In 1494 the German humanist and crowned poet
laureate Conrad Celtis, while teaching and researching in Regensburg, discovered a medieval
manuscript in the convent library of the St. Emmeran monastery (today Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Clm 14485 1–150), which
contained the works of the 10th-century Gander-
sheim nun Hrotsvit. He immediately hailed her as
a literary wonder who proved to him and his contemporaries that Germany also had had a glorious,
intellectually highly developed past that could even
compete with classical Roman literature. Hrotsvit
has enjoyed superior respect for her Latin dramas,
religious tales, and historiographical poems ever
since because she appears to have been the first and
only Saxon (or generally, German) woman playwright in the early Middle Ages who endeavored to
try her hand at such a sophisticated literary genre.
Hrotsvit’s oeuvre (the complete body of her texts)
was printed in Nuremberg in 1501, accompanied
by six woodcuts for the dramas: two by Albrecht
Dürer and four by Wolfgang Traut. Additional
manuscripts containing Hrotsvit’s works were not
found until the 20th century.
Although we have no biographical material
about the poet, references in the texts—especially
the Primordia coenobii Gandeshemensis—and circumstantial evidence allow us to draw a fairly clear
picture of Hrotsvit’s life. She was the daughter of a
high-ranking Saxon noble family and joined the
Benedictine convent of Gandersheim as a canoness
under the rule of the abbess Gerberga II (born ca.
940). Her Primordia Hrotsvit also states that she
was born long after the death of Emperor Otto II
(Nov. 30, 912). She was obviously proud of her literary achievements, since she explains her own
name in the introduction to her dramas as
“Clamor Validus Gandeshemensis.” As Jacob
Grimm observed (Lateinische Gedichte, 1898, 9),
her Old Saxon name derived from two compounds, hruot, meaning “voice” (in Latin: clamor),
and suid, meaning “strong” (in Latin: validus).
Katharina Wilson offers the following explanation:
“Seen as allegorization of her name, ‘Clamor
Validus’ could be best rendered as ‘Forceful Testimony’ (that is, for God), or ‘Vigorous (valid) Attestation’ (that is of Christian truth)” (1998, 4).
The convent of Gandersheim, founded in 852
in northern Germany near the Harz mountains by
Count Liudolf and his wife, Oda, admitted only
daughters of noble families and educated them in
the classical arts, music, theology, and probably
also some philosophy. Although Emperor Otto I
had freed the convent from royal rule and allowed
the abbess to administer every aspect of her convent all on her own, he and his own family maintained close ties with Gandersheim. The convent
soon grew into a major center of intellectual and
spiritual education. Hrotsvit demonstrates with
her large oeuvre that 10th-century convent women
were fully capable of making their own voices
heard and could participate in the literary activities
of their time. She seems to have begun writing already during her school years, a regular aspect of
medieval educational principles, but those texts
have not come down to us.
Hrotsvit composed eight religious tales (legends), first on the Virgin Mary, then on the Saints
Ascensio, Gongolfus, Pelagius, Theophilus, Basilius, Dionysius, and Agnes. Subsequently she wrote
seven religious dramas: Gallicanus (I and II), Dulcitius, Calimachus, Abraham, Pafnutius, and Sapientia. Finally, she created two historical verse
epics, the Gesta Ottonis (Deeds of Otto) and Primordia coneobii Gandeshemensis (The origins of
the Gandersheim abbey). Not surprising for a
convent woman, Hrotsvit repeatedly glorified the
life and suffering of martyred virgins who lived
and died in the time of the late Roman Empire
and of the early Middle Ages as witnesses of the
power of Christ. Although her heroines often reflect women’s physical weakness, their oaths to
keep their virginity, the hope to join the chorus of
divine virgins in the afterlife, and their hope that
Christ would welcome them as his heavenly brides
signal these women’s courage and spiritual dedication. Surprisingly, many of Hrotsvit’s texts are
characterized by a quite earthy humor and prove
to be considerably entertaining even for modern
tastes. For her religious tales and the historical
poems Hrotsvit heavily drew from the Roman
poets PRUDENTIUS (348–405 C.E.) and Virgil
(70–19 B.C.E.), among many other late antique and
early medieval writers. Most important, however,
proved to be the dramatist Terence (195–159
B.C.E.), whose comedies seem to have exerted a
considerable influence on the early-medieval convent schools. But Hrotsvit rejected his secular outlook with its often highly erotic allusions, and
decided to create her own dramas to replace Terence in the reading (or performance) canon
within her convent. In the preface to her dramas,
Hrotsvit states that many nuns “frequently read
Terence’s fiction,/and as they delight in the sweetness of his style and diction,/they are stained by
learning of wicked things in his depiction.” Her
own religious dramas served as powerful substitutes with which she hoped to convert her audiences back to virtuousness and Christian piety:
“Therefore I, the Strong Voice of Gandersheim,
have not refused to imitate him in writing/whom
others laud in reading,/so that in that selfsame
form of composition in which the shameless acts
of lascivious women were phrased/the laudable
chastity of sacred virgins be praised within the
limits of my little talent.” Although Hrotsvit tends
to utilize humility topoi (standard phrases) about
her unworthiness (see the preface to the religious
legends), she emerges not only as a most powerful
Latin author, but also as a highly self-conscious
personality fully aware of her abilities to write in
various learned genres.
Bibliography
Brown, Phyllis Rugg, Katharina M. Wilson, and Linda
A. McMillin. Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contexts,
Identities, Affinities, and Performances. Toronto:
Toronto University Press, 2004.
Hrotsvithae Opera. Edited by H. Homeyer. Munich:
Ferdinand Schöningh, 1970.
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: A Florilegium of Her Works.
Translated with Introduction by Katharina M.
Wilson. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1998.
Wilson, Katharina M., ed. Hrotsvit of Gandersheim:
“Rara Avis in Saxonia”? Ann Arbor, Mich.: Medieval and Renaissance Collegium, 1987.
Albrecht Classen