Paderborn epic
Karolus Magnus et Leo papa - the so-called Paderborn epic , also Aachen Karlsepos - is the poetic description of the gathering of Pope Leo III. with Charlemagne in Paderborn 799.
The name Paderborn Epic misleadingly traces the origin of the writing back to Paderborn itself. The epic, written in hexameters as usual , was created close to the event and comes from the hand of a highly educated layman who is very familiar with the classical and late antique hexametric tradition and who must have been a member of the court.
Among others, Einhard and Modoin (* around 770; † 840/3) were considered as authors , without the research having reached a universally accepted result. Similar to the Reichsannalen , the unknown author writes from a Franconian perspective. Language, style and metrics meet the exacting standards of the Carolingian Renaissance .
From the epic presumably originally consisting of four parts, only a fragment of 536 verses has survived in a single manuscript ( Zentralbibliothek Zürich , Ms. 78: collective manuscript from St. Gallen , the piece in question, fol. 104r-114v, saec. IX) . The manuscript and others were taken to Zurich as booty during the Toggenburg War in 1712 and never returned to St. Gallen. In 2006, the cantons of St. Gallen and Zurich also came to an agreement on this cultural asset (see cultural asset dispute between Zurich and St. Gallen ).
In terms of content, the text represents the meeting and negotiations between Pope Leo III. and Charlemagne. The occasion of the visit was an assassination attempt that had been carried out shortly before in Rome on the Pope. The meeting itself is seen as an important preparation for Charles' coronation as emperor in 800 and is therefore of world historical importance. Whether Leo and Karl actually negotiated the coronation of the emperor in September 799 is largely disputed in the literature. But the titulatures that the epic uses for Karl, such as augustus, caput Europae, pater Europae , already point (ex post?) To the imperial coronation and the imperial titulature, whereby it must be taken into account that the title imperator for metrical reasons is at most in the The seldom used minor form induperator could have been used.
In the tradition of classic rulers panegyric, the epic initially contains a praise to the king (“sublime lighthouse”, “father of Europe”) and describes the meeting itself. In addition to one that is strongly determined by the Virgilian model of the building of Carthage (Virgil, Aeneis I 421ff.) detailed ecchrasis of the expansion of Aachen into a "second Rome" is the ecchrasis of a hunting expedition of the royal family (cf. Virgil, Aeneis IV 117ff.). The causes and circumstances of Leo's flight from Rome are dealt with in particular in detail.
literature
- Joseph Brockmann : Karolus Magnus et Leo papa. A Paderborn epic from 799 (= studies and sources on Westphalian history , vol. 8). With contributions by Helmut Beumann , Franz Brunhölzl and Wilhelm Winkelmann, Paderborn 1966, pp. 88 / 89–94 / 95, lines 426–539.
- Wilhelm Henze (ed.): De Karolo rege et Leone papa. The report on the meeting of Charlemagne with Pope Leo III. in Paderborn 799 in an epic for Karl the Kaiser (= studies and sources on Westphalian history , vol. 36). With a complete color reproduction based on the manuscript of the Zurich Central Library, Ms. C 78, and contributions by Lutz E. von Padberg , Johannes Schwind and Hans-Walter Stork . Bonifatius, Paderborn 1999 (with booklet: Franz Brunhölzl (ed.): De Karolo rege et Leo papa ).
- Jörg Jarnut , Peter Godman and Peter Johanek : On the eve of the imperial coronation: The epic “Karolus Magnus et Leo papa” and the Pope's visit to Paderborn in 799 . Berlin 2002.
- Christine Ratkowitsch : Karolus Magnus - old Aeneas, old Martinus, old Justinus. On the intention and dating of the “Aachener Karlsepos” (= Vienna Studies , Supplement 24, Work on Middle and Neo-Latin Philology 4). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997. ISBN 3-7001-2635-2
- Christine Ratkowitsch: Karoli vestigia secutus. The reception of the “Aachener Karlsepos” in the Carlias des Ugolino Verino (= Vienna Studies , Supplement 25, Works on Middle and Neo-Latin Philology 4). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1999. ISBN 3-7001-2809-6 .
- Christoph Stiegemann, Matthias Wemhoff (Ed.): 799. Art and culture of the Carolingian era. Charles the Great and Pope Leo III. in Paderborn . Catalog of the exhibition in Paderborn 1999, Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-80532-456-1 .
- Heinz Erich Stiene (ed.): Concordance to the Paderborn epic (Aachener Karlsepos) (= Latin language and literature of the Middle Ages , vol. 12). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main Bern 1982.