The Codex Mariendalenis is a manuscript on vellum containing the epic poem Yolanda vu Veianen or

Yolanda of Vianden Mother Yolanda (or Yolande, Iolanda) of Vianden, O.P., (1231–1283) was the youngest daughter of Count Henry I of Vianden and Margaret, Marchioness of Namur. She joined the Dominican monastery in Marienthal, Luxembourg, against the wishes of h ...

. It is believed to be the work of Brother Hermann von Veldenz who probably wrote the story of Yolanda's life in 1290 after her death in 1283. The work consists of 5,963 lines of rhyming couplets in

Moselle Franconian __NOTOC__ Moselle Franconian (german: Moselfränkisch, lb, Muselfränkesch) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian dialects, Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish. It is spoken in the southe ...

which bears close similarities to today's

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of th ...

. It is therefore of particular interest to those tracing the history of the Luxembourgish language.

History

Brother Hermann's epic appears to have lain in the Marienthal monastery for almost four centuries after he wrote it. In 1655, the original was copied on paper by the Belgian Jesuit, Alexander von Wiltheim. At the same time, Wiltheim wrote a life of Yolanda in Latin based on Brother Hermann's Middle High German. Then in November 1999, the Luxembourg linguist Guy Berg and Yasmin Krull discovered the original Codex in

Ansembourg Castle Ansembourg Old Castle ( lb, Buerg Aansebuerg , french: Vieux Château d'Ansembourg, german: Burg Ansemburg), known as the Old Castle of Ansembourg, in central Luxembourg is one of the castles belonging to the Valley of the Seven Castles. Located h ...

, a short distance from the monastery at Marienthal. The poem tells how Princess Yolanda gave up the comforts of her home in

Vianden Vianden ( lb, Veianen or (locally) ) is a commune with town status in the Oesling, north-eastern Luxembourg, with over 1,800 inhabitants. It is the capital of the canton of Vianden, which is part of the district of Diekirch. Vianden lies on t ...

Castle to join the Convent of Marienthal where she later became the prioress. See further details under

Acquisition by the Luxembourg National Archives

The Codex Mariendalensis together with other documents belonging to the lords of Ansembourg were acquired by the Luxembourg state in 2008 and now form part of the collections of the and the

National Library of Luxembourg The National Library of Luxembourg (french: Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg), abbreviated as BnL, is Luxembourg's national library. It was founded in its current form in 1899, as a result of a series of different institutions originating in ...

References

Sources

* Berg, Guy: "Der Codex Mariendalensis: Zu Wiederauffindung, Erschließung und Edition einer hochmittelalterlichen Handschrift aus dem Raume Luxemburg." In: Section de linguistique, d'ethnologie et d'onomastique de l'Institut Grand-ducal (ed.): ''Bulletin linguistique et ethnologique'', fasc. 30 (2001), pp. 7–26. * Moulin, Claudine: "Bruder Hermanns 'Yolanda von Vianden'. Zur Erschließung und textgetreuen Edition des neuaufgefundenen Codex Mariendalensis", in: ebda, pp. 39–45. {{coord, 49.6097, N, 6.1308, E, source:wikidata, display=title Medieval Luxembourg Luxembourgian literature Luxembourgish language 14th-century manuscripts