Christine Ebner

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Christine Ebner (also Christina Ebner , born March 26, 1277 in Nuremberg ; † December 27, 1356 in Engelthal ) was a German Dominican and female mystic who came from the Nuremberg patrician family of the Ebner (later Barons Ebner von Eschenbach ).

life and work

Former Dominican convent Engelthal

Christine entered the Dominican convent Engelthal near Nuremberg as early as 1289 at the age of twelve ; from the beginning she strove for a strict monastic lifestyle. A year after her novitiate , she was attacked for the first time by a mysterious disease that recurred annually for a long time. From 1291 she had visions and extraordinary experiences of grace, which she wrote down from 1317 at the suggestion of her confessor Konrad von Füssen ; these writings, created in several versions, are known under the title Life and Revelations . At her age she was a person of public standing: She received visits from Emperor Charles IV , who asked for her blessing, and the mystic Heinrich von Nördlingen , who introduced her to the mysticism of Mechthild of Magdeburg , Heinrich Seuses and Johannes Taulers . She also had contact with the Mödinger mystic Margareta Ebner (who was not related to her). In her notes she took part in the conflict between Ludwig of Bavaria and the Holy See and the confusion of the flagellant processions of 1349 as well as in an earthquake and the raging of the Black Death in Nuremberg. In the years 1338-1340 Christine was possibly prioress of the monastery.

The records Life and Revelations are handed down in three writings that differ in content and form, as well as in terms of the time of writing, Gnadenvita (1317–1324), Revelations (1344–1352) and Vita (fragmentary; probably after 1356). Christine's work, especially her vitae of grace, shows a passionate striving for a personal relationship with God and new forms of religiosity, as they are now commonly referred to as "mystical". Christine deals intensively with the current problems of her time, e. B. in view of forms of asceticism and theological questions, whereby she, especially as a woman, claims high authority. She moves away from the forms of bloody asceticism and develops the image of a loving God who is close to people.

The Engelthaler sister book ( Von der Gnaden Überlast ), which was probably created between 1340 and 1346 and published in print in 1871 , contains 47 reports on monastery members and their experiences of grace, is according to the clear testimony of the Inzigkofener manuscript from 1451 (f.118r: “Ich cristin ebnerin ”) also her work.

Her feast day in the Catholic Church is December 27th.

expenditure

Susanne Bürkle is currently preparing a critical edition of the Christine Ebner Corpus.

literature

  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Ebner, Christina. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 1446-1447.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Matthias Binder et al .: Christina Ebner 1277-1356. Contributions to the 650th year of death of the Engelthaler Dominican and mystic. Series of publications of the Altnürnberger Landschaft, special issue No. 51. Hersbruck 2007.
  • Erika Bosl: Ebner (from Eschenbach), Christina. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): Bosls Bavarian biography. Pustet, Regensburg 1983, ISBN 3-7917-0792-2 , p. 161 ( digitized version ).
  • Susanne Bürkle: Literature in the monastery. Historical function and rhetorical legitimation of women-mystical texts from the 14th century. Franke, Tübingen / Basel 1999 (Bibliotheca Germanica 38), ISBN 3-7720-2029-1 .
  • Susanne Bürkle: Christine Ebner's “grace vita”. Episode structure - text self and authorship . In: Walter Haug (ed.): German mysticism in the occidental context. Newly developed texts, new methodological approaches, new theoretical concepts . Fischingen Abbey Colloquium 1998. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2000, pp. 438-514.
  • Susanne Bürkle: Ebner, Christine . In: Walther Killy: Literature Lexicon . 2. completely revised Ed., Vol. 3. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2008, pp. 163b – 165b.
  • Marie-Luise Ehrenschwendtner: The education of the Dominican women in southern Germany from the 13th to the 15th century. Steiner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-515-07838-X . ( online in Google Book Search).
  • Paul-Gundolf Gierath's OP:  Ebner, Christina. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 263 ( digitized version ).
  • Leonard Patrick Hindsley: The Mystics of Engelthal: Writings from a Medieval Monastery . Palgrave MacMillan, New York 1998, ISBN 0-312-16251-0 .
  • Ursula Peters : The "life" of Christine Ebner. Text analysis and cultural-historical commentary. In: Kurt Ruh (ed.): Western mysticism in the Middle Ages. Engelberg Monastery Symposium 1984. Stuttgart 1986.
  • Ursula Peters: Religious Experience as a Literary Fact. On the prehistory and genesis of women-mystical texts of the 13th and 14th centuries. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1988 (Hermaea NF 56), esp. Pp. 155-176, ISBN 3-484-15056-4 .
  • Siegfried Ringler : Ebner, Christine . In: VL² , 2, 297-302 (1980).
  • Siegfried Ringler: Life and revelation literature in women's monasteries in the Middle Ages. Sources and Studies. Artemis, Munich 1980 (Munich texts and studies on German literature in the Middle Ages 72), pp. 88–91 u. ö. (see register: Ebner, Christine ).
  • Siegfried Ringler: The reception of medieval women's mysticism as a scientific problem, presented in the work of Christine Ebner. In: Peter Dinzelbacher , Dieter R. Bauer (Hrsg.): Frauenmystik im Mittelalter. Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern 1985, pp. 178-200.
  • Siegfried Ringler: Christine Ebner . In: Johannes Thiele (Ed.): My heart melts like ice on a fire. The religious women's movement of the Middle Ages in portraits . Ways of mysticism. Kreuz, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 146-159.
  • Claudia Spanily: Authorship and Gender Role . Possibilities of female literacy in the Middle Ages. Tradition - Reform - Innovation 5. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-631-39951-0 .
  • Johanna Thali: Praying - Writing - Reading. Literary life and Marian spirituality in Engelthal Abbey . Francke, Tübingen / Basel 2003 (Bibliotheca Germanica 42).
  • Janina Sollbach: "I have shared my delicate little talk with you" - Studies on the "Revelations" Christine Ebner , dissertation, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, 2014

Web links

Wikisource: Christine Ebner  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Gustav Voit: Engelthal. History of a Dominican convent in the Nuremberg area. 2 vols. Korn & Berg, Nuremberg 1977/78 (series of publications of the Altnürnberger Landschaft XXVI), p. 224.
  2. ↑ See Ringler, VL², Sp. 298-301, and Bürkle 2008, pp 163-165 (see literature ).
  3. ↑ Christine Ebner in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
personal data
SURNAME Ebner, Christine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ebner, Christina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Dominican and mystic
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1277
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1356
Place of death Engelthal