The kingdom's crown

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Des Reiches Krone is a historical story by Wilhelm Raabe , which was written in the spring of 1870 and published in 1873 by Hallberger in Stuttgart in the "Deutscher Mondschein" collection. The novella had previously been printed in October 1870 in the magazine “Über Land und Meer”.

In 1453 Raabe gave a Nuremberg veteran a chance to speak. The old fighter tells an incident from the year 1424. His neighbor, Mechthild Grossin, who was also young at the time, turned to the lepers outside the city gates and from then on worked as a Mater Leprosorum among them.

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In 1453 , the year when Byzantium fell, a story is told that the narrator experienced in his youth.

Mechthild Grossin, born in 1400, grew up in Nuremberg with the narrator and his friend, Junker Michel Groland vom Laufenholz. The three young people are brought up by master Theodoros Antoniades, a Byzantine who the Turks drove from his home island of Chios . Mechthild's grandmother Anna observes the goings-on of the three young people with goodwill. Anna had already become Mater Leprosorum in Nuremberg at the turn of the century.

On October 20, 1415, Magister Johannes Huss from Bohemia stops in Nuremberg on his journey to Costnitz (Constance). After the Magister was burned at Lake Constance, the Taborites raged under Johannes Ziska vom Kelch to such an extent that the Emperor sent Elector Friedrich I of Brandenburg to Bohemia to recover the imperial regalia that had been kept in Karlstein Castle since 1350 . The kingdom's crown is to be given its old place in the shrine under the portal to the Nuremberg Holy Spirit . In a fiery speech, Mechthild asks the two young knights to refrain from further studies of the Greek language and to join the fight for the crown, scepter and sword Caroli Magni . The two warriors take part in the campaign that leads via Saaz into Bohemia in September 1422 . In the fight against the Prague , the imperial army advanced to the Karlstein. The narrator can then return to Nuremberg, while Ritter Michel is part of the team that is supposed to bring the recovered treasures to the Blind Castle in Ofen . For the glory of the Roman Empire of the German Nation is over; Emperor Sigismund has to deposit the treasures abroad with the Huns (Hungarians).

The narrator has had a secret with Mechthild since returning from Bohemia. In the face of the kingdom of the Crown on Karlstein, the narrator had whispered a prayer at Michel's request. In it the friend had implored Mechthild's love. Now Mechthild is waiting for Michel.

Michel returns home in October 1423. The narrator is informed by the reigning Mater Leprosorum and goes into the open field to the town's infirmary . The team accompanying the Reichskleinodien had contracted the leprosy in Ofen. Michel is one of the few returnees. He can only use his sword as a crutch and is so disfigured that even his mother cannot recognize him. Michel demands silence. In particular, the narrator is not allowed to depict the bride of the living dead.

When the arrival of the gems was announced in Nuremberg in 1424, the narrator had to act. He asks the Byzantine teacher to take on the difficult task. Master Theodoros Antoniades, whose wife and children were killed by the Turks, tells Mechthild the horror.

During the arrival of the carriage loaded with treasures in Nuremberg, all lepers in the city are allowed to touch the sanctuaries. On this occasion, Mechthild approaches Michel and calls himself his bride, his wife. When Mechthild throws back the sick man's cap, the narrator is startled. How leprosy disfigured your friend's body!

The jewels are given their place in the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. Mechthild remains among the lepers and succeeds the Mater Leprosorum. Later it is called the crown among the people of the empire . The narrator goes back to the fight against the Hussites and takes part in the lost battle of Aussig .

Quotes

  • "Since I was still young, I also saw a bright light in the tribulation."
  • "And I saw in front of the shrine ... that love truly conquers death, indeed makes worse than death a laugh!"

reception

  • Oppermann quotes Kunz. By remembering, the narrator overcomes “the doubt about the meaning of life”. The theme forbids irony as a style element.
  • Raabe took a work by JH von Falckenstein from 1750 as the source. In his comments, Hoppe pointed out errors that Raabe took over from this source. Wilhelm Fehse had documented the inconsistencies in 1914.
  • The formulation in metrically bound form - a thought from 1864 - Raabe rejected in 1870. In the very last sentence of the story, Fuld sees a reference to the events of the day .

expenditure

First edition

  • German moonlight. Four stories. 261 pages. Hallberger, Stuttgart 1873 (contains: German moonlight. The march home. The crown of the empire. Thekla's inheritance or the story of a sultry day)

Used edition

Further editions

The following information was mostly taken from Meyen.

  • In 1907 Schulze published an edition in the Stolze-Schrey system in Berlin .
  • “The Crown of the Empire. Historical story by Wilhelm Raabe. With comments by Karl Hahne. ”64 pages. Hermann Klemm, Freiburg im Breisgau 1952: Klemms school expenses. Before: Berlin-Grunewald 1928 (159 pages) and 1931 (94 pages), Leipzig 1942, 1943 (94 pages)
  • "Wilhelm Raabe. The kingdom's crown. Novella. “63 pages. Braun, Karlsruhe 1949 (Braunsche student library)
  • "Wilhelm Raabe. The kingdom's crown. Narrative. With an afterword by Gerhard Muschwitz. “78 pages. Reclam, Stuttgart 1970 ( RUB 8368)

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The mother of the lepers procures and distributes alms (Hoppe in the edition used, p. 498, 11th Zvo).
  2. ↑ "The German Empire's crown is still in Nuremberg - who will bring it back to honor in the world?" (Edition used, p. 378, 2nd Zvu)
  3. ↑ The author had completed the manuscript in early July 1870 - a few days before the mobilization for the war against France - (edition used, p. 490, center). Raabe, too, succumbed to the war euphoria in that early summer of 1870 (Fuld, p. 244, 8th Zvu).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ von Studnitz, p. 311, entry 33
  2. ↑ Edition used, pp. 490–491
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 324, 10th Zvu
  4. ↑ Edition used, p. 373, 12. Zvo
  5. ^ Oppermann, p. 93, 5th Zvu
  6. ↑ Meyen, p. 371, entry 3115
  7. ↑ Hoppe in the edition used, p. 489
  8. ↑ Fuld, p. 199
  9. ^ Fuld, p. 243, 4th Zvu
  10. ↑ Meyen, pp. 115-116