Lübeck Carnival Games

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The Hanseatic city of Lübeck is considered to be one of the main venues of the medieval gaming tradition. The Lübeck Carnival Games were for the most part produced by an elite brotherhood - the Zirkelgesellschaft - and often had an educational orientation.

Lübeck carnival tradition

Emergence

Since it was founded in the middle of the 12th century, Lübeck has developed into the leading trading metropolis in the Baltic Sea region. The city flourished quickly, cultivated extensive and fruitful trade relations and received numerous rights and privileges such as B. duty-free . In 1226 Lübeck was finally made a free imperial city and was thus independent. The origin of the Lübeck carnival tradition is clearly in the context of this economic and political development. The Lübeck Carnival Games were heavily inspired by the theater culture of the Netherlands, as the city had close trading contacts there.

The beginning of the carnival tradition for Lübeck can be proven from records for the year 1430. From the time between 1430 and 1539 there are about 150 performances of secular games.

Lübeck Circle Society

The three most famous Lübeck brotherhoods : the circle society, founded in 1379 as a religious brotherhood, the merchant company associated with it as a junior association , founded around 1450, and the Greverade company, probably named after its founder Alf Greverade and also founded around 1450, provide information in their administration books, some of which have been preserved about the city's carnival games. These games were planned, written and performed mainly by the circle society, the most influential brotherhood at the time, dominating the economy, politics and administration of the Hanseatic city. In 1429, the circists wrote down in their statutes the resolution to publicly represent themselves through carnival games. The merchants company also organized public carnival games, but, as on all social occasions, was always strongly oriented towards the circle society. The retreat or parlor games, which were less popular in Lübeck than in Nuremberg, were often performed in the house of the Greveradenkompanie.

subjects

There is evidence of a Latin school in Lübeck as early as the 13th century. As wall paintings in Lübeck old town houses of the time show, the patrician families attached importance to carrying on the legacy of court literature and promoting the visual arts. In addition, Lübeck had a permanent bookselling market in the 15th century, where prints from central and southern Germany as well as from the Netherlands could be found. This suggests that the level of education of the late medieval Lübeck upper class was relatively high. This circumstance also influenced the character of the publicly performed carnival games. The recorded titles of the Lübeck Carnival Games show a wide range of interests in a wide variety of topics. In contrast to the majority of the Nuremberg Games, they do not show the tendency towards exclusively exuberant, coarse entertainment. People liked to orientate themselves on ancient legends, myths and classical history such as B. the Troy saga, Arthurian epic or the adventures of Alexander the Great. But Bible episodes, fables and current events, such as the defeat of the Danes against the Dithmarschers two weeks ago in 1500, were also dealt with. Most of the pieces have in common a tendency to allegorize, which is accompanied by an example structure and a doctrinal orientation. The literary and moral Lübeck Carnival Games were based on the Carnival tradition of Flanders . In some games the seriousness was cheered up by satirical elements. This tendency is evidenced by the only piece “Henselin” preserved from Lübeck. It was performed in 1484 by the four carnival poets chosen for this year, Johann Lüneburg († 1493) , his brother Heinrich Lüneburg, Heinrich Westfal and Hans Witick, who died in 1484 , under the title van derrechtverdicheyt and in a modified form between 1497 and 1500 Printed in the Lübeck Mohnkopfoffizin of Hans van Ghetelen with the title Henselynboek (available in the holdings of the Hamburg State and University Library ). It is thus the only pre-Reformation carnival game from Lübeck that has survived in writing.

The plot of the game and the illustrative woodcuts place the piece in the tradition of fool's literature. There is also a tendency towards class idax and class satire; In his search for the right condemned, Henselin can not even find righteousness in the pope and emperor, and the poor peasants have never heard of it.

However, the text also shows that its authors belong to a patrician brotherhood. In his explanation of the unfair practices of the rich and merchants in the cities (SX, lines 14ff), Henselin makes it clear that such exploitation of the poor population only occurs in the cities of Lombardy, but not here in their own city. The piece thus also contains a swipe at the Lombard competitors in long-distance trade.

Performance practice

Since the organization, production and performance of the carnival games in Lübeck was the responsibility of the politically influential circle society and the merchant company, the games could be performed publicly here and did not have to take place in private space as in Nuremberg.

After the vastelavendees chosen by the creators had written the respective carnival piece more closely and prepared the staging, the game was advertised with show drives. On the three major carnival days (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday), the brotherhoods, led by the circle society, drove through the city in their wagons to perform their carnival game in public places, probably on the Lübeck market square or the Koberg or Klingenberg. The game also included a preface and sermon that had to be given by the oldest carnival poet. The stage or borch (castle) was a so-called carriage stage on the wagon. In this form of presentation, similar to the moral theme of their games, the circle members were inspired by the theater culture from Flanders, from where the form of the carriage stage was probably imported. Due to the movable and raised stage, the games could probably compete better with the other amusements of the carnival season. In 1430, the first car game in Lübeck was performed in this way with the piece "How the Sparrowhawk was given to the goddess", which is recorded in the Schafferbuch.

In addition to the public Carnival Games, the so-called Einkehrspiele were also performed in Lübeck, albeit not in the same number as in Nuremberg. The official book of the Greveradenkompanie recorded several room games with cheerful content between 1496 and 1532. These were mostly presented by students, teachers or craftsmen.

As a conclusion and certainly also the social highlight of the carnival celebrations, a torch dance was held, with the brotherhoods marching through the city in a chain with torches and accompanied by drummers. All brotherhoods, the council and the mayors were involved in this procession, presenting the Lübeck population with the unity of the political, economic and social dominance of the Hanseatic city and putting themselves in the limelight. The dance ended with a feast in the Ratskeller .

Lore

Although no original texts have survived, apart from the game of “Henselin or the search for justification”, which was printed as a pamphlet, the rich tradition of Lübeck's carnival game can be proven from other historical source texts. Chronicles of the brotherhoods, entries in council books and city accounts document around 150 performances. The game scripts of the circle society were probably destroyed in 1535 during looting during the uprising around the merchant Jürgen Wullenwever as the property of the patrician circle . In other cities with a carnival tradition, the game texts have largely been destroyed or disappeared. The city of Nuremberg is an exception. 108 game texts in twelve manuscripts stored in Nuremberg and Augsburg have been preserved here. Further indirect evidence can also be found here in council decrees.

literature

  • Sonja Dünnebeil: The Lübeck Circle Society. Forms of self-portrayal of an urban upper class (= publications on the history of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. Series B, vol. 27). Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 1996, ISBN 3-7950-0465-9 (Zugl .: Kiel, University, dissertation, 1995).
  • Glenn Ehrstine: performance location as communication space . A comparison of the carnival tradition of Nuremberg, Lübeck and Switzerland. In: Klaus Ridder (Ed.): Fastnachtspiele. Secular drama in literary and cultural contexts. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-023016-1 , pp. 83-97.
  • Dietz-Rüdiger Moser : Carnival custom and carnival game in the context of liturgical specifications. In: Klaus Ridder (Ed.): Fastnachtspiele. Secular drama in literary and cultural contexts. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-023016-1 , pp. 151-162.
  • Eckehard Simon: The beginnings of secular German drama. 1370-1530. Investigation and documentation (= Munich texts and investigations on German literature of the Middle Ages. Vol. 124). Niemeyer, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 3-484-89124-6 .
  • Wolfgang Spiewok: The German Carnival Game. Origin, function, performance practice (= Reineke's pocket book series. Vol. 3). 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Reineke, Greifswald 1997, ISBN 3-89492-018-1 .
  • Wolfgang Spiewok: History of the German literature of the late Middle Ages. Volume 1: Introduction - main intellectual currents - the continued effect of the feudal court epic - the heroic epic - the small epic (novella and fable) - the early German picaresque and foolish novel (= Greifswald contributions to the Middle Ages. Series 2: Studies on medieval literature. Vol. 9 = Wodan. Vol. 64). Reineke, Greifswald 1997, ISBN 3-89492-072-6 .
  • Christoph Walther: The Henselin carnival game or justification. In: Yearbook of the Association for Low German Language Research. Vol. 3, 1877, ISSN  0083-5617 , pp. 9-36.
  • Dieter Wuttke (Ed.): Fastnachtspiele of the 15th and 16th centuries (= Reclams Universal Library. No. 9415). 7th edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-15-009415-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Spiewok: The German Carnival Game. 1997, p. 33.
  2. ↑ a b Hedda Ragotzky: Carnival game. In: Klaus Weimar (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft. Volume 1: A - G. 3rd, revised edition. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1997, ISBN 3-11-010896-8 , pp. 568-572, here p. 569.
  3. ↑ Wuttke (Ed.): Carnival games of the 15th and 16th centuries. 2006, p. 425.
  4. ↑ Simon: The beginnings of the secular German drama. 2003, p. 4.
  5. ↑ See also on the family: Adolf Greverade
  6. ↑ Simon: The beginnings of the secular German drama. 2003, p. 225.
  7. ↑ Simon: The beginnings of the secular German drama. 2003, p. 226.
  8. ↑ Simon: The beginnings of the secular German drama. 2003, p. 230.
  9. ↑ Simon: The beginnings of the secular German drama. 2003, p. 238.
  10. ↑ Dünnebeil: The Lübeck Circle Society. 1996, p. 106.
  11. ↑ Spiewok: History of the German Literature of the Late Middle Ages. Vol. 1. 1997, p. 255.
  12. ↑ Dünnebeil: The Lübeck Circle Society. 1996, p. 104.
  13. ↑ Simon: The beginnings of the secular German drama. 2003, p. 269.
  14. ↑ Christoph Walther: To the Lübeck Carnival Games. In: Yearbook of the Association for Low German Language Research. Vol. 27, 1901, pp. 1–21, here p. 4 .
  15. ↑ Henselyn in the complete catalog of the cradle prints (GW number HENSELY)
  16. ↑ Spiewok: History of the German Literature of the Late Middle Ages. Vol. 1. 1997, p. 258.
  17. ↑ Spiewok: History of the German Literature of the Late Middle Ages. Vol. 1. 1997, p. 259.
  18. ↑ Glenn Ehrstine: Performance location as a communication space . A comparison of the carnival tradition of Nuremberg, Lübeck and Switzerland. In: Klaus Ridder (Ed.): Fastnachtspiele. Secular drama in literary and cultural contexts. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-023016-1 , pp. 83-97, here p. 94.
  19. ↑ Simon: The beginnings of the secular German drama. 2003, p. 359.
  20. ↑ Glenn Ehrstine: Performance location as a communication space . A comparison of the carnival tradition of Nuremberg, Lübeck and Switzerland. In: Klaus Ridder (Ed.): Fastnachtspiele. Secular drama in literary and cultural contexts. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-023016-1 , pp. 83-97, here p. 83.
  21. ↑ Dünnebeil: The Lübeck Circle Society. 1996, p. 109.
  22. ↑ Leif Søndergaard: The dances of the medieval guilds at Carnival. In: Katja Scheel (Ed.): "Et respondeat". Studies on the German Theater of the Middle Ages. Festschrift for Prof. Dr. Johan Nowé on the occasion of his retirement (= Mediaevalia Lovaniensia. Series 1: Studia. Vol. 32). Leuven University Press, Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-5867-247-6 , pp. 215-231, here p. 220.
  23. ^ Spiewok: The German Carnival Game. 1997, p. 5.