The Orient in Württemberg
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Annette Volfing
Abstract
This article discusses the construction of literal and allegorical topographies in Hermann von Sachsenheim’s ›Die Mörin‹ and ›Des Spiegels Abenteuer‹, focusing particularly on the apparent opposition between Swabia and the otherworlds to which the narrator in both texts finds himself transported. This opposition is particularly complex in ›Die Mörin‹, in which the land of the personification Venus-Minne is geographically remote and exotic, but at the same time intimately, and provocatively, connected with South-Western Germany; and in which Venus-Minne herself is not only a conventional allegorical figure, but also an aggressive heathen despot who lays political claim to a number of German cities. The article also foregrounds questions of intertextuality, of gender, and of ›occidental‹ versus ›oriental‹ perspective in character dialogues, before suggesting that in both texts, Mechthild von der Pfalz, the patron of Hermann von Sachsenheim, is aligned with the Wolfram-inspired personification fraw Abentur.
Abstract
This article discusses the construction of literal and allegorical topographies in Hermann von Sachsenheim’s ›Die Mörin‹ and ›Des Spiegels Abenteuer‹, focusing particularly on the apparent opposition between Swabia and the otherworlds to which the narrator in both texts finds himself transported. This opposition is particularly complex in ›Die Mörin‹, in which the land of the personification Venus-Minne is geographically remote and exotic, but at the same time intimately, and provocatively, connected with South-Western Germany; and in which Venus-Minne herself is not only a conventional allegorical figure, but also an aggressive heathen despot who lays political claim to a number of German cities. The article also foregrounds questions of intertextuality, of gender, and of ›occidental‹ versus ›oriental‹ perspective in character dialogues, before suggesting that in both texts, Mechthild von der Pfalz, the patron of Hermann von Sachsenheim, is aligned with the Wolfram-inspired personification fraw Abentur.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt VII
- Vorwort IX
- Zur Einleitung 1
- Württemberg als Kulturlandschaft im späteren Mittelalter 11
- Wissen für den Hof 37
- The Orient in Württemberg 47
- Zur Buchkultur am spätmittelalterlichen württembergischen Hof 67
- Der Schwanenritter in Württemberg 111
- The literary culture of Dominican women in late medieval Germany 157
- Liturgical manuals – liturgical norms 283
- Die Edelsteine der schwäbischen Krone 313
- Gräfin Katharina von Württemberg und die oberschwäbischen Doppelklöster der Prämonstratenser im Mittelalter 345
- Konstruktionen monastischer Identitäten 385
- The ›Alexiuslegende‹ in Esslingen 457
- Württembergisches in Donaueschinger Handschriften? 487
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Anhang
- Stammtafel 524
- Abkürzungsverzeichnis 526
- Abbildungsnachweis 527
- Handschriftenregister 528
- Register der Personen, Werke und Orte 539
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt VII
- Vorwort IX
- Zur Einleitung 1
- Württemberg als Kulturlandschaft im späteren Mittelalter 11
- Wissen für den Hof 37
- The Orient in Württemberg 47
- Zur Buchkultur am spätmittelalterlichen württembergischen Hof 67
- Der Schwanenritter in Württemberg 111
- The literary culture of Dominican women in late medieval Germany 157
- Liturgical manuals – liturgical norms 283
- Die Edelsteine der schwäbischen Krone 313
- Gräfin Katharina von Württemberg und die oberschwäbischen Doppelklöster der Prämonstratenser im Mittelalter 345
- Konstruktionen monastischer Identitäten 385
- The ›Alexiuslegende‹ in Esslingen 457
- Württembergisches in Donaueschinger Handschriften? 487
-
Anhang
- Stammtafel 524
- Abkürzungsverzeichnis 526
- Abbildungsnachweis 527
- Handschriftenregister 528
- Register der Personen, Werke und Orte 539
