Dhuoda

Dhuoda (or Dodana ) (* around 802 ; † after 843 ) was a Frankish noblewoman. It is believed that she was a sister of the Empress Judith .

On June 29, 824 Dhuoda married Bernhard von Septimanien in the Aachen Palatine Chapel . At the behest of her husband, who mostly stayed in Aachen at the Carolingian court, she resided in Uzès, where she administered the holdings of Bernhard in his name and financed her husband's military operations.

Although the couple was almost always separated, Dhuoda bore several children to her husband:

• William of Septimania (November 29, 826 - † 850)
• Bernard Plantevelue (March 22, 841 - † 885/886), Count of Autun , Rodez and Auvergne
• Regelinda

Their son Wilhelm was executed in 850, like his father Bernhard in 844, by Karl the Bald for treason. Nothing is known about the further fate of Dhuoda.

Liber manualis

Between November 30, 841 and February 2, 843 she wrote a liber manualis for her son Wilhelm , a handbook to encourage him to lead a Christian and educated life. In terms of content idiosyncratic, the work stands out from the Christian doctrine of the time, as Dhuoda allowed her own personality to flow into the considerations on courtly, moral and Christian virtue. She also experimented with number symbolism, linguistic structure (Latin verses in German rhythms) and framed her work with input and output texts.

Dhuoda's literary work is the only surviving larger Carolingian text written by an author. Almost everything that is known about them today comes from the Liber manualis. The book provides essential information about the patriarchal world of thought of the Carolingian era as well as the level of education of nobles in this era. In her work she referred to patristic and early medieval thinkers such as Augustine of Hippo , Gregory of Tours and Alcuin , but also to ancient authors such as Ovid .

literature

• E. Bondurrand (ed.): L'éducation carolingienne. Le manuel de Dhuoda. Paris 1887.
• Ursula Liebertz-Grün: Courtly authors. From the Carolingian cultural reform to humanism. In: Gisela Brinker-Gabler (Ed.), German Literature by Women , Volume 1, Darmstadt / Munich 1988. ISBN 3406331181 . Pp. 40-43
• F. Brunhölzl: History of Latin Literature in the Middle Ages I. Munich 1975, 407.565.
• Liber manualis - A guide from the Carolingian era for a Christian life . Introduced, translated from 9th century Latin and commented on by W. Fels. Library of Middle Latin Literature Vol. 5. Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-7772-0807-7

Web links

• Dhuoda in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"