Manuel and Amande

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Manuel and Amande is a fragment of a Middle High German text. Possibly this is a late medieval Arthurian novel . In total, only 292 verses are known so far. A complete manuscript has not yet been discovered.

Lore

To date, a total of five parchment leaves have been found. One single sheet and three double sheets were discovered by P. Gerold Bickel in the 19th century. Another single sheet of which only the back can be deciphered has been known since the early 1980s. All sheets were found in the covers of books in the library of the Schwaz monastery , Tyrol. Obviously the manuscript was divided up in the late Middle Ages or the early modern period. Since it was no longer of interest to people at the time, its individual parchment leaves were repurposed and used to reinforce the spine of the book. The parchments are quite small, 15 by 11 cm. Each page is described with exactly 20 verses. The handwriting was decorated: the first letter of each pair has been moved out of the text, the initials are alternately red and blue and, after slightly larger sections, emphasized by simple ornaments. The sheets of paper were trimmed, presumably to match the books that were wrapped in them. So sometimes a few verses are missing. The single sheet found in the 19th century also has a hole in the middle of the text. Hence the inconsistent number of 292 traditional verses, because not all 20 verses on each page can always be fully deciphered or parts are missing.

Dating and origin

The fragments could be assigned to an identical handwriting based on the script and the language used. Based on the typeface, this manuscript can be dated to the first half of the 14th century . It probably comes from what is now southern Germany, namely Bavaria or East Franconia, as can be seen from the language usage. However, the original text is older and comes from a different part of Germany. Because the discovered parts of the manuscript are copies of the original. The writer of this manuscript is therefore not identical to the author of the original text “Manuel and Amande”, but only made a copy of it. The dating of the text itself is less clear. In any case, it was created after 1170 because of the pure end rhymes. This purity of rhymes was only found from the heyday of courtly literature in the German-speaking area. The research carried out to date on "Manuel and Amande" considers a date to the late 13th century possible, but it cannot be exactly said. The poet must have lived in central Germany.

action

The order of the individual leaves in the plot cannot be precisely clarified. In research, however, the following is believed to be possible: The last single sheet discovered is the earliest in the action, then the single sheet found in the 19th century follows and finally the three double sheets. The latter are assigned to the end of the story; however, it is assumed that another double sheet is missing in the middle, so that the plot is interrupted by 80 verses at this point. In any case, the three plot parts in the handwriting will not have followed one another immediately.

Content of the fragments (shown in abbreviated form)

The 20 verses of the single sheet discovered later reproduce a conversation between two people. The first person is not mentioned by name, the second is a young man by the name of Jonas. He is still inexperienced and will apparently soon start a fight.

The second single sheet is marked by the monologue of a knight whose name is not known. He wants to take revenge on another because he has caused him suffering and injustice. Finally a woman speaks who takes this knight into her service.

The three double sheets deal initially with the wedding of Manuel and Amandes. The text fragment was named after these two. The festival takes place at the court of King Arthur and guests come from the two home countries, namely Spain and Greece. After the wedding, Manuel takes his bride to his home in Greece and they both live happily ever after.

Now the narrator turns to the death of King Arthur : he died and his wife Ginover (also known as Guinevere ) mourned him so much that she finally followed him into death. The love between Arthur and Ginover is cited as a model for an ideal relationship.

The narrator now describes how it should not be in a love relationship, namely that love is forced through the man by force. Instead, he should respect women and give them their freedom. The narrator quotes Cicero and Seneca to support his opinion .

genus

Finally, research also raises the question of whether the text “Manuel and Amande”, which has so far only been handed down in fragments, can be assigned to the Arthurian novel that has appeared since 1170/80. The appearance of King Arthur and his court would speak for it, but the unusual names of the actors would rather speak against it. Because knights with names like Erec or Iwein are usually the main characters in Arthurian novels. The names "Jonas", "Manuel" and "Amande" with their slightly oriental appeal do not otherwise appear in Arthurian novels. However, there are variations in the typical plot and characters in the late Arthurian novels. It is therefore possible that “Manuel and Amande” is a late Arthurian novel. But there were also voices in research who wanted to assign the fragment to the new historical novel. Accordingly, this novel tells the story of real people and Arthur is only mentioned out of habit, because the poet has not yet become aware of the change in genre. The question of genre cannot be precisely clarified. Too little text is known for this. A structure of the text cannot be traced. This would be very important for the question of whether “Manuel and Amande” is an Arthurian novel or not.

literature

  • Heinrich Meyer-Benfey (Ed.): Middle High German Exercise Pieces, Halle (Saale) 1902, pp. 151–154.
  • Hans-Jochen Schiewer: in ris I dar vmbe abe broke / From sinem miracle bovme . Observations on the transmission of the post-classical Arthurian novel in the 13th and 14th centuries, in: Deutsche Manschriften 1100-1400. in: Oxford Colloquium 1985, ed. by Volker Honemann and Nigel F. Palmer, Tübingen 1988, pp. 222-278.
  • Edward Schröder: Manuel and Amande, in: Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Göttingen 1925, pp. 166–168.
  • Hans-Hugo Steinhoff: A new fragment from 'Manuel and Amande', in: ZfdA 113 (1984), pp. 242–245.
  • Oswald Zingerle : Manuel and Amande. Fragments of an Arthurian novel, in: ZfdA 26 (1882), pp. 297–307.