ginning of fi fteenth century). The poems range in length
from 57 lines to 1,540 lines. They include a number of
different genres: four death laments; eighteen elegies
(Ehrenreden); eleven historical and political occasional
poems; fi fteen moral allegories and spiritual didactic
poems; four comic poems. The general term Ebrenrede
was coined by Alois Primisser, Suchenwirt’s fi rst editor,
and was applied to Suchenwirt’s poems honoring fa-
mous Austrian nobles. These were poems that followed
a strict formula: a formal expression of humility; general
praise of the hero; description of hero’s specifi c deeds;
repetition of general praise; prayer for intercession of
his soul (if the hero was already deceased); description
of his coat of arms, both shield and helmet; name of the
hero; a short closing prayer.
The subject matter of his political comments is espe-
cially enlightening. He discusses the ramifi cations of a
division of property, the political consequences of a tax
on wine, and the interrelationships among the classes;
these are not generally the subject matter for chronicles
or historical songs.
Suchenwirt (and a certain Gelre in the Low Lands) are
unique in writing Ehrenreden. Their poetry places them
within a long and illustrious tradition whose origins are
in the death lament, the political-historical song, and in
the so-called “tournament and siege poetry.”
The heroes of the Ehrenreden follow similar life
patterns with crusades against the heathens in Prussia,
pilgrimages to the Holy Land, expeditions into Italy,
and in the so-called numerous local campaigns in their
homelands.
Further Reading
Achnitz, Wolfgang. “Peter Suchenwirts Reimtraktat ‘Die zehn
Gebote’ im Kontext deutschspracher Dekaloggedichte des
Mittelalters. Mit Textedition und einem Abdruck der Dekalog-
Auslegung des Johannes Künlin.” Beiträge zur Geschichte der
deutschen Sprache und Literatur 120 (1998): 53–102.
Blosen, Hans. “Überlegungen zur Textuberlieferung und Text-
gestaltung bei einem Gedicht von Peter Suchenwirt,” in
Probleme altgermanistischer Editionen, ed. Hugo Kuhn, Karl
Stackmann, and Dieter Wuttke. “Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1968.
Brinker-von der Heyde, Claudia. “Suchenwirt, Peter,” in Die
deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters. Verfasserlexikon, 2d ed.,
ed. Kurt Run et al. vol. 9. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995, cols.
481–488.
Busse, Kaarl Heinrich von. “Peter Suchenwirt’s Sagen über
Livlane.” Mittheilungen aus dem gebiete der Geschichte Liv-,
Esthh- und Kurland’s, ed. Gesellschaft für Geschichte und
Altertumskund der russischen Ostsee-Provinzen. 3. Riga:
Nicolai Kymmel, 1845, pp. 5–21.
Docen, Bernard Joseph. “Die Schlacht bei Sempach. 1386. Von
Peter Suchenwirt.” Sammlungfür altdeutsche Literatur und
Kunst 1 , no. 1 (1812): 152–160.
Friess, Godfried Edmund. “Fünf unedierte Ehrenreden Peter
Suchenwirts.” Wiener Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse 88 (1877): 99–126.
Primisser, Alois, ed. Peter Suchenwirt’s Werke aus dem vier-
zehnten Jahrhunderte. Ein Beytrag zur Zeit- und Sittenge-
schichte. Vienna: J.B. Wallishausser, 1827; rpt. Vienna: H.
Geyer, 1961.
Van D’Elden, Stephanie Cain. Peter Suchenwirt and Heraldic
Poetry. Vienna: Halosar, 1976.
Stephanie Cain Van D’EldenSUGER (1081–1151)
Abbot of Saint-Denis from 1122 to 1151, Suger is one of
the most interesting representatives of French monastic
culture in the 12th century, combining an extraordinary
devotion to his monastery with an understanding of
the weaknesses and potential strengths of the kings of
France. He was an ardent administrator and builder,
and, if he is best remembered for his desire to adorn his
church, he also reformed the liturgy and improved the
life of the community, earning the praise of Bernard,
abbot of Clairvaux.
Suger also stands out from most of his contempo-
raries because of the much clearer picture we have of his
personality and achievements. He himself wrote a Latin
vita of Louis VI, in which he gives a vivid picture of the
king’s attempts to subdue the turbulent aristocracy in the
Paris region, his own role in this process, and the king’s
special devotion to St. Denis. He also wrote two works
concerning his administration of the monastery’s lands
and the building and consecration of the new church.
A small number of his charters and letters survive, and
his image and his words are preserved in several places
in the church of his abbey.
Suger was born of a modest knightly family prob-
ably not too far from Saint-Denis and was given as an
oblate to the abbey. During his early years, he seems to
have realized how the abbey had lost prestige, power,
and wealth since the time of Charlemagne and Charles
the Bald; how the reciprocal devotion of saint and king
had been a strength to both; and how the church’s small
size and decayed furnishings no longer served the needs
of the monks or the crowds of pilgrims coming there.
Throughout his long life and particularly during his ab-
bacy, it was his purpose to remedy these three lacks.
Suger tells us how as a youth he used to look at the
abbey’s muniments and how he was aware not only of
its lost domains, but also how through mismanagement
it was receiving much less revenue than it should. The
fi rst portion of his book on the administration of the ab-
bey, De rebus in administratione sua gestis, described
how he carefully and painstakingly tried to recover what
was owed to the abbey and to increase its revenues. For
example, increases came from getting more revenues
from the town of Saint-Denis or acquiring a wealthy
priory like Argenteuil, but they also came from clearing
forests, planting new crops and vines, settling new in-
habitants on the land, enforcing ancient rights against the
encroachments of local lords, building houses, granges,SUGER