HUGO VON TRIMBERG
(1230/1240–ca. 1313)
Documented (1290) as teacher (magister/rector scola-
rum) of St. Gangolfstift in Teuerstadt near Bamberg,
Hugo composed twelve works, seven of which survive.
Among his four Latin texts, aids for teaching and preach-
ing, the Registrum Multorum Auctorum, listing some
eighty authors from classical antiquity to the Middle
Ages, established a canon of Latin literary learning which
was still observed as late as the seventeenth century.
The surviving work in Middle High German, Der
Renner, about 24,600 verses, lives on in seventy manu-
scripts, and was printed at Frankfurt am Main in 1549.
This gnomic text rivalled Wolfram von Eschenbach’s
Parzival in popularity for some time. Its thematic scope
made the Renner a forerunner of the Narrenliteratur of
Heinrich Wittenweiler and Sebastian Brant. The schema
of the seven cardinal sins (medieval German, hôchvart/
Latin, superbia, gîtikeit/avaritia, frâz/gula, zorn/ira, nît/
invidia, unkiusche/luxuria, lazheit/accedia) structured
a vision of late medieval societas Christiana (Christian
society) ruled by greed, as demonstrated in commerce
and usury. The Renner documents an anxious view of
early capitalism, a system seen to be deriving its impetus
from Satan. Striving for money in this text separates the
foolish rich from the wise and willing poor.
The Renner’s stylistic diversity exemplifi es the art
of gnomic writing in the vernacular. Biblical examples,
folk narrative, well worn fables, and quotations from
classical and medieval authorities are used to support
the author’s attempt to lead fellow Christians from sin to
virtue. For the literary and social historian, this extensive
gnomic text provides a rich source for research into (late)
medieval mentality, It portrays a deep ambivalence in
Christian morality in relation to social roles of women,
in the relationship of Christians to Jews, and in the view
of litterati (the educated) regarding illitterati (the unedu-
cated), and peasants (rustici) in particular. The Renner
is an important representative of a popular literary genre
which has left deep traces in the cultural memory.
See also Wittenweiler, Heinrich;
Wolfram von Eschenbach
Further Reading
Ehrismann, Gustav, ed. Der Renner von Hugo von Trimberg.
4 vols. 1980–1911; rpt. ed. Günther Schweikle. Berlin: de
Gruyter, 1970–1971.
Goheen, Jutta. Mensch und Moral im Mittelalter. Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1990.
Rosenplenter, Lutz. Zitat und Autoritätenberufung im “Renner”
Hugos von Trimberg. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1982.
Sprandel, Rolf. “Der Adel des 13. Jahrhunderts im Spiegel des
Renner von Hugo von Trimberg.” In Otto von Botenglauben:
Minnesänger, Kreuzfahrer, Klostergründer. Würzburg:
Schöningh, 1994, pp. 296–308.
Jutta Goheen
HUGUES DE SAINT-CHER
(ca. 1195–1263)
Nothing is known of Hugues’s origins, except that he
was born, in Saint-Cher, not far from Vienne in the
south of France. He had become a doctor of canon law
and a bachelor of theology even before he joined the
Dominicans at Paris in 1225, where he studied under
Roland of Cremona, the fi rst Dominican to hold a chair
in theology at the University of Paris. Hugues soon set
upon a vocation that would make him one of the most
prominent churchmen of his day. He fi rst served in an
administrative capacity as provincial of the Order for
France from 1227 to 1229. Subsequently, he took up the
posts of master of theology (1230–36) at the university
and prior of the Dominican convent of Saint-Jacques
(1233–36). After leaving his posts at the university and
the convent, he resumed his duties for the next eight
years as provincial-general of the Order of Preachers
for the French province, while continuing to maintain
a lively interest in the scholarly activities of his order in
Paris. He became vicar-general of his order in 1240 and
attained his highest administrative post with his selection
as the fi rst Dominican cardinal on May 28, 1244.
Hugues played a central role in the study of the Bible
and theology in the 13th century. At Saint-Jacques, he
assembled a team that produced three works that served
as essential starting points for the theologians and
preachers of his day: an expanded commentary on the
Bible; a version of the Latin Vulgate incorporating a vast
series of linguistic notes “correcting” the contemporary
version of the text; and the fi rst alphabetical concordance
to the Bible. His set of commentaries, known as Postil-
lae, use as their starting point the Glossa ordinaria, itself
a digest of patristic and Carolingian exegesis, and add to
it the fruits of the study of the Bible produced from the
middle of the 12th century to his own time. His “cor-
rected” Vulgate, the Correctoria, gives as full a sense
of the literal meaning of the text as was possible for the
13th century, and his Concordantia greatly facilitated
the task of preaching, allowing a relative novice to fi nd
his way around in the Bible without having to commit
the entire text to memory.
Hugues began his work on the Correctoria as early
as 1227, although the latest versions of this work date
from his years as cardinal (1244–63). The Postillae
date from his years as master (1230–36), and his Con-
cordantia from 1238–40—a work to which some 500
friars contributed. Although the Bible had been given
standard chapter divisions by Stephen Langton at the
end of the 12th century, Hugues was the fi rst to introduce
subdivisions (a,b,c,d,e,f,g), an essential element for his
correctoria and concordance.
His Commentary on the Sententiae of Peter Lom-
bard, dating from his early years as master of theology,
was among the fi rst to employ the form of the quaestioHUGO VON TRIMBERG