The Magdeburg wedding

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the novel, the maids are allusions to the city arms

The Magdeburg Wedding is a novel by Gertrud von le Fort , which was written in 1937 and published in 1938 by Insel Verlag .

The Catholic Excellency Johann T'Serclaes von Tilly , supreme commander of the Imperial Armada , executor of the Imperial Restitution Edict , is occupied by Colonel von Falkenberg with the storming of the Protestant city of Magdeburg . Meanwhile, von Falkenberg's supreme warlord, the Royal Majesty of Sweden , wants to break through to Silesia along the Oder . Tillys Soldateska is reducing the city to rubble and ashes. Twenty thousand Magdeburgers perish.

time and place

The action runs from October 15, 1630 to May 20, 1631 in Magdeburg and Hameln .

title

The bitter, ironic, ambiguous title initially refers to the Magdeburg bridal couple Erdmuth Plögen and Willigis Ahlemann. In addition, the imperial general von Pappenheim drinks to the "honor dance" with the "beautiful bride" Magdeburg and describes the storming of the city, which has been Lutheran for a hundred years, as the " Magdeburg wedding ". Pappenheim says to Tilly: "The brittle maidens ... have to be taken by force!" And alludes to the name given to the city at the time of Emperor Otto . Magdeburg, the city with the virgin in its coat of arms, is called "the castle of the maid". Otto had his "dearest wife" Queen Edith buried in Magdeburg . Otto returned to Magdeburg, in the “lap of the faithful maid”, after he had “fought his way across the Elbe ... tired”.

content

The evangelically educated Erdmuth and her Willigis want to get married. But Willigis leaves “both of them” in the high cathedral in Magdeburg. The groom rides to Wolmirstedt to the enemy, to his uncle Johann Ahlemann, an imperial man. The message that Willigis from Wolmirstedt brings to the Magdeburg councilors is unacceptable. The "Magdeburg heretics" are to be returned to the bosom of the Catholic Church. So Willigis keeps his Erdmuth waiting and rides to Tilly in Hameln. The Generalissimo would like to spare Magdeburg, but he cannot “make peace with the heretics”. Willigis, having returned to Magdeburg, has to see how his badly neglected Erdmuth has found a new admirer; the Colonel von Falkenberg. Willigis is banished from his hometown, joins Tilly and has only one goal. He wants to kill von Falkenberg. The Magdeburgians put their trust in the colonel who sneaked into Magdeburg. He makes them believe that the Swedes - from the Oder - are on their way. Compared to the German Catholics, the Evangelical Magdeburgers see the Swedes as the lesser evil. So von Falkenberg, a native German in Swedish service, takes command on the city wall. It looks like there isn't a single Swede in town.

Erdmuth thinks the Colonel wants to marry her. He doesn't think about it. But he spreads the rumor about Erdmuth that the Swedish king wanted to billet with the beautiful maiden after his arrival. The colonel hopes that the Magdeburgers will not notice too early where the journey is going: to certain death. Only the young councilor Otto Guericke , the only man with a cool mind among the gullible Magdeburgers in the novel, recognizes that von Falkenberg is obsessed.

Before Tilly storms the city, he offers her to surrender, but the councilors refuse renewed Catholic rule.

The Magdeburgers have long since used their powder. The imperial rulers can easily enter the city. The colonel falls. Even the generalissimo can no longer master his drunken, plundering soldiers. Willigis is looking for his bride and finds Erdmuth desecrated. He throws her his big old rider's coat over her and carries her from her burning house to the cathedral, exactly to the point where he left both ranks. The preacher trusts Erdmuth and Willigis.

Then the imperial people celebrate their mass in the same cathedral church.

Quote

"The right soldier can be recognized by his behavior in defeat".

reception

  • The title of the novel comes from leaflets from the time of the Thirty Years War .
  • Riegel and van Rinsum cite two passages in the novel that could refer to the National Socialism that was ruling in Germany at the time the text was written. In addition, the phrase "... you need not fear the Reich, that will be cut short in this war ...", which eight years after it was written for Germany should be fulfilled in such a terrible way today as Prophecy.
  • According to Riegel and van Rinsum, the author portrays the general Tilly as a "tragically failing figure".

literature

source

Gertrud von le Fort: The Magdeburg wedding . Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1991. Insel Taschenbuch 1384. 231 pages, ISBN 3-458-33084-4

First edition

Gertrud von le Fort: The Magdeburg wedding . Insel Verlag Leipzig 1938. 347 pages, original canvas with gold print on cover and back

Secondary literature
  • Nicholas J. Meyerhofer: Gertrud von le Fort . Morgenbuch Verlag Berlin 1993. Heads of the 20th Century, Volume 119. 107 pages, ISBN 3-371-00376-0
  • Paul Riegel, Wolfgang van Rinsum: Third Reich and Exile 1933-1945 ; German History of Literature, Volume 10; Munich: dtv , 2004; Pp. 131-136; ISBN 3-423-03350-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ bars, van Rinsum, S. 136, 12. ZVO
  2. ^ The title, the spelling of the names of historical persons, terms such as "Soldateska" etc. were all taken literally from the text of the novel. If necessary, an attempt was made to specify the details via a link in the case of imprecise mentions.
  3. ↑ Source, p. 99, 2. Zvo
  4. ↑ Source, p. 171, 2nd Zvu
  5. ↑ Source, p. 47, 12. Zvu
  6. ↑ Source, p. 48, 10. Zvo
  7. ^ Source, p. 220, 4th Zvu
  8. ↑ Meyerhofer, p. 62, 2nd Zvu
  9. ↑ Riegel, van Rinsum, p. 136, 12. to 24. Zvo
  10. ↑ Source, p. 52, 18. Zvo
  11. ↑ bars, van Rinsum, p 136, 4. ZVO