Vita, passio et miracula beati Engelberti Coloniensis archiepiscopi
The Vita, passio et miracula beati Engelberti Coloniensis archiepiscopi (German: Life, Sorrows and Miracles of Saint Engelbert, Archbishop of Cologne , also called Engelbert Vita for short ) is the life story of Cologne Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne , written by Caesarius von Heisterbach . The work that served to prepare the canonization of Engelbert is considered the most important source for the biography of the archbishop, who was killed in 1225.
Emergence
The life story of Archbishop Engelbert was written after his violent death in 1225. In the dispute over bailiwick rights and territories, Westphalian nobles conspired against Engelbert and attacked him in a ravine near Gevelsberg . It is now unclear whether the conspiracy intended Engelbert's death or merely wanted to arrest him in order to force him to give in according to the then applicable feudal law. As the alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, Friedrich von Isenberg was sentenced to death and put on the bike in Cologne.
Urvita
Engelbert's successor as Archbishop of Cologne, Heinrich von Molenark , commissioned Caesarius to write Engelbert's life story. According to J. Greven, Caesarius had already started this work of his own accord at this point. Greven believes that Caesarius, out of indignation and compassion, decided to erect a literary memorial to the man who was killed. He first drafted a life story of Engelbert in two books, the so-called Urvita . This should form the fourth and fifth books of the second collection of copies .
The latter results from a passage at the end of the prologue to the Libri miraculorum :
“In place of the fourth and fifth books I am adding the Passion and the Miracles of Archbishop Engelbert of Cologne, who was murdered while I was writing this. The initials of the books clearly indicate the name of the author when they are linked together. "
In the surviving (second) version, the first and third books actually begin with "A" and "R", i.e. the fourth and fifth letters of the name Caesarius .
W. Levinson, on the other hand, does not believe in the existence of such an original life. Rather, Caesarius von Heisterbach only started working on the Engelbert vita when he was commissioned to do so by Heinrich von Molenark , Engelbert's successor as Archbishop of Cologne.
Levinson explains that the prologue of the Libri miraculorum was not written until 1227, after Caesarius had finished the Libri . If it says that Engelbert was murdered me ista scribente , it only means while I was writing this work . Thus what Caesarius inserted into the Libri is the finished Engelbertvita in the form that has been preserved. Caesarius only mentioned two books, passio and miracula , but this goes back to the fact that the first and second books originally formed the first together. The division into three books was made afterwards. This is supported by the fact that in manuscript class 1 there is talk of distinctio I., II. , While the name miracula as the third book can only be found in interpolated manuscript class 2.
Karl Langosch does not think this is convincing. This is what Caesarius speaks in Book II, Chap. 11 itself out of three parts. It is a passage in the book that Levinson must also assume was there from the beginning. Furthermore, it cannot be assumed that Caesarius originally referred to the first and second books as distinctiones and summarized them as Liber I. Rather, he calls the books in the Libri micarculorum the Libri , those of the Dialogus miraculorum the distinctiones , which he divided into two codices of six because of their size . In the list of scriptures libri is mentioned , so that distinction probably means the same as liber . Langosch also points out that the manuscripts of the first class omit the prologue including the title of the third book. From this one can conclude that the first class was called distinctio tertia . Accordingly, the title name of the first book in the manuscript Class I. Liber I. de vita et actibus ... . There is nothing here about the passio that it should include. In the end, the interpretation of the prologue in the Libri miraculorum , that Caesarius inserted the finished Vita, is neither compelling nor more plausible than Greven's assumption of the existence of an original Vita.
Langosch also assumes, however, that the first book, the content of which can only be described as a Passion if the second book is also included, was later expanded into two books. Langosch recognizes two writing styles, that of the first version and that of the traditional version. Especially in the sixteenth chapter of the second book, Caesarius portrayed the archbishop's martyrdom in such a tendentious manner that this could be ascribed to the second version. For it was only through the commission of Heinrich von Mollenark that the intention was added to use the work to prepare for Engelbert's canonization. The end of the chapter, on the other hand, looks as if he had previously completed another book, namely the first of the Passion in the Urvita. The doxology at the end of the seventeenth chapter is also conspicuous , because the sixteenth chapter ends there. In addition, the narrative in the eleventh chapter of the second book about how Archbishop Caesarius had commissioned Caesarius to write the Vita looks like a later insertion that the author himself describes as a digression and tears up the otherwise prevailing chronological sequence.
When the news of Engelbert's death reached Heisterbach, Caesarius was writing the 64 Sunday homilies. In the 43rd he expresses his feelings:
“ While we were writing this, the material we are dealing with, the oh so lamentable death of our Archbishop Engelbert, for he fell among the murderers, and they were indeed more cruel than all the murderers put together, were blood-wise close to him and were through him committed to numerous benefits; he was killed by them unexpectedly, in a deceitful manner and without mercy ... "
Commissioned by Heinrich von Molenark
On the day of his episcopal ordination, on September 20, 1226, Engelbert's successor as Archbishop of Cologne, Heinrich von Molenark , commissioned Caesarius to record Engelbert's deeds and miracles for posterity. Caesarius describes this in the dedication letter and in the eleventh chapter of the second book. Heinrich instructed the prior of the Heisterbach monastery to force Caesarius to carry out this commission if necessary.
Caesarius took this as an opportunity to extract the Urvita from the Exempla and to create an independent font from it. At the same time, he aligned the three books with the aim of providing evidence that Engelbert had become a victim of willful murder and thus became a martyr of the church who deserved to be canonized. Like Thomas Becket in England, Engelbert should be venerated as a national saint in Germany.
literature
Primary literature
- Caesarius von Heisterbach , Vita, passio et miracula beati Engelberti Coloniensis archiepiscopi , 1226/1227/1237.
Secondary literature
- Karl Langosch, Caesarius von Heisterbach. Life, suffering and miracles of the Holy Archbishop Engelbert of Cologne. Translated by Karl Langosch with an introduction by Karl Langosch. Weimar 1955.