Saxon baptismal vow
The Old Saxon baptismal vow from the end of the 8th century belongs to the genre of religious texts in use as the oldest text in the Old Saxon language. The baptismal vow required the person to be baptized to submit to the Christian God. The questions and answers that a Saxon had to pass before baptism were probably translated from Latin into Old Saxon by an Anglo-Saxon missionary and belong to the context of the Saxon Wars (772-804) of the Frankish ruler Charlemagne (768-814 ). The success of the Christianization and missionary work that went hand in hand with the Saxon Wars also depended on the transmission of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity, as conveyed by the baptismal vows. The baptized had to turn against the devil ( unholdun ) and the traditional pagan Germanic deities Donar , Wodan , Saxnot and to express his faith in God the Father , Christ and the Holy Spirit .
Lore
The baptismal vow is handed down in a single manuscript. This is kept in the Vatican Library in Rome in an anthology of mixed content, in the Codex Palatinus Latinus 577 , which was probably made in Fulda and from there to Mainz , where it was in 1479, later to the Bibliotheca Palatina in Heidelberg and lastly in 1623 came to Rome with this. Directly below it is the Indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum , this assignment was also retained in the edition of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica .
The full text: Forsachistû diabolae?
end allum diobolgeldae?
end allum dioboles wercum?
Gelôbistû in got alamehtigan fadaer?
Gelôbistû in Crist, godes suno?
Gelôbistû in hâlogan gâst?
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New High German translation: Are you telling the devil?
and all devil service?
and all the devil's works?
Do you believe in God the Almighty Father?
Do you believe in Christ, Son of God?
Do you believe in (the) Holy Spirit?
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literature
- Georg Heinrich Pertz: Capitularia regum Francorum. MGH , Leges Vol. 1) 1835, pp. 19-20 ( digitized version )
- Brunner Horst: History of German Medieval Literature at a Glance (= RUB 9485) , Stuttgart 2003, p. 47f