St. Trudperter Song of Songs

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The St. Trudperter Song of Songs is the earliest, purely vernacular, complete interpretation of the Old Testament Song of Solomon in early Middle High German prose. It was written in the early 1160s, about 100 years after Williram von Ebersberg's (approx. 1000-1085) song of songs paraphrase. This was not yet intended as a stand-alone text, but served to make the Song of Songs easier to understand. In the translation, the unknown author of the St. Trudperter Hohenlied follows Williram, but distances himself from his interpretation and form of exegesis . Today the Admont Benedictine Abbey in Styria is regarded as the place of origin, but the name is based on the initially widespread attribution to the St. Trudpert monastery in Breisgau.

Emergence

The St. Trudpert Hohelied is named after its supposed place of origin in the St. Trudpert monastery in Breisgau. The research was divided on the date and location of the work (between 1110 and 1170, from Alsace to Styria). Among other things, the monasteries of St. Georgen in the Black Forest , St. Trudpert in Breisgau or Admont were assumed to be the origin. Today, the emergence of the Admont Benedictine monastery at the beginning of the 1160s is considered to be quite certain. The work title St. Trudperter Hoheslied has been firmly established in literature for a good century. Allusions in the text indicate this place of origin, since the saints named in the interpretation, the miracle worker St. Martin von Tours and the Bavarian convertor Rupert von Salzburg , are patron saints of the Admont women's monastery (v. 83, 17-21):

Original text
dô was created by sancto Ambrosio diu christian lêre. Dô was seen by sancto Martino diu michele güete unde diu kreftegiu sign, diu got through in tet. dô was confirmed by sanctum Rupertum alliu baierischiu hschaft.
translation
At that time [...] the Christian doctrine was created by St. Ambrose, and St. Martin saw the great benefits and the mighty miracles that God did for him. At that time the lords of the whole Bavarian land were converted by Saint Rupert.

Notes on dating to the early 1160s can be found, among other things, in an interpretation that refers to the schismatic election of the Pope and the church split in 1159 (V.85, 7f.):

Original text
if we were daz ez near, we lived never sô tâne parted and sô tâne misshelle.
translation
We sense that it [the time of the Antichrist] is approaching, for we have never seen such division and division.

In addition, the dating after 1160 corresponds to the linguistic, theologically trained, demanding form of the work.

A mixture of Alemannic and Bavarian features of the language can be recognized in the tradition . After the localizations in Alsace and St. Trudpert had been abandoned, this led to the work soon being classified in Alemannic and now in Bavarian, but also to combined assumptions: It was an “author who learned to write in the Alemannic region or who therefore originated, wrote in the Bavarian region for a Bavarian audience ”. This is compatible with an origin in Admont.

The unknown author has a broad knowledge of theological literature. There are, for example, recourse to the ancient theologian Origen († 253/54) and the medieval scholars Rupert von Deutz (approx. 1070–1129 / 30), Hugo von St. Viktor (1096–1141) and Bernhard von Clairvaux (1090– 1153). The author could be a monk priest , the spiritual director of a nunnery, for whose audience he wrote the work. The assumption that the author was a woman is now ruled out.

Lore

The text of the St. Trudperter Hohenlied is preserved in the following manuscripts (partly fragmentary):

  • B : Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs 42518, 2 sheets, fragments; 1st half of the 12th or 13th century.
  • M : Munich, UB, without signature, destroyed in the war; late 12th or 13th century (remains of 7 double leaves in 68 pieces)
  • A : Vienna, National Library, cod. 2719; Guiding manuscript; around 1230.
  • C * : Excerpts (28.25-29.2 and 117.1-119.11) in the palm tree tracts in the version G by the St. Georgen Preacher, earliest Hs. Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Hs. St. Georgen 36; around 1300.
  • kl : Klosterneuburg, Abbey Library, cod. 767; written 1372.
  • k : Klagenfurt; Episcopal Library, cod. XXXd6; around 1420-30.
  • α : Munich, State Library; Cgm 4479; from the year 1509.
  • β : Munich, State Library; Cgm 4478; from the year 1510.
  • γ : Munich; State Library; Cgm 4477; from the year 1510; (Copy of α, β).

The prologue is only in A and k, kl starts at 10.16, otherwise the text is constant over 350 years.

Structure and content

The St. Trudperter Song of Songs is divided into several sections. It begins with a tightly closed prologue (V.1.1-5.33), which treats the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit in the form of the treatise . This section is followed by a somewhat lighter second entrance to the work (V.6.1-8.5) with praise of the Song of Songs and the author's prayer for inspiration. This is followed by the interpretation of the kiss in Cant. 1.1 (V.8.6-14.2), which ends in the interpretation (V.14.3-145.5) of the entire Song of Songs and finally with an epilogue (V.145.6-148.6) ends. The epilogue offers a look back at the work as a whole and also includes the title, namely lêre der minneclichen gotes kennüsse (doctrine of the loving knowledge of God), which denotes the basic idea of ​​the entire work.

In the exegetical middle part, the main part of the St. Trudperter Hohenlied, all 149 verses of the Hohenlied are continuously interpreted. The method is based on the theory of multiple sense of writing and its interpretation ( typology and allegory ). As a rule, statements relating to the history of salvation precede the interpretation, followed by the tropological-moral meaning. The author combines in a unique way those groups of verses of the Song of Songs with other groups of verses in the Bible, such as the price of the beauty of the beloved with the Beatitudes , so that ten words of praise about the bride are each based on one of ten promises of the Sermon on the Mount (v. 11-120.8). The price of the body parts of the bridegroom is accordingly combined with a gift of the Holy Spirit and a phase of church history from Christ to the Antichrist to a harmonious unity (v. 76.1-90.4). The verses are mostly dialogical.

In contrast to Williram, who in the role of the bridegroom lets Christ and in the role of the bride the church speak to one another, the roles of the bride and groom change in the St. Trudperter Song of Songs. The author structured the interpretation sections in such a way that the audience can see who is meant by the variable occupation of the role of the bride or groom. The bridegroom is understood to mean the Trinitarian God or, depending on the interpretation, also God the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit individually. Depending on the context, the role of bride is attributed to Mary , the individual soul and, on the fringes, also to the church.

The mysticism of the St. Trudperter Song of Songs can be found in the love encounter between God and the soul, reflected in the bride and groom. It is evident in the dialogues and love gestures that increase from the first approach to becoming one. The longing for God is fulfilled in the unio mystica , the mystical union with God. However, this union is not worked out as a central theme, but rather it runs through the entire work like a mosaic in various sign-like or metaphorical variations. A characteristic mystical verb metaphor for the unio of God and soul is melting (V.18,26-27):

Original text
that we understand the tough wisdom from which our sêle zervliuzzet. You will be alone with gote [...]
translation
There we understand the secret wisdom (sapientia) from which our soul runs away. There she becomes completely one with God [...]

In the St. Trudperter Hohenlied, however, the love between God and man is not presented in a one-sided way, i.e. in the sense that man consumes himself with God or gives himself to God without limits. Rather, it is an encounter approaching one another, a reciprocal gesture of connection between God and the soul.

Usage situation

The St. Trudperter Song of Songs, like Williram's interpretation, is aimed at a monastic audience, but with the fundamental difference that it is aimed at a female audience. The author speaks in parables from monastic life and gives practical information on living together in the monastery. In the epilogue the nuns are instructed on how to deal with the complete works (V.145,14-18):

Original text
At this buoche suln the brides of the almehtigen god ir have a mirror and they have besihteclîvhe ware tuon ir themselves protests ande close, as they vallen ir painted, he want them zîten schouwet me lovely eyes.
translation
The brides of Almighty God should use this book as their mirror and conscientiously look at their own face and that of their neighbors in it, how they can please their bridegroom, who always looks at them with loving eyes.

The Song of Solomon was performed on the occasion of the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 15, so the St. Trudperter Song of Songs should also have been intended to be read to the nuns in August, to which the text itself refers (V. 80, 7f.):

Original text
vone diu is read on ir days by the two sisters Maria and Martha.
translation
That is the reason why on their feast day (Assumption of Mary on August 15th) the Gospel is read by the two sisters Mary and Martha.

It is the story of Maria and Martha in ( Lk 10.38-42  EU ). The reference of the text to this feast is of particular interest because it can be understood as an indication of the liturgical opportunity for the recitation of the St. Trudperter Song of Songs. The use of the vernacular basically excludes liturgical use. The meeting in the early evening, the Collatio , provided for by the Benedictine Rule, is most likely to be considered for a lecture, a reading audience was not originally considered.

Remarks

  1. ^ Ernst Friedrich Ohly: The St. Trudperter Hohelied. In: The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon. 2. completely rework. Ed. By Kurt Ruh [u. a.] Vol. 9. Berlin: de Gruyter 1995. Sp. 1091.
  2. ↑ Hans-Jörg Spitz: ez is sanc aller sange. The St. Trudperter Hohelied ‹between commentary and poetry. In: German Medieval Studies. 2., through Ed. Volker Honemann and Thomas Tomasek. Münster: LIT 2000. (= Münster introductions: Germanistik. 4., pp. 66–68.)
  3. ↑ a b c d e translation after Ernst Friedrich Ohly: The St. Trudperter Hohelied. A teaching of the loving knowledge of God. Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag 1998.
  4. ^ Ernst Friedrich Ohly: The St. Trudperter Hohelied. In: The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon. 2. completely rework. Ed. Ed. Kurt Ruh [u. a.] Vol. 9. Berlin: de Gruyter 1995. Sp. 1093.
  5. ↑ Hans-Jörg Spitz: To localize the St. Trudperter Hohenlied in the Admont women's monastery. In: Journal for German Antiquity and Literature 121 (1992), pp. 174–177.
  6. ↑ http://www.handschriftencensus.de/werke/339
  7. ^ Ernst Friedrich Ohly: The St. Trudperter Hohelied. A teaching of the loving knowledge of God. Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag 1998, pp. 336f.
  8. ^ A b Ernst Friedrich Ohly: The St. Trudperter Hohelied. A teaching of the loving knowledge of God. Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag 1998, pp. 328-330
  9. ↑ Hans-Jörg Spitz: ez is sanc aller sange. The St. Trudperter Hohelied ‹between commentary and poetry. In: German Medieval Studies. 2., through Ed. Volker Honemann and Thomas Tomasek. Münster: LIT 2000. (= Münster introductions: Germanistik. 4., p. 70.)
  10. ↑ Ernst Friedrich Ohly: Signs of love between God and man in the St. Trudperter Hohenlied. In: Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch , NF 34 (1993), pp. 26-29
  11. ↑ Urban Küsters: The locked garden. Folk-language interpretation of the Song of Songs and monastic way of life in the 12th century. Düsseldorf: Droste 1985, p. 33

literature

  • Irene Berkenbusch: Mysticism and Asceticism. ›Sankt Trudperter Hohes Lied‹ and ›Speculum Virginum‹ in comparison. In: "Minnichlichiu gotes discernusse". Studies on the early occidental mystic tradition. Heidelberg Mystic Symposium on January 16, 1989. Edited by Dietrich Schmidtke. Stuttgart: frommann-holzboog 1990. (= mysticism in past and present. Dept. 1: Christian mysticism. Ed. By Margot Schmidt and Helmut Riedlinger. 7.) P. 43–60. ISBN 3-7728-1350-X
  • Hildegard Elisabeth Keller : Word and meat: body allegories, mystical spirituality and the poetry of St. Trudpert's Song of Songs on the horizon of incarnation. Bern [u. a.]: Lang 1993. ISBN 3-906750-23-X
  • Urban Küsters: The locked garden. Folk-language interpretation of the Song of Songs and monastic way of life in the 12th century. Düsseldorf: Droste 1985. ISBN 3-7700-0802-2
  • Fritz Peter Knapp: The literature of the late Middle Ages in Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg and Tyrol from 1273 to 1439. Part 2: The literature at the time of the Habsburg dukes from Rudolf IV to Albrecht V (1358–1439). Graz: ADEVA 2004. (= History of German literature from the beginnings to the present. Ed. By Herbert Zeman. 2.2.) ISBN 3-201-01812-0
  • Hermann Menhardt: To the St. Trudperter High Song. In: Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und Literatur 88 (1957–1958), pp. 266–291. ISSN  0044-2518
  • Ernst Friedrich Ohly : The St. Trudperter Song of Songs. In: The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon . 2. completely rework. Ed. Kurt Ruh u. a. Vol. 9. Berlin: de Gruyter 1995, Sp. 1089-1106. ISBN 3-11-014024-1
  • Ernst Friedrich Ohly : The St. Trudperter Song of Songs. A teaching of the loving knowledge of God. Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag 1998. (= Library of the Middle Ages. 2.) ISBN 3-618-66025-1
  • Ernst Friedrich Ohly : A teaching of the loving knowledge of God. On the title of the St. Trudperter Hohenlied. In: Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und Literatur 121 (1992), pp. 399–404. ISSN  0044-2518
  • Ernst Friedrich Ohly : Signs of love between God and man in the St. Trudperter Hohenlied. In: Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch , NF 34 (1993), pp. 26-29
  • Ernst Friedrich Ohly : The prologue of the St. Trudperter Hohenlied . In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 84, 1952/53, pp. 198–232.
  • Hans-Jörg Spitz: ez is sanc aller sange. The St. Trudperter Hohelied ‹between commentary and poetry. In: German Medieval Studies. 2., through Ed. Volker Honemann and Thomas Tomasek. Münster: LIT 2000. (= Münster introductions: German studies. 4.) ISBN 3-8258-2269-9
  • Hans-Jörg Spitz: To localize the St. Trudperter Hohenlied in the Admont women's monastery. In: Journal for German Antiquity and Literature 121 (1992), pp. 174–177. ISSN  0044-2518