Thomasîn of Zerclaere
Thomasîn von Zerclaere (also Zirklære, Zirklaria ) (* around 1186 in Friuli ; † allegedly in 1238 in Aquileja ) was the author of the monumental Middle High German poem Der wälsche Gast .
He was an educated Romanesque ministerial from the Cerclaria dynasty and since about 1206 canon at the court of the German-speaking Patriarch of Aquileja , Wolfger von Erla , the former bishop of Passau and supporter of Walthers von der Vogelweide . However, the exact biographical data are uncertain, or there are several possible assumptions in the research.
According to his own statements (verses 11709-22, 12228) he wrote the first monumental German-language didactic poem of the Middle Ages in the winter of 1215-1216 in just ten months, Der wälsche Gast (original: Der Welhische Gast ). This work comprises 14,750 verses and is written in Bavarian Middle High German , with coloring he may have learned from the Cimbrian- language islands in northern Italy. German was not the native language of the northern Italian Thomasîn and so he also apologizes to the reader for linguistic inadequacies (verses 67-74). In fact, his rhyming verses cannot compete with the elegance and security of the contemporary courtly narrative poetry. Nonetheless, the work was successful and was widely distributed: It has survived in 24 manuscripts and fragments of manuscripts, most of which are provided with rich illustrations. These are likely - a novelty in medieval German literature - to have already been conceived by the author together with the text.
The target audience of the stranger from Romania (so the meaning of the metaphorical title of the poem) were young aristocrats, who are admonished in the book to courtly virtues. The Welsche guest teaches about courtly upbringing, education, love , practical ethics and knightly virtues ( staete, mâze, milte, reht ). In doing so, Thomasin often processed contemporary Latin literature on ethics, philosophy and the liberal arts . Criticism of court and time pervade the entire work. In this context, it is also worth mentioning that Thomasin derives his moral teaching from cosmic laws and thus creates an ethic that is not based on religious truths, but is firmly anchored in natural laws. In the eighth book, Thomasin refers to Walther von der Vogelweide and criticizes his attacks on the existing order and the Pope.
His way of writing Bavarian Middle High German, and also his uncertainties in part, are, however, a highly interesting source for historical linguistics, since it was precisely at this time that the contact between the Bavarian-speaking area and the Romance-speaking areas south of the Alps intensified, and Bavarian in some cases even intensified spread in previously Romansh-speaking valleys. The language change of this Romance population to Bavarian characterizes the southern Bavarian dialects with vocabulary derived from the Romance language and also typical Romance phonetic and grammatical forms to this day. At Thomasin, this process can practically be analyzed directly on a contemporary witness. The southern language neighbors of the Baiern were at that time consistently the Alpine Romance languages and not the Italo-Romance languages of the plain, from the Engadin in the west, through the Vinschgau and Trento to Friuli in the east, home of Thomasin.
The oldest surviving version of his work is in the Heidelberg University Library under the shelfmark Cpg 389.
literature
- Meinolf Schumacher : About the necessity of 'art' for being human with Thomasin von Zerklaere and Heinrich dem Teichner , in: Ursula Schaefer (Ed.): 'Artes' in the Middle Ages, Berlin: Akademie Verlag 1999, pp. 376–390, ISBN 3-05-003307-X , online at MGH
- Meinolf Schumacher: Being imprisoned - why confused? A theodicy argument of the 'Welschen Gastes' in the horizon of European prison literature from Boethius to Vladimir Nabokov , in: Horst Wenzel / Christina Lechtermann (ed.): Movability of images. Text and imagination in the illustrated manuscripts of the 'Welschen Gastes' by Thomasin von Zerclaere. Böhlau, Cologne 2002, pp. 238-255, ISBN 3-412-09801-9 , online at Univ. Bielefeld
- Eva Willms, Thomasin von Zerklaere: The welsche guest: text (selection) - translation - job comment. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3110175436 , online at Google Books
- Wu .: Thomasin of Zerclaere . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 45, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1900, p. 94 f.
- Ernst Johann Friedrich Ruff: The wälsche guest of Thomasin von Zerklaere. Investigations on the content and meaning of a Middle High German moral teaching. Erlangen: Palm & Enke 1982. ISBN 3789601357
Web links
- Literature by and about Thomasîn von Zerclaere in the catalog of the German National Library
- Bibliotheca Augustana: Der wälsche Gast (full text)
- Welscher guest digital. Heidelberg University Library , accessed on June 9, 2016 (digital copies and transcriptions).
- Library of the entire German national literature from the oldest to the more recent times. Volume 30: The fake guest. Edited by Heinrich Rückert , Gottfried Basse, Quedlinburg / Leipzig 1852. books.google.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eva Willms, Thomasin von Zerklaere: Der Welsche Gast: Text (selection) - translation- job commentary , Walter de Gruyter, 2004, ISBN 3110175436 , online at Google Books
- ↑ Marburg Repertory: The Welsche Guest ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (all manuscripts)
- ↑ Bibliotheca Augustana: Thomasîn von Zerklære
- ↑ Marburg Repertory: Heidelberg, Universitätsbibl., Cpg 389 ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , online
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thomasîn of Zerclaere |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Thomasin from Zirklære; Thomasin of Zirklaria |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Author of a Middle High German didactic poem |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1186 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Friuli |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1238 |
| Place of death | Aquileia |