354 Hrabanus Maurus
more durable and solid. However, chimneys had not yet
replaced earthen hearths and there were few rooms with
windows, fewer with glass. So most rural houses were
dark and smoky, as security still had priority.
HOUSING IN THE CITYCity houses, at least during the early phases of urbaniza-
tion, tended to have the same traits as vermin-infested
peasant houses with as much concern for security. From
the 13th century, houses had to be built in towns whose
populations were growing within a limited and crowded
area. The practice of building upward grew, and houses
were divided into separate and smaller units for lodging.
Built of flimsy and flammable materials, houses usually
hung over the street. On the ground floor there was often
a shop or a workplace, to be in direct contact with the
street and customers. A single hall or room was for living
and working. The other chambers were the family’s more-
or-less private domain, though actual privacy was not to
be had, or as yet much expected. In the 14th and 15th
centuries, certain rooms became more specialized and
differentiated into kitchens, the wardrobe, or bathing
areas. By this time the houses of prominent or great really
stood out amid ordinary houses, becoming urban castles
or fortresses with elaborate spatial arrangements for large
households of servants, retainers, and relatives. These
larger establishments, almost compounds within a town,
were provided with gardens, storehouses, apartment flats,
stables, and a particular family church or chapels and pri-
vate oratories. Such mansions promoted the spread of
windowpanes, chimneys, and decorative tiles or brick-
work. As they became more built of stone or brick, they
became less full of vermin that lived in the walls. Other
types of disease-bearing creatures were not much affected.
See alsoCASTLES AND FORTIFICATIONS; FURNITURE.
Further reading:Jean Chapelot and Robert Fossier,
The Village and House in the Middle Ages,trans. Henry
Cleere (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985);
Richard A. Goldthwaite, The Building of Renaissance Flo-
rence: An Economic and Social History(Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1980).
Hrabanus Maurus(Rabanus, Magnentius Maurus)
(ca. 778–856)reformer in the fields of pedagogy, pastoral
care, and missions
Born about 778, Hrabanus followed a usual career course
for the children of the Frankish elite destined for the reli-
gious life. An oblate at the monastery of FULDAin 788, he
was a young student at the court of CHARLEMAGNE in
about 797 and a student of ALCUINat Tours about 800.
He returned to Fulda on Alcuin’s death in 804. He
became a teacher there and was elected its abbot in 822.
Under his guidance, the community grew to some 600
monks. He paid a price for his loyalty to LOUISI THE
PIOUSand to Lothair I (r. 840–855). He had to renounce
the position of abbot at the time of the victory of Louis
the German (r. 840–876) in 842; he was later reconciled
with Louis but had to leave the monastic life and accept
the archbishopric of Mainz, his birthplace, where he died
on February 4, 856.LEGACY
He was one of the most important members of the CAR-
OLINGIANRENAISSANCEand its reform movement. His lit-
erary output began with the composition in about 810 of
the collection Praises of the Holy Cross,figurative verses.
He propagated a treatise on the monastic life called On the
Institution of Clerics,which affirmed the need for a train-
ing in acceptable classical literature to gain knowledge
and understand the Scriptures. He translated into German
an Abridgement of the Grammatical Art of Priscian and
composed treatises of biblical exegesis, the most famous
the Commentary on Matthew’s Gospel.He was also active in
reform of the church at synods and councils at Mainz in- His famous and sophisticated Pentecost hymn Veni
Creator Spirituscan give an excellent idea of the depth
and breadth of his abilities and religious interests.
Further reading:Hrabanus Maurus, The Life of Saint
Mary Magdalene and of Her Sister Saint Martha: A Medieval
Biography,trans. David Mycoff. (Kalamazoo: Cistercian
Publications, 1989); M. L. W. Laistner, Thought and Letters
in Western Europe, A.D. 500 to 900(London: Methuen,
1931); Diane O. Le Berrurier, The Pictorial Sources of
Mythological and Scientific Illustrations in Hrabanus Mau-
rus’ De rerum naturis(New York: Garland, 1978); J. M.
Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church(Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1983), 314–322.
Hrotswitha of Gandersheim(Hrotsuit, Hrosvit,
Hrotswith, Rotswitha, “Strong Voice”)(ca. 935–ca.
1002)first German poetess
Born about 935, she was a nun in Sandersheim Abbey in
Saxony, was educated there, and eventually became a
canoness. The first two books of Hrotswitha’s rediscovered
work were a eulogy on CHASTITY, consisting of poems in
dactylic meters with interior rhymes, called Legends,and
dramatic dialogues in rhymed prose, or Dramas, her
reworking of the classical playwright Terence. The two
historical poems subordinated the successes of political
power to sounder dynastic piety. These were considered
important monuments to the learning and sophistication
of 10th-century Ottonian culture. She died about 1002.
See also CELTIS,CONRAD;OTTO III, HOLY ROMAN
EMPEROR.
Further reading: Hrotsvitha, Hrotsvit of Gander-
sheim: A Florilegium of Her Works,trans. Katharina Wil-
son (Woodbridge, England: D. S. Brewer, 1998);
Hrotsvitha, The Plays of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim,trans.
Katharina Wilson (New York: Garland, 1989); Peter
Dronke, ed. “Hrotswitha,” in Women Writers of the Middle