Ermoldus nigellus

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Ermoldus Nigellus , German: Ermold the Black (* unknown; † around 838?) Was a poet and confidante of King Pippin I of Aquitaine .

life and work

We are informed about his life primarily through scattered hints in his own poems. He came from Aquitaine and was one of the courtiers of King Pippin I. In 824 he took part in a campaign by Pippin in Brittany. Shortly thereafter, however, he fell out of favor because he was accused of inciting King Pippin against his father, Louis the Pious . He was exiled to Strasbourg , where he was kindly received by Bishop Bernold.

In exile he wrote In honorem Hludowici christianissimi Caesaris Augusti , a poem of praise to Ludwig in elegiac distiches in four books. The poem is preceded by an elaborate acrostic in 35 hexameters . The highlight of the last book is the glamorous, but supposedly only three-day flash visit by the Danish King Heriold (= Harald Klak ), who asked Ludwig for help and was baptized together with his entourage. From various annals it emerges that the political negotiations were probably carried out in the Ingelheim imperial palace , where an embassy from Heriold's opponents was also staying, but the baptism took place in Mainz, perhaps due to the lack of a suitable church in Ingelheim. The panegyric description of this baptismal visit was intended to express the hope that by baptizing this (deposed) Danish petty king, Ludwig had finally averted the terrible Norman danger of those decades.

Ermoldus sent the work comprising a total of 2649 verses to Emperor Ludwig, Empress Judith and King Pippin. When the desired success did not materialize, he sent two more Carmina in laudem gloriosissimi Pippini regis . These are also written in elegiac distiches and are based on Ovid's exile literature ( Tristia , Epistulae ex Ponto ). His poems testify to a high level of classical education, but - because of their artistic design - are problematic as historical sources, especially with regard to the alleged appearance of the Palatinate in Ingelheim.

It is uncertain whether Ludwig ever took note of his poetry and whether Ermoldus was able to return home from exile, because there is no certain information about his life after 830. Some identify him with a Hermoldus who signed three documents as Chancellor Pippins in 838; also with an abbot Hermoldus, whom Ludwig sent to Pippin in 834 to ask him to return stolen church property.

An immediate aftereffect of his work cannot be ascertained; it remained largely unnoticed for centuries. It has survived in two manuscripts, the 10th century Codex Vindobonensis 614 in the Austrian National Library from the property of the humanist Wolfgang Lazius and the Codex Harleianus 3685 in the British Museum (15th century, from the property of Konrad Peutinger ). The Editio princeps was done in 1726 by Lodovico Antonio Muratori .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carmen In Honorem Ludovici Christianissimi Caesaris Augusti
  2. ↑ Both the first and the last letter of each verse give the hexameter Ermoldus cecinit Hludoici Caesaris arma ( Ermold sang of the deeds of Emperor Ludwig in arms ).
  3. ^ Vita Hludowici imperatoris c. 53 . In: Georg Heinrich Pertz u. a. (Ed.): Scriptores (in Folio) 2: Scriptores rerum Sangallensium. Annales, chronica et historiae aevi Carolini. Hannover 1829, p. 639 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  4. ↑ http://www.manuscripta-mediaevalia.de/hs/katalogseiten/HSK0751a_b0107_jpg.htm
personal data
SURNAME Ermoldus nigellus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ermold the black
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Poet and confidante of King Pippin I of Aquitaine
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century or 9th century
DATE OF DEATH at 838