Vita Sancti Severini
The Vita Sancti Severini by Eugippius (approx. 465 - after 533) is a biography of St. Severin von Noricum (around 410 - 482). The hagiography of the 6th century is on 511 dates .
The content and intention of the work is, as in the majority of the surviving saints' lives, the exalting depiction of the life and miracles of the saint described, in this case that of a missionary in the upper Danube region. Despite the problems of hagiographic literature , the text is a valuable contemporary source for the conditions in Central Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries, at the turn of antiquity to the early Middle Ages . Since sources are extremely rare during the migration period after the time of Attila , it is the only written tradition on many topics. In addition, the author does not share the often very politically motivated view of the later Carolingian early Middle Ages with its re-emerging empires.
Eugippius was the third abbot of the monastery and order of Favianis founded by Severin (probably Mautern near Krems in Lower Austria), which was given up shortly after Severin's death in 488 and moved to Italy. The situation on the Danube had become untenable because of the Germanic invasions, and in 487 Odoacer had ordered all Roman citizens back to Italy. The branch of the Order of Severin was rebuilt in Castellum Lucullanum near Naples; that is where the work was probably made. Whether Eugippus already entered the order in Favianis and had met Severin personally is a matter of dispute in research.
The vita covers the period from shortly after Attila's death (453) to Severin's death and describes in particular his travels in the Ufernorikum , to Cucullae (Kuchl near Salzburg) and Iuvavum (Juvao, Salzburg) and to the area around Batavis (Passau in Bavaria, at that time already Raetien )
The Vita Sancti Severini was u. a. Published by Theodor Mommsen in 1898 and experienced numerous editions, commentaries and the like. It is written in a kind of early church Latin . Special editions include: Eugyppii Abbatis opera , edited by Johannes Basilius Herold (Basel 1542) and G. W. Robinson's translation The Life of Saint Severinus (Cambridge 1914).
Work editions
- Latin text of the Vita Sancti Severini in the Latin Library (private website)
- Theodor Nüsslein (ed.): Vita Sancti Severini, The life of St. Severin. Latin / German . Reclam, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-15-008285-4 .
- Hermann Sauppe (ed.): Eugippii Vita sancti Severini . Monumenta Germaniae Historica , Munich 1985, ISBN 3-88612-011-2 (reprint of the Berlin 1877 edition).
- Life of St. Severin , translated by Carl Rodenberg. Duncker, Leipzig 1878.
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz Witek: Vita Severini - Religious biographical writing of Eugippius (approx. 465 - after 522 AD), written in 511. ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On stifter-haus.at → Database Upper Austria Literature History , as of December 15, 2009 (accessed August 8, 2016).
- ^ Hermann Sauppe (ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 1,2: Eugippii Vita sancti Severini. Berlin 1877 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
