Midterm – Part I

Long ago, my family lived as farmers outside the city of Aachen in what is now Germany. Even though growing up on a farm in poverty was fun, I thought growing up poor in the city and devoting my life to the church would be even better. I set off to a monastary [...]

Highlight of the Yiddish Renaissance, S. 256

During the fifteenth century, many Jews left Germany to settle in Northern Italy in prospects of making a better living thus adopting the Italian language and blending their culture with Italian culture. During this time, Italo-Yiddish literature began to emerge, often taking stories that were popular in the past and creating a new [...]

A Vision of Flowing Light, S. 126

The Beguine Mechthild von Magdeburg was one of many people who spent her life devoted to imitating the life of Christ and serving the world. She and other Beguines lived in communal housing supporting each other with posessions they had before entering the beguinage. For jobs, Beguines would implement trade skills, such as [...]

Höfische Feste, S. 76

Courtly festivals were celebrations held by emperors at their imperial courts whose main purpose was to display the power and majesty of an emperor’s court. One such festival at Mainz, hosted by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa during Pentecost, was documented in the Hennegau Chronicle by Gislebert of Mons. Gislebert was a clerk to Count [...]

Monastic Scriptoria, Seite 28

This essay tells the process of which books were copied by monks in monasteries in the 11th century. It focuses on a period of time when the Empress Gisela travels to Saint Gallen with intent on purchasing books by a monk named Notker. The process of a book being copied by a monk [...]