The mirror's adventure
Des Spiegel's adventure is a mini speech by the Swabian poet Hermann von Sachsenheim . The verse epic in Middle High German was written between 1451 and 1453. It has come down to us in two collective manuscripts and is contained in two printed editions from the 19th and 20th centuries; a New High German translation is not available.
Overview
Mrs. Treue should look for loyal men in Swabia on behalf of Mrs. Adventure , her mistress. Since she can't find any, she laments loudly about her fate. The narrator is lured by their screams, comforts the wailing and praises himself as a model of marital fidelity. He is then allowed to accompany Frau Treue on the drive to her mistress. On the way he sees a beautiful woman in a magic mirror, with whom he falls madly in love and forgets his wife. When Frau Abenteuer found out about this, she sentenced the faithless to death. From a magic book he learns how bad the beautiful woman is and how his faithful wife grieves at home. He regrets his infidelity, and Frau Adventure pardons him. A dwarf leads him home to his wife on a griffin.
content
Note: Translation of quotations and counting according to the Middle High German text in Kerth 1986 .
Mrs. Loyalty
The narrative begins with an introduction to a walk, a common topos in Minnereden. The first-person narrator goes into the forest on a beautiful day in May and comes to a source where he secretly listens to the complaints of a beautiful lady: “Oh dear,” she says through tears, “that I was ever born. Cursed be the hour that did not teach me to die. ”The narrator steps up to the regally dressed lady and asks about the cause of her suffering. If she so wishes, he lets her know, he would be happy to help her cry out, the way the lion roars its pups to life.
Since he is a knight, she wants to confide in him. She was a queen and, like her eleven sisters, was sent by her empress to collect taxes. She herself was sent to Swabia. The knight is amazed because his country is poor and the Swabians have nothing to give. She is not looking for gold, she replies, she is looking for loyalty from men, and Frau Treue is her name (see “ Poor Swabia ”). But that she has not found a loyal husband in Swabia and is now afraid of the injustice of her mistress. He is a paragon of loyalty, he boasts and extols his marital loyalty in the highest tones. Frau Treue is amazed, because the knight's name is not on the list of faithful Minner she received from her empress. At the knight's request, she informs him about the court of her mistress: Frau Abenteuer, the Empress, are subject to 12 queens: she, Frau Treue, and Frau Minne, love, virtue, honor, discipline, shame, truth, generosity, moderation , Justice and bliss.
The magic mirror
In a brook a small boat with a dwarf approaches, a messenger of the woman adventure, the woman loyalty orders back to her yard. The knight asks to be allowed to go with him, not without noticing that he is afraid that the little ship might sink under the weight of his loyalty. Frau Treue allows him a ride. On the way he notices a precious mirror in the hand of the dwarf, the back of which is turned towards him. He asks to take a look in the mirror, only Frau Treue distrusts his steadfastness, because the mirror depicts the most beautiful and purest virgins between the ages of twelve and forty. Finally the dwarf turns the mirror upside down with mocking laughter. The knight is instantly enchanted by the beauty of the mirrored ladies. He was filled with joy when he also saw the picture of his wife, but then he saw another, much more beautiful woman who immediately stole his heart and mind. He laments the suffering he has to suffer because of the longing for this woman. He has to admit that he no longer remembers his wife, and Mrs. Treue wants to push the unfaithful grand spokesman overboard in an “act of lynching”. However, the dwarf advocates taking him to the empress as a court jester. The knight asks Frau Loyalty for mercy - and for her help in winning the lady of his dreams!
The love trial
When they arrive at the Empress's court, she first greets Frau Minne, the mirror lady who has broken his heart. He immediately begins again with his declarations of love, and Frau Treue asks Frau Ehre what to do with this stupid fool. He is led to the empress, who accuses him of serious infidelity, because he is well known to her. The knight in his blindness boldly asks the Empress to help him find his mirror lady. When asked whether he wanted to marry her, he confessed that he was already married, but the marriage could be dissolved by the Pope.
Frau Ehre now presents the knight with a precious book of Frau Abenteuer, which contains all the good and bad deeds of women who are loving. He finds many stories about worthless women, but also about some honorable ones, including the story of his own wife who awaits him in mourning. The realization that his mirror lover is one of those worthless women, “a bad little plant” and “a false woman”, finally brings about his repentance, and he bitterly regrets the infidelity towards his wife, “the crown of honor”.
The knight is tied up in front of the Empress Adventure, who immediately condemns him to death without trial. He tries to pass his guilt on to the Empress, after all she brought him to Venus in his youth. The empress remains unmoved and has him taken away. Now he threatens to bring the violation of his right to a regulated process to the public. Thereupon Mrs. Adventure leads a formal charge against him: It is his fault that he let himself be bewitched by a mirror. The sisters deliberate, and in view of the widespread general infidelity, they absolve him from punishment. Finally the Empress pardons him, although she is still convinced of his guilt.
The sisters give the knight good advice on the way: Mrs. Zucht and Mrs. Ehre recommend him a godly lifestyle, Mrs. Minne gives him good tips for a varied life as a lotter. A griffin appears with a dwarf as a guide, who brings the knight back to his Swabian homeland in no time at all. The knight's offer to pair the dwarf with a dwarf at the court of the Countess Palatine is rejected and the latter returns to the court of his empress (see dedication ).
Episode: Poor Swabia
During a walk in the forest, the narrator meets a loudly wailing lady. He sympathetically inquires about the cause of her suffering, and after the lady has assured herself of his chivalry, she confides in him. She is one of 12 queens who serve her empress. She and her sisters were sent to collect taxes in their countries. “So I was sent to Swabia,” complains the lady. The knight cannot suppress his astonishment:
- “My dear wife, the Red amazes me. Who sent you straight to Swabia: we are poor ourselves. That is not right, you should believe me, and if you want to rob us, there would be a great shouting, as little as an egg, there is gold in Swabia. "
Her mistress did not send her for gold, the lady explains to him:
- “It is another hoard that I am sent to. I look for loyalty in the men who are praised as Minner noble women. Mrs. Loyalty is my name, and I look for loyalty every half. "
The knight cannot refrain from smiling compassionately, "for there was never a true heart when that was in my body". Why didn't she look for him, he accuses the lady. No falcon is as violent as its desire, and it boasted: “I could gild a whole country with my loyalty”, “I could load my loyalty on a thousand elephants” and “With my loyalty I would like the sand of the flowing sea counting". Frau Treue does not want to believe him, because for a whole year she searched the country in vain for loyal Minners: "You shouldn't be joking, my loyal companion, say true!"
On the subject of "Poor Swabia": The county of Württemberg was not one of the wealthy regions in Germany during Hermann's time. However, he belonged to the privileged class of rich land and property owners and was even able to help out his counts with considerable loans.
plant
author
Wilhelm Ludwig Holland , who in 1850 published the story of “Des Spiegel's Adventure” under the title “Der Spiegel” in his Meister-Altswert edition, already suspected Hermann's authorship based on evidence, an opinion that Karl Goedeke 1859 in his history of the German Poetry took over and which Ernst Martin joined in his Hermann edition in 1878. Today the attribution to Hermann von Sachsenheim is generally accepted. The evidence also includes the anecdote about poor Swabia , which locates the narrator as a resident of Swabia.
Work title
The two manuscripts are not given work titles. In the first print edition by Wilhelm Ludwig Holland from 1850, the work was entitled “Der Spiegel”. Thomas Kerth called the poem in the second print edition of 1986 "Des Spiegel's Adventure", probably to distinguish it from another Minnerede in Holland's edition, which was entitled "This is the mirror" or "Der Spiegel" for short.
dedication
One of the clues suggesting the attribution of the “mirror” to Hermann is the implicit dedication that he “hidden” in the Minnerede. Towards the end of the text (verses 2665–2679), after the knight has returned to Swabia, his travel companion, the dwarf, says goodbye: “I'm going home again.” Alone, the knight doesn't want to let him go: “Oh, dear dwarf no! I know a princess delicate, born of a high kind, I will bring her to you. "
The mistress mine, he explains to the dwarf, she was born in Bavaria, was elected Countess Palatine near the Rhine, and her husband is the Duke of Austria. "I know it well," replies the dwarf. “My Mistress Adventure, she is kind to the princess,” he continues and sings an exuberant song of praise to the high customs of Countess Mechthild von der Pfalz .
(The countess was Hermann's patroness and had been linked to Archduke Albrecht VI of Austria by a marriage of convenience since 1452. The couple lived mostly apart from each other, and gossip said the countess had a rampant life. Hermann's dedication can therefore also be used as a salvation of honor for his dear princess be considered.)
The knight would like to pair the dwarf with a certain dwarf at the court of the Countess Palatine, but the dwarf who knows this would be a horror:
- “You say true. I have curly hair and a proud body. But I don't need a woman like her, a Bibernell who escaped a button in Liebenzell: that's why I'm angry with her and want to wait for someone else. They say no pretty tale about her to Stückgart that marriage would be difficult for me. "
Literary genre
The work can be assigned to various literary genres.
- Minner speech. The subject of a Minneede as a subspecies of courtly Minne Poetry is the love between man and woman. Minneeds consist of rhyming verses and, in contrast to the sung Minneongs, were intended for spoken speech. The first-person narrator addresses the audience in his speech and describes (allegedly) events he has personally experienced, in the case of the “Spiegel” a courtship in which the narrator's marital infidelity is negotiated.
- Minneallegory. In minneallegories, personifications of abstract ideas appear as acting persons. In “Spiegel” Empress Adventure embodies the highest judge, and the 12 queens who serve her symbolize the 12 virtues: Frau Loyalty, whom the narrator meets in the forest, and her 11 sisters, whom he meets at Frau Abenteuer's court: Frau Minne, Love, virtue, honor, discipline, shame, truth, generosity, moderation, justice and happiness.
- Minne court seal. Like Hermann's “Mörin”, the “Spiegel” is part of the Minne Court poetry. In a trial before Frau Adventure, the narrator's infidelity is to be punished. However, in contrast to the "Mörin", the court proceedings are carried out rather carelessly.
shape
With 2754 verses, the poem is one of the larger of Hermann's works, only the "Mörin" with 6081 verses is larger. It consists of three-part rhyming paired verses, that is, the verses rhyme in pairs without any stanzas, and each verse contains three stressed syllables. Hermann von Sachsenheim consistently uses the rhyming pair breaking (also: rhyming breaking), that is, the rhyming pair changes fall in the middle of a sentence, see "Von der Grasmetzen", form .
reception
The "Spiegel" does not seem to have been particularly widespread. This could be indicated by the number of only two completely surviving manuscripts, but also by the fact that the work was ascribed to Meister Altswert until the 19th century .
Gustav Roethe , who wrote the article about Hermann von Sachsenheim in the "Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie" in 1890, praised Hermann's humor and his talent for parody, but otherwise didn't think much of the poet:
- “Of course there can be no question of any lasting effect of Sachsenheim's poetry. With a good dose of humor he eked the life of the dying genre of the Minneallegories. ... It has hardly helped his reputation that we now know him better again. "
Regarding the "Spiegel", which in his opinion emerged later as the "Mörin", Roethe said:
- “In the mirror, Hermann is already in the most unmistakable decline. A mere copy of the carrot, only much more virtuous and desolate. ... The humor, the easy outlook on life is completely on the retreat ... even the self-irony, which is still not completely lacking, has become tame. "
In 1971, the Germanist Ingeborg Glier turned her attention to the more human character of the personifications in the "Spiegel", which were usually portrayed as iron and indomitable:
- “According to the usual rules of the game, one would expect the breach of faith to be condemned through the personifications - unreservedly and in unison. Not so with Hermann von Sachsenheim! The old absolute position is only represented by Frau Adventure. ... The process 'win' also the personifications subordinate to it ... who plead for pardon. This can be considered 'improved' because he not only understands his mistake, but also strictly rejects the loose advice of old Minne, who downright recommend a relapse. ...
- The offense should be seen in human relations, the way to free atonement should remain open. In this respect, Hermann von Sachsenheim does not question or parody the courtly mines' doctrine, as the miner speeches vary again and again, from the outside, he criticizes systemic criticism. The portrayal of his personifications is also striking. They no longer appear ... as a firmly established, closed group, which represents perfection per se, but they get into movement and opposites among each other; one or the other leaves unexpectedly, and throughout the behavior of the individual also has more human and differentiated traits. "
expenditure
Manuscripts
The miner's speech “Des Spiegel's Adventure” is contained in full in two collective manuscripts.
| # | year | Library / signature |
|---|---|---|
| He3 | 1478 | Heidelberg, University Library , Cpg 313 ( Cod. Pal. Germ. 313), online , pages 75r – 120v |
| Be15 | 1470-1480 | Berlin, Staatsbibliothek , Mgq 719 (Ms. germ. Quart. 719), online , pages 2r – 60r |
Another manuscript with 1407 verses offers a short version in which not men but women are urged to be faithful. There are also two short manuscripts with an excerpt of 12 verses and a fragment of 360 verses.
Detailed overview: manuscript census.
Printouts
The work is included in two printed editions from the 19th and 20th centuries.
- The mirror. In: Wilhelm Ludwig Holland (editor); Adelbert von Keller (editor): Meister Altswert. Literarischer Verein, Stuttgart 1850, pages 129–202, online .
- Thomas Kerth (editor): Hermann von Sachsenheim. The mirror's adventure. Kümmerle, Göppingen 1986, pages 63-210.
Translations
- A New High German translation is not available.
- Excerpts translation: Verses 384–437, 1532–1543 and 1812–1837 in #Finkele 2004 , pages 112–117.
- Detailed table of contents: #Klingner 2013.1 , pages 836–839.
literature
- Ingeborg Glier : Artes amandi. Studies on the history, tradition and typology of German miner speeches. Beck, Munich 1971, especially pages 328–334.
- Karl Goedeke : Outline of the history of German poetry: from the sources. 1. Volume: [The Middle Ages]. Ehlermann, Dresden 1859, pages 85-86, online .
- Dietrich Huschenbett: Hermann von Sachsenheim. In: Kurt Ruh (editor): The German literature of the Middle Ages - author's lexicon , 3. [Ger – Hil]. de Gruyter, Berlin 1981, column 1091-1106, especially 1096.
- Dietrich Huschenbett: Hermann von Sachsenheim - names and terms. Commentary on the list of all names and selected terms in the complete work. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2007.
- Jacob Klingner ; Ludger Lieb : Manual Minnereden. Volume 1: [Repertory]. de Gruyter, Berlin 2013, pages 835–839.
- Jacob Klingner; Ludger Lieb: Manual Minnereden. Volume 2: [Directories]. de Gruyter, Berlin 2013.
- Ernst Martin (editor): Hermann von Sachsenheim. Literary Association, Stuttgart 1878, online .
- Gustav Roethe : Hermann von Sachsenheim . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 146-152.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ #Klingner 2013.1 , page 835, #Huschenbett 1981 , column 1092.
- ↑ #Glier 1971 , page 319.
- ↑ #Holland 1850 , page VI, #Martin 1878 , page 9 #Huschenbett 1981 , column 1092-1093, #Klingner 2013.1 , page 835.
- ↑ #Holland 1850 , page 129.
- ↑ Bibernelle: medicinal herb, among other things against digestive disorders, also: farting woman. - "a button escaped": a fart escaped. - Piece garden: Stuttgart.
- ↑ #Klingner 2013.2 , pages 2–5.
- ↑ #Roethe 1859 , page 152.
- ↑ #Roethe 1859 , page 151.
- ↑ #Glier 1971 , p. 320.
- ↑ #Klingner 2013.2 , pages 835–839, manuscript census .
- ↑ Manuscript Census .