Martinus von Biberach
Magister Martinus of Biberach ( † supposedly 1498 in Biberach ( Heilbronn) ) is a four-line saying attributed to a cover of a handwritten book ( " haec magister Martin in Bibrach. 1498 " ), but which is far older than the beige passed year. Over the life of the Magister Martinus nothing is known. What was wrong as its " grave font " interpreted later, is a priamel, which became popular in Christian piety, and also in the literature to date (see Bertolt Brecht, " The wheel change " ) is reflected:
The authorship of the Martinus from Biberach to the spell can now be considered to be refuted, however, the attribution to Walther von der Vogelweide in Konrad Bollstatters " Logia " (1468/1469), the earliest archaeological lore source, as well as inaccurate.
. The saying is also regarded as the "body saying" Emperor Maximilian I. At one of the paneled walls of Tratzberg one reads, among other chalk inscriptions in calligraphic flourishes: Leb, Waiss nit how long and stürb, Waiss nit when Mueß faren, Waiss nit where I am surprised that I am so Frelich.
According to an old chronicle of the advanced text was part of a 1688 destroyed the ceiling painting in the former Franciscan church to Heilbronn: I live and do not know how long / I die and not know wan / I drive and do not know wahin / takes me wonder that I am so Frelich / I wan Bedenk the dot and di eternal anguish / I Mecht not be so Frelich.
Martin Luther knew the verdict and rejected it as " rhyme of the wicked ", since the lives of Christians is exactly the opposite: they knew where and to where they came, from and to God, but terrified nonetheless a little before death, as it 's like all " children of Adam " die and suffer death would. This led Luther in a sermon on Sunday Judica Jn 8.46 to 59 EU from where he presented and his own counter- poem saying: I live as long as God wants / I die, when and how God wants / I driving and know for certain where, / I am surprised that I 'm sad!
The painter Hans Thoma extended the original version: I come, know not where / I am, and know not who / I live ', know not how long / I die ' and know not when / I drive, know not whither / I am surprised, that I am happy. / / Since my being so unknown / I give it all in God's hands / runs it well, so forth like back / I'm surprised it if I 'm still sad (Year Book of the Soul, 1922). These two verses are reprinted today in Christian devotional literature.
The writer Johannes Mario Simmel wrote a novel in 1949 under the title " I am surprised that I am so happy ." In an interview he claimed to have read the slogan at a German monastery wall. The cartoonist FK Waechter published in 1991 an anthology under the title " I am surprised that I am happy ."