The Crown Guardians

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Achim von Arnim
(1781–1831)

Die Kronenwächter is a novel by Achim von Arnim , the first volume of which was published in 1817 in the Maurer bookstore in Berlin. The second volume, a fragment, was published posthumously by TFA Kühn in Weimar in 1854.

Southwest Germany at the beginning of the 16th century: Berthold and Anton prove to be incompetent and unworthy descendants of the Hohenstaufen .

content

First volume: Berthold's first and second life. A novel

first book

The night of New Year's Day 1475 in Waiblingen : The new tower keeper Martin receives a “wedding present” placed in his bucket. The messenger shouts up: "Be mindful of your oath, no tower is too high, no grave too deep for God's judge's sword and for our arrow." Martin, who married Hildegard, the widow of the old tower keeper, pulls the box that was given in it Bucket up and growls: "If only I had never been with the old murderers!" Martin means the crown guards. Your emissary rides away. In the box, a boy about six months old is lying on a skull. There is something blinking in the skull; something like a ring. There are still five gold guilders in the box . The child resembles a knight whose skull Martin had split open just under six months ago on behalf of the Crown Guard. Martin had then quit his job as a traveling man . The childless couple of towers raise the boy. He is baptized in the name of Berthold. Later, the mayor Steller employed the skilled boy as a council clerk. Berthold leads his foster father to the ruined palace of Barbarossa . The youth wants to clean the garden and build on the rubble. Martin, however, wants to show Berthold, the descendant of the Hohenstaufen , the use of knightly weapons. It doesn't come to that. An arrow from the Crown Guard hits the tower keeper in the heart. Berthold buys the palace grounds with his five guilders. He takes the remaining money from a treasure that he has unearthed in the palace garden. Berthold finds a rusted belt knife in the treasure chest. The handle is designed as a dragon's head. Berthold has meanwhile grown into a "big, red-cheeked guy". Mayor Steller surprises his daughter Apollonia when she is roughly kissed by Berthold. Apollonia has to go to the nunnery as a punishment. The girl becomes the abbess's darling. Berthold is kicked out of the town hall. With his treasure trove of coins, the dismissed clerk built a house with a weaving mill on the ruins of the palace. In the meantime he goes in and out of the prior of the Augustinian monastery . There he meets a visitor. This is a builder from Strasbourg . In his wake is a strange countess. This tells her story. She had married a knight whom the Crown Guard had killed when he wanted to join the emperor . Although the knight had worked on the loom with his wife, he had believed that the Hohenstaufen crown was his by birth. So, past the crown guards - twelve old, strong, armored men - he had broken into the crown castle and taken the crown. The strange countess had given birth to a son. The crown guards had set a fire in the house and waited. During the fire, the boy was kidnapped along with the crown. The knight had been slain by a certain Martin. Berthold learns from the story that the stranger is his mother and that the man killed by the foster father Martin was his father. Berthold extracts the mother's “golden, beautifully scaled wedding ring” from the skull of the dead father. At the request of the dying person, the “princely mother” pressed this into the “bloody, split head” as “last memento”. The mother hands the ring to the son. He should give it away to a worthy virgin - his future wife. The Strasbourg builder solicits unsuccessfully for the mother. She stays with her son in Waiblingen. She is welcomed with open arms by Berthold's foster mother Hildegard.

second book

Anno 1518: Berthold, meanwhile "over forty years old", has a good reputation as a cloth maker, got rich and became mayor of Waiblingen. He feels sap and powerless. So he lets Dr. Fist come. The doctor speaks to the patient in Latin. Faust helps. The “miracle man” exchanges the mayor's blood with that of a boy Anton. This is a "young bull biter" from the country. Strong Anton's village is six miles from Waiblingen. The boy secretly snuck into town. Berthold's foster mother Hildegard is troubled. Now that the mayor has overcome his “weak body” after the blood transfusion, he wants to distinguish himself as a knight and - belatedly - bring a woman home. In addition, the people of Waiblingen need orders for their looms. So Berthold went to Augsburg. On the occasion of a Reichstag, the arriving rider gets into the crowd of onlookers in the big city . Not only does the emperor speak to him. Berthold made the acquaintance of the beautiful young Anna and found accommodation with her mother, Frau Zähringer. For Anna, he doesn't avoid the knight's stabbing . Berthold buys armor the day before , with a lot of luck wins a silver cup during the tournament and hands it to the lady of his choice. Berthold asked for Anna's hand and was heard despite the considerable age difference. Mrs. Zähringer is Berthold's childhood sweetheart Apollonia. Together with her mother, his bride Anna follows the mayor to Waiblingen. Before that, Berthold helped Luther , who had quarreled with Cajetan in Augsburg , to escape the city.

In Waiblingen Anna roams the house of her groom and takes the knife with the dragon's head from the treasure chest. As a wife, she will wear it on her belt later. The old crown guard Kronenhelm comes from Hohenstock Castle to Waiblingen and brings the mayor “fourteen elongated glass windows, cut at the top as a pointed arch”. The gifts from the crown guards, "signs of their trust", glow in the evening sun and tell stories of the old Swabian king from the Hohenstaufen family.

Third book

Berthold and Anna get married. At the wedding celebration, the mayor entertains and presents the citizens of Waiblingen. Anton, who is employed by the old Dutch painter Sixt, paints a portrait of Mary on the gable of the mayor on behalf of Berthold . The cheeky young painter's assistant portrays Mrs. Anna, who is still in bed the morning after the wedding. When the painter's ladder tips over, Anton saves himself by jumping through the window in Anna's bedroom. The young woman entertains the sympathetic, hungry intruder. When the old Kronenhelm wants to say goodbye to Anna with a present from the Counts of Hohenstock, the young woman hides her painter from the crown guard. Anton later reports to Anna that he once fled Kronenhelm. Kronenhelm says goodbye warmly. Anna's mother Apollonia discovers Anton in Anna's room. The mother deliberately misunderstood the situation because she loves Berthold. Anna recognizes this and fights bitterly for her husband. Apollonia moves into its own house. Hildegard dies. Berthold thinks that the Christ child in the portrait of Mary is like Anton. Berthold hopes that he will soon become the owner of Hohenstock Castle. Kronenhelm had made a comment in this regard. Anna already sees herself as the lady of the castle. So she urges and persuades her husband to go on a joint inspection trip. The two visitors find three dirty, run-down castles. One of them belongs to old Rappolt. This is a count from Berthold's Staufer line. Anton is one of Rappolt's sons. The boy was raised by the Crown Guardians, but managed to escape them. Count Konrad von Hohenstock is Anton's twin brother. The couple returns to their clean Waiblingen. Anna learns that Berthold recovered from Anton's blood. Anton observes how Berthold always goes to Apollonia.

The emperor dies. Anna gives birth to a son. The child is a picture of Anton. The talk of the Waiblinger does not want to fall silent. At the behest of the Crown Guard, Mayor Berthold is to join the Swabian Federation . Berthold, however, goes into the field alongside Duke Ulrich , because he had promised Waiblingen freedom from the empire. The luck of war is on the side of the Crown Guardians. Waiblingen is occupied by the troops of Count Konrad von Hohenstock. The occupier Konrad doesn't want to know his brother Anton.

Although Berthold returns to Waiblingen one more time, he soon leaves Anna, Apollonia and their son. Back in the service of the crown guards, he spent the night on a trip to Einsiedeln in the Lorch monastery . There, at the resting place of his ancestors, the Hohenstaufen, Berthold is struck by lightning in a thunderstorm.

At home in Waiblingen, Anna wants to put an end to the talk about the father of her child. She wants to finance Anton's stay with Dürer in Nuremberg. It doesn't come to that. Count Konrad woos Anna. During an argument, Konrad pulls the knife with the dragon's head out of Anna's belt, seriously injuring the twin brother. Anna fears for Anton's life. The citizens of Waiblingen drive Count Konrad out of the city. Dr. Faust kidnaps Anna's child and hands it over to Count Konrad. Apollonia goes to the monastery.

Second volume: The Anton novel

The material of the second volume, most likely heavily edited by Bettina von Arnim , was “a lot of disordered pieces of paper”, ie “little-shaped, sketched writings” from the pen of the husband who died prematurely.

Anton recovers and becomes Anna's second husband. With his way of life he brings their fortune through and runs to the mercenaries . From 1519, during the first peasant unrest, he traveled with them adventurously through the country and met the immortal half-brother Fabian and his father, Count Rappolt von Stock, along the way. From his father he learns something in common with Berthold. Both - both Berthold and Anton - are descendants of the Hohenstaufen family. Then it turns out that the crown and treasure of the Hohenstaufen are guarded by the crown guards in the Kronenburg. Anna's child from her first marriage is called Oswald. Together with Anton she gets little Anton. The little one is responsible for Oswald's death in the game. Anton fights against God and the world, goes blind and regains his eyesight in a fight against a dragon. In the peasant war he fights in Metzler's gang , turns against the crown guards and, together with the belligerent peasants, destroys the crown castle. The Crown Guardians fall. Count Rappolt wants to smash the crown. In vain - “Nobody can smash the German imperial crown”. Anton dies with Susanna, his new wife.

Quotes

  • Doctor Faust: "The art of the doctor consists in building a new person in the old."
  • Anton paints the beauty of Anna. He leaves out the "ugly" and says: "We have to learn from our Lord God, from his people."
  • Anna zu Berthold: "What a person does in dreams, he would like to avoid while awake."

Time criticism

Cultural criticism , presumably meant as a criticism of time , can be found in several places in the text. For example, the mayor Berthold wants to make Waiblingen an imperial-free city . He condemns the Bundschuh of the Speyer farmers as well as the oppression of the farmers "in the spiritual lands". In a conversation with the emperor's secret clerk , Berthold is put in the picture. The emperor wants to raise the middle class. The nobility has had its day. Unfortunately, the emperor despises trade and cares more about Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Bohemia than about Germany.

The emperor seeks conversation. He wants to talk to Berthold about the causes of the peasant unrest. The ruler is against the indulgence trade and not against Luther.

Testimonials

Facsimile of a double page from the novel in front of the Jägerhof Palace (Goethe Museum) in Düsseldorf
  • To understand historicity in the novel: “The effort to get to know this time in all truth of history from sources developed this poetry, which by no means advocates a historical truth, but rather a punished filling of the gaps in history, for a Picture in the context of the story. "
  • Letter of December 6, 1816 to the Brothers Grimm : "I am writing to my crown guards again."
  • Letter from June 15, 1817 to Goethe : “Ew. I am handing over to your Excellency the first volume of my Kronenwächter from well-founded old devotion, a book that I still really love, although it is printed. "

reception

  • No reply to the above letter is known from Goethe.
  • In the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (Halle, Leipzig, No. 117 of May 1818) unclear passages are referred to as "foggy parts".
  • The Leipziger Literatur-Zeitung of July 23, 1819 certifies the author's "lively and descriptive power of representation", but speaks of a "fairytale-like novel".
  • In the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung No. 229 (anno 1819) the novel is called "boring".
  • Wilhelm Grimm wrote to Arnim on June 30th, 1819: "When will the second volume of the Crown Guardian come?"
  • In 1836, Heine emphasized the “excellent beginning”.
  • Herwegh said in 1839 that the book could only be understood by German readers.
  • Moritz Veit points out breaks between the first and second part: "The second part of the Crown Guard is not going as we wanted, so far I have not been able to find the connection."
  • Eichendorff resigned himself to the heavy reading public in 1857. In its bad habits, it could not understand the text.
  • In 1872 Fontane cherished the novel as a "true treasure of the spirit".
  • In 1900 Georg Brandes praised the “creative power” on the one hand and criticized lack of control, mysticism and poetry on the other.
  • Hofmannsthal speaks of one of the “most thoroughly thought-out works of art”, but misses a center. Vordtriede highlights Hofmannsthal, the poet of " Andreas ", as a connoisseur of the "crown guards". Hofmannsthal loved Arnim's novel.
  • Wilhelm Lehmann explores the element of calm reflection in his essay volume “Movable Order” .
  • Reinhold Schneider feels a relationship with Arnim when it comes to the presentation of Christian doctrine .
  • Lützeler deals with the romantic historical novel in the “Structure and Content” chapter of his “Commentary”. During the Restoration , topics related to the Revolution and Napoleon were censored. So Arnim chose the beginning of the 16th century as a comparable time of upheaval, marked by Reformation , humanism and the discovery of America . However, both the revolution and the restoration caused the author unease . In this he would be in harmony with the bourgeoisie. Arnim wants to represent historical processes and characterize people only secondarily. By calling into question the legitimacy of the rulers, the novel cannot be used nationalistically .
  • Riley points out the overemphasis on the mystical. For example, the consequences of Dr. Fausten's blood transfusion. Anton sinks when Berthold - in a spatially distant place - dies.
  • Vordtriede : The Bildungsroman is “frizzy, mysterious, unrealistic, overloaded ornate and too gigantic in its endeavors.” On the other hand, Arnim's “amazing artistic understanding” is praised when it comes to the juxtaposition of the degenerate Hohenstock Castle with the Kronenburg, this “great romantic and anachronistic Ideal, ”goes.
  • Böttcher: Arnim took the two protagonists of his historical novel - Berthold and Anton - from the "Chronicon Waiblingense". With Anton, an artist moves into the center of the action in the second volume. According to Arnim's romantic understanding, it is precisely the artist who is called to cope with the most demanding problems.
  • Schulz describes the crown guards as a "terrorist secret society" who manage the Hohenstaufer crown and want to return to the old Hohenstaufen glory. One instrument for this is the "protection" of the Staufer descendants - also through "unlawful measures".
  • When it comes to the appellative, Kremer refrains from using the term historical novel because of the “fantastic, bizarre and grotesque motifs” . In addition, Arnim ironizes, even discredits, his protagonists Berthold and Anton. After the end of the Holy Roman Empire , Arnim pleaded for legitimation of the nobility through performance. A continuation of the Hohenstaufen rule, which ended in 1268 , is out of the question for Arnim.
  • Arnim's sources (selection)
  • Lützeler names further leading works: A. Best (Arnims Kronenwächter , yearbook of the Kleist Society 1931, 1932), Margarete Elchlepp (Diss. FU Berlin 1966), Peter Esser (Diss. Cologne 1937), Hans Vilmar Geppert (Achim von Arnim's novel fragment Die Kronenwächter, Tübingen 1979), Heinz Härtl (epilogue in the Leipzig edition 1980), Wilhelm Hans (in Euphorion 10 (1903)), Adolf von Hatzfeld (dissertation Freiburg 1921), Karol Sauerland (Weimar articles 14 (1968)), Ellinor Schmidt (Diss. FU Berlin 1951), Werner Vordtriede (Neue Rundschau 73 (1962)), Karl Wagner (Goldap 1908, 1910), Aimé Wilhelm (Winterthur 1955) and Rudolf Zimmermann (Diss. Vienna 1955).

literature

expenditure

  • Paul Michael Lützeler (Ed.): Achim von Arnim: The crown guard . Pp. 5-615. Vol. 2 in: Roswitha Burwick (Hrsg.), Jürgen Knaack (Hrsg.), Paul Michael Lützeler (Hrsg.), Renate Moering (Hrsg.), Ulfert Ricklefs (Hrsg.), Hermann F. Weiss (Hrsg.): Achim von Arnim. Works in six volumes. 773 pages. Deutscher Klassiker Verlag Frankfurt am Main 1989 (1st edition). Volume 42 of the Library of German Classics , ISBN 3-618-60020-8
  • Berthold's first and second life. A novel by Ludwig Achim von Arnim . Maurersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1817 ( digitized from Google Books )

Quoted text edition

  • Achim von Arnim: The Crown Guard . P. 1–341 in Alfred Schier (Ed.): Arnims works. Critically reviewed and explained edition. First volume. 364 pages, fracture. Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig and Vienna 1925. Text basis: Die Kronenwächter by L. Achim von Arnim. First volume. Berlin 1817. In Maurer's bookstore. 441 pages

Web links

Individual evidence

Source means the quoted text edition

  1. ↑ Lützeler, p. 619
  2. ↑ Source, p. 354, 8. Zvo
  3. ↑ Waiblingen is probably the birthplace of Barbarossa (or Weingarten ).
  4. ↑ Source, p. 354, 10. Zvo
  5. ↑ Arnim describes Faust's appearance, "when the fiery red face of the doctor, with white-blond hair and a bald plate, rose like a full moon in the mayor's room." (Source, p. 116, 22. Zvo) Faust also becomes a heavy drinker described. (Source, p. 124, 16. Zvo)
  6. ↑ As a young painter, Sixt - together with the Strasbourg master builder - was with Berthold's mother, the countess. Berthold recognizes Sixt in the second book and employs him as an artist in Waiblingen (source, p. 102, 33. Zvo ff.).
  7. ^ Maximilian I of Habsburg; † January 12, 1519 in Wels , Upper Austria
  8. ^ Vordtriede, p. 334, 4th Zvo
  9. ^ Vordtriede, p. 334, 9. Zvo
  10. ↑ Böttcher, p. 290, 13. Zvu
  11. ↑ Volume Two The text at Zeno.org
  12. ↑ Source, pp. 337–341
  13. ↑ Source, p. 341, 23. Zvo
  14. ↑ Source, p. 117, 30. Zvo
  15. ^ Source, pp. 252, 36. Zvo
  16. ↑ Source, pp. 259.15. Zvo
  17. ↑ Source, p. 17, 20. Zvo (chapter “Waiblingen” in the introduction “Poetry and History”)
  18. ↑ Lützeler, p. 624, 17. Zvo
  19. ↑ Lützeler, p. 624, 5th Zvu
  20. ↑ Lützeler, p. 629, 7. Zvo
  21. ↑ Lützeler, p. 631, 3. Zvo
  22. ↑ Lützeler, p. 631, 13th Zvu
  23. ↑ Lützeler, p. 632, 3. Zvo
  24. ↑ Lützeler, p. 645, 13. Zvo
  25. ↑ Lützeler, p. 632, 17. Zvo
  26. ↑ Lützeler, p. 632, 20. Zvo
  27. ^ Veit, quoted in Vordtriede, p. 334, 10. Zvo
  28. ↑ Lützeler, p. 632, 3rd Zvu
  29. ↑ Lützeler, p. 633, 4. Zvo
  30. ↑ Lützeler, p. 634, 3. Zvo
  31. ↑ Lützeler, p. 634, 9. Zvo
  32. ↑ Vordtriede, p. 336 middle
  33. ↑ Lützeler, p. 634, 13. Zvo
  34. ↑ Lützeler, p. 634, 14. Zvo
  35. ↑ Lützeler, pp. 645-677
  36. ↑ Lützeler, pp. 617-765
  37. ^ Kremer, p. 151, 15. Zvo
  38. ↑ Riley, p. 96, 7th Zvu
  39. ^ Vordtriede, p. 330, 12. Zvo
  40. ^ Vordtriede, p. 328, 8th Zvu
  41. ↑ Vordtriede, p. 332 below
  42. ↑ Böttcher, pp. 287–291
  43. ↑ Arnim is convinced that "the crown of Germany will only be won again through intellectual education ... A part of the human race always works in the spirit until its time." (Quoted in Riley, p. 97, 2nd Zvo)
  44. ↑ Schulz, p. 402, 12. Zvo
  45. ^ Kremer, p. 151 below and p. 152 above
  46. ↑ Kremer, p. 152 below and 153 above
  47. ↑ Lützeler, pp. 625-628
  48. ↑ Lützeler, pp. 768-769