![Roswitha Duerer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Roswitha_Duerer.jpg)
Hrotsvitha (c. 935–973) was a secular
canoness
Canoness is a member of a religious community of women living a simple life. Many communities observe the monastic Rule of St. Augustine. The name corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and Rule are common to both. As with the ca ...
who wrote drama and
Christian poetry
Christian poetry is any poetry that contains Christian teachings, themes, or references. The influence of Christianity on poetry has been great in any area that Christianity has taken hold. Christian poems often directly reference the Bible, while ...
under the
Ottonian dynasty
The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...
. She was born in
Bad Gandersheim
Bad Gandersheim ( Eastphalian: ''Ganderssen'') is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Northeim. , it had a population of 9,492.
Bad Gandersheim has many half-timbered houses and is located on the German Timber-F ...
to
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
nobles and entered
Gandersheim Abbey
Gandersheim Abbey (german: Stift Gandersheim) is a former house of secular canonesses ( Frauenstift) in the present town of Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 852 by Duke Liudolf of Saxony, progenitor of the Liudolfing or ...
as a canoness.
She is considered the first female writer from the
Germanosphere, the first female historian, the first person since the
Fall of the Roman Empire
The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...
to write dramas in the Latin West,
and the first German female poet.
Hrotsvitha's six short dramas are considered to be her most important works.
She is one of the few women who wrote about her life during the early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, making her one of the only people to record a history of women in that era from a woman's perspective.
She has been called "the most remarkable woman of her time", and an important figure in the history of women.
Little is known about Hrotsvitha's personal life.
All of her writing is in
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
.
Her works were rediscovered in 1501 by the humanist
Conrad Celtes
Conrad Celtes (german: Konrad Celtes; la, Conradus Celtis (Protucius); 1 February 1459 – 4 February 1508) was a German Renaissance humanist scholar and poet of the German Renaissance born in Franconia (nowadays part of Bavaria). He led the ...
and translated into English in the 1600s.
Hrotsvitha's name (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: ''Hrotsvitha Gandeshemensis'') appears in various forms including: Hrotsvit, Hrosvite, Hroswitha, Hroswithe, Rhotswitha, Roswit, Roswindis and Roswitha. It means "a mighty shout", and speaks to the way she wanted to glorify Christian heroes and legends, as well as the values they represent.
Some have commented on how this either represents or conflicts with the personality presented in her writing.
While many have questioned the authenticity of Hrotsvitha's work,
examinations and collections of her works, coupled with multiple historical and contemporary works that speak of her, demonstrate that Hrotsvitha's work is authentic.
Feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
scholars have argued that this questioning of the authenticity of Hrotsvitha's work reflects a
sexist
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
narrative rather than revealing a flaw in her work or that she did not exist, as individuals have been engaging with her work for hundreds of years, and with increased intensity since her rediscovery during the
German Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among Germany, German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and ...
.
Life and background
![Bad Gandersheim - Stiftskirche - Westwerk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Bad_Gandersheim_-_Stiftskirche_-_Westwerk.JPG)
All the information about Hrotsvitha comes from the prefaces of her work, and later interpretations of her writings. It is generally accepted that Hrotsvitha was born in approximately 935 and died in 973.
Little is known of her lineage, or why she took the veil.
Gandersheim Abbey was a house of secular canonesses. There is some debate over when she entered. Hrotsvitha took vows of chastity and obedience but not poverty. She could live a relatively comfortable life and leave the monastery at any time, all while being protected, studying from a large library, and learning from many teachers. This speaks to her economic position as being from a noble family. Hrotsvitha began her studies under the nun Rikkardis, who was younger than she. She also studied under the
Abbess Gerberga, granddaughter of King
Henry the Fowler
Henry the Fowler (german: Heinrich der Vogler or '; la, Henricus Auceps) (c. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king of East Francia, he ...
.
Abbess Gerberga became a friend and adviser of Hrotsvit.
She was a good student who read many works popular at the time with a particular focus on legends about saints and would have spent much of her time learning how to write verse.
Hrotsvitha herself became a teacher in her 20s.
As her writings demonstrate a rather mature perspective, they may have been written when she was older.
She had a good grasp of the legal system, the history of the
Ottonian dynasty
The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...
and their line of succession. Hrotsvitha was the first
Northern Europe
The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
an to write about
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and the Islamic empire. She was both educated and well informed. Her use of myths indicates a specific perspective as she writes about the importance of Christianity—with a focus on virginity, martyrdom, and the strength of Christian values—in the face of the threat Islam posed.
At first, Hrotsvitha wrote in secret until she was encouraged to read her works out loud and edit them. The Abbess encouraged her to continue writing.
Hrotsvitha primarily wrote legends, comedies, and plays. Her Books of Legends or ''Carmina liber primus'' was written in the 950s or 960s and was written in honor of Abbess Gerberga. It contains eight legends written in dactylic hexameter.
Her most popular work was ''The Book of Drama'', or ''Liber Secundus'', which offered a Christian alternative to the work of the Roman playwright Terence. In contrast to Terence, who told stories about women who were weak and morally corrupt, Hrothsvitha stories were about virtuous virgins with a strong connection to God and who persevered through adversity. Hrotsvitha's third book contains the ''Gesta Ottonis'', which details the history of the Ottonians from 919 to 965; and the ''Primordia coenobii Gandeshemensis'', the history of Gandersheim Abbey.
Works
![Roswitha of Gandersheim](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Roswitha_of_Gandersheim.jpg)
Hrothsvitha's works fall under the categories of legends, comedies, and plays. Cardinal Gasquet said her works have "a claim to an eminent place in medieval literature, and do honor to her sex, to the age in which she lived, and to the vocation which she followed."
The works are organized chronologically and speak to how Hrotsvitha valued the Christian approach to life.
Despite Hrothsvitha's importance as the first known female playwright, her work was not seen as important and translated into English until the 1600s.
She is often omitted in texts about the history of plays and literature.
The most important
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
of her works, containing all the texts other than ''Primordia'', is the Codex Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (
Bavarian State Library
The Bavarian State Library (german: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the bigg ...
) Clm 14485, a manuscript written by several different hands in Gandersheim toward the end of the 10th or start of the 11th centuries. It was discovered by the
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
Conrad Celtis
Conrad Celtes (german: Konrad Celtes; la, Conradus Celtis (Protucius); 1 February 1459 – 4 February 1508) was a German Renaissance humanist scholar and poet of the German Renaissance born in Franconia (nowadays part of Bavaria). He led th ...
in 1493/94 in the Cloister of St. Emmeram in
Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
and formed the first edition (illustrated by
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
).
''Liber Primus''
The ''Book of Legends'' is a collection of eight legends: "Maria", "Ascensio", "Gongolfus", "Pelagius", "
Theophilus
Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (God) and φιλία (love or affection) can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend of God", i.e., it is a theoph ...
", "Basilius", "Dionysius", and "Agnes". All are written in
Leonine hexameter except "Gongolph", which is written in rhymed distichs. "Theophilus" and "Basilius", are based on Latin translations of the ''vitae'' of Greek saints, and are versions of the Faustian tradition, in which a sinner sells his soul to the Devil.
Hrotsvitha supplements the story with her description of Theophilus in ''The Seven Arts'': ''De sophiae rivis septeno fonte manantis.''
A common theme throughout is the constant battle between good and evil. The Devil is a frequent presence in many of Hrosvitha's works, and she characterizes him according to the conventions of her time. In "Dionysius" and "St. Agnes" she recounts the martyrdoms of early Christians.
''Liber Secundus''
The ''Book of Drama'' presents a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
alternative to
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...
. These are the six plays: "Gallicanus", "Dulcitius",
"Calimachus",
"Abraham",
"Pafnutius", and "Sapientia". They are essentially love stories, written in prose, and are not so much dramas as "dialogues." Though initially considered
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
examples of
closet drama
A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or sometimes out loud in a large group. The contrast between closet drama and classic "stage" dramas dates back to the late eighteenth century. Al ...
, recent scholarship has shown that Hrotsvitha was associated with the theatrical exploits of the Ottonian court and, furthermore, within the context of the Gandersheim cloister, it's possible that her plays may have been staged or, at least, read aloud.
As the earliest known woman writer in the German lands, Hrotsvitha was keenly aware that her gender made her writings less likely to be taken seriously than that of her male contemporaries.
In the prologue to ''The Book of Legends,'' Hrotsvitha says: "Scorn he should not render at the writer's weaker gender/ Who these small lines had sung with a woman’s untutored tongue/ But rather should he praise the Lord’s celestial grace."
In general, Hrosvitha's plays were works of
hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
. She said the ''Passio Sancti Pelagii'' was derived from an eyewitness to the
martyrdom
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
of
Pelagius of Cordova. All six speak to a consistent theme in Hrothsvitha's work, the virtue of virginity over temptation.
Her plays contrast the chastity and perseverance of Christian women with Roman women, who were portrayed as weak and emotional. Hrotsvitha wrote her plays in response those of Terence, a popular Roman playwright who she thought unfairly represented women as immoral.
She writes, "Wherefore I, the strong voice of Gandersheim, have not hesitated to imitate a poet (Terence) whose works are so widely read, my object being to glorify, within the limits of my poor talent, the laudable chastity of Christian virgins in that self-same form of composition which has been used to describe the shameless acts of licentious women."
All these dramas serve a discreet purpose. "Gallicanus" and "Calimachus" focus on conversion, "Abraham" and "Pafnutius" tell stories of redemption and repentance, and "Dulcitius" and "Sapientia" tell stories of virgin martyrdom. Cumulatively they speak to the power of Christ and Christian values, which was Hrothsvitha's objective.
They are known to have been performed many times since her death, the earliest confirmation of which was in Paris in 1888.
She writes in her preface that her writing will appeal to many who are attracted by the charm of style. There are comedic elements, as in "Dulcitius", when the wicked blind governor stumbles among pots and pans, having attempted to molest three virgins. The women watch and laugh.
Although they go on to become martyrs for their faith, they do so on their own terms. "Dulcitius" is the only one of Hrotsvitha's comedies which aligns with the modern comedic genre.
''Liber Tertius''
The third book is dedicated to Emperors
Otto I
Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...
and Otto II, and consists of two historical writings in Latin hexameters. ''Gesta Oddonis'' tells the story of the Ottonian dynasty, and its rise to power; and ''Primordia Coenobii Gandeshemensis'' tells the history of Gandersheim Abbey.
Legacy
Feminism
Hrothsvitha's work was largely ignored until
Conrad Celtis
Conrad Celtes (german: Konrad Celtes; la, Conradus Celtis (Protucius); 1 February 1459 – 4 February 1508) was a German Renaissance humanist scholar and poet of the German Renaissance born in Franconia (nowadays part of Bavaria). He led th ...
rediscovered and edited her work in the 1600s.
In the 1970s,
feminists began their own rediscovery of her work under a gendered lens to re-contextualize it to demonstrate that women of the past did have important roles in their societies, but their work was lost or not seen as important.
Feminists have done this re-contextualization to learn about women's history, while not claiming that these women were feminists,
to emphasize the importance of women throughout history even if they are forgotten.
Because of this, Hrotsvitha has continued to garner much attention in the field of feminism studies, helping to provide a better sense of historical acknowledgement, accomplishment, and significance to women through the Canoness' work.
Representation of women
![Hrotsvitha memorial Gandersheim](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Hrotsvitha_memorial_Gandersheim.JPG)
Hrotsvitha's writing mimics Biblical texts.
As a 10th-century Christian, she accepted the idea that women are inferior to men both physically and intellectually due to the fall of
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
. According to A. Daniel Frankforter, Hrotsvitha seems to confirm the assumption that woman's work was inferior, by saying that any excellence in her work is the excellence of God, not her own,
although this may also merely be a standard literary convention of the time.
Hrotsvitha depicted women as having the power of self-determination and agency through taking the veil and abstaining from sexual relationships. This presents a very progressive view of women and their power in older societies, highlighted by various researchers that studied how Hrotsvitha's work often reflected the lives of women of her time. While she writes of women as virtuous, courageous, witty, and close to God she only speaks about one man without contempt, finding that they are disproportionately susceptible to temptation. Hrotsvitha sees women being the weaker sex as allowing God to more easily work through them to find grace for their salvation and the salvation of those with whom they come in contact. This, therefore, suggests that women are not less than men in the eyes of God. Hrotsvitha believes that a virginal life dedicated to Jesus is best, but she can be empathetic towards mothers, and even prostitutes,
thus demonstrating a keen understanding of women's lives and options at the time.
Hrotsvitha plays focus on the issues that affect women of her time such as marriage, rape, and being seen as an object.
"Dulcitius", deals with rape, a common issue and form of oppression that women experience.
It is even argued that Hrotsvitha's work of "Dulcitius" acted as a reflection to lives of women in her hometown of Gandersheim, living in a hostile environment targeted by an extrinsic threat that is male in nature, showing the possible focus she gives towards women and feminism as a whole. In "Callimach", a woman, who has been the subject of an attempted rape, prays for death. God grants her prayer and she dies before the man can resume his attack.
Taken by her beauty the man goes to her grave and attempts intercourse with her corpse, is killed by a venomous serpent.
Both of these plays show a key to Hrothsvitha's work: that religion can provide women with freedom and independence, allowing them to empower themselves.
Impact on Theatre
Hrothsvitha contributes to the work of women in theatre by supporting the concept that "as long as there is theatre, as long as there are women, as long as there is an imperfect society, there will be women's theatre".
Hrothsvitha's plays served the purpose of speaking truth to power and counterbalancing male dominance of the field.
The significance of her plays is often overlooked because their dramaturgy diverges from what
Sue-Ellen Case and
Jill Dolan
Jill Susan Dolan (May 30, 1957) is an American educator, author, blogger and feminist. She writes on theatre, sexuality studies, and feminist theory. Since July 2015, Dolan has been the Dean of the College at Princeton University, where she is als ...
theorize as to the male values of good playwriting, which excluded Hrotsvitha, rather placing focus upon alternative fields, such as religion, early life, and sexuality, to name a few.
Translations
![Conrad Celtis (Protucius)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Conrad_Celtis_%28Protucius%29.jpg)
As a female author in the 10th century, Hrotsvitha's work was largely ignored until re-discovered and edited by
Conrad Celtis
Conrad Celtes (german: Konrad Celtes; la, Conradus Celtis (Protucius); 1 February 1459 – 4 February 1508) was a German Renaissance humanist scholar and poet of the German Renaissance born in Franconia (nowadays part of Bavaria). He led th ...
in the early 16th century.
Since then many authors have taken up the work of translating and editing them.
Often these works are filtered through the perceptions and unconscious bias of the translator.,
It is believed that the naming of Hrotsvitha plays after men and not women may have been done by Celtis and not Hrotsvitha as her works largely center women and their experiences, making these titles appear inconsistent with what is presented in her work. It has been suggested that Celtis may have misrepresented her work due to his own implicit biases.
While the translator
Christabel Marshall appears to impose her own understandings of what a 10th-century canoness would be like or would have thought by making her seem timid in her translations.
Katharina Wilson does a similar thing in Hrothvitha's work by translating her to seem more humble than she actually is.
This has led some to posit that Colleen Butler is the person who best represented Hrotsvitha's work, as she discerned the true comedic nature of her work, by being able to deduce the unwritten context in the writing. However, while there may be some small misrepresentations of Hrothvitha's work, her message, and the known facts about her life remain relatively consistent.
Texts and translations
*Winterfeld, Paul von (ed.) (1902) ''Hrotsvithae opera''. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica; SS. rer. Germanicarum
Available from Digital MGH online
*Strecker, Karl (ed.) (1902) ''Hrotsvithae opera''.
*Berschin, Walter (ed.). ''Hrotsvit: Opera Omnia''.
Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana
The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana'', also known as Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern collection published of ancient (and some medieval) ...
.
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
/
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, 2001.
*''Pelagius'' in Petroff, Elizabeth Alvilda, ed. (1986) ''Medieval Women's Visionary Literature'', pp 114–24.
*''Abraham'' in Petroff, Elizabeth Alvilda, ed. (1986) ''Medieval Women's Visionary Literature'', pp 124–35.
*''Hrotsvit von Gandersheim, Sämtliche Dichtungen''; aus dem Mittellateinischen übertragen von Otto Baumhauer, Jacob Bendixen und Theodor Gottfried Pfund; mit einer Einführung von Berg Nagel. München: Winkler, 1966.
* ''Hrotsvitha von Gandersheim''. Munich, 1973 (German translations by H. Hohmeyer).
* Hrotsvitha Gandeshemensis, ''Gesta Ottonis Imperatoris. Lotte, drammi e trionfi nel destino di un imperatore''. A cura di Maria Pasqualina Pillolla, Firenze, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2003
* The Plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim: bilingual edition / translated by Larissa Bonfante; edited by Robert Chipok. Mundelein, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2013.
atin and English on facing pages.
*Roswitha of Gandersheim. ''
The Plays of Roswitha''. Trans. Christopher St. John. London: Chatto, 1923. .
Contemporary references
![Hrotsvitha fountain Gandersheim](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Hrotsvitha_fountain_Gandersheim.JPG)
Since 1973
Bad Gandersheim
Bad Gandersheim ( Eastphalian: ''Ganderssen'') is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Northeim. , it had a population of 9,492.
Bad Gandersheim has many half-timbered houses and is located on the German Timber-F ...
has annually awarded the
Roswitha Prize
The Roswitha Prize (german: Roswitha-Preis) is the oldest German language prize for literature that is given solely to women.
The Roswitha-Medal has been given almost yearly since 1973 by the city of Bad Gandersheim.
In 1998 it received its moder ...
, named for Hrosvitha, to female writers; since 1974 the Roswitha Ring has been awarded at the close of each summer season of the
Gandersheimer Domfestspiele
Gandersheimer Domfestspiele is a theatre festival in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populou ...
to the outstanding actress.
In 2006, American feminist drama group
Guerrilla Girls On Tour issued the "First Annual Hrosvitha Challenge" on their website, announcing that they would bestow the First Annual Hrosvitha Award on whichever professional theater decides "to scrap their plans of producing yet another production of a Greek tragedy and instead produce a play by Hrosvitha, the first female playwright".
The
Hroswitha Club
The Hroswitha Club was a membership-based club of women bibliophiles and collectors based in New York City, active from 1944 to 2004.
Founding
The Hroswitha Club was founded in 1944 by a group of women bibliophiles: Sarah Gildersleeve Fife (who c ...
is an association of women
book collector
Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is '' bibliophilia'', and some ...
s founded in New York City in 1944. Members included
co-founder
An organizational founder is a person who has undertaken some or all of the formational work needed to create a new organization, whether it is a business, a charitable organization, a governing body, a school, a group of entertainers, or any other ...
Sarah Gildersleeve Fife and
Frances Hooper. The club published ''Hroswitha of Gandersheim: Her life, times, and works'' in 1965.
Hrotsvitha is frequently referred to in
John Kennedy Toole
John Kennedy Toole (; December 17, 1937 – March 26, 1969) was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana whose posthumously published novel, ''A Confederacy of Dunces'', won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981; he also wrote ''The N ...
's comic novel ''
A Confederacy of Dunces
''A Confederacy of Dunces'' is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which reached publication in 1980, eleven years after Toole's death. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) a ...
'', in which she is called Hroswitha.
Asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
615 Roswitha is named in her honor.
A play on Hrotsvita, on her playwriting career and touches of the secular in her plays, was penned by Amit Maitra of Howrah, a suburb of Kolkata, and is "now"being performed in Kolkata by a theatre group.
See also
*
Canoness
Canoness is a member of a religious community of women living a simple life. Many communities observe the monastic Rule of St. Augustine. The name corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and Rule are common to both. As with the ca ...
References
Bibliography
* .
Further reading
*Bodarwé, Katrinette. "Hrotswit zwischen Vorbild und Phantom." In ''Gandersheim und Essen – Vergleichende Untersuchungen zu sächsischen Frauenstiften'', ed. Martin Hoernes and Hedwig Röckelein. Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2006. .
*Cescutti, Eva. ''Hrotsvit und die Männer. Konstruktionen von Männlichkeit und Weiblichkeit im Umfeld der Ottonen''. Munich, 1998. .
*Düchting, R. In: ''
Lexikon des Mittelalters
The ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'' ("Lexicon of the Middle Ages", LMA, LexMA) is a German encyclopedia on the history and culture of the Middle Ages. Written by authors from all over the world, it comprises more than 36,000 articles in 9 volumes. H ...
''. vol. 5. 148–9.
*Haight, Anne Lyon, ''Hroswitha of Gandersheim; her life, times, and works, and a comprehensive bibliography''. New York: Hroswitha Club, 1965.
* Kemp-Welch, Alice, "
A Tenth-Century Dramatist, Roswitha the Nun", pp. 1–28 in ''
Of Six Mediæval Women''. London: Macmillan and Co., 1913.
*Ker, William Paton. ''The Dark Ages''. Mentor Books, May 1958. pp. 117–8.
*Licht, Tino. "Hrotsvitspuren in ottonischer Dichtung (nebst einem neuen Hrotsvitgedicht)." ''Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch''; 43 (2008
pp.347–353
*Rädle, Fidel. "Hrotsvit von Gandersheim." In ''Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters. Verfasserlexikon''; 4 (1983). pp. 196–210.
External links
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* . Very good site about "Other Women's Voices" with links (Engl.)
* with pictures.
* .
* with analytical indexes.
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*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hrosvitha
930s births
973 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
German women historians
10th-century German women writers
10th-century German historians
10th-century Latin writers
Christian hagiographers
German dramatists and playwrights
German women dramatists and playwrights
10th-century German poets
German women poets
Medieval dramatists and playwrights
Medieval women poets
People from Bad Gandersheim