Poets crown
The concept of the poet's crown is understood in a figurative sense to mean the highest distinction a poet can receive. A poeta laureatus ( Latin for " laurel- crowned poet ") is a poet wreathed with an evergreen laurel wreath. The designation national poet is less official, but similar in rank .
The award of the poet's crown was based on the ancient Greek and Roman custom of crowning the winner in the poets' contest with laurel and thus officially honoring him. The poet was to be given permanent fame .
After the tradition of the coronation of poets was occasionally resumed in the High Middle Ages, the old custom was remembered, especially during humanism in Italy. There, cities and universities in particular crowned poets. In the 15th century, the Roman emperors increasingly crowned poets. In 1501 Maximilian I gave the collegium poetarum atque mathematicorum the privilegium creandi poetas . The winners of the poets' crown were given the right to hold lectures on poetics and rhetoric at all universities in the empire. In the Baroque period, the emperor delegated the title of Count Palatine to already crowned famous poets such as Johann Rist and Sigmund von Birken , which authorized them to undertake coronations of poets themselves.
Due to the academic institutionalization, the emperors later crowned only a few poets and left this to the universities and their rectors. Since the middle of the 17th century, the use of poets' coronations was almost inflationary, and the title Poeta laureatus lost almost completely the social significance it had had since humanism. In the Age of Enlightenment , poets themselves increasingly showed no interest in the coronation of poets. Goethe even refused them. The last imperial coronation of poets took place in 1804. With the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the poeta laureatus also disappeared as a stately recognized institution.
In Great Britain there is still the honorary title of Poet Laureate .
Crowned poets
- Gunther von Pairis is crowned by Friedrich Barbarossa for his Barbarossa epic.
- 1315: Albertino Mussato is crowned by the Bishop and Rector of the University of Padua .
- 1341: Francesco Petrarca is crowned in Rome by Senator Ursus d'Anguillara on the Capitol . Petrarch became the epitome of the poeta laureate.
- 1355: Zanobi da Strada is crowned by Emperor Charles IV in Pisa .
- 1442: Enea Silvio da Piccolomini (later Pope Pius II ) is appointed by Emperor Friedrich III. crowned in Frankfurt / M. (first coronation of poets north of the Alps).
- 1437: From 1437 Lorenzo Valla lives as poeta laureatus among the humanists at the court of Alfonso V of Aragon in Naples.
- 1453: Francesco Filelfo is crowned poeta laureatus in Rome.
- 1487: Konrad Celtis is the first German to receive from Emperor Friedrich III on April 18, 1487. in Nuremberg the poet's crown.
- 1493: Johannes Cuspinianus (Spießheimer) is taken over by Emperor Friedrich III. crowned.
- 1497: Jakob Locher is crowned by Maximilian I.
- 1501: John Aesticampianus is the Pope and Heinrich Bebel of Maximilian I to the poet laureate crowned.
- 1514: The Alsatian Thomas Murner , 1512 the Swiss Heinrich Loriti, called Glarean , and on March 12, 1514 in Linz his compatriot Joachim von Watt were chosen by Emperor Maximilian I to be poeta laureatus .
- 1517: Ulrich von Hutten receives the poet's crown from Emperor Maximilian I.
- 1518: Hermann von Neuenahr (1492–1530) is referred to by Hermann von dem Busche as poeta laureatus .
- 1519: Johann Alexander Brassicanus (approx. 1500–1539), son of Johannes Brassicanus , is crowned poeta et orator laureatus .
- 1531: Theodor Reysmann (around 1503–1543 / 44) is crowned by King Ferdinand I on October 17th in Speyer .
- 1544: Johannes Sastrow is crowned by Charles V.
- 1550: David Peifer is crowned poeta laureatus in Augsburg by the poet and Count Kaspar Brusch (Gaspar Bruschius).
- 1556 and 1564: Zacharias Orth was crowned poeta laureatus .
- 1561: Paul Melissus , poet and composer, crowned poeta laureatus in Vienna .
- 1566: Ludwig Helmbold is crowned poeta laureatus by Emperor Maximilian II.
- 1567: Nicolaus Theophilus is crowned poeta laureatus by Emperor Maximilian II.
- 1570: Georg Fabricius is on the Diet of Speyer by Emperor Maximilian II. The poet laureate crowned.
- 1576: Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin will of Rudolf II. For poet laureate crowned.
- 1577: Johannes Posthius
- 1581: Andreas Mergilet (1539–1606), is crowned a poet by his “ milk brother ” Paul Schede (Melissus)
- 1590: Heinrich Meibom , crowned poet by Rudolf II.
- 1593: Friedrich Taubmann is crowned poeta laureatus . Its gold-interwoven laurel crown has been preserved to this day.
- 1594: Coronation of Georg Calaminus in Vienna.
- Torquato Tasso died the day before his poet coronation planned for April 26, 1595.
- 1599: Balthasar Exner zu Hirschberg (1576–1624), imperially crowned poet (Rudolf II).
- 1599: Tobias Aleutner (1574–1633), crowned "poeta laureatus caesareus" by Paul Melissus .
- 1600: Johannes Burmeister , crowned in Jena by Nikolaus von Reusner as Comes palatinus
- 1600: Johann Philipp Pareus (1576–1648) and the Hungarian György Thúri (1598–1615) are crowned in Heidelberg by Paul Schede (Melissus) (1539–1602)
- 1603: Laurentius Finckelthaus (around 1555–1606), poet lawyer and syndic of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, crowned by Emperor Rudolf II
- 1604: John Fortmann (1576-1654), in Conrector Wernigerode, for poet laureate crowned
- 1608: Johann Heermann in Brieg for poet laureate crowned.
- 1612: Ludwig Hollonius (around 1570–1621), pastor in Pomerania, crowned poeta laureatus .
- 1615: Martin Rinckart is crowned poeta laureatus .
- 1616: Caspar Brülow becomes an imperial-crowned poet.
- 1625: Martin Opitz receives the award from Emperor Ferdinand II for an improvised Latin panegyricum and is even ennobled in 1627 without going back to this title later.
- 1631: Paul Fleming , pupil of Martin Opitz
- 1638: Petrus Mederus , poet crowned imperial
- 1644: Johann Rist receives the title of poeta laureatus, later becomes imperial Count Palatinate and is thus allowed to undertake coronations of poets.
- 1645: Sigmund von Birken is crowned a poet at the court in Wolfenbüttel . In 1654 he received the hereditary nobility and the office of the Hofpfalzgrafenamt, and in the following decades he coronated several dozen poets.
- 1652: Constantin Christian Dedekind by Johann Rist for poet laureate crowned.
- 1654: Georg Greflinger is crowned by Johann Rist
- 1656: Wenzel Scherffer von Scherffenstein is crowned poeta laureatus for his main work Spiritual and Secular Poems .
- 1658: Balthasar Kindermann is crowned by Johann Rist.
- 1669: Joachim Heinrich Hagen (1648–1693) is crowned by the court preacher Caspar von Lilien (1632–1687) on July 19.
- 1671: Quirinus Kuhlmann is crowned imperial poeta laureatus due to his collection of sonnets Heavenly Libes Kisses through birch trees .
- 1674: Johann Hoffmann , Protestant hymn poet and teacher.
- 1679: Johann Sebastian Mitternacht was crowned a poet shortly before his death.
- 1682: Laurentius von Schnüffis is crowned by the German Emperor Leopold I for his work Mirantische Mayen-Pfeiff , which he dedicated to Empress Eleonore.
- 1707: Johann Balthasar Bernhold is elevated to the position of imperial crowned poet by the professor and Count Palatine Magnus Daniel Omeis .
- 1716: Johann Christian Günther is crowned poeta laureatus and ended up in a debt prison in 1717 due to the financial expenses involved.
- 1733: The poet Christiana Mariana von Ziegler is awarded a poeta laureata by the University of Wittenberg .
- 1738: Sidonia Hedwig zunemann
- 1751: The University of Helmstedt awards Christiana Büsching the poet's crown.
- 1752: Christoph Otto von Schönaich's coronation by Gottsched in 1752 is rejected by many contemporaries.
- 1753: Johanna Charlotte Dead Ringers is by her uncle Johann Gottlob Krüger for poeta laureata crowned.
- 1778: On March 30, 1778, at the 6th performance of Voltaire's tragedy Irène in the Comédie-Française , the frenetically jubilant spectators finally demand that the poet present be crowned. Voltaire immediately removes the wreath.
- Karl Ludwig Bauer was an imperial-crowned poet
- 1962: Josef Eberle was crowned poeta laureatus of the philosophical seminar at the University of Tübingen .
- 1991: Self-coronation of the poet Hans Imhoff in Frankfurt.
literature
- Christoph Schubert : Coronation of poets. In: Albrecht Cordes , Heiner Lück , Dieter Werkmüller , Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand (eds.): Concise dictionary on German legal history . Volume 1: Aachen - Spiritual Bank. 2nd, completely revised and enlarged edition. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-503-07912-4 , Sp. 1032-1034.
- John L. Flood: Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire. A Bio-Bibliographical Handbook. 4 volumes. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2006, ISBN 3-11-018100-2 (describes more than 1300 poets crowned by the emperor between 1355 and 1804).
- Albert Schirrmeister: Triumph of the poet. Crowned intellectuals in the 16th century. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2003, ISBN 3-412-09703-9 (At the same time: Freiburg (Breisgau), University, dissertation, 2002: Poetae laureati - intellectuals in the 16th century. ).
- Dieter Mertens : On the social history and function of the poeta laureatus in the age of Maximilian I. In: Rainer Christoph Schwinges (Hrsg.): Schehre im Reich. On the social and impact history of academic elites from the 14th to the 16th century (= journal for historical research . Supplement. 18). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-428-08728-3 , pp. 327-348.
- Hanna Leitgeb: The excellent author. Municipal literary prizes and cultural policy in Germany 1926–1971 (= European Cultures. Vol. 4). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1994, ISBN 3-11-014402-6 ( European Cultures 4), (also: Cologne, University, dissertation, 1994).
- Alois Schmid : "Poeta et orator a Caesare laureatus". The coronations of the poets of Emperor Maximilian I. In: Historisches Jahrbuch . Vol. 109, 1989, pp. 56-108.