Ernst von Kirchberg

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Ernst von Kirchberg (* in the 14th century in Thuringia or the Prignitz ; † after 1379) was a rhyming chronicler and illuminator of the Middle Ages who worked in Mecklenburg .

life and work

Coat of arms of Ernst von Kirchberg, member of the black line of the Kerberg dynasty, which sat on Krümmel in Mecklenburg for centuries

Ernst von Kirchberg is said to have come to the Mecklenburg court from his native Thuringia around 1378 on the occasion of the marriage of Duke Albrecht II of Mecklenburg to Adelheid von Hohnstein . This is how you explain his use of the Upper German language. Other authors, referring to his portrait with the family coat of arms in the introduction to the chronicle, suspect belonging to the knightly family von Kerckberch from the Prignitz . Werner Knoch, on the other hand, sees him as a member of a noble family from Kirchberg in Lower Hesse . Documentary evidence or mentions outside of the chronicle are not known.

On behalf of the Duke, Ernst set the Latin Chronica Slavorum by Helmold von Bosau in Middle High German verse. He completed the work, consisting of 110 chapters (17,000 verses) - probably in Doberan Monastery as the spiritual center of Mecklenburg at the time - before Albrecht's death on February 18, 1379. This is followed by a history of Mecklenburg in 85 chapters (about 9,000 verses), which was drawn up on the basis of various sources (Chronicle Arnold von Lübeck , Saxon World Chronicle , Doberaner Genealogy , Protocol of Augustin von Stargard ) and extends to the death of Duke Heinrich II in 1329. The manuscript is written on 232 parchment sheets in the format 43 × 32 cm and adorned with rich book illumination in the Bohemian style (relationship to the Luxembourg imperial family). These include the full-page dedication image (leaf 1v) and 15 initials of opaque color approx. Eight lines high. These are only carried out up to sheet 42va; the space left for a further 46 opaque color initials suggests that the work remained incomplete. Presumably it should last until Albrecht's reign.

The intention of the work is to emphasize the old ducal family, whose royal origin is claimed by the legendary Abodrite king Billug from the time of Emperor Otto I., its equality with the Danish royal house and the importance of the won great empire. The Christianization of Mecklenburg is not as enforced by Heinrich the Lion , but presented as a separate achievement of the dynasty. The later historians Albert Krantz and Nicolaus Marschalk are partly based on the rhyme chronicle.

Today the manuscript is in the Schwerin State Main Archive .

Works

literature

  • Ernst Joachim Westphal : Monumenta inedita rerum Germanicarum praecipue Cimbricarum et Megapolensium. Four folio volumes, Leipzig 1739–1745. Volume IV, pp. 594–846 (first reprint, according to Lisch but incorrect and incorrect)
  • Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch : About Ernst von Kirchberg, author of the Meklenburg rhyming chronicle from 1378. In: Year book of the association for Mecklenburg history and antiquity. Volume 12, 1847, pp. 36-58 digitized
  • Christa Cordshagen, Roderich Schmidt: The Mecklenburg rhyme chronicle of Ernst von Kirchberg. Böhlau, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3412070955 .
  • Helga Baier-Schrätze: Illumination in the chronicle of Ernst von Kirchberg in the state archive in Schwerin: a contribution to their art-historical research. Finding aids, inventories and small documents from the Schwerin State Main Archive. Volume 13, Schwerin 2007, ISBN 3-9809707-2-8 .
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Schirrmacher:  Kirchberg, Ernst von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 788 f.

Remarks

  1. ↑ cf. Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch: About Ernst von Kirchberg, author of the Meklenburg rhyming chronicle from 1378. In: Year book of the association for Mecklenburg history and antiquity. Volume 12, 1847, pp. 36–58 Digitized version , which also points to Low German coloring in the rhymes.
  2. ↑ Werner Knoch: Ernst von Kirchberg, his origins and his examination of the language in the Mecklenburg Reimchronik ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. - Vol. 104 (1940) , pp. 1-100  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / portal.hsb.hs-wismar.de

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ernst von Kirchberg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Rhyming chronicler and illuminator of the Middle Ages
DATE OF BIRTH 14th Century
PLACE OF BIRTH Thuringia or Prignitz
DATE OF DEATH after 1379