Litany (Heinrich von Seckau)

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The litany is a religious poem handed down in two manuscripts from the early High Middle Ages .

The author Heinrich was a clergyman and poet of the Bavarian-Austrian language area . He was probably active as a canon in the former Augustinian canons of Seckau , which is why he is also known as Heinrich von Seckau. His life dates are largely unknown. According to the latest research, Heinrich's poetic activity is suspected to be in the middle of the 12th century.

General

The fact that the litany is in two manuscripts, namely the Hs. G (Graz, Universitätsbibliothek, Ms. 1501 fol. 70 r –105 r ) and the Hs. S ( Strasbourg - Molsheimer manuscript Cod. CV 16.6.4 ° fol. 9rb – 13va), which has been handed down, is a peculiarity because religious, vernacular poems of the 11th and 12th centuries are mostly unique today. The identity of the author Heinrich has remained largely hidden to this day, although he mentions himself in the text of the ms . G as ſcalch Heinrichen ('servant Heinrich') ( ms . G vers 939). What is certain is that he worked as a clergyman in the Bavarian-Austrian language area during the 12th century, probably in the former Augustinian canons of Seckau (today a Benedictine monastery), which is why he is also known as Heinrich von Seckau. At this time, three Seckau canons named Heinrich can be identified. Friedrich Vogt goes u. a. Because of the particularly frequent invocation of John the Baptist (with a request for forgiveness of sins), it is assumed that he initially led a worldly (sinful) life and only became a clergyman in later life.

The text is based on the All Saints' Litany , although a search for an explicit Latin model has so far been in vain. The litany begins, as usual, with the invocation of the Trinity (Hs. G verse 1–130), continues with the invocation of the saints (Hs. G verse 131–802) and ends with the final petitions to God (Hs. G verse 803 -952). However, in the litany, the call to saints was expanded to include the answer formulas of the community. So prayers, confessions, praises and narrative passages from the NT or the Vitae of the saints were added. Presumably it was intended as an edifying table reading from Seckau choir women to strengthen the relieving trust in God. The women's convent was attached to the local canons since at least 1149.

Formally, the metric form remains largely free, there are predominantly four-lifters as well as a meeting of overlong and short verses. Furthermore, a strophic form is used, which is subdivided in Hs. G by using ten headings and nineteen initials . The text has a variety of consonantic assonances .

Lore situation

The litany in Hs. G is considered to be an older version, here the text has 952 verses. The modern codicological analysis shows that the litany already existed as an independent fascicle around 1150 . This is indicated in HS G by the disturbance of the regular layer structure within the 5th layer, furthermore by the four-line initial at the beginning of the text and the fact that the last four verses of the text were added by another scribe. Due to the language used and the word usage, the Bavarian-Austrian language area is assumed to be the area of ​​origin. For it speak u. a. the dialectal appearances as well as that in Hs. S, which was written in the West German dialect (possibly Moselle or Rhine Franconian), special recording of the "local saint" Coloman (who was especially venerated in the 12th century in the diocese of Passau ), who was ordered by an abbit Engelbrehtis (Hs. S Vers 890) was added later in detail. This extension in turn suggests that there must have been at least one extended, reworked intermediate stage between Hs. G and Hs. S, which probably also originated in Austria, namely in the Upper Austrian Canons of St. Florian . This is supported by the work of this abbot Engelbert from Seckau in St. Florian, who worked there as provost between 1172 and 1203, as well as the special connection between the Seckau and the St. Florian monastery. The litany in ms. G was created, according to predominant opinion researchers in Seckau, this origin is not fully secured.

The second - so-called Strasbourg-Molsheimer - Hs. S burned in the Strasbourg library in 1870, but there is a copy of Hans Ferdinand Maßmann's of it from 1837. How the Austrian text got to West Central Germany is still unclear. In Hs. S the litany was extended to 1468 verses and was probably written in the Moselle Franconian dialect in the first or second decade of the 13th century. The ms. S extends the text with a comprehensive invocation of St. Colomans (ms. S verse 746–805), a prayer to the Trinity (ms. S verse 173–196) and with sections about the apostle John (ms. S verse 618–661) and the sinner Maria Magdalena (Hs. S verse 1096–1242). Due to changes in style and form in the text, it is controversial whether the litany in ms. S originates entirely from a single writer or from several. Leitzmann assumes because of the formulation "we under andren megetinen" (Hs. S vers 1033) that the ms. S was at least partially written by a woman. In the MS there is no mention of Heinrich.

Text excerpt

Below is the end of the litany in ms. G (verse 936–952):

samene, mister father, diniu chint
 in the himiliscin Hirusalem:
the same grace la niht bisten dinen
scalch Heinrichen,
who giflizzen vil
harte,
swer with sense dizze givet,
swelhe grace he acquires there, so
that he the participation will.
Dizze gibet heizzit letanie:
daz imphach you, vrowe sancta Marie
with all himilisk here,
daz us got everything of the gwere that
we have spoken with the tongue
or that we do not remember:
daz no one wan he aine gituon,
qui vivit in eternum .

Gather, God the Father, your children
in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Do not deny this grace to
your servant Heinrich,
who devoted himself
to it.
Whoever sympathetically understands this supplication,
may with it acquire grace [and]
partake of it.
This petition is called litany:
You, holy lady Mary, are to receive it
with all heavenly hosts,
so that God may grant us everything
that we have spoken
or that we could not even have imagined
, no one can grant this except him
who lives for eternity.

particularities

Although the recipients of the litany (the Seckauer choir women) were presumably mostly fluent in Latin, the text was written in German. In addition, according to the current state of research, the text already existed as an independent fascicle before the Hs. G and was only inserted into the manuscript afterwards. Thus, the German-language text was not subordinated to the Latin language, but put on an equal footing. Why the text was written in German and not in Latin is still unclear, but the group of illiterate monastery inmates in particular should probably be reached.

The older text thus pursues the idea of repentance and remains within the scope of the liturgy . Both texts can be counted as devotional literature.

Both manuscripts have a work designation in the text, which is unusual for manuscripts from this period: Letanie (Hs. G) and Letania (Hs. S). The Hs. G sees itself as gibet , the Hs. S as tihte .

A large number of comparisons and figurative expressions were used in the text, most of which are taken from warfare and illustrate the struggle against sins and the devil. I.a. saints are represented as warriors of God.

literature

  • Christine Glaßner and Karl Heinz Keller: Heinrichs "Litanei". New findings on tradition and function. In: Cornelia Herberichs, Norbert Kössinger and Stephanie Seidl (eds.): Liturgy and literature. Historical case studies. Berlin and Boston: de Gruyter 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-040182-0 , pp. 63–90.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christine Glaßner and Karl Heinz Keller: Heinrichs "Litanei". New findings on tradition and function . In: Cornelia Herberichs, Norbert Kössinger and Stephanie Seidl (eds.): Liturgy and literature. Historical case studies . de Gruyter, Berlin and Boston 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-040182-0 , p. 68 f .
  2. ↑ Glaßner and Keller (see note 1), p. 67.
  3. ^ Friedrich Vogt: About the Letanie . In: Hermann Paul and Wilhelm Braune (Hrsg.): Contributions to the history of the German language and literature . tape 1874 , issue 1. Niemeyer, Halle 1874, p. 145 f .
  4. ↑ Edgar Papp: Heinrich, author of the "Litanei" . In: Burghart Wachinger, Gundolf Keil, Kurt Ruh, Werner Schröder and Franz Josef Worstbrock (eds.): The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon. 2nd, completely revised edition. tape 3 : Gert van der Schüren - Hildegard von Bingen. de Gruyter, Berlin and New York 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-085104-5 , pp. Column 664 .
  5. ↑ Glaßner and Keller (see note 1), pp. 83f.
  6. ↑ Glaßner and Keller (see note 1), pp. 70f.
  7. ^ Ernst Hellgardt: Heinrich. - Poet of the "Litany" written around 1170 . In: Wilhelm Kühlmann, Achim Aurnhammer, Jürgen Egyptien, Karina Kellermann, Steffen Martus and Reimund Bernhard Sdzuj (eds.): Killy. Literary dictionary. Authors and works from the German-speaking cultural area . 2nd, completely revised edition. 5, Har - Hug. de Gruyter, Berlin and New York 2009, p. 180 .