Wessobrunn Prayer
The Wessobrunner prayer, also called Wessobrunner creation poem, one of the earliest poetic testimonies in Old High German. It is the oldest Christian poem of German literature, which has been preserved.
History
It is named after the Old Bavarian texts Wessobrunn Monastery, the long-term repository of the only tradition carrier, a Latin parchment manuscript collection from the 9th century. The specimen is now in the Bavarian State Library, Munich ( Call Number: Clm 22053, III). On Bl 65v/66r the Old High German poem is entered between Latin texts.
Its two parts, first a creation rate in nine rod- rhyming lines long and 2 the actual Oration in free prose, which together form a prayer for wisdom and strength to avoid sin. The two-tier structure is reminiscent of the structure of magic formulas: it is only a mythical precedent relied (here, the bestowal of the people by the Creator ), after which a specimen is then to here and now make Requested.
The neunzeilige creation account in its haunting verses might have been originally independent. It contains the beginning of a cosmogony in which the primordial non-existence of everything ( earth and sky, tree and mountain, sun, moon and sea ) gives the background to the existence of God BEFORE all creation. The poem is written in the language of ancient Germanic oral epic and used rod and introduction formulas, which are known from Anglo-Saxon and old Saxon tradition ( manno miltisto, dat gafregin ih). The formulas, which was all at the beginning does not resemble that of the North Germanic story of creation in the Völuspá. However, the idea that before the creation a transcendent God existed, who eventually created the world out of nothing is genuinely Christian ( creatio ex nihilo ).
The time of formation is around 790 or soon after, the copy obtained is built around 814. The author of the lines is unknown. Also unknown is the origin of the manuscript, which was not written in Wessobrunn itself. In question dioceses come in Bavaria, probably Augsburg or Regensburg. The striking feature of the " Sternrune " as an abbreviation for ga - shares the transcript of the Wessobrunner prayer only with a likewise Bavarian manuscript of the ninth century (London, British Library, Arundel MS. 393).
The beginning of the major sections of the text are highlighted by large red initial letters (f. 65v, lines 2, 8, 11). The points just above the line serve as a punctuation mark in the verse and the verse, partly half-verse - circuiting.
The title is written in uncial script, the rest of the text in Carolingian minuscule.
In research, it is assumed that the Wessobrunner prayer was initiated at the direction of an Anglo-Saxon missionary to prepare the heathen Saxons to baptism.
The text was the subject of some musical settings, including Carl Orff and Helmut Lachenmann ( Consolation II) in the music of the 20th century.
Furthermore, there are modern settings of the medieval rock band In Extremo and Estampie.
Transmission
Original text:
" Dat gafregin ih with firahim firiuuizzo Meista Dat ero ni uuas noh ufhimil PAUM noh noh pereg ni uuas ni [ ... ] nohheinig noh sunna ni scein noh mano ni noh liuhta the mareo seo Do constitutes niuuiht ni ni uuas Enteo uuenteo enti do uuas the eino almahtico cot manno miltisto enti represents uuarun auh manake with inan cootlihhe geista enti cot heilac [ ... ]
Cot almahtico, you himil enti enti erda gauuorahtos you mannun so manac coot forgapi forgip me dina ganada rehta galaupa enti cotan uuilleon uuistom enti enti spahida craft tiuflun za za piuuisanne arc uuidarstantanne enti enti dinan uuilleon za gauurchanne "
Neuhochdeutsch:
" I learned among the people as the greatest miracle, The fact that Earth was not, nor heaven above, Not tree nor mountain was not Even [ ... ] anything, yet the sun was not shining, Even the moon did not shine, nor the magnificent sea. As there was not at the ends and turning, There was the one Almighty God, the essence gnädigstes, And there were also many wonderful spirits with him. And God, the holy [ ... ] God Almighty, who hast created the heavens and the earth, and hast given to man so many good gifts. Give me something to avoid in your grace true faith and good will, wisdom, and wisdom and strength to resist the devil, and evil and to realize your will. "