Divine Wisdom: The Christological Interpretation of Sapientia in Johannes von Tepl's Der Ackermann

In the thirty-third chapter of Johannes von Tepl's Der Ackermann, God delivers his judgment on the preceding quarrel between a mourning widower and the personified figure of Death. God judges in Death's favor, and he justifies his judgment as follows:1Der clager claget sein Verlust, als obe sie sein erbrecht were; er wenet nicht, das sie von vns were verlyhen. Der Tott rumet sich gewaltiger herschafft, die er doch allein von vns zu lehen hat empfangen. Der clagt, das nit sein ist; dieser rumet sich herschafft, die er nicht von jm selber hat. Yedoch der kryg ist nicht gar ane sach, jr habent beyde wol gefochten: den zwinget leyt zu clagen, diesen die anfertigung des clagers die weysheyt zu sagen. Darvmb clager, hab ere, Tot, syge! Yeder mensch dem tode das leben, den leyp der erden, die sele vns pflichtig ist zu geben. (33.13-24)The accuser bewails his loss as though it were his rightful inheritance; he does not consider that it was bestowed by Us. Death praises himself for his just dominion, which he has received in fee from Us alone. The one bewails what is not his; the other boasts a power that is not of himself. Yet the battle is not without sense. You have both fought well. Sorrow drives the one to accuse, and the accusation drives the other to speak wisdom. Therefore, Ploughman, yours be the honour; yours, Death, the victory. Each man owes his life to Death, his body to earth, his soul to Us. (39)With these words, God brings to a conclusion a literaiy dialogue which today is considered one of the finest works of late medieval German literature. By the time Johannes von Tepl composed it-probably around the year 1401-he was the head of the Latin school in the town of Saaz in northern Bohemia. In the heading of a letter which von Tepl sent along with this and other samples of his work to his friend Petrus Rothers in Prague, the text is referred to as libellas ackerman, the "little book of the plowman."2Written in prose as a dialogue between man and Death, the Ackermann escalates into a ferocious debate on the very question of the meaning of life and death in the order of creation. A widower accuses Death of having taken away all too soon his beloved young wife, Margaretha. He describes himself as a plowman of the pen, that is, a writer, while Death presents himself as ruler of the earth. And while the plowman assumes an attitude of despairing lament and furious accusation, Death counters him with an attitude of rationalistic ignorance and ironic superiority. The argument between the two unfolds over thirty-two chapters, thus allowing for sixteen chapters for each party. It takes the form of a rhetorically stylized exchange of point and counterpoint until finally, in the thirty-third chapter, the argument is resolved by divine judgment. In a concluding prayer, the mourning plowman accepts the inevitability of death and entrusts himself and his late wife to God's mercy.3How does God justify his judgment in Death's favor? He says: "diesen [zwinget] die anfertigung des clagers die weysheyt zu sagen." "Die weysheyt sagen" is a striking phrase. It is not a fixed expression like "die Wahrheit sagen," which one might expect in this context. None of the Middle High German or Early New High German dictionaries shows evidence that "die weysheyt sagen" ever existed as a set phrase. Conversely, the other expression-"die warheit sagen"-is used quite frequently in Middle and Early New High German.4As I shall argue here, the term weysheyt is by no means an unintended one. Previous scholars-if they paid any attention at all to the phrase-explained it as "philosophical truth" or, as Karl Bertau tentatively suggested, as "divine wisdom" (2:656). The question, however, as to what this "Gottesweisheit" might be remained open. Drawing on medieval biblical exegesis, I contend that weysheyt in God's final judgment alludes to the biblical Book of Proverbs and its account of personified Wisdom, who is present with God before creation and plays before him at all times. …