Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg

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Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg, pastel portrait from the second half of the 17th century
Seisenegg Castle today

Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (also Linsmayr of Greiffenberg ), Baroness or after marriage Baroness of Seyssenegg, (* 7. September 1633 on Castle Seisenegg in Viehdorf in Amstetten , † in Lower Austria 10. April 1694 in Nuremberg was a in) Protestant mysticism rooted spiritual poet . She is one of the most important Austrian poets of the Baroque period.

Life

Coat of arms of those (Linsmayr) von Greiffenberg

Her grandfather, the imperial councilor, chamber procurator and in his own affairs successful businessman Johann Baptist Linsmayr (also Linnsmaier or Linsmeyr ; 1542–1608), lord of Weinzierl and Seissenegg, was in the knightly nobility in 1579, in 1602 after one of his grandfather Castle built in Styria for Edler von Greiffenberg and 1608 for Baron von Greiffenberg applicable Service. He was first married to Catharina Stainwerffer, after her death with a lady from an influential, noble family, then with Susanna Catharina, baroness of Teuffenbach, who came from the old nobility .

Catharina Regina was born on September 7, 1633 at Seyssenegg Castle (today: Seisenegg, in the municipality of Viehdorf near Amstetten, Lower Austria). Her mother Eva Maria was a daughter of Wolf, Freiherr von Pranckh . When Catharina Regina was seven years old, her father Johann Gottfriedt (Linsmayr) von Greiffenberg (1575–1641), who came from her grandfather's first marriage, and his half-brother, her uncle Hans Rudolf (Linsmayr) von Greiffenberg, died around 30 years younger , became her guardian. He made it possible for her to receive an education that was unusually comprehensive for the time: she studied languages, went on educational trips and dealt with Georg Philipp Harsdörffer's art theories and Sigmund von Birken's poetry. She had a very close friendship with birch trees for many years. She was also in close contact with other “ exiles ” such as Wolf Helmhardt von Hohberg , Johann Ludwig von Kuefstein and Johann Wilhelm von Stubenberg . She also found support from Carl von Stein .

Although related to Catharina as the younger half-brother of her father and 25 years older than her, her uncle and guardian Hans Rudolf asked her to marry in 1659. After much reluctance, she finally gave in and in 1664 the couple were married in the Frauenaurach monastery church. The marriage could only be concluded through massive influence of the Brandenburg court in Bayreuth . Soon afterwards an intrigue developed against her husband and he even had to go to prison for incest .

In 1666 the couple returned to Seisenegg. In the following years Catharina traveled to Vienna several times with the intention of converting Emperor Leopold I to the Protestant faith. Many of her writings also served this purpose. It was foreseeable that the plan would not work and that it would even expose her to personal danger. Yet she persisted until the end of her life.

The literary talent of the young Catharina Regina was discovered by her “neighbor” Johann Wilhelm von Stubenberg , who lived not far from Seisenegg on the Schallaburg and had made a name for himself as a translator. In 1662, with his and Birken's support, the clerical sonnets, songs and poems , a collection of devotional poems , were published in Nuremberg . In 1675 the collection of poems Victory Column of Penance and Faith Against the Hereditary Enemy of the Christian Name was published, in which the current threat to Austria from the Ottomans was the subject. Hardly anyone read these works at that time. The language, which was strongly prone to mysticism , and the encrypted metaphors made them difficult to access, even for religious contemporaries. In her time her works were only received regionally. In the 1960s, literary studies began to rediscover her entire literary works. Today she is regarded by research as the “most important poet of the 17th century”.

Born into the world of the Lower Austrian land nobility, the (Linsmayr) von Greiffenbergs - like most members of their class - adhered to the Lutheran faith, which meant they were at the mercy of the religious political reprisals of the Counter-Reformation in the Catholic Habsburg state . Her family had become rich by owning copper mines, but after the death of her father, Uncle Hans Rudolf, who became her guardian, was unable to keep this property; the Greiffenbergs became impoverished. The heavy burden of debt on the one hand and the adversities caused by the Counter Reformation on the other ultimately led to the fact that in 1673 Seisenegg Castle had to be transferred to Matthäus Riss, later ennobled Baron von Risenfels. Through clever financial deals and bonds, Riss had managed to take over the entire property. Her husband Hans Rudolf von Greiffenberg died in 1677 and one year later she decided to leave Seisenegg forever together with her old mother Eva Maria.

In 1679, after much hardship and unpleasant legal proceedings, she finally moved to Nuremberg, where she deepened the friendship she had with Sigmund von Birken . She had previously had a lively exchange of letters with him, which are still preserved in the archive of the Pegnese Order of Flowers and from which it can be seen that Birken significantly edited all of her works until his death in 1681.

Her work comprises around 4,400 printed pages. Particularly noteworthy are her beautiful figure poems , for which the "cross poem" can serve as an example.

Works (selection)

  • Spiritual sonnets / songs and poems for a godly pastime , 1662
  • The Most Holy and Most Holy Passion and Death of Jesus Christ Twelve Devout Meditations , 1672
  • Victory column of repentance and faith / against the hereditary enemy of the Christian name , 1675
  • The Most Holy Incarnation / Birth and Youth of Jesus Christ / Twelve Devotional Meditations , 1678
  • Life, Doctrine, and Miracles of Christ , 1683
  • Of The Most Holy Life of JESUS ​​Christ Six Devotional Contemplations Of His Teachings And Miracles . 1693
  • Of the most holy life of JESUS ​​Christ the remaining six reflections of his holy walk / miracles and prophecies of and bit to his most holy suffering and death. A devotion on Holy Communion was also added to these , 1693.

For a long time, her works hardly found an audience. Only in the last few decades has a new discovery started. After a first systematic review of the sources including the correspondence with Birken by Horst Joachim Frank (CRvG, investigations into her personality and sonnet poetry, dissertation 1957; CRvG, Leben und Welt der Barocken Dichterin, 1967), PM Daly (poetry and emblematics at CRvG, 1976) and Ruth Liwerski (Das Wortwerk der CRvG, 1978) was followed by a study by the Austrian homeland researcher Heimo Cerny (CRvG, Origin, Life and Work of the Greatest German Baroque Poet, 1983) and, more recently, an examination of the “function and meaning of metaphor in the birth observations of the CRvG ”(Chr. M. Pumplun, 1995). The new edition of the correspondence between Sigmund von Birken and Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (2005), however, brought hardly any new knowledge about the poet.

Work editions

  • Martin Bircher (Hrsg.): Complete works in 10 volumes . Millwood NY 1983
  • Heinz Otto Burger (Ed.): Spiritual sonnets, songs and poems. Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg . Darmstadt 1967
  • Hubert Gersch: Poems. Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg . Berlin 1964
  • Sigmund von Birken : Works and Correspondence, Vol. 12: The correspondence between Sigmund von Birken and Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg . Tübingen, 2005.
  • Lynne Tatlock (ed. And tr.), Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg: Meditations on the Incarnation, Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ (Chicago, 2009) (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe).

literature

  • Ruth Klüger : A rare light , in: Painted window panes. About lyric . Wallstein, Göttingen 2007, paperback edition 2011. ISBN 978-3-423-13953-3 , pp. 24-26. (To the Sonnett "On the ineffable input of the Holy Spirit")
  • Werner Wilhelm Schnabel: From the Ister to the Pegnitz. Life stages of the baroque poet Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg . In: Manfred Enzner / Eberhard Krauß (eds.): Exiles from the Lower Austrian Eisenwurzen in Franconia. A family and church history investigation . Nürnberg 2005 (sources and research on Franconian family history, 14), pp. 265–301.
  • Kathleen Foley-Beining: The Body and Eucharistic Devotion in Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg's "Meditations". Camden House: Columbia, SC, USA 1997
  • Werner Wilhelm Schnabel: "Start with anniversaries ...". Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg and the 'Gottlobende Gesellschaft' . In: Yearbook of the Vienna Goethe Association 100/101 (1996/97), pp. 203–223.
  • Cristina M. Plumplun: Concept of the incomprehensible. Function and meaning of the metaphors in the “birth contemplations” of Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (1633-1694) . Amsterdam 1995
  • Werner Wilhelm Schnabel: A quiet shepherd's hut on the Pegnitz? On the living conditions of Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg in Nuremberg 1680-1694 . In: Yearbook for Franconian State Research 53 (1992) (Festschrift for Alfred Wendehorst), pp. 159–187.
  • Gerhard Dünnhaupt : "Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg", in: Personal bibliographies on the prints of the Baroque , vol. 3. Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1991, pp. 1752–58. ISBN 3-7772-9105-6
  • Louise Gnädinger: Ister-Clio, Teutsche Uranie, Coris the brave Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg. A portrait . In: German literature by women . Edited by Gisela Brinker-Gabler . Munich 1988
  • Heimo Cerny: Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg. Origin, life and work of the greatest German baroque poet . Amstetten 1983
  • Joachim Kröll: Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg . In: Franconian pictures of life . Volume 10 (1982), pp. 193-212
  • Peter M. Daly: Poetry and Emblematics with Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg . Bonn 1976
  • Horst Joachim Frank : Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg. Investigations into her personality and sonnet poetry . Dissertation Hamburg 1957, published 1967
  • Heimo Cerny: Contributions to the history of science in the monasteries Seitenstetten and Ardagger. Dissertation Vienna 1966
  • Leo Villiger: Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (1633 - 1694). On the language and world of the baroque poet . Zurich 1952
  • Rochus von Liliencron :  Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina Freifrau von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 633.
  • Käte Lorenzen:  Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina Freifrau v .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 33 ( digitized version ).
  • Cristina M. Pumplun:  Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina von. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 21, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-110-3 , Sp. 540-547.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Emma Louise Brucklacher: Female authorship and heroic succession to Christ with Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg. In: Christ as a hero and his heroic following. On the imitatio Christi in the early modern period. Edited by Achim Aurnhammer and Johann Anselm Steiger. Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter 2020 (Early Modern Times 235), pp. 369–394.

Web links

Wikisource: Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg  - sources and full texts
Commons : Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Heterodoxy in the Early Modern Age , edited by Hartmut Laufhütte and Michael Titzmann , 2006, p. 327.
  2. ↑ a b Käte Lorenzen : "Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina Freifrau von" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 7 (1966), p. 33 ( online version ; accessed on May 19, 2019.)
  3. ↑ a b c FemBio - Women's Biography Research: Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (Accessed on May 19, 2019.)
personal data
SURNAME Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Linsmayr von Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian poet
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1633
PLACE OF BIRTH Seisenegg , Lower Austria
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1694
Place of death Nuremberg