Thomasin von Zirclaere
Thomasin of Zerclaere (also Zirklære, Zirklaria ) (* around 1186 in Friuli; allegedly † 1238 in Aquileia ) was the author of the monumental Middle High German poem The wälsche guest.
He was an educated Romansh-speaking Ministeriale of the family of Cerclaria and since about 1206 canon at the court of the German patriarch of Aquileia, Wolfger of Erla, the former Bishop of Passau and supporters of Walther von der Vogelweide. However, the exact biographical data are unsecured, and there are several possible assumptions in research.
According to information provided (v. 11709-22, 12228 ), he wrote in the winter 1215 to 1216 in just ten months, the first monumental German -speaking didactic poem of the Middle Ages, The wälsche Guest ( Original: The welhische guest). The work contains 14,750 verses and is written in a Bavarian- Austrian Middle High German, with coloring that he may have learned from the Cimbri language islands in northern Italy. German was not the mother tongue of the North Italian Thomasin and he also apologizes to the reader for linguistic shortcomings (v. 67-74 ). In fact, his couplet verse can not compete with the elegance and safety of concurrent courtly narrative poetry. Nevertheless, the work was successful and became widespread: It is recorded in 24 manuscripts and manuscript fragments, most of which are provided with plenty of illustrations. This should - a first in the medieval German literature - have already been designed by the author along with the text.
Target audience of the stranger from Romania ( so the importance of the metaphorical title of the seal) were young noblewoman who are exhorted in the book to courtly virtues. Vlassky guest informed of courtly education, training, Love, practical ethics and knightly virtues ( staete, maze, milte, reht ). This processed Thomasin many contemporary Latin literature on ethics, philosophy and the liberal arts. Court and criticism of the times through the whole work. In this context it is worth mentioning that Thomasin derives its moral teaching of cosmic laws and thus created an ethics which is not based on religious truths, but is firmly rooted in laws of nature. In the eighth book Thomasin refers to Walther von der Vogelweide and criticizing his attacks on the established order and the Pope.
His way of writing bairisches Middle High German, and also his partial uncertainties here, but are for historical linguistics, a very interesting source, since the south, especially in this time of contact of the Bavarian- Austrian space with the Romansh-speaking areas of the Alps intensified and the Bairische partially spread even in front of Romance-speaking valleys. The language change this Roman population to Bairischen characterizes the south Bavaria with dialects originating from the Romanesque vocabulary and typical Roman phonetic and grammatical forms to this day. This process can be analyzed practically right next to a witness at Thomasin. The southern linguistic neighbors of the Bavarians were at that time the way through the Alps Romance languages and not italo Romance languages of the plane, from the Engadine in the west, across the Vinschgau and Trento to the Friuli to the east, the home Thomasins.
The oldest known version of his work is in the University Library under the signature Cpg 389