Otfrid von Weißenburg: Gospel Harmony

Otfrid von Weißenburg: Gospel Harmony

Otfried von Weißenburg (c. 790–875), who probably completed this Gospel book 'formed according to the pericopes of the church year ... after long work between 863 and 871', was a magister at the monastic school in Weißenburg or Wissembourg, today France, and was one of the many students of the influential scholar Hrabanus Maurus (around 780–856) from Fulda. He is the first author known by name whose German-language rhymes have survived. The fact that he worked in the vernacular is astonishing insofar as the primacy of Latin prevailed in the monastic context and the local South Rhine-Franconian dialect was still considered to be a agrestis lingua (i.e. feral language) for Otfried.

The Personal Testimony of a Great Scholar

The many surviving copies of the Old High German biblical epic testify to its great popularity. What is special about Cod. 2687 in the Austrian National Library is that it is the manuscript that Otfrid himself used and corrected. Through the numerous adjustments by the hand of the magister "we experience the development of the final text". This rearranges the canonical information on the life of Christ from the four Gospels in chronological order: the work is divided into five books, each of which tells of a period of Jesus' life. Otfrid thus made a courageous attempt to introduce readers who may not have mastered Latin to the world of the Good News. At the same time, this manuscript also contains instructions on how to read the text, whose innovative internal rhymes, later known as Otfridvers, were to replace the Germanic alliterative verse.

Scenes From the Vita Christi and the Difficult Path to Heaven

The four full-page illuminations are also noteworthy. The first page of the manuscript shows a round labyrinth, which is intended to show the viewer how difficult and lengthy the path to the kingdom of Heaven is. There are also colored pen and ink drawings of key scenes from the life of Christ: his Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the Crucifixion with Mary and John. While the pictures are probably by a single artist, the text was apparently written by four different scribes from the scriptorium in Weißenburg – plus Otfrid's own handwritten annotations. It is therefore probably a collaborative monastic work under the direction of the magister and author.

Dedicated to a King

As was common for religious writings of this kind at the time, Otfrid dedicated his work to important personalities of his day. The first dedication is addressed to Louis the German, King of East Francia ( r. 843–876), and is also written in Old High German. Interestingly, the other two dedication poems are written in Latin and are addressed to other clerics: Solomon I, Bishop of Constance († 871) and his fellow brethren Hartmuat and Werinbert. The manuscript also contains a copy of a Latin letter to Liutbert, Abbot of Weißenburg Abbey and later Archbishop of Mainz († 889), in which Otfrid explains his motivation and approach. All four texts allow the dating of the manuscript to be narrowed down to the period between 863 and 871. Where the codex was located after its creation and use by the magister is a so far unsolved mystery, as it only appears in sources for the first time in 1576 in Vienna, where it has remained ever since.