The Pope from the Ghetto

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The Pope from the Ghetto. The legend of the Pier Leone family is a novel by Gertrud von le Fort , which was published in 1930 by Transmare Verlag in Berlin.

Rome at the beginning of the 12th century: It is told from the life of Anaclet II up to his enthronement. Anaclet II was the antipope to Innocent II.

title

The text does not speak of the ghetto , but of the Jewish city , a residential area of ​​Rome.

people

The Pier Leone family

  • Petrus Leonis, Senator and Consul
    • Mirjam, his Jewish wife
    • Donna Bona, his Christian wife
    • Cardinal Pier Leone, son of Peter and Miriam, later Anaklet II.
    • Trophy, daughter of Peter and Miriam
    • Tullia, daughter of Peter and Donna Bona

The genus Frangipane

  • Johannes Frangipane, knight
    • Leo and Cencius Frangipane, his sons
    • Jacoba Frangipane, his niece

history

At the beginning of the novel, King Henry IV's Canossagang in December 1076 is already history. The narrated time can be read from the terms of office of the popes acting in the novel listed below:

Chronicle style

The novel is written in a chronicle style. Headings such as “It is reported”, “The Jews tell about the Roma”, “The women of the Jews tell”, “The opinion of the Holy Father”, “This is what we know about the Antichrist ”, “From the Notes of the Cardinal-Bishop Petrus von Portus ”,“ The Synod in Lateran ”,“ The Conclave of Sancta Maria in Palara ”,“ The old Rachel ”et cetera.

The recurring introduction "From the books of our golden city Roma ..." indicates a special feature. As a rule, Gertrud von le Fort does not delve into the inner workings of the protagonists, but instead lets Christian citizens of Rome talk in detail about the main Jewish characters. Another peculiarity must be pointed out in this context. The two protagonists Petrus Leonis and his son Pier Leone are often relegated to secondary characters. They are usually briefly reported on. The whole behavior of the father, son and daughter Trophäa can be described in one sentence: "See, I send you like sheep among the wolves."

action

Chanoch ben Esra escapes a pogrom in Rome by taking refuge under the Pope's purple cloak. The saved Jew is baptized as a Christian and is henceforth called Benediktus Christianus by the Christians. Interest deals made him the richest man in Rome. His son Baruch ben Baruch, a usurer , was not baptized. In Rome this very rich man is called Baruch Leonis - after his magnificent house at the Porta Leone. The son of Baruch Leonis is a distinguished gentleman, so not a greedy changer. He is married to Mirjam, the daughter of a rabbi . Mirjam becomes pregnant. The husband is secretly baptized and is henceforth called Petrus Leonis, Senator of the Romans. When Mirjam learns of her husband's baptism, she fled to her father, the rabbi. There she gives birth to Pier Leone. Immediately after the birth, the boy is snatched from her by Johannes Frangipane, a friend of her husband. Mirjam manages to keep the trophy, born later, the twin sister of Pier Leone. Trophy is blind.

After his baptism, Petrus Leonis marries the Christian Donna Bona, a Bericisi. Johannes Frangipane and Petrus Leonis, the two friends, are among the captains. These are Roman noble captains who each hold a considerable number of soldiers under arms. Johannes Frangipane wants to wrest Urban II from the privilege of transporting crusaders to the Orient by ship. Petrus Leonis saves the oppressed Holy Father from the riot caused by his friend and offers the Pope protection under his roof. Urban II dies in the house of his savior. It is believed among Roman Christians that little Pier Leone was secretly circumcised . The father Petrus Leonis opposes the rumor. He hands his son over to the monks of the St. Alexius Monastery on Mount Aventine next to the St. Sabina Basilica for Christian education. Johannes Frangipane toying with the wealth of his friend Petrus Leonis. He wants to marry his niece Jacoba with the young Pier Leone. The 16-year-old convent student is averse. He becomes a priest.

During the dispute between Pope Paschal II and the later Emperor Heinrich V - regarding the regalia - Petrus Leonis, in contrast to the wild Johannes Frangipane, was prudent. That is why the Curia of the Holy Father accepts the former Jew fully into the ranks of Christianity.

Pier Leone studies theology with Abelard in France and returns as a Cluniac . In return, Mirjam succeeds in having Trophy taught in the Talmud .

Because of the dowry, Johannes Frangipane got his son Censius engaged to Tullia, the daughter of Petrus Leonis. Both Censius and his brother Leo hate Petrus Leonis. Because the Roman nobility claims that the Jew Petrus Leonis only grew up through his friendship with the Christian Johannes Frangipane. During a party in the Frangipane house, to which Tullia also appeared, Johannes Frangipane was hit when he saw how unworthy Censius dealt with his fiancée. Tullia has suffered permanent damage to her health from the ordeal. Johannes dies. Petrus Leonis refuses to answer the disgrace done to his home with an attack on the Frangipani. The Pope sends Pier Leone to France as a legate . Upon his return, Pier Leone was promoted to cardinal and then cardinal-deacon . Although the Frangipane brothers are furious, the Roman people want a rich Pope in the future. So during the term of office of Kalixt II the call for Pier Leone as successor to the Pope is heard for the first time.

In order to be able to fight against the house of Petrus Leonis, Jacoba Frangipane sells all her beautiful rings. To do this, she turns to Petrus Leonis of all people. He pays her a disproportionately high price for the jewelry.

On his deathbed, Petrus Leonis renounces Christianity, professes Judaism, no longer wants to see his wife, the Christian Donna Bona, and asks for his first wife, Mirjam. The latter sends their daughter trophy. Mirjam hopes Trophäa can bring the twin brother Pier Leone home to the Jewish city. The blind woman wanders alone through the Pier Leone palace and touches an image of the Christ child made of fine wood in the palace chapel. Petrus Leonis dies a little earlier than Honorius II. The Frangipane brothers do not want Pier Leone as the next Pope and attack the Pier Leone palace. They invade. Trophy falls into their hands as she kisses the Christ child. The girl is kidnapped by the Frangipani and slandered at the Curia. The Jewish sister of Cardinal Pier Leone wanted to steal the Christ child from Sancta Maria from the church. The cardinal is to be excluded from the election of the Pope. The curia orders the Frangipani to release the captured Jewess. Jacoba releases the captured trophy, but the blind woman dies. In the meantime, word has got around among Christians that the wooden image of the Christ child had been stolen. Jacoba puts the bundle with the carving in Trophya's arms, leads the blind out into the Roman night and leaves them alone near the church of Sancta Maria. The Frangipani, meanwhile, have roused Romans and driven them to church. Trophy is killed with a sword by a mercenary of the Frangipani next to the church. The Frangipani armed men instigate a pogrom in the Jewish city. Pier Leone, to whom the Frangipani bring the body of the twin sister, does not want to see Trophäa. The Romans blame Pier Leone for the death of the blind as well as the Frangipani. Because the cardinal behaved passively during the negotiations for the handover of the Trophy. Mirjam dies.

The Roman people cheer their golden Pope Anaclet II. The power struggles between the antipope and Innocent II begin.

Mrs. Susa

Mrs. Susa, the saint of Sancta Maria de Inferno, is the visionary legendary figure in the novel. When the Christian Roman people, the most important narrator in this chronicle, don't know what to do next, they turn to the saint and mostly receive further verbal help - wrapped in an ambiguous torrent of words.

Quotes

  • "A camel is more likely to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
  • “Justice is only in Hell; in heaven there is grace. "
  • "In eternity, some will have to be silent who liked to talk here."

reception

literature

source
  • Gertrud von le Fort: The Pope from the Ghetto. The legend of the Pier Leone family. Novel . Bertelsmann 1956 (Licensor: Franz Ehrenwirth, Munich). 224 pages
First edition
  • Gertrud von le Fort: The Pope from the Ghetto. The legend of the Pier Leone family . Transmare Verlag, Berlin, 1930. 393 pages. Linen with gold-colored embossing on the lid and back
Secondary literature
  • Nicholas J. Meyerhofer: Gertrud von LeFort (= heads of the 20th century. Vol. 119). Morgenbuch-Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-371-00376-0 .
  • Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A - Z . S. 381., right column, 2nd Zvu Stuttgart 2004, 697 pages, ISBN 3-520-83704-8

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Source, p. 219, 7. Zvo
  2. ↑ Source, p. 16 (Gregory's successor Viktor III is not mentioned in the novel).
  3. ↑ Source, p. 42
  4. ↑ Source, p. 63
  5. ↑ Source, p. 120
  6. ↑ Source, p. 123
  7. ↑ Source, p. 143
  8. ↑ Rome is referred to throughout the text as Roma .
  9. ↑ Source, p. 206, 1. Zvo, see also ( Mt 10.16  EU )
  10. ↑ Source, p. 43, 11. Zvo, see also ( Mk 10.25  EU ) and parable of the eye of the needle .
  11. ↑ Source, p. 117, 7th Zvu
  12. ↑ Source, p. 208, 19th Zvu
  13. ↑ quoted in Meyerhofer, p. 49, 2nd Zvu
  14. ↑ Meyerhofer, p. 48, 4th Zvu to p. 49 middle
  15. ↑ Meyerhofer, p. 51, 17. Zvo