The importance of Brun Candidus as a painter was ignored by art historical research for a long time because none of his works have survived in the original. On the one hand, there are self-testimonies in his Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis II 17 131-185 as well as Titulus zu II 18 (see below) and copper engraving reproductions of three illustrations from the narrative cycle accompanying this biography, which the Jesuit Christoph Brouwer 1612 after the only, meanwhile lost Fuldaer Manuscript of the work published in his Antiquitatum Fuldensium libri IV .
3. ↑ Hartmut Hoffmann, Autographa (see literature below), pp. 30–32 with further references in note 96, pp. 30f., Doubts the reliability of the assignment. and note 101f., p. 32 (on other manuscripts from the colophon writer Bruun or from his environment).
4. ↑ Becht-Jördens: The Vita Aegil of Brun Candidus as a source (see below: Literature) p. 23 f.
5. ↑ Gereon Becht-Jördens: The Vita Aegil of Brun Candidus as a source (see below: Literature) P. 47f.
6. ↑ Liber I 24.
7. ↑ Gereon Becht-Jördens: Litterae illuminatae (see below: Literature) pp. 343–352
8. ↑ Cf. Gereon Becht-Jördens: Litterae illuminatae (see below: Literature), pp. 342–352 with text illus. P. 346; P. 352; Fig. 2; ders., Die Vita Aegil (see below: Literature), pp. 23-25 ​​with text illus. P. 23; Pp. 35–48 with text illus. P. 42.
9. ↑ See Brouwer, Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis, in ders., Sidera (see above), fascicle 14, p. 51.
10. ↑ Vita Aegil II c. 17, 131–137: With this homage the martyr (Boniface) was buried and lies high up [on the top of the western apse] in the decorated altar of the ruler enthroned in heaven. Above this [the altar with the Bonifatiussarcophagus] rises the huge apse, which was built and which I, once brought up in this house of Christ, the priest and monk Bruun and a worthless master, painted. With little talent and little skill I have formed various figures with rust-red paint and brought them to representation
11. ↑ Gereon Becht-Jördens: Litterae illuminatae (as above) pp. 347-351; Christine Sauer: All Saints 'Day pictures in Fulda' s book illumination. In: Gangolf Schrimpf (Hrsg.): Fulda monastery in the world of the Carolingians and Ottonians (Fuldaer Studien 7). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 365–402, here fig. 1–3)
12. ↑ The fact that the cycle of illustrations of Vita Aegil also comes from his hand is suggested not only by his self-designation as a painter and poet, but also by his reference to the example of De laudibus sanctae Crucis , a work that also had pictorial equipment, as well as by the fact that the Vita, which is handed down in only one Fulda manuscript, most likely the autograph of the author, is the first known illustrated biography at all. It is therefore extremely unlikely that the cycle of illustrations was added by a third party without his involvement. At most, it would be conceivable that others would have carried out the paintings on his behalf, but that he would not recommend that people consistently recommend people for their achievements in remembrance of the prayer of the reader or that they should be highlighted by name for their merits, according to Archbishop Haistulph of Mainz for the consecrations (II 19, 19-23; 22, 1-4), according to the architects of the crypts Racholf (II 15, 5-12), according to Hrabanus Maurus for his participation in the construction of the cemetery church of St. Michael and for the writing of the altar tituli (II 20, 1 -8; 21, 10-13; 22, 5-8) etc. The request of the poet and painter (titulus re II 18) for the reader's prayer help must therefore, since no other name is mentioned, be based on one's own merits in the Relate wall and book illumination, even if the attested activity as a wall painter does not in itself allow the conclusion to a corresponding activity as an illuminator.