Cisiojanus

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“January” in the Cisiojanus of the Speculum humanae salvationis (German manuscript, around 1430; Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek ; GKS 79 2, 7 recto). The memory verses are in two rows below the double image of the zodiac and the month .

The Cisiojanus is a memorable poem which, as a verse calendar, helps to date the immovable saints and holidays of the Roman Catholic Church. It spread from the end of the High Middle Ages and was in use until the early modern period . There are numerous versions of the Cisiojanus , often these are written in onomatopoeic pseudo-Latin .

Origin and history

In the 11th century in Western Europe dating after the Roman Catholic holy days and holidays came up. This reflected the growing authority of the Pope in the course of the church reforms at the time and his universal claim to rule ( investiture dispute , oriental schism ). The new calendar dates prevailed against the previously used ancient Roman names , and the day was now named according to how it stood on the nearest holiday or saint's day, for example ipso die omnium sanctorum ("on All Saints") or feria quarta post diem omnium sanctorum ("the next Wednesday after All Saints") or pridie omnium sanctorum ("the day before All Saints") or octava omnium sanctorum ("one week after All Saints").

To imprint the numerous immovable holidays and saints' days that are not dependent on the Easter date , the Cisiojanus has been found throughout the German-speaking area since the 13th century , named after the incipit in the first line. Its forerunners were martyrologies kept in meter measure and its origin may be in the Cologne / Aachen area in the 12th century, from where it first spread to Northern and Eastern Europe and later to the west. In the most widespread versions, the poem has 24 lines (two, originally Latin hexameters, for each month), is written in the classical Roman meter of the hexameter and imitates Latin sound sequences.

Text of the Cisiojanus
Accents over vowels indicate rhythmic accents, broken division lines in the lines mean short pauses in speech.
January

císio jánus epí ¦ sibi véndicat óc feli már an
prísca fab ág vincén ¦ ti páu po nóbile lúmen

July

júl proces údal oc wíl ¦ kili frá bene márgar apóst al
árnolfús prax mág ¦ ap chríst jacobíque sim ábdon

February

brí pur blásus ag dór ¦ febru áp scolástica válent
júli conjungé ¦ tunc pétrum mátthiam índe

August

pé steph stéph protho síx ¦ don cýr ro láu tibur híp eus
súmptio ágapití ¦ timo bártholo rúf aug coll áucti

March

mártius ádria pér ¦ decorátur grégorió cyr
gértrud álba bené ¦ junctá mariá genetríce

September

égidiúm sep habét ¦ nat górgon prótique crúx nic
éu lampértique mát ¦ maurícius ét da wen mích jer

April

April in ámbrosií ¦ festís ovat átque tibúrci
ét valér ¦ sanctíque geór ¦ marcíque vitális

October

rémique fránciscús ¦ marcús di ger árteque cálix
gálle lucás vel and sé ¦ seve críspiné simonís quin.

May

phílip crúx flor gót ¦ johan látin epí ne ser ét soph
május in hác serié ¦ tenet úrban ín pede crís canb

November

ómne novémbre leó ¦ qua theó martín bricciíque
póst haec élisá ¦ ce cle crýs kathárina sát an

June

níc marcélle boní ¦ dat jún primí ba cyríni
vítique már prothas ál ¦ sanctí johan jó dor le pé pau

December

décembér barbá ¦ nico cóncep et álma lucía
sánctus abínde thomás ¦ modo nát steph jó pu thomáe sil

So that it can fulfill its mnemonic purpose , the Cisiojanus counts as many syllables as the year has days. The syllables give either as donkey bridges a reference to the Latin name of a holiday or saint's day (usually its first syllable), or they are filler elements. Then they continue the previous reference to the feast day (i.e. as its second, third, etc. syllable) or mark the month. In addition, the syllables can be added to meaningless but rhythmically fitting filler words. The two lines of verse for January ("cisio janus epi sibi vendicat oc feli mar an / prisca fab ag vincen ti pau po nobile lumen") dissolve as follows:

1. "ci" = circumcisio domini 18. "pris" = Priscae virginis martiris
2. "si" = continuation of "(circum) cisio" 19. "ca" = continuation of "Priscae"
3. "o" = continuation of "(circum) cisio" 20. "fab" = Fabiani et Sebastiani
4. "yes" = month marker "January" 21. "ag" = Agnetis virginis
5. "nus" = month marker "January" 22. "vin" = Vincentii martiris
6. "e" = epiphany 23. "cen" = continuation of "Vincentii"
7. "pi" = continuation of "epiphany" 24. "ti" = Timotei martiris and Titi martiris
8. "si" = filler word "sibi" 25. "pau" = conversio Pauli
9. "bi" = filler word "sibi" 26. "po" = Polycarpi episcopi martiris
10. "ven" = filler word "vendicat" 27. "no" = filler word "nobile"
11. "di" = filler word "vendicat" 28. "bi" = filler word "nobile"
12. "cat" = filler word "vendicat" 29. "le" = filler word "nobile"
13. "oc" = octava epiphaniae 30. "lu" = filler word "lumen"
14. "fe" = Felicis presbyteris 31. "men" = filler word "lumen"
15. "li" = continuation of "Felicis"
16. "mar" = Marcelli papae
17. "an" = Antoni abbatis

Dates with the help of Cisiojanus are fixed in chronic notes such as feria tertia ante diem s. Martini et erat in hac sillaba bre videlicet omne Novembre (“on the Tuesday before Martini, and that was in the syllable 'bre', which of course means 'omne Novembre'”). Due to the large number of saints and their regionally changing meaning as well as the equally different holiday customs, numerous adaptations of the Cisiojanus of longer or shorter form were created. It was also available in the vernacular; German versions have been documented since the 14th century. As a result of the transfer to other language typologies , instead of the hexameter, other meter measures and rhymes were used , and no longer individual syllables but whole words or verses corresponded to the holidays and saints' days. Many versions are faulty due to misunderstandings in the transcription or the insertion of locally important Saints' Days, which upset the rhythm of the verse. The numerous variants also led to changing names for this calendar aid: Cisianus, Cisioianus, Cisivianus .

The Cisiojanus was a subject of instruction and was distributed in charitable publications after the introduction of the printing press. The view that Johannes Gutenberg's first publication was even a Cisiojanus from 1443/44 has been abandoned; the publication under the title Cisioianus is now set in the year 1457. In addition to serious educational versions, there were also popular, crude versions that were more like nursery rhymes , nonsense poems and drinking songs . From France, where the memorized poem was not widely known until the end of the 15th century through printed books of hours , the version most widespread there around 1500 already refers to Rabelaic texts. The verses for January are: En ian vier que les Roys ve nus sont (“In January for the arrival of the kings”) / Glau me dit fre min mor font (“Prepare horrible deaths for the cursed vineyards”) / Antoin boit le iour vin cent fois ("Anton drinks two thousand times a day") / Pol us en sont tous ses dois ("Hairy / All his fingers are polished off").

Astronomical clock by Hans Düringer from Nuremberg in Danzig's Marienkirche

The Cisiojanus was also suitable for mechanical implementation. In the left aisle of the Marienkirche in Gdańsk there is still an astronomical clock by Hans Düringer from the 15th century with a Cisiojanus display.

The abandonment of dating after the feast days of the saints was initiated by the Reformation in the 16th century (although even Reformers taught the use of the Cisiojanus ) and spread beyond the Reformed area in such a way that the continuous counting used today became common : vicesima tertia die Junii ("June 23rd"). In the 17th century the Cisiojanus was finally largely out of use in the German-speaking area.

See also

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. According to the Latin treatment in Silesian, Saxon, Bohemian and Polish chronicles and documents from the second half of the 14th century, according to: Hermann Grotefend: Zeitrechnung des Deutschen Mittelalter und der Neuzeit , Lemma Cisiojanus , online version by H. Ruth. ( Weblink , 13-01-2007.)
  2. Erik Drigsdahl & CHD Center for Håndskriftstudier i Danmark: Cisio Janus in Latin and French - Printed Hore from Paris 1488-1530. ( Weblink ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , 13-01-2007.) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chd.dk