Ruodlieb

Last updated
Ruodlieb
Ruodlieb f34r.jpg
Languagemedieval Latin
Date2nd quarter of the 11th century
State of existencefragmentary
Manuscript(s)•Munich, Bavarian State Library, MS Clm 19486 (36 leaves), possibly originally from Tegernsee Abbey
St. Florian, Stiftsbibliothek (2 leaves)
Verse form leonine hexameters
Subjectadventures of a knight from youth to adulthood

Ruodlieb is a fragmentary romance in Latin verse written by an unknown southern German poet who flourished about 1030. He was almost certainly a monk of the Bavarian Tegernsee Abbey.

Contents

The poem is one of the earliest German romances of knightly adventure, and its vivid picture of feudal manners gives it a certain value as a historical document. The poet was probably an eyewitness of the episode (II.4231–5221) which represents the meeting of the Emperor Henry II (d. 1024) with Robert II of France (d. 1031) on the banks of the Meuse River in 1023. Ruodlieb was left unfinished, and furthermore the manuscript was cut up and used for binding books, so that the fragments were only gradually discovered (from 1807 onwards) and pieced together. [1]

Contents

The framework of the story is borrowed from a popular Märchen . The young knight lives in exile away from home and takes service at the court of a just king. He is paid in wise saws instead of current coin. He also receives a loaf, which contains coins but is accompanied by instructions not to cut it until the knight has returned home. The proverbs, usually three in number, were increased in Ruodlieb to twelve, each of which was the starting-point of an episode by which the hero was made to appreciate its value. [1]

When the knight has returned home and reunites with his mother, his next challenge in life is to seek a wife. However, he fails to find one until he encounters a dwarf, whom he traps. In return for his freedom, the dwarf reveals the whereabouts of a large treasure and utters the prophecy that the knight will marry Heriburg after he has slain her father and brother. [2]

Other examples

For examples of the three-proverb tale, see: [1]

and others in the French romance of the Saint Graal , in the Gesta Romanorum (the three proverbs bought by Domitian) and the old French Dit des trois pommes.

Notes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechthild of Magdeburg</span> Christian medieval mystic, Beguine

Mechthildof Magdeburg, a Beguine, was a Christian medieval mystic, whose book Das fließende Licht der Gottheit is a compendium of visions, prayers, dialogues and mystical accounts. She was the first mystic to write in Low German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landgrave</span> Noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire and its former territories

Landgrave was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of Landgraf, Markgraf ("margrave"), and Pfalzgraf are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to Herzog ("duke"), and superior to the rank of a Graf ("count").

<i>Heliand</i>

The Heliand is an epic alliterative verse poem in Old Saxon, written in the first half of the 9th century. The title means healer in Old Saxon, and the poem is a Biblical paraphrase that recounts the life of Jesus in the alliterative verse style of a Germanic epic. Heliand is the largest known work of written Old Saxon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August von Werder</span> Prussian general

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich August Leopold Graf von Werder was a Prussian general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annolied</span>

The Annolied is an Early Middle High German poem in praise of Archbishop Anno II of Cologne. Anno died in 1075 and the poem, probably written in the years immediately after his death, can be seen as part of a campaign for his canonisation, which was finally achieved in 1183. The modern title is taken from the heading given to it by Martin Opitz in his edition of the text: RHYTHMVS DE S. ANNONE COLONIENSI ARCHIEPISCOPO.

In historical Germanic society, nīþ was a term for a social stigma implying the loss of honour and the status of a villain. A person affected with the stigma is a nīðing . Middle English retained a cognate nithe, meaning 'envy', 'hate', or 'malice'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Günther II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein</span> Duke of Schleswig-Holstein

Ernst Gunther II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, was a son of Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. He inherited his father's title as titular third duke of Schleswig-Holstein.

The Gesta Berengarii imperatoris is a Latin epic poem chronicling the career of Berengar of Friuli, King of Italy from 887 and Emperor from 915. It follows Berengar's career from its inception until his imperial coronation in Rome in December 915. It is a court panegyric and highly laudatory of its namesake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon and Marcolf</span>

Solomon and Marcolf is a medieval narrative describing the adventures and conversations of Solomon and Marcolf, or Marolf. The adventures have some connection with those of Ashmedai, while the conversations consist chiefly of riddles similar to those put to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba. The exact extent of its indebtedness to the Haggadah is somewhat doubtful, though it is practically certain that the various versions are derived from an Eastern original.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustav von Alvensleben</span> Prussian general (1803-1881)

Gustav von Alvensleben was a Prussian General der Infanterie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Carolinus</span> 6th- or 7th-century Biblical manuscript

Codex Carolinus is an uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated to the 6th or 7th century. It is a palimpsest containing a Latin text written over a Gothic one. The Gothic text is designated by siglum Car, the Latin text is designated by siglum gue or by 79, it represents the Old Latin translation of the New Testament. It is housed in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel in Lower Saxony, Germany.

The Jüngere Hochmeisterchronik, Croniken van der Duytscher Oirden, or Utrecht Chronicle of the Teutonic Order is a Middle Dutch chronicle of the Teutonic Order. It was written in or around the city of Utrecht in the Low Countries in several phases: around 1480, around 1491, and with some minor alterations after 1492. It has been referred to as “the final piece of the puzzle that is the official historiographic tradition of the Teutonic Order”. The anonymous chronicle was likely authored by the land commander of the Utrecht bailiwick of the Teutonic Order, Johan van Drongelen, in cooperation with his personal secretary Hendrik Gerardsz. van Vianen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Cassano (1259)</span> 1259 battle

The Battle of Cassano was fought in the Autumn of 1259 between Guelph and Ghibelline armies in Northern Italy.

Middle High German literature refers to literature written in German between the middle of the 11th century and the middle of the 14th. In the second half of the 12th century, there was a sudden intensification of activity, leading to a 60-year "golden age" of medieval German literature referred to as the mittelhochdeutsche Blütezeit. This was the period of the blossoming of Minnesang, MHG lyric poetry, initially influenced by the French and Provençal tradition of courtly love song. The same sixty years saw the composition of the most important courtly romances. again drawing on French models such as Chrétien de Troyes, many of them relating Arthurian material. The third literary movement of these years was a new revamping of the heroic tradition, in which the ancient Germanic oral tradition can still be discerned, but tamed and Christianized and adapted for the court.

Old High German literature refers to literature written in Old High German, from the earliest texts in the 8th century to the middle of the 11th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asseburg (castle)</span>

The Asseburg is a ruined hill castle on the narrow, southern crest of the Asse ridge in the Harz Mountains of Germany, not far from Wolfenbüttel. The castle was built around 1218 by Gunzelin of Wolfenbüttel and his descendants of the House of Asseburg, as a so-called Ganerbenburg, or castle managed and occupied by more than one family or branch. Based on its dimensions, this elongated fortification was the largest hill castle in North Germany and was considered impregnable. Its purpose was to secure the lands around Wolfenbüttel.

Benjamin Sigmund Oehrl is a German archaeologist and philologist who specializes in Germanic studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clara Steinitz</span> German novelist, feuilletonist, and translator from English, French, Italian, and Norwegia

Clara Steinitz was a German novelist, feuilletonist, and translator from English, French, Italian, and Norwegian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfried Rosendahl</span> German bioarchaeologist, geoscientist and cultural manager

Wilfried Rosendahl is a German bioarchaeologist, geoscientist, and cultural manager, general director of the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums in Mannheim, and honorary professor at the Institute of History at the University of Mannheim.

The Armleder persecutions were a series of massacres against Jews in Franconia and Alsace in 1336–1339.

References

Attribution

Further reading