The plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim by Hrotsvitha

Julian Marias, The History of Philosophy (New York: Dover Publications, 1967) 2: The Middle Ages (New York: Paulist Press, 1983), 129. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1976).ĭavid Knowles and D. Laistner, Thought and Letters in Western Europe A.D. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. Hugeberc, an eighth-century abbess, created a new approach to geographical writing, the travelogue, while Dhuoda, a ninth-century Carolingian lay woman, wrote a sophisticated educational manual for her son which includes lessons in scriptural exegesis, pastoral theology, political ideas, grammar, and numerology. The renowned Queen Radegund wrote an autobiographical poem, The Thuringian War, in an era singularly void of autobiographies, while the little known Baudonivia, a nun in Radegund s monastery, wrote a vita of the queen that surely rivals the more famous Venantius Fortunatus. Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim wrote two historical epics of political import, The Deeds of Otto and The Founding of Gandersheim Monastery she was a prolific hagiographer with eight vitae to her credit, and she was, of course, an accomplished poet and dramatist.

Almost every category that Laistner examines contains at least one important work by a woman. Three generations of scholars considered this silence warranted, but, thanks to recent advances in medieval studies, the current generation now knows the silence is undeserved. Besides one fleeting reference in the epilogue to Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim’s dramas, women are absent from the history. 1 Laistner’s topics are indeed comprehensive, but the contemporary student picking up the book for the first time would immediately be struck by an absence that previous generations ignored: There are no women in the narrative. Laistner reviews the intellectual contributions made during that period according to the following categories: classical grammatica, history and biography, hagiography, geography, dogmatic theology, scriptural exegesis, pastoral theology, political ideas, philosophy, Latin and vernacular poetry, and prose. In the magisterial work, Thought and Letters in Western Europe A.D.

The plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim by Hrotsvitha