Germania Litteraria Mediaevalis Francigena
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Edited by:
Geert Henricus Marie Claassens
European medieval art, philosophy and literature were significantly shaped by French culture and its intellectual and literary achievements. This reference work, for the first time in the history of literary studies, provides a comprehensive overview of language elements, poetic forms and genres, motifs, themes and works of the German and Dutch medieval literature between about 1100 and 1300, which were based on influences and models from France.
The handbook documents the immense attraction of French culture of that era as well as the creative appropriation, adaptation and reforming of foreign language models in the adjacent Germanic language areas. An international editorial committee and a large number of experts classify, present and expand the research on this topic.
The book is a source of primary information and provides a basis for more detailed studies in the future. It is a standard work of medieval studies and a benchmark for a historically appropriate description of German and Dutch literature of the High Middle Ages as a European phenomenon.
Author / Editor information
Geert Claassens, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgien; Fritz Peter Knapp, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Heidelberg; René Pérennec, Université François Rabelais, Tours, Frankreich.
GLMF I presents an examination of the bearers of cultural exchange in spiritual and intellectual matters as well as the dissemination of Gallo-Latin encyclopedias, allegories, poetry, and works of literary criticism. It summarizes the transmission of Latin sermons, devotional literature, biblical exegesis, bible epics, arts literature, philosophy, and theology from France, and also shows interconnections between educational and vernacular texts.
GLMF II is devoted to examining how the impact of the French language between 1100 and 1300 affected a virtually homogeneous language area and to what extent this impact can be shown to represent a differentiating factor in relation to the geography of language.
In Lyric Poetry (GLMF III), the influence of Romance literature on Middle High German and Middle Dutch lyric poetry – particularly the ‘Minnesang’, from its beginnings to the 14th century – is demonstrated in chronologically ordered chapters. In addition, the book compiles for the first time all the scattered research from monographs and other sources to provide a general overview of the impact of Old Occitan and Old French lyric poetry. Aside from discussing the reception of content and form, the work also takes into account the role of music and the often overlooked ‘Sangspruchdichtung’.
GLMF IV is devoted to historical and religious narratives of various origins adapted from the French, including German and Dutch historical epics based on ancient romances about Alexander, Aeneas, Troy (Part A), the historical epic based on Chansons de geste in five epic cycles (Part B), and shorter German religious narratives, such as Hartmann's "Gregorius" (Part C).
Das GLMF-Handbuch setzt sich zum Ziel, eine Grundlage für die Fortsetzung und idealiter die Intensivierung der Beschäftigung mit einem wichtigen Aspekt der europäischen Kulturgeschichte zu liefern, der Rezeption der französischen Literatur in den angrenzenden germanischen Sprachlandschaften im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert. Im Mittelpunkt stehen die Texte, und da dieser Transferschub noch vor der „Bifurkation“ (Luc de Grauwe) niederländisch/deutsch erfolgte, werden ‚deutsche‘ und ‚niederländische‘ Texte präsentiert. Für die praktische Realisierung dieser Option bietet der ‚höfische Roman‘ eine günstige Ausgangsbasis. Die Gliederung richtet sich nach den faßbaren textlichen Konfigurationen: Es begegnen ‚bloße‘ Textpaare wie Chrétiens ‚Yvain‘ und Hartmanns ‚Iwein‘ oder ‚Fergus‘/‚Ferguut‘, Dreier- (Partonopeusromane) oder Vierergruppen (Florisromane), aber auch komplexere Text-Ensembles wie die Lancelotromane. Die zehn Kapitel beschreiben jeweils diese Konstellationen, liefern eine Basis-Information über die romanischen Vor-Texte und die germanischen Nachgestaltungen, bieten Analysen, verzeichnen Forschungsergebnisse oder weisen auf Forschungsdesiderate hin und sind, gemäß dem Primärvorhaben, zu weiterem Umgang mit den behandelten Texten einzuladen, mit einem reichhaltigen Literaturanhang versehen.
GLMF VI examines the French influence on Middle High German and Middle Dutch literature in genres whose common feature is their instructive intent. Whereas a connection to the Romance model is readily discernable in animal epics (Part B) and allegorical works (Part C), some of the small epic fables and fairy tales (Part A) were transmitted orally and reformulated many times, which makes it difficult to capture their specific indebtedness to French antecedents.
The index (works by author, anonymous works, place names, persons, subject index) offers detailed access to the six volumes of the handbook series. The selection of keywords (particularly in the subject index), including frequent “variants,” and the cross-references take into account the “regional” identity of each geo-cultural area and the disciplines involved.
