number of songs with their musical notations, various
prose texts excerpted from the Bible, biblical commen-
taries, historical chronicles, church laws, the liturgy, and
scholarly studies. Philosophical and legal statements by
Peter Lombard and scientifi c observations by Isidor of
Seville are also extensively copied in the Hortus, often
accompanied by German glosses.
The manuscript was richly illuminated and is nearly
unparalleled in medieval book production. The 153
miniatures, often taking up a whole page, illustrate the
meanings of biblical texts, aspects of Christian belief,
and the arts. In many respects the Hortus served as an
encyclopedia, structured by the principles of the divine
plan for the salvation of mankind.
Although the original manuscript burned in a fi re
in the Strasbourg library in 1870, older copies and
descriptions provide a good idea of the splendor and
learnedness of the Hortus. The abbess Herrad initiated
and supervised the production of the manuscript, which
was to instruct the women in the convent on how to reach
paradise through a virtuous life on earth. Many leading
twelfth-century scholars, such as Honorius Augustodu-
nensis, Rupert of Deutz, and Peter Comestor, are well
represented in the Hortus.
Apart from her considerable editorial work, Herrad
also contributed to the signifi cant expansion of her
convent in political and economic terms.
Further Reading
Bertau, Karl. Deutsche Literatur im europäischen Mittelalter,
vol. 1. Munich: Beck, 1972, pp. 585–590.
Curschmann, Michael. “Texte — Bilder — Strukturen: Der hortus
deliciarum, und die frühmittelhoch-deutsche Geistlichendich-
tung.” Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft
und Geistesgeschichte 55 (1981): 379–418.
Green, Rosalie, et al. Herrad of Hohenburg, Hortus deliciarum.
2 vols. London and Leiden: 1979.
Saxl, F. “Illustrated Medieval Encyclopaedias.” In Saxl, Fritz.
Lectures. London: Warburg, 1957, vol. 1, pp. 228–254; vol.
2, fi gures 169–174.
Albrecht Classen
HERRAND VON WILDONIE
(ca. 1230–1278/1282)
A Middle High German author of songs and narratives,
Herrand II of Wildonie was descended from an impor-
tant Styrian family holding the hereditary offi ce of high
steward of Styria. The family seat was the now ruined
castle of Alt Wildon, near Graz, Austria, on the River
Mur. He was born circa 1230 and died about 1278/1282.
Herrand was married to Perhta, daughter of Ulrich von
Lichtenstein. He was active politically in the Interreg-
num years, fi rst for Bela of Hungary, then Ottokar of
Bohemia, and fi nally for Rudolf of Habsburg.
His literary oeuvre comprises three extant courtly
love songs and four short narratives (maere). The songs
are contained in the famous Heidelberg manuscript
named for the family which commissioned the collec-
tion of love songs, or minnesang (University Library,
no. cpg 848, the “Manesse Codex”). On fol. 201rv, is
a miniature of the poet with an incorrect coat of arms.
The narratives are also contained in another famous
manuscript in Vienna (National Library, no. Ser. Nov.
2663), the Ambraser Heldenbuch (Book of heroes from
Ambras [Castle]), fol. 217ra–220va.
Herrand’s songs are considered largely conventional
in nature, but his short narratives show him to be a lead-
ing writer in this genre’s “post-Stricker” phase. The texts
all seem to deal with constancy and loyalty, arranged in
contrasting pairs. The fi rst pair, Die treue Gattin (The
Faithful Wife) and Der betrogene Gatte (The Betrayed
Husband), present, respectively, a wife moved by
such intense love and devotion that she disfi gures her
face to match her old and injured ugly husband and a
young wife who tries to deceive her old husband with
a younger lover.
The second pair of stories, Der nackte Kaiser (The
Naked Emperor) and Die Katze (The Cat), deals with,
fi rst, the obligation of the ruler to carry out his duties
conscientiously—the negligent Emperor Gornäus, cast
down in a lowly position and replaced by an angel,
must witness the latter’s exemplary success until he
acknowledges his former errors and be reinstated by
his Doppelganger—and, then, the vassal’s obligation to
remain faithful to his overlord—a dissatisfi ed tom cat
does the rounds among a series of incongruous partners
only to return in the end to his cat queen. In a time of
great political upheaval, after the deaths of the last
Babenberg Duke of Austria (1246) and the last Staufen
Emperor (1250), these apparently generalized political
admonitions must have been particularly pointed. These
four distinct narratives document their author’s literary
modernity, whereas the content of these narratives points
to a conservative stance by the author and a dialectic
possibly aimed at the “classless” didacticism of Der
Stricker. There is evidence that Herrand’s work was
known outside Styrian aristocratic circles.
See also Stricker, Der; Ulrich von LiechtensteinFurther Reading
Curschmann, Michael. “Herrand von Wildonie (Wildon).” In Die
deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters. Verfasserlexikon, ed. Kurt
Ruh, et al., vol. 3. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1981,
cols. 1144–1147.
Deighton, Alan. “Die ‘nichtpolitischen’ Erzählungen Herrands
von Wildonie.” In Kleinere Erzählformen im Mittelalter.
Paderborner Colloquium 1987 , ed. Klaus Grubmüller, et al.
Paderborn: Schöningh, 1988, pp. 111–120.HERRAD VON HOHENBURG