The ›Alexiuslegende‹ in Esslingen
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Anne Winston-Allen
Abstract
During the thirteenth- and early fourteenth centuries, the city of Esslingen experienced an extraordinary period of economic and cultural growth that was accompanied by the construction of the Frauenkirche, a splendid new gothic parish church built in the style of the Münster being completed at Freiburg in Breisgau. One of the features of the Esslingen church was a fresco painted ca. 1340/45 that depicts a scene from the ›Alexiuslegende‹. Opinions today are divided as to which version of the vita was the source of this fresco. But some art historians have identified its source as the ›bridal‹ version, a variation that circulated in the twelfth century both independently in the Austro-Bavarian region and as a part of the huge, four-volume ›Magnum Legendarium Austriacum‹. By 1335 it had been translated into German verse and been copied into the margins of a manuscript at the women’s scriptorium in Seckau. The name ›bridal‹ version refers to a striking development in the legend that introduced a new, more prominent role for the bride as ›co-protagonist‹ with Alexius. Although the ›bridal text‹ has been taken less seriously than the Bollandist ›papal‹ or ›clerical‹ text, it is a variation that subsequently became extremely popular in German- speaking areas especially in women’s cloisters and in dual communities. This study traces earlier ›semi-bridal‹ versions: the St Albans ›Vie de saint Alexis‹ in Old French and the Latin verse text, ›Pater Deus, ingenite‹. It seeks to resolve the controversy over which text was older and traces connections to the twelfth-century ›bridal‹ version in the ›Magnum Legendarium Austriacum‹, its later Middle High German translation (Version A), and to similar ›bridal‹ versions circulating in France as hagiography became adapted to a ›popular genre‹ that was sung by ›religious jongleurs‹ in market places and in private homes, or circulated in German-speaking areas through Meisterlieder and popular texts meant for secular as well as religious audiences. The similarities between these various bridal versions point up the need for further study of dissemination in both directions across the Rhine. The popularity of the ›bridal‹ amplifications that are present in some 59 percent of late-medieval German Alexius texts marks a shift in the social composition, as well as the concerns and the ideals of late-medieval audiences. The popular demand and the choices it conditioned thus help to explain which version of the text is represented in Esslingen’s fresco.
Abstract
During the thirteenth- and early fourteenth centuries, the city of Esslingen experienced an extraordinary period of economic and cultural growth that was accompanied by the construction of the Frauenkirche, a splendid new gothic parish church built in the style of the Münster being completed at Freiburg in Breisgau. One of the features of the Esslingen church was a fresco painted ca. 1340/45 that depicts a scene from the ›Alexiuslegende‹. Opinions today are divided as to which version of the vita was the source of this fresco. But some art historians have identified its source as the ›bridal‹ version, a variation that circulated in the twelfth century both independently in the Austro-Bavarian region and as a part of the huge, four-volume ›Magnum Legendarium Austriacum‹. By 1335 it had been translated into German verse and been copied into the margins of a manuscript at the women’s scriptorium in Seckau. The name ›bridal‹ version refers to a striking development in the legend that introduced a new, more prominent role for the bride as ›co-protagonist‹ with Alexius. Although the ›bridal text‹ has been taken less seriously than the Bollandist ›papal‹ or ›clerical‹ text, it is a variation that subsequently became extremely popular in German- speaking areas especially in women’s cloisters and in dual communities. This study traces earlier ›semi-bridal‹ versions: the St Albans ›Vie de saint Alexis‹ in Old French and the Latin verse text, ›Pater Deus, ingenite‹. It seeks to resolve the controversy over which text was older and traces connections to the twelfth-century ›bridal‹ version in the ›Magnum Legendarium Austriacum‹, its later Middle High German translation (Version A), and to similar ›bridal‹ versions circulating in France as hagiography became adapted to a ›popular genre‹ that was sung by ›religious jongleurs‹ in market places and in private homes, or circulated in German-speaking areas through Meisterlieder and popular texts meant for secular as well as religious audiences. The similarities between these various bridal versions point up the need for further study of dissemination in both directions across the Rhine. The popularity of the ›bridal‹ amplifications that are present in some 59 percent of late-medieval German Alexius texts marks a shift in the social composition, as well as the concerns and the ideals of late-medieval audiences. The popular demand and the choices it conditioned thus help to explain which version of the text is represented in Esslingen’s fresco.
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
