HROSWITHA OF GANDERSHEIM
935-1001
 

Embarking on a study of the "Daughters of Religious Drama," it is necessary to begin with Hroswitha of Gandersheim, a tenth century daughter of the Church and the first recorded European dramatist following the Dark Ages. Credited with the authorship of "eight sacred legends, six dramas in rhymed prose, two historical poems [Panagyric Oddonum (a history of Otto I) and Primordia Coenobii Gandershemensis (a history of Gandersheim)], three prose prefaces, several dedications, and poem on The Revalation [Vision] of St. John," Hroswitha lived up to the Saxon root of her name "Hrosuind" meaning 'strong voice'"(Haight, 3). Adopting this meaning as a creative mission, Hroswitha proclaimed herself as the "ego, clamor validus Gandeishermensis" (the strong voice of Gandersheim).

Ann Haight in Hroswitha of Gandersheim: Her Life, Times, and Works provides a detailed account of Hroswitha's life, of which this page is a summary. Haight begins by acknowledging that what is known about the dramatist echoes through her own works. Hroswitha's prefaces provide clues to her age, educational background and social status. She writes:

"...I strove according to my ability, scarcely adequate though that was, none the less to complete a composition from the thoughts in the writing with which I had become aquainted within the confines of our monastery at Gandersheim; first through the instructive guidance of our learned and kindly teacher Rikkardis, and of others who taught in her stead; and then through the gracious consideration of the royal Gerberga, under whose rule as Abbess I am living at present. Though she is younger than I in years than I am, yet as befits a niece of the Emperor, she is farther advanced in learning, and she it was who right kindly instructed me in those various authors from whom she herself studied under the guidance of learned teachers" (qtd in Haight, 14).

From this information, Haight and other historians estimate that Hroswitha was born between 930 and 940 (the birth year of the younger Gerberga). As to when Hroswitha entered the religious life at Gandersheim, there has been some debate. Because Hroswitha's works reflect a woman well-read and educated, some historians claim she entered at an early age; others assert she entered Gandersheim as old as twenty-three. Haight admits that Hroswitha's "cloistered" education must have begun early, but places her in the monastery in 955 under the Abbess Wendelgard, and beginning her writing under the tutelage of Abbess Gerberga, consecrated in 959 (8-9, 12).

While most of Europe suffered cultural and educational disintegration after the fall of Rome, Germany remained a "country of enlightenment and learning" under the Ottonian empire. With its strong association to the empire, Gandersheim was considered a beacon of culture and education. Since its founding ca. 850 by Duke Liudolf, the Gandersheim Abbey "became one of the richest and most distinguished of the convents founded by Liudolf, whose descendants formed the dynasty that ruled Germany in Hroswitha's time" (Haight, 7). A century later, under the rule of Otto I, the cultural and religious prosperity of the German people and its most distinguished and royally aligned monastary continued. Gandersheim's formal association with the crown ended in 947 when "Otto freed the Abbey from royal rule and gave the Abbess supreme authority" (Haight 9). Gandersheim was an independent, self-suffiicent and insulated community offering protection from the barabarous world often associated with the Dark Ages. Here, Hroswitha had access to classical reading and intellectual as well as ecclesiastical and royal communities.

Haight cites the work of Dr. Robert Fife to quantify the authors studied by Hroswitha as reflected in her works, these include "Virgil...Ovid...Terence...early Christian centuries Prudentius and Venantius Fortunarus...the Roman philosopher and statesmen of the sixth century, Boethius.... Scholastic philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and especially music.... Apocryphal stories of Christ and the Apostles and... the legends of the saints" (12). Hroswitha is best known for the last of these, the saint legends, and her "imitations" of Terence.

Although Hroswitha's prefaces portray a woman of great humilty, an "obscure woman," "a poor nun" who by the "grace of the Creator...aquired some knowledge of the arts," it important to note that Hroswitha was not an impoverished nun studying and writing from the obscurity of her cell, but was a canoness who enjoyed close connections with and the privileges of the royal court. Hroswitha most likely was not educated by happenstance, but through a structured education administered by learned scholars of the monastery and the Princess-Abess herself. Hroswitha held a close friendship with Otto II and was comissioned to write the legacy of Otto I. There is also some speculation that Hroswitha shared bloodlines with Hroswitha I, an Abbess of Gandersheim shortly before the dramatist's birth (Haight, 8-9, 11). Hroswitha of Gandersheim, though humble in heart, did not write in meager surroundings and was able to achieve great literary accomplishments through the education and associations granted her by the Gandersheim community.

As a canoness Hroswitha enjoyed a less restrictive lifestyle than the Benedictine nuns who inhabited Gandersheim. Haight writes, "the canonesses were only required to take vows of chastity and obedience, and not that of poverty. This gave them the freedom to be a part of the world, and yet protected from it by the sacred veil of virginity. The canonesses were allowed to receive guests, to come and go with permission, to own books, to own property, and were permitted to have servants...(11). Hroswitha's lifestyle as a canoness maintained the financial privilege of her noble upbringing, while protecting her from the neccessity of marriage and its limitations on women.

While Hroswitha enjoyed this freedom, it should not be construed that she used or abused her vows as a daughter of the church to assure financial and intellectual freedom. Hroswitha's works reflect a devout belief and dedication to God. There is no reason to doubt that she took her vows of obedience and chastity seriously. Both figure predominantly in the themes of her plays. As evidenced by her prefaces, Hroswitha's desire to Glorify God motivated her intellectual and literary pursuits. She writes, "I strive only, although my power is not equal to my desire, to use what talent I have for the glory of Him who gave it to me. Nor is my self-love so great that I would, to avoid criticism, abstain from proclaiming whenever possible the virtues of Christ working in his saints" (qtd inHaight, 21). Hroswitha's primary goals, as reflected in her preface and the content of her works, was to glorify the Christian God and saints through the literary forms of pagan philosophy. The themes of her works, therefore, are stories of conversions, while her written works are themselves conversions of pagan forms, such as those of Terence, into Christian literature.

Although Hroswitha enjoyed a royal patronage, her works were not well-known in her time. Through her prefaces it is known that Hroswitha was both commissioned by and shared her manuscripts with Abbess Gerberg, Otto II, and other "learned and virtuous men." Despite the influence of her coeterie of readers, Hroswitha's works seemed to have had little dissemination beyond Gandersheim.

Hroswitha's work did not come into the mainstream until a manuscript, known as the Munich Codex, was discovered by German humanist Conrade Celetes in a monastery in 1493 and published in 1501("The Reception of Hrosvitha by the German Humanists", Zeydel 239). In an 1845 edition titled Theatre de Hroswitha, Charles Mangin asserted that Hroswitha's dramas were intended for performance. Mangin divided the manuscript into scenes and reinstituted language construed as "stage directions" that was ommitted by Celtes ("Was Hrosvitha Performed During Her Lifetime," Zeydel 443, 450). These changes began and continue to influence debate on whether or not Hroswitha's plays were written to be performed. If indeed Hroswitha wrote her plays for performance, the accepted notion of the church's firece relationship with the theatre and the notion of theatre's disappearance in the Dark Ages would be highly contested.

Whether or not Hroswitha's plays were performed during her lifetime, they have proven themselves performable in later centuries. In Hroswitha of Gandersheim: Her Life, Her Times and Works, Marjorie Dana Barlow contributes to Haight's research by listing performances of Hroswitha's plays beginning with marionette performances of Abraham and Paphnutius in Paris, 1888, and continuing to the professional stages of London and New York into the twentieth century. While historians argue as to Hroswitha's influence on the nature of performance and the development of Christian drama, it is irrefutable that she has had an impact on the way in which historians view the history of dramatic development in the Dark and Early Middle Ages.