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HROSVITHA (frequently ROSWITHA, and p...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 843 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HROSVITHA (frequently ROSWITHA, and properly HROTSUIT) , " See also:early See also:medieval dramatist and chronicler, occupies a very notable position in the See also:history of See also:modern See also:European literature. Her endeavours formed See also:part of the See also:literary activity by which the See also:age of the See also:emperor See also:Otto the See also:Great sought to emulate that of See also:Charles the Great. The famous See also:nun of See also:Gandersheim has occasionally been confounded with her namesake, a learned See also:abbess of the same See also:convent, who must have died at least See also:half a See also:century earlier. The younger Hrosvitha was See also:born in all See also:probability about the See also:year 935: and, if the statement he correct that she sang the praises of the three Ottos, she must have lived to near the See also:close of the century. Some See also:time before the year 959 she entered the See also:Benedictine nunnery of Gandersheim, a See also:foundation which was See also:con-fined to ladies of See also:German See also:birth, and was highly favoured by the Saxon See also:dynasty. In 959 Gerberga, daughter of See also:Duke See also:Henry of See also:Bavaria and niece of the emperor Otto I., was consecrated abbess of Gandersheim; and the earlier literary efforts of the youthful Hrosvitha (whose own connexion with the royal See also:family appears to be an unauthenticated tradition) were encouraged by the still more youthful abbess, and by a nun of the name of Richarda. The literary See also:works of Hrosvitha, all of which were as a See also:matter of course in Latin, See also:divide themselves into three See also:groups. Of these the first and least important comprises eight narrative religious poems, in leonine hexameters or distichs. Their subjects are the Nativity of the Virgin (from the apocryphal See also:gospel of St See also:James, the See also:brother of our See also:Lord), the See also:Ascension and a See also:series of legends of See also:saints (Gandolph, See also:Pelagius, See also:Theophilus, See also:Basil, See also:Denis, See also:Agnes). Like these narrative poems, the dramas to which above all Hrosvitha owes her fame seem to have been designed for See also:reading aloud or recitation by sisters of the convent. For though there are indications that the See also:idea of their See also:representation was at least See also:present to the mind of the authoress, the fact of such a representation appears to be an unwarrantable See also:assumption. The comedies of Hrosvitha are six in number, being doubtless in this respect also intended to recall their nominal See also:model, the comedies of See also:Terence.

They were devised on the See also:

simple principle that the See also:world, the flesh and the See also:devil should not have all the See also:good plays to themselves. The experiment upon which the See also:young See also:Christian dramatist ventured was accordingly, although not absolutely novel, audacious enough. In See also:form the dramas of " the strong See also:voice of Gandersheim," as Hrosvitha (possibly alluding to a supposed See also:etymology of her name) calls herself, are by no means Terentian. They are written in See also:prose, with an See also:element of something like See also:rhythm, and an occasional admixture of See also:rhyme. In their themes, and in the treatment of these, they are what they were intended to be, the See also:direct opposites of the lightsome adapter of See also:Menander. They are founded upon legends of the saints, selected with a view to a glorification of See also:religion in its supremest efforts and most transcendental aspects. The emperor See also:Constantine's daughter, for example, See also:Constantia, gives her See also:hand in See also:marriage to Gallicanus, just before he starts on a Scythian See also:campaign, though she has already taken a See also:vow of perpetual maidenhood. In the See also:hour of See also:battle he is himself converted, and, having on his return like his virgin See also:bride chosen the more blessed unmarried See also:state, See also:dies as a Christian See also:martyr in See also:exile. The three See also:holy maidens, See also:Agape, Chionia and See also:Irene, are preserved by a humorous See also:miracle from the evil designs of Dulcitius, to offer up their pure lives as a See also:sacrifice under See also:Diocletian's persecutions. See also:Callimachus, who has Romeo-like carried his earthly See also:passion for the saintly Drusiana into her See also:tomb, and among its horrors has met with his own See also:death, is by the See also:mediation of St See also:John raised with her from the dead to a Christian See also:life. All these themes are treated with both spirit and skill, often with instinctive knowledge of dramatic effect—often with genuine touches of pathos and undeniable felicities of expression. In Dulcitius there is also an element of See also:comedy, or rather of See also:farce.

How far Hrosvitha's comedies were an isolated phenomenon of their age in See also:

Germany must remain undecided; in the See also:general history of the See also:drama they form the visible See also:bridge between the few earlier attempts at utilizing the forms of the classical drama for Christian purposes and the miracle plays. They are in any See also:case the productions of See also:genius; nor has Hrosvitha missed the usual See also:tribute of the supposition that See also:Shakespeare has borrowed from her writings. The third and last See also:group of the writings of Hrosvitha is that of her versified See also:historical See also:chronicles. At the See also:request of the abbess Gerberga, she composed her Carmen de gestis Oddonis, an epic attempting in some degree to follow the great See also:Roman model. It was completed by the year 968, and presented by the authoress to both the old emperor and his son (then already crowned as) Otto II. This poem so closely adheres to the materials supplied to the authoress by members of the imperial familythat, notwithstanding its courtly omissions, it is regarded as an historical authority. Unfortunately only half of it remains; the part treating of the See also:period from 953 to 962 is lost with the exception of a few fragments, and the period from 962 to 967 is summarized only. Subsequently, in a poem (of 837 .hexameters) De primordiis et fundatoribus coenobii Gandersheimensis, Hrosvitha narrated the beginnings of her own convent, and its history up to the year 919. The See also:Munich MS., which contains all the works enumerated above except the See also:Chronicle of Gandersheim, was edited by the great See also:Vienna humanist, See also:Conrad See also:Celtes, in 1501. The edition of Celtes was published at See also:Nuremberg, with eight See also:wood-cuts by Albrecht Diirer. It was re-edited by H. L.

Schurzfleisch and published at See also:

Wittenberg in 1707. The comedies have been edited and translated into German by J. Bendixen (See also:Lubeck, 1857), and into See also:French by C. Magnin (See also:Paris, 1845), whose introduction gives a full See also:account of the authoress and her works. See also her Poesies latines, with a See also:translation into French See also:verse by V. Retif de la Bretonne (Paris, 1854). A copious See also:analysis of her plays will be found in See also:Klein, Geschichte See also:des Dramas, iii. 665-754 See also W. Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, i. 17 sqq. (See also:Halle, 1893), and A. W.

See also:

Ward, History of Engiish Dramatic Literature, i. 6 sqq. (See also:Cambridge, 1899). Gustav See also:Freytag wrote a dissertation, De Rosuitha poetria (See also:Breslau, 1839), to qualify himself as an academical teacher, which, as he records (Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben, See also:Leipzig, 1887, p. 1839), showed " how impossible it was to the German, a thousand years since, to compose dramatic-ally "; and at the beginning of See also:Albert See also:Cohn's Shakespeare in Germany (See also:Berlin, 1865) Shakespearean See also:parallels are suggested to certain passages in Hrosvitha's dramas. Her two chronicles in verse were edited by Z. H. See also:Pertz in the Monumenta Germaniae, iv. 306-335 (See also:Hanover, 1841). See also J. P. See also:Migne, Patrologiae curs. compl.

(Paris, 1853, vol. 137). The Carmen was included by See also:

Leibnitz in his Scriptores rer. Brunsvic. (Hanover, 1707–1711). For other early See also:editions of these see A. See also:Potthast, Bibliotheca historica medii aevi (supplement, Berlin, 1862–1868) ; and for an appreciation of them see See also:Wattenbach, Geschichtsquellen, pp. 214-216, and See also:Giesebrecht, Deutsche Kaiserzeit, i. 78o, who mentions a German translation by Pfund (186o). There is a See also:complete edition of the works of Hrosvitha by K. A. Barack (Nurnberg, 1858).

J. Aschbach (1867) attempted to prove that Celtes had forged the productions which he published under the name of Hrosvitha, but he was refuted by R. Kopke (Berlin, 1869). Anatole See also:

France, La See also:Vie litteraire (31m0 sbrie, Paris, 1891), cited by Creienach, mentions a curious See also:recent experiment, the performance of Hrosvitha's comedies in the See also:Theatre des See also:Marionettes at Paris. (A. W.

End of Article: HROSVITHA (frequently ROSWITHA, and properly HROTSUIT)

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