The Ottonian Renaissance

Although we use the term "renaissance" to refer primarily to a rebirth of art and culture that started in 14th century Italy and spread throughout Europe, the truth is that there were several rebirths of culture between the Fall of Rome and the 14th century. I discussed this a decade ago here. One such rebirth took place during the Ottonians in Germany in the 10th century.

Part of this was not so much a rebirth as an influx of culture from the east: the Byzantine Empire maintained some of what Western Europe "lost" during those centuries. When Otto I married his son, Otto II, to Theophanu, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes, he opened the door to Byzantine art and increased commerce. Another important figure involved was Gerbert of Aurillac, who became Pope Sylvester II during the reign of Otto III.

Sylvester II introduced the abacus for computation, and wooden terrestrial spheres for the study of the movement of planets and constellations. He composed De rationalis et ratione uti (Of the rational and the use of reason) and dedicated it to Otto III. Promoting reason over faith was an important step in the study of the sciences. Sylvester also promoted the expansion of abbey libraries, particularly at Bobbio Abbey (where St. Columbanus wound up earlier), which had almost 600 works.

Arts and architecture also stand out in an examination of the Ottonian Renaissance. The revival of the Holy Roman Empire brought inspiration to think on a grander scale and create art and buildings that reflected the grandeur to which the Ottonians believed they were heir. Large bronze doors on churches and gilded crosses became more common. Ottonian patronage of monasteries produced grand illuminated manuscripts. One of the most famous scriptoria was Reichenau, which produced Hermann of Reichenau. This is also the period of the literary output of Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim.

A campaign of renovating churches and cathedrals also took place. (The illustration is an ivory plaque showing Otto I on the left, shown smaller than the saints, presenting Magdeburg Cathedral to Christ.) Longer naves and apses were inspired by Roman/Byzantine basilica. Many of these church designs and re-designs came form the hand of Otto I's brother, Bruno the Great. Bruno extended the cathedral in Cologne to rival the size of St. Peter's in Rome (Cologne Cathedral burned down in 1248, alas). He also built a church dedicated to St. Martin of Tours.

Ivory carving and cloisonné enamels were also widely produced in this era. A major workshop for cloisonné enamels was established by Archbishop Egbert of Trier, using a Byzantine technique of "sunken" enamel, where thin gold wire was soldered to a base, and colored glass melted into the spaces, as opposed to the original style of affixing gemstones as an inlay.

I find Ottonian art, though lovely, does not tickle my interest as much as those "wooden terrestrial spheres" of Pope Sylvester, so I'm going to look into those for next time.

Medieval Feminism

It is not fair to suggest that there was a "feminist movement" in the Middle Ages, but there were many examples of women who did not conform to what the Modern Age thinks of women in the Middle Ages being forced into "traditional" roles. Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim was one of those examples.

Hrotsvitha was a 10th century nun in the Abbey of Gandersheim who turned her hand to writing poetry, plays, and histories. The illustration, a woodcut by Albrecht Durer, shows her presenting her history of the Ottonian Empire to Otto the Great (he was previously mentioned here and here). As the first to write dramas in the Latin West, as the first female German poet, she became revered as a feminist icon in the 1970s.

Although she writes that any excellence in her work comes from God, not from her, she was not saying that she, as a woman, had no ability to produce excellence. This may have been just a literary convention, or even true humility. In fact, she sees that women taking the veil and taking vows of chastity shows the power of self-determination, rejecting the role of wife and mother that men would put them in.

Encouraged to write plays after reading the Roman playwright Terence, she produced works with female characters very different from his shrews and courtesans. Her female characters are virtuous, courageous, witty, and close to God. Even though she saw women as somehow weaker than men in worldly terms, she considered women more suitable instruments for God to bring about grace and salvation for them and those around them. She saw men as more susceptible to temptation and sin.

Her plays dealt with subjects important to women: marriage, rape, objectification. In Callimach, a man attempts to rape a beautiful woman, who prays for death. This she is granted by God before she can be violated. When the rapist resumes with her corpse, he is bit by a venomous serpent and dies. Dulcitius, aka Passio Sanctarum Virginum Agapis Chioniae Et Hirenae ("The Passion of the Holy Virgins Agape, Chionia, and Irena"), shows how a governor, Dulcitius, is foiled in his passion by three virgins. (You can read the play yourself here. It has fewer than 300 lines!)

Hrotsvitha clearly believed in an ideal of the virginal woman, which some dismiss as merely a Christian construct which prevents women from aspiring to higher goals, but it is argued that she was promoting a model of female integrity that encouraged more positive views of women in 10th century Germany.

Hrotsvitha was alive during the Ottonian Period in Germany, which I have barely touched on all these years. Let's get a better idea of what it was next time.

Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim

A nun, a poet, a playwright— Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim has been called the most remarkable woman of her time, but she was hardly known until a manuscript of her works was discovered in 1494.

From information in her writing we can glean that she was born between 930 and 940CE to a well-to-do Saxon family. We do not know what prompted her to "take the veil" and enter a nunnery, but we know she took vows of chastity and obedience but not poverty, presumable because she did not want to give up comforts and freedoms she had grown up with.

In a preface to her poetical works, she writes of her education at the Abbey of Gandersheim:

I was trained first by our most learned and gentle novice-mistress Rikkarda and others. Later, I owed much to the kind favour and encouragement of a royal personage, Gerberga, under whose abbatial rule I am now living. She, though younger in years than I, was, as might be expected of the niece of an Emperor, far older in learning, and she had the kindness to make me familiar with the works of some of those authors in whose writings she had been instructed by learned men.

Among the works to which she was introduced were those of the Roman playwright Terence, and she decided she wanted to try her hand at that genre, making her the earliest known playwright—female or male—in the Latin West. Where Terence wrote women as shrews and courtesans, Hrotsvitha wrote them as innocents who were exemplars of Christian virtue.

She was the first female poet in Germany, writing several works in dactylic hexameter, including a history of the Ottoman Empire. and a history of Gandersheim Abbey.

She was the first Northern European to write about Islam. In her play Passio Sancti Pelagio ("The Passion of Saint Pelagius"), which she says is derived from an eyewitness to the martyrdom of Pelagius of Cordova, she refers to the character of Abd al-Rahman III, the Emir of Cordova from 929-961. Her plays read as dialogues, which means they are labeled "closet dramas" (a play meant to be read out loud, rather than performed). We know, however, that the Abbey enjoyed her writing, and she was asked to read to the other nuns, so it is possible that her plays were "performed" at Gandersheim.

The discovery and publication (in 1501) of her works made her a subject for study. In the 20th century, she became a feminist icon, which means I'll take a deeper dive into her works tomorrow.

Theophilus the Penitent

Let me tell you about Theophilus the Penitent, a Christian cleric who was the archdeacon of Adana in Cilicia (now Turkey). He was known for being generous to the poor, eloquent when preaching, sympathetic to others, and for his asceticism. When the bishop died, Theophilus was offered the position, and was very strongly urged by all to take it.

Out of humility, he refused the position, presumably with the standard Latin phrase nolo episcopari, "I do not wish to be made bishop." (It is traditional that the candidate say this at least twice when offered a bishopric before finally accepting; if he says it a third time, he really means to refuse the promotion.)

Unfortunately for him, some people decided to malign him, spreading rumors that turned the populace against him and so unnerved him that he started spending all his energy in combatting the four rumors being spread, and attempting to find the sources of the rumors. The current bishop, hearing the rumors against him, fired him from his archdeacon position.

Finally, Theophilus appealed to a necromancer for help, who led him to a crossroads in the dark of the night and conjured up Satan. Satan offered a deal: in exchange for his soul, all calumnies against him would disappear. Theophilus agreed, and signed a contract with his own blood. The next day, he was summoned to the bishop's presence; the bishop had discovered that the rumors were false, Theophilus was a good man after all, and the bishop re-instated him in his position.

But Theophilus had no peace of mind. He paced his room night after night, regretting the foul bargain he had made, and he prayed. He undertook a fast of 40 days, praying every night, all night, until the 40th day when the Virgin Mary appeared to him. She rebuked him for his poor decision, and he asked her to intercede for him. This she agreed to do, and the following night she appeared in his dream and told him that her son had forgiven him. When he woke up the next morning, the static contract was with him.

That day being Sunday, he went to church, threw himself at the feet of the bishop to make his confession, and showed the congregation the contract. They destroyed the contract, Theophilus went home feeling unburdened...and died three days later.

People love a comeback story, and sinners repenting. Theophilus became the subject of poems and plays as well as sermons. The earliest version of the story claims to come from Eutychianus, a disciple of Theophilus who was an eyewitness. (The only Eutychianus who makes it into Christian records is a 3rd-century pope.) Legend tells us that Theophilus died in 538CE. There is a Latin version of the story (the original is Greek) from Paulus Diaconus.

It is in the 11th century that art depicting his story first appears, in carvings, but it really takes off in the 13th century in stained glass windows and illuminations. Above is supposed to be Theophilus building a church in his capacity as archdeacon. The usual portrayal is in four panes: signing the contract, Theophilus repenting, the Virgin recovering the contract from the devil, the Virgin returning the contract to Theophilus. Other than the Theophilus story, all examples of Marian art in churches and cathedrals are Bible stories.

One of the better-known composers of Theophilus-based poetry was Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, a name that is so familiar to me that I'm shocked to find that I have never mentioned her before in this forum. I aim to correct that defect tomorrow.