De laudibus sanctae crucis

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The young Hrabanus Maurus (left), supported by his teacher Alkuin , the abbot of St. Martin's monastery in Tours (center), presents his work De to Saint Martin , Archbishop of Tours, later incorrectly referred to as the Archbishop of Mainz Otgar laudibus sanctae crucis . Representation in a manuscript from Fulda around 830/40 (Vienna, ÖNB cod. 652, fol.2v)
Depiction of Louis the Pious in the manuscript Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Reg. Lat. 124 , fol. 4v (Fulda, 2nd quarter of the 9th century, probably around 825/26)

De laudibus sanctae crucis ("On the praise of the holy cross"), also called Opus in honorem sanctae crucis conditum or In honorem sanctae crucis or Liber sanctae crucis , is a technique of so-called lattice poems with in-texts ( versus cancellati ) designed figure poetry cycle , the figures of which are partly formed by geometric shapes , letters and drawings , but partly also by multi-colored miniatures . That is why the sixmanuscripts from the 9th century that were created and still preservedduring the author's lifetime in the scriptorium of the Fulda monastery are not least important works of Carolingian book illumination , especially as there are also two dedication pictures to the dedication poems to Saint Martin of Tours and to Pope Gregory IV. And the depiction of Emperor Ludwig the Pious in the dedication poem for him. The work was created around the year 810 by the later Fulda abbot and Archbishop of Mainz H rabanus Maurus (approx. 780-856), one of the most prominent Carolingian scholars and pupil of Alcuin of York, as Opus geminum (ie as a work that contained its material in Prose and verse treated twice) and commented by the author himself.

Form and content

IIII. figura.
De Cherubin et Seraphin in crucem scriptis… from: Jakob Wimpheling, Magnencij Rabani Mauri De laudibus sancte crucis opus. erudicione versu prosaque mirificum. Thomas Anshelm, Pforzheim 1503, fol. 8v

Against the background of the Byzantine picture dispute and the discussion about the pictures in the Franconian Empire ( Libri Carolini ), the "teacher of Germania" unfolds his depiction of Christ, which is closely connected with the veneration of the Holy Cross. The cross is not only the object of the work, but also determines its formal shape. The importance of the topic corresponds to the highly complex and demanding formal structure: the introduction forms a collection of up to five dedicatory poems, some of which are accompanied by miniatures, varying in the manuscripts, including the figure poem for Emperor Ludwig the Pious . There is also a prologue in prose and a verse prologue with a call to the muses as a figure poem, as well as a chapter list. The actual center of the work consists of 28 figure poems, each of which formally contains a representation of the cross made up of different salvation-historical elements and aspects of the theology of the cross, so that as a whole they unfold the entire theology of the cross as well as essential aspects of soteriology , theology of revelation and Christology . To reveal the structure of meaning, each of the figure poems is accompanied by an explanation ( declaratio ) on the opposite page, in which, in addition to a reading aid for the texts, it is above all the interpretation of the sensus spiritalis , the spiritual meaning. The first book has a dichotomous structure, consisting of text and commentary. In the appendix there is a reading version of the figure poems, omitting the figures hindering reading. The second book, which turns the work into a so-called Opus geminum , has a much simpler internal structure, because apart from a preface ( praefatio ) in prose, it only contains a prose paraphrase for each of the 28 figure poems in the, which can hardly be translated literally predetermined sequence.

The number 28, like the number 6, is identical to the sum of its divisors and is considered a perfect number in number symbolism ( numerus perfectus ). The technique of figure poetry handed down from late antiquity ( Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius ; Venantius Fortunatus ) allowed the combination of image ( imago ) and writing or word ( signum ) in such a way that an intext was excluded from the basic text through the image, and thus at all is constituted. In cases in which letters are selected as the image, there are even three text levels. The picture reveals the hidden intext and thus becomes a sign itself. In addition, all pictures are representations of the cross, i.e. refer to the universal symbol of salvation and Christ. However, this is also shown in the texts as the basic structure of the entire cosmos created by God. So it is not a conventional sign, but its existence has its real basis in creation, which in turn is assigned as a whole a sign of salvation history as provided by God's will to reveal within the framework of his plan of salvation. The methodical premise of the conception is the hermeneutical theory of the multiple sense of writing, which is based on the late antique medieval biblical exegesis , going back to Philo of Alexandria , Origen , Ambrose and Augustine and ultimately to the ancient Homer philology, according to which between the sensus historicus (also sensus litteralis or planus ) and the sensus figuralis (also spiritalis or mysticus ) is to be distinguished. Every statement can therefore be interpreted according to the meaning of the word or according to its sign meaning. The meaning of the sign can relate to the moral (also tropological), the salvation-historical (also allegorical or typological , ie showing the prefiguration of the New Testament in the Old Testament) or the anagogical (eschatological) level of meaning.

The representation of the living Jesus Christ in the first figure poem has a programmatic character . Jesus, who installed the cross as a sign of salvation and thus revealed himself and the divine plan of salvation, is represented in his human nature, but the crucified - pictorially represented - can only be a reference ( signum ) to the double (human and divine) nature of Christ be understood. He is therefore only represented with regard to the human nature of Jesus; it is a sign (due to his cross-shape) with regard to the divine nature of the crucified Christ. Accordingly, the picture also has the character of a sign; it is therefore a medium of divine revelation, not just a dead and falsifying image, as the image critics argued.

Lore

De laudibus sanctae crucis has come down to us in 80 manuscripts from the Middle Ages , which presupposes a keen interest in this work by Hrabanus Maurus from this epoch, which, as the numerous dedication copies and the early manuscript tradition, largely going back to the Fulda scriptorium, show itself, is unusually intense tried to spread his work. The following manuscripts have survived from the life of the scholar himself:

De laudibus sanctae crucis

The Vatican manuscript Reginensis latinus 124

The Lamb of God , surrounded by the evangelist symbols in the manuscript from the beginning of the 11th century Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 9, digitized in e-codices fol. 11v

Especially the manuscript Reginensis latinus 124 , which was created in Fulda and is now in the Vatican, shows De laudibus sanctae crucis in a very beautiful version. Spread out on 61 sheets of parchment:

  • Dedication to Archbishop Otgar von Mainz (fol.1v)
  • Dedication ( dedicatio , to St. Martin) (fol.2v)
  • Presentation of the book to Pope Gregory IV (fol.3v)
  • Figure poem in honor of Emperor Ludwig the Pious (fol.4v)
  • 1. main part / book: 28 cross poems and explanations (fol.8v)
  • Intermediate part: texts of the cross poems in hexameters (fol.37r)
  • Preface to Book 2 (fol.43v)
  • 2nd main part / book: prose paraphrase of the 28 cross poems (fol.44r)

The codex was initially intended for Archbishop Haistulf of Mainz , but was dedicated to Archbishop Otgar after his death. It must then have belonged to the holdings of the Mainz Cathedral Library and came back to the Fulda Monastery at a time that cannot be precisely determined . It is attested there in the 16th century when Emperor Rudolf II († 1612) loaned it - as evidenced by a letter dated June 15, 1598 . The manuscript came to Prague , was copied there and remained in Prague until it was captured by the Swedes in the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) . The Swedish Queen Christina († 1689) incorporated the codex into her library. In 1655 she converted to the Catholic faith and then lived for a long time in Rome, where after her death in 1689 her library and with it the Rabanus manuscript to Pope Innocent XI. got.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ So Spilling (see below literature) p. 29 f.
  2. ↑ So the critical edition of Perrin (see literature below)
  3. ↑ So Michele C. Ferrari, Il 'Liber sanctae crucis' (see literature below), who discusses the title question on pp. 230-239 in detail.
  4. ↑ Book I, C 1: “By the posture of his limbs he sanctifies the most wholesome, sweet and lovable figure of the holy cross for us” ( membrorum suorum positione consecrat nobis saluberrimam, dulcissimam et amantissimam sanctae crucis formam ).

literature

  • Becht-Jördens, Gereon: 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 (= Fulda studies 7). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 325–364. ISBN 3-7820-0707-7
  • Ernst, Ulrich: Carmen figuratum. History of the figure poem from the ancient origins to the end of the Middle Ages (Pictura et poesis 1). Böhlau, Cologne 1991. ISBN 3-412-03589-0
  • Ferrari, Michele C .: Il liber sanctae crucis di Rabano Mauro. Testo - immagine - contesto (Latin language and literature of the Middle Ages 30). Peter Lang, Bern et al. 1999. ISBN 3-906762-17-3
  • Haarländer, Stephanie : Rabanus Maurus. A reader with an introduction to his life and work , Mainz 2006. ISBN 3-934450-24-5
  • Holter, Klaus: Hrabanus Maurus, Liber de Laudibus Sanctae Crucis, Codex Vindobonensis 652 . Academic Printing and Publishing Company, Graz 1972. ISBN 978-3-201-00784-9
  • Kotzur, Hans-Jürgen (ed.): Rabanus Maurus. In the footsteps of a Carolingian scholar , exhibition catalog, Mainz 2006. ISBN 3-8053-3613-6
  • Müller, Hans-Georg: Hrabanus Maurus. De laudibus sanctae crucis. Studies on tradition and intellectual history with the facsimile text print from Codex Reg. Lat. 124 of the Vatican Library (supplements to the Middle Latin Yearbook 11). Ratingen et al. 1973. ISBN 3-450-12026-3
  • Perrin, Michel: Hrabanus Maurus. In honorem sanctae crucis (Corpus Christianorum, continuatio medievalis 100-100A). Brepols, Turnhout, 1997. ISBN 2-503-04001-2
  • Matthias Schulz: The coded Christ. Figuration as image-text dynamics in De laudibus sanctae crucis by Hrabanus Maurus . In: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 79, 2016, pp. 10–43. ISSN 0044-2992
  • Spilling, Herrad: Opus Magnentii Hrabani Mauri in honorem sanctae crucis conditum. Hraban's relationship to his work (= Fuldaer Hochschulschriften 18). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1992. ISBN 3-7820-0656-9