Rudolf von Ems ( – 1254) was a

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

narrative poet.

Life

Rudolf von Ems was born in the

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He took his name from the castle of Hohenems near Bregenz, and was a knight in the service of the Counts of Montfort. His works were written between 1220 and 1254. He is thought to have died whilst accompanying King Conrad IV on his advance into Italy. He was one of the most learned and also most productive poets of his time, although not all his works are preserved. Those that are, were distinguished by grace and sincerity in the narration, strict morality and technical mastery. He himself describes Gottfried von Strassburg as his ideal; this is quite credible, as he sometimes quotes literally from " Tristan". He also adopted Gottfried's technique of making literary excursuses in which he names works of contemporaries and of his own. He is thought to have died in Italy in 1254.

Works

Of his surviving works, the tale ''Der gute Gerhard'' (''Gerhard the Good'') is the oldest and also the best regarded, a depiction of

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

humility, probably based on a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

source. This was followed by a German version of ''

Barlaam and Josaphat Barlaam and Josaphat, also known as Bilawhar and Budhasaf, are Christian saints. Their story tells of the conversion of Josaphat to Christianity. According to tradition, an Indian king persecuted the Christian Church in his realm. After ast ...

'', dating from approximately 1225 to 1230, taken from a Latin translation of a Greek version of the story of the conversion of an

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n prince to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

(a story which is believed in fact to be that of the Buddha, at many removes); and by ''Willehalm von Orlens'', the story of the childhood love of Willehalm and Amelie, who are among the most famous lovers of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The latter was commissioned by Conrad of Winterstetten. His ''Alexanderroman'' (a version of the '' Romance of Alexander''), written about 1240, is a fragment. In 21,000 verses the upbringing and battles of

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

are depicted, in which the hero is a model of knightly virtue. Rudolf's sources for this work were principally the '' Historia de preliis'' of Leo of Naples and the '' Historiae Alexandri Magni'' of Curtius Rufus. The ''Chronicle of the World'' (''Weltchronik'') is Rudolf's last work, dedicated to King Conrad IV. It narrates, as an addition to the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, the '' Historia scholastica'' of Petrus Comestor and the ''Pantheon'' of

Godfrey of Viterbo Godfrey of Viterbo (c. 1120 – c. 1196) was a Roman Catholic chronicler, either Italian or German. From an early age he displayed great activity as one of the clergy at the court of Conrad III and later Frederick I, accompanying the latter on ma ...

, the history of the world from the creation up to the death of King Solomon, with the added motive of legitimizing the rule of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. As early as the 13th century this work was combined in many manuscripts with the '' Christherre-Chronik.'' A further work, ''Eustachius'', is lost.

Editions of works

*Anon, 1967. ''Rudolf von Ems: Weltchronik. Aus der Wernigeroder Handschrift herausgegeben von Gustav Ehrismann''. 2nd ed., Dublin: Weidmann: Deutsche Texte des Mittelalters 20. *Asher, John, 1989. ''Rudolf von Ems, Der guote Gêrhart''. 3rd ed., Tübingen: Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 56. *Junk, Victor, 1928-29 repr. 1970. ''Rudolf von Ems, Alexander. Ein höfischer Versroman des 13. Jahrhunderts'', 2 vols. Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft (unaltered reissue of the Leipzig edition of 1928-29). *Pfeiffer, 1843 repr. 1965.
Barlaam und Josaphat'
. Leipzig.

References

*''Meyers Konversationslexikon''. 1888-90, 4th edition, Bd. 14, S. 15 (see also external link below) *Becker, Peter Jörg. 2003. ''Rudolf von Ems: Willehalm von Orlens at.Nr. 40', in: Peter Jörg Becker and Eef Overgaauw (eds.): ''Aderlass und Seelentrost. Die Überlieferung deutscher Texte im Spiegel Berliner Handschriften und Inkunabeln'', Mainz 2003, pp. 94–96. *Brackert, Helmut, 1968. ''Rudolf von Ems. Dichtung und Geschichte''. Heidelberg. *Dunphy, Graeme (ed.), 2003. ''History as Literature. German World Chronicles of the Thirteenth Century in Verse''. Kalamazoo. *Klingenböck, Ursula, 1994. ''doch weiz ich es von wârheit niht. Fiktionalisierung und Historisierung im "Alexander" Rudolfs von Ems''. Dissertation, Vienna University. *Schumacher, Meinolf, 2010. "Toleranz, Kaufmannsgeist und Heiligkeit im Kulturkontakt mit den 'Heiden': Die mittelhochdeutsche Erzählung 'Der guote Gêrhart' von Rudolf von Ems". In ''Zeitschrift für interkulturelle Germanistik'' 1:49-5
PDF
*Vilmar, 1839. ''Die zwei Rezensionen und die Handschriftenfamilien der Weltchronik Rudolfs von Ems''. Marburg.

External links

* *
Heidelberg MS of "Willehalm von Orlens"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudolf von Ems 1200s births 1254 deaths People from Hohenems Austrian male poets German male poets 13th-century Austrian poets Middle High German literature 13th-century German poets