Woman world

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Frau Welt at Worms Cathedral from the front and back

Woman world is a medieval personification of worldly sensual pleasure and worldly happiness. From the front she appears as a beautiful beguiling woman, but her back is full of pus and hideous vermin. The power of seduction and transience are reproduced in this allegory , which appears many times in the literature and fine arts of the Middle Ages with an educational aim. Voluptas , the Roman personification of lust and desire, which blinds people and leads to ruin, corresponds to this symbol of lure and temptation .

For example, Frau Welt is depicted in a group of figures at Worms Cathedral on the right side of the south portal, which was created shortly after 1298 based on the model of the Strasbourg cathedral . A knight, blinded by her external appearance, kneels in adoration in front of Frau Welt. Woman world only reveals her true nature to those who see her back with toads and snakes and all the rubbish of the world, i.e. who can 'look behind things'.

In the fairy tale Frau Holle, Eugen Drewermann interprets the stepmother as the woman's world, which stands for the wickedness of the external, material world, as the opponent of Frau Holle (see also: Mother Courage ).

literature

  • Konrad von Würzburg (around 1225 to August 31, 1287): The world's wages . Narration. In: H. de Boor (Ed.): The German literature. Texts and certificates . Vol. I: Middle Ages. Munich 1965, pp. 486-489.
  • Walther von der Vogelweide : Frau Welt, I drank from you . Edited and transmitted by Hubert Witt. Berlin 1979.
  • Walther von der Vogelweide: Frô Welt, ir sult the landlord say (Lachmann 100,24).
  • Meinolf Schumacher : The world in dialogue with the "aging singer"? Walther's final song Frô Welt, ir sult the host say (L. 100,24). In: Wirkendes Wort , 50, 2000, pp. 169–188 ( digitized version ).
  • Dieter Kartschoke: Walther von der Vogelweide: “Remember mangen borrowed tac” . Walther's farewell to Frau Welt. (Lachmann 100, 24ff.). In: Volker Mertens, Ulrich Müller (Ed.): Read Walther. Interpretations and reflections on Walther von der Vogelweide . Göppingen 2001 (GAG 692), pp. 147-166.
  • Sabine Ley : Frau Welt - a motivational study . Munich 2004.
  • Wolfgang Stammler : Woman World: A Medieval Allegory . Friborg in Switzerland 1959.

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