Notker I.
Notker I. von St. Gallen , also called Notker Balbulus or Notker Poeta (German Notker der Stammler or Notker the poet ), (* around 840 in Elgg or Jonschwil ; † April 6, 912 in the prince abbey of St. Gallen ) was a important scholar and poet of the Carolingian period. His life is described by Ekkehard IV in his Casus sancti Galli .
Life
Notker came from a family based in Toggenburg . After his parents' death, his foster father gave him a monastic upbringing at the St. Gallen monastery. According to Ekkehard, along with his friends Tuotilo and Ratpert, he received the basics of education from Iso and the Irish Moengal. Early on he began to write the text of the sweeping Gregorian Hallelujah closing melisms . According to his own testimony (dedication of the Liber Ymnorum ), he applied the syllabic rule adopted by Iso (Isonic rule) .
In addition to his poetry, which became more and more rich and artistic from 880, he was also active as a document writer until 909, as well as a teacher at the monastery school. His humor is reflected in the anecdotal Gesta Karoli Magni , which also contain valuable historical news.
The self-chosen nickname Balbulus - "Stammler" - is supposed to refer to a dental defect that prevented him from speaking.
Works
Notker's 883 work Gesta Karoli Magni is considered one of the most beautiful narrative books of the German Middle Ages. A Vita sancti Galli and a Sermo sancti Galli, the martyr story De sancto Stephano (around 883), the theological writing notatio and a sample book for letters and documents have also survived from him. He also wrote occasional poems and sacred hymns. With his forty Latin sequences ( Liber hymnorum, written around 884 and dedicated to Liutward von Vercelli ), which he (partly) set to music himself, he became the most important spiritual lyric poet in Middle Latin literature . The antiphon Media vita in morte sumus was ascribed to him. Legend has it that he wrote it when he saw the danger in which construction workers were floating over a precipice when building a bridge. The antiphon probably originated in France as early as 750.
Remembrance day
- Protestant (as a teacher of the church): April 6th in the Protestant name calendar
- Roman Catholic (as Blessed):
Discography
- Notker Balbulus: Sequenzen, Tropics etc. Ensemble Ordo Virtutum, direction: Stefan Johannes Morent, Christophorus 2011
- Digital representation of Notker's sequences from the St. Gallen Abbey Library
Work editions
- Sequences. Edition for the practice / Notker Balbulus. Set up by Stefan Morent, translated by Franziska Schnoor and Clemens Müller. EOS Editions, Sankt Ottilien; Verlag am Klosterhof, St. Gallen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8306-7848-9 .
- Notker: Gesta Karoli. In: Sources on the Carolingian Empire history. 3rd part, edited by Reinhold Rau (FSGA 5), Darmstadt 1969, pp. 321-427.
- Hans F. Haefele (Ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Nova series 12: Notker der Stammler, Deeds of Emperor Charlemagne (Notkeri Balbuli Gesta Karoli Magni imperatoris) Berlin 1959 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
literature
- Marc-Aeilko Aris : Notker Balbulus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 362 ( digitized version ).
- Wilhelm Bäumker: Notker, Balbulus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 35-39.
- Jochen Haas: On the plan of a Viking rule on the Middle Rhine and on the Moselle. A historical commentary on Regino , Chronicon ad annum 885 and on Notker, Gesta Karoli Magni imperatoris II, 13. In: Jahrbuch für Westdeutsche Landesgeschichte 34, 2008, 2010, pp. 7-16.
- Klaus Herbers: Notker Balbulus. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-044-1 , Sp. 1032-1035.
- Peter Stotz : Notker der Stammler (Balbulus). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Roland Zingg: Notker Balbulus as a continuation of the Erchanbert-Breviar, with edition. In: German Archive for Research into the Middle Ages 74, 2018, pp. 53–88.
Web links
- Notkerus Balbulus in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"
- Literature by and about Notker I. in the catalog of the German National Library
- Digitized manuscripts in Swiss libraries
Remarks
- ↑ Biography according to NDB article
- ^ Notker I. in the ecumenical dictionary of saints
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
Liuthart |
Librarian from St. Gallen before 883-890 |
Waldram |
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Notker I. |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Notker Balbulus; Notkerus Balbulus; Notker the Stammler |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scholar and poet of the Carolingian period |
DATE OF BIRTH | around 840 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Heligau or Jonschwil |
DATE OF DEATH | April 6, 912 |
Place of death | Prince Abbey of St. Gallen |