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Das Annolied: Mittelhochdt. u. neuhochdt
German, Latin
- GenresHistory
183 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1975
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February 2, 2018
Das Annolied (The Annolied or Song of Anno) is an 11th-century poem in Early Middle High German, written as an encomium to the Archbishop Anno II of Cologne, presumably by a monk at the monastery at Siegburg, which Anno founded. The 49 sections of the poem combine a short two-part world chronicle, first sacred (1-7), then secular history (8-33), with a hagiographical life of Anno (34-49).
The key to this unusual genre mix is found in the tripartite theology of the second section. The poem was published with a Latin commentary by Martin Opitz in 1639 (also see Graeme Dunphy (ed.), Opitz's Anno: The Middle High German Annolied in the 1639 Edition of Martin Opitz, Scottish Papers in Germanic Studies, Glasgow, 2003).
The Annolied ("Song of Anno") was composed around 1100 in Early Middle High German rhyming couplets by a monk of Siegburg Abbey. A principal point of reference for the dating is the mention of Mainz as a place of coronation. The German kings were usually crowned in Aachen, and the naming of Mainz in this connection most likely refers to the coronation either of the counter-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden in 1077 or that of Emperor Henry V in 1106.
A recent interpretation (Dunphy, Herweg) sees this threefold structure in the context of the poet's remark in the prologue that in the beginning God created two worlds, one spiritual and one earthly, and then he mixed these to create the first human, who, being both, was a "third world".
The poem then charts spiritual and secular history and finally shows the two culminating in the biography of the man who stands at the centrepoint of history. This is a remarkable and highly original historiographical approach.
Parts of the Annolied were incorporated into the later Middle High German Kaiserchronik and the two works are often considered together. No manuscript now exists, but the survival of the text was secured by Martin Opitz, who edited and published it in 1639 (reprinted in 2003).
The poem includes sections on four German peoples, the Bavarians, Franks, Saxons and Thuringians, a typical medieval origo gentis story, telling in each case of their origins in the classical near east. The Annolied is the first text to give what later became quite a popular motif whereby the ancestors of the Bavarians migrated from Armenia.
Here is the full text of Section 20 about Bavarians:
20
When Bavaria dared to rise against him,
he at once besieged the famous Regensburg.
Here he found
helmet and byrnie,
and many bold heroes
who were defending their city.
The heathen books tell
what kind of warriors were there:
there we read "Noricus ensis",
which means, "a Bavarian sword",
for they believed
that no other blade had a better bite,
often slicing through a helmet.
This was always a brave people.
Their tribe came long ago
from the magnificent Armenia,
where Noah came out of the ark
when he received the olive twig from the dove.
The remains of the ark
are still to be found in the highlands of Ararat.
It is said that in those parts
there are still those who speak German,
far towards India.
The Bavarians always loved to go to war.
Caesar had to pay in blood
for his victory over them.
The key to this unusual genre mix is found in the tripartite theology of the second section. The poem was published with a Latin commentary by Martin Opitz in 1639 (also see Graeme Dunphy (ed.), Opitz's Anno: The Middle High German Annolied in the 1639 Edition of Martin Opitz, Scottish Papers in Germanic Studies, Glasgow, 2003).
The Annolied ("Song of Anno") was composed around 1100 in Early Middle High German rhyming couplets by a monk of Siegburg Abbey. A principal point of reference for the dating is the mention of Mainz as a place of coronation. The German kings were usually crowned in Aachen, and the naming of Mainz in this connection most likely refers to the coronation either of the counter-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden in 1077 or that of Emperor Henry V in 1106.
A recent interpretation (Dunphy, Herweg) sees this threefold structure in the context of the poet's remark in the prologue that in the beginning God created two worlds, one spiritual and one earthly, and then he mixed these to create the first human, who, being both, was a "third world".
The poem then charts spiritual and secular history and finally shows the two culminating in the biography of the man who stands at the centrepoint of history. This is a remarkable and highly original historiographical approach.
Parts of the Annolied were incorporated into the later Middle High German Kaiserchronik and the two works are often considered together. No manuscript now exists, but the survival of the text was secured by Martin Opitz, who edited and published it in 1639 (reprinted in 2003).
The poem includes sections on four German peoples, the Bavarians, Franks, Saxons and Thuringians, a typical medieval origo gentis story, telling in each case of their origins in the classical near east. The Annolied is the first text to give what later became quite a popular motif whereby the ancestors of the Bavarians migrated from Armenia.
Here is the full text of Section 20 about Bavarians:
20
When Bavaria dared to rise against him,
he at once besieged the famous Regensburg.
Here he found
helmet and byrnie,
and many bold heroes
who were defending their city.
The heathen books tell
what kind of warriors were there:
there we read "Noricus ensis",
which means, "a Bavarian sword",
for they believed
that no other blade had a better bite,
often slicing through a helmet.
This was always a brave people.
Their tribe came long ago
from the magnificent Armenia,
where Noah came out of the ark
when he received the olive twig from the dove.
The remains of the ark
are still to be found in the highlands of Ararat.
It is said that in those parts
there are still those who speak German,
far towards India.
The Bavarians always loved to go to war.
Caesar had to pay in blood
for his victory over them.
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