New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-05-17

ord % other women bv means OF the convent
might have passed as q thing Of course; but that
for once the nunnery should find real literary
&c MUS TO make the most Of Its slender resources
4, a phenomenon Of endless interest.
The author Of this book prefers for the Nun OF
Gandersheim the correct but harsh name Hrots-
With but she IL better known perhaps as KOS
witha To her contemporaries she appears 10
have been well known IN the same sense that
POPULAR writer at the present day IS well kho""'
for she nroudlv called herself the nouthpiece Of
Gandershe.m, though she held no Official place
IN that aristocratic community. But the tenth
century. with the approaching shadow OF the
year 1000 and the general dearth OF literary
activity was not favorable period for genius
and Roswitha was forgotten by later ages until
her works were discovered by an inquistive ana
svmnathetlc poet about the time OF the Reforma-
tion Since her first appearance In print she mas
never lacked appreclativs readers. She has even
been the object Of patriotic efusiveness, as with
one writer In the Latin collections Of Brunswick
historians who called her afecuonateiy the
Saxon girl" and with the better known cri'c
Ebert, who cited her fruitful Ioetic talent as
proof that the Saxon element was chosen 10
guide the German Nation In the domain OF art.
This ~ course must be tempered by the consid-
Grafton that German n literary language had
as vot no existence. Roswitha was German Dy
nativity but Latin in all her training. Much OF
her poetry. comprising Scripture history. rehgious
legends and metrcal chronicles, Is recommended
only by the style go good for the times But she
also wrote seven dramas To understand what
that means it must be remembered that such
thing "a theatrical performance or anything
ba defamation
Virgirs poems had not been known in Western
Europe for nearly a thousand years. II was to
be several hundred years yet before the simplest
devices Of the miracle plays were thought upon
Meanwhile n poet In the secluded society OF
monastery. surrounded on all sides by the
prmeval forests. takes up copy OF Terence
reads 1t With such attention ma to bring blush
Of shame TO her cheek-she says so heIselt-and
then writes plays Of her own. demure. religious
but technically quite perfect. She has never seen
a stage-poss.bly she never even saw descrlp-
ton Of one unless there happened 70 be copy
ol Vur1iyius at Gandersheim Hence she has no
Idea Of the needs Of an acting play. Yet com
petent critics agree that her dramas could be
acted as they were written and that one in par
tlcular Is a gem In point 81 construction. When
t. f. remembered what clumsy things the first
PLAYS In any modern language were II is the
easier To see what L task the Saxon GIRL "A
rustic who probably never saw city. accom-
pllshed.
Roswitha's plays were religious. But they were
not religious enough even for her time. A
coupl. ~ centuries later religion In the monas-
teries and converts under the leadership OF that
arch-enthusast Bernard of Clalrvaux crowded
learning to the wall. But the women rode on the
very highest wave ~ the new movement. which
was associated with the Crusades ana with some
thing much wiser than the Crusades. namely.
really practical benevoience embodied In Eliza
beth Of Hungary. There was one woman after
Bernard's own heart This was Hildegard Of
Blngen who wrote Visions and prophecies which
stlll affect the imaginatlons OF men, 50 vivid
were her fore as;s that In the time OF the Refor-
nation peop!" read with awe her description OF
the way In which the Holy Roman Empire was 70
fall {, pieces Curlously enough she had scen-
the insIgh, AS well as prophetic power and
book OF hers on materla medica IL praised even by
Vlrchow. Another mystic Of the same date. the
middle part OF the twelfth century, wac Elizabeth
u SchGnau. whose special distinction II was to
give NAL shape (, the legend Of 81. Ursula and
the eleven thousand virgins mariyred at Cologne.
The g9mc enthusiasm which showed itself In
these women led In the next generation or two TO
the work % charity for the sick and needy with
which associated tho names Of 81. Hedwig OF
Sesa ST Agnes Of Bohemia. and, above ALL st.
Elizabeth Of Hungary. whose life and death gave
Charles Kingsley tn theme of noble tragic
poem. The highest tribute 10 her Is that the hos
plial which she built at Marburg became the
model FOR others In many cities. and that TO this
day hospitals In Germany founded both under
Catholic and Protestant auspices are often dedi-
Gated 10 her" To the women Of the converts wac
due also much OF the progress In art throughout
the early Middle Ages especially in writing illu-
mlnaton and embroidery. And here again the
work crowned at last by a thoroughly origi-
nal achievement in the pictures OF work called
THE Garden of Delights" from the hand Of Her
rad an abbess OF the Convent OF Hohenburg, in
the latter half Of the twelfth century. Her work
is known to lovers OF art only by copies. But
the very pages over which she labored remained
until 1870. when they were destroyed in the bonn
bardment OF Straeburg BY the Germans.
1t is a little curious that the closing scene In
the convent life OF the Middle Ages should be in
directly associated with the writings of Roswitha.
The old time literary and educational enthusiasm
died slowly In the monasteries as the universities
rose In popular esteem Monkish orders took adj
vantage Of the new system to some extent by
having houses In the university towns. Nothing
OF this kind thought Of for the women. In
deed the Idea was already gaining ground which
hal an, oil In in1aq hat