Poetry and parental bereavement in early modern Lutheran Germany

OX F O R D M O D E R N L A N G UAG E S A N D L I T E R AT U R E M O N O G R A PH S Editorial Committee c. h. griffin e...

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OX F O R D M O D E R N L A N G UAG E S A N D L I T E R AT U R E M O N O G R A PH S

Editorial Committee c. h. griffin e. m. jeffreys a. kahn k. m. kohl m. l. mclaughlin i. w. f. maclean r. a. g. pearson

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Poetry and parental bereavement in early modern Lutheran Germany

ANNA LINTON

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Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York  Anna Linton 2008 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Linton, Anna, 1975Poetry and parental bereavement in early modern Lutheran Germany / Anna Linton. p. cm. Based on the author’s thesis (D. Phil.)—University of Oxford, 2002. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–19–923336–6 (alk. paper) 1. German poetry—Early modern, 1500–1700—History and criticism. 2. Elegiac poetry, German—History and criticism. 3. German literature—Lutheran authors—History and criticism. 4. Mourning customs—Germany—History—16th century. 5. Bereavement—Germany—History—16th century. 6. Consolation—History—16th century. 7. Occasional verse, German—History and criticism. 8. Children—Death—Psychological aspects. I. Title. PT573.E4L56 2007 831’.5093548—dc22 2007047220 Typeset by Laserwords Private Limited, Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 978–0–19–923336–6 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

For my parents and Matthew


Acknowledgements In writing this book and the thesis from which it developed I benefited from the assistance of a number of people. Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly was an extremely supportive supervisor and has been a continued source of advice and encouragement. Anna Carrdus, whose work on consolation for bereaved parents provided a starting point for my own research, has been extremely generous with her time and comments, and I have greatly enjoyed discussing the project with her. I am also indebted to Jill Bepler of the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, for her suggestions and practical assistance; to Gregory Johnston, Cornelia Niekus Moore, Marion Kobelt-Groch, Bruce Gordon, and Stefanie Knöll for lively conversations about early modern funerals; and to Ben Earle and Debbie Pinfold for their support, both academic and practical. Ritchie Robertson, Anthony Phelan, Almut Suerbaum, Terence Cave, and Jim Reed made helpful suggestions while the project was at the thesis stage, and Eva-Maria Dickhaut of the Forschungsstelle für Personalschriften at the University of Marburg responded to queries. I am very grateful to my examiners, Nigel Palmer and John Flood, for their comments on the thesis, as well as to Oxford University Press’s readers for their careful scrutiny of the book manuscript, and to Katrin Kohl for her valuable advice during the project’s transition from thesis to book. I am grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Board for the postgraduate studentship which funded my doctoral work, and to St John’s College for a North Senior Scholarship. Grants and scholarships enabled me to spend time at archives and research libraries in Germany collecting primary material, and I would particularly like to thank the University of Oxford for the Senior Heath Harrison Scholarship, which funded nine months at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, where I benefited both from access to the library’s rich holdings and also from interdisciplinary conversations with academics with research interests in the early modern period. Thanks are also due to Exeter, Jesus, and St John’s Colleges and Christ Church, Oxford, for supporting me with travel grants for shorter periods,

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and to the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) for funding a two-month research trip to various archives in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. I encountered many helpful people in archives and libraries. I would particularly like to thank Jill Hughes and Helen Buchanan of the Taylor Institution library in Oxford; Christian Hogrefe, Renate Giermann, and Marina Arnold of the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel; Stephan Lange of the Bibliothek des evangelischen Predigerseminars in Wittenberg; Rupert Schaab and Thomas Fuchs of the Forschungs- und Landesbibliothek in Gotha; Lutz Mahnke of the Ratsschulbibliothek in Zwickau; Andrea Heist of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar; Doris Schilling of the Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Altenburg; and Conny Hödt and Gudrun Pertzsch of the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale). I am also grateful to these institutions for allowing me to cite from their holdings, and especially to the Herzog August Bibliothek for permission to reproduce three images. The cover image is reproduced with the permission of the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Bridgeman Art Library. Metzler and Olms kindly gave me copyright clearance to cite from the works of Martin Luther and Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch respectively, and the Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies at the University of Durham and the journal Daphnis allowed me to reproduce material from two articles that were original published with them. Finally I would like to thank friends and colleagues for listening patiently to me talk with enthusiasm about what they have considered a morbid topic, and most of all my parents for their unceasing encouragement and support throughout the process of researching and writing this book. It is dedicated to them and in memory of Matthew.

Contents Illustrations Abbreviations Conventions Introduction 1. Lutheran consolation for bereaved parents A brief history of Lutheran consolation Parental love and loss The medical model of consolation Mourning conventions and consolation arguments The duty of consolation

xi xiii xv 1 13 15 19 22 29 43

2. The purposes of poetry

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Poetry and society

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3. Models and metaphors for Lutheran funeral poetry 4. Death and didacticism 5. Brides of Christ and heavenly soldiers: imagery in funeral verse Seasonal imagery and the metaphor ‘children are plants’ Representations of death Life as a journey Name-, age-, and gender-specific images 6. Paul Fleming and Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch Paul Fleming Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch Conclusion Biographies of poets and authors Funeral booklets and occasional poems for the children cited

68 103 137 139 148 154 156 174 174 193 224 229 253

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Bibliography Reference works Classical and patristic texts Primary sources Secondary literature Index of Bible verses Index

266 266 268 271 290 307 309

Illustrations Dust-jacket. ‘Suffer the Little Children to come unto Me’, 1538 (oil on panel) by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553).  Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Gemany / The Bridgeman Art Library Figure 3.1. Frontispiece to Valerius Herberger’s Geistlich[e] Trauer= Binden/ […], rev. edn (1669–70), Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel: Th 1232 Figure 3.2. Figured poem for Gottfried Winckler (1654–61), Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel: LP Stolberg 23150 Figure 3.3. ‘Hertz=Creutz’ figured poem by Martin Eßkuchen for Catharina (1655–63), Elisabeth (1660–3) and Dorothea (1662–3), Princesses of Saxony-Weissenfels, Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel: LP Stolberg 19542–4, p. 67

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78


Abbreviations ADB

Allgemeine deutsche Biographie

BEP Wittenberg

Bibliothek des evangelischen Predigerseminars, Wittenberg

BL

British Library, London

DBA

Deutsches biographisches Archiv

DVLG

Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte

FLB Gotha

Forschungs- und Landesbibliothek, Gotha

GLL

German Life and Letters

GRM

Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift

HAAB Weimar

Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar (* indicates a volume lost in the 2004 fire)

HAB Wolfenbüttel

Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel

LP

Leichenpredigt (funeral booklet)

LP Stolberg

Leichenpredigt from the Stolberg collection housed at the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel

MLR

The Modern Language Review

O

Oden, from Fleming’s Geist= und Weltliche= ¨ POEMATA (1651)

PS

Personalschrift (occasional publication)

PW

Poetische Wälder, from Fleming’s Geist= und Welt¨ liche=POEMATA (1651)

RSB Zwickau

Ratsschulbibliothek, Zwickau

S

Sonette, from Fleming’s Geist= und Weltliche= ¨ POEMATA (1651)

VD17

Das Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts (digital database)

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Abbreviations

WA

D. Martin Luthers Werke, part I (Weimarer Ausgabe)

WA Bibel

D. Martin Luthers Werke, part III, Die Deutsche Bibel

WA Br.

D. Martin Luthers Werke, part IV, Briefwechsel

WA Tr.

D. Martin Luthers Werke, part II, Tischreden

Conventions Luther’s works are, in most cases, cited from D. Martin Luthers Werke. [Weimarer Ausgabe] (WA), 71 vols., Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger Weimar GmbH & Co. in Stuttgart/Weimar. Bible verses are cited from the 1545–6 edition of Luther’s translation (WA Bibel). I am grateful for the permission to cite from this edition. Early modern passages have been reproduced as accurately as possible. The use of virgulae (/) for passages in Fraktur and commas for passages in Antiqua typeface has been retained. Superscript e has been replaced by umlauts, long ‘s’ [∫] has been standardized, and abbreviated forms have been resolved in square brackets. Early modern titles are given in short form in the text; longer titles and full publication details can be found in the bibliography. Where two names or places appear, the publisher precedes the printer. Funeral booklets and collections of epicedia appear, after the first reference in a chapter, in the abbreviated form LP or PS + name, with dates or numbers used in certain cases to avoid ambiguity. ∗† against a year date indicates a child who was born and died in the same year. Where page numbers or foliation were absent in the original, this has been represented by page numbers in square brackets. The Latin original of translated texts is only given in footnotes where the translation is my own.


Introduction On 31 January 1690 in the residency town of Altenburg a 9-yearold girl died. Dorothea Friderica Kuntsch’s life had not been easy. Years of illness had left her physically and mentally handicapped, and she had witnessed the death of five of her siblings, including a beloved elder brother. Dorothea Friderica was, in fact, the eleventh child to die in this unfortunate family. Her mother, Margarethe Susanna, would bear two more babies and lose both in infancy, leaving only one of her fourteen children. This surviving daughter would in turn bear twelve children, seven of whom were to predecease their grandmother. For a modern reader these statistics are appalling. Twenty-first-century Western society regards the death of a child as a rare tragedy, but in the early modern period it was not unusual for families to lose several children. Those who survived the considerable perils of infancy were exposed to the risk of infectious diseases, which could carry off several members of a household in one go, and the demographer Michael Flinn has estimated that up to 50 per cent of children did not live to see their tenth birthday.¹ In the light of this high mortality rate certain social historians have argued that early modern parents unconsciously sought protection from the pain of ¹ Michael W. Flinn, The European Demographic System 1500–1820 (Brighton: The Harvester Press, 1981), p. 33. The same statistic is cited by Hugh Cunningham in Children and Childhood in Western Society since 1500 (London: Longman, 1995), p. 90, and by Linda Pollock in ‘Parent–Child Relations’, in David I. Kertzer and Marzio Barbagli (eds.), Family Life in Early Modern Times 1500–1789, The History of the European Family, 1 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), pp. 191–220 (196). The rate of infant mortality was not uniform across Europe. On this see Pier Paolo Viazzo, ‘Mortality, Fertility and Family’, tr. Caroline Beamish, in Kertzer and Barbagli (eds.), Family Life in Early Modern Times, pp. 157–87.

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successive bereavements by distancing themselves emotionally from their young children, and that in what Edward Shorter has termed ‘the Bad Old Days’² parental affection was the exception rather than the norm: Good mothering is an invention of modernization. In traditional society, mothers viewed the development and happiness of infants younger than two with indifference. [ … ] The point is that these mothers did not care, and that is why their children vanished in the ghastly slaughter of the innocents that was traditional child-rearing. Custom and tradition and the frozen emotionality of ancien-régime life gripped with deathly force.³

Shorter’s is not a lone voice, proclaiming the teleological progress of family relationships. The 1960s and 1970s saw many such claims, largely influenced by the publication of Philippe Ariès’s work L’Enfant et la vie familiale sous l’ancien régime in 1960.⁴ Their often rash, hyperbolic, and unsubstantiated conclusions have been challenged by other historians, who have uncovered ample evidence of parental love in early modern Europe.⁵ Keith Thomas, for example, cites a seventeenth-century English passage describing children playing with dolls: ‘we shall finde girls [ … ] providing apparel and ² Edward Shorter, The Making of the Modern Family (New York: Basic Books, 1975; repr. London: Collins, 1976), p. 3. ³ Ibid. pp. 168, 204 (Shorter’s emphasis). ⁴ Philippe Ariès, L’Enfant et la vie familiale sous l’ancien régime (Paris: Plon, 1960); tr. Robert Baldick as Centuries of Childhood (London: Cape, 1962). Other authors include Elisabeth Badinter, L’Amour en plus (Paris: Flammarion, 1980), tr. Roger Degaris as The Myth of Motherhood: An Historical View of the Maternal Instinct (London: Souvenir Press, 1981); Lloyd deMause, ‘The Evolution of Childhood’, in deMause (ed.), The History of Childhood (New York: The Psychohistory Press, 1974; repr. London: Souvenir Press, 1976), pp. 1–73; Donata Elschenbroich, Kinder werden nicht geboren: Studien zur Entstehung der Kindheit, 2nd edn. (Bensheim: Pädagogischer Extra Buchverlag, 1980); and Lawrence Stone, The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500–1800 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977). ⁵ Ralph A. Houlbrooke, The English Family 1450–1700, Themes in British Social History (London: Longman, 1984); Death, Religion and the Family in England, 1480–1750, Oxford Studies in Social History (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998; repr. 2000); Anne Laurence, ‘Godly Grief: Individual Responses to Death in SeventeenthCentury Britain’, in Ralph A. Houlbrooke (ed.), Death, Ritual, and Bereavement (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 62–76; Elizabeth Clarke, ‘ ‘‘A heart terrifying Sorrow’’: The Deaths of Children in Seventeenth-Century Women’s Manuscript Journals’, in Gillian Avery and Kimberley Reynolds (eds.), Representations of Childhood Death (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000), pp. 65–86.

Introduction

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food for their Babies, with most high and great indulgence: as supposing they do hereby as really pleasure and benefit these, as their Parents do them’.⁶ The point here is that, as play is often imitative, these girls were probably re-enacting with dolls what they had experienced in their own families. It seems that parental tenderness was not so alien to early modern sensibilities after all. The sheer volume of consolatory writings printed on the loss of children in early modern German Lutheran territories certainly suggests that contemporaries were acutely aware of the emotional and spiritual anguish suffered when a child died. Martin Luther describes the effects of bereavement in a letter to a friend: My small daughter, my little Elisabeth has died. How strangely wretched it has left my spirit, almost like a woman’s, so that I am moved by the pity of it, for I would never before have believed that fathers’ spirits could grow so tender towards their children. Pray for me to the Lord, in whom I take my leave. Wittenberg 1528, 5th August.⁷

He appears disconcerted by his response to his baby daughter and ill-prepared for this first loss in his family.⁸ Exposed as their Catholic ⁶ John Hall of Richmond, Of Government and Obedience, As they stand Directed and Determined by Scripture and Reason (London: J[oshua] Kirton, A[bel] Roper, G[abriel] Bedell and G[eorge] Sawbridge [publishers] and T[homas] Newcomb [printer], 1654), p. 300; cited by Keith Thomas in ‘Children in Early Modern England’, in Gillian Avery and Julia Briggs (eds.), Children and their Books: A Celebration of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 45–77 (60). ⁷ ‘Defuncta est mihi filiola mea Elisabethula; mirum quam aegrum mihi reliquerit animum paene muliebrem, ita misericordia eius moveor; quod nunquam credidissem antea, sic paternos animos mollescere in prolem. Tu pro me ora Dominum, in quo bene vale. Wittembergae 1528 quinta Augusti.’ In D. Martin Luthers Werke: Weimarer Ausgabe (WA), 71 vols. (Stuttgart and Weimar: Böhlau, 1883– ), WA Br., IV, no. 1303. Anna Carrdus cites the passage in ‘Consolation Arguments and Maternal Grief in Seventeenth-Century Verse: The Example of Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch’, GLL, 47 (1994), 135–51 (p. 140). ⁸ His second daughter Magdalena was to die in October 1542. On 9 October he writes to Jakob Propst, a pastor in Bremen: ‘My dearest daughter Magdalena has departed this life for the heavenly Father, falling asleep full of faith in Christ. I have mastered my paternal feelings, but [only] through a certain defiant raging against death; in this anger I have soothed my tears. I loved her very much.’ (‘Mihi filia charissima Magdalena abiit ad patrem coelestem, plena fide in Christum obdormiens. Ego paternum illum affectum vici, sed fremitu quodam satis minaci

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Introduction

counterparts were not, at least officially, to the joys and sorrows of family life, Lutheran clergymen soon came to recognize such grief as a natural and legitimate response to losing a child. They wrote consolation manuals, early self-help books, specifically targeted at bereaved parents, in which they describe parental grief as a gaping or festering wound which requires timely treatment, and this image became a staple of Lutheran funeral poetry.⁹ Take the example of our 9-year-old’s mother. When her daughter died, Margarethe Susanna wrote a poem, ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz’, which uses this very metaphor as its central image. This new loss, she claims, reopens the wounds inflicted by the ten previous bereavements: Man stößt zum eilfften mal in meine Wunden Ein scharff Gewehr/ wer hat daß ie empfunden/ Ist auch ein Schmertzen/ welcher meinem gleich?¹⁰

Here the grieving mother adopts a pose of extreme mourning, echoing the complaint of abandoned Israel in the book of Lamentations.¹¹ Kuntsch wrote many poems on the deaths of her children. It is tempting to see them as therapeutic exercises, which allowed her to come to terms with her grief by putting pen to paper. Yet the pose she strikes here reveals that they are not merely a private means of working through sorrow, for the poem directly addresses friends and relatives who offer well-meaning but inadequate words of advice: Bemüht euch nicht mir Tröstung zu zusprechen/ Kein Wunder wär es möcht das Band zerbrechen Daß meinen Leib mit seiner Seel’ verbind/¹² contra mortem, qua indignatione mitigaui lacrymas. Vehementer eam dilexi.’), WA Br., X, No. 3797. ⁹ Carrdus, ‘Consolation Arguments’, pp. 135–6. ¹⁰ Margarethe Susanna [von] Kuntsch, ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz [ … ]’ (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), lines 28–30; cited from Anna Carrdus (ed., introd. and comm.), Das »weiblich Werck« in der Residenzstadt Altenburg (1672–1720): Gedichte und Briefe von Margaretha Susanna von Kuntsch und Frauen aus ihrem Umkreis (Hildesheim: Olms, 2004), p. 127. ¹¹ ‘Euch sage ich allen, die jr fur vber gehet, Schawet doch vnd sehet, Ob irgend ein schmertzen sey, wie mein schmertzen, der mich troffen hat, Denn der HERR hat mich vol jamers gemacht, am tage seines grimmigen zorns’ (Lamentations 1: 12, WA Bibel, XI. 1, 377). ¹² Kuntsch, ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz’, lines 31–3; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 127.

Introduction

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In fact, Kuntsch had the poem published by a local Altenburg printer, Gottfried Richter, and probably distributed it to these very friends and relatives. This was one of around thirty Latin and German poems published on Dorothea Friderica’s death. Other than Kuntsch and her surviving daughter, Margarethe Elisabeth, the poets were men: local dignitaries and colleagues of Kuntsch’s husband, clergymen, schoolteachers, a theology student, Dorothea Friderica’s tutor, and Kuntsch’s future son-in-law.¹³ Publication of funeral verse was common amongst the educated classes of seventeenth-century Lutheran Germany. Poets wrote from a mixture of motives: to offer comfort, to elucidate Lutheran teachings on death, to curry favour, or merely to supplement a meagre income; the last two motives presumably account for the number of poems written by students. In this way the verse became part of a social framework of mourning, intended as much to strengthen community ties as to comfort the bereaved. However, the very fact that some consolatory response was expected confirms society’s underlying awareness of the deep distress experienced at the loss of a child. The poems, manuscript and printed, were sent to the family, and after the funeral they would often be collected together as a printed Leichenpredigt.¹⁴ This term is somewhat misleading, since the Leichenpredigt encompasses more than the sermon. Maria Fürstenwald ¹³ ‘ACERBUM LUCTUM [ … ]’, Latin and German poems by Christoph [von] Kuntsch’s friends and colleagues; ‘CUPRESSUS FUNEREA in funere VIRGINIS [ … ]’, Latin and German poems by local teachers and clergymen; ‘Das beklagte und getröstete Vater= und Mutter Hertze/ [ … ]’ by Christoph Reim, a theological student; ‘Schuldigste Condolentz, [ … ]’ by J. H. S., Dorothea’s tutor; ‘Uber Die Toden=Grufft Der nunmehro seeligsten Jf. Dorotheen Friedericen Kuntschin/ [ … ]’ by Gottfried Stockmann, Kuntsch’s future son-in-law; and ‘Als Jhre Hertzlich-geliebte einige Schwester [ … ] Durch einen unverhofften wiewol seeligen Todt aus allen Jammer erlöset wurde [ … ]’ by Margarethe Elisabeth Kuntsch. All were printed by Gottfried Richter in Altenburg, and they can be seen at the FLB Gotha under the shelfmark LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b/1–6). Margarethe Elisabeth’s poem is reproduced in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 229–30. ¹⁴ For a detailed discussion of the Leichenpredigt see Rudolf Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle historischer Wissenschaften, Marburger Personalschriftensymposien, 4 vols. (I—Cologne: Böhlau, 1975; II and III—Marburg: Schwarz, 1979 and 1984; IV—Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004); and Eberhard Winkler, Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum bis Spener, Forschungen zur Geschichte und Lehre des Protestantismus, ser. 10, 34 (Munich: Kaiser, 1967).

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suggests ‘Gedenkausgabe’¹⁵ as a more suitable alternative, and a research centre specializing in occasional writings refers to both Personalschriften and Leichenpredigten.¹⁶ The term ‘funeral booklet’ used in this study is the most apposite description of their scope and function. A typical booklet contains the sermon, a biographical account, speeches, poems (often called epicedia), and occasionally music and portraits.¹⁷ Engravings of the funeral procession and the family crest are sometimes found in funeral booklets for the upper classes.¹⁸ The family would pay for the booklet to be published in average print-runs of 100 to 300,¹⁹ and distribute it to relations and acquaintances. Some incurred great expense: occasionally families even bankrupted themselves in putting together a lavish booklet.²⁰ In fact, funeral booklet publication was such a lucrative affair for printers and publishers that they were prepared to tout for business at funerals.²¹ In many cases they struck a deal with the family, allowing them to retain a certain number of copies for their commercial stock. We find these booklets entered in the catalogues for book fairs, where they were traded as edifying reading material, considered especially suitable for women. In this way the booklets and epicedia collections passed beyond the immediate family and circle of ¹⁵ Maria Fürstenwald, ‘Zur Theorie und Funktion der Barockabdankung’, in Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle, I, 372–89 (p. 372). ¹⁶ Founded in 1976 at the Philipps-Universität, Marburg, the Forschungsstelle für Personalschriften has been part of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz since 1984. The project, which has a further outpost in Dresden, provides databases for Personalschriften and funeral booklets, and has published four conference proceedings on Leichenpredigten als Quelle historischer Wissenschaften, from symposia held between 1976 and 2002. The project has a website: www.unimarburg.de/fpmr.html ¹⁷ Cornelia Niekus Moore has recently published an informative study on the biographical accounts: Patterned Lives: The Lutheran Funeral Biography in Early Modern Germany, Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 111 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006). ¹⁸ As the seventeenth century advanced, it became increasingly common for poems to be published separately from the rest of the funeral booklet, either individually or in collections. ¹⁹ Gerd-Rüdiger Koretzki, ‘Leichenpredigten und ihre Druckherstellung: Ein Beitrag zur Untersuchung der materiellen Voraussetzungen einer gesellschaftlichen Modeerscheinung’, in Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle, II, 333–59 (pp. 339–46). ²⁰ Rudolf Lenz, ‘Gedruckte Leichenpredigten (1550–1750)’, in Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle, I, 36–51 (p. 42). ²¹ Koretzki, ‘Leichenpredigten und ihre Druckherstellung’, p. 353.

Introduction

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acquaintances. Astute printers and publishers recognized that they contained guidance and comfort which could benefit a wider readership, and handwritten registers of Bible verses and manuscript markings in extant copies show that readers engaged with them as with other devotional texts.²² The vogue for these booklets began to ebb in the eighteenth century, and had virtually died out by the middle of the century, a victim of secularization, of new funeral trends, including nocturnal burial,²³ and of a growing distaste for what had come to be seen as bombastic baroque practices.²⁴ The fully developed printed funeral booklet for the middle and upper classes is primarily a Lutheran genre,²⁵ and these publications display many specifically Lutheran concerns relating to death and ²² For a discussion of the place of Leichenpredigten alongside other forms of devotional literature, especially ars moriendi writings (which aim to teach the art of dying a good death), see Cornelia Niekus Moore, ‘Praeparatio ad Mortem: Das Buch bei Vorbereitung und Begleitung des Sterbens im protestantischen Deutschland des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, Pietismus und Neuzeit, 19 (1993), 9–18. Barbara Becker-Cantarino discusses women’s reading of edifying books in Der lange Weg zur Mündigkeit: Frau und Literatur 1500–1800 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1987), pp. 172–3. ²³ In the latter part of the seventeenth century, nocturnal burial became increasingly acceptable. It had previously been associated with social disgrace, but this perception began to change when the nobility recognized the financial savings which could be made: burial at night required far less clergy participation. Once its favour was established amongst the upper classes, the middle classes began to emulate them. For a discussion of this practice, see the sixth chapter of Craig M. Koslofsky’s informative study The Reformation of the Dead: Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450–1700 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000). ²⁴ Lenz, ‘Gedruckte Leichenpredigten’, pp. 42–3. ²⁵ Some funeral sermons and orations were published for high-ranking Catholic clerics and members of the nobility, but these tended to overlook children other than royalty. On the Catholic Leichenpredigt see Friedhelm Jürgensmeier, ‘Die Leichenpredigt in der katholischen Begräbnisfeier’, in Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle, I, 122–45, and Birgit Boge and Ralf Georg Bogner (eds.), Oratio Funebris: Die katholische Leichenpredigt der frühen Neuzeit. Zwölf Studien, Chloe, 30 (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1999). The number of Calvinist Leichenpredigten is also small, largely because of the critical attitude of the church authorities, who condemned the tendency to praise the dead extravagantly. Those that do exist are very plain, and are limited for the most part to clergymen. See Jan Pieter van Dooren, ‘Leichenpredigten in den Niederlanden: Eine umstrittene Sache (1550–1751)’, in Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle, II, 397–410. Van Dooren argues that the publication of epicedia amongst Calvinists was more common, but that these can be attributed to the humanist tradition, and tend to focus on eminent men. Niekus Moore discusses Catholic and Calvinist funeral biographies in Patterned Lives, pp. 32–3 and 34.

8

Introduction

bereavement. In the pre-Reformation church a number of mortality rites had developed. Christians learned from ars moriendi tracts how to prepare for the spiritual struggle around the bedside at the hour of death. Succour for the dying came with the sacrament of Extreme Unction, and their term in Purgatory could be reduced by the intercessory prayers of the living and by requiem masses said or sung on their behalf. The Reformation called many of these rites into question. Luther regarded requiem masses and prayers for the dead as papist abominations and skulduggery,²⁶ incompatible with the doctrine of justification by faith, so a new model for funeral ceremonies evolved, centred around an exegetical sermon.²⁷ By the second half of the sixteenth century, when the funeral booklets and poems began to be published, the Lutheran approach to death was clearly established. The notion of Purgatory had been dismissed as a Roman Catholic invention in the early years of the Reformation, the Christian soul was considered to enter heaven at the moment of death, and unbaptized babies were deemed acceptable in the sight of God, since salvation could not be earned by works or rituals.²⁸ As the deceased could not be aided in their post-mortem state, the pastoral focus is firmly fixed on the living. They were to be comforted, instructed in Lutheran doctrines, and exhorted to remember death’s imminence (memento mori).²⁹ The consolation books and funeral poems seek to impose a model for acceptable mourning: grief is permitted, but only in moderation. This prescription is doctrinally informed, focusing the bereaved on the hope of resurrection in line with 1 Thessalonians 4: 13, but it also has an unacknowledged sociological function, insofar as it enjoins them not ²⁶ Introduction to his collection of funeral hymns (‘Begräbnislieder’), WA, XXXV, 478. ²⁷ Sibylle Rusterholz argues that with Luther the ‘Leichenrede’ develops into the ‘Leichenpredigt’, and she discusses his sermons for the Saxon Electors Friedrich the Wise and Johann the Constant (Rostra, Sarg und Predigtstuhl: Studien zu Form und Funktion der Totenrede bei Andreas Gryphius, Studien zur Germanistik, Anglistik und Komparatistik, 16 (Bonn: Bouvier, 1974), pp. 35–8). See also Winkler, Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum, pp. 26–41. ²⁸ For a discussion of early Reformation views on Purgatory, see Koslofsky, The Reformation of the Dead, ch. 2. ²⁹ On the development of the medieval memento mori in early modern poetry, see Ferdinand van Ingen’s seminal work, Vanitas und Memento Mori in der deutschen Barocklyrik (Groningen: Wolters, 1966).

Introduction

9

to succumb to what Freud was later to term pathological (disordered) mourning.³⁰ Interviewed for an article published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in August 2000, the historian Rudolf Lenz emphasized the importance of funeral booklets for a range of academic disciplines. He names genealogy, social history, medical history, and historical demography,³¹ and to these we should add theology, church history, musicology, bibliography, educational history, and literary history. Many of these areas have been explored in some detail, not least at four conferences organized by Lenz under the auspices of the research centre for Personalschriften. However, little has been published on the booklets as sources of literature. Eberhard Winkler writes dismissively of the low theological and literary value of the orations and epicedia.³² Maria Fürstenwald does at least emphasize their importance for the literary historian: ‘Diese Kleinanthologien zum Thema des Lebens und des Todes eines Menschen umfassen Prosa und Lyrik in einer Vielfalt von literarischen Formen—in welchen sich die Deutschen durchaus erst üben mußten’.³³ But although she has analysed the funeral orations in two works,³⁴ the epicedia sections remain largely uncharted territory.³⁵ The funeral booklets have also, for the most part, been ³⁰ Sigmund Freud, ‘Trauer und Melancholie’, 1917 [1915], in Studienausgabe, ed. Alexander Mitscherlich, Angela Richards, and James Strachey, 11 vols. (Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1969–75), III, 193–212. ³¹ Markus Reiter, ‘Der Nachhall der Nachrufe: Was Historiker aus Leichenpredigten lernen können’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 5 August 2000, p. 46. ³² Winkler, Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum, p. 13. ³³ Fürstenwald, ‘Barockabdankung’, pp. 372–3. ³⁴ Trauerreden des Barock, Beiträge zur Literatur des XV. bis XVIII. Jahrhunderts, 4 (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1973) and Andreas Gryphius: Dissertationes Funebres. Studien zur Didaktik der Leichabdankungen, Abhandlungen zur Kunst-, Musik- und Literaturwissenschaft, 46 (Bonn: Bouvier, 1967). ³⁵ Pioneering work has been carried out by Anna Carrdus: ‘Consolation Arguments’; ‘Thränen=Tüchlein für Christliche Eltern: Consolation Books for Bereaved Parents in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Germany’, GLL, 49 (1996), 1–17; and ‘Consolatory Dialogue in Devotional Writings by Men and Women of Early Modern Protestant Germany’, MLR, 93 (1998), 411–27. Other investigations have been confined to individual poets: Simon Dach ( Johann Anselm Steiger, ‘Der Mensch in der Druckerei Gottes und die Imago Dei: Zur Theologie des Dichters Simon Dach (1605–59)’, Daphnis, 27 (1998), 263–90); Paul Fleming (Marian R. SperbergMcQueen, ‘Gedichte von Paul Fleming in der Stolbergschen LeichenpredigtenSammlung’, Jahrbuch der deutschen Schillergesellschaft, 26 (1982), 1–8); and Andreas Gryphius (Rusterholz, Rostra, Sarg und Predigtstuhl).

10

Introduction

neglected in the debate on parental attachment and loss.³⁶ This study, which aims to bridge these gaps, is based on published funeral poetry from two main sources. The first is two contrasting collections of poetry, one by our bereaved mother, Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch, and the other by the well-known poet Paul Fleming, an unmarried man writing in the first half of the seventeenth century under the influence of neo-Stoicism. The second source consists of numerous funeral booklets and individual collections of epicedia for children housed at various archives and research libraries in Germany³⁷ and published in four Lutheran cities: Altenburg, Halle an der Saale, Wittenberg, and Leipzig. Leipzig and Wittenberg were university cities, whereas Altenburg housed a ducal court, and Halle was a centre of Pietism in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The vast majority of these occasional publications are only available in German archives and research libraries. This book attempts to bring them to the attention of a wider readership, drawing largely on previously unresearched material. ³⁶ Ines Kloke’s contribution to the third Marburg conference considers the place of children in funeral sermons and biographies, looking both at the deaths of children and at descriptions of the childhood of those who died as adults. However, she excludes the poetry as a source of information and says relatively little about consolation aimed at the parents (‘Das Kind in der Leichenpredigt’, in Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle, III, 97–120). Marion Kobelt-Groch’s 2004 article on visions of heaven in funeral booklets for children is a welcome acknowledgement that this field merits more attention: ‘ ,,Freudiger Abschied Jungfräulicher Seelen‘‘: Himmelsphantasien in protestantischen Leichenpredigten für Kinder’, Wolfenbütteler Barock-Nachrichten, 31 (2004), 117–47. ³⁷ The Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar, the Bibliothek des evangelischen Predigerseminars in Wittenberg, the Forschungs- und Landesbibliothek in Gotha, the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale), the Thüringisches Staatsarchiv in Altenburg, and the Ratsschulbibliothek in Zwickau. The Herzog August Bibliothek was the main source for funeral booklets. In addition to its own holdings, it has, on permanent loan, the Stolberg collection which contains over 20,000 booklets. These were collected in the eighteenth century by Sophie Eleonore, Countess of StolbergStolberg (1669–1745). The collection has been catalogued: Werner Konstantin von Arnswaldt, Katalog der fürstlich Stolberg-Stolberg’schen Leichenpredigten-Sammlung, Bibliothek familiengeschichtlicher Quellen, 2, 4 vols. (Leipzig: Degener, 1927–35). For information on the collection see Jill Bepler, Thomas Bürger, and Heinrich Grau, Der erbauliche Tod: Die Sammlung der Gräfin Sophie Eleonore zu Stolberg-Stolberg (Wolfenbüttel: Herzog August Bibliothek, 1997).

Introduction

11

The primary interest of this study is in the poetic response to the loss of a child. It asks how and why poetry was used to counter the affective impact of parental bereavement, and considers what makes it a particularly suitable vehicle for consolation. The early chapters set out the theological, philosophical, and poetological background. They demonstrate the influence of biblical, classical, and humanist consolation on Lutheran thought, and consider poetry’s role within seventeenth-century society. Central to the study is the classical tripartite scheme of praise, lamentation, and consolation (laudatio, lamentatio, and consolatio).³⁸ This scheme performs an important service for the bereaved because it accompanies them through the stages of mourning and is closely connected to the three ways in which funeral poetry understands its own function: commemorative (standing in place of a stone monument), practical (likened to a handkerchief to dry the parents’ tears), and therapeutic (healing the wound of grief). This is discussed in detail in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 is devoted to didactic elements and the specific formal devices that support them, whilst Chapter 5 considers factors that determined imagery, focusing particularly on gender stereotyping and variant presentations of personified death. The discussion concludes with a detailed analysis of funeral poems by Fleming and Kuntsch, showing the features discussed in the earlier chapters in the work of two rather different poets. The study participates in a number of discussions in early modern studies on the sociology of death, Lutheran teachings on bereavement and mourning, literary presentations of mortality and loss, and the depiction of children and parent–child relations in literature. It also touches on the question of the relationship between Lutheran biblical exegesis and the traditional four senses of scripture.³⁹ Occasional poetry is a field that is finally beginning to ³⁸ See Hans-Henrik Krummacher, ‘Das barocke Epicedium: Rhetorische Tradition und deutsche Gelegenheitsdichtung’, Jahrbuch der deutschen Schillergesellschaft, 18 (1974), 89–147. ³⁹ The four levels at which the Bible could be interpreted were literal, allegorical, tropological (moral), and anagogical (eschatological). See Henri de Lubac, Exégèse médiévale. 1: Les Quatres Sens de l’écriture ([Paris]: Aubiers, 1959–64), tr. Marc Sebanc: Medieval Exegesis, Volume I: The Four Senses of Scripture (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdsman and Clark, 1998).

12

Introduction

receive the attention that it deserves: this study will contribute to its rehabilitation as a rich and largely untapped source of early modern poetry.⁴⁰ ⁴⁰ See Wulf Segebrecht, Das Gelegenheitsgedicht: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Poetik der deutschen Lyrik (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1977); Dorette Frost and Gerhard Kroll (eds.), Veröffentlichungen der Abteilung Gesellschaft und der Spezialabteilung II: Gelegenheitsdichtung, Referate der Arbeitsgruppe 6 auf dem Kongreß des Internationalen Arbeitskreise für Deutsche Barockliteratur, Wolfenbüttel, 28.8.–31.8.1976 (Bremen: Universität Bremen, 1977); Anthony J. Harper, ‘Neglected Areas in SeventeenthCentury Poetry’, GLL, 36 (1982–3), 255–65; Krummacher, ‘Das barocke Epicedium’; Joseph Leighton, ‘Das barocke Sonett als Gelegenheitsgedicht’, in Martin Bircher and Eberhard Mannack (eds.), Deutsche Barockliteratur und Europäische Kultur (Hamburg: Hauswedell, 1977), pp. 141–67; Leighton, ‘Poems of Mortality in the German Baroque’, GLL, 36 (1982–3), 241–57; and John L. Flood, ‘ ‘‘Foreshortened in the Tract of Time’’: Towards a Bio-Bibliography of Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire’, The Library. Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, ser. 7, 8 (2007), 3–24.

1 Lutheran consolation for bereaved parents Johannes Teutschmann, pastor of St Bernhardin in the Silesian city of Breslau, lost his young son to an outbreak of smallpox which carried off a number of the city’s children in February 1621. The bereaved father decided to preach a sermon to comfort himself and other parishioners, and he published it in extended form, apparently at his own expense, two years later. In the introduction he emphasizes the pastoral importance of consolation: Tröstet/ Tröstet mein Volck/ redet mit Jerusalem freundlich/ Ermahnet die Hohe Göttliche Mayest. alle Trewe Lehrer vnnd Prediger beym Propheten Esaia am 40. Cap.¹ Vnd wil von jhnen haben/ das sie in Erwegung jhres Ambtes/ so Er jhnen vertrawet/ Betrübten/ Trawrigen vnd Bekümmerten Hertzen/ inn jhrem Vnglück/ Creutz/ vnd Elend/ tröstlich vnd freundlich zusprechen sollen/ Sintemal es die tägliche Erfahrung bezeuget/ das trawrige vnd geengstete Hertzen/ wann sie ohne Trost gelassen werden/ inn grosse Noth vnd Gefahr gerathen.²

Teutschmann was not alone in regarding consolation as a central clerical duty; the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw the publication of numerous books by clergymen offering solace for all kinds of tribulations. Sometimes the consolation was rather general, for example Philipp Melanchthon’s Ein Trostschrift für alle betrübten hertzen/ in ¹ Isaiah 40: 1. ² Johannes Teutschmann, Geistliches Wischtüchlein Fromer/ Christlicher vnd Betrübter Eltern/ Damit sie jhre sehnliche Hertz: vnnd Liebesthränen/ welche jhnen vber dem Zeitlichen vnd Trawrigen Abscheyden jhrer lieben kleinen Hertzlein o[der] Kinderlein auß den Augen fliessen/ tröstlich können abwischen/ vnd also jhres Hertzens vnd Schmertzens Trawrigkeit/ gar fein lindern vnd mindern zu jederzeit. […] (Oels: Johannes Teutschmann [publisher] and Johann Bössemesser [printer], 1623), fo. Aijr .

14

Lutheran consolation for bereaved parents

diesen kümmerlichen zeyten.³ Others targeted a particular audience. In the first half of the seventeenth century Sigismund Schererz, superintendent in Lüneburg, wrote manuals for widows,⁴ Christian soldiers,⁵ travellers,⁶ and bereaved parents.⁷ Although this study concentrates on consolation for Lutheran parents, there is considerable overlap with maxims offered in the more general consolation books. Indeed, the authors themselves are conscious of writing within an established tradition; works share structural similarities, and the reader encounters particular expressions, anecdotes, and metaphors again and again.⁸ A study of these consolation books is the obvious starting point for a discussion of Lutheran funeral poetry, since the arguments they present underlie the themes and arguments of the verse. A discussion ³ Philipp Melanchthon, Loci philosophici consolationis. I cite from the German version, Ein Trostschrift für alle betrübten hertzen/ in diesen kümmerlichen zeyten/ […] ([Magdeburg]: [Michael Lotter], 1547). ⁴ CORDIALE VIDUARUM, ORPHANorum, & Exulum. das ist/ Geistliche Hertzlabung/ für geplagte Witwen/ verlassene Wäysen/ vnd verjagte Bekenner des heiligen Evangelij. […] (Lüneburg: Heinrich Meyer, 1625). In 1637 this was revised to CORDIALE VIDUARUM ET ORPHANORUM. Das ist: Geistliche Hertzstärckung für betrübte Witwen vnd verlassene Wäisen. […] (Lüneburg: Johann and Heinrich Stern). ⁵ MANUALE MILItantium. Kriegsbüchlein/ fur christliche Soldaten: vnd für die/ so mit Kriegsnoth von Gott heimgesucht sind […] (Lüneburg: Johann and Heinrich Stern, 1626). ⁶ MANUALE PEREgrinantium. Reisebüchlein für Christliche Wandersleut/ so zu Wasser vnd Land jhre Nahrung suchen/ vnd jhrem Beruff nachziehen/ […] (Lüneburg: Johann and Heinrich Stern, 1628). ⁷ MANUALE Parentum lugentium THränen=Tüchlein Für Christliche Eltern vnd andere Leidtragende/ die wegen jhrer Kinder vnd Freunde zeitlichen Todt hertzlich betrübet sind […] ([Lüneburg]: Johann and Heinrich Stern, 1628). ⁸ Certain printers seem to have had a particular interest in consolation books. Georg Baumann in Erfurt published both the 1568 edition of Georg Walther’s Trost der Eltern/ wenn jhre Kinder kranck werden/ vnnd im HERRN entschlaffen. […] (later edition: Nuremberg: Christoff Heußler, 1572), and Michael Neander’s Vom Seligen Absterben/ Derer/ so Jung in der jugendt sterben. […] (Erfurt: Georg Baumann, 1588). Michael Schmuck in Schmalkalden printed the 1586 extended edition of Johann Pfeffinger’s Trostbüchlin Aus Gottes Wort/ Vber den vnzeitichen Todt/ sterbens vnd allerley nöten. […] (Leipzig: Wolf Günter, 1552) as well as Christoph Vischer’s Ein Trostschrifft/ Wie sich ein Christ in allerley vorstehendem Creutze/ Auch wenn seine nechsten Freunde seliglich im HErrn entschlaffen/ aus Gottes wort trösten/ sich dadurch auch seines tödtlichen Abgangs erinnern/ vnd zum seligen ende bereiten solle. […] (1573). Anna Carrdus discusses Walther and Neander in ‘Thränen=Tüchlein für Christliche Eltern: Consolation Books for Bereaved Parents in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Germany’, GLL, 49 (1996), 1–17 (pp. 3–8).


15

of Lutheran consolation must begin, in turn, with the history of the consolation genre with its double heritage: classical and biblical. A detailed historical account is unnecessary here. George W. McClure and Brian Vickers give extremely clear and helpful outlines in their respective works on Italian humanist and Shakespearian consolation.⁹ Peter von Moos’s detailed volumes on medieval consolation combine extracts from numerous sources with in-depth analysis of the genre’s development in the Middle Ages,¹⁰ and Ute Mennecke-Haustein’s monograph on Luther’s consolatory letters is invaluable for the early modern period.¹¹

A B R I E F H I S TO RY O F LU T H E RA N C O N S O L AT I O N From its very beginnings, the consolation tradition aims to offer solace to the downcast and to establish standards of behaviour in adversity. Over the history of the genre there are various shifts in the balance of power between the psychotherapeutic and the ethical/spiritual elements. According to McClure, the psychotherapeutic element was dominant in the development of formal Greek consolation because this was influenced by the Sophists, who were interested in the affective power of rhetoric.¹² In Plato’s writings we see the elements held in tension. In the Apology and Phaedo, not primarily consolatory works, Plato discusses the separation of the body and soul, how death is to be regarded, and the need for ratio (reason) to temper adfectus (emotion or passion).¹³ Plato and the Peripatetics conceded ⁹ George W. McClure, Sorrow and Consolation in Italian Humanism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991); Brian Vickers, ‘Shakespearian Consolations’, Proceedings of the British Academy, 82 (1992/3), 219–84. ¹⁰ Peter von Moos, Consolatio: Studien zur mittellateinischen Trostliteratur über den Tod und zum Problem der christlichen Trauer, Münstersche Mittelalter-Schriften 3/1–4, 4 vols. (Munich: Fink, 1971–2). ¹¹ Ute Mennecke-Haustein, Luthers Trostbriefe, Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte, 56 (Gütersloh: Mohn, 1989). ¹² McClure, Sorrow and Consolation, pp. 4–5. He cites the work of Gorgias of Leontini as an example. ¹³ McClure, Sorrow and Consolation, p. 5; Vickers, ‘Shakespearian Consolations’, p. 223.

16


the legitimacy of tempered grief, and put forward their ideal as metropatheia, a moderation of the emotions. In this, they stand in contrast to the sterner Stoics, the advocates of apatheia (freedom from perturbation through strict self-control), who considered shows of emotion shameful.¹⁴ At the other end of the spectrum are the Materialists Epicurus, Democritus, and Lucretius, who argued that sorrow should be banished by enjoyable activities, regarding it more as a symptom to be treated than as a matter for moral evaluation. The influence of Plato and metropatheia can be seen in one of the most important works of early consolation, Crantor of Soli’s [Peri penthous] (On Grief ), written to comfort a bereaved father. AntiStoic in its sanctioning of controlled sorrow, this fragmentary text had a bearing on Cicero’s lost Consolatio. Cicero’s work, written around the time of his daughter Tullia’s death in 45 bce, is closely linked to his Disputationes Tusculanae (Tusculan Disputations); the third book regards sorrow as a disease of the mind which requires treatment. Cicero also wrote consolatory letters, but whereas he did not side definitively with any particular school, his great epistolary successor Seneca came down, not unproblematically, on the side of the Stoics, arguing in his consolations for the futility of grief and the necessity of self-restraint. Later antiquity presents us with Boethius’s sixth-century work De consolatione philosophiae (The Consolation of Philosophy), a dialogic treatise with a strongly neo-Stoic flavour, which was debated, translated, and adapted into the early modern period and beyond. Early modern writers, familiar with at least some of these classical works, were certainly well acquainted with our second strand of consolatory writings: those coming from the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Biblical consolation focuses on future promises, often in the life to come. This is demonstrated in the Old Testament book which deals most directly and consciously with consolation. In the Christian reading, Job’s solace is based on his hopes of resurrection after death: Aber ich weis das mein Erloeser lebet, vnd er wird mich hernach aus der Erden auffwecken. Vnd werde darnach mit dieser meiner haut vmbgeben ¹⁴ Vickers, ‘Shakespearian Consolations’, p. 226; McClure, Sorrow and Consolation, p. 5.


17

werden, vnd werde in meinem fleisch Gott sehen. Den selben werde ich mir sehen, vnd meine augen werden jn schawen, vnd kein frembder.¹⁵

In the same vein, Paul comforts the church in Thessalonica by pointing to the resurrection of the dead on Judgement Day: ‘WJr wollen euch aber, lieben Brüder, nicht verhalten von denen die da schlaffen, Auff das jr nicht trawrig seid, wie die andern, die keine hoffnung haben’.¹⁶ This passage is the blueprint for Christian consolers, for here the ideal of metropatheia is Christianized: believers are permitted to mourn, but only in moderation. During the development of the early church, this ethical/spiritual angle was emphasized. The Church Fathers, writing from the relative security of a more established faith, were willing to assimilate other ideas, and McClure shows how they integrated not only classical topoi, but also classical forms: the letter, the funeral oration, and the dialogue take their place alongside the sermon and the theological treatise.¹⁷ In the Middle Ages the loss of many classical texts and the increasingly clergy-dominated structure of the church resulted in the abeyance of the psychotherapeutic element in favour of the spiritual/sacramental. This tendency was, in turn, stalled by the rise of early humanism, with its insistence on the worth of man and its rediscovery of many ancient works. And growing interest in psychology from the twelfth century onwards found expression, McClure argues, in a more therapeutic approach to sorrow which allowed the emotions greater scope, and was accompanied by a renewed interest in the form and content of classical consolatory texts.¹⁸ A key work is Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae (On the Cures for Good and Bad Fortune), which was strongly influenced by the Pseudo-Senecan work De remediis fortuitorum. By the late medieval and early modern periods consolation had become an important topic in manuals on poetics and rhetoric and in epistolary handbooks.¹⁹ The biblical and classical traditions vied once again for supremacy, and the revival of Stoic arguments is seen in Justus Lipsius’s De constantia libri duo (Two Books Concerning Steadfastness) of 1584. In early Lutheran consolation the spiritual/ethical dimension ¹⁵ ¹⁶ ¹⁷ ¹⁹

Job 19: 25–7, WA Bibel, X. 1, 45. 1 Thessalonians 4: 13, WA Bibel, VII, 247. McClure, Sorrow and Consolation, p. 11. ¹⁸ Ibid. pp. 14–15. Vickers, ‘Shakespearian Consolations’, pp. 232–3.

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gained the upper hand as the new religious orthodoxy sought to establish itself in all areas of pastoral concern. Whilst Lutheran consolation clearly grew out of the biblical, classical, and humanist traditions, we can identify significant differences and developments. The Reformation had radically affected rituals surrounding death and dying, as Craig Koslofsky argues in his book The Reformation of the Dead.²⁰ In 1530 Luther published Ein Widerruf vom Fegefeur, but from the outset of the Reformation Purgatory had been a contentious issue. Although early Protestants were initially reluctant to rule out the possibility of a place of post-mortem spiritual purification, they denied that the living could in any way influence the fate of the dead, a position closely linked to Luther’s attack on indulgences at the heart of the ninety-five theses.²¹ He had denounced contact between the living and the dead in his 1521 tract De abroganda missa privata (Down with the Private Mass), thereby removing any justification for prayers to the saints or intecessory prayers for the dead.²² Dying Lutherans could expect support from family and friends, who would gather round the bed, praying and singing hymns. But the sacrament of Extreme Unction was now declared invalid,²³ and the journey into death and beyond had become a solitary one: ‘ein iglicher in eigner Person mus geharnischt und gerüstet sein fur sich selbs mit dem Teufel und Tode zu kempffen’.²⁴ The deceased’s eternal fate was fixed at the moment of death; intercession by the living had no bearing on it. With this in mind, Lutheran consolation naturally focuses on the bereaved. Their post-mortem destiny was ²⁰ Craig M. Koslofsky, The Reformation of the Dead: Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450–1700 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000). Koslofsky is interested in how the separation of the living and the dead is reflected in both theological discussions and contemporary burial practices (especially extra-mural burial). ²¹ For a discussion of Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt’s and Martin Luther’s writings on Purgatory, see ibid. pp. 31–9. ²² DE ABROGANDA MISSA PRIVATA […] ([n.p.]: [n.pub.], 1521); translated into German as Vom mißbrauch der Messen […] (Wittenberg: [n. pub.], 1522). ²³ Luther, De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium (A Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church), 1520 (WA VI, 497–573). ²⁴ Luther, WA, X. 3, 1 (my emphasis); cited by Koslofsky, The Reformation of the Dead, p. 3. This is a slightly later version of a sermon preached on 9 March 1522. Ralph Houlbrooke makes a similar point in ‘Death, Church, and Family in England between the Late Fifteenth and the Early Eighteenth Centuries’, in Ralph A. Houlbrooke (ed.), Death, Ritual, and Bereavement (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 25–42 (27).


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not yet finally determined, and they needed guidance and support to prevent them from sinning in their grief.

PA R E N TA L LOV E A N D LO S S The bereaved need to be comforted. This is widely acknowledged in early modern pastoral writings, and many consolation books regard the loss of children as a particularly bitter affliction. In 1661 Johannes Olearius, chief preacher to the court of Saxony-Weissenfels, published his Christliche Geduldt=Schule, a compendium from which suffering Christians were to learn how to withstand a number of tribulations.²⁵ Amongst the dedicatees of this work are Olearius’s patrons August, Duke of Saxony-Weissenfels and his wife Anna Maria. In 1663 tragedy struck this royal family. Within six weeks three daughters died of the pox, and Olearius was called upon to deliver the funeral sermon at the Cathedral church in Magdeburg.²⁶ He could certainly empathize with the family’s plight; of his fifteen children, four died in childhood or early adulthood.²⁷ In 1668 his personal and pastoral experiences led him to publish a manual specifically aimed at grieving parents, written out of the knowledge that ‘die kleinen Kinder haben zarte Fingerlein/ womit sie das Väterliche vnd Mütterliche Hertz mit unaußsprechlichen Schmertzen berühren können’.²⁸ Whilst he ²⁵ Johannes Olearius, GYMNASIUM PATIENTIÆ Christliche Geduldt=Schule/ […] (Halle/S.: Christoph Mylius [publisher]; Leipzig: Christian Michael [printer], 1661). ²⁶ ‘BEATISSIMA RUTÆ PERENNIS TRANSPLANTATIO, Die seelige Versetzung Dreyer immergrünenden Sächsischen Rauten=Pfläntzlein in den Him[m]lischen Paradiß=Garten des ewigen Lebens’, funeral sermon for Catharina (1655–63), Elisabeth (1660–3), and Dorothea (1662–3), Princesses of Saxony-Weissenfels, LP Stolberg 19542–4. ²⁷ In 1659 his son Johann Friedrich died at the age of thirteen days (LP Stolberg 9100). He was followed by twin brothers, who also died as babies, and by an elder brother, Johann Christoph, in 1666. Olearius’s daughter Anna Sibylla also died young. See Johann Heinrich Zedler (ed.), Grosses vollständiges UNJVERSAL-LEXJCON Aller Wissenschaften und Künste […], 64 vols. (Halle/S.: Zedler, 1732–50), XXV, 1172; cited in Carrdus, ‘Thränen=Tüchlein’, p. 15. ²⁸ Johannes Olearius, Beständiger Trost Wider die schrecklichen Hiobs=Posten/ […] (Leipzig: Johann Wittigau, 1668), p. 166. See Carrdus, ‘Thränen=Tüchlein’, pp. 15–16.

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enjoins parents to endure their sorrow with Christian patience, he also acknowledges that it is natural to grieve. After all, he argues, parental love is God-given, and the desire to protect young is an instinct shared with all creatures. Olearius was not alone in these views. Luther himself was very aware that grief is a natural and necessary response to bereavement. His reaction when his teenage daughter Magdalena died in his arms is recorded in the Tischreden: ‘Aber Fleisch und Blut fleischert und blutet, thut wie seine Art ist.’²⁹ Philipp Melanchthon, who witnessed Luther’s anguish, offers a commentary on what he saw: ‘Parental affections are an image of God’s nature, imprinted upon the human mind. If God’s love towards the human race is as great as that of parents for their children, as Isaiah says,³⁰ then surely it is great and passionate.’³¹ Andreas Pancratius, superintendent in Hof an der Saale, makes the same connection between human and divine love in the first of a series of funeral sermons published posthumously in 1588.³² By furnishing parents with a deep love for their children, he argues, God makes them aware of the costly sacrifice of his Son on their behalf.³³ Pancratius’s sermon series considers seven tribulations typically encountered by bereaved parents. The genesis of the series is interesting. Although the sermons were originally preached at separate funeral services for children within his parish from April 1575 to March 1576, Pancratius ²⁹ WA Tr., V, 5490, 5491. We are told in WA Tr., V, 5501 that when he had placed Magdalena’s body on the funeral bier, ‘he broke down in tears and, with sobs wracking his body, quickly left his daughter’ (‘Tunc in fletus erupit, et singultus viscera quassabant abeunti celeriter a filia’). ³⁰ ‘Kan auch ein Weib jres Kindlins vergessen, das sie sich nicht erbarme vber den Son jres Leibs? Vnd ob sie desselbigen vergesse, So wil ich doch dein nicht vergessen’ (Isaiah 49: 15, WA Bibel, XI. 1, 149). ³¹ ‘Affectus parentum sunt imago divinitatis, impressi humanis mentibus. Si tantus est amor Dei erga genus humanum, quantus est parentum erga liberos (ut Esaias dicit), magnus profecto est et ardens’ (WA Tr., V, 5497). ³² Pancratius’s work and sermons are discussed in Eberhard Winkler, Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum bis Spener, Forschungen zur Geschichte und Lehre des Protestantismus, ser. 10, 34 (Munich: Kaiser, 1967), pp. 73–89, and in Cornelia Niekus Moore, Patterned Lives: The Lutheran Funeral Biography in Early Modern Germany, Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 111 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), p. 97. ³³ Andreas Pancratius, Sieben besondere Leichpredigten/ Darinnen sieben Anfechtunge/ welche vber dem Absterben der Kinder die Eltern am meisten zu betrüben pflegen/ kürtzlich erklärt/ vnd wie jnen zubegegnen/ auß Gottes Wort Christlich erwiesen vnd angezeigt wirt. […] (Frankfurt a.M.: Johann Spieß, 1588), p. 8.


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claims that he envisaged them as a series from the outset. And it is certainly no accident that the first sermon discusses the love of parents for their children, which he identifies as amongst the most powerful emotions that grip the human heart.³⁴ Indeed, it is so potent that the corresponding grief when the child dies is devastating; he equates this with the strongest wine producing the sourest vinegar.³⁵ In the second sermon he underlines his point with a charming picture of parent-child interaction: Vnd wie solte auch solches nicht wehe thun/ dieweil es ja wahr ist/ wie man sagt: Kinder kom[m]en vom Hertzen/ vnd gehen wider zum Hertzen: Vnd ist vnmüglich/ wenn jhnen die Eltern fürbilden/ wie holdselig vnd freundtlich sich die lieben Kinderlein gestellet/ wie sie vns hindennach geloffen/ geküsset vnd gedrucket/ vnd sonderlich wie wol sie sich haben angelassen/ vnnd daß man augenscheinliche anzeigung deß Gehorsams vnd der Tugendt an jhnen gespüret hat/ [et]c. Daß nicht das Hertz vnnd die Augen mit weynen durchbrechen solten/ wie sie jnen denn solche Gedancken mit gewalt außschlagen müssen/ wöllen sie anders nicht stätigs weynen vnd heulen.³⁶

In Pancratius’s reckoning, grief is so instinctive that violent effort must be exercised to prevent it from overwhelming the parents. What could be done to help those faced with such devastating grief? In the introduction to his manual for bereaved parents, the Lüneburg superintendent Sigismund Schererz outlines his intentions: Vorsehe mich also diß Büchlein werde seine selige Frucht schaffen/ vnd denen so jhre liebe/ gehorsame Kinder vnd Freunde durch den zeitlichen Todt ein Zeitlang von sich lassen müssen/ nicht vnangenehm seyn/ daß sie gleich wie mit einem sanfften vnd linden Tüchlein jhre heisse Trawerthränen damit abwischen/ vnd Kühlung vnnd Linderung in jhrer Trawrigkeit daraus empfinden: Welches ich jhnen vnnd mir von hertzen wündsche.³⁷

We have already encountered this conceit in Teutschmann’s Geistliches Wischtüchlein. In his introduction Teutschmann claims that his cloth, woven of words of divine comfort, far surpasses any earthly handkerchief: ‘das giebet Trost/ das giebet Krafft/ das stärcket vnd erquicket das Hertz/ vnd thut gar fein lindern vn[d] mindern in Noth ³⁴ Ibid. p. 5. ³⁵ Ibid. p. 6. ³⁶ Ibid. pp. 11–12. ³⁷ Schererz, Thränen=Tüchlein, fos. Avijv –Aviijr . The text is discussed in Carrdus, ‘Thränen=Tüchlein’, pp. 8–15.

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vn[d] Todt alle Hertzens vnd Schmertzens Trawrigkeit/ zu jederzeit’.³⁸ But drying tears is not the only purpose to which our consolatory cloth can be put, according to the clergyman and hymnwriter Valerius Herberger. In his collection of funeral sermons, Geistliche Trauer=Binden,³⁹ the texts also serve to honour the dead (‘Trauer=Binden’ were mourning bands worn as a mark of respect), and they function as bandages to bind up the wounds of grief.⁴⁰ We encounter this medical metaphor in many seventeenth-century consolation works⁴¹ and in numerous funeral sermons.⁴² In his Trostbüchlein Georg Walther, a clergyman in Halle, even describes Luther’s writings as medications and prescriptions for troubled spirits. Walther has assembled samples of these to use in his parish visits, the clerical equivalent of the doctor’s black bag.⁴³

T H E M E D I C A L M O D E L O F C O N S O L AT I O N Medical images recur throughout the consolation tradition. They are used both metaphorically, as a model for emotional and spiritual ³⁸ Teutschmann, Geistliches Wischtüchlein, fos. Aiijr – v . Note his use of the rhetorical device commoratio, the emphatic repetition of concepts in different words. ³⁹ Valerius Herberger, […] Geistlich[e] Trauer=Binden/ Das ist: Schön[e] Lehr= und Trost=reich[e] Leichen=Predigten […] (Leipzig: Zacharias Schürer’s heirs and Matthias Götze’s heirs, Johann Fritsch, 1669–70). The text was originally published in seven parts between 1611 and 1622. ⁴⁰ Herberger’s collection is discussed in more detail in the third chapter of this study. ⁴¹ For example, Hieronymus Weller’s ANTIDOTVM WELLERIANVM Oder/ Geistliche Artzney/ wider allerley Anfechtung vn[d] Trübsal frommer Christen/ […], tr. Philipp Hahn from the Latin (Magdeburg: Andreas Duncker, 1602). ⁴² Examples are Paul Röber’s ‘ARTIS NON-MORIENDI Compendium. Bewerdte Artzney wider den Todt selbsten/ Oder Herrliche Christen Kunst der Vnsterbligkeit/ Durch welche/ als durch den Baum des Lebens/ der Todt verhütet/ vnd in vnsern gewin verwandelt wird […]’, funeral sermon for Sebastian Tham (Halle/S.: Peter Schmidt, 1618), LP Stolberg 22052; or Martin Geier, ‘ELIXIR VITÆ oder Seelen=Artzney/ I. Wo sie zu bekommen? II. Wie sie zu gebrauchen? III. Was Nutz hiervon zu gewarten? […]’, funeral sermon for Maria Maul, née Schacher (1601–62) (Leipzig: Henning Köhler widow, 1662), LP Stolberg 3297. ⁴³ Georg Walther, Trostbüchlein Auß der heiligen Schrifft/ vnd D. Martini Lutheri Büchern/ von wort zu wort gestellet […] (Nuremberg: [Johann vom Berg and Ulrich Neuber], 1560), fos. A7r –A8r .


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healing, and literally, arguing for the physically remedial power of affective words on a constitution thrown out of kilter by tribulations. To appreciate their function in Lutheran consolation, we need to look briefly at one of the contemporary theories for explaining emotional, psychological, or physical imbalance: Galen’s theory of the four humours. This theory, which belonged to the common lay currency of medical knowledge, held that everything consists of four elements, each with a main property. The humours, mixtures of these elements, are associated with certain characteristics and with the different stages of human life. Childhood is characterized by a predominance of blood which is warm and moist: the sanguine temperament. Yellow bile, which dominates adolescence, is warm and dry, and the person with the greater proportion of this humour is choleric. Old age is marked by cool and moist phlegm, leading to a phlegmatic nature. The most problematic humour is cool and dry black bile. In excess, it results in melancholy, which was associated both with sickness of the mind, but also with genius and insight.⁴⁴ Galenic theory taught that in an ideal person these humours would be in perfect equilibrium. If one dominates to a harmful degree, the doctor should seek to counter it by applying something with the opposite qualities to correct the balance. An elderly person with an excess of cool, moist phlegm might be prescribed a treatment with a warming effect, such as wine or a hot bath. For a child, whose sanguine constitution is already dominated by warm blood, this would be the most harmful prescription.⁴⁵ The connection of sorrow with illness is an established topos in both strands of the consolation tradition. We find it in Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy and in Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque ⁴⁴ Galen, Über die Verschiedenheit der homoiomeren Körperteile, tr. Gotthard Strohmaier (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1970), p. 51; cited in Hans-Georg Kemper, Deutsche Lyrik der frühen Neuzeit, 6 vols. ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1986–2006) II, 96–8. For a discussion of this scheme see Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, Melancholie und die melancholische Landschaft: Ein Beitrag zur Geistesgeschichte des 17. Jahrhunderts, Basler Studien zur deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 54 (Bern: Francke, 1978), p. 15; also Raymond Klibansky, Erwin Panofsky, and Fritz Saxl, Saturn and Melancholy: Studies in the History of Natural Philosophy, Religion and Art ([London]: Nelson, 1964; repr. Nendeln: Kraus, 1979), pp. 3–14. ⁴⁵ Galen, Die Werke des Galenos, tr. E. Beintker, 5 vols. (Stuttgart: 1941), II, 65; in Kemper, Deutsche Lyrik der Frühen Neuzeit, II, 96.

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fortunae (On the Cures for Good and Bad Fortune),⁴⁶ and in the apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus, Jesus ben Sira counsels his reader: MAch dich selbs nicht trawrig, vnd plage dich nicht selbs, mit deinen eigen gedancken, Denn ein frölich hertz ist des Menschen leben, Vnd seine freude ist sein langes leben. Thu dir gutes, vnd tröste dein hertz, vnd treibe trawrigkeit von dir, Denn trawrigkeit tödtet viel Leute, vnd dienet doch nirgent zu.⁴⁷

Although Galenic theory began to be discredited by advances in university anatomy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many contemporary texts discuss the similar visible manifestations of sorrow and sickness. Robert Burton lists both physiological and psychological symptoms of grief in The Anatomy of Melancholy,⁴⁸ and an early seventeenth-century English physician, Richard Napier, attributed such disorders as discoloured urine, back and chest pain, headaches, fits, and barrenness to excessive sorrow.⁴⁹ In a speech written in 1550, ‘De partibus et motibus cordis’ (On the parts and agitations of the heart), Philipp Melanchthon offers a physiological explanation for the debilitating effects of grief. The heart contains a liquid which ensures that it functions correctly, but when it is particularly agitated, the heat generated consumes the liquid and causes physical weakness. This is what happens when the heart experiences sorrow, Melanchthon claims.⁵⁰ The discussion resurfaces in ⁴⁶ Francesco Petrarch, Trostspiegel in Glück vnd Vnglück/ […]Von Rath/ That/ vnd Artzney in Glück vnd Vnglück/ […], tr. Stephan Vigilius from the Latin [De remediis utriusque fortunae], 2nd edn. (Frankfurt a.M.: Vincenz Steinmeyer [publisher] and Johann Bringer’s widow [printer], 1620). ⁴⁷ Ecclesiasticus 30: 22–5, WA Bibel, XII, 231. ⁴⁸ Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, ed. Thomas C. Faulkner, Nicolas K. Kiessling, and Rhonda L. Blair, with commentaries by J. B. Bamborough and Martin Dodsworth, 6 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989–2000), I, I. 2. 4. 7, pp. 356–8; cited in Ralph A. Houlbrooke, Death, Religion and the Family in England, 1480–1750, Oxford Studies in Social History (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998; repr. 2000), p. 220. ⁴⁹ Cited in Anne Laurence, ‘Godly Grief: Individual Responses to Death in Seventeenth-Century Britain’, in Ralph A. Houlbrooke (ed.), Death, Ritual, and Bereavement (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 62–76 (75). ⁵⁰ Philipp Melanchthon, Opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider and Heinrich Ernst Bindseil, Corpus Reformatorum, 28 vols. (Halle/S.: [n.pub.], 1834–60), XI, no. 121, pp. 947–54 (948–9). The speech was written for Jakob Milich, professor of medicine at Wittenberg University, to deliver when Johann Albert


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the twentieth century. The developmental psychologist John Bowlby cites an article by George Engel which investigates the similar symptoms caused by grief and physical disease. Engel contends that the loss of a beloved person is comparable to the trauma of a serious wound and necessitates a similarly long healing process.⁵¹ Of course Bowlby and Engel are here drawing on the work of Sigmund Freud, most notably his essay ‘Trauer und Melancholie’ (written in 1915), where he notes that people suffering from grief experience symptoms like those of physical illness as the ego undergoes the painful process (‘Trauerarbeit’) of attempting to loosen the cathectic or libidinal ties invested in the lost object.⁵² The metaphor of the wound of grief is used in the Old Testament book already identified as central to a discussion of Lutheran consolation: the book of Job. In the fifth chapter Eliphaz the Temanite attempts, somewhat clumsily, to console his wretched friend: ‘SJhe, selig ist der Mensch, den Gott straffet, Darumb weger dich der züchtigung des Allmechtigen nicht. Denn er verletzet, vnd verbindet, Er zuschmeisst, vnd seine Hand heilet.’⁵³ Although Job is afflicted by physical sores which cover his body, it is clear that the image of the wound is an expression of his greater suffering: the loss of family, possessions, and livelihood. This metaphor survives into patristic writings. In De civitate Dei (On the City of God) Augustine speaks of mourning as a wound or ulcer,⁵⁴ and there are classical precedents, for example in Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations and Seneca’s Cygneus was awarded his doctorate of medicine in 1550. For more information, see ‘Rede über die Teile und Bewegungen des Herzens’, tr. Ralf Hofheinz, in Melanchthon deutsch, ed. Michael Beyer, Stefan Rhein, and Günther Wartenberg, 2 vols. (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1997), I, 110–22. ⁵¹ George L. Engel, ‘Is Grief a Disease? A Challenge for Medical Research’, Psychosomatic Medicine, 23 (1961), 18–22; cited in John Bowlby, Attachment and Loss, 3 vols. (London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psychoanalysis, 1969–80; repr. London: Pimlico, 1997–8), III, 42–3. ⁵² ‘Trauer und Melancholie’, 1917 [1915], in Studienausgabe, ed. Alexander Mitscherlich, Angela Richards, and James Strachey, 11 vols. (Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1969–75), III, 193–212 (pp. 197–9). ⁵³ Job 5: 17–18, WA Bibel, X. 1, 17. ⁵⁴ Augustine, The City of God, against the Pagans [De civitate Dei], ed. and tr. R. W. Dyson. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (Cambridge: University Press, 1998), 19, 8, p. 930; cited (from a different edition) in Moos, Consolatio, III, T1010.

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‘Ad Marciam’ (‘To Marcia’).⁵⁵ Many terms used in the consolatio tradition are medical by origin or association, and conversely the word ‘conforto’ in medical texts connotes healing.⁵⁶ The wound of grief cannot be left untreated. The medieval Italian rhetorician Boncompagno da Signa insisted that whilst intemperate weeping could impair vision by clogging the optic nerve and cause the body to dehydrate, sorrow unexpressed was equally harmful. It burdened the soul and led potentially to madness.⁵⁷ Martin Röber’s two sermons for bereaved parents address this problem. Röber offers Bernard of Clairvaux’s grief at the death of his brother Gerard as an acceptable example for a Christian. In his 26th sermon on the Song of Songs Bernard relates how his Stoic attempts to force back his tears and fight his own nature were harmful to him, and concludes that it would have been better to weep when he needed to do so: ‘The grief [which I] suppressed rooted itself all the more deeply inside, and I feel that it was made more bitter by the fact that it was not allowed to come out. […]’. He encourages other mourners to express their sorrow: ‘Come out, come out, tears, as you have been longing to do for so long’.⁵⁸ This is borne out in Bowlby’s study. Using Freud’s distinction between healthy and pathological (or disordered) mourning, Bowlby argues that, whilst some initial period of numbing is usual, in many cases those who develop unhealthy mourning behaviour are the ones who have experienced ‘a prolonged absence of conscious grieving’.⁵⁹ ⁵⁵ Cicero Tusculan Disputations, tr. J. E. King, The Loeb Classical Library, 141, rev. edn. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1945; repr. 1971), IV. xxix. 63; cited in Moos, Consolatio, III T14. Seneca, ‘Ad Marciam: De consolatione’, in Moral Essays, tr. John W. Basore, The Loeb Classical Library, 214, 254, and 310, 3 vols. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1945; repr. 1970–9), II, VI. i. 8. ⁵⁶ Moos, Consolatio, I, C123–4. ⁵⁷ McClure, Sorrow and Consolation, p. 16. See Moos, Consolatio, III T 216. ⁵⁸ ‘Suppressus dolor altiùs introrsum radicavit, eò (ut sentio) acerbior factus, quò non est exire permissus […] Exite, exite lacrumæ jam dudum cupientes’; cited by Martin Röber, Am schwartzen Sontag Guter Rath vnd kräfftiger Trost/ für Christliche Eltern/ so jhrer krancken oder sterbenden Kinder halber betrübet sind. […] (Halle/S.: Joachim Krusicke [publisher] and Peter Schmidt [printer], [1616]), fos. B4r – v . See Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 4 vols., I–II: tr. Kilian Walsh, III: tr. Kilian Walsh and Irene Edmonds, IV: tr. Irene Edmonds, Cistercian Fathers Series, 4, 7, 31, and 40 (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1971, 1976, 1979, and 1980), II, 58–73 (pp. 60–1, 67). ⁵⁹ Bowlby, Attachment and Loss, III, 138. The distinction between healthy and unhealthy mourning owes a debt to Freud’s ‘Trauer und Melancholie’. For a discussion


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Georg Philipp Harsdörffer does not seem to be far off the mark when he describes consolation in his handbook of poetics as ‘der Traurigkeit Artzney […] Das Labsal der betrübten’.⁶⁰ But the consoler, in a role analogous to physician or apothecary, must be careful to apply the appropriate treatment at the correct point in the process. Cicero writes from his own experience of parental grief when he states ‘[I]t is necessary in dealing with diseases of the soul, just as much as in dealing with bodily diseases, to choose the proper time’.⁶¹ The wound should not be bandaged before the infection has been drawn out. On the other hand, it is dangerous to leave a wound to fester.⁶² Once the fresh wound has been cleaned and probed, a ligature should be applied. The plaster of solace is a consolatory commonplace,⁶³ and Herberger refers to it in one of his sermons from the Trauer=Binden collection: Weil aber diß ohne Schmertzen nicht kan zugehen/ denn Kinder suchen ja das Hertz/ so werden wir recht thun/ wenn wir aus der Apothecken des heiligen Geistes/ aus Gottes Wort/ ein kräfftiges Kühlbändlein und Kühlpflästerlein auff sein schmertzendes Vater=Hertz legen.⁶⁴

Many consolatory texts emphasize the importance of balance within the soul. Just as in the medical model remedies were supposed of how Freud’s views on mourning and melancholy were later modified in Das Ich und das Es, see Tammy Clewell, ‘Mourning beyond Melancholia: Freud’s Psychoanalysis of Loss’, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 52 (2004), 43–67. ⁶⁰ Georg Philipp Harsdörffer, Poetischer Trichter. Die Teutsche Dicht= und Reimkunst/ ohne Behuf der Lateinischen Sprache/ […], 3 vols. (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Endter, 1648–53; facs. edn., Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1969), III, II. 466, p. 455. ⁶¹ Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, III. xxxi. 76. ⁶² Seneca, who chastises Marcia for ‘hug[ging] and embrac[ing] the sorrow that [she] has kept alive in place of [her] son’, comments that, in refusing to be comforted, she has allowed her wound to fester. It will now require a far more drastic treatment than would have been the case had she submitted to timely consolation. (‘Ad Marciam’, VI. i. 5, VI. i. 8.) ⁶³ In her article ‘Consolation Arguments and Maternal Grief in SeventeenthCentury Verse: The Example of Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch’, GLL, 47 (1994), 135–51 (p.136), Anna Carrdus cites Kaspar Stieler’s assertion that the aim of consolation is to express sympathy and then to cover the wound with a plaster: Teutsche Sekretariat=Kunst […] (Nuremberg: Johann Hofmann [publisher]; Weimar: Joachim Heinrich Schmidt [printer] and Jena: Johann Nisius [printer], 1673–4), part III, p. 184. ⁶⁴ Herberger, Geistlich[e] Trauer=Binden, p. 112 (emphasis in original publication). Winkler considers Herberger’s funeral sermons in Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum, pp. 104–27.

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to correct the disturbed equilibrium of the humours to the greatest degree possible, so these works aim to restore the spirits of parents and to counter the affects provoked by bereavement. These little black bags are filled with stock consolatory arguments which stress the antithesis beween the miseries of earth and the child’s heavenly joy. They operate on the Galenic principle of contraria contrariis sananda: healing comes through the application of a contrasting remedy.⁶⁵ This is why Johannes Olearius counsels his readers not to attempt to purge sorrow solely by mourning, ‘[…] denn der böse Geist der Schwermuth mag nicht verjagt werden/ mit Betrübnis und Klagen/ und sich ängsten/ sondern mit GOttes Lobe/ davon das Hertz frölig wird’.⁶⁶ Although most consolation books were written by ministers who dealt with these issues in their daily work, it is clear that they are not envisaged as being solely or even primarily for use by clergymen. Rather, they are intended for the bereaved themselves, who are expected to play an active role in their recovery. Schererz’s book is a manual for grieving parents, a practical reference guide to be consulted when necessary. Christoph Vischer clearly regards his manual as a consolatory first-aid kit, and lists some of the items which it contains. There is hope, the ‘liebliche Kreutlein’ or ‘külpflaster’, which functions as a poultice. It draws the heat out of tribulation by offering the prospect of a time when grief will pass. And then comes a ‘treflich stichpflaster’ to keep the wound clean until it can heal. Vischer names this plaster patience.⁶⁷ As those prone to illness carry medication in case of emergency, so he envisages his readers using the text to assemble in their minds their own first-aid kit of consolatory arguments and scriptural verses, ready to apply at any given moment.⁶⁸ This idea is expressed by Petrarch in the Secretum: Whenever in your reading you come upon salutary maxims, by which you feel your mind to be stimulated or restrained, do not trust in the powers ⁶⁵ Thomas Aquinas claims that ‘remedies are made by means of opposite things. But any kind of delight is a remedy for any kind of sorrow’ (‘medicinæ per contraria fiunt. Sed quaelibet delectatio est medicina contra quamlibet tristitiam’); cited in Moos, Consolatio, III, T1020. See Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, XX, ed. Eric D’Arcy (London: Blackfriars in conjunction with Eyre & Spottiswoode; New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975), Ia, Iiae, 35, 4, 2, p. 87. ⁶⁶ Johannes Olearius, Beständiger Trost, pp. 242–3. ⁶⁷ Vischer, Trostschrift, fos. E6v –E7r . ⁶⁸ Ibid. fos. J8v –Kr .


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of natural wit, but hide these maxims in the interior of your memory and make them familiar to yourself with great study; so that, just as the expert doctors are accustomed to do, in whatever place or time a sickness befalls you requiring immediate attention, you may have, so to speak, the remedies written in your mind.⁶⁹

We should regard these consolation manuals as early self-help books. They teach parents techniques of consolation and offer model prayers in the hope that they will internalize and appropriate the arguments, putting them in a better position to cope with life’s trials and tribulations.

M O U R N I N G C O N V E N T I O N S A N D C O N S O L AT I O N A RG U M E N T S The authors of sixteenth-century consolation books considered grief a serious affliction that merited their pastoral attention. But in submitting to the sanctioned Lutheran treatment, parents were expected to observe certain mourning conventions. The books and preaching manuals certainly do not outlaw expressions of sorrow. Georg Walther condemns those who would advocate such an attitude as ‘viehisch’, and he provides scriptural justification for mourning: Jacob’s tears for the lost Joseph, and Christ’s sadness at Lazarus’s death.⁷⁰ Esaias Tribauer, a pastor in Brieg, takes the argument a stage further. He bases his Trostschrifft (1565) on Ecclesiasticus 38, a central passage for understanding Lutheran prescriptions about mourning. And from his opening point it is clear that he does not merely permit parents to mourn their children, but enjoins them to do so: So thun sie auch daran recht/ wenn sie jrer kinder Todt redlich beweinen vnd vmb sie leid tragen/ vnd wer vnrecht/ da sie es nicht theten. Dann ⁶⁹ Francesco Petrarch, Secretum, introd., ed. and tr. Ugo Dotti, Opere Latine, Testo Traduzione Commento (Rome: Izzi, 1993), I. 162, p. 106; cited (from a different edition) and translated by George W. McClure, ‘Healing Eloquence: Petrarch, Salutati, and the Physicians’, Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 15 (1985), 317–46 (p. 338). ⁷⁰ Georg Walther, Trostbüchlein […] (Nuremberg: Nicolaus Knorr, 1573), fo. Q6v . He refers to Genesis 37: 34–5 and John 11: 1–44.

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solchs wil Gott haben/ das sie es thun vnd nicht vnterlassen sollen/ so sie anders nicht gar vnempfindtliche stöcke vnd verstockten hertzens sein. Dann also saget Syrach am 38. Cap. Mein Kind/ wenn einer stirbt/ so beweine jhn/ vnd klage jn/ als sey dir gros leid geschehen/ vnd verhülle seinen leib/ gebürlicher weise/ vnnd bestate jhn ehrlich zum Grabe. Du solt bitterlich weynen/ vnd hertzlich betrübt sein/ vnd leyde tragen/ darnach er gewest ist/ auff das man nicht vbel von dir reden müge. Jnn diesem Spruch/ stehn eitel befehls wort. Beweine jn/ spricht er/ klage jn/ Du solt bitterlich weinen/ Hertzlich betrübet sein/ vnd leide tragen. Vnd Paulus sagt dergleichen/ Rom. 12. Freudt euch mit den frölichen/ vnd weinet mit den weinenden.⁷¹

Having secured his position with evidence from both Old and New Testaments, Tribauer enumerates the benefits of grieving. It reminds the living of God’s wrath against sin so that they learn to hate wrongdoing, it calls to mind the covenant that mankind has made with death,⁷² it is a fitting memorial to the dead, and it fulfils social expectations. Martin Röber agrees in his sermons that tears are an essential part of the grieving process but, following Paul’s example, he distinguishes between different types.⁷³ Permissible tears proceed from a sorrowful and sympathetic heart (‘lacrumæ condolentiæ’), from pondering death (‘lacrumæ mortalitatis propriæ’ or ‘lacrumæ providentiæ’), and from contrition (‘lacrumæ pœnitentiæ’).⁷⁴ Christ had, after all, wept over Lazarus. But his tears were not a sign of weakness. Rather, they testified to his humanity and demonstrated his love for his friend, his sorrow at the thought of death, and his grief for mankind’s fallen state.⁷⁵ This is the crux of the mourning debate: tears are sanctioned, even encouraged, so long as they signify godly ⁷¹ Esaias Tribauer, Trostschrifft Wie ferne fromme vnd Christliche Eltern jhrer lieben Kinder Todt betrawren vnd beweynen sollen. Vnd womit jhre Trawrigkeit vnnd Schwermut des hertzens/ herkegen sol gemessiget vnnd abgelenet werden. […] (Breslau: Crispin Scharffenberg, 1565), fos. Avr – v (emphasis in original publication). The references are to Ecclesiasticus 38: 16–18 and Romans 12: 15. ⁷² ‘[ALes Fleisch verschleist wie ein Kleid,] Denn es ist der alte Bund, Du must sterben’ (Ecclesiasticus 14: 18, WA Bibel, XII, 187). ⁷³ ‘Denn die göttliche trawrigkeit wircket zur seligkeit eine Rewe, die niemand gerewet, Die trawrigkeit aber der welt wircket den tod’ (2 Corinthians 7: 10, WA Bibel, VII, 157). ⁷⁴ Röber, Am schwartzen Sontag, fos. Biijr , Cv , and Ciijv . ⁷⁵ Ibid. fos. Er – v . Here Röber again cites Bernard of Clairvaux on the raising of Lazarus in his 26th sermon on the Song of Songs (On the Song of Songs, II, 72).


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sorrow, and not despair or lack of faith.⁷⁶ Röber, whose sermons are peppered with patristical references, sums up his position by citing John Chrysostom: ‘I do not forbid mourning, but shameless mourning; I do not say, ‘‘Do not grieve’’, but ‘‘not beyond measure’’.’⁷⁷ If Lutheran parents were to follow the injunction to weep for their dead children, they were also made very aware of the need to contain their grief within the bounds of decorum and Christian faith. Women had slightly more leeway when it came to grieving than men. Popular Galenic theory held that they were wetter and colder, which meant that they were physically more disposed to weeping.⁷⁸ Of course, this did not mean that their grief could be boundless; they were still expected to conform to the broad dictates of decorum. But that less was expected of them is shown by the fact that women who behave stoically are praised as rare examples and used to shame the men who do not live up to the ideal.⁷⁹ Several consolation books argue that excessive mourning is a great sin. Firstly, it is pagan behaviour and exposes a lack of faith in the doctrines of the resurrection and eternal life.⁸⁰ Paul makes this explicit in his definition of acceptable mourning: ‘WJr wollen euch aber, lieben Brüder, nicht verhalten von denen die da schlaffen, Auff das jr nicht trawrig seid, wie die andern, die keine hoffnung haben.’⁸¹ ⁷⁶ ‘Denn die trawrikeit schreittet vber die schnur vnd helt kein maß nicht/ vnd macht/ das einer leichtlich in kleinmüttigkeit/ vngedult/ murren/ fluchen vnd inn verzweiffelung geratet/ welchs dann wider Gott vnd Sünde ist’, Tribauer, Trostschrifft, fo. Br . ⁷⁷ ‘Non lugere, sed impudenter lugere veto: Non dico, ne doleat; sed ne immodicè’; cited in Röber, Am schwartzen Sontag, fo. Biijr . See John Chrysostom’s 62nd homily on John 11 in Commentary on Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, tr. Sister Thomas Aquinas Goggin, 2 vols. (I: Homilies 1– 47, II: Homilies 48–88), The Fathers of the Church, 33 and 41 (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press in association with Consortium Books, 1957, 1959), II, 176. ⁷⁸ See, for example, the entry on ‘Weinen’ in Zedler’s Lexicon, LIV, 702, which attributes women’s propensity to weep to their ‘feuchte Natur’. ⁷⁹ ‘[W]hat is more vile or disgraceful than a womanish man?’ asks Cicero in the Tusculan Disputations, II. xvii. 36. ⁸⁰ Vischer, Trostschrift, fo. Fvv and Walther, Trost: Für die Jenigen/ so vber dem Absterben jrer Freunde/ Ehegemahl/ oder Kinder/ betrübet sind […] (Budissin: Hans Wolrab, 1571), fo. Aiijv . ⁸¹ 1 Thessalonians 4: 13, WA Bibel, VII, 247 (my emphasis). In urging Christians not to resemble pagans in immoderate grief, the writers adopt the shame topos; the classical equivalent is the identification of excessive sorrow as unmanly.

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Secondly, it suggests that the bereaved loved their children more than Christ, an attitude condemned in the Gospels.⁸² Such grief is an affront to God, but it is also futile, since it cannot bring back the child. This point is made by Seneca in his letter of consolation (and rebuke) to Marcia, a mother who was unable to relinquish her pathological mourning for her son: ‘[I]f no wailing can recall the dead, if no distress can alter a destiny that is immutable and fixed for all eternity, and if death holds fast whatever it has once carried off, then let grief, which is futile, cease.’⁸³ We also encounter it in our key passage from Ecclesiasticus: ‘LAs die Trawrigkeit nicht in dein Hertz, sondern schlahe sie von dir, vnd dencke ans ende, vnd vergiss nicht, Denn da ist kein widerkomen, Es hilfft jn nicht, vnd du thust dir schaden.’⁸⁴ Many authors point to the case of David, who wept for his infant son whilst he was ill, but after the boy’s death ceased to lament. David tells his astonished servants that it is futile to lament what cannot be changed: ‘Jch werde wol zu jm fahren, Es kompt aber nicht wider zu mir.’⁸⁵ He is a particularly popular example with the consolation writers because they read in his conclusion a firm hope in heavenly reunion. Lutheran parents had to maintain a difficult balance when mourning their children, steering a middle course between insufficient and intemperate grief. As Tribauer puts it, ‘Darumb ist dis der geradest wege/ das man im trawren die Mittelstras wandele.’⁸⁶ This moderation would, so it was argued, benefit them and aid their recovery. But the emphasis on it also betrays a concern with social and religious decorum, which set the bounds of grief so that it could not threaten social stability, undermine doctrinal certainties, or be seen to challenge the inscrutable will of God.

Death benefits the children For Lutheran parents to submit to God’s will, the consolation writers argue, it is imperative for them to consider their experience from a ⁸² ‘WEr Vater oder Mutter mehr liebet denn Mich, der ist mein nicht werd. Vnd wer Son oder Tochter mehr liebet denn Mich, der ist mein nicht werd’ (Matthew 10: 37, WA Bibel, VI, 51). Cited in Walther, Trost: Für die Jenigen, fo. Aiijv , and Trost der Eltern, fo. Aiijr . ⁸³ ‘Ad Marciam’, VI. vi. 2; cited in Vickers, ‘Shakespearian Consolations’, p. 242. ⁸⁴ Ecclesiasticus 38: 21–2, WA Bibel, XII, 253. ⁸⁵ 2 Samuel 12: 23; WA Bibel, IX. 1, 333. ⁸⁶ Tribauer, Trostschrifft, fo. A8r .


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spiritual perspective. This strategy is demonstrated in a Bible passage often chosen for children’s funeral sermons: Wisdom 4: 7–14, which begins ‘Aber der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stirbet, ist er doch in der Ruge’.⁸⁷ The passage first presents the earthly perspective: a human life has been cut short (‘zu zeitlich’). Then this is turned on its head, by arguing that, for the righteous, early death is a sign of God’s special favour (‘Denn er gefelt Gott wol, vnd ist jm lieb’) and a safeguard against future corruption (‘[er] wird hingerückt, das die Bosheit seinen verstand nicht verkehre, noch falsche Lere seine Seele betriege’). Arguments that support this are discussed at length in the consolation books. Walther, for example, regards the death of children as an act of mercy for which Christians pray in the Lord’s Prayer when they ask for deliverance from evil. Death spares the children further physical suffering and spiritual struggles. They no longer toil in Egyptian bondage, where they suffered pain and fear. They have also been rescued from the Babylonian captivity of the world, where heretics seek to pollute the righteous.⁸⁸ Walther cites the proverb ‘Es ist besser jung gestorben/ als alt zum Schalck geworden’.⁸⁹ To lose a child to physical death, with the hope of reunion in heaven, was to be thought preferable to losing a child to spiritual and eternal death: Derowegen so solten ja Christliche Eltern viel lieber jhre liebe Kinder sehen Selig vnd Christlich sterben/ als das sie von der Gottlosen Welt verführet/ in böse Stück/ vnd grobe Peinliche Sünden fallen/ vnd dem Hencker in die fäuste gedeyen sollen. Ja/ welches noch das aller schrecklichste ist/ so können auch einfältige vnnd vnschuldige Hertzen durch falsche Lehre vnd Jrrthumb/ als durch die aller hochschädlichste Seelengiefft/ welche wie der Krebs vmb sich frisset/ verführet/ vnd vmb der Seelen Heyl vnd Seligkeit gebracht werden.⁹⁰

The authors of consolation books had a rogues’ gallery of biblical children who went off the rails to illustrate this particular point: Cain, Ham, the sons of Eli, Amnon, and Absalom.⁹¹ Finally, death delivers ⁸⁷ WA Bibel, XII, 65. ⁸⁸ Walther, Trost der Eltern, fo. B6v . This is clearly a reference to Luther’s tract De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium of 1520, which compares the state of the church to the Babylonian exile, where God’s people were forced to worship idols. ⁸⁹ Walther, Trost der Eltern, fo. B5v ; Trost: Für die Jenigen, fo. E6v . ⁹⁰ Teutschmann, Geistliches Wischtüchlein, p. 44. ⁹¹ Cain’s murder of his brother and explusion into the wilderness are told in Genesis 4: 1–16. Ham, Noah’s son, mocked his father when he found him

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virtuous children from the effects of divine wrath on earth during the last battle between God and Satan. Vischer envisages God as a loving father who removes his child from the scene of impending danger: Eben so thut vnser himlischer Vater auch/ weil es wil nacht werden/ der abent tritt herbey/ das ende der welt ist fur der thür/ der Teuffel/ der gressliche putz oder popelman/ ist gegen dem ende der welt los/ vnd wütet grausam/ wolt gerne seinen gantzen zorn ausschütten. Darumb leget Gott allgemach seine liebe kindlein in jr rhukemmerlein vnd faulbettlein schlaffen/ lest sie selig im Herrn Christo abscheiden/ damit sie vom Teuffel vnd der argen welt/ die jnen gern ein blutig pancket vber das andere schencken wolten/ nicht gepützt noch erschrecket werden/ vnd dadurch in fehrliche Selen kranckheit geraten.⁹²

He takes this analogy from Isaiah.⁹³ But he adapts it to make it particularly applicable to small children and their parents. And the analogy draws the sting from death, equating it with sleep in common with Lutheran theology, as we shall see below. The consolation writers consolidate their arguments by citing Paul: ‘Denn Christus ist mein Leben, vnd sterben mein Gewin’.⁹⁴ The children, they argue, enjoy inexpressible joys in heaven. Why, then, should parents mourn? Surely it is a nonsense to begrudge their children the wonderful transformation in their circumstances? Vischer certainly thinks so. If a man were released from a wretched prison and taken into a royal palace, a true friend would rejoice with him. Why should it be any different with parents and children?⁹⁵ This rags-to-riches image is a commonplace in consolatory writings for grieving parents, offering a different perspective on bereavement and playing on parental pride and good wishes for the children: lying naked in a drunken stupor, and he and his descendants were cursed (Genesis 9: 20–7). Hophni and Phinehas, corrupt priests, perished in a battle against the Philistines, in which the Ark of the Covenant was also captured, and Eli died on hearing the news, disgraced by his inability to control his children (1 Samuel 2: 12–4: 22). Amnon raped his half-sister Thamar, and was subsequently murdered by Thamar’s brother Absalom. Absalom then fought a campaign against his father, David, and was killed. The story is told in 2 Samuel 13–18. ⁹² Vischer, Trostschrift, fos. G7r – v . ⁹³ ‘Gehe hin, mein Volck, in eine Kamer, vnd schleus die thür nach dir zu, Verbirge dich ein klein Augenblick, Bis der zorn fur vber gehe’ (Isaiah 26: 20, WA Bibel, XI. 1, 87). ⁹⁴ Philippians 1: 21, WA Bibel, VII, 215. ⁹⁵ Vischer, Trostschrift, fos. Hv –Hijr .


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Weil dem also ist/ das Gott der HErr vnsern Kindern gewißlich gnedig ist/ vn[d] sie auß dieser elenden/ schlammichten vnd sündigen Herberge/ an seinen Himlischen Hoff genom[m]en hat/ jm in ewiger frewde zu dienen/ so ist jnen ja nichts böses/ sondern groß glück vnnd heil widerfaren/ Warumb wöllen wir Eltern denn viel trawren vnd klagen? Jst man doch höchlich erfrewet/ wenn vnser Sohn an eines Fürsten hoff wol ankömpt/ vnd rhümet das bey andern vnd spricht: Ey mein Sohn ist wol ankommen/ es hat nun mit jm kein not/ Er ist ein grosser Herr bey dem Fürsten worden/ der jhm sehr gnedig ist. Warumb sollen wir vns des nicht viel mehr frewen/ weil vnser Fleisch vnnd Blut Gott dienet/ vnd ewige gnade bey jm findet.⁹⁶

The benefit to the parents Consolation writers aimed to reconcile parents to their loss by arguing that it was to their children’s benefit to die. Devout Christians may have been prepared to follow them to this point, but for a modern reader, the following pill seems even harder to swallow. This tries to persuade the parents that they also benefit from losing their children. A number of reasons are adduced in support of this assertion. The first and weightiest is usually that God uses such events to shake the parents from sinful behaviour and bring them to contrition. Tribauer suggests that this is often the only way in which God can get through to parents who disregard his milder warnings issued in scripture and sermons. He gives the example of David, who needed the death of his infant son to remind him of the gravity of his adultery, and he concludes: ‘Dan[n] also muß man die kleinen hündlein schlahen/ das sie schreyen/ auff das der Lew dadurch erschreckt vnd furchtsam gemacht werde.’⁹⁷ According to Röber, the death of an innocent child is a particularly effective shock tactic. It demonstrates the anger that God feels towards the sinfulness that all inherit from Adam and Eve, ⁹⁶ Walther, Trost der Eltern, fos. Biiijv –Bvr . Variations on the same illustration appear in Tribauer, Trostschrifft, fos. Eiiijv –Evr , Vischer, Trostschrift, fos. Hijv –Hiijr , and Neander, Vom Seligen Absterben, fos. Avv –A6r . John Chrysostom had used it in his 31st homily on Matthew 18 (Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, tr. George Prevost, ed. Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. 1, 10 (Christian Literature Publishing Company: 1888; repr. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994), p. 210). ⁹⁷ Tribauer, Trostschrifft, fo. Kiijr .

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and this should move the parents to penitence for their own sins.⁹⁸ The urgency of repentance is clear. A child, struck down so soon, is a powerful memento mori, ‘Hodie mihi, cras tibi’ (today it is my turn, tomorrow it is yours), as the classical epitaph has it.⁹⁹ The death of a child may turn parents from past sins and halt them in current ones. It can also prevent them from being led into new sins on account of their children. Many parents have high hopes for their offspring and look to them for status, honour, and support in later life. For the consolation writers, such confidence is often misplaced, as the examples of several biblical children show.¹⁰⁰ Moreover, it verges on idolatry. Walther sketches the following scenario: [Die Eltern] dencken/ wenn mein Henslein groß würde/ so müst er ein Jurist/ ein Kauffhendler/ oder ein Juncker werde[n]/ vn[d] reich freyen/ so wolten wir den[n] weidlich prangen/ vnd vns sehen lassen. Weil aber das Gott mercket/ so kompt er den Gottlosen gedancken zuuor/ vnd nimbt vnnser Henslein zu seiner seeligkeit hinweg.¹⁰¹

Other parents are spared endless worries about their children. Ratio (Reason) offers Dolor (Sorrow) advice on the loss of a son in Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae (On the Cures for Good and Bad Fortune): Ein Sohn ist seinem Vatter wol ein süsser lieblicher Trost/ so er fromb ist/ ich bekenne es/ aber es ist doch ein schwerer vnnd sorgfältiger Trost/ Es begibet sich offt daß die süssesten lieblichsten ding am aller meinsten [sic] schaden/ die liebsten einem zur Verhinderung seynd/ vnnd die köstlichsten Ding einen hart trucken/ […] es gehört Weisen zu/ auß Laster/ Noth/ vnd Todt eine Tugent machen/ ein Sinne darauß vnd das beste nemmen. Sey getrost vnd frölich/ da dein Sohn lebet/ da mußtest ihm leben/ nun fahe an frey vnd sicher dir selbs zuleben mit frieden.¹⁰²

Ratio’s argument seems harsh, yet it is echoed again and again in early modern consolation books. Bereaved parents need no longer fear for their children’s physical, spiritual, or moral well-being. Pondering ⁹⁸ Röber, Am schwartzen Sontag, fo. C4v . ⁹⁹ We also find it in Ecclesiasticus 38: 23: ‘Gedencke an jn, wie er gestorben ist, so mustu auch sterben, Gestern wars an mir, Heute ists an dir’ (WA Bibel, XII, 253). ¹⁰⁰ Tribauer mentions Eve’s disappointment in Cain, Isaac and Rebecca’s trouble with Esau, and the grief which Absalom brought to David (Trostschrifft, fos. G8v –Hijr ). ¹⁰² Petrarch, Trostspiegel, p. 254. ¹⁰¹ Walther, Trost der Eltern, fo. B8r .


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these points, Tribauer comes to the conclusion: ‘Warlich es hat mühe vnd arbeit/ viel küm[m]erns vnd sorgens/ ehr man ein kind selig vnd wol erzeucht. Es ist ein gemein vnd war sprichwort/ Kleine kinder/ kleine sorg/ Grosse kinder/ grosse sorg/ […]’.¹⁰³ Bereavement is not a punishment: the consolation writers insist on this. However, it may be a form of loving rebuke, along the lines discussed in Proverbs 3 and Hebrews 12. Here chastisement is identified as a sign of God’s fatherhood, for a father disciplines his children in order to improve them.¹⁰⁴ Christian parents should submit faithfully to this chastisement because it forces them to take spiritual stock: ‘Darumb lest vns Gott vnser Latein auffsagen/ vnd vnser schulrecht thun/ damit wir sehen/ woran es vns mangele/ das wir Gott darumb bitten/ das er solchen mangel mit seinem heiligen Geiste erstatten wolle.’¹⁰⁵ Tribulation fashions and hones the character into something pleasing to God, just as a horse is broken and a block of stone endures many blows of the sculptor’s chisel.¹⁰⁶ Vischer, who dwells on these metaphors for some pages, also alludes to the biblical image of the refining fire which removes impurities from silver and gold.¹⁰⁷ The flames of affliction may seem intolerable, but Vischer insists that God is a responsible goldsmith in full control of his furnace.¹⁰⁸ The bitter pill of tribulation is not a poison but a purgative that expels sins and cleanses the soul of their effects: Haben wir können mit dem jrrdischen Adam vnd Eua in den sussen Apfel des erkentnis guten vnd bösen beissen/ damit wir die ewige freud vnd ¹⁰³ Tribauer, Trostschrifft, fo. C8v . ¹⁰⁴ ‘Mein kind, verwirff die Zucht des HERRN nicht, vnd sey nicht vngedültig vber seiner straffe. Denn welchen der HERR liebet, den strafft er, Vnd hat wolgefallen an jn, wie ein Vater am Son’ (Proverbs 3: 11–12, WA Bibel, X. 2, 17). ‘Mein Son, achte nicht gering die züchtigung des HErrn, vnd verzage nicht wenn du von jm gestrafft wirst. Denn welchen der HErr lieb hat, den züchtiget er, er steupt aber einen iglichen Son, den er auffnimpt. So jr die züchtigung erduldet, so erbeut sich euch Gott als Kindern. Denn wo ist ein Son, den der Vater nicht züchtiget? Seid jr aber on züchtigung, welcher sie alle sind teilhafftig worden, so seid jr Bastarte vnd nicht Kinder’ (Hebrews 12: 5–8, WA Bibel, VII, 377). ¹⁰⁵ Vischer, Trostschrift, fos. Dijr – v . ¹⁰⁶ Ibid. fos. Ciiijr – v , Dvr – v . ¹⁰⁷ ‘Wie das fewer silber, vnd der ofen gold, Also prüfet der HERR die hertzen’ (Proverbs 17: 3, WA Bibel, X. 2, 55). ‘[E]r ist wie das Fewr eines Goldschmids, vnd wie die Seiffe der Wesscher. Er wird sitzen vnd schmeltzen, vnd das Silber reinigen, Er wird die kinder Leui renigen [sic] vnd leutern, wie Gold vnd Silber’ (Malachi 3: 2–3, WA Bibel, XI. 2, 371). ¹⁰⁸ Vischer, Trostschrift, fo. D6r .

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Seligkeit vernascht/ den schrecklichen Seelengifft/ der vns leib vnd Seele verderbet/ gefressen: Ey so last vns auch mit vnserm lieben Herrn Christo/ mit dem Himlischen Adam/ in einen sawern Apfel beissen/ damit der hochschedliche gifft der Seelen/ der sich vmb vnser hertz gelegt/ vnd vns einiger not dasselbige abdrücken wil/ vertrieben wird. Contraria contrarijs curantur.¹⁰⁹

Particular issues addressed in the consolation books For Lutherans, as for men and women before the Reformation, sudden death was a cause of considerable distress. Great emphasis continued to be placed on preparation for death,¹¹⁰ and Sterbebücher and funeral sermons established ‘sanft und selig’ as the ideal way for a Christian to die. For parents unable to witness whether their children had conformed to this ideal because they died suddenly or in their parents’ absence, the agony of bereavement was intensified by terrible apprehension. Authors of consolation books recognize these fears and seek to allay them. One of the most pressing concerns was the fate of unbaptized babies. Before the Reformation this fate had been an uneviable one. Excluded from heaven by their original sin, and yet not destined for a spell in Purgatory because they were deemed to be without actual sin, they were consigned by the medieval church to the limbus infantium or puerorum (the children’s limbo). This was a no man’s land, where infants were not condemned to suffer, but were deprived of the hope and joy of eternal life in God’s presence. The reforms which swept away Purgatory also removed the doctrinal justification for limbo, although baptism continued to be regarded as a crucial moment in the life of a Christian. Most babies were baptized within a few days of birth, and those who were unlikely to survive more than a few hours were given an emergency baptism, which could be administered by the parents or a midwife. It is hardly surprising, then, that parents were particularly anxious about their children who died before baptism or who were stillborn or miscarried. The Wittenberg Reformers clearly considered this an important pastoral issue, and in 1542 Luther’s views on the matter appeared in print.¹¹¹ ¹⁰⁹ Vischer. fos. Diijv –Diiijv . ¹¹⁰ See Chapter 4, particularly n. 9. ¹¹¹ Ein Trost D. Martini Luthers fur die Weibern/ welchen es vngerat gegangen ist mit Kinder geberen […] (Wittenberg: Joseph Klug, 1542) appeared as a companion piece


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Our Halle clergyman, Georg Walther assimilates a number of Luther’s arguments into his 1571 work Trost: Für die Jenigen/ so vber dem Absterben jrer Freunde/ Ehegemahl/ oder Kinder/ betrübet sind. He introduces several biblical examples to show that those who die unbaptized are not necessarily lost. What of the repentant thief on the cross who was told that he would be with Christ in Paradise, he asks?¹¹² Or Israelite girls who could not be circumcised, the Old Testament equivalent of baptism? Or, indeed, Israelite boys who died before the day set aside for this ritual?¹¹³ And the story of the widow of Nain’s son, raised from the dead because of his mother’s sighs, surely proves that parental faith and the desire to raise Christian children is sufficient in God’s sight.¹¹⁴ Whilst the sacrament of baptism remains important, too great an insistence on the outward enactment of a sacrament suggests a reliance on works-based salvation: ‘Gott hat nicht (spricht man) an die Sacrament seine macht gebunden/ Aber durch sein Wort hat er sich mit vns verbunden.’¹¹⁵ The church statutes for the Electorate of Saxony in 1580 show that this theological shift led to a corresponding change in burial practice, for now unbaptized babies were to be buried alongside those who had received Christian baptism.¹¹⁶ The rejection of a works-based model of salvation in the tracts on baptism shows that Christ’s redemptive death and resurrection was as central to Lutheran consolation as it was to Lutheranism as a whole. Suffering, grief, and death were regarded as a direct consequence of the Fall, and therefore required a spiritual remedy. Vischer, who is so fond of Old Testament analogies, finds a story particularly suited to this to a work by Luther’s friend and colleague, Johannes Bugenhagen: Der XXIX. Psalm ausgelegt/ […]: Darinnen auch von der Kinder Tauffe. Jtem von den vngeborn Kindern/ vnd von den Kindern die man nicht teuffen kan. Ten years later Bugenhagen’s text was published again with the revised title Von den vngeborn Kindern/ vnd von den Kindern/ die wir nicht teuffen können/ vnd wolten doch gern/ nach Christus befehl/ vnd sonst von der Tauff/ etc. […] (Wittenberg: Joseph Klug, 1552). ¹¹² Luke 23: 42–3. ¹¹³ Leviticus 12: 2–3. ¹¹⁴ Luke 7: 11–15. ¹¹⁵ Luther-Bugenhagen, Von den vngeborn Kindern, 1542, fo. Jiijr ; cited in Walther, Trost: Für die Jenigen, fo. J7r . ¹¹⁶ ‘So sollen hinfüro die Pfarrer vnd Kirchendiener solche kinder nicht weniger als die andern, mit Christlichen Ceremonien, nach jedes orts gebrauch, zur begrebnis beleiten, vnd bey andern Christen zur erden bestettigen’, in Aemilius Ludwig Richter (ed.), Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts: Urkunden und Regesten zur Geschichte des Rechts und der Verfassung der evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland, 2 vols. (Weimar: Verlag des Landes-Industriecomptoirs, 1846), II, 444.

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point. When the Israelites were crossing the desert, having fled slavery in Egypt, they came to the waters of Marah. But when they stooped to drink, they found that the water was bitter. Moses took a piece of wood and cast it into the water, whereupon it became sweet and good to drink. In Vischer’s analogy, Christians have escaped from bondage by passing through the Red Sea of Christ’s blood. Although freed from the Devil, the eternal Pharaoh, they still suffer in their wanderings. Yet these sufferings (‘Creutz’) are made bearable by meditating on Christ’s own suffering on the cross (‘Creutz’). The cross is the wood that sweetens tribulations and makes them easier to swallow.¹¹⁷ In order to be cured from their malady, the grieving must look to Christ lifted high on the cross, just as the afflicted Israelites looked upon the bronze snake on the pole and were healed.¹¹⁸ Christ’s redemption and the righteousness of the faithful are so essential to Lutheran consolation that one Wertheim superintendent, Johann Winckler, based his entire consolation book for bereaved parents on these issues. This work, which actually has little to say specifically about parental bereavement, reads like a theological treatise on justification, but Winckler defends his emphasis by insisting that effective comfort is found solely in Christ and the certainty of redemption: ¹¹⁷ This typological (or allegorical) exegesis, which equates the sweetening wood with the cross, was well established among patristic and medieval theologians, and is discussed, amongst others, by Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa. See Justin Martyr, The Dialogue with Trypho, tr. and introd. A. Lukyn Williams (London: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 1930), LXXXVI, pp. 182–3; Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullian, Homily on Baptism, ed., tr., and comm. Ernest Evans (London: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 1964), IX, p. 20; Origen, Homilies on Genesis and Exodus, tr. Ronald E. Heine, The Fathers of the Church, 71 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1981), VII. 1, pp. 300–2; and Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, ed. and tr. Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson (New York: Paulist Press, 1978). For further discussions of the patristic and medieval exegesis of Exodus see Scott M. Langston, Exodus through the Centuries, Blackwell Bible Commentaries (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2006). Johannes Olearius uses the image of the sweetening wood in his funeral sermon for August Bertram von Pfuhl (1659–60), which is entitled ‘Agallochum Das Hertzerquickende Paradieß=Holtz/ welches alles Creutz- und Wiederwertigkeit kräfftiglich lindern und ändern kan/ […]’, LP Stolberg 17808. ¹¹⁸ The story is told in Numbers 21: 4–9. Christ connects it with his death in John 3: 14–15: ‘Vnd wie Moses in der wüsten eine Schlange erhöhet hat, Also mus des menschen Son erhöhet werden, Auff das alle die an jn gleuben, nicht verloren werden, Sondern das ewige Leben haben.’ (WA Bibel, VI, 335) Again, this typological reading had a long patristic and medieval afterlife.


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Aber je mehr Mittel man neben Christo suchet/ je weniger erlanget man einen gewissen Grund deß Trostes und eine Freudigkeit der Seelen vor GOtt/ denn alles was ausser Christo ist/ wäre es auch der Heiligsten Heiligkeit/ ist viel zuschwach vor GOtt zuseyn unser Schild und unser sehr grosser Lohn/ und daher wo man darauff bauen wil/ man freylich in der Sachen seiner Seeligkeit muß ungewiß werden/ deßwegen in Furchten stehen/ oder wens hoch kompt/ Muthmassungen davon fassen/ welche aber das Hertz noch nicht lassen gewiß seyn: […]¹¹⁹

The hope of heavenly reunion Most of the comfort offered by consolation books aims to help parents to come to terms with grief in the here and now. Yet the most powerful consolation they offer is directed towards the hereafter. It concerns the promise that parents will be reunited with their children in the glory of eternal life. There are some inconsistencies in Lutheran conceptions about what happens after death. Some writers argue for a sleep which ends with Judgement Day, after which families and friends will be reunited in heaven. This idea seems to be based on an early tendency of Luther’s to argue that the soul sleeps between death and resurrection. However, Luther did not hold to this view consistently, and it was not taken up by the majority of his followers.¹²⁰ For most Lutheran preachers and clergymen, the sleep is limited to the body, which rests until it is raised on Judgement Day and is reunited with the soul. The soul of the believer is taken straight into heaven at the moment of death, as Tribauer explains: Hieraus ist nun klar/ das der Verstorbenen Gleubigen Seel/ aus dem Leib/ baldt inn Himmel kommen/ vnd Gott mit allen Ausserweleten anschawen/ mit jm reden/ seine herrligkeit sehen/ vnd mit ruhigem vnd frölichem gewissen Gott Loben vnd preysen. Doch ist dis zu mercken/ das die freud der gleubigen Seelen nicht volkommen ist/ wie sie nach der Aufferstehung sein wird/ da leib vnd Seel zusammen kommen werden. Denn wie des ¹¹⁹ Johann Winckler, Die Gewißheit der Seeligkeit/ Welche Christlichen Eltern bey Absterben ihrer Kinder/ Zum Trost auß Anlaß der Wort deß H. Apostels Jac. II, 21. Jst nicht Abraham unser Vatter durch die Wercke gerecht worden/ [etc.] Öffentlich fürgetragen […] (Frankfurt a.M.: Johann David Zunner, 1684), pp. 51–2. ¹²⁰ For a discussion of the theology behind this idea, see Werner Thiede, ‘Nur ein ewiger Augenblick: Luthers Lehre vom Seelenschlaf zwischen Tod und Auferweckung’, Luther, 64 (1993), 112–25.

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Menschen Seel nicht ein volkommene Person ist/ one den Leib (wie die Engel volkommene Personen sein/ one Leib) Also kan die freud vor der Aufferstehung nit volkommen sein/ Sonder wenn Leib vnd Seel am Jüngsten tag wider vereiniget werden/ da sol die freud volkommen angehn/ vnd ewig von den Ausserwelten nicht genommen werden.¹²¹

Parents are urged to believe that the bodies of their children will not merely decay in the earth, but, like Jairus’s daughter, will be raised in glory: ‘Hie wache auff Vater vnnd Mutter Hertz/ dein Kindlein ist nicht Tod/ für der vnverständigen Augen wird es geachtet/ als stürbe es: Aber es schleffet nur.’¹²² And when they are raised, Tribauer claims that they will be imperishable, strong, and without imperfections, resembling the transfigured body of Christ on Mount Tabor.¹²³ The idea of reunion in heaven is the most compelling consolation offered to grieving parents, transforming bereavement from an irreparable separation into a temporary parting; ‘We have not lost those who have left this life, we have merely sent them on ahead. They do not die, but they go away’ writes Augustine.¹²⁴ Vischer resorts once again to an analogy. Many parents make financial sacrifices to enable their children to make a name for themselves at university, at court, or in the army. He continues: ¹²¹ Tribauer, Trostschrifft, fos. Eiiijr – v . ¹²² Röber, Am schwartzen Sontag, fo. F4r . Röber here conflates two important consolatory passages: the story of the raising of Jairus’s daughter (Matthew 9: 23–6, Mark 5: 39, and Luke 8: 40–56), and Wisdom 3: 1–2: ‘ABer der Gerechten seelen sind in Gottes hand, vnd kein qual rüret sie an. Fur den Vnuerstendigen werden sie angesehen, als stürben sie, Vnd jr Abschied wird fur ein pein gerechnet, vnd jr Hinfart fur ein verderben, Aber sie sind im Friede’ (WA Bibel, XII, 61). ¹²³ Tribauer, Trostschrifft, fos. K8v –L7r . ‘Vnd sein Angesichte leuchtet wie die Sonne, vnd seine Kleider wurden weis als ein liecht’ (Matthew 17: 2, WA Bibel, VI, 79). ¹²⁴ ‘Migrantes ex hac vita non amittimus, sed præmittimus. Non obeunt, sed abeunt’; cited in Teutschmann, Geistliches Wischtüchlein, pp. 164–5. A version is listed in the Index in Omnia opera Sancti Augustini […], [Editores], VIII, 558, in Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologia cursus completus. […] Series latina […], 221 vols. (Paris: Migne, 1844–65), XLVI, column 0450. This is a staple metaphor in Stoic consolation, and is used by Seneca in his letter to a bereaved father: ‘[H]e whom you think has died has been sent on ahead. Who is therefore so crazy as to weep for him who goes before, since we must go on the same journey?’, Seneca ad Lucilium epistulæ morales, tr. Richard M. Gummere, The Loeb Classical Library, 75–7, 3 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: Heinemann, 1917–25; repr. 1970–1) III, xcix. 7. The bereaved father is not Lucilius; Seneca merely sends him a copy of the letter.


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Wieuiel mehr solten wir vns mit gedult gar eine kleine zeit der vnsern verzeyhen/ vnd sie willig in die rechte himlische hohe Schule schicken/ weil wir gantz gewies wissen/ das sie zu himelischen Doctoribus/ ja zu ewigen Himels fürsten gemacht werden/ vnd Gerechtigkeit/ vnsterbligkeit/ ewige freude vnd jmmerwerende seligkeit zur himlischen ausbeute erlangen sollen.¹²⁵

The central role played by the doctrine of heavenly reunion in consoling the bereaved is made clear in the full title of Johann Pfeffinger’s 1552 work, Trostbüchlin Aus Gottes Wort/ Vber den vnzeitichen Todt/ sterbens vnd allerley nöten: Von der herrlichen Aufferstehung der Todten. Vnd das wir in jenem leben/ an einander kennen/ mit einander reden/ vnd mit dem HErrn Christo in ewiger freude sein werden. Whole books were written on this endlessly fascinating topic. One treatise, Johann Gottfried Olearius’s Vorblick Des frölichen Wieder=Sehens und Wieder=Zusammenkunfft der seligen Außerwehlten Eltern/ Kinder/ Ehgatten/ Geschwister/ und guten Freunde/ Jm Ewigen Leben, considers whether the resurrection body will be gendered, whether married couples will be reunited in their earthly relationship, what will happen to stillborn, unbaptized, and miscarried infants, and how parents will recognize such children.¹²⁶

T H E D U T Y O F C O N S O L AT I O N The task of consolation may have been an important part of a clergyman’s duties, but the burden did not fall on the clergy alone. Lay members of the community were also expected to play their part in comforting grieving fellow Christians, as Paul commands the Roman church: ‘Frewet euch mit den Froelichen, Vnd weinet ¹²⁵ Vischer, Trostschrift, fos. Hvv –H6r . ¹²⁶ Johann Gottfried Olearius, Vorblick Des frölichen Wieder=Sehens und Wieder= Zusammenkunfft der seligen Außerwehlten Eltern/ Kinder/ Ehgatten/ Geschwister/ und guten Freunde/ Jm Ewigen Leben: […] (Leipzig: Johann Wittigau, 1667). The frontispiece shows a dying man taking leave of his family. With one hand he holds onto his weeping wife, and with the other he points to the heavenly reunion represented above. The motto below the engraving reads: ‘Das frohe widersehen macht | Das man das scheiden nicht so acht’.

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mit den weinenden’.¹²⁷ And who better to administer a tried-andtested remedy than someone who has recovered from the same illness? Pfeffinger, whose son Johannes died in early adulthood, writes very clearly of the benefits of reiterating comfort which has proved effective: Darumb weis ich nichts bessers/ damit ich fürder in gleichem falle meinen Nechsten trösten möchte/ denn den trost mitzuteilen/ damit ich getröstet bin/ Wie denn auch der heilige Paulus/ 2: Corint. I vermanet/ das wir den trost/ damit wir getröstet/ andern mitteilen sollen/ […].¹²⁸

The community was also exhorted to stand by the bereaved in prayer. Vischer explains this through yet another analogy from the Old Testament book of Exodus. The Israelites triumphed over the Amalekites because Moses kept his hands raised in supplication throughout the battle.¹²⁹ Through this story, Vischer stresses the importance of Christocentric intercession and community support for the bereaved. The battle, he argues, is a pertinent image for the Christian life, which is a constant struggle. At baptism Christians issue a notice of challenge to the Devil, placing themselves under the blood-stained banner and command of Christ. To gain victory in this battlefield, they must pray earnestly, raising hearts, hands, and voices to God. And just as Moses sat on a rock to pray, so Christians must be firmly founded on the true cornerstone of Christ. But Moses did not pray alone: his arms were supported by Aaron, the High Priest, and Hur, representing ordained ministers and laymen respectively. It is the duty of both the clergy and the laity to stand by their fellow soldiers as they wait for God’s comfort, so that Amalek, the Devil, and all his troops might be defeated and the way made straight to the Promised Land, to Paradise.¹³⁰ ¹²⁷ Romans 12: 15, WA Bibel, VII, 69. ¹²⁸ Pfeffinger, Trostbüchlin, 1552, fos. A7v –A8r . The reference is to 2 Corinthians 1: 3–4. ¹²⁹ Exodus 17: 8–16. ¹³⁰ Vischer, Trostschrift, fos. Aijv –Aiiijr . Vischer’s typological (and tropological or moral) discussion of this episode echoes Origen’s exegesis, where he associates the valiant Joshua with Jesus, and sees Moses lifting his hands as a command to prayer (Homilies on Genesis and Exodus, XI. 3, pp. 358–59). Gregory of Nyssa identifies Aaron’s support of Moses as the priesthood upholding the law, but he fails to mention Hur (The Life of Moses, II. 147–51, pp. 90–1). Vischer differs from his predecessors in stressing the community role in prayerful support, a particularly Lutheran concern.


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Effective consolation for Lutherans involved three participants. True comfort came from God. The afflicted were to appropriate God’s solace themselves through intensive reading of Scripture and edifying books,¹³¹ but the community also had an important role to play, supporting them in prayer and encouraging them in word and deed. And the form in which so many educated seventeenthcentury Lutherans chose to express this support and solidarity with the bereaved was the funeral poem. ¹³¹ Lutheran reading and meditative practices are discussed by Cornelia Niekus Moore in ‘Praeparatio ad Mortem: Das Buch bei Vorbereitung und Begleitung des Sterbens im protestantischen Deutschland des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, Pietismus und Neuzeit, 19 (1993), 9–18.

2 The purposes of poetry What was it about poetry that made it an effective vehicle for consolation? To answer this question, we must first consider the seventeenthcentury understanding of poetry’s place and purpose in society. One man who gave the matter a good deal of thought was Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1607–58), a civic official in Nuremberg who wrote in his spare time. Harsdörffer’s poetic and linguistic activities had won him admission to the famous Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft in 1642 under the name ‘der Spielende’, and in 1644 he founded the Pegnesischer Blumenorden, whose members, male and female, adopted names of classical shepherds. Harsdörffer (Strephon) also met with Sigmund von Birken (Floridan) and Johann Klaj (Klaius) to write poetry; the group called themselves the Pegnitzschäfer after the river running through the city. But Harsdörffer was not only a practising poet; he was also interested in poetic theory, and in 1647 he wrote a handbook, the Poetischer Trichter, adding two further parts in 1648 and 1653. In this three-volume manual, illustrated with examples from his own work and that of his contemporaries, he discusses how to write poetry and addresses questions on its social function. Within the first few pages we find the following definition: Ein löblicher Poet schreibet allezeit solche Gedichte/ die zu GOttes Ehre zielen/ grosse Herren/ und gelehrte Leute belustigen/ die Unverständigen unterweisen/ der Verständigen Nachsinnen üben/ die Einfältigen lehren/ die Betrübten trösten/ und der frölichen Freude vermehren.¹ ¹ Georg Philipp Harsdörffer, Poetischer Trichter. Die Teutsche Dicht= und Reimkunst/ ohne Behuf der Lateinischen Sprache/ […], 3 vols. (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Endter, 1648–53; facs. edn., Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1969), I, I. iii. 11, p. 8.

The purposes of poetry

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Poets had not always been held in such high esteem, as laudable citizens and upholders of the values of civilized society. Plato had famously determined to exclude them from his Republic, believing their corrupting influence to be twofold. His first criticism is that mimetic poetry cannot represent truth because it merely imitates an imitation. If the world we experience is nothing more than an emanation of prototypes which exist in the noumenal realm, poetry can only reflect a copy that is already flawed and faded. Secondly, he questions the assumption that poets have an educative function. He argues that poetry appeals to the lower, less rational elements in human nature, and that developing these elements inevitably reduces the capacity for rational thought and moral action: We should be justified in not admitting [the mimetic poet] into a wellordered state because he stimulates and fosters this [inferior] element within the soul, and by strengthening it, tends to destroy the rational part, just as when in a state one puts bad men in power and turns the city over to them and ruins the better sort.²

Significantly, one of the examples he offers in support of this concerns mourning. In Homeric epic we are presented with characters who lament aloud and wallow in grief, and our natural inclination is to sympathize with them. But reason and decorum require that we do not respond in the same way to events in our own lives: ‘For after feeding fat the emotion of pity there, it is not easy to restrain it in our own sufferings’.³ However, Plato makes an exception for lyric poets who would employ art to praise the deities and extol the virtues of good men, and towards the end of the work he concedes that he would be prepared to listen to an apology for poetry (delivered in plain and simple prose) if he could be persuaded that it were ‘not only delightful but beneficial to orderly government and all the life of man’.⁴ Over the centuries many poets and theorists have responded to this challenge, claiming that poetry is a fitting vehicle for moral instruction, and therefore beneficial to the life of man. In his Ars poetica Horace praises Orpheus for using song to turn men from ² Plato, The Republic, tr. Paul Shorey, The Loeb Classical Library, 237 and 276, 2 vols. (London: Heinemann; New York: Putnam, 1930–5; repr. London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982–7), II, X. vi (605B). ³ Ibid. X. vii (606b). ⁴ Ibid. X. viii (607d).

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their savagery and tame wild beasts.⁵ The father of German poetry, Martin Opitz (1597–1639) reiterates this argument in his Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey (1624), and he opens his second chapter, ‘Worzue die Poeterey/ vnd wann sie erfunden worden,’ with the grand claim: DIe Poeterey ist anfanges nichts anders gewesen als eine verborgene Theologie/ vnd vnterricht von Göttlichen sachen. Dann weil die erste vnd rawe Welt gröber vnd vngeschlachter war/ als das sie hette die lehren von weißheit vnd himmlischen dingen recht fassen vnd verstehen können/ so haben weise Männer/ was sie zue erbawung der Gottesfurcht/ gutter sitten vnd wandels erfunden/ in reime vnd fabeln/ welche sonderlich der gemeine pöfel zue hören geneiget ist/ verstecken vnd verbergen mussen.⁶

Far from subverting or undermining the status quo, Opitz argues that poetry lends itself to upholding it. In fact, he takes Plato’s objections to mimetic poetry and turns them on their head. In his statement, ‘daß die gantze Poeterey im nachäffen der Natur bestehe/ vnd die dinge nicht so sehr beschreibe wie sie sein/ als wie sie etwan sein köndten oder solten’,⁷ he agrees that poetry does not quite show the world as it really is, but rather projects an idealized image, filled with educative potential. This ethical claim is based on the Poetics of Aristotle, Plato’s pupil and critic. Aristotle had argued that the difference between historical and poetical truth lies not so much in style as in content. Historical truth concentrates on what has actually taken place, a specific instance at a specific point in time, whereas poetical truth is concerned with what could happen. Poetry is therefore the more philosophical because it deals with universal truths: ‘ ‘‘Universal’’ means the kinds of things which it suits a certain kind of person to say or do, in terms of probability or necessity: poetry aims for this, even though attaching names to the agents’.⁸ In other words, poetry ⁵ Horace, Ars poetica, in Satires, Epistles and Ars poetica, tr. H. Rushton Fairclough, The Loeb Classical Library, rev. edn. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1955; repr. 1968), lines 391–407. ⁶ Martin Opitz, Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey, ed. Cornelius Sommer (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1995); text from the 1624 edn. (Breslau: David Müller [publisher]; Brieg: Augustinus Gründer [printer]), p. 12. ⁷ Ibid. p. 17. ⁸ Aristotle, Poetics, tr. Stephen Haliwell, Longinus, On the Sublime, tr. W. H. Fyfe, Demetrius, On Style, tr. Doreen C. Innes, The Loeb Classical Library, 199 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995): Aristotle, Poetics, ix. 4 (1451b).


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could be used to script responses for given situations, in many cases establishing a behavioural model for the reader or audience. We see this principle at work in seventeenth-century German theatre, for example in the plays of Andreas Gryphius, and it has implications for early modern Lutheran funeral verse. Plato will only accept poetry that is beneficial as well as delightful. Poetry’s apologists claim that it is the very union of the two qualities that allows it to assume an ethical role. We see this in Harsdörffer’s definition: a praiseworthy poet should entertain (‘belustigen’) and teach (‘unterweisen’, ‘Nachsinnen üben’, ‘lehren’).⁹ The original motto for the Pegnesischer Blumenorden, ‘Mit Nutzen Erfreulich’, shows the two elements working in partnership: the motto could equally well read ‘Mit Freuden nützlich’.¹⁰ Here we find the gist of Horace’s famous definition of poetry: ‘Poets aim either to benefit, or to amuse, | or to utter words at once both pleasing and helpful to life’.¹¹ For Opitz, following in this tradition, poetry’s ‘vornemster zweck’ is ‘vberredung vnd vnterricht auch ergetzung der Leute’.¹² This is a single objective (‘Zweck’): for him, prodesse and delectare are not separate aims, but two strands inextricably linked in one purpose. Poetry serves instruction by making concepts easier to grasp. August Buchner (1591–1661), professor of poetry and rhetoric at the University of Wittenberg, differentiates between poets and philosophers in his Poet, published posthumously in 1665.¹³ Both are like ⁹ Later in the Trichter he echoes Horace even more clearly: ‘Deß Poeten Absehe[n] ist gerichtet auf den Nutzen/ und auf die Belustigung zugleich’, I, I. iii. 9, p. 7 (my emphasis). ¹⁰ The second generation of Pegnitzschäfer changed the motto to ‘Alles zur Ehre des Himmels’. ¹¹ ‘Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare poetae | aut simul et iucunda et idonea dicere vitae’, Horace, Ars poetica, lines 333–4. ¹² Opitz, Poeterey, p. 17. ¹³ August Buchner, […] Anleitung Zur Deutschen Poeterey/ […] and […] POET […] (Wittenberg: Buchner’s heirs [publisher] and Michael Wendt [printer], 1665); facs. edn., ed. Marian Szyrocki as Anleitung zur Deutschen Poeterey / Poet, Deutsche Neudrucke, Reihe: Barock, 5 ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1966): POET, p. 31. In his work Augustus Buchner und seine Bedeutung für die deutsche Literatur des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts (Munich: Beck, 1919), Hans Heinrich Borcherdt sketches the genesis of this text (pp. 45–54). From as early as 1638 the manuscript of Buchner’s work on poetic theory appears to have been known to members of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, and it was cited in a number of other works, but there is no evidence for a publication before Buchner’s death. In 1663 Georg Göze edited a text entitled August

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doctors who administer restorative remedies, but the poet’s pill is sugared. One particular sweetener is simile and metaphor. Buchner insists that humans are more inclined to take notice of something which resembles truth than of truth in its bare form, and he claims that the very act of uncovering the connection between poetic representation and everyday existence makes the lessons more memorable for the reader or listener: Dan[n] weil [Poeten] […] gar reiflich erwogen/ daß der Mensch/ als ein fürwitzig und kitzliches Thier/ gerne was neues hörete/ und öffters in dem/ was der Warheit nahe kömmet/ sich mehr erlustigete/ als was die Warheit an sich selbsten ist/ weil diese gemein/ und für sich selbst entstehet/ jenes aber durch Kunst und Fleiß zuwege gebracht wird/ auch seltzam ist/ Massen wir ein schönes Gemälde meistentheils mit grösser Lust und angenehmer Bewegung/ als das ding selbsten/ dessen Gemälde es ist/ anschauen; Als haben sie diesen artigen Griff erfunden/ den Leuten mit einer verdeckten/ doch anmuthigen/ weise beyzubringen/ wofür Sie sonst einen Abscheu trugen.¹⁴

Although the Horatian definition of poetry’s purpose as instruction and delight remained common currency amongst poets and theorists of the early modern period, they were also concerned with another element: movere or flectere. The theologian and philosopher Johann Heinrich Alsted writes of orators teaching, delighting, and moving their audience in his Encyclopædia of 1630.¹⁵ But rhetorical appeal to the emotions was by no means a seventeenth-century development; we find it in works of classical rhetoric. Cicero’s De oratore (Concerning Buchners kurzer Weg=Weiser zur Deutschen Tichtkunst/ […], which was published in Jena by Georg Sengenwald. Buchner’s heirs were furious, and in 1665 his sonin-law, Otto Praetorius, had the Anleitung and the Poet published in Wittenberg by Michael Wenden in an edition which claimed to correct the errors of Göze’s text. Borcherdt concludes that Buchner intended the work for publication, and sent it to Ludwig, Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen around 1638, hoping to be accepted into the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft. It was rejected because of Buchner’s advocacy of the controversial dactyl, and by the time he was finally accepted into the society in 1641, he had missed the opportunity to publish it without upsetting his new patron. ¹⁴ Buchner, POET, pp. 5–6. ¹⁵ Johann Heinrich Alsted, Encyclopædia (Herborn: Friedrich Hulsius, 1630); facs. edn. ed. Jörg Jungmayr and Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, 4 vols. (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1989–90), I, X. i, p. 509. On the following page he gives the trio ‘docere, delectare et flectere’; cited in Joachim Dyck, Ticht-Kunst: Deutsche Barockpoetik und rhetorische Tradition, Rhetorik-Forschungen, 2, 3rd edn. ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1991), p. 34.


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the Orator) argues, for example, that listeners may be persuaded by three methods: the speaker may enlighten them (docere), please them (conciliare), or stir them up (concitare).¹⁶ Not only does Harsdörffer include this third function in his Trichter; he places it emphatically at the end of his definition of poetry: ‘die Betrübten trösten/ und der frölichen Freude vermehren’.¹⁷ But how does poetry stir up the emotions? For early modern writers, the answer to this question lies in the contemporary theoretical discussion of the affects. From classical times, affects were regarded as particular states of the soul provoked by external stimuli.¹⁸ They include hope, love, joy, fear, sorrow, and anger. Each affect is accompanied by a physiological reaction. In the case of fear, the emotional response may be accompanied by an increased heart rate, trembling, or constriction of the throat. This quasi-medical explanation of the emotions, which relies on an intimate connection between mind and body, is closely linked to the Galenic theory of the four humours. In fact, the humours and the affects were thought to operate together, as the famous English melancholic Robert Burton explains in his Anatomy of Melancholy: For as the Body works upon the minde, by his bad humours, troubling the Spirits, sending grosse fumes into the Braine, and so per consequens disturbing the Soule, and all the faculties of it, […] with feare, sorrow, &c. which are ordinary symptomes of this Disease: so on the other side, the minde most effectually workes upon the Body, producing by his passions ¹⁶ Cicero, De oratore, tr. E. W. Sutton (I and II) and H. Rackham (II and III), The Loeb Classical Library, 348 and 349, 2 vols. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1942; repr. 1967–8), II. xxix. 128–9; cited in Dyck, Ticht-Kunst, p. 79. The Spanish rhetorician Marcus Fabius Quintilian insists that the orator must always keep these three levels in mind (Institutio oratoria [The Orator’s Education], ed. and tr. Donald A. Russell, The Loeb Classical Library, 124–7 and 494, 5 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001), III. v. 2). ¹⁷ This trio corresponds to the three levels of rhetorical style: the low, the medium, and the elevated. See Cicero, Brutus, tr. G. L. Hendrickson, and Orator, tr. H. M. Hubbell, The Loeb Classical Library, 342, rev. edn (Cambridge, Mass.; Harvard University Press; London: Heinemann, 1962; repr. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997): Orator, xx. 69. ¹⁸ Aristotle, The ‘Art’ of Rhetoric, tr. John Henry Freese, The Loeb Classical Library, 193 (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1926; repr. 1967), II. i. 8–9 (1378a).

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and perturbations miraculous alterations; as Melancholy, despaire, cruell diseases, and sometimes death it selfe.¹⁹

Over the centuries what Burton here terms ‘passions and perturbations’ have undergone varying moral evaluations. Stoic philosophers condemned appeals to the affects because they believed that to allow the emotions to gain the upper hand could induce madness. They based their arguments partially on the detrimental physical effects of emotional strain, discussed in the first chapter, which they claimed arose from the excessive expansion or contraction of the soul’s pneuma (vital spirit).²⁰ And in line with their ideal of apatheia, freedom from perturbation through self-control, they considered irrational displays of emotion shameful, especially for men. It is worth stressing here that their objection was both therapeutic and ethical. Aristotle presents a rather different view in his Poetics and ethical writings. As the affects influence decisions, they need to be controlled by reason. But this does not make them dangerous in themselves. He reconciles reason and emotion in his ideal of metropatheia (moderation of the affects): [I]t is evident that all the forms of moral goodness and badness have to do with excesses and deficiencies of pleasures and pains, and that pleasures and pains result from the states of character and modes of emotion mentioned. But then the best state in relation to each class of thing is the middle state. It is clear, therefore, that the virtues will be either all or some of these middle states.²¹

Early modern poetic theorists tend to agree them, just as with the humoral theory, the ance of the affects. Martin Kempe (1637–82), of the Pegnesischer Blumenorden, assures his

with Aristotle. For ideal remains bala younger member readers that affects

¹⁹ Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, ed. Thomas C. Faulkner, Nicolas K. Kiessling, and Rhonda L. Blair, comm. J. B. Bamborough and Martin Dodsworth, 6 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989–2000), I, I. 2. 3. 1, p. 247. ²⁰ Karl Bormann, ‘Zur stoischen Affektenlehre’, in Ingrid Craemer-Ruegenberg (ed.), Pathos, Affekt, Gefühl: Philosophische Beiträge (Freiburg: Alber, 1981), p. 97. ²¹ Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution, The Eudemian Ethics, On Virtues and Vices, tr. H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library, 2nd edn. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: Heinemann, 1952; repr. 1971): Eudemian Ethics, II. v. 10–11 (1222b).


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may be provoked for a particular purpose so long as they remain under the control of the poet or orator: ‘[Die Poeterey] weiß den Menschlichen Begierden/ wie grausam sie auch wüten mögen/ durch ihre Lieblichkeit den Zaum anzulegen: […]’.²² Affects can even be provoked in order to release them, restoring the soul to a state of harmonious balance. This is the principle of catharsis. The humoral theory sought to restore the lost equilibrium by applying the antithesis of the dominant humour. But cathartic treatments would increase the intensity of the affect, a procedure analogous to the early modern medical practice of provoking a sickness to feverpitch, the peripateia or turning point when recovery could begin.²³ A defence of affective rhetoric might also have recourse to Aristotle’s argument that beneficial affects have consequences in the material and social world, spurring the listener or reader to action. In The ‘Art’ of Rhetoric he describes emotions as ‘all those affections which cause men to change their opinion in regard to their judgments’,²⁴ and in the Nicomachean Ethics he argues that whilst emotions are not themselves subject to moral evaluation, the behaviour resulting from them may be praised or condemned.²⁵ This is why the affects must remain under the control of reason. But reason and emotion are not necessarily competing forces within the human mind. For Aristotle, the soul is made up of different capacities.²⁶ Affectively charged rhetoric or poetry can reach a listener or reader at a different level from reasoned argument, and should therefore not be despised as a tool of persuasion. ²² Martin Kempe’s ‘Anmerckungen’ to Georg Neumark’s […] Poetische TAFELN/ Oder Grundliche Anweisung zur Teutschen Verskunst […] ( Jena: Johann Jacob Bauhofer, 1667); facs. edn., ed. Joachim Dyck, Ars Poetica: Texte und Studien zur Dichtungslehre und Dichtkunst, 2 (Frankfurt a.M.: Athenäum, 1971), ‘Anmerckungen’, p. 12. ²³ Hans-Georg Kemper, Deutsche Lyrik der frühen Neuzeit, 6 vols. ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1986– ), II, 103. ²⁴ Aristotle, Rhetoric, II. i. 8 (1378a). ²⁵ Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, tr. H. Rackham, The Loeb Classical Library, 73, rev. edn. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1934; repr. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968), II. iii. 5; cited by Klaus Jacobi, ‘Aristoteles über den rechten Umgang mit Gefühlen’, in Craemer-Ruegenberg (ed.), Pathos, Affekt, Gefühl, pp. 21–52 (46–7). ²⁶ Jacobi, ‘Aristoteles über den rechten Umgang mit Gefühlen’, pp. 32–3.

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In an early eighteenth-century handbook for aspiring poets, the headmaster of the Altenburg Gymnasium, Johann Samuel Wahll, gives the following advice on how to move a reader: Ein Poet muß nicht nur mit liebelichen Worten spielen, und dadurch die Gemüther zuergötzen [sic] suchen, sondern er muß auch ein Meister der Affecten seyn, und denen Leuten durch nachdrückliche Sachen ins Hertze greiffen können. Uberhaupt aber muss er alle Zierlichkeiten seiner Sprache aufs genaueste inne haben.²⁷

It is clear here that style should not merely be an ornament to a poem, but the very means by which the reader is bent to the poet’s will. Most of the pronunciations on affective style in the poetics are based on classical works written for orators because poetry has always been closely related to rhetoric. Harsdörffer is merely echoing Cicero’s comment that poets are ‘the next of kin to orators’²⁸ when he states that they are ‘miteinander verbrüdert und verschwestert/ verbunden und verknüpfet/ daß keine sonder die andre gelehret/ erlernet/ getrieben und geübet werden kan’.²⁹ This close relationship manifests itself in both the content and the structure of many poetical treatises. Following the sixteenth-century neo-Latin poet Marco Girolamo Vida, who in turns follows Horace’s Ars poetica, Opitz divides the process of writing poetry into ‘erfindung [der dinge]’ (inventio), ‘eintheilung der dinge’ (dispositio), and ‘zuebereitung vnd ziehr der worte’ (elocutio).³⁰ (The other two elements of the five-part scheme for orators, memoria and pronuntiatio, do not appear here because they concern the performance of a speech.) In the first century ce, the Spanish rhetorician Quintilian wrote a detailed handbook of practical rhetoric, a school textbook. In it, he insists that an audience is more likely to be moved to action by what they hear if they enjoy listening to the speaker: For when an audience find it a pleasure to listen, their attention and their readiness to believe what they hear are both alike increased, while ²⁷ Johann Samuel Wahll, Kurtze doch gründliche Einleitung zu der rechten/ reinen und galanten Teutschen POESJE […] (Chemnitz: Conrad Stöffel, 1715), p. 118. ²⁸ Cicero, De oratore, III. vii. 27; cited in Dyck, Ticht-Kunst, p. 33. ²⁹ Harsdörffer, Trichter, III. Vorrede, fo.)(iiijr . ³⁰ Opitz, Poeterey, p. 23; cited in Dyck, Ticht-Kunst, p. 14.


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they are generally filled with delight, and sometimes even transported by admiration.³¹

The orator’s effectiveness depends not only on the words he speaks, but also on how he shapes and structures what he says. For Quintilian, structure is like a bow string which gives words force and direction, ensuring that they hit their target in the listener’s mind. A wellconceived structure is valued ‘not only for pleasure but also for its emotional impact, first because nothing can penetrate to the emotions if it stumbles at the ear—at the threshold, as you might say; and, secondly, because we are naturally attracted by harmony’.³² Here the difference between delectare and flectere would appear to be one of degree rather than of purpose; the ear must first be charmed to give access to the soul that is to be moved. Earlier in the work Quintilian uses the terms ethos and pathos.³³ For Aristotle ethos had referred to the orator’s character and pathos to the effect of the speech on the audience,³⁴ but in Roman rhetoric a terminological shift takes place, as we can see in Cicero’s Orator.³⁵ Accordingly Quintilian offers two possible translations of the terms. Ethos can be rendered by the Latin mores, suggesting an ethical element, whereas pathos is translated by adfectus. This is similar to Aristotle’s definition. In the second scheme, however, the difference is merely qualitative: ethos refers to gentle emotions which win the listeners over, and pathos to the violent and commanding ones that affect them more viscerally.³⁶ As Alsted puts ³¹ Quintilian, Institutio oratoria, VII. iii. 5. ³² Ibid. IX. iv. 9–10. ³³ Ibid. VI. ii. ³⁴ Aristotle discusses the three proofs ‘furnished by’ a speech: ‘The first depends upon the moral character of the speaker, the second upon putting the hearer into a certain frame of mind, the third upon the speech itself, in so far as it proves or seems to prove’, Rhetoric, I. ii. 3 (1356a). ³⁵ Cicero, Orator, xxxiv. 128. Brian Vickers discusses the strange blending that occurs in this passage: ‘We find occasional traces of the Aristotelian distinction between ethos and pathos, as in the Orator, where ethikon is said to refer to the orator’s self, pathetikon to the emotions he arouses. But even here we can see the strange Roman adaptation by which ethos becomes merely a more gentle form of the emotions aroused by pathos’, In Defence of Rhetoric (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998; repr. 1999), p. 74. ³⁶ ‘More cautious writers have preferred to express the sense rather than translate the word. They have spoken of one of the sets of emotions as violent, and the other as subtle and steady; in the one (they say) the passions are vehement, in the other subdued; the former command, the latter persuade; the former are powerful agents

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it, ‘[T]o charm is to arouse a gentler stirring in the heart of the listener. […T]o move is to arouse a more violent stirring in the soul of the listener and, as it were, to leave the barbs there.’³⁷ Although a poet needs to know how to provoke affects in the readers or audience, the theorists are very clear that achieving this is not merely a matter of mastering techniques. Horace writes: ‘Not enough is it for poems to have beauty: they must have charm, and lead the hearer’s soul where they will. As men’s faces smile on those who smile, so they respond to those who weep. If you would have me weep, you must first feel grief yourself: […]’.³⁸ This advice chimes with Paul’s injunction to the Roman church: ‘Frewet euch mit den Froelichen, Vnd weinet mit den weinenden.’³⁹ But as far as the writing of poetry is concerned, it is not merely a matter of social decorum or consolatory practice: it concerns the very efficacy of a work of art. If a poet is to move a reader, Horace argues, the reader needs to believe that the poet is moved by what he writes. If the poem does not convey this, the effect is weakened considerably. This view is echoed by Quintilian, who regards it as a fundamental rhetorical principle: ‘The heart of the matter as regards arousing emotions, so far as I can see, lies in being moved by them oneself’,⁴⁰ and by Wahll, who adapts a much-cited early modern dictum: ‘Was nicht von Hertzen gehet/ das gehet auch nicht zu Hertzen’.⁴¹ Docere, delectare, and movere are generally given as the fundamental aims of poetry in the early modern period. But there is a fourth element which we must not overlook, one that is especially important for considering Lutheran poetics. Harsdörffer’s first function for his of disturbance, the latter of good will.’ Quintilian, Institutio oratoria, VI. ii. 9. He goes on to suggest that in some cases the difference is merely one of degree (love is pathos and affection ethos). Sometimes, however, the two are incompatible because pathos stirs up emotions and ethos calms them (Institutio oratorio, VI. ii. 12). ³⁷ ‘Delectare est motum leniorem in corde auditoris excitare. Flectere […] est motum vehementiorem in auditoriis animo excitare, & velut aculeos ibi relinquere.’ Alsted, Encyclopædia, I, IX. i. 2, p. 468; cited in Dyck, Ticht-Kunst, p. 84. ³⁸ Horace, Ars poetica, lines 99–103. ³⁹ Romans 12: 15, WA Bibel, VII, 69. ⁴⁰ Quintilian, Institutio oratoria, VI. ii. 26. In his textual note, Russell points out that Quintilian was probably also drawing on Aristotle’s Poetics, xvii. 3–4 (1455a) and Cicero’s De oratore, II. xlv. 189. ⁴¹ Wahll, Einleitung, p. 134.


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praiseworthy poet is to write poems ‘die zu GOttes Ehre zielen’.⁴² In 1679, another founding member of the Pegnesischer Blumenorden, Sigmund von Birken (1626–81), offered an extended discussion of this function in his manual Teutsche Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst: Das Absehen oder der Zweck/ wornach ein Poet zielet/ ware bei den Heiden Nutzen und Belusten/ […] Es haben aber die Heiden auch zur Ehre ihrer Götter/ die Poesy mit Lobgesängen verwendet/ […] So nennen dan[n] wir Christen den dritten Zweck der Poesy/ vielmehr den ersten/ die Ehre Gottes. Die Poetische Dichtfähigkeit/ […] und der Geist/ komt von Him[m]el: so ist ja billig/ daß dessen Wirkung in seinen Ursprung wiederkere. Alles Thon/ alle Rede und Schrift/ sol Gott loben: weil Gott allein/ das Leben/ die Redfähigkeit/ den Geist und die Kraft gibet.⁴³

Birken considers Christian poets conduits of the Holy Spirit, channels through which the divine gift of poetry passes to return again in praise to Heaven, just like water circulating in a fountain. Gleichwie aber das von oben abfallende Wasser/ wann es durch Röhren in ein Brunngefäß geleitet wird/ in demselben wieder empor und hervorspringet: also soll die Dicht Kunst/ weil sie vom Himmel einfließet/ wieder gen Himmel steigen und GOtt zu Ehren verwendet werden. Sind also die Poeten himlische Spring-Brunnen/ oder sie sollen solche seyn/ und das Himmels=Flut Feuer nicht Jrdisch verwenden.⁴⁴

Here the Spirit of God replaces the classical furor, which was supposed to possess poets and enable them to compose verse. Birken has little concern that poetry and Christian devotion might pull in two different directions: in the frontispiece to the work Poesy and Andacht sit harmoniously together with the poet-fountain. For Birken, praise is not merely an appendage to the Horatian principle of docere and delectare; rather, it is to take pride of place in the Christian poet’s considerations. But this does not mean that Lutheran writers lose sight of poetry’s other functions. From the early years of the Reformation poetry had played an important role. Luther ⁴² Harsdörffer, Trichter, I, I. iii.11, p. 8. ⁴³ Sigmund von Birken, Teutsche Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst/ oder Kurze Anweisung zur Teutschen Poesy/ mit Geistlichen Exempeln: […] (Nuremberg: Christoph Riegel [publisher] and Christoph Gerhard [printer], 1679; facs. edn., Hildesheim: Olms, 1973), x. 141, pp. 184–5 (emphasis in original publication). ⁴⁴ Ibid. ‘Vor-Rede’, fos.):():(vr – v ).

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was well aware of the appeal of rhyme and music, and knew how to channel this power for his own cause. His introduction to the Wittenberger Gesangbuch of 1524 shows his recognition that dogma was most usefully embedded in a pleasurable medium: [I]ch [wollte] gerne, die iugent, die doch sonst soll und mus ynn der Musica und andern rechten künsten erzogen werden, ettwas hette, damit sie der bul lieder und fleyschlichen gesenge los werde und an derselben statt etwas heylsames lernte, und also das guete mit lust, wie den iungen gepürt, eyngienge. Auch das ich nicht der meynung byn, das durchs Euangelion sollten alle künste zu boden geschlagen werden und vergehen, […] Sondern ich wollt alle künste sonderlich die Musica gerne sehen ym dienst des, der sie geben und geschaffen hat.⁴⁵

Hymns provided an important sense of a community of the faithful and made new doctrines easier to learn and understand: ‘Denn Reyme oder Vers machen gute Sentenz oder Sprichwort, die man lieber braucht, denn sonst schlechte rede [prose]’.⁴⁶ Luther points to the powerful combination of docere and delectare in the preface to his translation of the Psalms: ‘Jch halt aber, Das kein feiner Exempelbuch oder Legenden der Heiligen auff Erden komen sey oder komen müge, denn der Psalter ist’.⁴⁷ But in the preface he also acknowledges the affective power of poetry. The Psalms are so moving, he claims, because in them we hear men of God speaking from the heart in their own words.⁴⁸ And writing to the neo-Latin poet Helius Eobanus Hessus, who had published a Latin versification of Psalm 18 based on Luther’s translation, Luther admits ‘to being one of those whom poems move more powerfully, delight more strongly, and for whom they lodge deeper than prose, even if it were [from the mouth of] Cicero himself or even Demosthenes’.⁴⁹ In an extract from the Tischreden he gives the theory of the affects a spiritual dimension: ⁴⁵ Luther, WA, XXXV, 474–5. ⁴⁶ Luther’s introduction to the ‘Begrebnislieder’ (1542), WA, XXXV, 481. ⁴⁷ Luther, WA Bibel, X. 1, 99. ⁴⁸ ‘[W]o sie von furcht vnd hoffnung reden, brauchen sie solcher wort, das dir kein Maler also kündte die Furcht oder Hoffnung abmalen, vnd kein Cicero oder Redkündiger also furbilden.’ WA Bibel, X. 1, 103. ⁴⁹ ‘Nam ego me unum ex illis esse fateor, quos poëmata fortius movent, vehementius delectant tenaciusque in eis haereant, quam soluta oratio, sit sane vel ipse Cicero et Demosthenes.’ Letter of August 1537, Luther, WA Br., VIII, no. 3167.


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Denn die Musica ist ein Gabe und Geschenke Gottes, nicht ein Menschen= Geschenk. So vertreibt sie auch den Teufel, und machet die Leut fröhlich: man vergisset dabey alles Zorns, Unkeuschheit, Hoffart, und anderer Laster. Ich gebe nach der Theologia der Musica den nähesten Locum und höchste Ehre.⁵⁰

There was certainly scriptural justification for using poetry and music to bring the affects into harmony with divine order and purpose: David’s music calmed the troubled Saul and temporarily drove away the evil spirit that tormented him: ‘Wenn nu der geist Gottes vber Saul kam, So nam Dauid die Harffen, vnd spielet mit seiner Hand, so erquickt sich Saul, vnd ward besser mit jm, vnd der böse Geist weich von jm’.⁵¹

P O E T RY A N D S O C I E T Y We have considered how seventeenth-century Lutherans regarded poetry, its powers, and purposes. But what of its social function? This is a pertinent question for funeral verse, written for a specific recipient as a response to a particular situation. Occasional poetry has suffered a very bad press because it is often considered pedestrian and schematic, the element of compulsion affording unfavourable conditions for poetic inspiration. Critics have compared ‘Casuallyrik’ unfavourably with ‘Erlebnislyrik’, which has been regarded as a more subjective response to an experience or situation. But as Hans-Henrik Krummacher asks, ‘darf man so leicht nehmen, was jene Epoche so wichtig genommen hat?’⁵² It cannot be denied that poems produced for occasions such as weddings, funerals, birthdays, baptisms, and laureations are not always of a consistently high literary quality. But poets now considered canonical also wrote occasional poems, and, more importantly, included them in their published anthologies alongside devotional verse, love poetry, and witty epigrams. In so ⁵⁰ WA Tr., VI, no. 7034. ⁵¹ 1 Samuel 16: 23, WA Bibel, IX. 1, 241. ⁵² Hans-Henrik Krummacher, ‘Das barocke Epicedium: Rhetorische Tradition und deutsche Gelegenheitsdichtung’, Jahrbuch der deutschen Schillergesellschaft, 18 (1974), 89–147 (p. 93).

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doing, they could point back to a long and distinguished poetic tradition, not least to the court poet of the Silver Age, Statius, who wrote a collection of poems known as Silvae (‘the woods’). Opitz explains in the fifth chapter of his Poeterey that this title indicates that different types of poems stand alongside each other in one collection like various species of trees in a wood.⁵³ In the seventeenth century the concept of ‘Poetische Wälder’ was taken up enthusiastically by many German poets, writing in both Latin and German.⁵⁴ And a certain number of poems by canonical poets which continue to be chosen for anthologies, are occasional poems, for example Paul Fleming’s ‘Wie er wolle geküsset sein’, originally part of his contribution to the wedding of Reiner Brockmann and Dorothea Temme.⁵⁵ But even poems by writers unknown to us today are important literary artefacts. Firstly, their publication in funeral booklets and as independent publications, and the survival of a large number of these ephemeral publications in archives and libraries, means that the literary historian can piece together a much fuller picture of literary activity in the early modern period than modern editions of canonical poets would afford. Sometimes this results in the uncovering of a poet deserving further critical attention. Secondly, these publications tell us a great deal about attitudes to poetry amongst early modern Lutherans. Thirdly, the funeral poetry sheds light on mourning practices, and shows how the advice in the consolation books and sermons had been internalized, at least by the middle classes. Finally, the poems are important for what they reveal about social networks and concepts of friendship in the period. ⁵³ Opitz, Poeterey, p. 30. ⁵⁴ For example, Philipp von Zesen, […] Poetischer Rosen=Wälder Vorschmack oder Götter= und Nymfen=Lust/ […] (Hamburg: Tobias Gundermann [publisher] and Heinrich Werner [printer], 1642); Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch, Sämmtliche Geist= und weltliche Gedichte […] (Halle/ S.: Neue Buchhandlung, 1720); Christian Gryphius, Poetische Wälder […] (Frankfurt and Leipzig: Christian Bauch, 1698); and Jakob Balde, […] Sylvae lyricae […], 2nd edn. (Cologne: Jost Kalckhoven, 1646). ⁵⁵ ‘[…] Gedichte Auff des Ehrnvesten und Wolgelahrten Herrn Reineri Brocmans/ der Griechischen Sprache Professorn am Gymnasiio zu Revall/ Und der Erbarn/ Viel Ehren und Tugendreichen Jungfrawen Dorotheen Temme/ Hochzeit’ (Reval: Christoph Reusner, 1635). The song appears in the ode section of his anthology, divorced from the prose which originally contextualized it (Geist= und Weltliche= POËMATA […] (Naumburg: Christian Forberger’s widow [publisher]; Jena: Georg Sengenwald [printer]: 1651), Oden,V.37, p. 535).


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The majority of funeral poems sent to middle-class families on bereavement were written by friends, family, and personal acquaintances.⁵⁶ If we are to explore their social function, we must begin with the contemporary understanding of friendship. For Johann Heinrich Zedler’s early eighteenth-century Universal-Lexicon ‘Freundschafft, ist eine solche Einrichtung und Geschicklichkeit des Gemüths, da verschiedene einander diejenigen Pflichten und Gefälligkeiten willig leisten, die die gesellschafftliche Liebe erfordert’.⁵⁷ He distinguishes between two main types of friendship: natural friendship, which is conditioned by blood ties or personal affinity, and moral or virtuous friendship, which he regards as the higher form: ‘Die Bezeigungen in einer wahren Freundschafft zielen auf einen Nutzen ab, derselbe aber erstreckt sich nicht weiter, als auf Erweisung der Pflichten, so die Socialitaet nach Anweisung des natürlichen Rechts von uns erfordert […]’.⁵⁸ One of these duties was to send poems of condolence on ⁵⁶ The situation is rather different when we consider epicedia in publications for the nobility, and particularly for princes and dukes, where financial dependents who had almost certainly never met the deceased in person are included amongst the contributors. We find an example amongst the epicedia marking the death of the teenage Friedrich Wilhelm III, Duke of Saxony-Altenburg, who died in 1672. The poet is Tobias Mahn, a student in receipt of a stipend from the court. In his poem he emphasizes his status as an orphan and expresses his gratitude for the money, before launching into a scarcely veiled hint that he would like Ernst the Pious of Saxony-Gotha, Friedrich Wilhelm’s successor, to continue to pay the stipend: ‘Doch was seuffz’ und klag ich viel/ und was hilfft mein Zähren=Lauffen? | Zeigt der Neue Landes=Fürst uns doch einen Schütz=Altar/ | Da man wieder finden kan Hülff und Rettung im[m]erdar’. (Poem in the collection ‘Hertz=schmertzliche Thränen […]’, Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Altenburg, Sammlung Leichenpredigten: Sachsen=Altenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm und Magdalena Sibylla (3), pp. [1b-2a], lines 38–40; emphasis in original publication.) To make sure of this, he and another Altenburg scholarship holder, Johann Christoph Heinigke, commissioned Gottfried Richter to publish ‘Die Auffgegangene Fürsten=Sonne […]’, a laudatory poem marking Ernst’s succession in July 1672. ⁵⁷ Grosses vollständiges UNJVERSAL-LEXJCON Aller Wissenschaften und Künste […], 64 vols. (Halle/ S.: Zedler, 1732–50), IX (1735), pp. 1837–8; cited in Ferdinand van Ingen, ‘Freundschaftskonzepte und literarische Wirkungsstrategien im 17. Jahrhundert’, in Ferdinand van Ingen and Christian Juranek (eds.), Ars et Amicitia: Beiträge zum Thema Freundschaft in Geschichte, Kunst und Literatur, Festschrift for Martin Bircher, Chloe 28 (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1998), pp. 173–222 (174). ⁵⁸ Zedler (ed.), Lexicon, IX, 1838. In his discussion of early modern concepts of friendship, van Ingen suggests that this model was predominant in the seventeenth century, although by the mid-eighteenth century a more subjective concept comes to the fore.

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the death of a family member. Funeral verse is part of a communal expression of grief, and should be considered alongside attendance at the funeral and the wearing of mourning-bands as a mark of solidarity with the bereaved.⁵⁹ Consider Christian Gryphius’s comments on his own epicedia in the introduction to his anthology Poetische Wälder: Bey den Begräbniß=Gesängen ist zu erinnern/ daß selbige mehrentheils in weniger Zeit/ und unter viel andern Geschäfften verfertiget worden. Wer die Gewonheit unsers Ortes weiß/ wo die Leute oft zu ungelegner Zeit/ und ohne Annehmung einiger Entschuldigung/ umb derogleichen Dienstleistung angesprochen werden/ kan leicht glauben/ daß ich die Warheit schreibe.⁶⁰

Gryphius introduces the topic to pre-empt any potential criticism that his funeral poems are not as polished as his other work, pointing to the speed with which they were inevitably set down on paper. More interesting for our purposes, however, is the rhetoric of duty which we find echoed in Zedler’s definition of friendship: for Gryphius, writing these poems was a ‘Dienstleistung’ for which other matters had to be set aside. These stand in contrast to the other poems, which he claims were written ‘statt eines Zeitvertreibs’, in his spare time for his own pleasure.⁶¹ In an article for the Lessing Yearbook, which considers responses to occasional poetry from the early to mid-eighteenth century, UweK. Ketelsen rehearses a number of enlightenment criticisms. The first is the charge that ‘Dichtkunst’ was reduced to ‘Reimkunst’, a knack mastered by following rules. This offence is compounded by the fact that poets were sometimes paid for their efforts, the appropriation by the middle classes of the feudal system of patronage and representation: Was einmal einen historisch legitimen Sinn gehabt hatte, wurde zur bloßen Kopie einer feudalen Kulturattitüde: die wohlhabend gewordenen Bürger ⁵⁹ It matters little whether acquaintances were personally affected by the loss at any emotional level; their participation in at least some of the rituals was a social expectation, and the level of that participation would have been determined by their relationship to the family. ⁶⁰ Christian Gryphius, Poetische Wälder, fo. ∗ 6v . ⁶¹ Ibid. fo. ∗ 7r .


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machen—und zwar mit demonstrativer Geste—auf diese Weise aus den privaten Ereignissen ihres bürgerlichen Lebens öffentlich-repräsentative.⁶²

Ketelsen claims that, in the seventeenth century, such poems became commodities, traded amongst the middle classes as a means of signalling social status, ‘ein Stück gesellschaftlicher Inszenierung’.⁶³ This criticism is not unfounded. Many families did use the funeral booklets as an opportunity for self-presentation, and some even bankrupted themselves in the process.⁶⁴ But what Ketelsen plays down is the way in which these poems were used to cement social networks and affirm community identities.⁶⁵ We see this particularly clearly in a cycle of poems from the early eighteenth century, which Ketelsen discusses in an article published four years after the one on occasional poetry.⁶⁶ In March 1715 Barthold Heinrich Brockes’ ⁶² Uwe-K. Ketelsen, ‘Poesie und bürgerlicher Kulturanspruch: Die Kritik an der rhetorischen Gelegenheitspoesie in der frühbürgerlichen Literaturdiskussion’, Lessing Yearbook, 8 (1976), 89–107 (p. 96). ⁶³ Susan Karant-Nunn makes a similar point with reference to funeral sermons in the immediate post-Reformation period: ‘The pious and affluent burghers regarded such sermons as an amenity, something that, along with special music, enhanced their image in society, and they were glad to pay extra for them, just as they paid for family pews and prestigious, scarce inner-city burial places.’ (The Reformation of Ritual: An Interpretation of Early Modern Germany, Christianity and Society in the Modern World (London: Routledge, 1997), p. 156.) Craig Koslofsky writes: ‘From its formation in the years before 1550 to its decline after 1700, the normative Lutheran funeral developed in a constant tension between Christian liturgy and the display of secular honour’ (The Reformation of the Dead: Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450–1700 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000), p. 110). See also Cornelia Niekus Moore on the fusion of religious edification and secular representation in the funeral biography: Patterned Lives: The Lutheran Funeral Biography in Early Modern Germany, Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 111 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), p. 31. ⁶⁴ Rudolf Lenz, ‘Gedruckte Leichenpredigten (1550–1750)’, in Rudolf Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle historischer Wissenschaften, Marburger Personalschriftensymposien, 4 vols. (I—Cologne: Böhlau, 1975; II and III—Marburg: Schwarz, 1979 and 1984; IV—Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004), I, 36–51 (p. 42). ⁶⁵ Koslofsky emphasizes this aspect of early modern funerals. Guild members, for example, were required to attend the funerals of all fellow members and their families, and were fined if they failed to do so (Reformation of the Dead, p. 98). ⁶⁶ Uwe-K. Ketelsen, ‘Barthold Heinrich Brockes als Gelegenheitsdichter’, in HansDieter Loose (ed.), Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680–1747): Dichter und Ratsherr in Hamburg. Neue Forschungen zu Persönlichkeit und Wirkung, Beiträge zur Geschichte Hamburgs, 16 (Hamburg: Christians, 1980), pp. 163–89. Here Ketelsen acknowledges that Brockes’s occasional poems ‘hängen unmittelbar mit der sozialen Struktur Hamburgs und mit der politischen Lage der Stadt zusammen’ (p. 179).

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baby daughter died, only two months after he and his friends had founded a new literary society in Hamburg, the Teutschübende Gesellschaft.⁶⁷ The group agreed to write cycles of poems to mark important occasions, apparently as a direct response to this bereavement.⁶⁸ Here the poems written by Brockes’ friends and Brockes’ poetic replies, which use the same strophic structure, metre, and almost all the same end-rhymes as the originals, testify both to the new group’s emergent identity and to the friendship between the men.⁶⁹ ⁶⁷ Catharina Margarethe Brockes (24 November 1714–18 March 1715). The Teutschübende Gesellschaft was founded in January 1715, just a couple of months before Catharina Margarethe’s death. For details see Eckhart Kleßmann’s biography of Brockes, Barthold Hinrich Brockes, Hamburger Köpfe (Hamburg: Ellert & Richter, 2003), pp. 24–5. ⁶⁸ Ketelsen’s examination of the minutes of the Teutschübende Gesellschaft reveals a decree of 16 March 1715 (one week after Catharina Margarethe’s death) ‘daß, wenn iemande[m] aus unserm Mitte Ehren-, Freuden- oder Trauer-Fälle begegnen sollten, alsdann ein ieder gehalten seyn wolle, in Teutschen Versen etwas gutes, obgleich nur kurtzes, darauf zu verfertigen, welches dann Zusammen auf gemeine Unkosten der Gesellschaft gedruckt werden solle’. (Journal und Akten der Teutsch-übenden Gesellschaft, Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, cod. his. litt. 2, p. 11; cited in Ketelsen, ‘Brockes’, pp. 177–8.) The extended edition of his translation of La strage degli innocenti by Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), Verteutschter Bethlehemistischer Kinder=Mord ( Tübingen: Johann Heinrich Schramm, 1739), contains a section of poems entitled ‘Einige Parodien mit beybehaltenen Reime’ (pp. 642–50). The poems on the death of Catharina Margarethe appear alongside other similar poetic exercises, including some on the Marino translations. They suggest that, around this period, Brockes and the other members of the Teutschübende Gesellschaft found such exercises a useful poetic discipline, and this is no doubt linked to Brockes’s interest in end-rhymes in German, evinced in his treatise Beurtheilung einiger Reim-Endungen, welche von etlichen MundAhrten in Teutschland, absonderlich in Ober- und Nieder-Sachsen verschiedentlich gebraucht werden. This was appended to part I (1721) of Christian Friedrich Weichmann’s Poesie der Nieder-Sachsen oder allerhand, mehrentheils noch nie gedruckte Gedichte von den berühmtesten Nieder-Sachsen, und sonderlich ansehnlichen MitGliedern der vormals hieselbst in Hamburg blühenden Teutsch-übenden Gesellschaft […] (Hamburg: Benjamin Schiller’s widow and Johann Christoph Kißner and heirs, 1721–38). ⁶⁹ In his poem on the death of his son Johann Bernhard in August 1731, Brockes also mentions the words of his colleagues and thanks them for their support: ‘Herrn Barthold Heinrich Brockes letzte Gedancken auf Seinen krancken und sterbenden Sohn’, in Ueber den Sarg eines Tugend=begabten Jünglings ausgestreute Cypressen (Hamburg: Johann Christoph Kißner, 1732), pp. 1–9. ( This poem is reprinted directly after the ‘Parodien’ in the 1739 edition of the Bethlehemistischer Kinder=Mord (see n. 68 above), pp. 650–6.)


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Schuldigstes Beileid der Teutsch=übenden Gesellschaft/ über das frühzeitige Absterben des erstgebohrnen und einzigen Töchterleins Herrn. Lic. Barthold Heinrich Brockes.⁷⁰

Triewald

Brockes

HErrn Brockes zartes Kind/ an dem mit Lust zu lesen

DEin Sinn=reich Trost=Gedicht hab ich mit Lust gelesen/

Ein lebend Eben=Bild/ der Mutter Schönheits=Pracht/

Dein aufgeweckter Geist/ der Wörter Schönheit=Pracht

Sieht mit dem Morgen=roth die Demmerung der Nacht/

Sind mir ein heller Strahl in meiner Trauer=Nacht/

Und höret auf zu seyn/ kaum da es was gewesen.

Und für mein Leid ein Trunck aus Lethe Fluß gewesen.

Wie? gleicht dem schnellen Blitz solch’ Anmuths=voller Schein?

Wer deine Gaben kennt und ihren Wunder=Schein/

Und muß/ was angenehm/ zugleich hinfällig seyn?

Und nicht darob erstaunt/ kan nicht vernünftig seyn:

Ja! diesen Schmuck mißgönnt der Himmel unsrer Erden:

Gantz Schweden wünscht nebst uns/ du mögst/ zum Nutz der Erden/

Drum must’ ein Engel=Bild so früh ein Engel werden.

So spät als möglich ist/ ein Himmels=Bürger werden.

Jean Albr. Fabricius, Prof.

Brockes

HErodis Grausamkeit hat eine kleine Stadt/

KAum hat bey meiner Traur ein Trauren bey mir statt/

Und in derselben nur gar wenige gewehlet/ Daran er seinen Grimm einmahl verübet hat; Darüber hat man ihn der Ewigkeit vermählet ∗

Da mich Fabricius zum Zweck des Tichtens wehlet/ Und mein entseeltes Kind so hoch geschätzet hat, Daß es sein kluger Vers der Ewigkeit vermählet:

Durch ein unsterblich Werck( )/ das glücklicher gerathen/

Durch dich ist ihm/ so gar im Sterben/ das gerathen/

Als Alexanders Ruhm und als Achillis Thaten.

Was kaum Achill gerieth mit allen seinen Thaten.

Drum plagt den Tod der Neid/ der durch ein jedes Jahr So manche Million von jung’ und alten würget/ Noch täglich strecket er die Menschen auf die Bahr/ Die weder Schönheit/ Stand/ noch ein Geschlecht verbirget.

Mein Kind kam auf die Welt/ es lebt ein viertel Jahr/ Und ward/ fast da es ward/ vom Tode schon erwürget: Jtzt scheint es in der Grufft/ es leuchtet auf der Bahr/ Wo sonst der Welt=Verdienst verschwindend sich verbirget;

Und gleichwol hat sich noch kein Meister je gefunden,

Wodurch? Es hat in Dir solch einen Tichter funden/

Zur Ehre seiner Macht bey unsern Lebens=Stunden.

Der ewig ihm verlängt die kurtze Lebens=Stunden.

Daß er nun diß erhält/ und seinen Ehr=Geitz füllt/ Thut er ein Meister=Stück von allen Grausamkeiten/

Wann aber Dein Gedicht mit so viel Witz erfüllt/ So rath ich/ reitze nicht des Todes Grausamkeiten/

⁷⁰ According to Ketelsen, Fabricius’s poem and Brockes’ parody were read aloud at the meeting of 23 March, and a week later the other poems were presented. Richey arranged for them to be published by Friedrich Konrad Greflinger. (Ketelsen, ‘Brockes’, p. 178.) They were reprinted in Menantes’ [Christian Friedrich Hunold’s] Auserlesene und noch nie gedruckte Gedichte unterschiedener Berühmten und geschickten Männer […] (Halle/ S.: Neue Buchhandlung, 1718–21); book 6, I, 506–11 (Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale), Dc 508 (1–3)).

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Ermordet Brockes Kind/ der Unschuld zartstes Bild/ Läßt vor der Zeit ein Grab der Anmuth zu bereiten:

Denn wo Dein Todes=Bild des Todes wahres Bild/ Und er aus Ehrgeitz wünscht ein Lob sich zu bereieten:

Jn Hoffnung/ daß/ wenn Brocks sein halbes Hertz begraben/

So zwüng er Dich vielleicht was liebes zu begraben/

Der Tod die Ehr’ auch werd’/ als wie Herodes haben.

Um von dem grösten Geist ein Ehren=Mahl zu haben.

(∗ ) Es wird hiemit gezielet auf das vortreffliche Gedicht des berühmten Jtaliänischen Poeten Marino, genannt La Strage degli Innocenti, welches der Herr Brockes in ausbündig schöne Teutsche Verse übersetzet.⁷¹

An die Leid=tragenden Eltern: (Richey)

Brockes

DEr Himmel/ als er Euch/ Jhr edlen Stämme/ setzte/

ALs meiner Ehe=Zweig der strenge Tod versetzte/

Bedung zugleich für sich von Euch die erste Frucht. Doch hat er/ als der Schnitt den zarten Zweig verletzte/ Nur Eure Fruchtbarkeit/nicht Euren Schmertz gesucht. An Bäumen läßt man offt die erste Pracht vergehen/ So dringt der Nahrungs-Safft in neue Knospen ein: Und so wird auch bey Euch/ ihr Ausbund schöner Ehen/ Des ersten Kindes Tod der andern Leben seyn.

Trug doch noch dessen Stumpf in deinen Versen Frucht: Wer hätt’ in einem Schnitt/ der mich so sehr verletzte/ Solch einen Balsam=Fluß/ wie Dein Gedicht/ gesucht? GOtt laß die Deinigen so schleunig nicht vergehen! Kein Mißwachs schleiche sich in deinen Garten ein! Damit die holden Zweig’ und Pflantzen Deiner Ehen Dir Stützen/ Stäb’ und Stämm’ in Deinem Alter seyn!

Kœnig

Brockes

DJe Weisheit war bemüht für ihren liebsten Sohn

ES wünschte König jüngst/ der Phœbus liebster Sohn/

Die allerbeste Frau/ die auf der Welt/ zu finden: Die Liebe selber stieg erfreut auf ihren Thron/ Und sucht’ ein würdig Kind mit solchem zu verbinden.

Für mich in meiner Traur ein Trost=Wort zu erfinde[n] Drauf schickte Apollo gleich/ von seinem Wolcken=Trohn/ Sein geistig Feuer herab/ um König zu verbinden:

Als nun der edle Brocks das Muster schöner Frauen/

Der Trost nun wirckt so viel bey mir u. meiner Frauen/

Wo alle Tugenden vereiniget zu schauen/

Daß wir gelassener den Tod des Kindes schauen/

Die holde Lehmannin⁷² zu seiner Braut empfing/

Das nach gar kutzem Kampf/ des Himmels Cron empfing.

Rief man den Himmel an/ sein Ja=Wort drein zu geben;

Ein Merckmahl meines Dancks Dir nun dafür zu gebe[n]/

Der sprach: Jch will Euch nicht hierinn zuwider leben/

Wünsch ich in allen stets zu Deinem Dienst zu leben/

Jch sage ja hiezu; jedoch mit dem Beding: Jch will von diesem Paar/ das von so sondern Gaben/

Jn allem sag ich zwar/ doch nur mit dem Beding: Verlange nicht von mir dergleichen Tichter=Gaben

Die erste Frucht der Eh für mich zum Opfer haben.

Jn so betrübtem Fall/ geschätzter Freund/ zu haben;

Drum traure nicht/ daß du ums erste Kind gekommen:

Weil bey dem besten Trost/ doch die Gedancken kommen:

Der Himmel hat es Dir/ und nicht der Tod/ genom[m]en.

Jch brauchte keines Trosts/ wofern mir nichts genom[m]en.

⁷¹ […] Verteutschter Bethlehemistischer Kinder=Mord des Ritters Marino. Nebst etlichen von des Herrn Ubersetzers Eigenen Gedichten/ […] (Cologne and Hamburg: Benjamin Schiller’s widow [publisher] and Nikolaus Spieringk’s heirs [printer], 1715). ⁷² Brockes married Anna Ilsabe Lehmann in 1714. The couple had twelve children, of whom this daughter was the first.


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In the article on eighteenth-century responses to occasional poetry, Ketelsen takes exception to the grand claims of seventeenth-century funeral poets: ‘Sie tun so, als repräsentierten auch sie in ihren Hochzeiten, Todesfällen, Amtserhebungen die universale Ordnung, die in Fürsten und im Adel sowie in den Institutionen des Feudalstaats ihren repräsentativen Ausdruck findet’.⁷³ But it is precisely the fact that funeral verse is concerned with issues at the heart of human existence that makes it so interesting. The specific occasion becomes a springboard for more general considerations, and a poem on the death of a single child makes claims that can be applied to analogous situations. As van Ingen writes, ‘Der Einzelfall wird ins Allgemeingültige gehoben; Rang und Würde erhält er, indem er in die festgefügte Ordnung der Gattung hineingestellt wird. Damit wird aber die Begebenheit wie auch die Reaktion der Gesellschaft, die das Gedicht repräsentiert, durch die Gattung genormt.’⁷⁴ Here we are reminded of Aristotle’s claim that poetical truth is universal because it portrays types of people or situations, although it attaches particular names to them.⁷⁵ Death is a universal event: the poems are not only concerned with the details of an individual; they also offer general principles and guidelines which reveal a great deal about seventeenth-century society and its understanding of life, death, and literature. ⁷³ Ketelsen, ‘Poesie und bürgerlicher Kulturanspruch’, p. 96. ⁷⁴ Ferdinand van Ingen, Vanitas und Memento Mori in der deutschen Barocklyrik (Groningen: Wolters, 1966), p. 47. ⁷⁵ Aristotle, Poetics, ix. 4 (1451b).

3 Models and metaphors for Lutheran funeral poetry The early modern epicedium (funeral poem) is typically structured around three aims: laudatio, lamentatio, and consolatio, or praising the dead, mourning the loss, and comforting the bereaved.¹ This scheme, which has its roots in classical rhetoric,² is repeatedly advocated in seventeenth-century poetics manuals. Johann-Heinrich Hadewig’s guidelines on the composition of ‘begräbnuß= und trauer=Lidern’ serve as an example: Es sind aber di todten Lider trauer Getichte/ darinnen des abgestorbenen Lebens=Lauf kan beschriben/ seine Tugend gerümet und sein absterben mitleidentlich beklaget werden/ und sonst di nichtige Flüchtigkeit dises Lebens eingefüret/ und dagegen di himmlische Herlichkeit den betrübten zum Trost vorgestellet werden.³ ¹ See Hans-Henrik Krummacher, ‘Das barocke Epicedium: Rhetorische Tradition und deutsche Gelegenheitsdichtung’, Jahrbuch der deutschen Schillergesellschaft, 18 (1974), 89–147. ² Krummacher describes the epicedium as ‘eine der am stärksten traditionsgebundenen Gattungen der Zeit’. He traces it back to Greek works by Pseudo-Dionysios of Halicarnassus and Menander: Menander, [‘Peri Epideiktikon’] in Rhetores graeci, ed. Leonhard Spengel, 3 vols. (Leipzig: 1856; repr. Frankfurt a.M., 1966), III, 368–446 (pp. 418–22). It appears in the sixteenth century in Helius Eobanus Hessus’s Illvstrium Ac Clarorum aliquot Virorum Memoriae scripta Epicedia […] (Nuremberg: Friedrich Peypus, 1531). Julius Caesar Scaliger refers to it in his Poetices libri septem […] (Lyon: Antoine Vincent, 1561), although in a five-part division of laudes, iacturae demonstratio (showing the extent of the loss), luctus, consolatio, and exhortatio (exhortation to the living). Krummacher claims that these can be reduced to three elements, with iacturae demonstratio and exhortatio as subdivisions of lamentatio and consolatio respectively (‘Das barocke Epicedium’, pp. 105, 102). ³ Johann-Heinrich Hadewig, Wolgegründete teutsche Versekunst/ […] (Bremen: Peter Köhler [publisher] and Berthold and Heinrich de Villiers [printer], 1660),

Models and metaphors

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But this structure is not merely formulaic. It enacts an important therapeutic process in which the bereaved is to participate.⁴ Praising the dead emphasizes the extent of the loss; this equates to the probing and lancing of a wound in our medical model of grieving.⁵ Lamentation takes the healing a stage further. Unexpressed sorrow was believed to retard the grieving process, so tears had to be expunged before consoling remedies could be applied. The scheme also has a temporal aspect: laudatio recalls the past, lamentatio expresses current sorrow, and consolatio points to the future, when grief will abate and normal life resume. A collection of early seventeenth-century funeral sermons makes striking use of this tripartite structure. Valerius Herberger gave his seven-volume collection the title Geistliche Trauer=Binden, a title which he explains to his patroness in the preface: [M]it diesen Geistlichen Trauerbinden kan man viel Traurigkeit verbinden/ daß sie heile/ gleichwie nach des Samariters Bande/ Luc. X/ 33.34. Man kan mit diesen Geistlichen tröstlichen Traurbinden viel Threnen von Augen wischen. Es ist in diesen Traurbinden lauter Trost zusammen gebunden zu finden/ durch welchen man viel großer Traurigkeit/ die nicht allein bey uns geringen Leuten; sondern auch bey euch von Gott hocherhabenen Personen mit unterläufft/ kan u¨ berzuckern und verdecken/ biß uns Gott wird in den Himmell nehmen/ da keine Traurbinde mehr wird getragen werden.⁶

The metaphor of the mourning bands, illustrated in the frontispiece (Figure 3.1), allows Herberger to play on the etymological connection between text and textile. The warp and the woof of his sermons are the comforting words of the Old and New Testaments, woven together to ch. 25: ‘Von den begräbniß= und trauer Lidern’, pp. 351–2. Krummacher cites Hadewig alongside Birken, Männling, and Omeis (‘Das barocke Epicedium’, pp. 95, 97). ⁴ Krummacher sees the need first to provoke and then to allay the affect of sorrow as the fundamental factor determining the form and structure of the epicedium (‘Das barocke Epicedium’, p. 110). ⁵ See Anna Carrdus, ‘Consolation Arguments and Maternal Grief in SeventeenthCentury Verse: The Example of Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch’, GLL, 47 (1994), 135–51 (p. 136). ⁶ Valerius Herberger, […] Geistlich[e] Trauer=Binden/ Das ist: Schön[e] Lehr= und Trost=reich[e] Leichen=Predigten […] (Leipzig: Zacharias Schürer’s heirs and Matthias Götze’s heirs, Johann Fritsch, 1669–70), fos.)(r – v . The preface was prepared for the 1611 edition, but was retained in the posthumous 1669 edition, to which reference is made here. Herberger’s patroness was Sophie, Baroness of Promnitz zur Pleß.

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Figure 3.1. Frontispiece to Valerius Herberger’s Geistlich[e] Trauer=Binden/ […], rev. edn (1669–70), Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel: Th 1232


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produce a cloth. This cloth, he insists, should be used both to bandage the wound of grief (consolatio) and to wipe away tears (lamentatio). But his sermons also have a further function, inferred by the title. They serve as a memorial, part of the same social framework of respect and commemoration as the long black mourning bands customarily worn to mark the death of a friend or relative (laudatio).⁷ Cultural traditions gave rise to another important model for poetic offerings: the custom of laying flowers at the graveside. When 11year-old Johann Balthasar Fleischhauer, the son of the archdeacon of Wittenberg, died in 1659, one of his father’s subordinates delivered the funeral oration and wrote an epicedium to comfort his colleague. In it, he places his poem alongside carnations, rosemary, narcissi, and wintergreen, plants typically associated with funerals and with enduring commemoration.⁸ A poem by friends of Maria Elisabeth Schneider’s father, which compares her with a wilted rose, extends this commonplace vanitas image into a commemorative device: Weil aber Nachruhm bleibt/ so falle was da fällt: Vnd solchen binden wir in einen Straus zusammen/ Der die Vollkommenheit als einen Nahmen führt/ Das unvergessen seyn befördern deine Stammen. Ja dein geehrtes Grab wird damit außgeziert.⁹

The poem, the wreath that will preserve Maria Elisabeth’s memory, stands in stark contrast to the faded flower of her body.¹⁰ ⁷ Zedler’s Lexicon defines ‘Trauerbinde’ as ‘ein von schwartzen Crepflohr zusammen gefalteter Umschlag an Enden mit schwarzen Knöpffen zusammen gehalten, wird von dem Frauenzimmer bey der Trauer um den Hals gebunden’ (Grosses vollständiges UNJVERSAL-LEXJCON Aller Wissenschaften und Künste […], 64 vols. (Halle/S.: Zedler, 1732–50), XLV, 111). Adelung, on the other hand, claims that they were worn around the arm ( Johann Christian Adelung, Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, mit beständiger Vergleichung der u¨ brigen Mundarten, besonders aber der Oberdeutschen, 4 vols., 2nd edn. (Leipzig: Breitkopf [and Härtel], 1793–1801); facs. edn. in Documenta Linguistica: Quellen zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache des 15. bis 20. Jahrhunderts, ser. 2: Wörterbücher des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1990), IV, 652). ⁸ Michael Schernack, poem from the funeral booklet for Johann Balthasar Fleischhauer (1648–59), LP Stolberg 9426, fos. Kijr –Kiijr , lines 35–40. ⁹ From the funeral booklet for Maria Elisabeth Schneider (1655–73), LP Stolberg 20315, fos. Mr – v , lines 8–12 (emphasis in original publication). ¹⁰ The conceit of poetry, ‘gebundene Rede’, as a wreath or garland is common in the seventeenth century. Explaining the title of his Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst,

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But flowers and mourning bands are transient memorials, intended for the period immediately following death and interment. For many poets this is not enough. Seeking a more enduring tribute, they exploit the link between verse and stone epitaphs. Verse Grabschriften, based on the ancient genre of the tombstone inscription, which invites passers-by to consider the virtues of the person buried and to ponder their own mortality, are extremely common in funeral booklets and other collections of funeral verse: HJe liegt ein Edles Kind an diesem Ort begraben/ Der Eltern Freud und Lust/ gezirt mit werthen Gaben Alß Frömmigkeit und Zucht/ den Leib die Erde helt/ Der Himmel hegt den Geist/ der Nahme bleibt der Welt.¹¹

The distinction which this epitaph for a 9-year-old girl draws between body, spirit, and reputation (metonymically expressed in ‘Nahme’) corresponds to the tripartite division of the epicedium: the consignment of the body to the grave induces lamentation, the joyful heavenly Birken writes that poetry is ‘Ligata Oratio’ (bound speech), and that ‘[…] man werde hieraus leichtlich ein und anderes Kränzlein von schonen [sic] und bunten Wort Blumen/ wie Erasmus von Roterdam die Gedichte oder Redgebände nennet/ binden lernen’, in Teutsche Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst/ oder Kurze Anweisung zur Teutschen Poesy/ mit Geistlichen Exempeln: […] (Nuremberg: Christoph Riegel [publisher] and Christoph Gerhard [printer], 1679; facs. edn., Hildesheim: Olms, 1973), Vor-Rede, fos.):():():(r – v . It relates to the botanical names often given to anthologies, which allowed poets to arrange their material by the names of different flowers and herbs: Johann Rist published a […] Poetischer Lust=Garte […] (Hamburg: Zacharias Hertel [publisher] and Jakob Rebenlein [printer], 1638); Justus Georg Schottelius a Fruchtbringender Lustgarte […] (Lüneburg: Michael Cubach [publisher]; Wolfenbüttel: Johann Bißmarck [printer], 1647), planted with forget-me-not, roses, rosemary, veronica, and eyebright; Johann Georg Schoch a […] Neu=erbaueter Poetischer Lust=u. Blumen=Garten/ […] (Leipzig: Christian Kirchner, 1660), in which he elaborates the motif at some length; David Schirmer the […] Poetische Rauten=Gepüsche […] (Dresden: Andreas Löffler [publisher] and Melchior Bergen [printer], 1663) (an allusion to the emblem of Saxony, where he was court librarian), the […] Singende Rosen Oder Liebes= und Tugend=Lieder […] (Dresden: Wolfgang Seyffert, 1654), and the […] Poetische Rosen=Gepüsche (Halle/S.: Melchior Oelschlegel’s heirs, 1650; rev. edn. Dresden: Andreas Löffler [publisher] and Melchior Bergen [printer], 1657); and Philipp von Zesen […] Poetischer Rosen=Wälder Vorschmack oder Götter= und Nymfen=Lust/ […] (Hamburg: Tobias Gundermann [publisher] and Heinrich Werner [printer], 1642). This is, of course, connected with the Poetische Wälder discussed in the previous chapter. ¹¹ J.G., ‘Grabe Schrifft’ from the funeral booklet for Floriana Carlotta von Alvensleben (1661–70), LP Stolberg 5295, fo. H4v .


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destination of the soul offers consolation, and the endurance of the name is commemoration. Janus-like, laudatio looks both to the past and the future; praise recalls the virtues and qualities of the dead, but also ensures that reputation lives on beyond earthly death, a counterbalance to the impermanence of the body. An epicedium which makes this link between stone monument and poem explicit is attached to the funeral booklet for 7-year-old Gottfried Winckler (Figure 3.2).¹² The evocation of human transience in the opening lines—life as glass, a bubble, a wisp of smoke, a breeze, a breath, a flower that wilts, a blade of grass that withers—stands in marked contrast to the permanency of the poetic monument, a point underlined by the arrangement of the words into the form of a gravestone. In many cases poems which emphasize their commemorative function argue for the supremacy of the written word over the stone monument. The Leipzig superintendent Martin Geier, later court preacher in Dresden, takes up the issue in a funeral sermon from his collection Betrachtung der Sterbligkeit.¹³ A stone epitaph is restricted geographically, he argues, but a funeral sermon may be disseminated over a wide area, edifying many and spreading the fame of the deceased far and wide: Bleibet ferner ein ansehnlich epitaphium auf einer stelle unbeweglich/ so wandert hingegen ein solcher sermon durch die weite welt/ und durch mancherley Provintzen/ wenn er nemlich durch die edle Druckerey in so kurtzer eil sich wunderlich vermehret (fast wie durch ein eckig=geschnittenes glaß ein eintziger pfennig in viel hundert sich im augenblick in unsern Gesichte vermehret;) Ja ein solch ehren=gedächtnüß bekömt gleichsam flügel/ ziehet den Leuten nach/ leget sich an das offene liecht zum feilen kauff/ und nebenst dem edlen Worte des HErrn trägt es zugleich des verstorbene[n] edlen namen/ tapffere thaten und immerwährenden ruhm/ mit sich herumb/ welcher sonst an dem Epitaphio nur an seiner eintzigen stäte verharret hätte.¹⁴ ¹² Unnamed figured poem attached to the funeral booklet for Gottfried Winckler (1654–61), LP Stolberg 23150. ¹³ Eberhard Winkler discusses Geier’s funeral sermons alongside those by his brother-in-law Johann Benedikt Carpzov the Younger in Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum bis Spener, Forschungen zur Geschichte und Lehre des Protestantismus, ser. 10, 34 (Munich: Kaiser, 1967), pp. 175–201. ¹⁴ Martin Geier, ‘Die GOtt wohlgefällige Seele […]’, funeral sermon for Johann Georg von Ponickau († 1664) in Betrachtung Der Sterbligkeit/ […], 4 parts (Leipzig:

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Figure 3.2. Figured poem for Gottfried Winckler (1654–61), Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel: LP Stolberg 23150


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Geier stresses the mobility of printed booklets in opposition to immobile physical monuments. Others point to the impermanence of the latter; the stone sepulchre must yield to time and the elements. The suggestion that the poetic word is more enduring is not uncommon, if belied by the fate of so much occasional verse. Many poets express the wish to erect a monument which ‘der gestählte Zahn der Jahre nicht zerbricht | Vnd keines Wetter Sturm durch Kräffte kan verletzen’,¹⁵ and Opitz declares poetry the most effective means of combating earthly transience and establishing a permanent dwelling in the hearts of coming generations: Dann weil nicht allein kostbare Palläste/ herrliche Begräbnüsse/ starcke Festungen vnnd Städte endtweder durch Brandt oder feindliche Gewalt/ oder/ wann schon diß nit were/ durch die Zeit/ welche aller Sachen letzter Feind ist/ endlich verfallen vnd vntergehen/ als gedencket ein auffgewachtes edeles Gemüte jhm in den Hertzen der Nachkommenen ein ewiges Hauß auffzubawen; welches von den Poeten sonderlich zu erwarten ist.¹⁶

By setting poetry above grandiose buildings and ceremonial splendour, Opitz once again tips the wink to literary tradition. This is, of course, a common classical topos. ‘I have built myself a monument more enduring than bronze’, boasts Horace, reflecting back on his third book of odes.¹⁷ Small wonder, then, that a poem on the death Christian Kirchner, 1670) IV, no. 73, pp. 76–82 (80); cited by Gerd-Rüdiger Koretzki in ‘Leichenpredigten und ihre Druckherstellung: Ein Beitrag zur Untersuchung der materiellen Voraussetzungen einer gesellschaftlichen Modeerscheinung’, in Rudolf Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle historischer Wissenschaften, Marburger Personalschriftensymposien, 4 vols. (I—Cologne: Böhlau, 1975; II and III—Marburg: Schwarz, 1979 and 1984; IV—Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004), II, 333–59 (p. 334). ¹⁵ Poem by Dr Nerger’s table companions from the funeral booklet for Johanna Magdalene Kuffer (1667–8), LP Stolberg 13927, fos. Ciijr – v , strophe 8. ¹⁶ Martin Opitz, […] Weltliche Poemata, 4th edn. (Frankfurt a.M.: Thomas Matthäus Götze, 1644); facs. edn., ed. Erich Trunz as Weltliche Poemata 1644, Deutsche Neudrucke, Reihe: Barock, 2 and 3, 2 vols. ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1967, 1975), I, Vorrede, fo.)(12v . ¹⁷ Horace, The Third Book of Horace’s Odes, ed. and tr. Gordon Williams (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), pp. 149–50. This claim was taken up enthusiastically in the Renaissance and beyond: Ronsard, Tasso, and Shakespeare are but a few examples. Robert Herrick (1591–1674) uses the conceit strikingly in his figured poem ‘The Pillar of Fame’, The Poems of Robert Herrick, ed. L. C. Martin, rev. edn. (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 335. For a detailed discussion of this topos in early modern German funeral writings, see Martin Kazmaier, ‘Denkmaale von Papier erbauet’, in Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle historischer Wissenschaften, I, 390–407.

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of 9-year-old Christian, Duke of Saxony-Altenburg in 1663, picks it up: HERR/ Wann ein solcher PRJNTZ/ wie sonst gemeine Dinge/ Durch Seinen Todes=Fall so gantz zu Boden ginge; So spräch ich: CHRJSTJAN der theure PRJNTZ ist todt! Allein’/ es hat mit Jhm noch nicht so grosse Noth. ¨ Ein FURSTE stirbet nicht. Das Lob/ das seinen Mühen Biß in die Ewigkeit pflegt immer nach zu ziehen/ Erkennet keinen Todt. Ein feuriger Verstand Ein Tugend=eyfer=Geist verlacht die Todes=Hand. Sein Leben stirbet zwar/ nicht aber seine Gaben/ Da durch Jhn die Natur für andern hat erhaben. So bald ein solcher Geist nur in die Lufft gehaucht So bald auch siehet mann/ wie fast ein ieder taucht Den Lob=geschärfften Kiel umb Jhm ein neues Leben Durch grosses Wort=Gepräng’ hinwiderumb zugeben/ Da doch sein Weises Thun ein solches nur verlacht/ Als das dem Tode selbst den Gar=aus schon gemacht. Gewiß/ ein solcher HELD hat nicht einmahl von nöthen/ Daß andre seinen Todt durch ihre Schrifften tödten; Er selbst/ wie junger offt/ ist seines Todes Todt/ Des Charons altes Schiff/ sein fast=ent=gäntztes Boot/ ¨ Sind beyde viel zu klein sein FURSTEN=LOB zu fassen/ Geschweige/ wann Er hiernoch hinter sich gelassen Sein wahres Ebenbild/ ein gleich=gestammtes REJS/ So des Verstorbnen Thun uns vor=zustellen weis Mit mehr als Aehnlichkeit. HERR! fasse deine Sinnen/ Denck ihm ein wenig nach. Des Todtes Mord=Beginnen Muß auff die Seite stehn/ wann man zu Hertzen nimmt/ Wie des Verstorbnen Flamm’ im Bruder=Funcken glim[m]t.¹⁸

Here, in evoking the topos, the poet simultaneously questions the need for such a memorial. Let others attempt to slay death with their quills, sharpened with praise for the prince. Vater knows this is unnecessary. Not only is the prince’s reputation already firmly established; the dynastic continuity is also guaranteed in his ‘wahres ¹⁸ ‘Die Vnsterbligkeit der Fürsten’ by Christoph Vater for Christian, Duke of Saxony-Altenburg (1654–63), LP Stolberg 19513, p. 15a (emphasis in original publication).


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Ebenbild’, his brother Friedrich Wilhelm III, and the sap that coursed through Christian’s veins will continue to nourish this younger branch of the family tree. Unfortunately this hope proved short-lived. The ‘Bruder=Funcke’ was extinguished nine years later, and lands and title passed to the line of Saxony-Gotha. A number of formal devices are employed to support the commemorative function of funeral poetry. One of the most striking is the arrangement of words into a shape, as in the example of the tombstone for Gottfried Winckler discussed above (Figure 3.2).¹⁹ Critics have suggested that figured poems are connected with the emblem, combining image and explanatory text, and their meditative potential is clear from a consideration of Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg’s ¨ poem ‘Uber den gecreutzigten Jesu’, which places words in a cruciform poem to correspond to the position of Christ’s body on the cross.²⁰ A masterly example of this meditative use for funeral poetry is a ‘Hertz=Creutz’ poem composed for August, Duke of SaxonyWeissenfels on the death of three daughters, Catharina, Elisabeth, and Dorothea, in 1663 (Figure 3.3).²¹ The poem takes up the central theme ¹⁹ Other popular shapes for epicedia include funeral biers, crosses, pyramids, candles, and columns. For a discussion of figured poetry see Jeremy D. Adler, ‘Technopaigneia, Carmina Figurata and Bilder-Reime: Seventeenth-Century Figured Poetry in Historical Perspective’, Comparative Criticism: A Yearbook, 4 (1982), 107–47; Jeremy D. Adler and Ulrich Ernst, Text als Figur: Visuelle Poesie von der Antike bis zur Moderne, Ausstellungskataloge der Herzog August Bibliothek, 56, 2nd edn. (Weinheim: Acta Humaniora, VCH, 1988); Elizabeth Cook, ‘Figured Poetry’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 42 (1979), 1–15; Dick Higgins, Pattern Poetry: Guide to an Unknown Literature (New York: State University of New York Press, 1987); Ulrich Ernst, ‘Europäische Figurengedichte in Pyramidenform’, Euphorion, 76 (1982), 295–360; and Robert G. Warnock and Roland Folter, ‘The German Pattern Poem: A Study in Mannerism of the Seventeenth Century’, in Albert R. Schmitt (ed.), Festschrift für Detlev W. Schumann zum 70. Geburtstag (Munich: Delp, 1970), pp. 40–79. ²⁰ Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg, Geistliche Sonnette/ Lieder und Gedichte/ in Gottseeligem Zeitvertreib/ […] (Nuremberg: Michael Endter [publisher] and Bayreuth: Johann Gebhard [printer], 1662); facs. edn. in Sämtliche Werke, ed. Martin Bircher and Friedhelm Kemp, 10 vols. (Millwood, New York: Kraus Reprint, 1983), I, ‘Der Teutschen URANIE, Himmel=abstammend= und Himmel=aufflammender Kunst=Gesang/ […]’, p. 403; cited in Adler, ‘Technopaigneia’, p. 133. ²¹ Poem by Martin Eßkuchen attached to the funeral booklet for Catharina (1655–63), Elisabeth (1660–3), and Dorothea (1662–3), Princesses of SaxonyWeissenfels, LP Stolberg 19542–4, p. 67 in the HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering.

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Figure 3.3. ‘Hertz=Creutz’ figured poem by Martin Eßkuchen for Catharina (1655–63), Elisabeth (1660–3) and Dorothea (1662–3), Princesses of SaxonyWeissenfels, Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel: LP Stolberg 19542–4, p. 67


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from Johannes Olearius’s sermon about the defining virtue of three exemplary biblical characters who faced the loss of their children: Abraham’s faithful heart, David’s constant heart, and Job’s patient heart. The prince, it is implied, will exhibit all three virtues in facing his threefold loss. The title is also a play on words, for in early modern usage ‘Kreutz’ is used metonymically for suffering. The poem seeks to comfort the father’s suffering heart. It begins at the top, and follows round in couplets. The first half is lamentatio, and evokes the tears that parents must inevitably shed on losing their children. But as the reader reaches the lowest point, the consolatio begins. Here we see the poem’s physical structure reflecting our medical model: the bandage is not applied until the grief has been drawn out. As the father is urged to turn his eye from earthly matters to his heavenly Father, he must also turn his eye to follow the direction of the text. The transition from lamentation to consolation is marked here in the rhyme scheme. The first couplet of the consolatio uses the rhymes of the first couplet of the lamentatio, but in reverse. The ‘Ach’ of the opening couplet is also changed to ‘Wohl’, which here means ‘certainly’, but which in its other meaning, ‘well’, stands in stark opposition to the ‘Ach’. The inner poem highlights the central tenet of Lutheran consolation: the suffering heart must have Christ at its centre and find peace in him. This cruciform poem seeks to cushion the blow of bereavement, arguing from the letter to the Hebrews that God’s affliction is a sign of his love and fatherhood.²² It points August to the joyful reunion he will experience with his family in heaven, opened up by Christ’s redemptive death, effected on and symbolized by the cross. Having dealt with the lamentation and consolation, the field is then clear for commemoration. This takes place in the Latin distichs. Three refer to the popular etymology of the girl’s names: Elisabeth, ‘God’s peace’, now rests in the peace of Jehovah; ‘pure’ Catharina contemplates God’s glory in heaven; and the verse for Dorothea, ‘the gift of God’ ²² ‘Mein Son, achte nicht gering die züchtigung des HErrn, vnd verzage nicht wenn du von jm gestrafft wirst. Denn welchen der HErr lieb hat, den züchtiget er, er steupt aber einen iglichen Son, den er auffnimpt. So jr die züchtigung erduldet, so erbeut sich euch Gott als Kindern. Denn wo ist ein Son, den der Vater nicht züchtiget? Seid jr aber on züchtigung, welcher sie alle sind teilhafftig worden, so seid jr Bastarte vnd nicht Kinder’ (Hebrews 12: 5–8, WA Bibel, VII, 377).

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is based on the popular funeral verse from Job 1: 21 (‘Der HERR hats gegeben, der HERR hats genommen, Der name des HERRN sey gelobt’).²³ This extraordinary poem highlights another significant commemorative technique. The Latin couplet at the foot of the cross is a chronogram. GratIa DeI Lætè bona sI sUsCepIMUs ergo Et nos Ista DeCet SVstInVIsse MaLa²⁴

The Roman numerals in the bottom line combine to give 1663, the year in which the girls died, and those in the top line 1664, the year of composition.²⁵ This device appears in the refrain for an epicedium written when 3-year-old August von Alvensleben died in 1660, ‘GOTT Ist MeIn Trost VnD eInIgs LICht/ […]’.²⁶ Here we see commemoration and consolation converging, for this refrain is to be his father’s constant response to earthly sorrows. Sigmund von Birken warns that chronograms should be used judiciously: ‘Die Chronisticha, so im Teutsch etwan Zahlgebände heißen möchten/ bringen im Vers eine Jahrzahl hervor/ und klingen wol/ wan[n] sie nicht erzwungen sind’.²⁷ A similar caveat should be attached to the acrostic. This device, like the chronogram, concentrates its commemoration on an incontestable fact about the deceased: in this case, a name rather than a date. It adds a personal note, but can be detrimental to the overall effect of a poem, placing unnecessary constraints upon it. Some funeral poets take it to extremes, for example in cases where the name is spelled out along both margins, so that the poet’s interest in demonstrating his skill appears to outweigh attempts to ²³ WA Bibel, X. 1, 11. ²⁴ ‘If, by the grace of God, we have gladly received good things, then it is also fitting for us to have endured these troubles’. ²⁵ For a discussion of the form see Veronika Marschall, Das Chronogramm: Eine Studie zu Formen und Funktionen einer literarischen Kunstform. Dargestellt an Beispielen von Gelegenheitsdichtung des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts aus den Beständen der Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, Helicon—Beiträge zur deutschen Literatur, 22 (Frankfurt a.M.: Lang, 1997). ²⁶ L.V.B., poem from the funeral booklet for August von Alvensleben (1657–60), LP Stolberg 5293, in ‘Trauer und Trost=Gedancken’, fos.)(ijr –)(iijr . ²⁷ Birken, Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst, ix. 113, p. 146 (my emphasis); cited in Marschall, Das Chronogramm, p. 9.


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console the bereaved or pay tribute to the dead.²⁸ But acrostic poems written by parents are an interesting case. Here the attempt to work through the sorrow in metre and rhyme and also in the acrostic, may have played an important therapeutic role in the grieving process. We have an example in a cycle of German poems written by Valerius Stockmann, father of 14-year-old Johannes, in which the Latin inscription ‘JOHANNES STOCKMANNVS FILIVS MEVS CHARISSIMVS ET VNICVS HERES QVEM MORS RAPUIT’²⁹ is set over three poems. And in 1629 the clergyman Gabriel Güttner composed a number of poems to mark the death of his son and daughter, Gabriel and Rosina, including two acrostic poems.³⁰ He claims in a note that he wrote them for his remaining children ‘[z]u Vbung warer Gottseligkeit vnd Gedechtniß dero seligen Brüderleins vnd Schwesterleins’, so that the very act of commemoration was also to be edifying.³¹ For this reason he set them to hymn tunes that the children would already know. Letztes Seufftzerlein des seligen GABRIELIS. Jm Thon. Ach Gott vnd HErr/ wie gros vnd schwer/ [et]c.³² ²⁸ For example, in his poem for Martha Justina Alberti (1645–58), Justus Jon von Kospoth spells out the girl’s surname at either end of the lines (LP Stolberg 3702, fo. K4v ). ²⁹ ‘Johannes Stockmann, my dearest son and sole heir, whom death has seized’, LP Stolberg 21555, fos. D4r –Er . ³⁰ From the funeral booklet for Gabriel (1623–9) and Rosina Güttner (1627–9), LP Stolberg 10518–19, fos. G3v –G4v . The acrostic poems are preceded by two singlestrophe Latin epicedia which correspond closely in subject matter to the German texts (fos. G3r – v ). ³¹ Ibid. fo. G3v . ³² Ibid. fos. G3v –G4r . The hymn ‘ACh GOtt und HERR! wie groß und schwer sind mein’ begangne sünden’ appears as number 260 in Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Geist=reiches Gesang=Buch […], 2nd edn. (Halle/S.: Waisenhaus, 1705), pp. 392–3. It has been attributed to both Martin Rutilius, pastor in Teutleben and archdeacon in Weimar, who is supposed to have written it in 1604 (Zedler (ed.), Lexicon, XXXII, 1034), and to Johann Major, professor of theology and superintendent in Jena, who published an extended version in his Gedenck vnd Erinnerungs Predigt/ Von dem grawsamen Gewitter/ vnd schrecklichem Gewässer […] ( Jena: Johann Weidner, 1613). The hymn is discussed by Albert Fischer and Wilhelm Tümpel in Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, 6 vols. (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1902–16), pp. 39–41. They admit that ‘Ursprung und Geschichte des Liedes […] sind dunkel und bedürfen noch der Aufklärung’ (p. 39). It was reprinted (and further extended) in a number of collections, including in the first part of Johann

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Models and metaphors GOtt Vater fromm/ Durch Christ dein Sohn Mein Seel zu dir jtzt schreyet. Erhör mein Bitt/ Verlaß mich nit/ Dein Hülff mich hoch erfrewet. AVs dieser Welt Jn dein Gezellt Den Himmel/ mich einführe/ Durch d’Engelein/ Dem Schosse dein Mich gnädig einquartire. BJn ich doch dein Arms Würmelein/ Gewaschn durch Christi Blute Jm Tauffe Bund Von aller Sünd Vnd deines Zornes Flute. Rüst mich wol aus Wan[n] Grim vnd straus Satans sich thut erweisen/ Vnd mich von dir/ Nach seinr Begier. Am End wolt abereissen. IN Christi Todt/ Vnd Wunden roth Steht mein Trost/ Heil vnd Leben: Diß flöß mir ein Durchs Worte dein/ Wenn ich mit Angst vmbgeben. EJn Blutströpfflein Vom Leichnam fein All mein Sünd vberwieget/ Wer jhr auch mehr/ Als Sand am Meer. O wol/ der damit sieget.

Staden’s Hauß=MUSIC Geistlicher Gesäng […], 4 vols. (Nuremberg: Johann Friedrich Sartorius, 1623–8).


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Lang leben hie/ Lang schwebn in müh/ Heists recht/ wer es bedencket: HERR löß mein Seel Aus aller Quäl So ist nichts/ das mich kräncket. GUT bleiben ist/ Zu aller Frist/ Bey dir ins Himmelsfrewden: All Sünd vnd Todt/ All Angst vnd Noth/ Muß da seyn abgescheiden. NERlich speist ab Die Welt/ schab ab Jsts hewr/ mit Christenleuten/ Jm Himmel dein/ Thustu vns fein Guts vnd all Füll bereiten.

The poem for Gabriel, which spells out both his first name and his surname (in stanzas eight and nine), retains the first-person voice of the hymn which it parodies, the echoes of Psalm 130 (the cry from the depths), and the emphasis on redemption through Christ’s atoning death. However, the original hymn only touches on departure from earthly existence in its penultimate strophe, which immediately precedes the doxology, whereas Güttner’s poem thematizes the struggles of death, as the title of the companion Latin poem makes clear.³³ Gabriel is to stand as a prosopopoeial example for his siblings as he expresses his faith in Christ and relinquishes the world and all its enticements.³⁴ After the poem Güttner cites Psalm 23: 6 (‘Gutes vnd Barmhertzigkeit werden mir folgen mein Lebenlang/ vnd werde bleiben/ im Hause des HErrn jmmerdar’), to emphasize the heavenly home which Gabriel has reached after passing through the valley of death. Güttner’s choice of hymn on which to base his ³³ ‘SUSPIRIUM Filioli mei beati GABRIELIS III. agonizantis’ ( The deep sigh of my dear departed little son Gabriel III when he was in the throes of death). LP Güttner, fo. G3r . ³⁴ For a discussion of the rhetorical device prosopopoeia see Chapter 4, and especially nn. 52–5.

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poem for his infant daughter Rosina is also striking; the diminutive in the address to Christ suggests that it was probably intended as a children’s hymn. However, Güttner departs from the first-person voice and the subject matter of the original to pursue his metaphor of the rose amongst thorns, which is of course an allusion to his daughter’s name.³⁵ Rosenglück der Christen auff Erden. Im Thon. JESVLEIN/ du bist mein/ [et]c.³⁶ ROsen schön Stetigs stehn/ Vnter Dorren/ Stachlicht vnd gar scharff gespitzt/ Dabey man sich leichtlich ritzt/ Vnd mit ihn wird verworren. O Merck recht/ Menschen Gschlecht/ Rosendörner Hastu bey deim Christenstandt/ Creutz vnd Jammer allerhand Dich heut sticht/ vnd ritzt ferner. Sünden Dorn/ Gottes Zorn/ Vnd viel plagen/ ³⁵ Christoph Ottho’s funeral sermon for Rosina, which was based on 1 John 1: 7, bears the title ‘Von dem Rosinfarben thewren Blut Christi JESV/ welches von allen getaufften Kinderlein alle Sündenfleck vnd vnreinigkeiten abwäschet vnd reiniget’. The Latin poem, ‘ROSA Imago piorum in hoc mundo’, makes the same point (LP Güttner, fos. G3r – v ). ³⁶ A pamphlet published in Hamburg in 1611 gives this song as one of three new ones based on secular songs: Drey schöne nye Leeder/ Vth Wehltlikem in Geistlikem Verstandt gebracht […] (Hamburg: [n.pub.], 1611), VD17 1: 670460D. The hymn, ‘Jesulin/ du bist myn/ wyl ick leue’, which is based on the song ‘Annelin/ du bist myn/ wyl ick leue’, is in a low German version, although Philipp Wackernagel notes that the rhyme scheme suggests a high German original in Das deutsche Kirchenlied von der a¨ ltesten Zeit bis zum Anfang des XVII Jahrhunderts: Mit Berücksichtigung der deutschen kirchlichen Liederdichtung im weiteren Sinne und der lateinischen von Hilarius bis Georg Fabricius und Wolfgang Ammonius, 5 vols. (Leipzig: Teubner, 1864–77), V, 469. The hymn is also reproduced in Fischer and Tümpel, Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied, pp. 38–9 (immediately before ‘Ach Gott und Herr’), and the editors point out that it was reproduced in the fourth volume of the same publication as the hymn for Gabriel, Johann Staden’s Hauß=Music (1628).


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Teuffels Pfeil/ vnd List der Welt/ Tods gewalt auch sticht vnd kielt/ Bey Tag vnd Nacht dich nagen. JN der Heckn Mustu steckn Bey deinm Leben Wie der Wiedder Abrahae Creutz vnd alles Ach vnd Wehe Dich stetigs wird vmbgehen. NJm an dich Sicherlich Rosenfarbe Roth vnd weis zu jeder Frist: Christi Blut dein Sünden büst Dein Heil steht in seinn Narbe[n]. ALlezeit Nach Möglgkeit Gott auch ehre Mit deim Leben. So wird schon Christ der HErr der Ehrenkron Jm Himmel dir verehren.

The thorns of sin, the world and the Devil seek to hold Christians fast and choke their faith, as in the parable of the sower.³⁷ But when Güttner introduces the comparison with Abraham’s ram (Genesis 22: 13), often read as a typological prefiguring of Christ’s substitution for the sinner, he returns to the hopefulness of the original hymn, ending, as it does, with the promises of Heaven. Two common commemorative devices use names to make a statement about the character or fate of the child: anagrams and paragrams. Both can be illustrated from poems published in the funeral booklet for 6-year-old Andreas Vollrad Nietner, who died in 1658. In the anagram poem Johann Caspar Drachstedt rearranges Andreas’s name, substituting ‘e’ for ‘a’ to come up with a consolatory epithet describing the boy’s heavenly bliss: ‘Rein von der Erden Last’. ³⁷ ‘Der aber vnter die Dörnen geseet ist, der ists, Wenn jemand das Wort höret, Vnd die sorge dieser Welt, vnd betrug des Reichthums, ersticket das Wort, vnd bringet nicht Frucht’ (Matthew 13: 22, WA Bibel, VI, 63).

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Models and metaphors Volrad Andreas Niedner durch Litterwechsel a in e Rein von der Erden Last. Wir haben nur ein Ziel/ wie auch die Blumen haben Es sey früh oder spat/ wir werden doch vergraben Jn unser Mutter Schoß. Wiewohl ist doch verblast! Der Rein vor GOttes Thron ist von der Erden Last.³⁸

While the anagram redistributes words to reveal an apparently otherwise hidden meaning in a name or phrase, the paragram is interested in the numerical value of the individual words. This is illustrated in Tobias Keller’s poem for the same boy:³⁹ 442. 618. 587. 407. 184. Andreas Vollrad Nitner von Halle. Per Num. Mathem: absq. unit: 513. 332. 314. 116. 429. 250. 274. GOtt eilet mit den Seinen hier weg.

2229.

2228.

In taking one of the most common verses for funeral writings (‘GOtt eilet mit den Seinen hier weg’, Wisdom 4: 14), and making it total one number less than Andreas Vollrad Nietner’s name, Keller represents the removal of the child alluded to in the scriptural verse. He then illustrates this in the poem through the ubiquitous image of the flower taken from the garden: Gleich wie das Obst/ von Nord= und starcken Winden/ Gleich wie das Graß itzt durch die Sense fällt: So müssen wir mit grosser Angst empfinden/ Daß dieser sey dem Tode zugesellt/ […] Diß must auch Jhr Betrübten itzt erfahren Daß eure Tulipan nun sey zerknickt/ Die schön an Tugend blühte/ jung von Jahren So plötzlich ietzt sey abgepflickt. […] So hat doch GOtt besonder feste Gründe Die uns zwar meistentheils sind unbekant; ³⁸ From the epicedia collection for Andreas Vollrad Nietner (1652–8), LP Stolberg 8837 / Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale): Nv 332 (26), fo.)(4r (emphasis in original publication). ³⁹ Ibid., poem by Tobias Keller, fos.)(iijr –)(4r (emphasis in original publication).


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Er eilet mit den Seinen weg geschwinde Und bringt sie in das rechte Vaterland.⁴⁰

The paragram has its origins in Pythagorean mathematics and in Cabbala, specifically in ‘gematria’, in which numbers were substituted for letters of the Hebrew alphabet to elucidate the mystical substance of a text.⁴¹ Number alphabets became very popular in the sixteenth century, and Ruth Tatlow has estimated that there were around fifty circulating in Lutheran Germany by the early eighteenth century.⁴² Cabbala was appropriated for Christian ends in the Renaissance by such humanists as Johannes Reuchlin and Pico della Mirandola, but Luther was largely sceptical of techniques that facilitated heretical readings and had their roots in Jewish mysticism: Aber den blossen, ledigen, armen Buchstaben krafft zu eigen, und solche krafft, die wunder thun könne, auch durch die Gottlosen und feinde Gottes, das ist nicht allein pfu dich an und Scham Haperes, Sondern der leidige, lesterliche Teuffel selbs mit aller seiner bosheit aus der Helle heraus. Denn mit der weise beten die Jüden so viel Teuffel, ja so viel tausent Teuffel an, so viel sie Engel erliegen jnn jrem Scham Haperes […], Denn sie bawen hierauff und gleubens fur die warheit, das doch eitel lügen ist, Das heissen die Propheten Abgötterey, Confidere in mendacia, auff lügen trawen,⁴³ welche ehre allein Gott gebührt.⁴⁴

Nonetheless paragrams appear in poems by Harsdörffer, Männling, Hunold, and many other Lutheran poets, where, divorced from their cabbalistic origins, they function solely as a poetical game, a ‘Lusus Poëticus’ as the anonymous author of Das ABC cum notis variorum terms them.⁴⁵ He equates them with anagrams and locates them ⁴⁰ Keller, PS Nietner, fos.)(iijr –)(4r , lines 1–4, 9–12, 37–40. ⁴¹ Marschall also discusses paragrams in Das Chronogramm, pp. 211–25. ⁴² Ruth Tatlow, Bach and the Riddle of the Number Alphabet (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 37–41. She cites Gershom Gerhard Scholem’s articles on ‘Kabbalah’ and ‘Christian Kabbalah’ from the Encyclopædia Judaica ( Jerusalem: Keter, 1971). ⁴³ Jeremiah 7: 4, 13:25. ⁴⁴ Vom Schem Hamphoras, 1543; WA, LIII, 573–648 (p. 603). ⁴⁵ Anon., Das ABC CUM NOTIS VARIORUM […], parts I and II (Leipzig and Dresden: Johann Christoph Mieth [publisher] and Johann Heinrich Richter [printer], 1703), p. 181; cited in Tatlow, Bach, pp. 86–7. This is also the conclusion to which Tatlow comes (p. 82).

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clearly within the domain of occasional verse, sounding the same note of caution as Birken on the chronogram: Die Sache ist zeithero bey Hochzeiten und Begräbnissen ziemlich gemeine worden/ und hat sich mancher nicht wenig gewundert/ daß solch Ding in seinem Nahmen gesteckt/ und durch eine tieffsinnige Rechnung hat können hervor gesucht werden. Wer auch die Art nicht gewust/ wie man dabey verfährt/ hat es als wunderlich/ heilig und verborgen Ding angesehen. Doch ist es ein recht Kinderwerck/ dazu sich judiciöse Leute noch weniger Zeit nehmen/ als zu Verfertigung eines Anagrammatis.⁴⁶

Paragrams and anagrams are used in funeral verse primarily to equate names with Bible verses or with characteristics, and the belief in an underlying similarity of essence is replaced by a delight in invention and wit. Commemorative techniques based on names do not rely solely on implying ingenious links with Bible verses. Many names were already endowed with a popular etymological meaning, which could be drawn on for both laudatio and consolatio. As we saw in the ‘Hertz-Creutz’ poem, Elisabeth was believed to mean ‘God’s rest’, Katharina ‘pure’, and Dorothea ‘gift of God’. ‘Maria’ was connected with ‘Mara’ meaning ‘bitter’,⁴⁷ so Albin Buxbaum’s biographical account for Maria Elisabeth Cundisius’s funeral uses her two names to emphasize the contrast between the miseries of earth and the peace of heaven: ‘Wie nun diß Kind bey Lebens Zeiten eine rechte Maria/ das ist/ ein bitteres Angst= vnd Creutz Mägdlein gewest/ also erquicket/ vnd erfrischet sie numehr nach dem Namen Elisabeth Gottes Ruhe’.⁴⁸ The same pair is used to rather different effect in a poem by D.W. In 1643 Maria Zeidler died shortly after her elder sister Elisabeth. The poem describes how the bitter loss of the second child undermines the consolation found in the knowledge of her sister’s happy fate: ⁴⁶ Das ABC, p. 182 ⁴⁷ In Exodus 15: 23–5 the Israelites come to a lake where they cannot drink because the water is bitter, so they name it Marah. In Ruth 1: 20 Naomi, who has lost her husband and both of her sons, adopts the name to reflect her bitter fate: ‘Heisst mich nicht Naemi, sondern Mara, denn der Allmechtige hat mich seer betrübt’ (WA Bibel, IX. 1, 173). Luther’s marginal note states that Naemi means ‘meine Lust’. ⁴⁸ ‘Personalia’ from the funeral booklet for Maria Elisabeth Cundisius (1638–9), LP Stolberg 7370, fo. C4v (emphasis in original publication).


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Es heileten nun zu gemachsam und gelind Die ersten tieffen Wunden/ Durch diesen Trost/ das Frewd’ und Lust hatt’ ewer Kind Jn Gottes Ruhe funden/ Jtzunder springen sie von newen wieder auff Mit weit vermehrten Schmertzen/ Die Wangen u¨ berschwemmt ein stärckrer Threnenlauff/ Es dringen aus dem Hertzen Die Seuffzer duppelt her/ der Trost wird Bitterkeit/ Vergessen new gedencken/ Der Stillstand des Gemüths ein newergäntzter Streit/ Und Ruhe newes Krencken.⁴⁹

Here the association of the names is used not so much for laudatio as for lamentatio: Maria’s death is a cause for double sorrow as the partially healed wound is reopened by the blow of a new bereavement. Birken acknowledges the close link between commemoration and lamentation: ‘Die löbliche Tugenden und Sitten des Verstorbenen/ ziehen notwendig eine Klage nach sich: weil man soviel treffliches an und mit ihm verlohren’.⁵⁰ Praise is inevitably (‘notwendig’) followed by lamentation, so the poems, like the consolation books, acknowledge the need to weep (in moderation). We have already encountered the conceit of consolatory writings as a handkerchief in Sigismund Schererz’s MANUALE Parentum lugentium (Manual for Weeping Parents), discussed in the first chapter. This metaphor is by no means unusual in funeral sermons and epicedia.⁵¹ Consider, for example, a poem by Andreas Anger, a Lutheran clergyman, who envisages his offering as a handkerchief sewn by the dead girl and sent to her mother to dry her tears: ⁴⁹ D.W., poem from the funeral booklet for Maria Zeidler (1631–43), LP Stolberg 23452, from the section ‘Vernewerter Trost Auff vernewertes Hertzleid und Betrübnüß’, fos. Fr – v , lines 9–20 (my emphasis). ⁵⁰ Birken, Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst, x. 172, p. 226. ⁵¹ Numerous funeral sermons from the Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts (VD17) use it, and it was also a common consolatory conceit outside Lutheran Germany, with English examples including [I.C.]’s A HANDKERCHER FOR PARENTS WET EYES VPON THE DEATH OF CHILDREN: A Consolatory Letter to a Friend […] (London: Michael Sparkes [publisher] and E[lizabeth] A[llde] [printer], 1630), and Thomas Allestree’s A Funeral Handkerchief […] (London: Thomas Allestree, 1671).

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Models and metaphors Du bist in Gottes Ruh vnd Truh verwahrt gantz seuberlich/ Ach greiff doch mit der Hand hinein/ nim ein Wüschtüchlein rauß/ Vnd schicks durch ein Liebs=Engelein deiner Mutter nach Hauß/ Denn jhr Hertz ist krafftloß vnd matt/ weint heisse Threnen auch/ Weil dich/ jhr liebes Töchterlein/ nicht mehr dann sehn jhr Aug/ Damit sie doch die Threnen viel abwüsch/ vnd thu ein Blick Hierein in vnser Himmelshauß/ da eitel Frewd vnd Glück/⁵²

The speaker here is the girl’s father, who had predeceased her. Alluding to the meaning of her name, Elisabeth (‘Gottes Ruh’), Anger implies that the mother needs to view the situation from a heavenly perspective. Her daughter is quite safe in God’s care, but she cannot see this whilst blinded by her own grief. She is encouraged to play an active role in the consolation process, using the poem to dispel some of her sorrow. Lamentation is a necessary stage in the grieving process, but once tears have been provoked and released, consolation may and should be offered. Most funeral poems demonstrate this progression, often turning on ‘doch’ as the pivotal point at which the parents or relatives are shown the situation from a different, heavenly perspective.⁵³ The following poem on the death of 6-year-old Dorothea Scheibe illustrates this: KOmm komm Melpomene zwing deine Trawer=Seiten/ Laß dein geschmücktes Hauß mit schwartzen Flor umbbreiten/ Auch ihr ihr Najades betrübe ewren Sinn/ Weil Charon itzo führt ein Jungfräwlein dahin. Du Phylirinnen Volck was kanstu anders wissen/ Als daß der Lebens Feind ein Röslein abgerissen/ Vnd zu der Grufft geschlept/ darüber mich der Geist Jtzt anders nichts als nur von Hertzen trawren heist. Doch wird dir Menschen Fraß des Todt gar wenig nützen/ Hier stehet schon der HErr der solche Wunden ritzen

5

10

⁵² ‘Trostwüschtüchlein Welches aus der Truh= vnd Ruhe GOttes/ das fromme vnd züchtige Jungfräwlein ELISABETHA Pfefferin/ numehr S. jhrer betrübten Fr. Mutter zugeschickt/ jhre heissen Threnen damit abzutrucken’. Andreas Anger’s epicedium for Elisabeth Pfeffer (1618–32), LP Stolberg 17782, fos. Hiijv –H4r , lines 20–6 (emphasis in original publication). ⁵³ Krummacher points out that neo-Latin epicedia often move from lamentation to consolation with the particles ‘sed’, ‘at’, ‘tamen’ (‘Das barocke Epicedium’, pp. 110–11).

Models and metaphors Vns kan in unser Hertz. Begehret dir zum Hohn Das Tugendvolle Kind zu seinem Ehren Thron. Nun mustus wieder her aus deinen Klawen geben/ Vnd in dem Sternen Reich ihr gönnen frohes Leben/ Dein Trotz der ist u¨ mbsonst/ dein Vorsatz der verschwind/ Es lacht und lebet schon das Kind das schöne Kind Jn jener Sternen Stadt. Jhr Eltern lasst das Weinen/ Jhr werdet ewre Lust einst wieder sehen scheinen/ Nach dem von dieser Bahn euch Charon hat geführt/ Nach dem uns alle sambt der sanffte Schlaf berührt.⁵⁴

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15

20

Pirner plunges the reader directly into lamentation, which he couches in both classical and biblical terms.⁵⁵ In the first four lines he asks nymphs to join him in mourning Dorothea’s crossing into the realm of the dead, and he invokes Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy, although she is required to engage in a rather unclassical mourning activity. In lines 5–8 a rather different field of imagery emerges with the biblical allusion to human life as a transient flower of the field.⁵⁶ But this loss is only half the picture, it is only what we see from an earthly perspective, as Pirner reminds the reader in lines 5 and 6: ‘was kanstu anders wissen/ | Als daß der Lebens Feind ein Röslein abgerissen’. The move from lamentation to consolation comes with ‘Doch’. In the central section of the poem Pirner both evokes and undermines the horror of death. It is not the ‘Menschen Fraß’ with his ‘Klawen’ that has inflicted this wound, but God, ‘der solche Wunde ritzen | Vns kan in unser Hertz’. This is a reference to Job 5: 17–18: ‘SJhe, selig ist der Mensch, den Gott straffet, Darumb weger dich der züchtigung des Allmechtigen nicht. Denn er verletzet, vnd verbindet, Er zuschmeisst, vnd seine Hand heilet’.⁵⁷ Pirner only cites the act of wounding, but as this was a common verse for funeral writings, the subsequent healing would be implied—and understood. In the final four lines the focus changes again. Where the nymphs had ⁵⁴ Poem by Gregorius Pirner from a collection on the death of Dorothea Scheibe (1640?–6), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (131), [p. 1b]. ⁵⁵ The reduction of the scheme by omitting the praise element is not unusual in epicedia for children, since such brief lives yielded little material for a laudatio. ⁵⁶ ‘EJn Mensch ist in seinem Leben wie Gras, Er blüet wie eine Blume auff dem felde. Wenn der Winde darüber gehet, so ist sie nimer da, Vnd jr stete kennet sie nicht mehr’ (Psalm 103: 15–16, WA Bibel, X.1, 439). ⁵⁷ WA Bibel, X. 1, 17.

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been commanded to weep in the first section, now the parents are forbidden from mourning because they will be reunited with their daughter when they make their own trip in Charon’s boat, and the death that awaits them in the final line is not the alarming image of the ‘Lebens Feind’, but the ideal Lutheran death, the ‘sanffte Schlaf’. One of the most important uses which Herberger envisages for his mourning bands is to dress the wound of grief. He compares them with the bandages used by the Good Samaritan, evoking the importance of neighbourly Christian support in times of emotional trauma. We have already seen how this medical model is central to funeral sermons and consolation manuals. It is no less common in epicedia, where it functions both as metaphor for the comfort at which the writers aim and as actual therapeutic practice, intended to relieve the malady of sorrow. Grief is regarded as a deep wound which can split open if more than one child in a family dies in quick succession, as was the case for Conrad Viktor Schneider, professor of medicine at the University of Wittenberg, who lost his wife and two daughters within the space of a couple of months: Vnd ist dahero gantz gewiß daß diese Qvahl Euch muß in Euren Hertzen Durch solch gedritten Seelen=Riß Gantz u¨ beraus Vnd unbeschreiblich schmertzen/ Weil/ da man noch die Wunde wischt Die kurtz vor geschlagen Bereit ein neues Bluten gischt. Den Jammer anzusagen.⁵⁸

The death of a loved one is a bitter affliction, a ‘Quahl’, a ‘SeelenRiß’, a ‘Bluten’. But the sorrow and melancholy that could follow were often considered more serious threats to the spiritual and physical health of the bereaved. Hans Löser draws this distinction between the surface wound and the cankerous internal sickness in the ‘Trauer ⁵⁸ Poem by Gottlieb Becker from LP Schneider, fos. M4v –Nv , strophe 2 (emphasis in original publication).


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Aria’ he wrote to console himself when his three teenage sons all fell victim to measles on the same day and died within a week of each other: Ja wann es nur noch wären Wunden/ So ist das Hertz zerknirschet gar/ An statt sehr wenig Freuden=Stunden/ Wächst nun mein Unglück immerdar/ […]⁵⁹

A poetic reference work published in 1662 offers descriptions of sorrow which attribute physical symptoms to it just as to any other illness: Das müde Hertze klopfft/ ich kan nicht Odem kriegen. Es ist mir müglich nicht/ daß ich mehr leben kan. […] Mein Hertz ist gantz bestürtzt/ mir zittern alle Glieder. […] Der Pulß läst nach/ und schlägt gemach für Traurigkeit. […] Jch geschwand gantz an Marck und Beinen/ für steten heulen und für Weinen. Mein Hertze will mir durch die Brust und geht mit schnellen Schlägen. […]⁶⁰

Epicedia often allude to these symptoms. Ludwig, Prince of AnhaltCöthen, friend of poets and founder of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, lost his only remaining child, Luise Amoene, at the age of 15 in 1625.⁶¹ An unnamed poet, projecting his words into the mouth of the bereaved father, depicts him as suffering from sorrow which robs him of his breath: Von seufftzen/ hertzensprast/ von wehmuth/ angst und klagen/ Ohn Athem/ blaß/ bestürzt/ bedutzt/ nach dem verzagen Kom ich oft aus dem steg/ selbst/ der vernunfft hinauß/⁶² ⁵⁹ From the funeral booklet for Magnus Wilhelm (1678–96), Kurt (1681–96) and Rudolph August Löser (1683–96), LP Stolberg 15864–6, pp. 85–9 in HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering (88), strophe 7. ⁶⁰ ‘Traurig seyn’, in Michael Bergmann, Deutsches ÆRARIUM POETICUM Oder Poetische Schatzkammer […] ( Jena; Stettin: Jeremias Mamphras, 1662), pp. 267–9. The first two sentences are taken from Paul Fleming’s poem ‘An Amorn’, in Geist= ¨ und Weltliche POEMATA […] (Naumburg: Christian Forberger’s widow [publisher]; Jena: Georg Sengenwald [printer], 1651), Sonette, III, LIII, pp. 634–5, although there they refer to the Petrarchan sickness of the pining lover. ⁶¹ Funeral booklet for Luise Amoene, Princess of Anhalt-Cöthen (1609–25), LP Stolberg 5457. Amongst the epicedia is one by Martin Opitz (fo. Giijv ). ⁶² Anon., ‘Gedancken des Herren Vaters F.G. Vber den tödtlichen abgang/ dero hochgeliebten und einigen Fräwleins’, LP Anhalt-Cöthen, fos. F4v –Gr , strophe 4, lines 1–3.

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Whilst this poet uses asyndeton in the list of symptoms to express sympathy with the prince’s great suffering, others castigate parents for displaying excessive sorrow. A poem for Dorothea Sophie Braun’s parents sharply criticizes their self-indulgent grief which will aggravate rather than soothe the wound: Jst euch der Schmertz so lieb/ Den jhr empfunden habet Durchs Todes Sensen=Hieb Daß jhr euch darmit labet/ Vnd jhn nicht leget hin/ Gleich als wer es Gewin?⁶³

Some poets adopt the ‘pull yourself together’ approach to consolation, urging parents to direct their energies to praising God rather than wallowing in grief, the approach advocated by Johannes Olearius in his Beständiger Trost: ‘denn der böse Geist der Schwermuth mag nicht verjagt werden/ mit Betrübnis und Klagen/ und sich a¨ ngsten/ sondern mit GOttes Lobe/ davon das Hertz frölig wird’.⁶⁴ This equates to the application of a contrasting remedy to restore the equilibrium of the spirits: contraria contrariis sananda. Others model their efforts on a different medical practice, the provocation of the illness to fever pitch as a means of expunging it.⁶⁵ The procedure is exemplified in a poem for 15-year-old Anna Maria Müller’s parents: Jch bin auch schon bedacht/ den Schmertz zu mehren/ Vnd wil erdichten Jhr ein Trauer=Lied. Melpomene/ die soll der Freuden wehren/ Vnd eintzig dieses mahl seyn mein Gespan. Die Huld der Gratien/ die will ich meiden. ⁶³ M.G.G.H.N.F., ‘Ode Jambica’ from the funeral booklet for Dorothea Sophie Braun (1622–38), LP Stolberg 4980, fos. E4v –Fijr , strophe 2. We are reminded of Seneca’s rebuke to Marcia that she nurses her sorrow and keeps it alive in place of the child that she has lost (Seneca, ‘Ad Marciam: De consolatione’, in Moral Essays, tr. John W. Basore, The Loeb Classical Library, 214, 254, and 310, 3 vols. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1945; repr. 1970–9), II, VI. i. 5; cf. Chapter 1, n. 62). ⁶⁴ Johannes Olearius, Beständiger Trost Wider die schrecklichen Hiobs=Posten/ […] (Leipzig: Johann Wittigau, 1668), pp. 242–3. ⁶⁵ See Hans-Georg Kemper, Deutsche Lyrik der frühen Neuzeit, 6 vols. ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1986–2006), II, 103.


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Die Nymfen sollen sich in Schleyer kleiden: Vmb Eppich und was sonst nur traurig sieht Soll sich der trübe Geist mit Ernst bemühen. Zytherie/ die soll aus lauter Leid Sich aller Götter Lust hinfort entziehen Vnd/ was für Wollust auch um sie geschicht/ Die soll den Grim in ihr nur mehr erregen. Mit Schmertzen soll sie sichs für Augen legen. Der Trost soll ihr zur Angst/ des Kummers Streit Hingegen Labsall seyn. Die schönen Hayne/ Die sollen wüst und leer und o¨ de seyn. Die Lufft vom Seufftzen voll und vom Geweine. Doch nein: das alles ist nur Eitelkeit. Das seelge Blümgen ist zum Engel worden. Beym Cherubinen selbst in ihren Orden. Der keusche Jungfer=Geist/ von Sünden rein/ Folgt nun dem Lamme nach in ewgen Freuden/ Da alles Sterben ist hinaus gebannt. Wir werden sie durch Harm und Jammer neiden. Das kömt mit Christen traun nicht u¨ berein.⁶⁶

In this extract the painful probing of the lamentatio reaches almost excessive proportions. The poet, Gottfried Benig, knows that this ‘Trauerlied’ will intensify the parents’ pain; indeed, that is his stated intention. The grief must be given every opportunity to come to the surface, so the poet calls on the aid of Melpomene and focuses his mind on attributes of mourning: the black veils and the ivy. Zytherie (Venus?) is to be brought almost to the point of despair: ‘Der Trost soll ihr zur Angst/ des Kummers Streit | Hingegen Labsall seyn’, and nature is to lend voice to the mourning.⁶⁷ But the peripateia, or turning point comes with the emphatic ‘Doch nein’. Having driven the lament to crisis point, Benig begins to apply the remedy of consolation by directing attention towards the girl’s heavenly joy. This is a common consolatory pattern. Diagnosis of the affliction and cleansing of the wound are followed by the application of a balm or dressing. In a poem to console ⁶⁶ From the funeral booklet for Anna Maria Müller (1647–62), LP Stolberg 16669, fos. F4r –Gr , lines 60–end. ⁶⁷ Cf. Chapter 6, n. 47.

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the earl marshal Hans Löser, Georg Heinrich Hund states that he is sending his ‘Trauer=Wunsch’ as an alternative to a bandage because he is unable to find a material dressing that could bind three wounds simultaneously,⁶⁸ and the opening of another poem is certainly confident that affective words are the most appropriate remedy: LAß/ Hochbetrübtes Paar/ von deinen bangen Schmertzen! Laß ein beweglich Wort dein bestes Pflaster seyn!⁶⁹

Medicine is clearly a metaphor for the healing effects of consoling words in any number of epicedia. But the connection extends beyond the metaphorical level, with some poets claiming that their words have an actual therapeutic effect on the parents’ physical constitutions. We see this thought process at work in the funeral booklet for 1-year-old Caspar Ludolph von Klitzing. The poet, Georg Lilien, had enjoyed the patronage of the von Klitzing family, who had helped to fund him through university and had, in the year of Caspar Ludolph’s death, summoned him to be pastor at Wallsleben. He bases his poem on the words of the funeral sermon,⁷⁰ and in his preliminary remarks he encourages his grieving patroness to join her voice with his so that she may experience an affective transformation: […] wie es der Höchste Tröster aus seinen hertzerquickende[n] Trostworten mir in Sinn gegeben/ vnnd in die Feder dictirt, darauff abgesatzt/ vnd E[urer] A[dligen] T[rauernden] nicht zur auffritzung/ vielmehr zur verbindung vnd linderung jhrer Schmertzhafften/ vber solchen Riß empfundene[n] Hertzwunden aus Christ- vnd Hertzlicher condolenz andächtig vorsingen wollen […]. Der himlische Autor vnd Capelmeister gebe seinen Trostpsälmlein Hertzrührende resonans vnnd kräfftigen Nachklang: Er spiele selbst dreyn/ mit der Harffen jnnerliches Trosts/ durch gläubige applicatur der darin lieblich klingenden Tröstungen/ […].⁷¹

The balm that the poem will bring comes from the combination of its biblical content and its pleasing sounds, the ‘darin lieblich ⁶⁸ LP Löser, fo. Ddijv , lines 21–4. ⁶⁹ Immanuel Weber, poem from the funeral booklet for Johanna Maria Zittemann (1664–80), LP Stolberg 23560, fos. J2v –Kv , lines 1–2. ⁷⁰ Funeral booklet for Caspar Ludolph von Klitzing (1625–6), LP Stolberg 14299. Joachim Wagnitz preached on Wisdom 4: 7–14. ⁷¹ LP Klitzing, fos. Eiijv –E4r (Eiijv ).


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klingenden Tröstungen’. When applied to the painful wound in a spirit of faith (‘gläubige applicatur’), the words will find an echo within the mother’s soul: a ‘Hertzrührende resonans vnnd kräfftige[r] Nachklang’. The belief that art could alleviate physical suffering is connected with the ideal of the doctor as a medicus gratiosus, who was to make patients as comfortable and cheerful as possible.⁷² Anything pleasant that might positively influence their mood could play a role in the physical healing process; the Jewish doctor and philosopher Maimonides (1135–1204) recommended that the vital powers be stimulated through arts which allow patients to breathe more deeply (music or pleasing stories) and which distract them (humorous anecdotes).⁷³ In the case of bereavement, there is an element of relieving the physical symptoms of grief, but the main concern is to strike at the emotional heart of the malady, although this concern is couched, as in Lilien’s poem, in metaphors of physical healing. We find another example in the Löser funeral booklet: WEr in Apulien von Spinnen wird gestochen/ Die man Tarantulen in selben Lande nent/ Dem hilfft kein Mithridat/ das Hertz fängt an zu pochen/ Weil ein subtiler Gifft in allen Adern brennt. Man muß die Hülffe durch die Harmonie erlangen/ Ein Lautenist soll selbst der Apothecker seyn/ Ein einger Kunst=Griff muß die gantze Cur anfangen/ Und die Genesung stellt durch Harmonie sich ein. Zu wünschen wäre/ daß wenn uns der Tod verletzet/ Dergleichen Wunder=Cur auch anzutreffen sey/ So würde manches Hertz nicht in solch Leid versetzet/ So bliebe Lösers Hauß auch von der Trauer frey. Seht/ wie die Seeligen in der Music sich u¨ bten/ Sie gaben auf den Tact mit allem Fleisse acht/ Doch weil Sie die Music/ so in dem Himmel/ liebten/ So haben sie zu früh sich aus der Welt gemacht. Nun hören sie vergnügt das Dreymahl Heilig singen/ Und stimmen selbst mit ein in seelger Ewigkeit/ ⁷² Kemper, Deutsche Lyrik der frühen Neuzeit, II, 115. ⁷³ Moses ben Maimon, Regimen Sanitatis oder Diätetik für die Seele und den Körper mit Anhang der Medizinischen Responsen und Ethik des Maimonides, tr. S. Muntner (Frankfurt a.M.: 1966); cited in Kemper, Deutsche Lyrik der frühen Neuzeit, II, 119.

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Models and metaphors Das kan uns Linderung und rechte Tröstung bringen/ GOtt hat das Engel=Chor den Seeligen bereit.⁷⁴

Although the poet, an organist in Kohren, acknowledges the limits of music’s power, his evocation of its legendary use as an antidote to the lethal tarantula bite conveys his implicit wish that the poem will likewise go some way towards alleviating the father’s bitter grief, not least by assuring him that his musical sons now sing with the heavenly choir. We return once again to the theories of the humours and the affects. In the first chapter we saw how the consolation books attempt to rebalance the parents’ disturbed affects by emphasizing the enviable state of the child in heaven. In funeral verse these thoughts are frequently expressed by the antithesis so common to seventeenth-century poetry (bondage/freedom, toil/rest, ‘Thränen=Thal/Himmels=Saal’), a point to which we shall return in the following chapter. Comfort was not only to be found in reading verses composed by another, but also in the activity of writing for oneself. A doctor who had lost his wife and all his children in an outbreak of the plague wrote a poem to console himself. In a letter to a friend, he speaks very movingly of the relief this activity brought him: Mein liebster Herr und Freund/ er erquicke sich hier an meinen damaligen Buß=Thränen! und glaube mir/ daß/ als ich diese Verse schriebe/ so habe ich die andere allerseligste Stunde/ eine schöne Himmels=Stunde in diesem Leben von GOTT genossen […] und wenn ich sterben werde/ vielleicht bald/ nun so labe er sich zu meinem Andencken und Nachdencken meines Glaubens mit diesem hertzlichen Bekäntniß! welches ich zwar in Traurigkeit angefangen/ aber mit Freuden und Zuversicht geschlossen.⁷⁵

This type of poetic activity had a number of therapeutic effects. The grieving father may have been able to objectify his emotions and perceive them to some extent as an outsider, placing him in a better position to reason with himself. The process of internalizing the ⁷⁴ Poem by Georg Hund, LP Löser, fo. Ddv (emphasis in original publication). ⁷⁵ ‘Anhang. Ein sehr bewegliches Schreiben/ so ein Doctor Medicinæ, deme seine Ehe=Liebste/ Kinder/ und gantze Familie an der Pest gestorben/ an seinen lieben Freund abgehen lassen’; in Ahasver Fritsch, MEMENTO MORI […] (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Moritz Endter, 1684), pp. 232–44 (241–2).


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consolation arguments would have been greater than in reading a poem composed by a third party, and the discipline and concentration required may have played a significant part in controlling and directing the grief.⁷⁶ An interesting example is the cycle of poems by the Teutschübende Gesellschaft, discussed in the previous chapter. The cool, intellectual exercises in which Barthold Heinrich Brockes engages as a response both to the poems sent to console him and to his own bereavement could be interpreted as evidence that this father was not particularly distressed by his daughter’s death, but was quite prepared to use the situation solely to demonstrate his poetic skills and to strengthen the bonds with his friends.⁷⁷ However, the fact that he responds with an intellectual exercise is not necessarily proof that he was emotionally unaffected by this first loss in his family life. He certainly makes very affectionate references to his children in various poems of his collection Jrdisches Vergnügen in GOTT,⁷⁸ and it is not implausible to suggest that he found the ⁷⁶ See Anna Carrdus, ‘Consolatory Dialogue in Devotional Writings by Men and Women of Early Modern Protestant Germany’, MLR, 93 (1998), 411–27 (pp. 414, 417). ⁷⁷ In his manuscript biography Brockes writes of this loss: ‘Ao. 1714 den 24 November ist meine Frau zum ersten Mahl von einer Tochter Catharina Margarethen entbunden, welche Ao. 1715 den 8. Martii wieder verstorben’; in ‘Selbstbiographie des Senators Barthold Heinrich Brockes’, ed. J. M. Lappenberg, Zeitschrift des Vereines für Hamburgischer Geschichte, 2 (1847), 167–229 (p. 208). We find a similarly matter-of-fact report of another daughter’s death in 1730: ‘Zu Ende dieses Jahrs ist meine jüngste Tochter Maria Gerdrut verstorben, ausser welchem Trauerfall ich dieses Jahr, bey meiner Landprätur vor allem Widrigen gnädig bewahret, vergnügt Gottlob zurückgelegt’ (p. 222), although Brockes has rather more to say about the loss of his teenage son Johann Bernhard in the following year, who died at the same time as another daughter, also called Catharina Margarethe (p. 223). The brevity with which Brockes deals with these bereavements contrasts starkly with the time he spends describing the progress of his career, as well as various accidents that befell him. Although it is tempting to argue that this suggests a certain lack of paternal feeling on his part, it may well be genre-determined. It seems that Brockes intended his biography to be published, perhaps after his death. Outpourings of emotion over private grief would not have been fitting for a man of public office, whereas acknowledgements that God had graciously directed and protected him would have been much more acceptable. ⁷⁸ For example ‘Ein fester Vorsatz’, ‘Das Kind’, and ‘Die Quitte’, in Jrdisches Vergnügen in GOTT bestehend in Physicalisch=und Moralischen Gedichten, nebst einem Anhange verschiedener dahin gehöriger Uebersetzungen […], II (Hamburg: Christian Herold, 1739); facs. edn. ed. B. J. Zinck (Bern: Lang, 1970), pp. 152–4, 222–3 and 415–18.

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discipline of writing parodic verse a therapeutic distraction for his sorrow. Some parents use acrostics to the same end, for example Gabriel Güttner’s poems on Gabriel and Rosina, which he claims he wrote for his remaining children.⁷⁹ Hans Löser’s five-voice aria cited above is followed by an explanatory note: ‘Dieses schrieb seinen seeligen lieben Kindern/ theils zu ihrem Andencken/ theils zu seinem selbst eigenen Trost/ Deren Vater Hanß Löser’,⁸⁰ and Johann Gottfried Olearius claims that he wrote his poem on the death of his youngest son ‘unter nicht geringer Leibs= und Gemüths=beunruhigung’.⁸¹ There are strong precedents for self-consolation through art and study in both the classical and biblical traditions. Seneca, writing to comfort his mother from exile, suggested that she find solace in intellectual pursuits;⁸² Cicero wrote his Tusculan Disputations after the death of his daughter Tullia; and the titles of the Psalms often refer to the adverse event which prompted them. Johann Christian Olearius makes use of this in his poem for the father of Regina Maria Nicolai (1676–91), based on Psalm 39: 2 (and verse 10): Psalm. XXXIX. II. Jch will schweigen und meinen Mund nicht aufthun/ du wirst wohl machen. SO klingt des Davids Kunst/ Mit der Er sich kont wehren/ Als Jhn Noth/ Qvaal und Pein Auff allen Seiten drückte/ So war GOtt da/ der Jhn so wohl erqvickte/ Auf den sah Er allein/ Und ließ kein Murren hören.⁸³

Olearius urges Regina’s father to follow suit, although Nicolai is to aspire to David’s faith rather than to his poetic abilities. This is ⁷⁹ See pp. 81–5 of this study. ⁸⁰ LP Löser, p. 89 in HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering (my emphasis). ⁸¹ From the funeral booklet for August Theodor Olearius (1688–90), LP Stolberg 17489, fo. B2r . ⁸² Seneca, ‘Ad Helviam matrem. De consolatione’, in Moral Essays, II, xvii. 3; cited in Carrdus, ‘Consolatory Dialogue’, p. 414. ⁸³ Poem by Johann Christian Olearius, LP Stolberg 17132, fo. b2r , lines 1–7.


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a crucial point. Many poems address their role in medical terms, alluding to their intended influence on the affects, but ultimately the doctrinally acceptable model decreed that the last and lasting remedy was to remind the patient of the need to trust in God. Vergieb/ Hochwerther Freund/ wenn ich nicht trösten kann. Jch bin zu schwach zum Arzt; zu tief sind deine Wunden. Sie heile jene Macht: Mein Beyleid rührt sie an. Was GOtt geschlagen hat/ wird nur durch GOtt verbunden.⁸⁴

Readings of individual epicedia have shown that it is not always easy to separate the three structuring elements. In some of the most striking and effective funeral poems the boundaries between laudatio, lamentatio, and consolatio are blurred. The final strophe of Paul Fleming’s ode for Maria Schürer illustrates this well: Jhr andern/ zündet an/ die theure Myrrh/ und fremdes Benzoe/ daß von dem Oliban und Aloe ein süßer Dampf entsteh’. Jnmittelst will ich thönen die weise Melodey/ daß auch das Grab der schönen nicht ohne Freude sey.⁸⁵

By comparing his poetic activity with incense, herbs, and oils brought to the grave, Fleming suggests that his verse is both fragrant and functional. Asa dulcis (‘Benzoe’), frankincense (olibanum), aloes, and myrrh were known for their embalming qualities; Fleming’s poem will preserve the memory of the girl, if not her earthly body. The ‘süßer Dampf’ that the herbs release equates to Fleming’s intention that his poem will sweeten the sorrow. And although the poem at face value offers little apparent comfort to the grieving parents, it ⁸⁴ Christoph Heinrich Vorhoff, ‘Lebens=Lauff ’ from the funeral booklet for Georg Leopold Eisenreich (1700–17), LP Stolberg 8660, p. 31 in HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering, lines 29–32 (emphasis in original publication). Note the reference to Job 5: 17–18. The following poem by Johann Reichard Neuheller makes a similar point (pp. 33–6). ¨ ⁸⁵ ‘Auf Jungf. Marien Schürers Begräbnüß’, Geist= und Weltliche POEMATA, Oden II. 3, pp. 308–10.

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would not have escaped the notice of an early modern reader that all of the herbs mentioned were pharmaceutical staples, renowned for their healing qualities.⁸⁶ ⁸⁶ Aloe: ‘Die Quint-Essenz der Aloes ist ein grosses Geheimniß bey Curirung der Wunden und allerhand Geschwören, [… Die Aloe] bewahret vor der Pest und allen ansteckende[n] Krankheiten: und ist ein vortrefflicher Balsam, die verstorbenen Leichen vor der Fäulung und Verwesung zu schützen.’ (Zedler (ed.), Lexicon, I, 1313; taken from Pierre Jean Fabre, MYROTHECIUM SPAGYRICUM; SIVE PHARMACOPOEA CHYMICA, OCCVLTIS NATVRÆ ARCANIS, EX HERmeticorum Medicorum scriniis depromptis abunde illustrata. […] (Strasbourg: Lazarus Zetzner, 1632), l. 2. c. 30.) Myrrh: ‘Sie hat ein groß Vermögen in vielen Kranckheiten, wärmet und trocknet, eröffnet, zertheilet, verdünnet, besänftiget, reiniget, verzehret, zühet ein wenig zusammen und heilet; treibet den Schweiß, widerstehet dem Gifft, gifftigen Kranckheiten und Pest kräfftiglich’ (Lexicon, XXII, 1734). Frankincense: ‘Der gemeine Weyrauch reiniget, trocknet und heilet: er wird unter die Salben und Pflaster gemischet, auch zum Räucherwerck gebrauchet’ (Lexicon, LV, 1226). Benzoe: ‘[Alle Sorten] erwärmen und trucknen, zertheilen, lösen auf, saubern, und widerstehen der Fäulung: dienen sonderlich der Brust und Lungen, machen Lufft, und sind sehr heilsam in Steck=Flüssen. [… E]s erfreuet mit seiner Lieblichkeit und Geruch das Hertz, das Gehirn und alle Sinnen: trucknet mit seinem Rauch das Haupt/ verzehrt die kalten Feuchtigkeiten, tilget die Flüsse, und stillet die Zahn=Schmertzen’ (Lexicon, II, 1777–8).

4 Death and didacticism Standing in a seventeenth-century graveyard, a man watches as the earth quakes and the graves open to reveal decomposing corpses: the high-born and commoners, wise and foolish, young and old, beautiful and ugly. As he muses on their temporal and eternal fates, on the putrefaction of the body and the separation of the saved and the damned, he is made acutely aware of the transience of his own existence and the need to make timely preparation for death: Ach Todten! Ach! was lern ich hier! Was war ich vor! was werd’ ich werden! Was ewig; bleibt vns für vnd für! Vnd ich bekümmer mich auf Erden! O lehrt mich/ die ihr lieget/ stehn! Daß/ wenn ich Jahr vnd Zeiten schlisse/ Wenn ich die Welt zum Abscheid grüsse/ Mög’ auß dem Tod ins Leben gehn!¹

This is the end of Andreas Gryphius’s fifty-strophe ‘Gedancken/ Vber den Kirchhoff vnd Ruhestädte der Verstorbenen’ (1657). In it he describes the graveyard as a ‘Schul/ in der die höche Kunst | Vns Sterblichen wird vorgetragen’; most early modern funeral writings share this pedagogic tone. Funerals were an ideal opportunity for ¹ Andreas Gryphius, Kirchhoffs=Gedanken, in Vermischte Gedichte, ed. Marian Szyrocki, Gesamtausgabe der deutschsprachigen Werke, Neudrucke deutscher Literaturwerke: new ser., 9–12, 14–15, 21, 23, 31–4 and 51, 9 vols. ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1963–2007), III, 1–39, strophe 50. For a commentary on the text, see Johann Anselm Steiger, Schule des Sterbens: Die ›Kirchhofgedancken‹ des Andreas Gryphius (1616–64) als poetologische Theologie im Vollzug (Heidelberg: Palatina, 2000).

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Death and didacticism

ministers to teach their congregations important lessons, as one pastor recognized: DJe Leich=Begängnisse Klag= und Trauer=Predigten über den Verstorbenen/ haben den heilsamen Nützen und Vortheil vor andern Ceremonien und Predigten in der Kirchen/ daß sie mehr afficiren und naher zu Hertzen gehen/ indem sie gleichsam im Werck für Augen fürstellen was sonst nur mit Worten in die Ohren geredt wird/ als das/ wenn man eine Leichpredigt thut/ und mittler Zeit die Leiche unter der Cantzel nieder setzet/ so hören wir gleichsam per [prosopopoiian] den Verstorbenen selbst aus dem Sarge herfür predigen […].²

The coffin, a visual reminder of death’s presence, sounded the warning ‘hodie mihi, cras tibi’ (today is my turn, tomorrow yours), a warning which underscored the importance of preparing for death. The minister could also remind the bereaved of appropriate grieving practices and elucidate a Lutheran understanding of death. But it was not just those at the funeral who would benefit from such lessons. The trade in printed funeral booklets made the sermons, speeches, and poems accessible to a considerable and dispersed readership. In 1700 the Darmstadt court councillor Rudolph Friedrich Schultt sent his daughter Juliana Patientia a funeral booklet for Anna Sabina Bilefeld, wife of the court preacher.³ Juliana Patientia, who was living and working in Glaucha as a member of the Pietist community under the leadership of the charismatic August Hermann Francke, appears to have read this booklet carefully, and, as Carrdus shows, she was ² Caspar Titius, LOCI THEOLOGICI HISTORICI, Oder Theologisches Exempel=Buch […], 3rd. edn.(?), published posthumously (Leipzig and Frankfurt a.M.: Jeremias Schrey and Heinrich Johann Mayer; Leipzig: Christoph Günther [printer], 1684), p. 1290; cited in Winfried Zeller, ‘Leichenpredigt und Erbauungsliteratur’, in Rudolf Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle historischer Wissenschaften, Marburger Personalschriftensymposien, 4 vols. (I—Cologne: Böhlau, 1975; II and III—Marburg: Schwarz, 1979 and 1984; IV—Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004), I, 66–81 (p. 67). Titius here cites from the funeral sermon for Barthold Huenicke (1542–1603) by Philipp Hahn, preacher at the cathedral in Magdeburg, in Leichpredigten/ Bey Christlicher Bestattung etlicher Domherrn unnd anderer Geistlicher/ Fürnehmer vom Adel/ Manns unnd Weibes=Personen/ Alt unnd Jung […], 2 vols. (Magdeburg: Ambrosius Kirchner, 1605 and 1610). See Cornelia Niekus Moore, Patterned Lives: The Lutheran Funeral Biography in Early Modern Germany, Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 111 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), p. 29. ³ Anna Sabina Bilefeld, née Schlaff (1664–1700), LP Stolberg 4092 (Darmstadt: Sebastian Gribel, [1700]). The sermon was preached by Andreas Staphorst.


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particularly influenced by the biographical account with its visions of the life to come.⁴ In March 1701 she wrote: ‘ICh kann sagen/ daß der Lebens=Lauff der sel. Frau D. Bilefeldin nicht ohne Bewegung zu lesen ist’,⁵ and a few weeks before her own death she informed her father: ‘Der Fr. D. Bilefeldin Leichen=Predigten habe ich fast gantz ausgetheilet/ und hat sich manches daraus erquickt’.⁶ Others in the Glaucha community appear to have read the booklet with interest, despite having no personal connection with the dead woman. In this way the pastoral and instructive concerns of funeral sermons and poems extend beyond the immediate family into the community at large. For a pre-Reformation Christian, death was a crucial moment, at which the future state of the soul could be determined. As a result a considerable literature developed, teaching the art of how to die well (the ars moriendi).⁷ Christians were to study this art during their lifetime to ensure that they would not succumb to the demons lying in wait at their deathbed for possession of their soul.⁸ Despite the emphasis on justification by faith, the hour and manner of death continued to play an important role after the Reformation. Luther considered the way a Christian died an extremely important pastoral issue, writing his own ars moriendi work, Ein Sermon von der bereytung zum sterben, in 1519, and the numerous Sterbebücher of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries show that the topic continued to occupy ⁴ Anna Carrdus (ed., introd., and comm.), Das »weiblich Werck« in der Residenzstadt Altenburg (1672–1720): Gedichte und Briefe von Margaretha Susanna von Kuntsch und Frauen aus ihrem Umkreis (Hildesheim: Olms, 2004), pp. 296, 311, 313, and commentary pp. 397, 400. Cornelia Niekus Moore cites this example in ‘Praeparatio ad Mortem: Das Buch bei Vorbereitung und Begleitung des Sterbens im protestantischen Deutschland des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts’ Pietismus und Neuzeit, 19 (1993), 9–18 (p. 13). For information on the Glaucha community, see Ulrike Witt, Bekehrung, Bildung und Biographie: Frauen im Umkreis des Halleschen Pietismus, Hallesche Forschungen, 2 (Halle/ S.: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen; Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1996), pp. 194–9. ⁵ Juliana Patientia Schultt (1680–1701), LP Stolberg 20724, letter of 25 March 1701; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 311. ⁶ Schultt, letter of 17 May 1701; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 313 (emphasis in original publication). ⁷ For a discussion of the medieval ars moriendi tradition, see Rainer Rudolf, Ars moriendi: Von der Kunst des heilsamen Lebens und Sterbens, Forschungen zur Volkskunde, 39 (Cologne: Böhlau, 1957). ⁸ This struggle was often depicted in the ars moriendi books, with angels at one side of the bed and demons at the other.

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the minds and pens of Lutheran ministers.⁹ In his work MEMENTO MORI, Das ist: Heilsame Todes=Gedancken Georg Linzner claims that Wol Sterben die Allergröste Kunst ist: Ars artium & Scientia Scientiarum, eine Kunst aller Künsten/ und eine Wissenschafft aller Wissenschafften/ daran man die gantze Zeit seines Lebens zu lernen hat/ und welche sich nicht eher probiren läst/ als im Tode/ da man nicht fehlen darff/ sondern derselben perfect und gewiß seyn mus/ will man anders nicht übel/ sondern wol fahren.¹⁰

In fact, with the possibility of post-mortem propitiation swept away with masses for the dead and the notion of Purgatory, advance preparation for death remained a central concern for Lutherans. But how were they to make these preparations? How were they to be ‘perfect und gewiß’ in a situation which allowed for no practice runs? One method was to learn from the exemplary death of others: Jhr Sterbetag soll uns die Kunst zu sterben zeigen/ Biß auch aus unsrer Uhr das letzte Sand=Korn rinnt.¹¹

This is a lesson that Juliana Patientia seems to have been studying in the period leading up to her own death, and reading the description of Anna Sabina Bilefeld’s final hours was clearly an important part of this preparation. ⁹ Examples include Jakob Schopper, Sterbkunst/ Das ist: Christliche Form Die Krancken vnnd sterbenden Menschen/ […] zu berichten/ zu vermanen/ vnd zutrösten. […] (Nuremberg: Johann Lauer [publisher] and Catharina Dieterich [printer], 1599); Johann Heermann, Güldene Sterbekunst/ […] (Breslau: David Müller [publisher]; Leipzig: Johann-Albrecht Mintzel [printer], 1628), and Georg Friedrich Märck, Hochtröstliche Todes=Gedancken/ oder seelige Todes=Betrachtung […] (Leipzig: Johann Christian Wohlfart [publisher] and Christoph Balthasar Lampe [printer], 1691). For an extensive discussion of this genre, see Austra Reinis, Reforming the Art of Dying: The ars moriendi in the German Reformation (1519–28), St Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007). See, in addition, Luise Klein, ‘Die Bereitung zum Sterben: Studien zu den evangelischen Sterbebüchern des 16. Jahrhunderts’, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Göttingen, 1958, and Niekus Moore, ‘Praeparatio ad Mortem’. ¹⁰ Georg Linzner, MEMENTO MORI, Das ist: Heilsame Todes=Gedancken/ [ …] (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Eberhard Felsecker, 1675), dedication, fo.)(iiijv (emphasis in original publication); cited by Ferdinand van Ingen in Vanitas und Memento Mori in der deutschen Barocklyrik (Groningen: Wolters, 1966), p. 121. ¹¹ Gottfried Gräve, poem from the funeral booklet for Martha Sophia Jöcher (1679–94), LP Stolberg 13464, from the epicedia collection, ‘Wohlmeinende Trost=Zeilen’, fos.)o(4v –)o(5r , lines 11–12.


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The art of dying (ars moriendi) is intimately bound up with the art of living: Martin Moller insists that ‘Christliche leben’ and ‘seliglich sterben’ are correlatives in the title to his 1593 ars moriendi work.¹² And the first step towards learning both how to live and to die well was to acknowledge the transience of human life and temporal concerns. Human vanitas is exemplified by infant and childhood death, as Daniel Benedikt Pforth acknowledges in his poem on the death of 11-year-old August Olearius in 1657: Leben=Nebel Schauet Jhr Menschen! das Leben erkennet! Welches ihr Wollust und Herrligkeit nennet/ Dencket wie nichtig/ wie flüchtig ihr seyd Mitten in Eurer noch blühenden Zeit. Heute vermögend und morgen erstarret/ Heute voll Freuden und morgen verscharret/ Heute wie Rosen wie grünendes Laub/ Morgen nur Erde/ nur Asche nur Staub. Schauet das Oel=blat von ästen gebrochen An dem die Morta sich hefftig gerochen Weil dieser Jüngling entrissen der Welt Und von den Pocken zur Erden gefällt.¹³

The title plays with a common conceit: the paranomasia that ‘Leben’ reversed gives ‘Nebel’, revealing life’s true essence to those who have eyes to see it. The poem’s dactylic metre and the anaphora of ‘Heute…, morgen…’ increase the urgency of the vanitas, building up to a climax in the tricolon ‘nur Erde/ nur Asche nur Staub’. The opening lines are clearly based on a hymn by a Coburg schoolmaster Michael Franck, which had enjoyed wide circulation in the early 1650s: Ach wie nichtig/ ach wie flüchtig ist der menschen leben! wie ein nebel bald entstehet/ ¹² Martin Moller, Manuale DE PRAEPARATIONE AD MORTEM. Heylsame vnd sehr nützliche Betrachtung/ wie ein Mensch Christliche leben vnd seliglich sterben sol […] (Görlitz: Johann Rhambaw, 1603). ¹³ Daniel Benedikt Pforth, poem from the funeral booklet for August Olearius (1646–57), HAAB Weimar: 40,3: 34 (n. 30/41)*, no page numbers, lines 1–12.

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Death and didacticism und bald wiederum vergehet/ so ist unser leben/ sehet!¹⁴

Franck’s hymn makes a general didactic point, drawing attention to the conceit ‘Leben/ Nebel’ through the imperative ‘sehet’. But in his poem Pforth moves from the ubiquitous vanitas images of ‘Rosen’ and ‘grünendes Laub’ to the specific case: ‘Schauet das Oel=blat von ästen gebrochen’. The ‘Ölbaum’ is the Olearius family and August the leaf that death has so violently removed.¹⁵ The realization that life is transitory provokes two apparently contradictory responses. The first, carpe diem, ‘Last vns essen vnd trincken, Wir sterben doch morgen’, is frequently invoked in love poetry, where the poet urges his intransigent mistress to yield to his entreaties whilst she still has time and beauty.¹⁶ The other response, much more appropriate for religious poetry, is memento mori, acknowledging the ever-present threat of death and preparing for it.¹⁷ Ferdinand van Ingen argues that at the heart of the memento mori is a tension between certainty and uncertainty: the certainty that death will come and the uncertainty of the time or place (‘Mors certa, hora incerta’).¹⁸ We see this in cases of sudden death, which continued to be regarded with particular fear after the Reformation. In 1669 8-year-old Johann Conrad Evers was killed in an accident: his carriage was overturned on a journey from his home in Lüneburg to Leipzig to visit his father’s grave. Johann Oppel preached a sermon at the funeral entitled ‘Christliche Sterbens=Vorbereitung’, and in the same booklet a poem by Johann Joachim Knoche turns the boy’s untimely death into a warning: vanitas becomes memento mori: Der fällt vom Wagen todt/ und lehrt durch seinen Fall Und unverhofftes End/ daß wir sind überall Jung/ alt/ schön/ reich und arm/ die Krancken und Gesunden Durch das Naturgesetz der Sterbligkeit verbunden/ ¹⁴ First strophe, from Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Geist=reiches Gesang=Buch […], 2nd edn. (Halle/ S.: Waisenhaus, 1705), no. 556, pp. 877–8. ¹⁵ These images will be discussed at length in the following chapter. ¹⁶ Isaiah 22: 13; WA Bibel, XI. 1, 75. ¹⁷ Of course, these variant responses must be seen as genre determined, and a poet who advocates carpe diem in love poetry may well offer a strong memento mori in his religious, meditative, and funeral verse. ¹⁸ Vanitas und Memento Mori, p. 61.


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Und das ohn Unterscheid nach vorgesetzten Ziel Des hohen Him[m]elsraths/ und darff kein Zeugnüß viel:¹⁹

A healthy boy could be snatched away from his mother with none of the warning signs of illness; death could strike anyone at any moment, so it was vital to live in a state of constant anticipation. In a sermon preached in 1720 a Leipzig clergyman, Adam Bernd, describes death as a basilisk which the faithful should look resolutely in the eye before it turns its fatal gaze on them and catches them unawares.²⁰ Many funeral poems seem determined to do just that, confronting death in all its ugly reality. This strategy was familiar from the medieval transi or cadaver tombs, which represent the processes of death and decomposition on the human body.²¹ Some show the dead on two levels. Above they lie in effigy as in life, displaying their earthly status and achievements, but below they appear as skeletons or decomposing bodies, stripped of any insignia or identifying features. Christian Gueinz, headmaster in Halle and member of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, employs this tactic in his ‘Seeliges Andencken’ for Franz Mordian von Kärßenbrock. Solomon, once a great and glorious monarch, is now nothing more than carrion, and even Helen of Troy’s legendary beauty has been reduced to a handful of dust. Taking her features in a parody of Petrarchan enumeration, Gueinz graphically paints her putrefaction: Dann gekreuselte Haar sind doch nichts anders als ein außgetriebener Vnflat der Natur. Die Stirne ist eine kaale […] Schale. An stadt der Augen sind löcher/ darinnen die Schlangen jhren gang gemacht haben. Der Mund ist eine Cloack des Eiters/ darauß Wust fleust vnd Erschrecknis.²² ¹⁹ From the funeral booklet for Johann Conrad Evers (1661–69), LP Stolberg 7568, fos. Hijr –Hiijr , lines 39–44. ²⁰ Adam Bernd, Nöthige Vorbereitung eines Christen Auff den Tod […] (Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Braun, 1720), p. 4. ²¹ For a discussion of the transi tomb, see Kathleen Cohen, Metamorphosis of a Death Symbol: The Transi Tomb in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, California Studies in the History of Art, 15 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973). Cohen argues that the transi tomb is a ‘complex phenomenon, encompassing an entire spectrum of meaning, of which only one small aspect was the traditional memento mori. The transi played a vital role in the expression of hope for the salvation of the soul of the deceased, a role which itself evolved from symbolizing the humility and contrition of the deceased to symbolizing the very resurrection of his body’ (p. 181). ²² ‘Seeliges Andencken’ by Christian Gueinz, for Franz Mordian von Kärßenbrock (1616–35), HAB Wolfenbüttel: 48.7 Poet (109); no page signatures, ([2a–b]). This is

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The choice of Solomon and Helen of Troy clearly marks Gueinz’s didactic intention, for Solomon represents the male domain of worldly authority, whilst Helen’s beauty is cited to apply the argument to women; all at Franz Mordian’s funeral were to be reminded of their own mortality. We find an even more unpleasant example in the booklet for Charlotte Sophie Weise, who died in 1711 just two days after her elder sister, Rachel Christiana.²³ The poem is addressed to their mother, who had already suffered multiple bereavements. The poet transports her to her children’s graves and compels her to imagine them at varying stages of decomposition: An jenen siehst Du nichts/ als was der Fäulniß ist/ An der verdorten haut und Nerven übrig blieben/ 30 Das frische Fleisch/ wornach den Würmern hier gelüst/ Jst meistens Asch und Erd/ so vollends muß zerstieben. Der gantze Rest wird noch in gar geringer Zeit Verwesen und zergehn bis auff die leichten Knochen/ Und dieses sinds/ an dem sich Todt und Sterblichkeit/ 35 Die in den Gräbern herrscht/ vollkommen hat gerochen. Doch sieh Dich weiter um/ hier steht Dein lieber Sohn/ Desselben Leiche muß noch mit der Faulung ringen/ Das Fleisch geht ziemlich weg/ mich dünckt/ man spühret schon/ Wie die Verwesung ihn will nach und nach bezwingen; 40 Das Augen=Paar verfällt/ die Wangen gehen ein/ Die leichte Haut zerreißt an Stirne/ Brust und Lippen/ Es blickt schon hie und da ein gantz vertrockenes bein/ Es ragen schon hervor die abgefleischten Rippen. Jn wenig Jahren wirst Du auch an diesem sehn/ 45 Was jene Leiche Dir in ihren Särgen wiesen: Denn in der Todten=Grufft kan anders nichts geschehn/ Als daß sie endlich Staub und Asche muß umschliessen.

This horrific evocation is the literary equivalent of the transi tomb. The corpses are a visual memento mori, and reveal in gruesome detail the sorry substance of the human body. But they are also evoked to the classical ubi sunt? (‘where are…?’) motif, which van Ingen identifies in Vanitas und Memento Mori, pp. 71–5. ²³ Poem by Carl Friedrich Romanus for Charlotte Sophie Weise (1699–1711), LP Stolberg 22765, [pp. 66–8].


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remind Frau Weise that decomposition is an unavoidable stage in the transition from earthly to heavenly bodies: Romanus alludes to John 12: 24 (‘Warlich, warlich, Jch sage euch, Es sey denn, das das Weitzenkorn in der erden falle, vnd ersterbe, so bleibts alleine. Wo es aber erstirbet, so bringets viel Früchte’).²⁴ In the opening lines he had claimed that his poem would help to restore the mother’s peace of mind. This claim can only make sense if we see his shock tactic as part of the consolation process. By forcing Frau Weise to focus on the putrefaction, Romanus attempts to bring her to the point where she can relinquish her children and look forward instead to reunion in heaven. Here memento mori and consolation converge. In funeral poetry, then, memento mori, is rarely an end in itself.²⁵ The poets are keen to move the parents to the next stage where they realize not only the transience but also the insignificance of temporal affairs. And even this contemptus mundi aspect is not the ultimate aim. The bereaved may be urged to live their own earthly lives in the light of the hereafter, but there is also a consolatory thrust to the contemptus mundi. Poets set the misery which the child has left behind against his or her immeasurable joys in heaven, a tactic used in sixteenth-century consolation books for grieving parents with their rags-to-riches anecdote.²⁶ In the poems the difference between earthly existence and heavenly life is expressed through stark antitheses. The baby Susanna Engelmann makes a swift transition from troubled ‘Schlesien’ to ‘das Elysien’,²⁷ Sophie Elisabeth Röber exchanges the earthly ‘Sumpf’ for the eternal ‘Schloß’,²⁸ and a poem for August Olearius urges readers to pray that they may also make the dramatic journey from the ‘Cloac der argen bösen Welt’ to heavenly pastures.²⁹ ²⁴ WA Bibel, VI, 379. ²⁵ Van Ingen acknowledges that pure memento mori is rare, even in verse that is not written for a specific occasion (Vanitas und Memento Mori, p. 59). ²⁶ See pp. 34–5. ²⁷ M[agister] V[alentin] Alberti, poem from the funeral booklet for Susanna Engelmann (*† 1664), LP Stolberg 7621, p. 47. The sermon was delivered and the funeral booklet published in Leipzig, but the father came from Liegnitz. ²⁸ Johann Heermann, ‘Tumulus SOPHIÆ ELISABETHÆ RÖBERINÆ: Puellulæ Suavißime & c.’ from the funeral booklet for Sophie Elisabeth Röber (1630–1), LP Stolberg 18960, fo. Hr , lines 7–8. ²⁹ Johann Nicolaus Bencker, poem from the funeral booklet for August Olearius (1646–57), LP Stolberg 17398, epicedia section ‘Jugend= und Tugend Lob’ (Halle/ S.: Salfeld press, [1657?]), fos. Aiijr –A4r , lines 59–60.

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Typically contrasting pairs of end-rhymes are ‘Freuden/Leiden’ or ‘Himmels=Saal/Thränen=Thal’. Or differences are couched in biblical allusions: places which evoke slavery, suffering, or punishment contrast with locations of freedom and pleasure. Maria Magdalene Temme departs Babylon for Zion, fleeing from the death of Sodom to the life of ‘Saarons freyes Feld’,³⁰ and Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch imagines her children in Canaan, the Promised Land, whilst those left on earth languish in the bondage of Egyptian slavery: ERmuntre dich mein Geist/ entreisse dich der Welt/ Schwing die Gedancken auf biß in des Himmels Zelt/ Beschau zu deinem Trost den immer grünen Lentzen/ Die Wunderns=werthe Pracht/ darinn dieselben gläntzen/ Die du anjetzt beklagst/ bedenck auch diesen Stand/ Ist nicht dort Canaan/ und hier Egypten=Land/ Dort Milch und Honig Fluß/ hier Kürbiß/ Lauch/ und Pfeben/ Wie magst du dieses Thun für jenes denn erheben? Wie wunschest du daß den’n/ die dort nun Nectar tränckt/ Mit dir noch würde hier ein Wermuth=Wein geschenckt/ Den’n dorten Manna wird mit vollem Maaß gemessen/ Daß sie noch solten hier mit dir das Angst=Brodt essen/ Die so von GOtt gelehrt/ und aller Weißheit voll/ Daß hier Unwissenheit sie noch beschwehren soll/³¹

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The living must work the land in exile for their ‘Kürbiß/ Lauch und Pfeben’,³² eating their ‘Angst-Brodt’³³ and drinking their fill of ³⁰ Taken from two poems from the funeral booklet for Maria Magdalene Temme († 1713), one by Ernst Benjamin Eckardt, in the HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering p. 12, line 7, and the second by her brother Augustinus, pp. 9–12, line 20. ³¹ Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch, Sämmtliche Geist= und weltliche Gedichte […] (Halle/ S.: Neue Buchhandlung, 1720), II. V; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 119. ³² ‘Wir gedencken der Fische, die wir in Egypten vmb sonst assen, vnd der Körbis, pfeben, lauch, zwibel vnd knoblauch’ (Numbers 11: 5, WA Bibel, VIII, 469). The rebellious children of Israel refer to Egyptian produce to show what they have left behind to follow Moses into the desert, but Kuntsch’s juxtaposition of these fruits of the earth which have to be sown and harvested (Genesis 3: 17–19) with the ease of life in the land flowing with milk and honey highlights the futility of clinging to worldly attractions: ‘Wie magst du dieses Thun für jenes denn erheben?’ ³³ ‘HERR Gott Zebaoth, Wie lange wiltu zürnen vber dem Gebet deines Volcks? Du speisest sie mit Threnen brot, Vnd trenckest sie mit grossem mas vol threnen’


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bitterness,³⁴ whilst Johanna Blandine and Christoph Friedrich feast on nectar and heavenly manna,³⁵ on milk and honey, the food of the chosen.³⁶ Such efforts on Kuntsch’s part to counterbalance her own sorrow by opposing ‘dieses’ and ‘jenes Thun’ work on the Galenic principle already discussed: that healing comes from the application of a contrasting remedy. In many cases the difference between earth and heaven, between the children’s joy and the parents’ grief, is evoked to show that the parents’ perspective is false. This is the main argument of two poems from the funeral booklet for Johanna Maria Zittemann, the 16-year-old daughter of a Leipzig pharmacist. The first plays with the distinction between Schein and Sein: Das Ziel scheint sehr verrückt! Jndem auf Hochzeit=Freude Der liebsten Tochter Sie sorgfältig sind bedacht/ Wird diese Tugend=Kron durch grimme Todes=Macht Jn Jhrer schönsten Blüht verderbt mit bitterm Leide! Das Ziel ist nicht verrückt! Denn GOtt hats so gefüget; Daß diese schöne Braut so bald der Welt entrückt/ Jn JEsu Hochzeit=Haus mit Ehren wird geschmückt: An dessen Seiten Sie in ewger Lust sich schmieget.³⁷

The first strophe sketches the situation as it appears to Matthias and Anna Maria Zittemann. By rights, they should have been looking forward to their teenage daughter’s wedding, but they find themselves at her funeral. In the second strophe, however, the situation is turned on its head. Nothing could be more fitting for Johanna Maria than to become a bride of Christ. She has not been diverted from her intended path, but has achieved her aim all the sooner through death. The second poem opens with the image of a man lost in the dark on an unknown road: (Psalm 80: 6, WA Bibel, X. 1, 369). ‘Du Menschenkind, Du solt dein brot essen mit beben, vnd dein Wasser trincken mit zittern vnd sorgen’ (Ezekiel 12: 18, WA Bibel, XI. 1, 441). ³⁴ ‘Er hat mich mit bitterkeit gesettigt, vnd mit Wermut getrenckt’ (Lamentations 3: 15, WA Bibel, XI. 1, 383). ³⁵ Exodus 16: 31. ³⁶ Exodus 3: 8; Numbers 13: 28. ³⁷ Johannes Dornfeld, poem from the funeral booklet for Johanna Maria Zittemann (1664–80), LP Stolberg 23560, fo. J2r (my emphasis).

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Death and didacticism WJe wer bey trüber Nacht auf unbekandter Strassen Gantz einsam reisen muß/ leicht seinen Weg verliehrt/ Und hier und dorten fehlt; so werden gleicher massen Durch steten Jrrthum auch wir Sterblichen verführt. Wenn unser schwacher Kahn sich zu dem Ufer lencket/ So sehn wir offt den Port vor eine Sandbanck an/ Wir nennen guten Grund den Trübsand/ der versencket Und schätzen vor Gewinn/ was uns doch schaden kan. Wir hassen die Artzney/ und wehlen süsse Sachen/ Die in dem Leibe doch das Grimmen nach sich ziehn/ Den Kindern gleich/ die bey der Grufft der Eltern lachen/ Und in ein nahes Licht zu greiffen sich bemühn. Was GOtt auffs beste meynt/ empfahen wir mit Weinen/ Betrachten/ was Er thut/ offt durch ein falsches Glas/ Durch das sein Vater=Hertz muß noch so harte scheinen/ Und niemals messen wir uns mit dem rechten Maaß.³⁸

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Just as in the dark objects may appear to be other than they are, so humans often fail to regard death as a safe haven because they see the world through a distorting lens. Were Johanna Maria’s parents to achieve clarity of sight, the poet Johann Georg May insists, they would consider her death rather differently: Und dennoch irret Jhr/ Jhr sehr=betrübten Beyde/ Denn/ seh’ ich dieses Licht mit andern Augen an/ Als Euer Schmertze heischt; So geht Jhr ietzt im Leide/ Da dieser Tag Euch doch allein erfreuen kan. Diß Licht/ an dem Jhr weint/ zeucht Euerm werthen Kinde Die Feyerkleider an/ ietzt ist Jhr Hochzeit=Fest/ (Gönnt nur/ daß Glaub’ und Schrifft die Augen Euch entbinde/ Die ietzund Euer Schmertz diß nicht begreiffen läst/ ) Der schönste Purpur deckt die rein=gewaschnen Glieder/ Die durch sein heilig Blut der HErr sich selbst vertraut/ Der liebt Sie ewiglich/ Sie liebt Jhn ewig wieder/ Sie heist Jhn Bräutigam/ Er heist Sie seine Braut.³⁹

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³⁸ ‘Der Jmmer=währende Jrrthum der Menschen’ by Johann Georg May, LP Zittemann, fos. Kv –K2v , lines 1–8, 13–16. ³⁹ See the following chapter for a discussion of bridal imagery in funeral poetry.


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In other poems death is a door which opens to admit the children to a carefree world of bliss,⁴⁰ and Philipp Jakob Heustreu’s comparison of humankind’s earthly ignorance with that of a child in the womb suggests that the moment of death is actually delivery into new life.⁴¹ This echoes Luther’s description in Eyn Sermon von der bereytung zum sterben: [G]leych wie ein kind auß der cleynen wonung seyner mutter leyb mit gefar und engsten geboren wirt yn dißenn weyten hymell und erden, das ist auff diße welt. Alßo geht der mensch durch die enge pforten des todts auß dißem leben, und wie woll der hymell und die welt, da wir itzt yn leben, groß und weyt angesehen wirt, Szo ist es doch alles gegen dem zukunfftigem hymel vill enger und kleyner, dan der mutter leyb gegenn dißem hymell ist, darumb heyst der lieben heyligen sterben eyn new gepurt, und yhre fest nennet man zu latein Natale, eyn tag yhrer gepurt.⁴²

Working from the same view of death as ‘Ein Durchgang ins ewige Leben/ […] Eine erwünschte Auflösung/ Heimfarth/ und Wiederbringung in das rechte und Ewige Vaterland’, Johannes Olearius, author of Beständiger Trost Wider die schrecklichen Hiobs=Posten gives his funeral sermon for 3-year-old August von Alvensleben the provocative title ‘Ars non moriendi incomparabilis: Die aller vortreflichste kunst der Unsterbligkeit’.⁴³ Christians who learn that the true ars vivendi is in fact an ars moriendi (meditating on death’s ⁴⁰ Christoph Cerycius, ‘Valet Wort der selig verstorbenen an ihre hochbetrübte liebe Eltern’, from the funeral booklet for Magdalene Avenbeck (1617–31), LP Stolberg 3909, fos. Diijr –D4v , strophe 4. This is also evoked in a poem by Christian Liechte from the funeral booklet for Agnes Margarethe von Rauchhaupt (1658–69), LP Stolberg 18400, fos. Fijv –F4r , lines 49–50: ‘Doch wer es recht bedenckt/ was endlich sey das Sterben; | Zum Leben eine Thür/ nicht aber ein Verderben’. ⁴¹ From the funeral booklet for Johann August Bretnütz (*† 1662), LP Stolberg 5054, fos. A4v –Br , lines 1–6. ⁴² WA, II, 685–6. This image appears in a number of consolatory books, including Philipp Nicolai’s FreudenSpiegel des ewigen Lebens, Das ist: Gründtliche Beschreibung deß herrlichen Wesens im ewigen Leben […] (Frankfurt a.M.: Johann Spieß, 1599), p. 278; cited by Marion Kobelt-Groch in ‘,,Freudiger Abschied Jungfräulicher Seelen‘‘: Himmelsphantasien in protestantischen Leichenpredigten für Kinder’, Wolfenbütteler Barock-Nachrichten, 31 (2004), 117–47 (p. 124). ⁴³ Johannes Olearius, sermon for August von Alvensleben (1657–60), LP Stolberg 5293, fo. A4v (my emphasis).

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omnipresence, learning to despise earthly affairs) will, at the hour of death, easily master the ars non moriendi. Vitus Langenstätter foregrounds the difference between the earthly and the spiritual views of death by staging a conversation between the earth-bound body of 16-year-old Hieronymus Kramer and his soul, intent on its heavenly journey: Valet=Gespräch Des Leibes und der Seelen. Der Leib. MEin Mund kan nicht mehr sprechen/ Mein Hertz will mir zerbrechen Für grosser Bangigkeit; Die kranken Glieder wakeln/ Die Augen/ meine Fakeln Verlöschen für der Zeit. Die Seel. Hemm/ Liebster/ deine Klagen/ Du wirst von allen Plagen Jn kurtzen seyn befreyt: Du köm[m]st in eine Kammer/ Wo aufhört aller Jammer Und Unglükseligkeit. Der Leib. Jst denn kein Mensch zu finden Bey unsern schlanken Linden/ Ach! Seele sage Mir? Soll ich denn gantz verschmachten/ Und länger nicht betrachten Dieß schöne Welt=Revier. Die Seel. Was Schönheit dieser Erden! Es muß ja alles werden Zu lauter Asch und Staub: Sind doch die Him[m]els=Stürmer/ Und starken Riesen=Würmer Des grimmen Todes Raub. Der Leib. Das ist iezt nicht die Frage/ Bey meiner Sterbens=Klage/ Du Allerliebster Freund:

Death and didacticism Jch weiß wohl/ daß wir alle Verpflichtet/ als Vasalle/ Dem Tode unserm Feind. Die Seel. Wohlan behend erzehle/ Weil ich in deiner Höle Bin noch gar kleine Frist: Die Engel sind erschienen/ Zutragen mich zun Bühnen/ Wo mein HERR JESUS ist. Der Leib. Warum muß ich erblassen So schleunig/ und verlassen/ Bey noch so junger Zeit/ Die Mutter und den Vater/ Als meine besten Rather/ O Ungerechtigkeit! Die Seel. Der Tod acht keine Rechte/ Noch Alter/ noch Geschlechte/ Es ist ihm alles gleich; Drum schike dich zum letzen/ Hier ist kein Mehr=ergötzen/ Du bist schon eine Leich! Der Leib. Soll Seelgen ich nun scheiden Und deine Freundschafft meiden/ O übermachtes Leid! Jch wolte lieber lassen Die Stad/ und stoltzen Gassen/ Als deine Liebligkeit. Die Seel. Ja! ich muß nunmehr gehen Den Pfad zu jener Höhen/ Da Christus aufgebaut Ein Haus von Seeligkeiten/ Das Er von grauen Zeiten Mir und dir anvertraut. Biß daß wir wieder stehen/ Wenn Gott wird heissen gehen

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Death and didacticism Die Todten aus der Grufft/ Vereinigt und in Freuden Besingen unser Leiden: Ruh sanft in deiner Klufft. Der Leib. Fahr wohl ich bin zu frieden/ Sind wir gleich hier geschieden Auf dieser schnöden Welt; Dieweil wir werden kommen Zusammen/ wo die Frommen Ins blaue Himmels=Zelt. Herr Vater/ Euch nicht kräncket/ Frau Mutter/ nicht gedenket An meinen frühen Tod: Jch bin in Fried entwichen Der Welt/ und ihren Flüchen/ Jch lebe nun bey GOTT!⁴⁴

Here we find the very fusion of instruction and consolation that we have come to expect from funeral poetry. The body voices Hieronymus’s fear of death, unwillingness to leave behind the ‘schöne Welt=Revier’, and feelings of injustice at the brevity of his life. The soul responds, reminding the body of the peace to be found in death, the worthlessness of the world to which it clings (contemptus mundi), and death’s impartiality. But the soul also holds out the hope of physical resurrection, when it will be reunited with the body. By the end of the poem earthly considerations yield to the heavenly perspective. The body has come to regard the world as ‘schnöd’ and to look forward to the fulfilment of the soul’s promises. It declares itself content with its lot, and in the final six lines turns its attention to the grieving parents, imparting to them the comforting lessons learned. Dialogue is a didactically effective form. Early modern men and women were taught the fundamentals of the Christian faith through the question-and-answer format of the catechism, and Gesprächbüchlein had proved a very useful and accessible tool for ⁴⁴ From the funeral booklet for Hieronymus Kramer (1654–70), LP Stolberg 14389, fos. Aiijv –A4r (emphasis in original publication).


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instruction and propaganda in the early years of the Reformation.⁴⁵ In her work on the more erudite Renaissance dialogues, Virginia Cox has shown that presenting arguments in dialogue form forces readers to play an active role. The party to be enlightened stands for the reader, who is taken through the same reasoning processes as in a real discussion. If the dialogue is a representation of a communicative process, it is also, like any text, a communication itself. The oral exchange depicted in a dialogue acts as a kind of fictional shadow to the literary transaction between the reader and the text, conveying at least some of the same information, with a similar intent [… E]ach word, each argument in a written dialogue is simultaneously part of a fictional conversation and an actual literary exchange.⁴⁶

Dialogue is also a tried-and-tested consolatory tactic.⁴⁷ We have only to think of Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, or of Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae (On the Cures for Good and Bad Fortune), where Ratio (Reason) discusses a number of afflictions with Dolor (Sorrow). By arranging their consolatory arguments into dialogues between two people,⁴⁸ between body and soul, or between Christ and the soul,⁴⁹ seventeenth-century funeral poets were writing within a firmly established tradition. The form allowed them to present antithetical views and to work through an argument, ⁴⁵ See John W. van Cleve, ‘Converting the Common Man: German Dialogues of the Early Reformation’, Colloquia Germanica, 13 (1980), 97–105. ⁴⁶ Virginia Cox, The Renaissance Dialogue: Literary Dialogue in Social and Political Contexts. Castiglione to Galileo, Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture, 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 5. ⁴⁷ See Anna Carrdus, ‘Consolatory Dialogue in Devotional Writings by Men and Women of Early Modern Protestant Germany’, MLR, 93 (1998), 411–27. ⁴⁸ In the funeral booklet for Martha Justina Alberti (1645–58) there is a rudimentary verse drama, ‘Gespräch zwischen einem bekümmerten Verwandten und einem Prediger’, in which a clergyman comforts a grief-stricken relative by explaining why Martha Justina has died (LP Stolberg 3702, fos. K3r – v ). ⁴⁹ Dialogue between God and the soul is important in the mystical tradition, both Catholic and Protestant. It is closely connected with the model of the Song of Songs and the ‘Jesusminne’. In his work on the development and use of the dialogue form in German poetry, August Langen states that early modern musical workings of the Song of Songs often set it in dialogue cantata form, citing as an example Andreas Hammerschmidt’s Dialogi oder Gespräch zwischen Gott undt Einer gläubigen Seelen […] (Dresden: [Bergen?], 1647); in Dialogisches Spiel: Formen und Wandlungen des Wechselgesangs in der deutschen Dichtung (1600–1900), Annales Universitatis Saraviensis; Reihe: Philosophische Fakultät, 5 (Heidelberg: Winter, 1966), p. 85.

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often endowing one view with greater credibility by assigning it to a particular interlocutor, in Langenstätter’s poem Hieronymus’s soul. In this way, Lutheran funeral verse corresponds to David Simpson’s category of monologic or closed dialogue, where the outcome is fixed from the beginning: faith and the heavenly perspective must be seen to triumph.⁵⁰ In a particularly interesting example, the long poem on the death of Johanna Blandine and Christoph Friedrich, Kuntsch externalizes the internal tug-of-war between her Christian faith and her love for her children: ‘Wechsel=Gespräch/ zwischen der mit natürlich=mütterlicher Liebe/ und Christlicher Gott=gelassenheit erfülleten Seelen/ nach Absterben vorerwehnter beyden liebsten Kinder/ 1685’.⁵¹ This enables her to analyse the various thoughts and emotions which arise from her losses: Ja ich könt mit der Zeit an Kindern Ehr erleben: Sie eben könten dir auch Schand und Unehr geben; Nein! dieß besorgt ich nicht/ sie waren guter Art: Es sind der Eltern mehr die solches nicht befahrt; Die gute Zucht solt schon was Gutes in sie drücken: Nein kennst du nicht der Welt und Satans böse Tücken/ Durch den Verführer ward/ was Engel=rein/ befleckt/ Und böß Exempel hat das Gute leicht versteckt.

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Christian faith is given more space on the platform than motherly love, and in the end, of course, prevails. Kuntsch’s maternal instinct is persuaded (at least within the dialogue context of the poem) to regard the death of her beloved children as a merciful release from manifold physical and spiritual dangers, and to look forward instead to reunion with her son and daughter in heaven. The favourite type of funeral dialogue poem for children stages a conversation between the bereaved parent and the child in heaven, who is given voice through prosopopoeia (conformatio).⁵² Defined ⁵⁰ See David Simpson, ‘Hume’s Intimate Voices and the Method of Dialogue’, Texas Studies in Literature and Language, 21 (1979), 68–92 (pp. 68–71); cited in Cox, The Renaissance Dialogue, pp. 3–4. ⁵¹ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. V; in Carrdus, Das »weiblichWerck«, pp. 119–24. Carrdus discusses the poem in ‘Consolatory Dialogue’, p. 426. ⁵² This figure might more accurately be termed eidolopoeia, since this gives voice to the dead, although as Heinrich Lausberg has demonstrated, the use of these terms is rather unstable (Handbuch der literarischen Rhetorik: Eine Grundlegung der literarischen


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in the Rhetorica ad Herennium as ‘representing an absent person as present, or […] making a mute thing or one lacking form articulate, and attributing to it a definite form and a language or a certain behaviour appropriate to its character […]’,⁵³ this rhetorical figure is emotionally charged. Alsted locates it within the high style in his Encyclopædia: ‘Prosopopoeïa in serious matters, for instance in rather vehement warnings and reproofs, is an excellent [rhetorical] ornament’,⁵⁴ and Quintilian affirms its impact in the section of his Institutio oratoria (The Orator’s Education) devoted to legal or forensic rhetoric: When an advocate speaks for a client, the bare facts produce the effect; but when we pretend that the victims themselves are speaking, the emotional effect is drawn also from the persons. The judge no longer thinks that he is listening to a lament for somebody else’s troubles, but that he is hearing the feelings and the voice of the afflicted, whose silent appearance alone moves Rhetorik, 3rd edn. (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1990), §. 826, pp. 411–12). Seventeenth-century poets seem to have been aware of the term prosopopoeia, and applied it to their funeral writings. Johann Heinrich Alsted discusses prosopopoeia very briefly in his consideration of rhetorical tropes and figures (Encyclopædia, ed. Jörg Jungmayr and Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, 4 vols. (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1989–90); facsimile of the 1630 edn. (Herborn: Friedrich Hulsius), I, IX. ix. 2, p. 483), but there is no mention of eidolopoeia. Quintilian’s definition, that prosopopoeia allows the dead to be raised (Institutio oratoria [The Orator’s Education], ed. and tr. Donald A. Russell, The Loeb Classical Library, 124–7 and 494, 5 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001), IX. ii. 31), is cited by Gregory S. Johnston in ‘Rhetorical Personification of the Dead in Seventeenth-Century German Funeral Music: Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (1636) and Three Works by Michael Wiedemann (1693)’, Journal of Musicology, 9 (1991), 186–213 (p. 187). Johnston’s article shows how prosopopoeia was exploited in seventeenth-century funeral music: singers were placed behind the coffin so that the dead person appeared to sing, or up in galleries so that heavenly voices drifted down from on high. Carrdus also discusses the figure in ‘Consolatory Dialogue’, pp. 420–5. For a historical survey of theories of prosopopoeia, see James J. Paxson, The Poetics of Personification (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), ch. 1. ⁵³ [Pseudo-Cicero], Rhetorica ad Herennium, tr. Harry Caplan, The Loeb Classical Library, 403 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954; repr. 1999), IV. liii. 66. Cicero describes ‘impersonation of people’ as ‘an extremely brilliant method of amplification’ (De oratore, tr. E. W. Sutton (I and II) and H. Rackham (II and III), The Loeb Classical Library, 348–9, 2 vols. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1942; repr. 1967–8), III. liii. 205). ⁵⁴ ‘Prosopopoeia in rebus gravioribus, putà in admonitionibus et objurgationibus vehementioribus, est ornatum præstabile’, Alsted, Encyclopædia, I, IX. ix. 2, p. 483; cited by Joachim Dyck in Ticht-Kunst: Deutsche Barockpoetik und rhetorische Tradition, Rhetorik-Forschungen, 2, 3rd edn. ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1991), p. 94.

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him to tears; and, as their pleas would be more pitiful if only they could make them themselves, so to a certain extent the pleas become more effective by being as it were put into their mouths, just as the same voice and delivery of the stage actor produces a greater emotional impact because he speaks behind a mask.⁵⁵

Prosopopoeia is firmly located within the domain of affective persuasion, and Birken specifically advocates its use in funeral writings: ‘Man kan auch den Verstorbenen/ oder einen Engel/ redend einführen/ wie er beschreibet/ in was Freuden er jezt lebe. Man kan eine Trostschrift machen/ als wan[n] sie der neue Seelige selbst/ seinen betrübten Ehegatten zu trösten/ von Himmel herab gesendet hätte.’⁵⁶ Andreas Anger’s handkerchief poem for Elisabeth Pfeffer’s mother, discussed in the previous chapter, is a fine example: Diß Trostwüschtüchlein gring vnd schlecht nempt von mir das mal an/ Vnd treugt/ hertztrawte Mutter mein/ all ewre Threnen dran/ Es hat genät Elisabeth/ ewr einigs Töchterlein Mit Vater vnd dem Bruder mein wolt GOtt befohlen seyn.⁵⁷

This poem, written in 1632, anticipates both parts of Birken’s advice. Elisabeth is ‘redend eingeführt’: the poem is written in the ‘Ich’ form to present to the mother Elisabeth’s words of comfort and admonition. And the poem itself is presented as a handkerchief that Elisabeth is sending down to her weeping mother. Finally, the concluding greetings are surely intended to remind Elisabeth’s mother of the community of the faithful and the glorious reunion of her first husband and children in heaven, where she will one day join them. Elisabeth Pfeffer died at an age when she might have been able to write a letter, or even a poem, to her mother—we are told in Elisabeth’s ‘Lebenslauf’ that she had worked hard at her school lessons.⁵⁸ But in funeral poems the ‘speaking’ children are not only ⁵⁵ Institutio oratoria, VI. i. 25–6. ⁵⁶ Sigmund von Birken, Teutsche Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst/ oder Kurze Anweisung zur Teutschen Poesy/ mit Geistlichen Exempeln: […] (Nuremberg: Christoph Riegel [publisher] and Christoph Gerhard [printer], 1679; facs. edn., Hildesheim: Olms, 1973), x. 174, p. 229. ⁵⁷ ‘Trostwüschtüchlein […]’ from the funeral booklet for Elisabeth Pfeffer (1618– 32), LP Stolberg 17782, fos. Hiijv –H4r , lines 37–40 (emphasis in original publication). ⁵⁸ ‘Bericht von der verstorbenen Jungfraw’, LP Pfeffer, fos. Giijr –Hr .


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those who had mastered speech and developed the capacity for rational thought whilst alive, but also infants wise beyond their years, who offer doctrinally acceptable words of comfort to their parents, in line with the belief that children attain perfection and maturity in heaven.⁵⁹ One-year-old Maria Sophia Mayer is an example of such infant eloquence: Meinen Lauff hab ich vollendet/ Eh’ Jch Lauffen hab gekunt: Meine ZEIT hab ich geendet/ Eh’ Jch/ was Zeit ist/ ergründt. O wie manchem Vngelück/ Das der Christen Früestück/ Sind mein Leib und Seel entgangen! Ruh’ und Frewd hat mich ümbfangen.⁶⁰

In the early stages of mourning, the bereaved often experience a need to re-establish disrupted communication with the deceased, sometimes speaking to them as though they were still alive. Colin Murray Parkes, co-founder of the bereavement charity Cruse and author of a study on the reactions of London widows in the first year after bereavement (1970), maintains that ‘the commonest means of mitigating the pain of grieving comprises the maintenance of a feeling or impression that the bereaved is nearby although they may not be seen or heard’.⁶¹ For Parkes, as for the psychologist John Bowlby,⁶² the impression that the deceased is not irretrievably lost is part of the normal, healthy grieving process, and passes with time as reality exposes the false expectations on which it is based. Prosopopoeial poems play on this impression. They recall the relationship on earth and, as Carrdus has suggested, anticipate its revival in heaven.⁶³ At the same time they reverse the relationship. The children, who have ⁵⁹ ‘Er ist bald volkomen worden, vnd hat viel jar erfüllet’ (Wisdom 4: 13, WA Bibel, XII, 65). ⁶⁰ Andreas Petermann, ‘Trost=Rede Des Seelig=Verstorbenen Töchterleins an die Hinterlassene hoch=betrübte Eltern’ from the funeral booklet for Maria Sophia Mayer (1657–8), LP Stolberg 15847, fo. H3r – v , strophe 1. ⁶¹ Colin Murray Parkes, Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life, 3rd edn. (London: Routledge, 1996; repr. Penguin, 1998), p. 60. ⁶² John Bowlby, Attachment and Loss, 3 vols. (London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psychoanalysis, 1969–80; repr. London: Pimlico, 1997–8), III, 138–40. ⁶³ Carrdus, ‘Consolatory Dialogue’, p. 419.

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been dependent on the parents for nurture and guidance, now offer them advice and spiritual sustenance, inverting the roles of carer and patient: Sie redt mit meinem Geist/ jhn unterweist und lehrt: Offt/ ich ein antwort jhr zu geben mich erwege/ Jn meinem hertzen Sie erhebet alle wege Ein göttlich reden doch/ drob mein verstandt auffhört.⁶⁴

Here Luise Amoene, daughter of Ludwig, Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen, appears to her father to utter words of comfort from beyond the grave, a ‘göttlich reden’ which confounds all rational human arguments. The children in prosopopoeial poems speak from a superior spiritual position, advising, encouraging, and admonishing their living relatives with a heavenly authority that cannot easily be refuted. In an example for the parents of Gottfried Neuhausen, who drowned in 1666 whilst bathing in the Elbe, the boy’s voice seems to speak a memento mori to his family: MJch deucht/ der Seelige läst aus dem Grabe hören Die letzten Abschieds Wort: Last Euch vom Leid abkehren! Denn es bleibt doch darbey: Die Schwalb weiß ihre Zeit/ Der Mensch weiß aber nicht/ wie/ wann und wo zur Beuth Er einst dem Tode werd. Der Vogel wird gefangen Gar blötzlich und geschwind: die Fische sieht man hangen Am scharffen Angel=stahl. Drum nehmt Euch wohl in acht/ Und seyd/ weil Jhr noch lebt/ auff sterben stets bedacht.⁶⁵

Although the imagined voice communicates nothing more than the usual memento mori message, the effect is heightened by the personal address. As van Ingen has written of prosopopoeia in memento mori poems, ‘Die Didaxis ist durch die Ich-Form […] besonders zwingend, denn es fehlt die zeitliche Distanz: Dem Nachdenken ist kein Raum gelassen, der Leser wird überrümpelt.’⁶⁶ ⁶⁴ Anon., ‘Gedancken des Herren Vaters F.G. Vber den tödtlichen abgang/ dero hochgeliebten und einigen Fräwleins’ from the funeral booklet for Luise Amoene, Princess of Anhalt-Cöthen (1609–25), LP Stolberg 5457, fos. F4v –Gr , strophe 2. ⁶⁵ Johann Grubelius, ‘Prosopopœische Redens=Art’ from the funeral booklet for Gottfried Neuhausen (1650–66), LP Stolberg 17071, p. 9 in HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering. ⁶⁶ Van Ingen, Vanitas und Memento Mori, p. 128.


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A form particularly suited to dialogue and debate is the Pindaric ode, with its format of strophe, antistrophe, and epode which reaches a conclusion or achieves some sort of synthesis. Amongst the numerous funeral poets who saw the didactic and dramatic potential in this form was Knoche, author of a ‘Pindarische Unterredungsode’ for the mother of the boy killed in a road accident. Here the strophes are spoken by the grieving mother, the antistrophes by Johann Conrad (‘Der Selige Knabe’), and the epodes are a ‘Himmlischer Nachklang’.⁶⁷ The first cycle addresses Frau Evers’s sense of injustice at the loss of her son (strophe), presents Johann Conrad’s consolation that he is now in a better place (antistrophe), and reminds the reader that God’s will must prevail (epode). In the second cycle, Frau Evers relinquishes her son and accepts her loss (strophe), leaving Johann Conrad free to bid farewell to his surviving relatives (antistrophe). The ‘Nachklang’ concludes with praise to God that this child has completed his earthly race.⁶⁸ Another example, Thomas Wagner’s ‘Liebes=Ring’ ode appended to the funeral sermon for Anna Maria Müller (1647–62), shows how the form could be used to stage a debate between non-human interlocutors, rather like Kuntsch’s internal debate between faith and maternal love. Anna Maria was the daughter of a Leipzig tradesman who died at an age when marriage would have been a none too distant prospect. We shall see in Chapter 5 that bridal imagery was very common in funeral writings for teenage girls. Wagner uses it here as the fulcrum on which the debate between human reason and Christian faith turns: Der Vernunfft Klag=Rede SOll der Glaube reinem Golde gleichen/ Vnd der Edle JEsus=Nahmen Edelstein? Soll des Ringes runde Zeit ohn Ende seyn? Wohl! Was sollen denn entseelte Leichen? Soll denn so die fromme Braut Seyn verlobet und vertraut? Soll nicht mehr als schnödes Leben/ Koth und Schaben Eine fromme Braut zum Liebes=Ringe haben? ⁶⁷ Poem by Johann Joachim Knoche, LP Evers, fos. Hiijr –H4r . ⁶⁸ Cf. 2 Timothy 4: 6–8. See Chapter 5, n. 93.

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Death and didacticism Glaubens Wiederrede Schweige blinder Menschenwitz! Halt inne! Vnvernunfft und sterblichs richten gilt hier nicht/ Dich bethöret Schattenwerck. Das helle Licht Siehstu nicht. Drumb lencke deine Sinne Von der todten Maden=Höle/ Auff die schon=vermählte Seele. JEsus ist ihr Hertzverlobter immer Zeiten Jn dem Rund der ewig=frohen Seeligkeiten. Tröstliche Schlußrede War das nicht/ Verlobte/ dein Verlangen? Deinen JEsum wolstu gern im Golde sehn. Nun wohlan! dir ist nach allem Wunsch geschehn. Ring/ und alles hast du nun empfangen/ Du beglückter Tugend=Geist/ Was die Bräute selig preist. Selig sind/ die diesen Liebsten/ sonder trennen/ Jn dem Goldnen Glaubens=Ringe bald erkennen.⁶⁹

Human reason can make no sense of Anna Maria’s death. She was, the ‘Klag=Rede’ insists, a pious Christian, yet she seems to reap little reward for her virtue and faith. The ‘Glaubens=Wiederrede’ counters the arguments of the strophe. First, it exposes them as anything but rational: ‘blinder Menschenwitz’, ‘Vnvernunfft und sterblichs richten’. The reader’s attention is then redirected from the putrefying body to the blithe soul. Anna Maria’s marriage has not been abandoned; it has already taken place—with a heavenly bridegroom replacing an earthly one. The epode underscores this comforting thought, addressing Anna Maria herself: ‘dir ist nach allem Wunsch geschehn’. A form of dialogue, which found particular favour in the early modern period was the echo poem.⁷⁰ Originating in late classical texts, ⁶⁹ Thomas Wagner, ‘Der Seeligst=Verschiendenen Nunmehro von ihrem JESV überreichter Liebes=Ring/ Aus den Vermählungs=Worten Hos. II, 19.20. Jch wil mich mit dir verloben in Ewigkeit/ ich wil mich mit dir vertrauen in Gerechtigkeit und Gericht/ in Gnade und Barmhertzigkeit; Ja im Glauben wil ich mich mit dir verloben/ und du wirst den HERRN erkennen’, in LP Stolberg 16669, fos. Diijv –D4r (emphasis in original publication). ⁷⁰ For a more detailed discussion of the echo in English and German funeral poems, see Anna Linton, ‘Blithe Spirits: Voices from the Other Side in Early Modern


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it underwent a revival in the Renaissance, and is discussed in early modern poetics manuals. It was especially popular with the Nuremberg Pegnitzschäfer.⁷¹ Harsdörffer regards it as a particularly effective means by which inanimate objects might be made articulate, but insists that the echo should not return meaningless words.⁷² It could be used to repeat and so to emphasize the final words of a statement, or to echo back a homophone, thus changing the sense of the original statement or answering an implicit question. These are the uses that Birken advocates: ‘So muß dan[n]/ was ein guter Gegenhall seyn will/ zwar das lezte Wort/ aber in einem andern Verstand/ zurücke geben/ oder dasselbe um deß willen zertheilen: […]’.⁷³ We see an example in Joachim Feller’s ‘Gespräch Von der Eitelkeit der Welt Zwischen der Seligverstorbenen Jungfer Kochin/ und der nachhallenden Echo’: WAs ist doch das lange Leben Jn dem schnöden Welt Pallast? Spielt das Glück ein weilgen eben/ Endet sichs in schneller Hast Ja fast wie ein schneller Pfeil Geht das Glück dahin in Eil. Nun ich eil von diesen Schrancken: Hier ist stetes Hertze=Leid. Man lebt hier in steten Wancken/ Was sonst stunde fället heut Ja was heute lieblich lacht/ Wird gar balt ins Grab gebracht.

E. Last. E. Fast; 5 E. Eil. E. Leid. E. Heut.

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E. Pracht.

Schlechter Pracht! der Pracht der Wangen German Lutheran Funeral Poetry’, in John Newton and Jo Bath (eds.), Early Modern Ghosts (Durham: Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies, University of Durham, 2002), pp. 18–32 (22–7). ⁷¹ Langen, Dialogisches Spiel, pp. 59–60. For a further discussion of this form see Lathrop P. Johnson, ‘Theory and Practice of the Baroque Echo Poem’, Daphnis, 19 (1990), 189–221. ⁷² ‘Blinde Wörter/ die keine Bedeutung habe[n]/ und gantz andere Reimwörter diene[n] hierzu nicht. Dan[n] gleich nicht eine jede Wand oder Mauer einen Wiederhall giebet/ auch nicht ein jeder Spiegel brennet/ also kan nicht ein jedes Reimwort zum Gegenwort dienen.’ (Georg Philipp Harsdörffer, Poetischer Trichter. Die Teutsche Dicht= und Reimkunst/ ohne Behuf der Lateinischen Sprache/ […], 3 vols. (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Endter, 1648–53; facs. edn., Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1969), II, IX. iv. 13, pp. 42–3.) ⁷³ Birken, Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst, ix. 108, p. 137.

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Death and didacticism wird zum Theil de[s] Würm=geschlecht. Was im Golde pflag zu prangen/ Wird dem engen Sarck gerecht Und kan auch wohl einer seyn/ Der nicht muß ins Grab hinein? Ey so will ich lieber sitzen An dem güldnen Sternen=port. Als hier in dem Elend schwitzen; Besser ist es/ leben dort. Wo der Cherubinen=Hauff Jhrem Schöpffer’ dienet auf.

E. Schlecht 15 E. Recht. E. Nein. E. Fort!

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E. Dort. E. Auf!⁷⁴

Echo poems like this are relatively rare in funeral booklets. Although the echo may seem the ideal vehicle for a disembodied voice, the restrictions of the form weaken the very interlocutor who is supposed to speak from a position of authority.⁷⁵ Feller gets round this problem by making the dead girl the primary interlocutor; the echo merely confirms rather than corrects her contemptus mundi arguments. The following example of a dialogue poem is, at first glance, more typical. A debate between the late-lamented 6-year-old Johann Paul Höpner and his younger brother is unremarkable for the arguments that it offers and the process of persuasion that it sketches. Johann Paul’s use of the dactyl is the striking element here. Satz. O Du geschwinder Riß/ so davon uns genommen Mein liebstes Brüderlein! Daß ich also muß sagen/ Vnd gleichsam gantz verwirrt nach meinem Bruder fragen: O du mein ander ich/ wo bist du hin gekommen. Gegensatz. Bruder/ ich lebe und schwebe in Frewden/ ⁷⁴ Joachim Feller, from the collection of epicedia entitled ‘Letzter Ehrndienst’ for Theodora Sabine Koch (1650–64), LP Stolberg 13728, HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering 23a–b, strophes 1–4. ⁷⁵ Jörg Jochen Berns has pointed out that echo poems cannot present an argument between equal interlocutors because the echo is dependent on the primary speaker for the metre and content of the discussion. See ‘Die Jagd auf die Nymphe Echo: Künstliche Echoeffekte in Poesie, Musik und Architektur der Frühen Neuzeit’, in Hanno Möbius and Jörg Jochen Berns (eds.), Die Mechanik in den Künsten: Studien zur ästhetischen Bedeutung von Naturwissenschaft und Technologie (Marburg: Jonas, 1990), pp. 67–82.


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JEsus mein Helffer/ mein Bruder ist worden/ Lasse dein Fragen/ verjage das Leiden/ Ich bin versetzt zum Englischen Orden. Nachsatz. O nun so lebe wol/ den Leib die Erd mag hegen/ Du bist der Seelen nach ein Kind der Seeligkeit/ Drumb hast du auch veracht der Menschen Herrligkeit/ Vnd bist vorhin gereist/ des Menschen Sohn entgegen.⁷⁶

In the Teutsche Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst Birken insists that the poet must allow the poem’s subject matter to determine the metre: Sonsten ist von den dreierlei Verse-Arten zu merken und zu beobachten/ daß/ die Jambische oder Nachtrittzeilen am schicklichsten zu Traurig= und Ernstlichen/ die Sprungzeilen oder Dactylische zu Frölichen/ die Trochaische oder Vortrittzeilen aber zu beiderlei/ zu Scherz und Ernst/ zu Lachen und Weinen/ sich gebrauchen lassen.⁷⁷

Harsdörffer expresses slightly different views about the trochee and the iamb, but comes to the same conclusion about dactyls and anapaests, which are usually grouped together as variant forms: ‘Es sind aber diese jüngst erfundne Reimgebände nur zu Beschreibung lustiger Händel zu gebrauche[n]/ zur Aufmunterung zu Lobgedichten/ und Reimliedern/ keines Wegs aber zu traurigen Erzehlungen/ Lehrgedichten und dergleichen.’⁷⁸ As the dactyl was considered the metre of dance, it seems highly inappropriate for funeral poetry, but when given to a child speaking from heaven, it expresses the carefree joy of eternal life. ⁷⁶ Johann Christoph Hilscher, poem from the funeral booklet for his nephew Johann Paul Höpner (1643–9), LP Stolberg 12728, fo. Gijr . It is followed by the comment: ‘Also betrawet sein liebstes Brüderlein fast mit seinen eignen Worten’ (my emphasis). It was not uncommon for poems to be written as though from another mourner. A poem attributed to Heinrich von Ryssel in the funeral booklet for Hieronymus Kramer is almost identical to the first and third strophes of this one (LP Kramer, fo. B2v ). ⁷⁷ Birken, Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst, iii. 19, pp. 25–6. ⁷⁸ Harsdörffer, Trichter, I, IV. iv. 17, p. 69 (my emphasis). Harsdörffer describes dactyls and anapaests as ‘jüngst erfundne Reimgebände’. The dactyl had been at the centre of a bitter poetic controversy after the publication of Opitz’s Buch von der Teutschen Poeterey in 1624. Opitz had insisted that the dactyl was not an appropriate foot for German verse, but August Buchner had demonstrated that it occurs naturally in German words and speech patterns, and that it was a nonsense to ban all such words from verse. See Hans Heinrich Borcherdt, Augustus Buchner und seine Bedeutung für die deutsche Literatur des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts (Munich: Beck, 1919), pp. 92–6.

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In the poem for Johann Paul Höpner, the dactyls contrast strongly with the living brother’s heavy alexandrines, which evoke the labours of earthly life. This is by no means the only example of a poem with a mixed metre. In a cycle for the parents of Maria Dorothea Trüb, the father speaks in alexandrines, the lamenting mother in Romanzenvers (a trochaic metre with four stressed syllables), and their baby daughter answers them in dactyls, playing with alliteration and internal rhyme: HAsse das Seuffzen/ und lasse das Klagen/ Die du mich unter dem Hertzen getragen/ Nimmermehr/ nim[m]ermehr kom[m] ich auff Erden/ Da man genaget/ geplaget muß werden! Frölich! Jch habe den Himmel bekommen/ Da mich mein Jesulein zu sich genommen/ Da mich die himmlischen Geisterlein kennen/ Vnd mich in Frewden ihr Schwesterlein nennen. Schmertzen und Hertzeleid ist nun vermieden/ Meine Zeit stehet im ewigen Frieden/ Wie ihr die gläntzende Liechterlein sehet/ Also mein Finckeln und Flinckern angehet.⁷⁹

In his epilogue to Johann Klaj’s Herodes der Kindermörder Harsdörffer had argued that it is unacceptable poetic practice to mix metres unless there is a change in the fundamental tone of the poem: ‘Es ändere sich die ganze Sache, so kann ich zugleich auch eine andere Reimart beginnen.’⁸⁰ This is clearly the case in these poems, for although the event itself does not undergo any change, it is presented from different perspectives. What seemed at first an offence against poetic decorum is actually strict adherence to it; Dorothea Maria and Johann Paul speak in a metre eminently suited to their new state. ⁷⁹ ‘Gespräch der hochbetrübten Eltern mit dem liebsten Töchterlein/ darauff des HErrn Christi Ausspruch endlich erfolget’ by Johann Maukisch from the epicedia collection for Maria Dorothea Trüb (*† 1644), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13.(76), fos. Aiijr –A4r (emphasis in original publication). The cycle concludes with a statement by Christ which uses Bible verses to decode Maria Dorothea’s name and nature. ⁸⁰ Cited in Wolfgang Kayser, Die Klangmalerei bei Harsdörffer: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Literatur, Poetik und Sprachgeschichte der Barockzeit, Palaestra, 179, 2nd edn. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1962), p. 85.


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Like the echo, dactyl poems were particularly popular amongst the Nuremberg Pegnitzschäfer, and many pastoral poems by Klaj, Birken, and Harsdörffer show a delight in internal rhyme, onomatopoeia, polyptoton, and lexical and metrical experimentation. The Leipzig poet laureate Johann Frentzel revels in poetic playfulness in his ‘Triumph der seeligen Seele’ for Veronica Roth.⁸¹ The ode is preceded by an alexandrine vanitas and contemptus mundi poem which concludes by recounting how Veronica has found bliss in the arms of her heavenly bridegroom. From here she sings her ode to her grieving relatives. Dactyls and anapaests were particularly popular for nuptial verse,⁸² so Frentzel chooses them to underscore the bridal imagery central to the two poems, as well as to evoke Veronica’s exuberant joy. Triumph der seeligen Seele. Ode. ALles mein Kämpffen/ mein Leiden vnd Streiten/ Alles mein Klagen/ mein Zagen vnd Noth/ Alle die bösen gefährlichen Zeiten/ Alles/ was Helle/ Sünd/ Teufel vnd Todt/ Mir haben gedrewet/ Des bin ich befreyet/ Vnd wird nicht mehr seyn: Drumb hertzlich Geliebten Vnd schmertzlich Betrübten Stellet das Thränen vnd Sehnen nur ein. Alles mein dencken/ mein kräncken vnd Schmertzen/ Alle Verfolgung vnd ängstliches Ach Hat sich verkehret/ verzehret im Hertzen: Nimmer so krafftlos vnd nimmer so schwach Jch ferner mehr lebe/ Jn Fröligkeit schwebe/ Bin heilig vnd rein:

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⁸¹ Poem for Veronica Roth († 1643), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13.(26), fos. Ar –A4v . For details of Frentzel’s laureation and work, see John L. Flood, Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire: A Bio-Bibliographical Handbook, 4 vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006), pp. 1599–1605. ⁸² See, for example, Philipp von Zesen’s anapaestic song ‘Auff eine Hochzeit’, in Frühlings Lust oder Lob= und Liebes=Lieder. Sechstes Dutzend, song 2, in Sämtliche Werke, ed. Ferdinand van Ingen, Ausgaben deutscher Literatur des XV. bis XVIII. Jahrhunderts, 17 vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1980– ), I, 177–9.

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Drumb hertzlich Geliebten/ Vnd schmertzlich Betrübten/ Stellet das Threnen vnd Sehnen nur ein. Lieblich ich höre/ ja helffe/ so singen: Heilig! O Heilig! O Heilig ist GOTT! Frölich ich sehe die Seligen springen/ Ausser Verachtung vnd schimpfflichen Spott: Wir hüpffen/ wir springen/ Wir klingen vnd singen Jn heilger Gemein: Drumb hertzlich Geliebten Vnd schmertzlich Betrübten Stellet das Threnen vnd Sehnen nur ein. Grausames Schrecken vnd schreckliches Grawen/ Nächtliche Finsternüß/ finstere Nacht/ Wir nicht befürchten viel weniger schawen/ Noch auch was sonsten das Hertze weich macht: Denn Christus die Sonne Giebt Frewde/ giebt Wonne/ Giebt güldenen Schein: Drumb hertzlich Geliebten Vnd schmertzlich Betrübten Stellet das Threnen vnd Sehnen nur ein.

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Donnern/ vnd Blitzen/ vnd Krachen vnd Knallen/ Winde mit Regen/ mit Schlossen/ mit Schnee Auff vns nicht stürmen noch ferner mehr fallen: Mein Aechtzen/ mein Lechtzen/ mein Weinen/ mein Weh Jst lieblich gewendet 45 Vnd glücklich geendet Durch Christum allein: Drumb hertzlich Geliebten Vnd schmertzlich Betrübten Stellet das Threnen vnd Sehnen nur ein. 50 Jmmer verjünget vnd nimmer veraltet/ Sattsam gespeiset vnd truncken gemacht: Jmmer erwärmet vnd nimmer erkaltet/ Jmmer erqvicket vnd nimmer verschmacht

Death and didacticism Wir ewig hier bleiben/ Nichts kan vns abtreiben Noch schädlich mehr seyn: Drumb hertzlich Geliebten Vnd schmertzlich Betrübten Stellet das Threnen vnd Sehnen nur ein. Wenn mich mein Jesus/ mein Bräutigam küsset/ Freundlich vmbfähet vnd drücket an sich/ Werd ich mit Göttlicher Liebe durchsüsset/ Dencke für frewden nicht selbsten an mich: Zum Tantz Er mich führet Gekröhnet/ gezieret Mit Edelgestein: Drumb hertzlich Geliebten Vnd schmertzlich Betrübten Stellet das Threnen vnd Sehnen nur ein. Trauteste Mutter vnd liebsten Gespielen/ Brüder vnd Freunde/ betrübet euch nicht/ Ewer Beginnen vnd einiges Zielen Bleibe mit steter Begierde gericht Auff gleiches Beleben/ Ach bleibet nicht kleben Am jrrdischen Tand/ Schwingt ewere Sinnen Zur Himlischen Zinnen Heilig vnd trewlich mit festem Bestand.

133 55

60

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Frentzel makes use of numerous poetic devices to emphasize the contemptus mundi. The poem opens with an emphatic ‘Alles’. This ‘Alles’ is unpacked in lines one to five through anaphora and brachylogia, which build up tension and heighten the sense of earthly threats and dangers. The heaping strategy is employed again in strophe two, where alliteration emphasizes the temporal ‘ängstliches Ach’, and in the fourth and fifth strophes. Strophe four highlights earthly misery through polyptoton, designed to make the readers pause to think about the world which they inhabit: ‘Grausames Schrecken vnd schreckliche Grawen/ | Nächtliche Finsternüß/ finstere

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Nacht’. The fifth uses polysyndeton and internal rhyme to emphasize the temporal adversities which Veronica has been spared. The contrasts running through the poem insist that she is to be envied rather than pitied, that her relatives should rejoice in her good fortune rather than mourning her. Strophe four uses the light/ darkness contrast to evoke her new abode in the celestial city,⁸³ and the anaphora ‘immer […] nimmer […]’ in the sixth strophe underlines that she is immeasurably better off in heaven. Strophe three reminds the bereaved parents that Veronica is part of a new community (‘wir’), the communion of the saints (l. 27). She joins with the great multitude singing praises, echoing the words of the Seraphim and the four living creatures before the throne of God.⁸⁴ The picture of the saints dancing for joy (l. 23 and l. 25) is highly appropriate for the metre, and is taken up again in strophe seven, where Veronica’s heavenly bridegroom leads her off to dance. The rhymes in the refrain draw a direct connection between the love that the friends and relatives have felt for Veronica and their present sorrow at her loss, but they also allow Frentzel in lines 45–6 to set up a contrast between her joy and their grief; her troubles are ‘lieblich gewendet’ and ‘glücklich geendet’, whereas they are now ‘schmertzlich [b]etrübt’. The final strophe moves into pure exhortation. Veronica warns her relatives not to be entrapped by temporal concerns, but instead steadfastly to fix their minds and desire on the world to come. It is not hard to see why poems like this were considered particularly effective—and indeed affective. What may seem surprising is the apparently unorthodox theology behind them. Luther had swept away masses for the dead and the notion of Purgatory by 1530, and with these the idea of revenant spirits who make demands on the living, so what are the poets doing, introducing voices from beyond the grave that engage in conversation with the living? After all, Luther’s take on this could not be more explicit: ‘So ists nit ⁸³ ‘Vnd die Stad darff keiner sonnen noch des monden, das sie jr scheine, Denn die herrligkeit Gottes erleuchtet sie, vnd jre leuchte ist das Lamb’ (Revelation 21: 23, WA Bibel, VII, 475). ⁸⁴ ‘Vnd ein jgliches der vier thieren hatte sechs Flügel vmb her, vnd waren inwendig vol augen, vnd hatten keine ruge tag vnd nacht, vnd sprachen, Heilig, heilig, heilig ist der Gott der HERR, der Allmechtige, der da war, vnd der da ist, vnd der da kompt’ (Revelation 4: 8, WA Bibel, VII, 433). Cf. Isaiah 6: 3.


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anders/ die lebendigen von den toden fragen/ denn als die besten von den geringesten fragten/ Gleych ab [sic] eyn mensch von eym holtz wolt radt nemen’.⁸⁵ Yet such scenarios are not uncommon in funeral writings. Luther himself is said to have known and approved of one such story, which appeared in several collections of sermon anecdotes.⁸⁶ It relates the strange case of a mother who refuses to be comforted after the death of her son. One day she goes for a walk in the field beside her house and comes across a group of children dressed in white, wearing crowns, and dancing for joy. Trailing behind this lively crowd is her own child, wearing the same garments, but moving slowly and laboriously, weighed down by a heavy jug that he is carrying. She asks him why he is not playing with the other children, and he tells her that his jug is full of her tears. These keep him from enjoying all the pleasures of heaven. This account is not narrated as a dream, but as an actual event, a real encounter between the grieving mother and her son. How are we to square it with Luther’s teachings on the post-mortem state of the dead, where the living cannot speak with the wandering souls of the dead, nor influence their eternal fate in any way? Caspar Titius, in whose collection it appears, is quick to distance himself from any hint of unorthodoxy in his comment on it: Dieses sey gleich eine wahre Geschicht/ oder aber der lieben Alten Gedicht/ so ist es doch/ wie der selige Mann D. Luther von der gleichen Historien redet/ ein feines Bild und heiliges Gedichte/ damit die Gottselige Antiqvität betrübten Eltern viel herrliche Trost=Lehren angedeutet.⁸⁷

This ambiguity is not out of place in a work like Titius’s, which gives parables and fables alongside historical anecdotes and contemporary ⁸⁵ Luther, Vom mißbrauch der Messen […] (Wittenberg: [n. pub.], 1522), fo. Jiijv . Cf. Chapter 1, n. 22. ⁸⁶ Caspar Titius, LOCI THEOLOGICI HISTORICI, pp. 1276–7. The section bears the title ‘Eltern sollen ihre Kinder nicht gar zu sehr beweinen’. As his source Titius cites Joachim Pollio’s Sechs Geistliche LVstGärtlein/ Christlicher Seelen/ […] (Leipzig and Breslau: Johann Eyring and Johann Perfert [publ.]; Leipzig: Abraham Lamberg [printer], 1611), the dedication to the sixth ‘garden’. It is used in a sermon for bereaved parents preached by Kaspar Rothe in 1616: COR REGULI PATRIUM. Das ist/ Das Königische Vater=Hertz. Johan. 4. Abgemahlet: Vnd allen frommen betrübten Eltern/ welchen endweder jhre Kinderlein kranck/ oder wol gar dahin sterben Fürgestellet. […] (Leipzig: Christoph Ellinger [publ.] and Lorentz Kober [printer], 1616), fos. Cr –Cijr . The text is John 4: 47–53. ⁸⁷ Titius, LOCI THEOLOGICI HISTORICI, p. 1277.

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examples. But by citing Luther’s opinions on the tale, that it is a fiction invented to comfort parents, Titius suggests that this is to be read as a parable that teaches a valuable lesson. Where stories such as these are introduced, where a dead child is given voice in Lutheran funeral writings and poems, the guiding consideration is rhetorical rather than theological—the affective potential of prosopopoeia proves irresistible. And far from challenging orthodox Lutheran teachings on death and the afterlife, the children speak absolutely in line with the consolation books, giving textbook descriptions of their heavenly bliss and urging their parents to come to terms with the loss. PreReformation revenant spirits plead for their own sakes, imploring the living to perform acts to reduce their sentence in Purgatory. But in Lutheran funeral poems, the pastoral focus is on the spiritual and emotional welfare of the living.

5 Brides of Christ and heavenly soldiers: imagery in funeral verse

[G]leichwie ein Safft/ durch ein Glas/ […] schöner scheinet/ also gefället uns die Warheit/ in einem schöne[n] Gleichniß: Oder/ wie der Sonnen Stral/ vermittelst eines Hohlspiegels hefftiger brennet/ also durchdringet und beflammet auch die Gleichniß der Menschen Sinn. [… D]ie Gleichniß [sind] der Hebel oder die Hebstangen/ welche durch Kunstfügige Ein= und Anwendung aus dem Schlamm der Unwissenheit empor schwinget/ was man sonder solche Geretschafft unbewegt muß erliegen lassen.¹

Georg Philipp Harsdörffer’s discussion of ‘Gleichnisse’ in his Poetischer Trichter is simultaneously a description and an illustration: he resorts to similes to describe the rhetorical effectiveness of figures of comparison. For him, ‘die Gegenhaltung gleichständiger Sachen/ wann man viel auf einmahl anschauet/ und solche gegeneinander hält/ ihre Gleichheit und Ungleichheit betrachtet’, can simultaneously teach, delight, and move by appealing to the mind, the senses, ¹ Georg Philipp Harsdörffer, Poetischer Trichter. Die Teutsche Dicht= und Reimkunst/ ohne Behuf der Lateinischen Sprache/ […], 3 vols. (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Endter, 1648–53; facs. edn., Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1969), II, X.1, p. 50 and III, I. vi. 53, p. 57. The images of the glass and the concave mirror as intensifying media are taken from Augustine’s Epistle 3, 3, in Opera omnia […], in Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologia cursus completus. […] Series latina […], 221 vols. (Paris: Migne, 1844–65), XXXIII, column 0065. Balthasar Kindermann cites the same passage almost word for word in his work Der Deutsche Poët […] (Wittenberg: Job Wilhelm Fincelius [publisher] and Friedrich Wilhelm Fincelius [printer], 1664), book II, chapter 10, § I, p. 230.

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and the emotions.² Metaphors and similes are put to good use in epicedia, where the images chosen to portray the child or to represent death are an integral component of the laudatio, lamentatio, and consolatio scheme. By conceptualizing an event or situation in terms of something else, poets aimed to direct their readers’ understanding and feelings towards it. In his manual, Harsdörffer’s friend Birken lists a number of the most common ways this might be done for funeral poetry: Zu kräftigem Trost wird gedeyen/ wann man ihm selber/ oder andern Leichbetrübten/ vorstellet: wie GOtt diß Kleinod zu sich genommen/ bei dem es nun aufs allerbäste verwahrt sei; wie es nach Gottes Willen ergangen/ deme man nicht widerstreben müße; wie dieser Göttlicher Wille allzeit gut sei/ und auf unser bästes denke/ ob schon die Umstände böse scheinen; […] Man muß anführen/ daß diß Leben ein täglicher Tod sei/ da man nur immer sündigen/ leiden und streiten muß; und wie man im Tode/ der alles Ubel endet/ und die Thür zur Seeligkeit ist/ erst ewig zu leben anfahe; wie der Verstorbene hier beschwerlich in der Fremde gereiset/ mühsam gearbeitet und gelaufen/ gefärlich gekrieget und See-gefahren/ elendiglich gefangen gesessen: den der Tod hingegen nun ins ewige Vatterland heimgeführet/ zu Ruh und in den Himmels=Port gebracht/ mit dem Sieges Kranz gekrönet und aus dem Gefängnis erlöset/ die JEsus-vermählte Seele ihrem Bräutgam zugeführet/ und den Unglücks Winter in einen immerwährenden Freuden-Frühling verwandlet.³

These images recur time and again, often tailored to the particular case. But their use is determined by where they occur in the poem, and they are often extended beyond individual images into what George Lakoff and Mark Johnson have called ‘metaphorical fields’ or clusters of related metaphors.⁴ What were the most common and developed metaphorical fields from funeral poems for children? Why did the poets choose them, and how did they support the ultimate aim of consolation? ² Harsdörffer, Trichter, III, I. vi. 53, p. 57. ³ Teutsche Rede-bind= und Dicht-Kunst/ oder Kurze Anweisung zur Teutschen Poesy/ mit Geistlichen Exempeln: […] (Nuremberg: Christoph Riegel [publisher] and Christoph Gerhard [printer], 1679; facs. edn., Hildesheim: Olms, 1973), x. 173, pp. 228–9. ⁴ George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980; repr. 1981).


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S E A S O NA L I M AG E RY A N D T H E M E TA P H O R ‘C H I L D R E N A R E P L A N T S ’ MUß jede Jahres=Zeit mir denn unglücklich fallen/ Stellt sich denn Frost und Eiß bey mir im Sommer ein/ Hör ich im Winter auch die stärcksten Donner knallen/ Muß mir der Herbst gantz leer von süssen Früchten seyn? Läst mir der Frühling selbst die schönen Blumen welcken/ Der Wies’ und Gärten sonst mit selbgen reichlich ziert? Was sich an Anmuth glich den edlen vollen Nelcken/ Hat mir der Frühlings=Tag ach leyder weggeführt. Das neue Licht läßt mir sonst nichts als dunckels werden/ Der längste Tag hat mir die längsten Nächte bracht/ Des vollen Monden Schein kreucht bey mir in die Erden/ Da Tag und Nacht sich gleicht/ wirds bey mir lauter Nacht. Der Himmel ist gestirnt/ mir will kein Stern nicht blincken/ Ein schrecklich Blitzen leucht aus düstern Wolcken nur/ Die Erde hebt sich auf/ das Firmament wird sincken/ Verkehren sich denn gar die Kräffte der Natur?⁵

(a) (b) (c) (d)

(e) (f) (g) (h) (i)

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⁵ Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch, Sämmtliche Geist= und weltliche Gedichte […] (Halle/S.: Neue Buchhandlung, 1720), II. XIV: ‘Als das achte und letztgebohrne Söhnlein/ der vollkommen schöne Celadon, oder C.G.K. den 11. Martii 1694. seines Alters 8. Monath weniger 6. Tage und 11. Stunden verschiede’; in Anna Carrdus (ed., introd. and comm.), Das »weiblich Werck« in der Residenzstadt Altenburg (1672–1720): Gedichte und Briefe von Margaretha Susanna von Kuntsch und Frauen aus ihrem Umkreis (Hildesheim: Olms, 2004), pp. 130–1. The letters refer to Kuntsch’s own footnotes to the text, which give details of each bereavement. (a) Den 29. Junii 1676. Ein todgebohrnes Töchterlein. (b) Den 15. Februarii 1675. starb Floridan oder J.F.K. Den 1. Februarii 1686. starb Margaris, oder M.K. Den 4. Februarii 1688. starb Helidon, oder H.E.K. Den 1. Martii 1684. Ein todgebohrnes Söhnlein. (c) Den 29. October 1675. Ein todgebohrnes Töchterlein. Den 22. November 1670. Ein todgebohrnes Söhnlein. Den 22. November 1686. starb Chrisander, oder C.K. (d) Den 12. Maji 1685. starb Bellinde, oder J.B.K. (e) Den 11. Martii 1694. am ersten Frühlings=Tag, starb Celadon, oder C.G.K. (f ) Den 31. Januarii 1690. starb Fritalia, oder D.F.K. beym neuen Mond. (g) Den 8. Junii 1685. starb Fillidor, oder C.F.K. am längsten Tage. (h) Den 6. Septembr. 1690. starb Guillestes, oder G.W.K. im vollen Mond.

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There is little sense of consolation in the opening lines of Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch’s poem on the death of her youngest son, Christian Gottlieb in March 1694, which the distraught mother uses as an opportunity to reflect on her multiple bereavements. The central image is of the seasons disordered. For Kuntsch, summer brings frost and ice, autumn is deprived of its harvest, the flowers wilt in spring, the longest day gives way to dark night. The images are informed by the times of year at which her children died: Christian Gottlieb (e and i), for example, died on the first day of spring, which should herald the beginning rather than the end of life. But there is more behind this image than the disjunction of season and event. An educated reader would recognize the emblematic correspondence between the Four Ages of Man and the four seasons: human existence begins with the spring of childhood and ends in wintry death.⁶ According to this scheme, childhood death is an unseasonal—and therefore unnatural—event. But the affective impact of the metaphor does not stand or fall with the reader’s ability to recognize an emblem. Both the emblem and the poem draw on a much more basic belief in the unchangeable natural order represented by the seasons. Spring cannot turn into winter, so the image expresses very strongly the shock and apparent injustice when a child or young person dies. ‘Verkehren sich denn gar die Kräffte der Natur?’, the distraught mother asks, and is forced to the alarming interim conclusion that God’s wrath has disordered her family alone: Nein! dieser Erd=Ball steht aufs Schöpffers Macht gegründet/ Der spannt das Wolcken=Zelt noch immer feste aus/ Die Lampen leuchten noch so oben angezündet/ Das Wancken trifft nur mich nebst meinem armen Hauß. Die Würckung der Natur ist nach wie vorher kräfftig/

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(i) Am ersten Frühlings=Tag/ und da Tag und Nacht gleich waren/ starb der n. (e) gedachte Celadon, oder C.G.K. Here (c) Kuntsch gives the date of her first stillbirth as 22 November, but in the biography she records it as 21 November (‘Curriculum Vitæ’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 316, lines 103–4). ⁶ See ‘Aeterna hominum natura’ in Barthélemy Aneau’s PICTA POESIS. VT PICTVRA POESIS ERIT […] (Lyons: Macé Bonhomme, 1552), p. 26; reproduced in Arthur Henkel and Albrecht Schöne (eds.), Emblemata: Handbuch zur Sinnbildkunst des XVI. und XVII. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1967; repr. 1996), pp. 48–9.


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Und legt der Jahres=Zeit den alten Zierath an/ Wie ist denn über mich des Höchsten Grim[m] so hefftig/ Daß ich kein Blatt/ noch Blum/ noch Frucht behalten kan? Mein Sternen=Licht erlöscht/ die Sonne geht zu rüste/ 25 Mit Zemblens dicken Eiß deckt mich des Todes Nord/ Mich macht ein heisser Sud zu einer sandgen Wüste/ Und reißt Lust/ Hoffnung/ Pracht/ Licht/ Trost und Freude fort. Der Ehe letzten Frucht seh ich das Grab bereiten/ Mit selbger scharret man auch mein Vergnügen ein/ 30 O umgekehrter Lauff/ o Aenderung der Zeiten/ Muß Creutz/ Leyd/ Ungemach mir nur beständig seyn?⁷

Seasonal imagery is relatively common in funeral poetry. An epicedium written on Maria Dorothea Kirchmaier’s death in 1679 is entitled ‘Der in einen Thränen=Winter verwandelte SOMMER’,⁸ and Joachim Feller accuses Clotho, the Fate who spins the thread of life, of turning 15-year-old Anna Maria Müller’s ‘Jugend=Lentz’ into a ‘Trauer=Winter’.⁹ A poem by Ahasver Fritsch contrasts the blossoming of spring and the untimely death of two brothers in April 1650: Jetzt auf der grünen Aw die blümlein blühen schön/ Vnd siehet man mit lust in voller blühte stehn/ Die Bäume groß und klein/ in den schneeweissen kleid/ Wie sie herprangen schön/ daß sich das Hertz erfrewt. Bald aber bald von Nort ein scharffer rauher wind Mit ungestüm weg nimt das weisse=kleid geschwind. Jetzt sah’ man auch mit lust Zwey zarte Blümelein Erwachsen/ blühen früh/ wie die Oelpfläntzelein/ Ô aber kurtze Frewd! der Menschenfraß gar bald/ Mit seiner Sensenmacht/ die Blümlein mit gewalt Thet hauen ab in grimm/ ô Morta höre auff/ Denn du so ferne nu vollendet deinen lauff!¹⁰ ⁷ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. XIV; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 131. ⁸ Poem by Dr Martin’s ‘Tischgenossen’ for Maria Dorothea Kirchmaier († 1679), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 828–152a. ⁹ Joachim Feller, ‘Gedancken Vber den Jungfer=Crantz der Seelig=Verstorbenen’ from the funeral booklet for Anna Maria Müller (1647–62), LP Stolberg 16669, fos. Eijr –Eiijr , lines 44–5. ¹⁰ From the epicedia collection for Heinrich (1645–50) and Jakob Scheffer (1648–50), LP Stolberg 19831–2, fo. Bijv , lines 1–12.

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Once again we see the shock factor of the wind that sweeps across the spring landscape, leaving a wintry trail of destruction in its wake. But here the two boys have become part of that landscape, two ‘zarte Blümelein’ who have been cut down before their time. The metaphor ‘childhood death is unseasonal’ combines with the simile ‘human existence is like a plant’.¹¹ This comparison is a typical representation of passing time and ephemeral beauty: ‘EJn Mensch ist in seinem Leben wie Gras, Er blüet wie eine Blume auff dem felde. Wenn der Winde darüber gehet, so ist sie nimer da, Vnd jr stete kennet sie nicht mehr.’¹² A metaphor particularly fitting for the brief span of a child’s life, it is certainly the most prevalent field of imagery in Lutheran funeral poetry for children. Eleven-year-old Albrecht Bose is taken away in the blossom of his youth, ‘Wie ein Rößlein abfelt’,¹³ whilst Elisabeth, Maria, and Anna Zeidler, three sisters who died within two weeks of each other, are described as a three-leafed clover.¹⁴ Death rages across this metaphorical field as the harsh north wind, which offends against the natural order, cutting down the new spring shoots: Du zarter Blumenstock hast deiner Knospen Krafft Vns noch nie recht erzeugt; Wir wolten alle warten Biß wir dich sehen stehn/ in hohen Ehren=Garten. Jtzt wirstu von dem Tod ins schwartze Grab gerafft.¹⁵

But the plant metaphor does not always present death so negatively. Take an example from the funeral booklet for Theodora Sabine Koch. Far from being taken from a delightful garden, Christian ¹¹ Note Kuntsch’s progressive tricolon in line 24: ‘Daß ich kein Blatt, noch Blum, noch Frucht behalten kann’; Gedichte, II. XIV; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 131. ¹² Psalm 103: 15–16, WA Bibel, X. 1, 439. ¹³ Clemens Hutt, ‘Teutsches Klagelied’ from the funeral booklet for Albrecht Bose (1604–15), LP Stolberg 6428, fos. Jv –Jiijr , strophe 6. ¹⁴ J.N.F., poem from the funeral booklet for Anna Zeidler (1638–43), LP Stolberg 23452a, fo. Bv . The poem concludes with the wish that the root (the parents’ marriage) will bear fruit once more. In 1644 the Zeidlers did have another baby, Johann, but he died at the age of nineteen weeks in May 1644, leaving Professor Zeidler, now widowed, with little immediate hope of further issue (funeral booklet for Johann Zeidler, LP Stolberg 23448). Professor Johann Zeidler the Elder died in 1645. ¹⁵ Hans Heinrich Höpner, poem from the funeral booklet for Johann Paul Höpner (1643–9), LP Stolberg 12728, fos. Gv –Gijr , lines 5–8.


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Knorr insists that Theodora Sabine has been removed from a thorn-choked wasteland, a ‘Jammer=Wüsteney’.¹⁶ The argument that death delivers children from potential corruption is a staple of the consolation books, as we saw in Chapter 1. Knorr’s image consoles the parents with the thought that their daughter cannot be stifled by worldly cares and her faith stunted like the seed that falls amongst the weeds in the parable of the sower.¹⁷ Johannes Olearius is more explicit in his use of the same parable in his sermon at August von Alvensleben’s funeral, where he conflates the image and the exegesis: ‘Wer wollte nicht vielmehr dem Allerhöchsten dancken/ wann Er als ein sorgfältiger Gärtner die jungen Pfläntzlein bey Zeit außhebet/ und in seinen schönen Paradieß=Garten versetzt/ ehe sie das Unkraut verderbe/ und die Boßheit ihren Verstand verfinstere/ B. Weißh. c. IV.’¹⁸ To remove the child is an act of divine grace. Some poets even present it as a mark of God’s special favour: So geht es allerzeit: die allerbesten Sachen/ Die uns erfreuen hier/ die fallen bald dahin/ Die Lil und Tuberos, so uns vergnügt anlachen/ Die gehen eher ein/ als wilder Roßmarin:¹⁹

And the plants are not destroyed. Christ takes them to decorate Paradise,²⁰ or transplants them into his heavenly garden, where they blossom and bear fruit. The transplantation motif is recurrent in funeral writings. Johannes Olearius’s sermon for the princesses of Saxony-Weissenfels envisages them as three rue plants flourishing for eternity in Paradise,²¹ and ¹⁶ From the funeral booklet for Theodora Sabine Koch (1650–64), LP Stolberg 13728, fos. Er–v , line 6. ¹⁷ Matthew 13: 22. See Chapter 3, n. 37. ¹⁸ From the funeral booklet for August von Alvensleben (1657–60), LP Stolberg 5293, fo. Ciijr . Olearius also cites Wisdom 4: 7–14, which makes the same point. ¹⁹ Nathanael Steltzner, poem from the funeral booklet for Christian Gotthelf Tischer (1697–1708), LP Stolberg 22201, pp. 76–7, lines 5–8. ²⁰ Samuel Apol, ‘Sehnlich Hertzengespräch/ des alten Herrn Stetanes/ vnd seiner Haußehr mit jhrem verstorbenen seligen Töchterlein Dorothea’ from the funeral booklet for Dorothea Stetana (1597–1612), LP Stolberg 21502, fos. Ciijv –C4v . ²¹ ‘BEATISSIMA RUTÆ PERENNIS TRANSPLANTATIO, Die seelige Versetzung Dreyer immergrünenden Sächsischen Rauten=Pfläntzlein in den Him[m]lischen Paradiß=Garten des ewigen Lebens’, funeral sermon for Catharina (1655–63),

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Georg Aland uses the motif to point to the benefits of death in his funeral oration for Rosina Richter: Wenn bey ietztiger Winterszeit ein Liebhaber von allerhand Garten= raritäten/ seine Blumen und frembden Gewächse unversehret den Winter hindurch bringen/ und dem gelinden Frühlinge liefern wil: so sehen wir auch auß hiesigen Gärten/ daß solche Früchte in gewisse Häuser gethan/ und durch künstliche Wärme erhalten werden/ ungeacht/ daß es dem Herrn der Früchte fast wehe thue/ in deme sie ietzo der vorigen Schöne nicht gleichen/ und noch gar darzu auß seinen Augen in einen düsteren Keller versetzet werden. […] Wie würde sich nun wol ein Rösgen bedancken/ wenn es vor dem Sturm von einer lieben Hand abgebrochen würde? Wie würde sich doch ein zartes Gewächse erfreuen/ wenn es vor der strengen Kälte in ein warmes Zimmer geheget würde? Vnd wie solte sich nicht auch die seligverblichene Blume glückselig schätzen/ daß Sie von Jhrem Garten Herrn/ Christo/ dem Vngewitter entführet/ und in Jhres Seelen Bräutgams Kammer eingeführet worden?²²

Stormy winter represents temporal trials, tribulations, and temptations. Rosina is spared these, ‘Eine Rose gebrochen, eher der Sturm sie entblättert’, we might say. She is transported from the garden to a safe dry place over the winter. And just as a gardener brings out his plants again at the onset of spring, so Rosina will bloom in her new climate. In heaven these flowers flourish and grow, reiterating the consolation that children cut off in their prime achieve fulfilment in heaven. Although flowers are emblematic for the ephemerality of human existence, the metaphorical field ‘children are plants’ does not limit the comparison to flowers and herbs alone. Many poems use tree imagery.²³ This plays on the concept of the ‘Stammbaum’, the family as a tree, and it was especially popular for children whose names Elisabeth (1660–3), and Dorothea (1662–3), Princesses of Saxony-Weissenfels, LP Stolberg 19542–4. The choice of plant is significant: the rue, an evergreen plant, was the emblem of Saxony. ²² From the funeral booklet for Rosina Richter (1640–57), LP Stolberg 18828, fos. Eijr –E4r (Eijr , Eiijv ). ²³ There are biblical precedents for this choice, for example, Psalm 1: 3 (‘Der [the righteous man] ist wie ein Bawm gepflantzet an den Wasserbechen, Der seine Frucht bringet zu seiner Zeit, Vnd seine Bletter verwelcken nicht, Vnd was er macht, das geret wol’, WA Bibel, X. 1, 107), or Psalm 92: 13–14 (‘DEr Gerechte wird grunen wie ein Palmbawm, Er wird wachssen wie ein Ceder auff Libanon. Die gepflantzt sind in


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could be worked into the metaphor. Caspar Eichholz is represented as a tender branch cut from the felled oak (his father who predeceased him),²⁴ and funeral writings for members of the Olearius family frequently refer to the olive tree. Friedrich Cahlen’s oration on the death of August Olearius in 1657 focuses on the loss of the shoot,²⁵ whereas the title of a collection of epicedia for the same boy points to the eternal fruits he bears in heaven.²⁶ A poem for a later branch of this family tree, August Theodor Olearius (1688–90), takes from Romans 11: 24 the image of a grafted olive bough. In Romans the image is part of Paul’s justification for the coexistence of Jews (the true olive branches) and Gentiles (the wild branches) in the same tree (the church).²⁷ In this poem the bereaved father, Johann Gottfried Olearius, uses it to show that the branch severed from his family tree is now thriving in the tree of life: SO mein’t des Fleisches Sinn/ Wann das/ was lebendig gebohren/ Auch hier zu unser Lust gelebt/ Fällt durch den Todt dahin; Das scheinet der Natur verlohren. Hingegen weiß und glaub’t ein Christ/ Daß/ was hier lieg’t erstorben/ Auch selbst im Tod’ lebt Unverdorben/ Dieweil es eingepflantzet ist Dem immergrünen Lebens=Baum/ So lebt es recht im Seelgen Himmels=Raum.

dem Hause des HERRN, Werden in den Vorhöfen vnsers Gottes grünen’, WA Bibel, X. 1, 411). ²⁴ Poem by Christian Friedrich Franckenstein from the collection for Caspar Eichholz († 1648), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (159), fo. Aijr . ²⁵ Friedrich Cahlen, ‘OLEÆ SVRCVLVS nuper-florentissime, nunc eheu! præmaturè resecte:’ (A shoot of the olive tree, recently blossoming, now, alas, prematurely cut back), from the funeral booklet for August Olearius (1646–57), LP Stolberg 4922, fos. Ar –A4v . ²⁶ ‘Immergrünender Oel=Zweig/ welchen […] Augustus […] Nach seeligem Ableiben erlanget’, Halle/S.: Melchior Oelschlegel, [1657?]), HAAB Weimar: 40,3: 34 (n. 30/41)∗ . ²⁷ ‘Denn so du aus dem Olbawm der von natur wilde war, bist ausgehawen, vnd wider die natur, in den guten Olbaum gepropffet, Wie viel mehr werden die naturlichen eingepropffet, in jren eigenen Olbawm?’ (Romans 11: 24, WA Bibel, VII, 65)

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Brides of Christ and heavenly soldiers […] Es schmertzet der Natur/ Ein artigs Reiß von seinem Wachsthum missen/ Und plötzlich sehn entrissen. Jedoch was hier in kurtzer Spuhr An dir Holdseeliges gewesen/ Das hat der Lebens=Baum Jn seinem Paradieses=Raum Nunmehr gebracht zum völligen genesen.²⁸

Other biblical plant images favoured by funeral poets are Jonah’s short-lived gourd ( Jonah 4: 6–7),²⁹ Aaron’s dry staff which budded and produced almonds (Numbers 17: 8),³⁰ the vine and the branches ( John 15: 5),³¹ and the grain of wheat.³² This comparison naturally offers itself in M. Schreiber’s poem on Anna Maria Müller’s death, where the process of physical decomposition is compared with the milling of wheat to prepare bread for the heavenly banquet: DAs Weitzen=Korn wie schön es anzusehen/ Wann es da stutzt auff seiner vollen Aehr/ Die keinen Balg läst kärglich bleiben leer/ Noch dennoch kan ihm besser nicht geschehen/ Als wenn es wird vom Müllerstein zerrieben. Denn ob es gleich wird gäntzlich umgekehrt/ Ob es der Stein zum Staube gar verheert/ So wird das Mehl doch so vom Kleyn getrieben. Es wird daraus ein Mehl von schöner Weiße/ Und giebet uns ein nicht gemeines Brodt/

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²⁸ Poem by Johann Gottfried Olearius, LP Stolberg 17489, fo. B2r , lines 1–11, 17–24. ²⁹ Poem by Georg Green’s ‘Tischgenossen’ from the collection for Christina Margarethe Green († 1676), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 828–109(a–d), (PSa), fo. Av ; poem by the Chur-Sächsisches Convictorium (table companions) on the death of Gotthelf Christian Martin († 1680), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 828–156b, strophe 7. ³⁰ Philipp Jakob Heustreu, poem from the funeral booklet for Johann Friedrich Olearius (1659), LP Stolberg 9100, [pp. 4b–5a]. ³¹ Poem by Johann Peisker from the collection for Johann Stephan Pilarick (1685–87), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 827–022(a-b), (PSb), fos. Av –A2r . ³² Johann Anselm Steiger highlights the topos of the graveyard as a field, the ‘Gottesacker’, in Schule des Sterbens: Die >Kirchhofgedancken< des Andreas Gryphius (1616–1664) als poetologische Theologie im Vollzug (Heidelberg: Palatina, 2000), pp. 29–36.

Brides of Christ and heavenly soldiers Das uns erqvickt/ die Wangen machet roth/ Und wird gezählt zum ersten Taffel Preise. Die Müllerin/ so auff der Jungfer=ähren Sich zeigte schön/ ist auch geschüttet auff/ Und weil das Rad geht rum im frischen Lauff/ Sieht man sie sich in schönes Mehl verkehren/ Bald in ein Brodt so Gottes Tafel zieret. Zermalmet nun ihr Würme hin den Leib So daß kein Bein auch bey einander bleib/ Ein Christe wird zum Himmel so geführet.³³

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15

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Here the Wheel of Fortune, which raises humans and topples them again (line 15), is conflated with the miller’s wheel; it is through physical death that Anna Maria fulfils her heavenly purposes. The image of the grain of wheat would immediately bring two Bible verses to the mind of an early modern reader grounded in Scripture. The first is John 12: 24, Christ foretelling his death: ‘Warlich, warlich, Jch sage euch, Es sey denn, das das Weitzenkorn in der erden falle, vnd ersterbe, so bleibts alleine. Wo es aber erstirbet, so bringets viel Früchte.’³⁴ Children who die young will, by analogy, bear fruit in heaven. The second is the discussion of the resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15: 36–8: ‘[D]as du seest, wird nicht lebendig, es sterbe denn. Vnd das du seest, ist ja nicht der Leib, der werden sol, Sondern ein blos Korn, nemlich Weitzen oder der andern eines. Gott aber gibt jm einen Leib, wie er wil, vnd seinem jglichen von dem Samen seinen eigen Leib.’³⁵ Plant imagery speaks not only of transplantation into heaven, where the child flourishes in ideal conditions, protected from the ravages of the world; it is also used to highlight the hope of physical resurrection. Although Gebhard von Alvensleben must bury his son August’s body in the grave, he is assured that the root survives and will one day shoot again like bare trees in spring.³⁶ An analysis of the images which cluster around the metaphor ‘children are plants’ highlights a principle which can be applied to other metaphorical fields in funeral poems: the use made of the ³³ LP Müller, fo. Diijv . ³⁴ WA Bibel, VI, 379. ³⁵ WA Bibel, VII, 133. ³⁶ [Christian Werner], ‘Vielfaltig vermehrte Himmels Frucht […]’, LP Alvensleben, 1660, no page signatures; p. 13b in the HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering, lines 26–30, 53–60. ‘August’ means ‘Vermehrer’.

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images is determined largely by their location within the poem. Where they form part of the lamentation, the children appear as delicate plants ruthlessly hewn down. But in the consolatory sections much more comforting images prevail: the plants blossom in the eternal sun, the trees bud and produce good fruit. By taking a typical image and presenting it in a new light, the poets emphasize the need to view bereavement from a different, heavenly perspective. Whilst Kuntsch considers her losses, they seem inexplicable to her, out of kilter with nature. But as she ponders the seasons of human life, she finds comfort in the thought that when the cycle brings her to winter, she will be reunited with her children ‘in vollem Glantz und Zier’, no longer subject to the vicissitudes of earthly existence. Doch halt! Was mich betrübt muß mir auch Tröstung geben/ Ist alles änderlich/ so ändert sichs mit mir/ Dereinst zum wenigsten/ wenn ich nach diesem Leben/ 35 Euch alle wieder seh’ in vollem Glantz und Zier. Ihr seyd nicht gantz verblüht/ ihr habt von hier geeilet/ Hin/ wo nicht Frost noch Hitz euch weiter Unruh macht/ Wo keine Sonne nicht das Jahr in Zeiten theilet/ Allwo an keine Zeit noch Jahre wird gedacht. 40 Wo ihr als Sterne stets um GOTT/ als Sonne/ schwebet/ Allwo ihr zugesellt der auserwehlten Schaar/ Die schon der Seelen nach in jenem Lichte lebet/ Da tausend Jahr ein Tag/ ein Tag wie tausend Jahr. Daselbsten werd ich euch mit Freuden wieder küssen/ 45 Die ohne Aenderung allzeit vollkommen gleich/ Da wollen wir uns einst mit heil’ger Lieb’ umschlüssen/ Mein Licht/ mein Hort/ mein Trost/ GOTT bring mich bald zu euch!³⁷

R E P R E S E N TAT I O N S O F D E AT H Within the metaphorical field ‘children are plants’, death is often personified as the scythe-wielding ‘grimme Sensen=Mann’³⁸ or ³⁷ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. XIV; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 131. ³⁸ PS Green (a), fo. A2r .


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‘Menschen=Meder’.³⁹ This image of the Grim Reaper is, of course, a familiar one.⁴⁰ But it is merely one in a series of negative images of death. Another sub-group takes as its premiss the idea of death as a predator.⁴¹ Andreas Hartmann’s ode for Sophie Elisabeth Meyer describes death as an ‘vnverschämbter Räuber’ and ‘Jungfer=jäger’,⁴² whilst for Bernhard Heinrich Brillwitz he is like a poacher who lays traps: ‘Ein Vogel wird so schnell nicht durch das Netz gefangen/ | Als uns der blasse Tod mit seinem Garn berückt.’⁴³ These predatory images are even more threatening when death is depicted as a wild animal, instinctive and unreceptive to rational argument. In a poem from 1609 he appears as a bird of prey which swoops down on ³⁹ Hugo Mörlin, ‘Ode’, for Anna Maria Marci (1618–33), LP Stolberg 15947, fos. Jijr –Jiijv , line 14. ⁴⁰ Johannes von Tepl uses it in his early fifteenth-century dialogue between death and a ploughman: ‘Wir seyn gottes hant, herr Tot, ein rechter, würckender meeder; vnser senngse get für sich: weyß, swarcz, rot, prawnn, grün, bla, gra, gelb vnd allerley glancz plumen vnd graß hewt sie für sich nyder, jrs glanczes, jrer krafft, jr tugend nichts geachtet’ (Der Ackermann, ed., tr., and comm. Christian Kiening (Stuttgart: Reclam, 2000), p. 32). This edition is based, with a few revisions, on the earliest extant manuscript of 1449 (Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek: Cod. HB X 23, fos. 2ra –18rb ). Kiening points out (p. 114) that this image is biblical (‘So spricht der HERR, Sage, der menschen Leichnam sollen ligen, wie der Mist auff dem felde, vnd wie garben hinder dem Schnitter, die niemand samlet’, Jeremiah 9: 22, WA Bibel, XI. 1, 227). For earlier instances of the death-as-reaper motif, see Hellmut Rosenfeld, Der mittelalterliche Totentanz: Entstehung—Entwicklung—Bedeutung, Beihefte zum Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, 3 (Münster: Böhlau, 1954), pp. 10–14. ⁴¹ Rosenfeld also discusses medieval precedents for this image (Der mittelalterliche Totentanz, pp. 16–18). It is illustrated by Hermann tom Ring’s depiction of Judgement Day, which shows a shrouded skeleton standing in a coffin and aiming his arrow directly at the viewer. The painting forms part of an altarpiece from 1550 entitled ‘Triomf van de Dood’ ( The Triumph of Death), and is now housed at the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. It is reproduced in Friedrich-Wilhelm Wentzlaff-Eggebert’s Der triumphierende und der besiegte Tod in der Wort- und Bildkunst des Barock (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1975), pp. 21–2. J[ohann-] A[lbrecht] M[intzel?] depicts death as a predator in his ‘Klag= vnd Trost=Schrifft’ for Johann (1618–33), Maria Magdalene (1627–33), and Christian Laurentius Teuber (1631–3), LP Stolberg 22019–21, fos. G4r–v , lines 5–6. ⁴² ‘ODE’ on the death of Sophie Elisabeth Meyer († 1637), HAB Wolfenbüttel: Yv 148 Helmst. 8◦ (115), [2a], strophes 2 and 3. ⁴³ Bernhard Heinrich Brillwitz, poem from the funeral booklet for Georg Leopold Eisenreich (1700–17), LP Stolberg 8660, fos. av –a2r (in the collection of epicedia from the school in Glaucha), pp. 20–2 in the HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering, lines 5–6.

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its quarry and crushes it with ‘Mordtklawn’,⁴⁴ and a number of writers present death as an insatiable ‘vielfrässig Hund’, a wolf which seizes young lambs from the fold and rips them apart with its ‘Blecke=Zahn’.⁴⁵ M.B.’s choice of this image in a poem for HansJakob Schäffer is informed both by the child’s surname and by contemporary reports of wolves wreaking havoc.⁴⁶ The poem suggests that a wolf in the Leipzig area in 1648 had caused problems for the local inhabitants. Now a far more invidious enemy has stolen one particular lamb: Aber nun der WOLFF gestillet Kömmt der Todt in der Gestalt/ Hat die Zähn mit Gifft gefüllet/ Beist darnieder Jung und Alt/ Daß/ die heute weiß und roth/ Morgen sehen blaß und todt. Wie er dann itzt auch gebrochen Gar frech in den Schaffstall ein/ Vnd darnieder hat gestochen So ein liebes Schäffelein/ Welches gestern frölich war/ Heute stehet auff der Bahr.⁴⁷

The violent verbs used to describe death’s actions add pathos to the idea of the child as a helpless victim. Death is the frenzied ⁴⁴ Unnamed poem from the funeral booklet for Sophie von Leipzig (1607–9), LP Stolberg 15063/Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale): Pon Zc 3505, QK, from the section ‘NÆNIA THRENI ET LACRYMÆ IN OBITVM PRÆMATVRVM’, fos. C4r –Dv , lines 29–30. ⁴⁵ Johann Lupius, poems from the funeral booklet for Samuel Mossbach (1640–1), LP Stolberg 16537, fos. Diijr –D4v , lines 33–40; and Georg Cretzschmar, LP Müller, fos. Eiijr–v , line 5. See also the ‘Trawer Ede [sic]’ by friends from the funeral booklet for Anna Maria Grosse (1618–33), LP Stolberg 10100, fos. Eiijv –E4v , lines 31–6. ⁴⁶ Rising wolf populations seem to have been a particular problem during and immediately after the Thirty Years War. Zedler’s Lexicon cites war as one of the preconditions that allow wolves to flourish (Grosses vollständiges UNJVERSAL-LEXJCON Aller Wissenschaften und Künste […], 64 vols. (Halle/S.: Zedler, 1732–50), LVIII, 497), and the need for decisive action against this threat can be seen in two decrees issued on the orders of Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, in November 1643 and January 1648 (VD17 12:128701W and 12:128729V). ⁴⁷ Poem by M.B. from the collection for Hans-Jakob Schäffer (1642–8), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (178), fos. Aiijr –A4r , strophes 3–4 (emphasis in original publication).


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‘Menschen=Würger’,⁴⁸ a robber who removes children from the bosom of their family by force,⁴⁹ a housebreaker and an uninvited guest,⁵⁰ the leader of a mob of ‘Würge=Knechte’ who lie in wait to ambush their hapless targets.⁵¹ Death is life’s enemy, antithetical to it in his very characteristics: he is pale (‘der bleiche Menschenfraaß’⁵²), cold (‘[d]er eyßkalte Strecke=Bein’⁵³), and lifeless (‘das hole Klapperbein’⁵⁴, ‘der Knochen=dürre Mann’⁵⁵), and over the children he breathes his poisonous breath which, unlike God’s life-giving breath, brings sickness.⁵⁶ As death is impartial and intractable, he appears in several poems as a ruthless tyrant who wields absolute power over his subjects.⁵⁷ These thoughts predominate where poets wish to emphasize a memento mori message: Jch weiß wohl/ daß wir alle Verpflichtet/ als Vasalle/ Dem Tode unserm Feind.⁵⁸

In this dialogue poem by Vitus Langenstätter, discussed in the previous chapter, the body stands in for the reader who is, by association, compelled to acknowledge death’s dominion. Christian Nolle is less subtle in his contribution to Dorothea Juliane Mitius’s booklet: ‘Wir müssen sterben ohne Zahl/ | Jch/ Er/ Wir/ Jhr/ Sie/ Du’. ⁴⁸ Poem by Heinrich Schrader, LP Alvensleben, 1660, fo.)(4r–v , line 56. ⁴⁹ Poem by the Convictorium, PS Martin (b), [p. 2a]. ⁵⁰ Poem by Gregor Ritzsch for the parents of Margarete Lantzenberger (1623–8), LP Stolberg 14774, fos. Ciijr–v , line 9. ⁵¹ Poem by C.L. for Christina Dorothea Leyser (∗ † 1660), LP Stolberg 15161, fo.)(ijv , lines 5–8. ⁵² Gottfried Hillmann, poem from the funeral booklet for August Olearius (1646–57), HAAB Weimar: 40,3: 34 (n. 30/41)∗ , no page numbers, line 8. ⁵³ Enoch Hanmann, poem from the funeral booklet for Catharin-Elisabeth Mossbach († 1648?), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (188), strophe 3. ⁵⁴ Poem by Georg Ludwig Hamberger, PS Green (c), line 36. ⁵⁵ Poem by C.P., LP Müller, fo. Er , line 3. ⁵⁶ Benjamin Praetorius, poem from the funeral booklet for Maria Sophia Mayer (1657–8), LP Stolberg 15847, fos. H4v –Jijr , strophe 3. ⁵⁷ Poem by Petrus Meermann, LP Grosse, fos. D4r –Ev , strophe 6; C.P.’s poem, LP Müller, fo. Er , line 12: ‘das schnelle Todes=Joch’. ⁵⁸ From the funeral booklet for Hieronymus Kramer (1654–70), LP Stolberg 14389, fos. Aiijv –A4r , strophe 5.

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Here the list of emphatically-sized personal pronouns ends pointedly with the reader.⁵⁹ Where death assumes a threatening and sinister role, the children appear as passive objects with no control over their fate. They are powerless victims whose plight contributes to the pathos of parental lamentation. But this is not the only image of death (or indeed of the children) that the reader encounters. If consolation is the ultimate aim, such a negative view cannot be allowed to prevail: ‘So muß des Todes=bild/ sonst schrecklich anzusehen/ | Den Christen lieblich seyn/ wils GOtt und lests geschehen’.⁶⁰ Death may appear to a bereaved parent as a tyrant, an indiscriminate reaper, or a wild predator who knows no remorse, but within the fields of positive images it loses its agency and becomes instead an instrument controlled and commissioned by God. A poem from the funeral booklet for the daughter of the Leipzig superintendent, Johann Höpner, speaks of the fear of death which plagues young and old alike: Wir sterben alle Tage tausend mahl: So offte wir an unser Grab gedencken/ Vnd vnsre Hertzen mit Betrübnis krencken/ So offte fühlen wir die Todesqval. Der Kinder Furcht und die verpopten Hänse; Die Alten werden durch den Tod geschreckt Jtzt hören sie den Seiger der sie weckt/ Jtzt sehen sie die Blutgefärbte Sense. Vnd dennoch ist es wol der beste Freund/ Vor dem die Kinder/ als dem Fresser/ zagen; Die Mutter so es in sich hat getragen: Die Muhme/ die es schläffet wenn es weint Wie daß denn wir so vor dem Tode schreyen/ Als würden wir in seinem Bauch verzehrt? Er hat ja nur das rauhe raußgekehrt/ Damit wir uns vor Sünden lernen scheuen.

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⁵⁹ From the funeral booklet for Dorothea Juliane Mitius (1674–7), LP Stolberg 16376, fos. B2r–v , strophe 1. ⁶⁰ Johannes Olearius, ‘PARADOXA’ from the funeral booklet for August Bertram von Pfuhl (1659–60), LP Stolberg 17808, p. 23a in HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering, lines 9–10.

Brides of Christ and heavenly soldiers Wir werden mit dem Tode nur verführt: Solt er die Larve vom Gesichte rücken/ So würden wir die Mutter recht erblicken/ Die uns in eine neue Welt gebiert. Wir sprüngen ihm mit offner Hand entgegen: Kom lieber Tod/ und nim uns immer hin! Du unser andres Leben und Gewinn! Wir wollen uns zu Bette lassen legen.⁶¹

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Death must appear alarming to remind Christians of the gravity of sin (lines 23–4).⁶² But when the mask is stripped away, believers recognize it as a mother who delivers them into eternal life.⁶³ The fear of death is as unfounded as a child’s horror of an imaginary bogeyman (line 13).⁶⁴ It is even possible to regard the moment of death as desirable, the ‘Gewinn’ of which Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians,⁶⁵ and as a kindly relative who rocks the child to sleep. Many poems describe the body in just this state of welcome slumber, in line with orthodox Lutheran teaching. Martha Justina Alberti reassures her grieving family from beyond the grave that she has found rest through a ‘sanfften Todt’,⁶⁶ echoing the standard formulation of funeral sermons and biographies, that the child has died ‘sanfft und selig’.⁶⁷ ⁶¹ Poem by M.J.T. from the collection for Anna Magdalene Höpner († 1647), RSB Zwickau 48.8.13. (127), fos. Av –Aijv , lines 9–32. ⁶² ‘Denn der Tod ist der Sünden sold’ (Romans 6: 23, WA Bibel, VII, 49). ⁶³ We have already encountered this image in Luther’s Sermon von der bereytung zum sterben. ⁶⁴ ‘Die verpopten Hänse’ (‘Popanze’). The Grimm dictionary gives the following definition for ‘Popanz’: ‘eine vermummte und dadurch (den kindern, vögeln) schrecken einjagende gestalt, dann allgemeiner, je nachdem der begriff des schrecklichen oder der vermummung und des bloszen scheins vorwaltet, ein schreck-, trug-, scheinbild’, in Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch, 32 vols. (Leipzig: Hirzel, 1854–1960), XIII, column 1999. ⁶⁵ ‘Denn Christus ist mein Leben, vnd sterben ist mein gewin’ (Philippians 1: 21, WA Bibel, VII, 215). This is a popular verse for funeral sermons. ⁶⁶ Johann Sebastian Mitternacht, poem from the funeral booklet for Martha Justina Alberti (1645–58), LP Stolberg 3702, fos. Kv –K2v , strophe 1. ⁶⁷ As Marion Kobelt-Groch observes, there is good reason to suspect that this is in most cases an idealization and that many children died a painful and alarming death. See ‘,,Freudiger Abschied Jungfräulicher Seelen‘‘: Himmelsphantasien in protestantischen Leichenpredigten für Kinder’, Wolfenbütteler Barock-Nachrichten, 31 (2004), 117–47 (p. 136).

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L I F E A S A J O U R N EY Within our first two common fields of imagery, death could be construed positively or negatively depending on where the image was located within the poem. In our third field death is almost always viewed positively, as a ‘Gang in ein vergnügter Leben’.⁶⁸ The Christian commonplace ‘life is a journey’, or its variant ‘life is a sea-voyage’, enables the poet to present a strong contemptus mundi message. Earthly life is merely a land through which the pilgrim-believer passes en route to heaven,⁶⁹ an ‘vnerhörtes Angstmeer’⁷⁰ where the living are tossed on ‘ungezäumten Unglücks=Wellen’.⁷¹ Johannes Praetorius clearly considered the image of waves of misfortune apposite for the grieving poet laureate Johann Frentzel. Frentzel had lost his first son Michael Hieronymus in 1665, his wife had died shortly after giving birth to his third son, and this sickly child (Johann Abraham) had only lived for a month before following his mother and brother to the grave. How is this anguished father to navigate such a sea of sorrows? Wenn ich vermein es sey ein Trauren überstanden/ So ist ein anders da/ so folgt ein neues Weh/ Wie eine Welle folgt der andern auff der See. Auff dieser Welt=See ich zwar sehr bestürmet fahre Durch Fluht und Klippen hinn/ da auch der Räuber Schaare Mir tracht nach Ehr un[d] Guth/ nach Leib/ und nach der Seel: ⁶⁸ Gottlob Friedrich Seligmann, poem from the funeral booklet for Martha Sophia Jöcher (1679–94), LP Stolberg 13464, in the section ‘Wohlmeinende Trost=Zeilen’, fos.)o(3v -)o(4r , line 13. ⁶⁹ Poem by Johannes Praetorius from the collection for Johann Abraham Frentzel (1670–1), Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale): 78 M 465, Kapsel (9) (2), [p. 2b], lines 65–76; see also the poem by S.L. in LP Kramer, from the section ‘Klage= und Trost=Worte’, fo. Av . This image is used to great effect in Johann Georg May’s poem from the funeral booklet for Johanna Maria Zittemann (1664–80), LP Stolberg 23560, fos. Kv –K2v (see p. 114 of this study). ⁷⁰ Michael Hahn, poem from the funeral booklet for Sophie Elisabeth Röber (1630–1), LP Stolberg 18960, fos. Lijr –M2r , line 34. ⁷¹ Poem by Thomas Steger, LP Kramer, from the section ‘Klage= und Trost= Worte’, fo. Av .


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Doch bleibt mein Schiff=Patron der Held Jmmanuel: Jmmanuel der bleibt mein Schutz und Trutz in Nöthen: ER stillt der Fluhten Grimm: ER kan die Feinde tödten: Sein Wort ist mein Compaß/ die Gnade mein Panier/ Geduld der Mastbaum bleibt/ die Hoffnung meine Zier: So schiff ich nun getrost hinndurch in diesem Leben/ Biß mir der grosse GOtt den Himmels=Port wird geben: Der Himmel ist und bleibt mein Ziel zu aller Zeit/ So lang ich leb und web in dieser Sterbligkeit:⁷²

The poet kits out Frentzel’s ship with all that he needs to keep him afloat and on course: the word of God for guidance, grace as the standard under which he sails, patience to keep the ship upright and moving forward, and hope to deck it out in splendour. Most importantly, this bereaved father knows that Christ is his captain, who will still the raging tempests of grief and misfortune just as he rebuked the storm on Lake Galilee.⁷³ For Frentzel, for his son, and for all Christians the ‘Himmels=Port’, the final destination, can only be reached through the straits of death. At the end of the voyage, the soul-passenger alights to partake of the joys of heaven, and the ship-body is left on (or rather under) the sand: Alhier war auch jhr Ziel/ sie kundten nicht fürüber/ (Gott gibt nicht jedem das/ was dem Hißkias/ drüber) Hier lieff jhr Lebens Schiff an seinen Port vnd Land/ Die Seelen stiegen auß/ das Schieff behielt der Sand.⁷⁴

The metaphor ‘life is a sea voyage’ is particularly effective for funeral poems because it combines the contemptus mundi deprecation of temporal affairs with a comforting sense that a Christian’s life retains its direction and goal even when it seems blown off course: death is construed as disembarkation, not as shipwreck. ⁷² Poem by Johannes Praetorius, from PS Frentzel, [p. 1b], lines 10–24. ⁷³ Luke 8: 22–5. ⁷⁴ A.O. (Adam Olearius?), ‘Trawriges Gedächtnüß’ from the funeral booklet for Anna (1614–32), Magdalene (1615–32), and Juda von Wirth (1623–32), LP Stolberg 23200–2, fos. Aijr –Bijv , lines 129–32. Isaiah was sent to tell King Hezekiah that death was close at hand. Hezekiah pleaded with God, who allowed him to live for another fifteen years (Isaiah 38: 1–6).

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NA M E - , AG E - , A N D G E N D E R- S PE C I F I C I M AG E S In an article on visions of heaven in Lutheran funeral sermons for children, Marion Kobelt-Groch acknowledges that preachers had some freedom in their choice of images: ‘Mögen sich die Himmelsvorstellungen in den einzelnen Leichenpredigten auch ähneln, so verfügen sie doch durch die jeweils subjektive Auswahl und bestimmte Verknüpfung über einen individuellen Charakter.’⁷⁵ Names provided poets with the most obvious peg from which to hang their poems.⁷⁶ We have already seen this in the number of poems for children with the surname ‘Schäffer’, which construe the child as a helpless lamb snatched away by the wolf of death or, in the consolatory sections, grazing contentedly in heavenly pastures under the care of the Good Shepherd.⁷⁷ M. Schreiber exploits the grain of wheat image in his poem on the death of Anna Maria Müller discussed above, and Christian Frölich’s epicedium for two of Tobias Lehmann’s children reminds the grieving father that his children were not his own property, but a ‘Lehngut’ and ‘Liebes-Pfand’ from God, who was well within his rights to call in the loan.⁷⁸ The child’s age and gender seem to have been key factors for poets seeking an image around which to structure their epicedia.⁷⁹ Numerous contributions for children who died as babies or infants imagine them in heaven playing with the angels, dandled on the ⁷⁵ Kobelt-Groch, ‘Himmelsphantasien’, p. 123. ⁷⁶ Harsdörffer particularly recommends this as means of inventio, finding the subject matter and imagery for the poem (Trichter, II, VIII. 1, p. 15). ⁷⁷ Hans-Jakob’s sister, Barbara-Catharina († 1664), is the lost sheep, found and brought home to pasture by the Good Shepherd (HAAB Weimar: O,5: 49 (n. 2)∗ ), and the epicedia collection for Johann Scheffer’s two sons Heinrich and Jakob is entitled ‘Des aufferstandenen Ertzhirten bald heimgeholte Schäfflein’ (LP Scheffer). ⁷⁸ Attached to the funeral booklet for Johanna Eleonore and Christian Wilhelm Lehmann (1698–1700, 1699–1700), HAAB Weimar: 2◦ XXXVI, 52 (n. 9)∗ , from the epicedia section ‘Trost=Zeilen/ […]’, [p. 2a] (emphasis in original publication). The same point had been made in an additional sermon preached by Christian Beuchen: ‘Das Dem himmlischen Lehns=Herrn willigst abgetretene Lehn=Guth’. See Kobelt-Groch, ‘Himmelsphantasien’, pp. 128–35 for an extended discussion of this image. ⁷⁹ Parts of the following argument first appeared in Anna Linton, ‘Der Tod als Brautführer: Bridal Imagery in Funeral Writings’, Daphnis, 29 (2000), 281–306.


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knees of biblical mothers,⁸⁰ and cared for by God. Dorothea Sophia, Baroness of Trach and Birkau, finds particular comfort in the thought that her little daughter Charlotte Margarethe Sophia will continue to be suckled in heaven: Er wischt dir itzund selbst die Thränen von den Augen; Es weidet dich das Lamm, das mitten auf dem Stul: Die Brüste, die voll Trost, kanst du mit Lust itzt saugen, Weil du vorlängst veracht’t den schnöden Erden=Pful.⁸¹

For infants and children up to the age of puberty, the most common structuring metaphor is ‘children are plants’. Once the children reach puberty, the images begin to diverge, reflecting the different social expectations for men and women.⁸² Of course, there are plenty of examples of older children described as plants, and some younger children have gendered images applied to them, in a few cases even images more suitable for the opposite gender. But here we are concerned with broad patterns that are not without exceptions. We shall begin with boys, who might leave the parental home for a number of reasons. The first would be to go to school. Ten-year-old Albrecht Bose attended school in Merseburg before his death in 1615. But the local pastor, Clemens Hutt, will not allow Albrecht’s death to disrupt his education. He insists that Albrecht has been transferred ⁸⁰ See, for example, the third strophe of Enoch Hanmann’s poem for CatharinElisabeth Mossbach, PS Mossbach, 1648, [p. 3b]: ‘JEsus Mutter will es hertzen/ | Hanna nimmt es auff die Schoß/ | Ja mit ihm die Kinder schertzen/ | Vnd die Frewd ist ihnen gros/ | Die Herodes unbedacht | Niedermacht.’ (‘Die Schoß’ is attested as an alternative to the masculine form in the Grimm Wörterbuch, IX, column 1583.) ⁸¹ Poem by Dorothea Sophia, Baroness of Trach and Birkau († 1705), in Johann Caspar Eberti, Schlesiens Hoch = und Wohlgelehrtes Frauenzimmer, Nebst unterschiedenen Poetinnen/ So sich durch schöne und artige P bey der curieusen Welt bekandt gemacht […] (Breslau: Michael Rohrlach, 1727); facs. edn., ed. Elisabeth Gössmann, Archiv für philosophieund theologiegeschichtliche Frauenforschung, 3 (Munich: Iudicium, 1990), pp. 69–72, lines 13–15. Line 13 is a reference to Revelation 21: 4: ‘Vnd Gott wird abwischen alle threnen von jren augen’ (WA Bibel, VII, 473). The image of the suckling baby is also used in Johannes Praetorius’s poem for 1-month-old Johann Abraham Frentzel: ‘Allda du ewig kanst die Trostes=Brüste saugen’, PS Frentzel, [p. 2b], line 51. ⁸² Ines Kloke points to the continuity these images suggest, but she does not explore their consolatory potential in any depth. See ‘Das Kind in der Leichenpredigt’, in Rudolf Lenz (ed.), Leichenpredigten als Quelle historischer Wissenschaften, Marburger Personalschriftensymposien, 4 vols. (I—Cologne: Böhlau, 1975; II and III—Marburg: Schwarz, 1979 and 1984; IV—Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004), III, 97–120 (pp. 104–5).

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to the heavenly school where he learns his lessons directly from Christ, and his parents are encouraged to regard his death not as an ‘Abgang’, but as ‘Ein Eingang vnd promotion | Jn die Himlische Schul’.⁸³ In comparison with their new curriculum, the heavenly pupils realize that worldly wisdom is ‘nur blosses Stückwerck’⁸⁴ and ‘schlechtes Bley’.⁸⁵ Made perfect in heaven, they surpass their former classmates and even their teachers in wisdom; Friedrich Balduin notes in the curriculum vitae for 16-year-old Christian Blume, ‘Er bedarff keines Præceptoris mehr/ er wird jetzo täglich von Gott gelehret/ er höret in der Himlischen hohen Schul die Weißheit Gottes.’⁸⁶ This image is primarily a comforting vision of children coming of age in heaven. Caspar Ziegler informs Hans-Jakob Schäffer’s parents: ‘Vnd gewißlich der allhier ein Kind von 5. oder 6. Jahren ware/ ist dort zu einem verständigen und weisen Manne worden/ und verlacht itzo alles das jenige/ was die Welt Jhr selbst zum Vntergange dreuet’,⁸⁷ and Philipp Christoph Schmid’s former teachers at the Latin school in Halle assert: Es sey der alt genug, und habe genug studieret, Der freudig und getrost die Welt verlassen kan, Den GOTT auch wie ein Kind in jene Schule führet, Der werde alsobald ein vollenkommner Mann.⁸⁸

Another reason for a Lutheran boy to leave the family home would be to learn a trade. Trading imagery falls into two subsets. In the first the child is the commodity traded. The aptly named Zacharias ⁸³ ‘Teutsches Klagelied’ by Clemens Hutt, LP Bose, fos. Jv –Jiijr , strophes 8–9. ⁸⁴ Poem by Christian Corpus, LP Tischer, p. 77. ⁸⁵ Poem by Wilhelm, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen, LP Eisenreich, pp. 15–18 in HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering, strophe 8. ⁸⁶ From the funeral booklet for Magdalena (1609–26) and Christian Blume (1610–26), HAAB Weimar: Q, 3:9 (n. 5) 4◦ , fo. C2v . Christian had reached an age where he was considered old enough to attend lectures at the University of Wittenberg. See also Johannes Thiele’s poem on the death of 11-year-old Johann Balthasar Fleischhauer (1648–59), where his younger brother recognizes that he is no longer ‘Schüler’, but ‘Meister’ (LP Stolberg 9426, fo. Mijr ). ⁸⁷ PS Schäffer, 1648, RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (157), fo. Aiijv . ⁸⁸ Epicedia collection for Philipp Christoph Schmid († 1719), Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale): an Gb 956, 2◦ (108), [p. 1b], lines 33–6.


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Kramer, city councillor and merchant in Leipzig, has a particularly bad day at the market, trading away his son, his most precious ware.⁸⁹ This metaphorical field—the child as commodity—can be applied to girls or boys since it is determined by the father’s profession rather than the gender of the child. However, the second subset—the child as trader—is clearly gender determined: commerce was a male domain. Johann August Bretnütz, who died within a few weeks of birth, accurately assessed the worldly situation and decided not to trade in earthly vanities,⁹⁰ and the image is used repeatedly for 16-year-old Hieronymus Kramer, who had shown an inclination to follow in his father’s footsteps. In the funeral sermon, ‘Der Geistliche Kramer’, Johann Ulrich Mayer describes how a spiritual merchant exchanges the poorest and worst wares for the best and most noble. This, he argues, is the coup that Hieronymus has pulled off, rejecting wordly goods for ‘Himmel=reichen Schätzen’, obedient to Christ’s command to store up imperishable heavenly treasures.⁹¹ The transaction demonstrates that Hieronymus had a sound business sense, true to his family’s name and profession: DJe Messe ist nun auß. Die Wechsel sind erhalten/ Der meiste Theil der Krahmer ist vergnügt. Dem sein Gewinn numehr vor Augen liegt/ Der kann mit seinem Krahm nach eigenen Willen walten. Jedoch/ was ists nun mehr? Die Wechsel dieser Zeiten Verlohnen sich warhafftig nicht der Müh: Wenn man es recht bedenckt/ so sind sie nie So köstlich als man meynt: Es sind nur Eitelkeiten. Drumb ists gewiß; will sich ein Krahmer recht ergötzen/ So ist nicht nur der irrdische Gewinn Sein Kauffmanns=Zweck. Nein. Denn Jhn trägt sein Sinn Nach Wechsel jener Zeit/ nach Himmel=reichen Schätzen. So eben sahe man den Jungen Krahmer walten/ ⁸⁹ Poem by Hieronymus Nikolaus Winckelmann, LP Kramer, from the section ‘Klage = und Trost=Worte’, fo. A4v . ⁹⁰ Johann Richter, poem from the funeral booklet for Johann August Bretnütz (∗ † 1662), LP Stolberg 5054 fo. Bijr . ⁹¹ Cf. Matthew 6: 19–21.

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Brides of Christ and heavenly soldiers Der leider! todt. So lange GOtt gewolt/ Hat er gekrahmt umb ewig=güldnes Gold; Nun ist sein Krahmen auß: Sein Wechsel ist erhalten.⁹²

Education and trade are rich fields of imagery for burghers. The military domain is more in keeping with the lifestyle and career of an early modern gentleman. Franz Mordian von Kärßenbrock’s funeral sermon of 1635 is entitled ‘AGON SPIRITUALIS: Das ist/ Geistliche/ Christliche Ritterschafft’, taking as its text 2 Timothy 4: 6–8,⁹³ and Albrecht Bose is described as a ‘triumphirter Rittermann | Jn ewiger Seligkeit’.⁹⁴ It is significant that these boys came from the landed gentry. But this image is not merely provoked by contemporary expectations for boys. As the sermon for Franz Mordian makes clear, this is a common tropological metaphor; the faithful, male and female alike, are urged to ‘fight the good fight’. This accounts for its use in funeral poems for girls. Martin Dieterich’s poem for Maria Elisabeth Schürer serves here as an example: Sie hat nunmehr Unsterbligkeit erworben durch ihre Tugend: Darumb das sie Hertzhafftig hat gekrieget/ Vnd sich mit lastern in ein streit verfüget/ Dadurch dem Tod sie steiff obsieget Jn jhrer Jugend.⁹⁵

G[regor] R[itzsch?] describes Anna Catharina Severus as ‘die gute Glaubens=Kämpfferin’,⁹⁶ Maria Magdalene Gundermann wrestled ⁹² Poem by Paul Winckelmann, LP Kramer, fo. Aijr (emphasis in original publication). ⁹³ ‘Denn ich werde schon geopffert, vnd die zeit meines abscheidens ist furhanden. Jch hab einen guten Kampff gekempffet, ich hab den Lauff volendet, ich hab glauben gehalten. Hinfurt ist mir beygelegt die Kron der gerechtigkeit, welche mir der HErr an jenem tage, der gerechte Richter, geben wird, Nicht mir allein, sondern auch allen die seine Erscheinung lieb haben’ (WA Bibel, VII, 281). The sermon was preached by Johann Æschardt for Franz Mordian von Kärßenbrock (1616–35), LP Stolberg 14141. ⁹⁴ ‘Teutsches Klagelied’ by Clemens Hutt, LP Bose, fos. Jv –Jiijr , strophe 7. ⁹⁵ Martin Dieterich, ‘Deutsches Sapphicum Jungfraw Maria Elisabethens Seeligen’ from the funeral booklet for Anna Margarethe (1621–37) and Maria Elisabeth Schürer (1625–37), LP Stolberg 20636–7, fos. Cijv –C4r , lines 19–24. ⁹⁶ Poem from the funeral booklet for Anna Catharina Severus (1624–38), LP Stolberg 21054, fos. Ev –Eijv , line 1. Her funeral text was 2 Timothy 4: 6–8.


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in faith during her lifetime,⁹⁷ and Veronica Roth had been engaged in a long earthly battle before she was honourably discharged by death.⁹⁸ Paul Bose clearly felt it necessary to justify his choice of this image for Theodora Sabine Koch: NJcht nur ein Mannes=Bild Muß einen Muth zum Streit und Kriege fassen/ Und solt es Gut und Blut darüber müssen lassen; Der Tugendbrunnen qvillt/ Auch in der Brust der wollenweichen Frauen/ GOtt hat offt seine Lust ihr Tapfer Hertz zuschauen. Es ist der Welt bekand Daß mannichmal das Volck/ das halb bebrüstet Sich wieder grosse Zahl der Männer hat gerüstet. Doch sey’s ein Tichter Tand! Man findet noch der Weiber Streitbarkeiten/ Die wider Dienst und Joch der Seelen=Feinde streiten.⁹⁹

Where this image is applied to girls, poets are careful to emphasize that they were conscripts in a war of faith; the image alludes to what they have been in life rather than what they will be in the life to come. The boys may be soldiers in the heavenly army because this builds on earthly expectations and ambitions. For girls, the earthly battle against sin, the world, and the devil ends with death. A Lutheran girl’s reasons for leaving the parental home were considerably more limited than a boy’s. A well-connected girl might go to court or enter the household of a noblewoman to learn deportment and etiquette to prepare her for marriage to a man of standing, and a very small number entered the few Lutheran orders. But in most cases a girl would not leave home until she married. The bridal image is the richest and most developed of the images ⁹⁷ B[althasar] R[einheckel?], ‘Tröstliches VALET Liedlein’ from the funeral booklet for Maria Magdalene Gundermann (1606–17), LP Stolberg 10144, fos. Kiijr –K4v , strophe 8. ⁹⁸ Frentzel’s alexandrine poem for Veronica Roth († 1643), RSB Zwickau: 48.8. 13.(26), fos. Aijr –Aiijr . In the first line of the ode that follows she rejoices that she is now freed from ‘ALles mein Kämpffen/ mein Leiden vnd Streiten’ (see pp. 131–4 of this study). ⁹⁹ LP Koch, HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering 22a–b, strophes 1–2.

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applied to children in funeral verse.¹⁰⁰ Whole contemporary works were devoted to elucidating its various expressive possibilities. In 1677 Johann Quirsfeld’s Geistliche Hochzeit des Lammes was published.¹⁰¹ The work is divided into fourteen ‘Liebes=Spiegeln’, each based on a verse of Scripture. Quirsfeld proceeds from the claim in 1 John 4: 16 that ‘GOtt ist Liebe’, through the engagement of Christ and the Christian soul by faith,¹⁰² to the bride’s homecoming in heaven and her everlasting nuptial joy. The work is dedicated to four girls of his acquaintance:¹⁰³ its author clearly considered this to be an image that would appeal to them particularly, although he maintains that the bridal soul can be either a male or female believer (‘Die geistliche Hochzeit des Lammes wird in dieser Welt mit einer iedweden gläubigen Seele angefangen/ und im Himmel vollendet/ da denn darauff die Braut bey ihrem JEsu/ als ihrem geistlichen Ehegemahl in Ewigkeit leben und bleiben wird’).¹⁰⁴ Three later works demonstrate the image’s popularity amongst authors of a Pietist leaning: Johann Wilhelm Petersen’s 1701 work Die Hochzeit des Lammes und der Braut,¹⁰⁵ and two devotional works by Aemilie Juliane, Countess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt († 1706): Der Freundin des Lammes täglicher Umgang mit Gott and Der Freundin des Lammes geistlicher Braut-Schmuck zu Christlicher Vorbereitung auf die Hochzeit des Lammes.¹⁰⁶ ¹⁰⁰ For a full discussion of this image, its history and use in funeral poetry, see Linton, ‘Der Tod als Brautführer’. ¹⁰¹ Johann Quirsfeld, […] Geistliche Hochzeit des Lammes Aus vierzehen Kern= Sprüchen der Heil. Schrifft/ in so vielen Liebes=Spiegeln/ mit schönen Kupffern/ […] (Leipzig: Christoph Klinger [publisher] and Christoph Günther [printer], 1677). ¹⁰² Quirsfeld describes the rings that are exchanged as a sign of betrothal. The bridegroom’s contains a sapphire of righteousness, a jacinth of judgement, a diamond of grace, and an aquamarine of compassion, and the bride’s has a blood-red ruby of faith and an emerald of knowledge (ibid. pp. 348–77). ¹⁰³ Johanna Titel, Maria Regina Pincker, Christina Lorentz von Adlershelm and Maria Barbara Lehmann. ¹⁰⁴ Quirsfeld, Geistliche Hochzeit des Lammes, p. 414 (my emphasis). ¹⁰⁵ Johann Wilhelm Petersen, Die Hochzeit des Lammes und der Braut/ Bey Der herannahenden Zukunfft JEsu Christi/ Durch ein Geschrey in dieser Mitternacht/ zur heiligen Wache: […] (Offenbach: Bonaventura de Launoy, [1701?]). ¹⁰⁶ Both works were published posthumously: Der Freundin des Lammes täglicher Umgang mit Gott […] (Leipzig and Rudolstadt: [Johann Michael] Gollner, 1714), and Der Freundin des Lammes geistlicher Braut-Schmuck Zu Christlicher Vorbereitung Auf die Hochzeit des Lammes/ […] (Rudolstadt: Heinrich Urban, 1714). For a discussion


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Like the military imagery, the bridal metaphor has biblical precedents. Israel is described repeatedly in the Old Testament as Yahweh’s unfaithful bride who commits spiritual adultery with other gods ( Jeremiah 3: 8), but who will be restored to honour and her rightful place (Isaiah 62: 5). By analogy with the prophet Hosea, who is instructed to take back his adulterous prostitute wife, Yahweh promises Israel: ‘Jch wil mich mit dir verloben in ewigkeit, Jch wil mich mit dir vertrawen in Gerechtigkeit vnd Gericht, in Gnade vnd Barmhertzigkeit, Ja im Glauben wil ich mich mit dir verloben, Vnd du wirst den HERRN erkennen’.¹⁰⁷ In the New Testament Christ is identified as the Bridegroom,¹⁰⁸ and Revelation 19: 6–9 describes the wedding feast of the Lamb to which the faithful are invited. The bride now becomes the new Israel, the church, whom Paul claims to lead to Christ as a pure bride.¹⁰⁹ The image is most clearly employed in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, where prescribed behaviour within marriage (wifely obedience, devotion from the husband) is compared with Christ’s love for the church.¹¹⁰ The bridal image was taken up with great enthusiasm by the Church Fathers with particular reference to the Song of Songs.¹¹¹ This contentious book celebrating sensual love was deemed acceptable by interpreting it as an image of God’s covenant with Israel. This reading had been Christianized by the third-century writer Hippolytus, who applied it to the relationship between Christ and the church, and he was followed by Origen, who offered two varying interpretations.¹¹² In his homilies of Aemilie Juliane’s life and works see Judith P. Aikin, ‘Der Weg zur Mündigkeit in einem Frauenleben aus dem 17. Jahrhundert: Genesis und Publikationsgeschichte der geistlichen Lieder der Gräfin Aemilie Juliane von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt’, Wolfenbütteler Barock-Nachrichten, 29 (2002), 33–59. ¹⁰⁷ Hosea 2: 19–20, WA Bibel, XI. 2, 189. ¹⁰⁸ John 3: 29; Matthew 9: 15; Matthew 22: 1–13. ¹⁰⁹ ‘Denn ich habe euch vertrawet einem Manne, das ich eine reine Jungfraw Christo zubrechte’ (2 Corinthians 11: 2, WA Bibel, VII, 165). ¹¹⁰ Ephesians 5: 22–32. ¹¹¹ For an interpretative history of the Song of Songs, see Ann W. Astell, The Song of Songs in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990; repr. 1995) and Martin Goebel, Die Bearbeitungen des Hohen Liedes im 17. Jahrhundert: Nebst einem Ueberblick über die Beschäftigung mit dem Hohen Liede in früheren Jahrhunderten (Halle/S.: John, 1914). See also Linton, ‘Der Tod als Brautführer’, pp. 286–8. ¹¹² Hippolytus, Traités d’Hippolyte sur David et Goliath, sur le Cantique des cantiques et sur l’Antéchrist: version géorgienne, ed. and tr. Gérard Garitte, Corpus scriptorum

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Origen regarded the Song of Songs as an allegory in the tradition of Hippolytus. In his commentaries, however, he suggests that the bride may also be regarded as the soul of every individual believer who seeks union with God. Luther had validated the concept of the brideship of the individual soul in his 1520 work Von der Freyheyt eyniß Christen menschen, where he describes the process of alien righteousness (‘iustitia aliena’),¹¹³ by which a Christian receives redemption, through the marriage metaphor of Ephesians 5: 22–32. Through faith the impoverished, despised, and wicked soul-bride is joined in marriage with a rich bridegroom. Each party brings gifts into the union: the soul’s impurities and sinfulness are imputed to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the soul. Jst nu das nit ein fröliche wirtschafft, da der reyche, edle, frummer breüdgam Christus das arm vorachte bößes hürlein zur ehe nympt, und sie entledigt von allem übell, zieret mit allen gütern? So ists nit muglich, das die sund sie vordampne, denn sie ligen nu auff Christo, und sein ynn yhm vorschlunden, so hat sie ßo ein reyche gerechtickeyt ynn yhrem breütgam, das sie abermals wider alle sund bestahn mag, ob sie schon auff yhr legen.¹¹⁴

The image continued to enjoy common currency in the early modern period. As we have seen, it was particularly popular amongst Pietist writers, who emphasized the importance of a personal relationship with God, as well as amongst Catholic mystics.¹¹⁵ Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius) offers an erotic description of the desire to be united with Christ in the poem ‘Sie begehret verwundet zu seyn von ihrem Geliebten’,¹¹⁶ and in an epigram from the Cherubinischer Christianorum orientalium, 263–4, Scriptores Iberici, 15–16 (Louvain: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1965); Origen, The Song of Songs: Commentary and Homilies, tr. R. P. Lawson, Ancient Christian Writers. The Works of the Fathers in Translation (London: Newman, 1957). See Goebel, Die Bearbeitungen des Hohen Liedes, p. 15. ¹¹³ See the ‘Sermo de duplici iustitia’ (1519), WA, II, 145–52. ¹¹⁴ WA, VII, 25–6. ¹¹⁵ See Marie-Luise Wolfskehl, Die Jesusminne in der Lyrik des deutschen Barock, Gießener Beiträge zur deutschen Philologie, 34 (Gießen: Kindt, 1934), chs. 2 and 3. ¹¹⁶ Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius), Heilige Seelen=Lust/ Oder Geistliche Hirten= Lieder Der in ihren JESUM verliebten Psyche […] (Breslau: Georg Baumann [publisher] and Gottfried Gründer [printer], 1657); rev. edn., Geistliche Hirten=Lieder Der Jn ihren JESUM verliebten Seele/ […] (Berlin: Johann Wilhelm Mayer, 1702), I. XXXIX, p. 61.


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Wandersmann he asserts that the bridal relationship is the greatest to which the soul can aspire: Die geistliche Hochzeit. Die Braut ist meine Seel; der Bräutgam GOttes=Sohn; Der Priester Gottes Geist/ und seiner Gottheit Thron Jst der Vermählungs Ort: der Wein der mich macht trunken/ Jst meines Bräutgams Blutt/ die Speisen allzumal Sind sein Vergöttet Fleisch/ die Kam[m]er und der Saal/ Und s’Bett’/ ist s’Vatters Schoß/ in der wir seind versunken.¹¹⁷

The nuancing of the basic metaphor here has much in common with Quirsfeld’s almost contemporaneous work. The last two lines are particularly striking: ‘[Des] Vatters Schoß/ in der wir seind versunken’ is clearly the domain of the dead.¹¹⁸ It is only through death that the soul, betrothed in baptism, is finally united with Christ. As Quirsfeld puts it: ‘Was wir Christen hier haben in fide, im Glauben/ das haben wir dort in visione, im Schauen. Hier in spe, dort in re.’¹¹⁹ Lutheran poets were relatively comfortable with using the bridal image to represent the relationship between Christ and the individual believer in meditative verse, although Marie-Luise Wolfskehl contends that they were not as bold as their Catholic contemporaries, tending to de-eroticize the image of Christ as bridegroom by placing it alongside depictions of Christ as brother and friend.¹²⁰ She argues that the prevalence of the image in pastoral religious poetry is genre determined rather than based on intense personal experiences of ‘Jesusminne’,¹²¹ and that Lutheran writers preferred, in any case, to use the image anagogically, as a commonplace to describe the union between Christ and the soul in the life to come. ¹¹⁷ Johann Scheffler, […] Cherubinischer Wandersmann oder Geist=Reiche Sinn= und Schluß=Reime zur Göttlichen beschauligkeit anleitende […], 2nd edn. (Glatz: Ignatius Schubarth, 1675), III. 79, p. 106. ¹¹⁸ The image combines the idea of being lowered into the grave with that of Abraham’s bosom, where the souls of the faithful dead find rest (Luke 16: 22). ¹¹⁹ Quirsfeld, Geistliche Hochzeit des Lammes, p. 414. In the thirteenth ‘Liebes= Spiegel’ he compares Christians with African brides who do not see their bridegrooms until the wedding takes place (p. 682). ¹²⁰ Wolfskehl, Die Jesusminne, pp. 136, 93–4. ¹²¹ Ibid. p. 34. Wolfskehl refers particularly to the poetry of the Nuremberg Pegnitzschäfer.

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Die unio mystica ist hier nicht mehr Erlebnis, sondern nur noch theologisches oder dichterisches Motiv, das in der vorgezeichneten Sprache des H[ohenliedes] immer wieder in unzähligen Abwandlungen behandelt wird. Dabei kommt es unwillkürlich zu einer Verselbständigung der sinnlichen Vorstellungen, zu einem Verweltlichungsprozeß, der diesen Poesien den Zauber einer tranzendenten Geistigkeit nimmt.¹²²

The image could be applied to the souls of male and female believers in meditative verse. But it is striking that Lutheran occasional poets appear to have been less comfortable with using it for epicedia written for boys or men. There are a few exceptions, for example Johann Balthasar Fleischhauer, ‘das Gott=vermählte Kind’,¹²³ or Christian, Duke of Saxony-Altenburg, who yearns for Christ in Christian Wehner’s dactylic poem: Eile/ verweile nicht länger/ mein Leben/ Reiß mich aus diesen Vergänglichen hin/ Tausendmahl wil Jch dich küssend ümbgeben/ Zu dir steht alles/ mein Hertze/ mein Sinn O du mein Bräutgam/ mein Schönster/ mein Lieber/ Gehe doch/ bitt’ Jch/ nicht bey mir vorüber.¹²⁴

But in most cases the image is applied conventionally to girls who had reached a marriageable age.¹²⁵ Two cases of double bereavement illustrate this. In 1682 Johann Quirsfeld, author of Geistliche ¹²² Wolfskehl, Die Jesusminne, p. 136. ¹²³ Poem by Joachim Othe, LP Fleischhauer, fos. K4r –Lr , l. 63. ¹²⁴ ‘Klage=Lied’ from the funeral booklet for Christian, Duke of Saxony-Altenburg (1654–63), LP Stolberg 19513, printed with Christian Wehner’s ‘Heisse Thränen […]’, (Altenburg: Johann Michael, 1663). See p. 131 for a brief discussion of the use of the dactyl in epithalamia. ¹²⁵ There are a few examples of funeral sermons which apply the image to men, for example for Achatz von Guttenberg (1597–1632), ‘Vestis Sponsæ Regia, In Regis Sponsi Curia: Darvon Auß dem H. Propheten Esaia am 61. v. 10. […]’ by Caspar Conrad Saher (Hof: Matthias Pfeilschmidt, 1633), HAB Wolfenbüttel: Xa 1: 12 (23); or for Friedrich Noah Mylius (1646–72), ‘Freudige Priesterliche Todes=Gedancken/ […] Uber den wunderschönen Priester- und Braut-Schmuck […] Wie auch uber der Hochzeit des Lambs […]’ by Christoph Siegmundt ([Chemnitz]: Johann Eckstein [publisher] and Johann Gabriel Gütner [printer], 1672), LP Stolberg 16854. In Mylius’s case, the image was clearly chosen because his wedding date had already been set. The image is sometimes used for girls before they reach puberty, for example for Eleonore Justina Krause (1648–55), ‘Hochzeit des Lambs mit 144000. Jungfrauen/ […]’ by Nicolaus Zapf ( Jena: Georg Sengenwald, 1656), LP Stolberg 13832. It can even be applied to boys, although instances of this as the leading image


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Hochzeit des Lammes, delivered two sermons on the deaths of Johann Michael Strauß’s teenage son (Johann Gottfried) and daughter (Clara Margarethe). The title of the booklet makes clear that Quirsfeld is working with two gender-specific images: ‘Die selige Heimführung Der geistlichen Himmels=Braut/ nehmlich Der […] Claren Margariten Straußin/ Und die him[m]lische Promotion des seligen Studiosi, Nehmlich Des […] Johann Gottfried Straußens/ […]’.¹²⁶ Marriage was a none too distant prospect for the teenage Clara Margarethe, whereas for Johann Gottfried, who had already matriculated as a university student, the academic image was much more appropriate. The career paths of both teenagers continue in the heavenly realm. A similar case can be seen in a poem from the funeral booklet for Barbara Marie Kaulisch, who died shortly after her elder brother Christian. The epode of Paul Höpner’s Pindaric ode pays tribute to both children, but distinguishes between the heavenly crowns each has been given: Nun/ wie GOtt durch dieses Leiden Seinem Bild Euch gleich gemacht/ So hat Er die Himmels=Freuden Euch gewiß auch zugedacht/ Da in ewig schönen Lentzen Jhr die Tochter und den Sohn Werdet sehn wie Engel gläntzen Jn der Braut= und Lorbeer=Cron.¹²⁷ for a funeral sermon are extremely rare. An example is the funeral sermon for the infant Alexander von Stosch († 1658), ‘Angenehmer Braut=Ruff Jesus/ unsrer Seelen Allerliebsten Bräutigams/ […]’ by Benjamin Gerlach (Liegnitz: Wigand Funck, 1658), VD17 14:019013D. In a survey of 133 funeral sermons from the VD17 that use the bridal motif as the leading image, one is for a boy and 24 are for men, with the remaining 108 for women and girls. Of these, 29 are for married women, 7 for girls under the age of 10, and 72 for unmarried woman and girls aged 10 or over. ¹²⁶ Funeral booklet for Clara Margarethe (1668–82) and Johann Gottfried Strauß († 1682), FLB Gotha: LP P 8◦ IV, 00020 (12). Clara Margarethe died first, and Quirsfeld published her funeral sermon. When her brother died, he preached the sermon at Johann Gottfried’s funeral, and the two sermons were then published with a single cover sheet. ¹²⁷ Paul Höpner’s ‘Pindarische Klag= und Trost=Ode An die hertzlich= und schmertzlich=Betrübten’ from the funeral booklet for Barbara Marie Kaulisch (1656–72), LP Stolberg 13847, fos. Pijr–v .

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Whilst Barbara Marie’s bridal garland is a gift she must receive passively from her bridegroom, her brother is decorated with the garland awarded to winners in athletic contests.¹²⁸ This laurel wreath is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 9: 24–5, where it is the reward for a life of faith,¹²⁹ but it is also connected with Apollo, and thus with achievements academic and artistic. The poem clearly demonstrates the broad trend of gender differentiation that we have already seen operating within funeral poems: active images for the boys (fighting, studying, trading) and passive ones for the girls (being married). As with all of the images discussed in this chapter, the bridal image operates on several levels. It can fulfil a lamentational role, as Benjamin Gerlach demonstrates in the opening of his funeral sermon for Barbara Helena von Sommerfeld and Falckenhain. CHristliche/ Hochansehliche Zuhörer! Jrre ich? Oder ist nicht heute der fröliche Hochzeit=Tag/ der an Stand und Geburt HochEdelen/ an Tugend viel Edelern/ an Gottesfurcht AllerEdelsten Jungfrauen Barbara Helena/ […] Wie aber? Daß allhier ein geputzter Sarg/ für die geschmückte Braut/ dort mit schwartzem Boy/ hier mit weissen Schleiern umbgeben stehet/ und den mehr/ als herben Thränen der HochEdelen Eltern/ Bräutigam und fürnehmen Freunden benetzet wird. Die Kinder Jambri zogen mit lauter geschöpffeten Hochzeit=Freuden jhren Weg. Als aber das Schwerdt die Verbundenen zerhibe/ wurde auß der Hochzeit ein Hertzeleid/ und auß den Pfeiffen ein Heulen. Ach! Auß unserer Sommerfeldisch=Mauschwitzischen Hochzeit ist ein Hertzeleid/ und auß jhrem Trompeten=Schall ein Heulen worden.¹³⁰

Barbara Helena died two weeks before she was to marry, and the funeral service was arranged to take place on her wedding day as a reminder of how death overturns the best-laid plans.¹³¹ But ¹²⁸ Cf. 2 Timothy 4: 7–8. ¹²⁹ ‘Wisset jhr nicht, das die, so in den Schrancken lauffen, die lauffen alle, Aber einer erlanget das Kleinod. Lauffet nu also, das jr es ergreiffet. Ein jglicher aber der da kempffet, enthelt sich alles dinges. Jene also, das sie eine vergengliche Krone empfahen, Wir aber eine vnuergengliche’ (WA Bibel, VII, 111). ¹³⁰ Benjamin Gerlach, ‘Heimführung Der Braut CHRJSTJ zur Hochzeit in Himmel […]’, funeral sermon for Barbara Helena von Sommerfeld and Falckenhain (1653–72), BL: 4886.bb77 1–3 (1), fos. Aijr–v . The reference is to 1 Maccabees 9: 37–41, where a bridal party is slaughtered on the way to the wedding in a revenge killing (‘Da ward aus der Hochzeit ein Hertzeleid, vnd aus dem pfeiffen ward ein heulen’, 1 Maccabees 9: 41, WA Bibel, XII, 369). ¹³¹ Bodies were usually buried within a couple of days of death, although it was not uncommon for members of the nobility to be embalmed and for a funeral to take place


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for Gerlach, as for most poets and writers, the main thrust of the image is consolatory. Death assumes a gentle role; he is the ‘Brautführer’, the necessary agent through whom the wedding is brought about, for, as Gottfried Hahn writes in the second sermon preached on Barbara Helena’s death, ‘Hier solte die Verlobung/ im Himmel aber die Vereheligung geschehen’.¹³² Death becomes the moment of fulfilment: the wedding day finally arrives, and the girl is taken to her new home: Der Tod hat durch das Leiden Christi/ in Ansehung der Frommen gar eine gewüntschte Commission kriget. Vorhin war er ein Fürst deß Schreckens. Jetzo ist er ein Bothe/ welcher der Braut Christi die fröliche Zeit zur Heimführung anmeldet. Er ist dem Engel Petri gleich/ welcher Petro die Ketten/ sampt den Fesseln aufflösete/ das Gefängnüß öffnete/ und sagte/ stehe auff.¹³³ Wer wil sich fürm Tode entsetzen. Freuen wir uns Christi Bräute zu seyn/ so last uns auch den Tod mit lachenden Augen wilkommen heissen. Denn er thut anders nichts/ als daß er die Bande unserer Sünde und deß Elendes aufflöset und saget: Stehe auff/ du solt zum Bräutigam kommen.¹³⁴

Gerlach construes Barbara Helena’s death as a natural progression. He acknowledges that her parents will feel her loss keenly, but suggests that it should be the passing sorrow of parents whose child is leaving the family home to marry rather than bitter grief: ‘Jch wil jhnen some time later. Gregory Johnston cites one such example in his article on Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien for Heinrich Posthumus, Count of Reuss-Gera, who died on 3 December 1635 and was buried two months later on 4 February 1636. This timing of his funeral ceremonies is significant. They began two days earlier on 2 February, Candlemas, the day on which Mary went to the temple to be purified and Simeon sang the Nunc Dimittis (‘HErr, nu lessestu deinen Diener im Friede faren, wie du gesagt hast. Denn meine augen haben deinen Heiland gesehen. Welchen du bereitet hast, Fur allen Völckern. Ein Liecht zu erleuchten die Heiden, Vnd zum preis deines volckes Jsrael.’ Luke 2: 29–32, WA Bibel, VI, 219). One of the inscriptions on the right-hand side of the coffin, which Heinrich Posthumus had designed himself, reads: ‘Er ist das Heil vnd selig Licht/ Für die Heyden | Zu erleuchten die dich kennen nicht/ Vnd zu weiden/ | Er ist seins Volcks Jsrael/ Der Preiss/ Ehr/ Frewd vnd Wonne’, taken from the chorale ‘Mit Fried und Freud fahr ich dahin’, which is based on the Nunc Dimittis. See Johnston, ‘Textual Symmetries and the Origins of Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien’, Early Music, 9 (1991), 213–24 (pp. 218–20). ¹³² Gottfried Hahn, ‘Geistliche Verlobung Einer gläubigen Seelen mit Christo/ […]’, LP Sommerfeld and Falckenhain (2), fo. Aiijv . ¹³³ Acts 5: 19–20. ¹³⁴ Gerlach, LP Sommerfeld and Falckenhain (1), fo. Cv (emphasis in original publication).

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Hochbetrübtesten! Jhre Thränen nicht hemmen. Welch Vater legt einem Bräutigam sein Kind ohne Thränen an die Seite? Jch weiß gewiß/ daß auß diesen jhren Thränen entlich lauter Freude werden wird’.¹³⁵ Many poets and preachers heighten the metaphor’s consolatory thrust by emphasizing the bride’s bliss in her new heavenly home through contrasts with earthly celebrations. Here the accepted allegorical sense of the biblical marriage metaphor (the soul as bride) is extended anagogically to convey comforting visions of the afterlife. The bride is collected in a heavenly carriage to the great wonder of the angelic wedding guests,¹³⁶ and she is robed in costly garments which signify her redemption.¹³⁷ Barbara Marie Kaulisch’s funeral sermon, ‘Geistlicher Braut=Schmuck’ has Isaiah 61: 10 as its text: JCh frewe mich im HERRN, Vnd meine Seele ist frölich in meinem Gott. DEnn er hat mich angezogen mit Kleidern des Heils, Vnd mit dem Rock der Gerechtigkeit gekleidet. Wje einen Breutigam mit priesterlichem Schmuck gezieret, Vnd wie eine Braut in jrem Geschmeide berdet.¹³⁸ ¹³⁵ Gerlach, fo. Aiijv . ¹³⁶ Johann Caspar Zopff ’s sermon ‘Hochzeit des Lambs Beschrieben im Neunzehnden Capitel der heimlichen Offenbarung Joh. v. 6/7/8 … .’, LP Alberti. See also the collection of epicedia for Christina Elisabeth Wagner (1673–7), ‘Englischer Brautwagen worauff Das Holdseelige und liebreiche Jungferlein Christin: Elisabeth Wagnerin/ […] Zu seinem außerwehlten Seelen-Schatz und Bräutigam Christo in Himmel eingeholet wurde […]’, LP Stolberg 22729, unfoliated: p.11a in the HAB manuscript pagination. Johann Simon Schernhauer also imagines Christina Elisabeth borne away on the ‘Braut= und Engel=Wagen’, whereas in his epicedium for her baby brother, who died a year later, the carriage suggested by the surname becomes a fiery angelic chariot (echoes of Elijah), and Karl Gottfried is crowned with a ‘Sieges-Krohn’ rather than with a bridal garland. (Poems in the epicedia collection ‘Der glückseelige Nahmens=Tag Christinen […]’, LP Wagner, [1677], fo. Aijr and in ‘AMARANTHUS IMMORTALIS […]’ for Karl Gottfried Wagner (1677–8), LP Stolberg 22729a, p.22b in the HAB manuscript pagination. Quirsfeld’s eleventh ‘Liebes=Spiegel’ is dedicated to the heavenly carriage in which the bride is taken to her bridegroom. ¹³⁷ Heavenly garments often feature in funeral, writings. In a song written before her death and performed at her funeral, Sophia Christiana Geyer imagines herself in heaven robed in righteousness (Isaiah 61: 10, Revelation 19: 8) and wearing a crown of honour (1 Peter 5: 4). From the funeral booklet for Sophia Christiana Geyer (1676–89), LP Stolberg 10763, Aria 2, pp. 47–9 in HAB Wolfenbüttel MS numbering, strophe 6; reproduced in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 273–5. ¹³⁸ WA Bibel, XI. 1, 175. Paul Höpner divides his sermon into three parts: the jewel of spiritual joy, the beautiful decorated robe of salvation and righteousness, and the


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In some cases descriptions of the bride’s beauty and splendour are introduced to counteract the horror of death which the parents or other members of the community may have witnessed. In 1617 Maria Magdalene Gundermann died of smallpox. In Balthasar Reinheckel’s poem the disfiguring pock-marks are transformed into beautiful gems which adorn the girl’s bridal body: EJn Leib gantz new vnd reine/ Wird er mir wieder gebn/ Für Blattern Edlgesteine/ Dransetzen auch darnebn/ Alls wird voll Perlen hangen/ Jn solchem Schmuck werd ich Für meinem Bräutgam prangen Jmmer vnd ewiglich.¹³⁹

Gerlach makes the same point in his sermon for Barbara Helena: ‘Sagt nicht/ Sie sey an Blattern gestorben. Jch sage/ Sie hatte in Blattern/ das rechte gestückte Braut=Kleid an’. At first this image seems crass in the extreme: the raised scars on Barbara Helena’s body become the stitches of a richly embroidered garment. But Gerlach goes onto embroider and explain his own image: Als Cleopatra jhr mit zwey Natter-Stichen das Leben nahm/ schreibet der Historicus, man habe nicht mehr/ als zwey rothe Flecken gesehen. Unserer Seligsten Jungfrauen Braut Blattern/ rührten wol von dem ersten Stiche der Schlangen her; aber Christus hatte sie Jhr/ die an ihn gläubte/ in die Aehnligkeit der Mahlzeichen seines H. Leibes verwandelt.

By connecting Cleopatra’s asp with the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Gerlach reminds the congregation of the provenance of death: the Fall. And just as Christ submitted to an agonizing death to draw the sting from the snake bite, so the physical marks of the smallpox are an affliction that Barbara Helena shares with Christ, whose wounds are a ‘Mahlzeichen’ for his bride, a gift of his love. They allow her to glorious crown of Christ’s marriage to the church (LP Kaulisch). See also Paul Röber’s sermon for Anna Margarethe and Maria Elisabeth Schürer, ‘Das 1. Außerlesenste 2. Teüerbarste vnd 3. Allerschönste Scharlach-Kleid/ Des Bluts Jesu Christi/ des Sohns Gottes/ 1. Joh. I. v. 7.’, LP Schürer. ¹³⁹ ‘Tröstliches VALET Liedlein’ by B[althasar] R[einheckel?], LP Gundermann, fos. Kiijr –K4v , strophe 12.

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share something of the experience of her bridegroom, and in heaven they will be transformed into jewels to adorn her resurrection body: ‘Glaubet/ daß alle diese Blattern an Jhrem verklärten Leibe/ mehr brennen und funckeln werden/ als tausend Diamant/ Rubinen und Perlen’.¹⁴⁰ Finally, the image could be used tropologically to exhort the congregation to follow suit and make timely preparation for the day when the ‘Brautführer’ would come for them. A number of funeral booklets cite the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, which emphasizes the need to prepare for judgement: ‘Darumb wachet, Denn jr wisset weder tag noch stund in welcher des menschen Son komen wird’.¹⁴¹ And Johann Benedikt Carpzov had another admonitory parable in mind when he wrote his epicedium for 15year-old Martha Sophia Jöcher in 1694: WEr GOTT gefallen will/ der muß geschmücket seyn/ Sein helles Auge kan die Flecken nicht vertragen. Nun ist nach Adams Fall niemand gerecht und rein; Bey weme wird man den[n] nach Schmuck und Zierde fragen? Da giebt sich CHristus an/ der sprengt auf uns sein Blut/ Und wer dasselb ergreifft/ prangt in der grösten Zierde. Der Jungfer Jöcherin kams trefflichen zu gut. Wer ihren Schmuck begehrt/ der hab’ auch ihr Begierde.¹⁴²

Carpzov refers both to the parable of the man expelled from the wedding feast in Matthew 22 because he has failed to put on the correct garments that had been given to him, and to the positive example of the bride’s preparations for the wedding of the Lamb in Revelation.¹⁴³ The bride adorns herself in garments washed in her ¹⁴⁰ Gerlach, LP Sommerfeld and Falckenhain (1), fos. Cijv –Ciijr . ¹⁴¹ Matthew 25: 1–13 (13), WA Bibel, VI, 111. ¹⁴² Poem by Johann Benedikt Carpzov, LP Jöcher, ‘Wohlmeinende Trost=Zeilen’, fo.)o(2r . Carpzov also preached the funeral sermon, ‘Der Christen Ehren=Kleid’, which took as its starting point the strophe ‘Christi blut und gerechtigkeit/ | Das ist mein schmuck und ehrenkleid; | Damit will ich für Gott bestehn/ | Wen[n] ich zum him[m]el werd eingehn’. Eberhard Winkler considers Carpzov’s funeral sermons (alongside Martin Geier’s) in Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum bis Spener, Forschungen zur Geschichte und Lehre des Protestantismus, ser. 10, 34 (Munich: Kaiser, 1967), pp. 175–201. ¹⁴³ Matthew 22: 11–13; Revelation 19: 7–8.


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bridegroom’s blood, and the polyptoton in the final line invites the reader to emulate Martha Sophia, who stands as an example of the doctrine of justification by faith. Although there is some fluidity in the images discussed above, the gender distinction is maintained more consistently in funeral verse than in meditative poetry because it performs a different function. This is especially true of the bridal image. In funeral poetry gendered images are employed to show that what appear to be dashed hopes are actually a fulfilment of all that was intended: ‘Aber last mich meinen Jrrthum zu rechte bringen. Dieser unser betrübter Begräbnüß=Tag/ muß doch ein frölicher Hochzeit=Tag bleiben.’¹⁴⁴ Just as in the dance of death, where death often comes in a guise appropriate to the age, profession, and social position of his chosen partner, so in funeral poems the similes and metaphors are tailored to the situation of the deceased and determined by their place and function within the poem, with negative images used to heighten lamentation and positive images to intensify the consolation. To put it another way, these images enact an important stage in the painful process of accepting loss, which is so important if mourning is not to become melancholy. The children are imagined in the heavenly equivalents of situations for which most would have had to leave the family home: the images turn on and confirm a separation. In this way, the parents’ thoughts of their children are to be ‘eingestellt’ and ‘überbesetzt’, just as Freud describes completed ‘Trauerarbeit’.¹⁴⁵ The choice of images may strike the reader as problematic; Kobelt-Groch notes: ‘Zwar wird immer betont, dass das Leben im Himmel im Gegensatz zum weltlichen Treiben rein geistlicher Natur sei, dennoch gestaltet es sich in vielem eher fleischlich und materiell.’¹⁴⁶ But it is only through familiar images from their own world that the poets can present the ineffable, offering consolation in a manner that the parents can grasp to elucidate the teachings of the Lutheran church on bereavement, death, heaven, and physical resurrection. ¹⁴⁴ Gerlach, LP Sommerfeld and Falckenhain (1), fo. Aiijr . ¹⁴⁵ Sigmund Freud, ‘Trauer und Melancholie’, 1917 [1915], in Studienausgabe, ed. Alexander Mitscherlich, Angela Richards, and James Strachey, 11 vols. (Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1969–75), III, 193–212 (p. 199). ¹⁴⁶ Kobelt-Groch, ‘Himmelsphantasien’, p. 125.

6 Paul Fleming and Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch In the preceding chapters we have considered the general conventions of funeral poetry for children, and have seen these at work in a corpus of texts. Our attention now turns to the epicedia of two particular poets, who span the seventeenth century: Paul Fleming (1609–40), an unmarried man who wrote in the neo-Stoic tradition, and Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch (1651–1717), who lost thirteen of her fourteen children and seven grandchildren, and wrote poems to commemorate them and to meditate on her losses.¹

PAU L F L E M I N G Fleming’s inclusion in a study of consolatory poetry in Saxony needs little justification. Crowned a poet laureate in 1632, he was held in high esteem by his contemporaries, and hailed as an accomplished poet by later generations.² He was a member of a poetic circle in Leipzig which was instrumental in implementing Opitz’s poetic reforms.³ ¹ Anna Carrdus has also briefly compared Kuntsch with Fleming (and other male poets and theorists) in her article ‘Consolation Arguments and Maternal Grief in Seventeenth-Century Verse: The Example of Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch’, GLL, 47 (1994), 135–51. ² For information on Fleming’s laureation, see John L. Flood, Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire: A Bio-Bibliographical Handbook, 4 vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006), pp. 570–4. ³ On the Leipzig circle, see Anthony Harper, Schriften zur Lyrik Leipzigs 1620–1670, Stuttgarter Arbeiten zur Germanistik, 131 (Stuttgart: Heinz, 1985). In 1630 Fleming

Paul Fleming and Margarethe S. von Kuntsch

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The group was also influenced by the music and songs of the cantor of St Thomas’s, Johann Hermann Schein (1586–1636), and by August Buchner, professor of poetics, rhetoric, and philosophy at Wittenberg.⁴ Fleming’s own verse contributed in turn to the development of lyric poetry in Leipzig, helping to shape the writings of the younger members of the circle: Gottfried Finckelthaus,⁵ Christian Brehme,⁶ David Schirmer,⁷ and Johann Georg Schoch.⁸ Today Fleming is best known for his songs, for his playful love poetry, and for verse was introduced to Opitz by his Silesian friend Georg Gloger, as the poet and theorist passed through Leipzig. ⁴ For an account of Buchner’s poetological work, see Chapter 2, n. 13. ⁵ Amongst other works, Gottfried Finckelthaus (1614–48) was author of […] Deutsche Gesänge (Hamburg: Tobias Gundermann, 1640). See Anthony J. Harper’s studies: ‘Song-Writer Gottfried Finckelthaus’, GLL, 41 (1988), 371–80; and The SongBooks of Gottfried Finckelthaus, Scottish Papers in Germanic Studies, 8 (Glasgow: Scottish Papers in Germanic Studies, 1988). ⁶ Christian Brehme (1613–67) was court librarian in Dresden from 1639. His works include [… A]llerhandt Lustige/ Trawrige/ vnd nach gelegenheit der zeit vorgekommene GEDJCHTE […] (Leipzig: Friedrich Lanckisch’s heirs, 1637), Art vnd Weise Kurtze Brieflein zu schreiben […] Darzu kommen Etliche Geist= vnd Weltliche Dichtereyen. […] (Leipzig: Andreas Oehl [publisher] and Dresden: Gimel Bergen’s heirs, 1640), and Die Thorheit vnd Sünde Aller Menschen=Kinder Jn Vernichtung ihres Lebens/ Dem Tode zu Liebe vnd Lobe/ […] (Leipzig: Heinrich Nerlich [publisher] and Gregor Ritzsch [printer], 1638). See Anthony J. Harper, ‘A Man of Many Parts: Some Thoughts on the Career of Christian Brehme: Student, Soldier, Courtier, Librarian, Burghermeister, Poet’, in John L. Flood and William A. Kelly (eds.), The German Book 1450–1750: Studies Presented to David L. Paisey in his Retirement (London, The British Library, 1995), pp. 203–13. ⁷ David Schirmer (1623–86), Brehme’s successor as court librarian in Dresden, was also the court poet from 1649. Schirmer wrote ballets and poems for the Saxon court, which he published as […] Poetische Rauten=Gepüsche […] (Dresden: Andreas Löffler [publisher] and Melchior Bergen [printer], 1663), as well as the song-books […] Singende Rosen Oder Liebes= und Tugend=Lieder […] (Dresden: Wolfgang Seyffert, 1654) and […] Poetische Rosen=Gepüsche (Halle/S.: Melchior Oelschlegel’s heirs, 1650; rev. edn. Dresden: Andreas Löffler [publisher] and Melchior Bergen [printer], 1657), both reprinted by Niemeyer in 2003 with an introduction and appendix by Anthony J. Harper. For an account of Schirmer’s life and works, see Harper, David Schirmer—a Poet of the German Baroque: An Examination of Schirmer’s Lyric Poetry and its Relationship to the Literature of the Time, Stuttgarter Arbeiten zur Germanistik, 32 (Stuttgart: Heinz, 1977). ⁸ Johann Georg Schoch (1627–after 1688). His works include […] Poetischer Weÿrauch=Baum und Sonnen=Blume (Leipzig: Johann Wittigau, 1656), […] Neu= erbaueter Poetischer Lust= u. Blumen=Garten/ […] (Leipzig: Christian Kirchner, 1660), and […] Neu=erfundene Philyrenische Leipzigische Krieg= und Friedens=Schäfferey. […] (Naumburg and Jena: Georg Sengenwald, 1663). For an analysis of his poetry, see Barbara A. Bopp, ‘Experimentation with Sonnet Form in the Lieb-, Lob-

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which demonstrates the influence of neo-Stoicism.⁹ But, like most of his contemporaries, he also composed occasional poems, and many were included in his posthumous anthology Geist= und Weltliche POËMATA.¹⁰ These poems were written for friends and acquaintances during his student years in Leipzig, throughout his travels to Russia and Persia as part of a delegation sent in 1633 by Friedrich III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp,¹¹ and for friends and acquaintances in Reval ( Tallinn), where he spent over a year from January 1635 to March 1636. His first datable poem is a Latin epicedium for Schein’s und Ehren-Sonnette of Johann Georg Schoch’, dissertation, Indiana University, 1978 (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1980). ⁹ Poems such as ‘An Sich’ (Geist= und Weltliche POËMATA […] (Naumburg: Christian Forberger’s widow [publisher]; Jena: Georg Sengenwald [printer], 1651), S. II. 25) and ‘Laß dich nur nichts nicht tauren’ (Poëmata, O. I. 1), which exhibits a Christianized neo-Stoicism, are often anthologized. ¹⁰ Poems are cited from the 1651 edition. In references to individual poems, ‘PW’ stands for Poetische Wälder, ‘O’ for Oden, and ‘S’ for Sonette. The numeration is deduced from this edition in preference to the occasionally inaccurate numbering of Lappenberg’s edition: Paul Flemings Deutsche Gedichte, ed. J. M. Lappenberg, Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, 82 and 83, 2 vols. (Stuttgart: Litterarischer Verein, 1865). The poems discussed in this chapter are ‘Uber eine Leiche’ (PW III. 3), ‘Auff einer Jungfrauen Absterben’ (PW III. 5), ‘Auff eines Kindes Ableben’ (PW III. 7), ‘Auff Ableben Deß Wol Edlen Hansen von Löser/ des Jüngern’ (PW III. 8) and the companion poem (PW III. 9), ‘Auf Jungfr. Marien Schürers Begräbnüß’ (O II. 3), ‘Auf Jungfr. Magdalena Weinman[n]s Ableben’ (O II. 4), ‘Auf Jungfr. Beaten Marien Möstels Begräbnüß’ (O II. 8), ‘Auff Herren Timothei Poli neugebohrnen Töchterleins CHRJSTJNEN Jhr Absterben’ (O II. 9), ‘über H. Johann von Wangersheims erstgebohrnen Söhnleins Kunradens Absterben; An die Freundschaft’ (O II. 12), ‘Auff deß Hoch=Edlen Herrn Peter Krußbiorn Königl. Schwedischen Residenten in der Moßkow/ etc. Seines erst=geborhrnen Söhnleins Absterben’ (O II. 14), ‘Auff Herrn Martin Münsterbergers seines geliebten Söhnleins sein Absterben. Von Astrachan nach Moßkow gesandt’ (O II. 15), and ‘Auff der Tugendreichen dreyen Jungfrauen Annen/ Magdalenen und Juden/ Herrn Johann von Wirths Handelsmanns in Leipzig/ geliebten Töchter/ Christliches Absterben/ Trost-Lied An die hochbetrübten Eltern’ (O II. 17). ‘Auf einer Jungfrauen’ is one of the epicedia attached to the funeral booklet for Anna Maria Grosse (1618–33), LP Stolberg 10100, fos. D3v –D4r . ¹¹ Fleming’s friend, Adam Olearius, another member of the delegation, published an account of the voyage: Vermehrte Newe Beschreibung Der Muscowitischen vnd Persischen Reyse […] (Schleswig: Johann Holwein, 1656). For a discussion of this work and of Olearius’s impressions of the Orient, see Elio Christoph Brancaforte, Visions of Persia: Mapping the Travels of Adam Olearius, Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature, 48 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003).


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wife Sidonie, from 1624,¹² and he wrote two extended cycles of funeral poetry, one for his friend Georg Gloger, who died in 1631,¹³ and an earlier cycle of twenty-two poems on the death of Maria Juliane von Schönburg-Waldenburg, a young noblewoman to whose family Fleming had links.¹⁴ This diglossic cycle, the Aræ Schönburgicæ, testifies to Fleming’s familiarity with the epicedia of several neo-Latin poets, including the Italian theoretician Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484–1558) and the Dutchman Daniel Heinsius (1580–1655).¹⁵ But Fleming was not constrained by his models, either in this cycle or in his German funeral poems. Marian Sperberg-McQueen notes that Heinsius’s cycle contains twelve different types of verse forms, whereas Fleming’s boasts a virtuosic fifteen.¹⁶ Here is a man who knows the tradition in which he is writing, but who is also keen to make his own mark on the material. His relationship to tradition is illustrated in his choice of metre for the poems on the death of children. The poems in the Poetische Wälder are metrically conventional: ‘Uber eine Leiche’, ‘Auff einer Jungfrauen Absterben’, ‘Auff eines Kindes Ableben’, and ‘Auff Ableben Deß Wol Edlen Hansen von Löser/ des Jüngern’ are all written in alexandrines. In the Oden Fleming clearly found more room for experimentation.¹⁷ Of the eight funeral odes for children, five are written in trochaic Romanzenvers. These are the poems on the death ¹² ‘Epigrammata V.1’, in Paul Flemings Lateinische Gedichte, ed. J. M. Lappenberg, Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, 73 (Stuttgart: Litterarischer Verein, 1863), p. 354. Fleming was one of the choristers at St Thomas’s when Schein was cantor. See Marian R. Sperberg-McQueen, The German Poetry of Paul Fleming: Studies in Genre and History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990), p. 10. ¹³ Manes Glogeriani, in Lappenberg (ed.), Flemings Lateinische Gedichte, pp. 213–83. ¹⁴ Fleming’s mother was lady-in-waiting to Maria Juliane’s mother, Countess Katharina, who was one of Fleming’s godparents. The Aræ Schönburgicæ was published in 1630, but may have been written in the previous year. See Sperberg-McQueen, The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, p. 12. ¹⁵ As Sperberg-McQueen points out, the Aræ Schönburgicæ cycle owes much to Heinsius’s cycles of funeral poems, especially the Manes Dousici, written on the death of Heinsius’s Leiden colleague Janus Dousa (The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, pp. 15–21). ¹⁶ Sperberg-McQueen, The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, p. 15. ¹⁷ In a reported conversation with his travelling companion, Adam Olearius, Fleming acknowledges his own preference for this form: ‘Zu Oden, antwortete ich, habe ich besser Glücke als zu anderer Art Versen […]’; cited in Lappenberg (ed.), Flemings Deutsche Gedichte, I, 93. Seventeenth-century poetic manuals regard the ode form as

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of Beata Maria Möstel, Christine Polus, Kunrad Wangersheim, and the sons of Peter Krußbiorn and Martin Münsterberger. The others employ an iambic metre with varying number of feet, sometimes alternating within individual poems. Fleming adheres to the two feet recommended by Opitz; the dactyl, which found an advocate in August Buchner, does not make an appearance here. But this is hardly surprising. Funeral poems were not the most appropriate form for metrical experimentation: the genre was established and the readership had certain expectations. Some variation was possible, even desirable, as we have already seen, but poets were ultimately constrained by the bounds of decorum. Fleming’s relatively flexible relationship with epicedium conventions is also apparent in his application of the tripartite scheme: laudatio, lamentatio, and consolatio. Sperberg-McQueen has shown that the German poems in the Aræ Schönburgicæ are predominantly lamentation, although she correctly points out that this is because each individual poem forms part of a larger cycle: it is therefore not necessary for every poem to incorporate all three elements.¹⁸ The structure is far more important for poems which stand alone. In his article on the Baroque epicedium, Hans-Henrik Krummacher analyses a funeral poem Fleming wrote to console a widower in 1634.¹⁹ Here the lamentatio precedes the laudatio, a tactic which Krummacher claims is more in line with the (neo-Stoic prose) consolatio than with the epicedium.²⁰ In other cases Fleming omits the laudatio element one permitting a certain degree of freedom. Justus Georg Schottelius writes ‘Die Oden/ sind die Lieder/ Gesänge oder Gedichte/ deren Anstellung/ Ordnung/ Einrichtung und Verschrenkung schlechter dinges frey und nach beliebung zu erwehlen ist’, Ausführliche Arbeit Von der Teutschen HaubtSprache/ […] (Braunschweig: Christoph Friedrich Zilliger, 1663); facs. edn., ed. Wolfgang Hecht ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1967), II, 992; cited in Volker Meid, Barocklyrik, Sammlung Metzler, 227 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1986; repr. 2000), p. 68. ¹⁸ Sperberg-McQueen, The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, p. 13. ¹⁹ ‘Auff deß Edlen und Hooch=gelahrten Herrn Philipp Krusens/ der Rechten Licent. und der Zeit Fürstl. Holst. Abgesandten nach Moßkow und Persien/ [e]tc. geliebten Haußfrauen/ Ableben’ (Poëmata, PW III. II). Kruse led the delegation to Russia and Persia. See Hans-Henrik Krummacher, ‘Das barocke Epicedium: Rhetorische Tradition und deutsche Gelegenheitsdichtung’, Jahrbuch der deutschen Schillergesellschaft, 18 (1974), 89–147 (pp. 127–30). ²⁰ ‘Die Consolatio, die anders als das Epicedium die lamentatio nur zum Zweck der Vorbereitung auf den Trost, nicht in einer Spannung zu ihm kennt und von


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altogether. We see this in a number of his poems for children: ‘Uber eine Leiche’, ‘Auff einer Jungfrauen Absterben’, the poem for the von Wirth sisters,²¹ the ode on Beata Maria Möstel, and the epicedia for the sons of Peter Krußbiorn, Martin Münsterberger, and Johann von Wangersheim. The first of these, which appears to support Krummacher’s thesis, is a special case. It was published in the posthumous collection Geist= und Weltliche POËMATA with a generic title, but it had already appeared in print in the funeral booklet for a student, Tobias Wurtzwaller. It is impossible to ascertain whether the poem was retitled for the Poëmata, or whether it already existed in 1633 as ‘Uber eine Leiche’ and was contributed to Tobias’s funeral booklet because it suited the specific case, but the fact that it is exclusively consolatio undoubtedly renders it applicable to any funeral.²² The other poems, however, are named for a particular occasion, and in these the reduction (or even omission) of the laudatio is almost certainly explained by the fact that they mark the deaths of children: extended references to their achievements would be inappropriate, even impossible.²³ Rather than breaking with convention, Fleming’s decision in these cases brings him into line with the majority of those who wrote funeral poetry for children. Sperberg-McQueen has challenged Krummacher’s fundamental assertion that Fleming’s (early) funeral poetry demonstrates his neoStoic leanings. She bases her argument on Fleming’s inordinate grief vornherein auf die Heilung von Affekt zielt, ist sehr viel mehr als das Epicedium prädestiniert für das Einfließen stoischer Gedanken’ (Krummacher, ‘Das barocke Epicedium’, p. 129). ²¹ Poëmata, O II. 17, strophe 10. The poem can also be found in the funeral booklet for Anna (1614–32), Magdalene (1615–32) and Juda von Wirth (1623–32), LP Stolberg 23200–2, fos. Aijr –A4r . ²² LP Stolberg 23339, fos. E2r– v . In ‘Gedichte von Paul Fleming in der Stolbergschen Leichenpredigten-Sammlung’, Jahrbuch der deutschen Schillergesellschaft, 26 (1982), 1–8 (p. 7), Sperberg-McQueen claims that the Wurtzwaller poem was previously unknown, perhaps because it is not immediately obvious from the title of the anthologized version that it is a poem for an adolescent. She corrects this in her monograph, and points to differences between the two versions: in the 1633 poem the last lines refer to two deaths rather than to one. From the context of the funeral sermon she identifies this second person as Tobias’s brother Johannes. Here the question remains whether Johannes was added into or taken out of the original. (Sperberg-McQueen, The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, p. 183; ‘Gedichte von Paul Fleming, p. 7.) ²³ Sperberg-McQueen recognizes this: The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, p. 47.

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at the death of his friend Georg Gloger in 1631, which surfaces not only in the two German poems on this event²⁴ and in the Latin cycle, Manes Glogeriana, but also in the epicedium for Gedeon Hanemann, where Fleming compares the natural death of an elderly man with the recent loss of his young student friend.²⁵ However, it cannot be denied that many of Fleming’s poems on the death of children appear extremely rational in comparison with some of the more emotive seventeenth-century funeral verse. This is illustrated by the ode ‘Auf Jungfr. Beaten Marien Möstels Begräbnüß’.²⁶ Fleming outlines a carefully constructed argument as he seeks to console and reason with the grieving parents. Freylich/ freylich müßt ihr klagen/ Jhr betrübten Hertzen Jhr/ daß fast inner zweyen Tagen euch ein zweyfach Leid stößt für. Da ein einzigs dieser beyden mehr kränckt/ als sonst hundert Leiden. Vnd ach/ wer’ es doch noch blieben bey dem einen nur allein/ das Euch hat von uns getrieben/ und nicht liesse sicher seyn; Das deß schönen Leipzigs Mauren nunmehr setzt in Furcht und Trauren. Weil ihr großer Noht entgehet/ So fallt ihr in großrer Strick/ Nun ihr seht/ wie vor euch stehet/ nur auf einen Augenblick/

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²⁴ ‘Auf H. Georg Glogers Med. Cand. Seeliges Ableben’ (Poëmata, PW III. 11) and ‘Auff eben selbiges unter eines andern Nahmen’ (Poëmata, PW III. 12). ²⁵ LP Stolberg 11670, fos. G4v –G5r ; cited in Sperberg-McQueen, ‘Gedichte von Paul Fleming’, pp. 3–4, and in The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, pp. 45–6. Hanemann died on 25 October 1631 aged 81. ²⁶ Poëmata, O II. 8. The original was published in 1632, ‘Auff Jung. Beaten Marien Des Großachtbarn vnd Hochgelahrten Herrn Jonas Möstels/ J.U.D. vnd Churf. Sächs. Schöppenstuels Assessorn. Geliebten Tochter/ Paull Flemmings Trostlied An die hochbetrübten Eltern.’ (Leipzig: [n. pub.], 1632, HAB Wolfenbüttel: H: K 349. 4◦ Helmst. (72). Carrdus discusses the poem briefly in ‘Consolation Arguments’, p. 142.


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lebend/ frisch/ kranck und erlegen Eurer Ehe süßer Segen. Satten fug habt ihr zu zagen/ bevoraus ümm letzten Fall. Doch ihr müsset selbsten sagen/ daß es nichts hilfft überall. Bloß auf den nur muß man sehen/ der diß alles läßt geschehen. Gott der pflegets so zu machen. Reißt oft unser liebstes hin/ und will so gestalter Sachen uns ihm nach und zu sich ziehn. Weil wir stets die Sinnen haben/ da/ wo unser Schatz vergraben. Tauret [euch] die frische Jugend; Jhrer Schönheit sondre Zier: und die nicht gemeine Tugend/ die so schöne schien herfür? So vergeßt auch nicht beyneben wie sie sind der Flucht ergeben. Kaja were nicht verdorben/ wehrte Tugend letzter Noth. Helene lebt’ ungestorben/ hülffe Schönheit für den Todt. Vnd was soll hier Schönheit tügen? Sie sagt selbst ihr unvermügen. Je subtiler außgeschmücket den beleibten Wind/ sein Glaß/ uns Venedig überschicket/ Je geschwinder bricht auch das. Vnd ie zährter ist der Faden/ Je behender nimmt er Schaden. Wenn die keuschen Lilgen prangen und in höchstem Schmucke stehn/ weil noch auf ihr hellen Wangen die gelinden Westen wehn/ Sind sie frisch auch funden worden gegen einen strengen Norden.

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Paul Fleming and Margarethe S. von Kuntsch Kräncket euch ihr plötzlichs Ende daß sie nicht gab gute Nacht/ wer kan wider Gottes Hände/ der ja alles gut sonst macht. Ohne Pein ist sie verschieden/ das geschicht nicht einem ieden. Kein behender Todt ist böse/ als der auff die bösen fällt. Daß auch uns Gott bald erlöse/ ist der beste Wunsch der Welt. So vielmehr ist sie genesen/ weil sie niemahls kranck gewesen. Oder schmertzt euch ihr erliegen und die Art des Todes mehr? Seht doch/ wie durch itzigs kriegen manche Stadt liegt todt und leer. Vnd/ was ist ein Mensch zu nennen gegen dem/ das einst soll brennen. Als sie noch am Eiteln klebte/ war ihr eitels nicht gemein. Selig war sie/ weil sie lebte/ solte sie es itzt nicht seyn/ Jtzt/ da sie nun ewig bleibet/ wo man seligs Leben treibet. Wo die großen Möstel gehen/ neben greiser Ewigkeit/ und in jener Zeit bestehen/ So doch kennet keine Zeit. Jn die Schaaren aller Frommen ist sie herrlich eingenommen. Laßt GOtt euren Sinn sich geben/ und verwirrt euch nicht zu sehr; Gönnert ihr das andre Leben/ und gedenckt ümm so viel mehr/ weil GOtt zweyfach euch betrübet/ daß Er euch auch zweyfach liebet.

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The repetition of ‘freylich’ in the opening lines launches the reader into the middle of a debate: of course the parents will lament the loss of their daughter, which has followed so quickly in the wake of their


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hasty departure from war-torn Leipzig.²⁷ Homeless and bereaved, their situation seems to worsen from day to day. In the fourth strophe Fleming reiterates his opening point, that the parents have ‘Satten fug […] zu zagen’. But he turns the argument on the adversative particle: ‘Doch ihr müsset selbsten sagen/ | daß es nichts hilfft überall’. This sentence mirrors the pattern of the ode’s opening line. The parents’ grief may be inevitable, but they must also acknowledge that it is utterly futile and unproductive. The argument certainly has more than a hint of neo-Stoicism about it.²⁸ His next strategy is to turn the parents’ attention away from their sense of injustice (lines 23–30). He offers an explanation for their loss; God has taken their daughter to focus their thoughts on Heaven: ‘Weil wir stets die Sinnen haben/ | da/ wo unser Schatz vergraben’.²⁹ The argument continues in almost dialogic form, as the poet reasons with the parents. He anticipates various objections, refuting each through examples and amplification.³⁰ The possible objections are all presented in the same manner: ²⁷ Lappenberg reports that many of Leipzig’s inhabitants fled the city on 27 May 1632 (Flemings Deutsche Gedichte, II, 736). ²⁸ Seneca writes to the bereaved mother Marcia: ‘If tears can vanquish fate, let us marshal tears; let every day be passed in grief, let every night be sleepless and consumed with sorrow; let hands rain blows on a bleeding breast, nor spare even the face from their assault; if sorrow will help, let us vent it in every kind of cruelty. But if no wailing can recall the dead, if no distress can alter a destiny that is immutable and fixed for all eternity, and if death holds fast whatever it has once carried off, then let grief, which is futile, cease.’ ‘Ad Marciam: De consolatione’, in Moral Essays, tr. John W. Basore, The Loeb Classical Library, 214, 254, and 310, 3 vols. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1945; repr. 1970–9), II, VI. vi. 1–2. The argument reappears in the opening strophe of the ode ‘Auf Jungfr. Marien Schürers Begräbnis’ (Poëmata, O II. 3): DJe heisse Thränen=Bach rinnt nur üm[m]sonst die rohten Backen ab. Kein Hertz=erzwungnes Ach füllt für uns aus das schon=gemachte Grab. Man hat noch nie vernommen/ daß auf die Klage=wort ein Geist sey wieder kommen/ der einmahl schon war fort. Here Fleming reverses his usual strategy; rather than pointing to examples to support his thesis, he highlights the lack of examples which would refute it. ²⁹ Matthew 6: 21. ³⁰ Krummacher cites Fleming’s fondness of exempla, ‘mehr als im Epicedium sonst üblich’, as further evidence of his neo-Stoicism (‘Das barocke Epicedium’, p. 129).

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Paul Fleming and Margarethe S. von Kuntsch Tauret [euch] die frische Jugend;³¹ Jhrer Schönheit sondre Zier: und die nicht gemeine Tugend/ die so schöne schien herfür? Kräncket euch ihr plötzlichs Ende/ daß sie nicht gab gute Nacht/ Oder schmertzt euch ihr erliegen und die Art des Todes mehr?

Each is then countered by an argument introduced by ‘So’ (lines 35–6), by another question which negates the first (lines 57–8), or by an invitation to the parents to consider what lies beyond their private grief: the general suffering of war (lines 69–72). These arguments extend over several strophes, and Fleming supplements them with typical examples and images. The suggestion that the girl’s beauty and virtue should have caused her to be spared is immediately negated because these attributes are subject to earthly transience: ‘So vergeßt auch nicht beyneben | wie sie sind der Flucht ergeben’. Fleming supports this argument with examples from classical antiquity. If beauty or virtue were a defence against death, then neither Helen of Troy nor the virtuous Caja Caecilia would have died.³² The frailty of these virtues is expressed by comparison with lilies and with costly Venetian glass, as fragile as ‘beleibte[r] Wind’. Fleming does not make the point explicit, but these images illustrate more than mere vanitas. Lilies are emblematic of chastity, and are given this epithet here, whilst the glass suggests something that, once broken, cannot be restored. Thus the implicit subtext is the typical consolatory argument that it is better to die young than be corrupted by the ways of the world (Wisdom 4: 7–14).³³ The parents’ grief at the unexpectedness ³¹ The 1651 version has ‘mich’ in this line, but this is clearly a mistake: the verb forms refer to the second person plural, and this is in line with ‘euch’ throughout the poem. The 1632 version has ‘euch’. ³² Caja Caecilia, also known as Tanaquil, was considered an exemplary wife to Tarquin the Elder, King of Rome. ³³ Fleming uses this argument quite explicitly in ‘Uber eine Leiche’ (Poëmata, PW III. 3), lines 5–7, 10–14: Jst er schon nicht so alt/ So hat er ja auch nicht so viel und mannigfalt verletzet seinen GOtt.


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of their daughter’s death, evoked in the rapid progression from ‘lebend’ to ‘erlegen’ in line 17, is countered with the very practical thought that her suffering was limited, and with the more spiritual argument that sudden death is a speedy delivery from the world. If the parents are haunted by their daughter’s dying agonies, Fleming asks them to consider the general devastation and suffering caused by the war; the death of one person counts for little in the context of general affliction and in comparison with the torments awaiting the godless on Judgement Day: ‘Vnd/ was ist ein Mensch zu nennen | gegen dem/ das einst soll brennen’. The thirteenth and fourteenth strophes imagine Beata Maria in heaven, but here we do not have the developed imagery that we saw in Chapter 5. Fleming is not interested in extended metaphors; his one concession is to Möstel family pride, in his evocation of the ranks of worthy ancestors enjoying the (unspecified) delights of life beyond the grave. In the final strophe Fleming brings his argument full circle, advising Beata Maria’s parents to moderate their grief. Returning to the idea of double grief with which the poem opened, he concludes with a comfort familiar from Hebrews 12: und gedenckt ümm so viel mehr/ weil GOtt zweyfach euch betrübet/ daß Er euch auch zweyfach liebet.³⁴

This ode appears to support Krummacher’s assertion that Fleming’s German epicedia exhibit neo-Stoic tendencies. Unlike many other funeral poets, he does not give voice to the dead children, a highly emotive device discussed in the fourth chapter, and the tightly organized structure of his verse, the technique of inserting rhetorical questions which are then answered (rogatio), the brisk trochaic metre, which allows the parents no time to brood, and the introduction of examples for amplification show a concern to reason rather than to […] Ein junger stirbt mit Lust. Weiß nicht was Seelen=angst und Hertzens=Stösse heissen die ärger als der Krebs/ nach frischer Seelen beissen Und tödten eh’ der Todt uns noch die Sense beut; und auff das krancke Fleisch aus vollen Kräfften häut. ³⁴ Hebrews 12: 5–8. Cf. Chapter 1, n. 104.

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empathize. Fleming does not deny parental grief nor the magnitude of the loss, but his arguments concentrate on practical consolation, offering in this and other poems rational explanations to counter the irrational effects of grief. In some poems such arguments appear cold and superficial. An example is taken from the ode for Johann von Wirth’s three daughters: Sind große Kinder große Sorgen/ So ists ja besser heut/ als morgen/ daß Jhr Euch ihrer habt gelost.³⁵

This harsh and impassive statement seems cold comfort at best in a poem subtitled ‘Trost-Lied An die hochbetrübten Eltern’. But it must be read in the context of contemporary consolatory literature, which cited biblical examples of wayward children, emphasizing that it was preferable to lose a child to death than to sin. It is true, then, that the majority of Fleming’s epicedia for children employ neo-Stoic arguments, but these are for the most part Christianized and compatible with orthodox Lutheran consolation.³⁶ If the arguments presented in Fleming’s epicedia for children are conventional, this is certainly the case with the imagery, especially the metaphors for vanitas and contemptus mundi. We find the typical conceit of children as plants,³⁷ as well as the image of the soul’s journey from its temporary abode to the place of full citizenship: Du lustigs Miethauß du/³⁸ Leib/ lege dich zur Ruh/ dein hat man satt gepflogen. ³⁵ Poëmata, O II. 17, strophe 10. Also in the funeral booklet for the three girls, LP Wirth, fos. Aijr –A4r . ³⁶ One notable exception is ‘Auff eines Kindes Ableben’ (Poëmata, PW III. 7), which mentions neither God nor the afterlife, and offers no consolation to the bereaved. The poem ends with the lines: ‘Was hilfft es/ Menschen seyn/ was liebe Blumen küssen/ | Wann sie sind schöne zwar/ doch balde nichts seyn müssen!’ ³⁷ For flower imagery see ‘Auff eines Kindes Ableben’ (Poëmata, PW III. 7), the second poem for Hans von Löser (Poëmata, PW III. 9), and the ode for Christine Polus (Poëmata, O II. 9). Fleming uses fruit imagery in ‘Auf einer Jungfrauen Absterben’ (Poëmata, PW III. 5): ‘Ein Obst/ das balde reifft/ wird zeitlich abgenommen’ (line 43). ³⁸ ‘Miethaus’ as an image for the body also appears in the alexandrine poem ‘Auff einer Jungfrauen Absterben’ (Poëmata, PW III. 5, line 4).


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Dein Geist/ dein werther Gast/ den du bewirthet hast/ ist außgezogen. Er schiffte Himmel=an/ der Glaube war sein Kahn/ Die Wünsche Bothsgesellen; Die Ruder/ Segel/ Mast Sein beten. Er die Last; Die Thränen Wellen. Die Lieb ist sein Kompaß die Gegen=liebe das/ was Helene bey Nachte.³⁹ Die Seuftzer guter Wind. So segelte er geschwind/ wohin er dachte. Deß Anckers darf er nicht/ der ihm zwar nicht gebricht. Nichts macht den Himmel trübe; Der Bräutgam geht zum Furth’ und wartet an dem Port’ auf seine Liebe.⁴⁰

In this ode on the death of Magdalena Weinmann, Fleming proves himself a master of typical funeral poetry images: each leads seamlessly into the next. The Neoplatonic metaphor of the body as a temporary shell takes the poet from the conceit of guest to traveller. The ship (the body) is equipped with everything that sustains a Christian. It navigates its way across life’s troubled waters by love for God, and uses God’s answering love as a guiding star. At the end of the voyage, the sailor-bride disembarks into the arms of her heavenly bridegroom. This is not the only poem in which Fleming uses amatory language. In the last two German poems of the cycle Aræ Schönburgicæ (‘Der klagende Bräutigam I & II’) he assumes the persona of Maria Juliane von ³⁹ ‘Helene’ (‘light’) refers to a star. In his note to this poem Lappenberg considers it likely that Fleming is alluding to the stars known as Castor and Pollux, the brothers of Helen, which sailors regarded as a benevolent sign (Flemings Deutsche Gedichte, II, 735), although in context Fleming uses the idea of God’s love drawing the spirit to him. ⁴⁰ ‘Auf Jungf. Magdalena Weinman[n]s Ableben’ (Poëmata, O II. 4), lines 19–42. The poem appeared as a separate publication in 1632, RSB Zwickau: 9.5.6. (135).

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Schönburg’s fiancé to mourn her loss. Sperberg-McQueen maintains that this enabled Fleming to write love poetry, his preferred genre, under the guise of composing funeral poetry.⁴¹ But there is a fundamental difference between the Schönburg poems and the Weinmann ode. Whereas the former are written in the voice of the earthly bridegroom,⁴² the speaker in the latter is no less a person than the heavenly bridegroom himself, a typical image in funeral poetry for girls. The language in which Christ woos the bridal soul may be reminiscent of Minnesang and of Petrarchan word games, but the interplay of the verb ‘meinen’ (‘minnen’) and the personal pronoun is primarily used to suggest a profound union between the soul and Christ: Dein Mahlschatz bin selbst ich/ du meiner. Meyne mich/ wie ich dich hertzlich meyne. So solstu ewig seyn/ was ich bin. Du bist mein/ Jch allzeit deine.⁴³

In addition to biblical imagery, Fleming appears more comfortable with classical allusions than many contemporary funeral poets. In one of two poems on the death of Hans von Löser he inserts figures representative of maternal grief: Wen schmertzt deß Sohnes Sterben mehr als die Mutter selbst? Ach soll sie ihren Erben so sehen tragen hin? Gleich so that Hecuba/ Als sie ihr letztes Kind zum Opfer fahren sah/ und weinte mehr als das. In gleicher Angst und Peine stund Niobe/ und ward gemählich zu dem Steine/ der noch so heist/ wie Sie.⁴⁴

He mentions Niobe and Hecuba,⁴⁵ but notably omits the biblical mothers so often cited: the Maccabean woman, the widow of Nain, ⁴¹ Spergberg-McQueen, The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, pp. 16–17. ⁴² For Sperberg-McQueen, this enabled Fleming to find something appropriate to say on the death of a young woman outside his own social class (ibid. p. 16). ⁴³ Poëmata, O II. 4, lines 43–8. ⁴⁴ Poëmata, PW III. 8, lines 15–21. Carrdus discusses this poem in ‘Consolation Arguments’, pp. 141–2. ⁴⁵ Niobe was punished for boasting about her children. Apollo and Artemis killed all twelve, and their mother was turned to stone in her grief (Homer, The Iliad,


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and the Shunammite mother.⁴⁶ In the companion poem, translated from the Latin, the boy is mourned by the Graces, the Muses, Venus, and Cupid. ‘Auf Jungf. Marien Schürers Begräbnis’ is even bolder. This poem works wholly within the classical framework, and is almost exclusively lamentatio. Fleming joins the ranks of mythical figures who are devastated by Maria’s death: Die neun Aonien/ der Nymfen Zunft/ die gantze Götter schaar samt allen Chariten stehn tief betrübt ümm die verhüllte Bahr/ Apollo kan nichts sagen/ ist Leid und Achzens voll/ hat mir es aufgetragen/ daß ich sie klagen soll. Die Tugenden gehn aus/ und samlen ein Zypreß und Majoran/ Sie winden manchen Strauß und ziehen sie mit bunten Kräntzen an. Sie mahlen alle Plätze/ und ruffen aus vor ihr/ daß man in Blumen setze Sie/ aller Blumen Zier. Der deutsche Helikon/ hat schwartzen Flor und Binden vorgethan/ Zytheris und ihr Sohn/ das liebe Kind/ ziehn Trauer=Kleider an. und folgen derer Leichen/ auf die sie dachten schon tr. A. T. Murray, The Loeb Classical Library, 171, 2 vols. (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967), II, 24. 600–20). Hecuba was Queen of Troy and wife of Priam. She lost her sons Paris and Hector in the Trojan War, and her youngest son Polydorus was killed either by Achilles (Homer, Iliad, 20. 407–418) or by the Thracian king Polymester, into whose care he was evacuated during the war (Euripides, Hecuba, in Iphigeneia at Aulis, Rhesus, Hecuba, The Daughters of Troy, and Helen, tr. Arthur S. Way, The Loeb Classical Library, Euripides, 1 (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1912; repr. 1966), lines 754–845). Here the reference is to her daughter Polyxena, who was taken from her to be sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles (Hecuba, lines 518–82). ⁴⁶ 2 Maccabees 7; Luke 7: 11–15; 2 Kings 4: 8–37.

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Paul Fleming and Margarethe S. von Kuntsch wie sie ihr wolte reichen den Mahlschatz/ ihren Lohn.⁴⁷

As the mythical figures lay flowers at Maria’s grave, so Fleming will leave his poem to commemorate her: Jm übrigen will ich/ wie ich denn soll durch meiner Verse Preiß geschäftig seyn ümm dich/ will wenden an nicht ungelehrten Fleiß/ Daß die so dieses lesen auch melden meinen Sinn daß du mir werth gewesen du keusche Schürerinn. Jhr andern/ zündet an/ die theure Myrrh/ und frembdes Benzoe/ daß von dem Oliban und Aloe ein süßer Dampf ensteh’. Jnmittelst will ich thönen die weise Melodey/ daß auch das Grab der schönen nicht ohne Freude sey.⁴⁸

Here we have the topos that the bereaved can find some consolation in the memorialization of those they mourn. Fleming returns to the point in his poem for the baby daughter of Timotheus Polus, professor of poetry at the recently established Gymnasium in Reval: Diesen Korb voll Anemonen/ der der Frost stets soll verschonen/ streuen wir auf deine Grufft. Schlaffe ruhsam in dem kühlen. u¨ mm dich her soll ewig spielen die gesunde Meyen=Lufft.⁴⁹ ⁴⁷ Poëmata, O II. 3, lines 17–40. ‘Zytheris und ihr Sohn’ are Venus and Cupid. The Greek island of Kythera is associated with Aphrodite, and the lines suggest that the goddess of love was expecting to mark this young woman’s wedding rather than to attend her funeral. ⁴⁸ Poëmata, O II. 3, lines 57–72. For a further analysis of the final strophe, see pp. 101–2. ⁴⁹ Poëmata, O II. 9, lines 79–84. Timotheus Polus (Pole) was also a poet laureate: see Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 1562–3. The poem for Christine was originally published in 1635 in Reval by Christoph Reusner, RSB Zwickau 6.4.19. (2).


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Strophes two and three had already compared Christine with a spring flower that wilts after a few days. Now Fleming contrasts the transient amaranth (6-day-old Christine) with his poem which contains flowers that will not succumb to winter frost. This topos of human ephemerality versus literary permanence is at the very heart of the poem. Babels Mauren sind versuncken/ Rhodus sein Koloß ertruncken. Nilus Wercke giengen ein. Sterblich waren alle Wunder/ wie die Meister. Wie itzunder wir/ und künftig alle seyn.⁵⁰

These wonders of the ancient world have fallen prey to the ravages of time, just as their human creators have passed away. All that remains is their fame, a point which is made in the following strophe: Aszur wurde theil den Persen. Diß dem Griechen. Dessen Fersen folgte nach die ewge Stadt. Doch/ wie ewig sie gewesen/ kan man hören/ sehn und lesen. Schein ists/ was sie ewigs hat.⁵¹

Fleming alludes here to Babylon (Assyria), conquered first by the Medes (the Persians), then by Alexander the Great, and finally by Rome (‘die ewige Stadt’).⁵² But whereas the glories of these other civilizations have passed away, and even though Rome herself is now a ruin, her glory lives on in her ancient monuments. ‘Schein’ (representation) outlives substance. But this is not the Christian condemnation of ‘Schein’ that we have seen at work in other poems. This is the humanist and classical consolation that the reputation is preserved in a work of art and lives on after the body has decayed. It is the assurance with which these commonplaces are expressed, the self-confidence about his ability to console and immortalize that set Fleming apart from so many other funeral poets with their more ⁵⁰ Poëmata, O II. 9, lines 31–6. ⁵¹ Ibid. lines 37–42. ⁵² This succession is laid out in exegeses of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2: 31–45).

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tentative claims about the efficacy of their poems in the face of death. Fleming appears certain that his anemones for Christine Polus will survive the onslaught of winter, that his poems are aræ (public altars) to Maria Juliane von Schönburg, that his ‘nicht ungelehrte Kunst’ will pay lasting tribute to Maria Schürer. In this poem he sets himself alongside the Muses, nymphs, and the Graces, and he even claims to represent Apollo, god of poetry: Apollo kan nichts sagen/ ist Leid und Achzens voll/ hat mir es aufgetragen/ daß ich sie klagen soll.⁵³

This self-confidence is given ultimate expression in the bold assertions of Fleming’s epitaph for himself, apparently composed three days before he died in Hamburg in April 1640: JCh war an Kunst/ und Gut/ und Stande groß und reich. Deß Glückes lieber Sohn. Von Eltern guter Ehren. Frey; Meine. Kunte mich aus meinen Mitteln nehren. Mein schall floh’ überweit. Kein Landsman[n] sang mir gleich. Von Reisen hochgepreist. Für keiner Mühe bleich. Jung/ wachsam unbesorgt. Man wird mich nennen hören/ Biß daß die letzte Glut diß alles wird verstören. Diß/ Deutsche Klarien/ diß gantze danck’ ich Euch. Verzeiht mirs/ bin ichs werth/ Gott/ Vater/ Liebste/ Freunde. Jch sag’ Euch gute Nacht/ und trete willig ab. Sonst alles ist gethan/ biß an das schwarze Grab. Was frey dem Tode steht/ das thu er seinem Feinde. Was bin ich viel besorgt den Othem auffzugeben? An mir ist minder nichts/ das lebet/ als mein Leben.⁵⁴

The poet can contemplate his exit from life’s stage with equanimity: ‘Was frey dem Tode steht/ das thu er seinem Feinde’. However, this ⁵³ The conceit of Fleming as Apollo’s understudy and spokesman is especially fitting since Fleming embodied the two Apolline arts of medicine and poetry, a connection that he himself makes in his first German poem on the death of his friend Georg Gloger in 1631: ‘Apollo war mir günstig/ | der Musicant’ und Artzt/ weil du mich machtest brünstig | zu seiner doppeln Kunst’ (Poëmata, PW III. 11, lines 21–3). ⁵⁴ ‘Herrn/ Pauli FlemingI, der Med. Doctoris, Grabschrift/ so er ihm selbst gemacht in Hamburg/ den xxjjx. Tag des Mertzens m.dc.xl. auff seinem Todtbette/ drey Tage vor seinem seel. Absterben’ (Poëmata, S. IV. 10).


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is not the Christianized neo-Stoicism of earlier poems; rather, it is the Renaissance topos of the preserving power of the written word. He leaves behind his own monument, set out in the octet,⁵⁵ and most importantly his fame will live on (‘Man wird mich nennen hören| Biß daß die letzte Glut diß alles wird zerstören’). As he expresses in his epigrammatic final line, he need not fear death because his physical existence is the only part of him that is subject to it.

M A RG A R E T H E S U S A N NA VO N K U N T S C H If Fleming was intent upon leaving an indelible mark in the republic of letters, Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch was equally determined to make her presence felt at the more intimate gathering of her own funeral. Not only was she physically present, her encoffined body raised on the bier for all to see, she also contributed to the ceremony in three important ways. She wrote an account of her life to be included in her funeral booklet, and possibly even to be read at the service.⁵⁶ Two of her poems were certainly performed on the day: ‘Symbolum’, a dialogue between her soul and God, affirming her Christian faith, and the topical ‘Auffmunterung zur seeligen Todes=Bereitung’.⁵⁷ And ⁵⁵ See Marvin S. Schindler, ‘A Note on Paul Fleming’s ‘‘Grabschrifft’’ ’, in Donald C. Riechel (ed.), Wege der Worte: Festschrift für Wolfgang Fleischhauer (Cologne: Böhlau, 1978), pp. 234–6. For further interpretations see Walter Naumann, Traum und Tradition in der deutschen Lyrik (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1966), pp. 110–18; and Italo Michele Battafarano ‘ ‘‘Epitaffio a se stesso’’—‘‘Grabschrifft/ so er ihm selbst gemacht’’: Giuseppe Artale und Paul Fleming oder die Poesie als Vanitas und als Transzendenz’, GRM, 35 (1985), 13–26. ⁵⁶ ‘Mein äusserliches Leben und Wandel’, published as ‘Curriculum Vitæ Tit. F. Margarethen Susannen von Kuntsch/ gebohrner Försterin/ Welches Dieselbe biß zu Ihrer endlichen Unpäßlichkeit mit eigener Hand verfasset’ in Kuntsch’s funeral booklet, ‘Die Freundin des Lammes’ (Altenburg: Johann Ludwig Richter, 1717), LP Stolberg 9692, pp. 21–30. An adapted version of this autobiography was prefaced to the collection of Kuntsch’s poems, published in 1720 by Christoph Friedrich Hunold and Christoph Gottlieb Stockmann. In this chapter, reference will be made to the original version, reproduced in Anna Carrdus (ed., introd., and comm.), Das »weiblich Werck« in der Residenzstadt Altenburg (1672–1720): Gedichte und Briefe von Margaretha Susanna von Kuntsch und Frauen aus ihrem Umkreis (Hildesheim: Olms, 2004), pp. 314–21. ⁵⁷ Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch, Sämmtliche Geist= und weltliche Gedichte […] (Halle/S.: Neue Buchhandlung, 1720), I. III and I. IV; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich

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Kuntsch, like so many early modern men and women, had decided on the verses on which her funeral sermon was to be based: HERR, zu dir schrey ich, vnd sage, Du bist meine Zuuersicht, Mein teil im Lande der lebendigen. Mercke auff mein Klage, denn ich werde sehr geplagt, Errette mich von meinen Verfolgern, Denn sie sind mir zu mechtig. Füre meine Seele aus dem Kercker, das ich dancke deinem Namen, Die Gerechten werden sich zu mir samlen, wenn du mir wol thust.⁵⁸

Family and friends attending the funeral would have understood quite clearly why Kuntsch chose these verses: they are a cry from the depths of a woman whose only hope has been divine release. Kuntsch was born on 7 September 1651 in Schloß Allstedt as daughter of the administrator Friedrich Förster, and grew up in the duchy of Saxony-Altenburg in relative financial ease. Her parents were acutely aware of their middle-class status, and although Kuntsch received an education, she was not allowed to follow her own wishes to learn Latin and French. She records in her autobiography: Meine Inclination gienge zwar von Jugend auff dahin/ mich in Erlernung der Lateinischen und Frantzösischen Sprache/ auch anderer guten Wissenschafften zu üben/ aber meine lieben Eltern sahen hierinn weiter als ich/ und urtheilten vernünfftig/ daß solches mehr eine Ubung vor hohe Werck«, pp. 74–8. Carrdus cites these poems from a publication bound in with the Stolberg copy of Kuntsch’s funeral sermon: ‘Wer sich allein an Gott/ Als Besten Theil ergötzt/ Der kan sein frommes Haupt im Tode frölich neigen; Das wird Die Traur=Music Der Edlen Kuntschin zeigen/ Die sie mit eigner Hand/ im Leben/ auffgesetzt’ (Altenburg: 1717). This makes clear Kuntsch’s intention to have the works performed at her funeral, and the textual notes ‘Vor der Gedächtniß=Predigt’ and ‘Nach der Gedächntniß=Predigt’, referring to the two poems respectively, suggests that her wishes were carried out (see Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 339). The performance is also confirmed in Friedrich Schmidt’s poem for Kuntsch, published in her funeral booklet, ‘Die Freundin des Lammes’, pp. 32b–33a in the HAB manuscript pagination. This is cited in Elke O. Hedstrom, ‘Margarethe Susanne von Kuntsch (1651–1717): Leben und Werk’, Ph.D. thesis, University of Kansas, 1987 (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1988), p. 38, nn. 26 and 27. For further studies of Kuntsch’s life and work see Hedstrom, ‘Margarethe Susanne von Kuntsch (1651–1717): Eine unbekannte deutsche Dichterin aus der Barockzeit’, in Daphnis, 19 (1990), pp. 223–46; Carrdus, ‘Consolation Arguments’; Carrdus, ‘Margaretha Susanna von Kuntsch (1651–1717) und 16 Altenburger Dichterinnen’, in Kerstin Merkel and Heide Wunder (eds.), Deutsche Frauen der Frühen Neuzeit: Dichterinnen, Malerinnen, Mäzeninnen (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2000), pp. 123–38, and Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«. ⁵⁸ Psalm 142: 6–8; WA Bibel, X. 1, 569.


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Damen, als vor ein Frauenzimmer von mittelmäßigen Stande/ muste ich also hiervon bey einem geringen Anfange abbrechen.⁵⁹

In August 1669, at the age of 18, she married Christoph Kuntsch, a court councillor from Eisleben. The couple returned to Altenburg in 1672, when the death of Friedrich Wilhelm III brought the line of Saxony-Altenburg to an end, and the duchy was subsumed into Saxony-Gotha under Ernst the Pious. Ernst established four posts to oversee the administration of his new lands, and Christoph Kuntsch was appointed to one of them. He was named a Count Palatine in 1685 and ennobled in 1708.⁶⁰ Kuntsch testifies to the happiness of her 47-year marriage in the thirty poems she wrote to mark Christoph’s birthday between 1687 and 1716. He appears to have been a forwardthinking man who encouraged his wife in her writing, occasionally commissioning poems from her.⁶¹ Kuntsch also found time for devotional reading, and her anthology shows how avidly she read edifying books.⁶² Her librarian brother, Friedrich Günther Förster, ⁵⁹ Kuntsch, ‘Curriculum Vitæ’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 315, lines 66–72. Carrdus explains the fact that Kuntsch knew both languages as an adult by the presence of French and Latin books in her father’s library (Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 407). See Cornelia Niekus Moore, Patterned Lives: The Lutheran Funeral Biography in Early Modern Germany, Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 111 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), pp. 57–8, on autobiographical contributions to funeral booklets. ⁶⁰ See Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 407–8. ⁶¹ Ibid. pp. 48–9. ⁶² Her devotional reading included Johannes Niedeling’s Evangelisch Haus= und Kirchen Buch/ […] ( Jena: Johann Nisius, 1663) [I. XIV]; Johann Andreas Gerhard’s translation and reworking of a tract by François de Sales, ANFÜHRUNG Zu einem Gottseeligen Leben […] (Frankfurt a.M.: Henning Grosse’s heirs, 1677) [I. XV]; Jakob Daniel Ernst, Ehrenholds Reifflich=betrachtete/ und Christmüthig=verachtete Eitelkeit/ Des Nichtig= und flüchtigen Welt-Wesens/ […], 2nd edn. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, 1688) [I. XVI]; Heinrich Müller’s Himmlischer Liebes=Kuß/ […] (Frankfurt a.M. and Rostock: Joachim Wilde, 1659; rev. edn. Frankfurt a.M. and Leipzig: Joachim Wilde and Johann Adam Plener [publishers] and Johann Heinrich Richter [printer], 1698) [I. XVII]; Joachim Lütkemann’s Der Vorschmack Göttlicher Güte/ Durch GOttes Gnade […] (Wolfenbüttel: Johann Bißmarck, 1653; Braunschweig: Christoph Friedrich Zilliger, 1657; repr. 1662, 1680, and 1696) [I. XIX]; Johann Arndt’s Vier Bücher. Von wahrem Christenthumb […], 2nd edn. (Braunschweig: Andreas Duncker, 1606) [I. XIIX]; Georg Linzner’s [MEMENTO MORI, Das ist:] Heilsame Todes=Gedancken (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Eberhard Felsecker, 1675) [I. XX, I. XXI]; Justus Georg Schottelius’s Vier letzte Dinge, probably Eigentliche und sonderbare Vorstellung Des Jüngsten Tages und darin Künfftig verhandenen Grossen und Letzten Wunder=Gericht Gottes: […] (Braunschweig: Christoph Friedrich Zilliger, 1668; rev. edn. 1689) [I. X]; Erasmus Francisci’s Erinnerung der Morgenröte/ Oder Geistliches Hanen=Geschrey/ An die vertieffte Hertzen im Schatten deß Todes: […] (Nuremberg:

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claimed in his poem for her funeral booklet that she had an excellent knowledge of the Bible: ‘Du warst in GOttes Wort und Schrifften wol fundirt | Indem das Bibel=Buch du funffzig mahl durchlesen’.⁶³ This may be hyperbole, but the extent to which Kuntsch steeped herself in Scripture is clear from the many allusions and direct biblical citations in her poems. In her own biographical account Kuntsch’s attention is firmly fixed on the domestic sorrows which defined her life for her: Denn zu geschweigen der vielen und wunderlichen Fälle/ welche im gemeinen Leben sich öffters zutragen/ und uns selbiges bitter genug machen; So haben allein die vielen Kranckheiten und Todes=Fälle derer lieben Meinigen/ sonderlich das frühzeitige Absterben meiner geliebten Kinder mir Kummer und Schmertzen überflüßig zugezogen/ […].⁶⁴

Over twenty-three years Kuntsch became pregnant fourteen times. Two pregnancies miscarried, two babies were stillborn, two were premature and died shortly after birth, five died within their first year, and two in childhood (see Table 6.1). Kuntsch’s sole surviving child, Margarethe Elisabeth, also lost a number of children, seven during their grandmother’s lifetime. Kuntsch’s autobiography charts these numerous bereavements, giving the dates of the children’s the heirs of Johann Andreas Endter and Wolfgang Endter, 1672; rev. edn.: Wolfgang Moritz Endter, 1689) [I. XXIIX]; Francisci’s Die Letzte Rechenschafft Jeglicher und aller Menschen/ abzulegen/ Zu den Füssen der Ewigen Majestet: […] (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Moritz Endter and Johann Andreas Endter’s heirs, 1681; repr.: Johann Andreas Endter’s heirs, 1684) [I. XXIX, I. XXX]; Francisci’s Das Unfehlbare Weh der Ewigkeit für die Verächter der Gnaden=Zeit; […] (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Moritz Endter and Johann Andreas Endter’s heirs, 1682; repr. 1686) [I. XXXI, I. XXXII] and Das Ehr= und Freuden=reiche Wol der Ewigkeit/ für die Verächter der Eitelkeit/ […] (Nuremberg: Johann Andreas Endter’s heirs, 1683; rev. edn.: Wolfgang Moritz Endter, 1691) [I. XXXIII, I. XXXIV]; Wenceslaus Bergmann’s TREMENDA MORTIS HORA, Oder Das Böse Stündlein/ […] (Wittenberg: Tobias Mervius’s heirs and Elerd Schumacher [publishers] and Matthäus Henckel [printer], 1664) [I. XXXV]; Johannes Saubert’s CURRUS SIMEONIS, Der Wagen Simeonis/ […] (Nuremberg: Johann Friedrich Sartorius, 1627); rev. edn. CURRUS SIMEONIS amplificatus, Das ist: Der Wagen Simeonis vermehrt/ […] (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Endter, 1643; repr. Christoph Endter, 1663–4) [I. XXXVI]. We know that she read these works because she wrote verse reflections on them. The numbers in square brackets refer to the poem which reflects on each work. For information on the authors, see Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«. ⁶³ LP Kuntsch, 1717, p. 58; cited in Hedstrom, thesis, p. 40. ⁶⁴ Kuntsch, ‘Curriculum Vitæ’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 316, lines 96–101.


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Table 6.1. Kuntsch’s children Date

Name

21/22 November 1670

—

15 February 1675 29 October 1675 29 June 1676 2 March 1684

Johann Friedrich — — —

Age at death Stillbirth 10 weeks Miscarriage Miscarriage Stillbirth

Pastoral name

Poem

—

—

Floridan

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

12 May 1685

Johanna Blandine

5 days

Bellinde

II.I, II & V

6 June 1685

Christoph Friedrich

7 years

Fillidor

II.III, IV, V & XII

1 February 1686

Margarethe

Premature

Margaris

II.VI

22 November 1686

[Christoph?] Premature

Chrisander

II.VII

4 February 1688

Heinrich Ehrenfried

3 days

Helidon

II.VIII

31 January 1690

Dorothea Friderica

9 years

Fritalea

II.IX, X, XI & XII

6 September 1690

Gottfried Wilhelm

7 weeks

Guillestes

II.XIII

12 March 1694

Christian Gottlieb

34 weeks

Celadon

II.XIV

untimely deaths and her own comments on the successive losses, and her poems resound with the belief that God has ordained her for particular suffering.

Sämmtliche Geist= und weltliche Gedichte (1720) Kuntsch’s poetry anthology was published posthumously thanks to the collaboration of two male poets: Christoph Friedrich Hunold, who also published under the pseudonym Menantes, and Christoph Gottlieb Stockmann. Stockmann was Kuntsch’s grandson. He and his grandmother had enjoyed a particularly close relationship because

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he had lived with his grandparents while attending the Gymnasium in Altenburg between 1714 and 1717, and Kuntsch bequeathed her manuscript to him. Stockmann came into contact with Hunold through their publisher in Halle, the Neue Buchhandlung, and Hunold published four of Kuntsch’s poems in his collection Auserlesene und noch nie gedruckte Gedichte unterschiedener Berümten und geschickten Männer (1718–21). In his preface to Kuntsch’s anthology Hunold claims that she did not consider her poems worthy of publication, as she herself suggests in the fifth poem of the first book: Als nach einem harten Creutzes=Sturme/ bey zunehmenden Leibs=Beschwerungen/ sie gedachte/ daß ihr Gebeth also erhöret wäre/ daß sie sterben würde 1685. An ihre liebste Freunde LEs’t mein Gedichte durch/und schätzt ihrs wehrt zuhören/ So singe mans den Tag der mir zun letzten Ehren In dieser Welt bestimt/ wo aber es nicht taug/ So schaffet/ daß es sey entzogen iedem Aug/ Und ieder Läster=Zung/ die so geneigt zu richten. Ich selbst bekenne frey man find in den Gedichten Gantz keine Zierlichkeit/ darauff ich nie studirt/ Die reine GOttes=Lieb hat hier den Kiel geführt/ […]⁶⁵

This poem, which in the second half explicitly addresses her two surviving children, Dorothea Friderica († 1690) and Margarethe Elisabeth, claims that her verse is a legacy for her daughters, to offer advice, guidance, and examples in loco parentis when she is no longer with them. She insists that the poems are not intended primarily for the eyes of a wider public, although she does request that they be sung at her funeral. The subtitle to her work, ‘Der Schäferin SYLVJen Einsamer Zeit=Vertreib Jn Poetischen Wäldern und Feldern’, suggests that Kuntsch did not regard herself as a serious poet. Are we to believe her? This is clearly a modesty topos, as well as a means of deflecting any criticism that a woman should bring her scribblings into the public domain. Kuntsch insists that her work is merely a ‘Zeit=Vertreib’, a private pastime completed after she has attended to her domestic duties. And there is certainly evidence that Kuntsch intended her ⁶⁵ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. V, lines 1–8; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 78–9.


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poems for publication. She was responsible for ordering her ‘poetic woods’,⁶⁶ and the prefatory poem, written in 1719 by Stockmann, states that his grandmother had wanted to dedicate the collection to Magdalene Augusta, wife of Friedrich II, Duke of Saxony-GothaAltenburg: ‘Ich widme, was bereits mit DERO Nahmen prangt’.⁶⁷ A number of Kuntsch’s occasional poems had been published previously, both in funeral booklets and as individual publications. Nine (some extracts and some whole poems) were included in her own funeral booklet.⁶⁸ If we compare the two versions of the poem on the death of 9-year-old Dorothea Friderica in 1690, we can see the extent of the editing for the final manuscript. 1690 publication⁶⁹

Sämmtliche Geist= und weltliche Gedichte II.IX. Als die vierdtgebohrne liebste Tochter die angenehme Fritalea oder D.F.K. […] ihr Leben seelig beschloß.

Das blutende Mutter=Hertz BEtrübt’ster Tag von allen meinen Tagen/

BEtrübtster Tag von allen meinen Tagen/

O Tag/ den ich ohn Ende werd beklagen/

O Tag! den ich beständig muß beklagen/

Biß daß das Ende meiner Tage kömmt!

Biß daß das Ende meiner Tage kömmt!

Nun du erschein’st/ so sey gegrüßt mit Zähren

Beschwärtzter Tag sey mir gegrüßt mit Zähren/

Und könt ihr gar vor Thränen Blut gewähren

5

Jhr Augen/ so seyd damit überschwemmt.

Jhr Augen, so seyd damit überschwemmt.

Dich sah’ ich freylich schon vor langen Zeiten/

Dich sah’ ich freylich schon vor langen Zeiten

Als wie ein Wetter auffgethürmt von Weiten/

Als wie ein Wetter aufgethürmt/ von weiten

Aus schwartzen Wolcken schwere Schläge dräu’n/ Doch hofft’ ich noch den Höchsten zu erweichen/

Und könt ihr gar vor Thränen Blut gewähren/

Aus schwartzen Wolcken schwehre Schläge dräu’n/ 10

Doch hofft’ ich noch den Höchsten zu erweichen/

Daß Seine Gnade durch ein Wunder=Zeichen

Daß seine Gnade durch ein Wunder=Zeichen

Mein Kind von schmertz und Kranckheit solt befreyn.

Mein Kind von Schmertz und Kranckheit solt befrey’n.

Wie offte hab ich nur auff meinen Knien Und gantz bethränt den Himmel angeschrien

Wie offte hab ich nur auf meinen Knien/ Und gantz bethränt/ den Höchsten angeschrieen/

⁶⁶ In 1717 Christian Friedrich Wilisch published a speech on Kuntsch’s death. This included the title page of Kuntsch’s anthology, which shows the poems with the titles of the 1720 edition and in the order in which they were published. See Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 44–5. ⁶⁷ Kuntsch, Gedichte, dedication (written by Stockmann), fols. )(2v –3r ; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 59. ⁶⁸ Hedstrom, thesis, p. 5. ⁶⁹ ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz […]’ (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), FLB Gotha LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b/6).

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Daß er auffs wenigste ein Theil der Jahr/

15

Daß er aufs wenigste ein Theil der Jahr

Die ich vor mir noch etwan hätt’ zu leben/

Die ich vor mir noch etwan hätt’ zu leben/

Möcht diesem meinem Hertzens=Troste geben

Möcht diesem meinem Hertzens=Troste geben/

Und mich nicht lassen schauen ihre Baar.

Damit ich sie nicht schaute auf der Bahr.

Allein umsonst/ die Demant=festen Schlüsse/ Da durch’s Verhängniß lauter Hertzens=Risse

Allein umsonst/ die Demant=festen Schlüsse, 20

Womit der Himmel lauter Hertzens=Risse

Vor mich/ durch meine Lebens=Zeit bestimmt/

Vor mich/ durch meine Lebens=Zeit bestimmt/

Die musten auch dißmahl erfüllet werden/

Die musten auch dießmahl erfüllet werden/

Mein süsses Licht verkreucht sich in die Erden/

Mein süsses Licht verkreucht sich in die Erden/

Dahin es mein Vergnügen mit sich nimmt.

Dahin es mein Vergnügen mit sich nimmt.

Euch frag ich nun/ die ihr hier um mich stehet

25

Und meinen überhäufften Jammer sehet/

Euch frag ich nun/ die ihr hie um mich stehet/ Und meinen überhäufften Jammer sehet/

Sagt/ meine Freunde/ sagt was düncket euch/

Sagt/ meine Freunde sagt/ was düncket euch?

Man stöst zum eilfften mal in meine Wunden

Man stöß’t zum eilfften mahl in meine Wunden

Ein scharff Gewehr/ wer hat daß ie empfunden/ Jst auch ein Schmertzen/ welcher meinem gleich?

Ein scharff Gewehr/ wer hat dieß ie empfunden/ 30

Bemüht/ euch nicht mir Tröstung zuzusprechen/

Jst auch ein Schmertzen/ welcher meinem gleich? Bemüht euch nicht mir Tröstung zu zusprechen/

Kein Wunder wär es möcht das Band zerbrechen

Kein Wunder wär/ es möcht das Band zerbrechen/

Daß meinen Leib mit seiner Seel’ verbind/

Das meinen Leib mit seiner Seel verbind/

Was nutzt die Fruchtbarkeit die mir verliehen/ Was bleibt mir doch von allen meinen Mühen/

Was nutzt die Fruchtbarkeit die mir verliehen/ 35

Von zwölffen seh ich noch ein einig Kind.

Von zwölfen seh ich noch ein einig Kind.

Jhr habt zwar recht/ ich preise eure Güte/

Jhr habt zwar recht/ ich preise eure Güte/

Jhr führet solche Ding mir zu Gemüthe/

Jhr führt mir solche Dinge zu Gemüthe/

Die ich bey vor’gen Fällen längst bedacht/ Wo aber auch das Creutz so gar ohn Ende/

Was bleibt mir doch vor alles mein Bemühen/

Die ich bey vorgen Fällen längst bedacht/ 40

Wo aber auch das Creutz gantz ohne Ende/

Läst wol der Stärckste sincken seine Hände/

Da sincken wohl die allerstärcksten Hände/

Und die Gedult wird selbsten müd gemacht.

Und die Gedult wird selbsten matt gemacht.

Fürwar es wollen öffters die Gedancken

Fürwahr es wollen öffters die Gedancken

Auff solche gantz bestürtzte Meynung wancken: Es müß der Himmel unerbittlich seyn

Auff solche gantz bestürtzte Meynung wancken/ 45

Der Himmel müsse unerbittlich seyn/

Und mein Gebeth komm’ nicht vor GOttes Ohren

Mein Flehen komme nicht vor GOttes Ohren/

Er habe mich zu einem Ziel erkohren

Er habe mich zu einem Ziel erkohren/

Auf das sein Zorn=Pfeil stetig dringe ein.

Vor seinem Zorn und scharffer Pfeile Pein.

Ach lieber denckt was ich in wenig Jahren/ Durch Eltern= und durch Kinder=Tod erfahren/

Ach lieber denckt was ich in wenig Jahren 50

Durch Eltern/ und durch Kinder Tod erfahren/

Durch Freunds=Verlust/ welch’ herben Kranckheits=Schmertz Durch Freunds Verlust/ welch herben Kranckheits=Schmertz Hat nicht der abgematte Leib empfunden:

Hat nicht der abgematte Leib empfunden/


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Was Haß/ Verfolgung was vor Lästrungs Wunden

Was Haß/ Verfolgung/ was für Lästrungs=Wunden/

Bekränckten nicht das fast halb tode Hertz.

Bekränckten nicht das fast verstorbne Hertz?

Bey so viel Noth kan Menschen=Trost nicht laben/

55

Bey so viel Noth kan Menschen Trost nicht laben/

Schick Höchster doch selbst deines Trostes Gaben/

Schick selbst doch Höchster deines Trostes Gaben/

Ach heyle mich der du den Riß gethan/

Ach heile mich/ der du den Riß gethan/

Laß deinen Geist mir dieses fest einsprechen:

Send deinen Geist mir dieses einzusprechen/

Dein Vater=Hertz müß’ noch vor Liebe brechen/

Dein Vater=Hertz werd’ noch vor Liebe brechen/

Du nehmst dich gern der müden Seelen an.

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Mehr nur in mir den Glauben und Vertrauen

Du nehmst dich gern der müden Seelen an. Mehr nur in mir den Glauben und Vertrauen/

Und lasse mich mit fester Hoffnung schauen

Und lasse mich mit fester Hoffnung schauen/

Auff das/ was künfftig ist und ewig heist.

Auf das/ was künfftig ist und ewig heist/

Sie lebet ja die Fromme und die Schöne/

Sie lebet ja die Fromme und die Schöne/

Wo schon vorhin sechs allerliebste Söhne

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Und viere meiner Töchter hin gereist. Von ihr ist Schmertz und Kranckheit hingenommen/

Von ihr ist Schmertz und Kranckheit hingenommen/

Sie ist in GOtt nun klug und gantz vollkommen/

Sie ist in GOtt nun klug und gantz vollkommen/

Jhr Haupt ist mit der Sternen=Kron umkräntzt: Sie darff nicht das/ was ich erfahren/ leyden:

Wo schon vorhin sechs allerliebste Söhne/ Und viere meiner Töchter hingereist.

Jhr Haupt ist mit der Sternen=Cron umkräntzt/ 70

Sie darff nicht das/ was ich erfahren/ leiden/

Sie kleid’t der Unschuld Liljen=weiße Seyden:

Sie kleidt der Unschuld Liljen=weisse Seiden/

Jhr Schmuck von JEsus Blut=Rubinen gläntzt.

Welch Kleid von JEsus Blut Rubinen gläntzt.

Wenn ich einst dieses Cörpers Last entbunden/

Wenn ich einst dieses Cörpers Last entbunden/

Da werde ich (Ach kommt ihr frohen Stunden!) Sie und die Andern alle wieder seh’n/

Da werde ich (Ach kommt ihr frohen Stunden!) 75

Jndessen muß ich unter tausend Klagen

Sie und die andern alle wieder sehn/ Jndessen muß ich unter tausend Klagen/

Doch diß von meiner Allerliebsten sagen

Noch dieß von meiner allerliebsten sagen/

Daß ihr sehr wohl und mir sehr weh’ geschehn.

Daß ihr sehr wohl/ und mir sehr weh geschehn.

Jch muß mich doch/ gleich andern wahren Christen/ Mit unermüdeter Gedult ausrüsten Und gern zulassen/ daß der Himmel nimmt;

Jch muß mich doch gleich andern wahren Christen/ 80

Mit tapfferer Gedult und Hoffnung rüsten/ Und gerne leiden/ daß der Himmel nimmt/

Was mir hier zeitlich nicht kan wieder werden/

Was mir hier zeitlich nicht kan wieder werden/

Weil GOttes Rathschluß mich auff dieser Erden

Weil GOttes Rath=Schluß mich auf dieser Erden

Nur unglückhafft zu seyn vorlängst bestimmt!

Nur Jammer=voll zu seyn vorlängst bestimmt!

This is one of the poems which Kuntsch may have edited herself.⁷⁰ In addition to minor changes of spelling and punctuation, the word ⁷⁰ It is difficult to ascertain who was responsible for which alterations. Kuntsch probably edited a number of the poems as she prepared the manuscript for publication,

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order is altered on occasion for greater elegance of expression. In line 57 ‘Schick Höchster doch selbst deines Trostes Gaben’ becomes ‘Schick selbst doch Höchster deines Trostes Gaben’, which allows the stress to fall on ‘selbst’, underlining the difference between inadequate human consolation and divine comfort.⁷¹ Lines 47–8, ‘Er habe mich zu einem Ziel erkohren/ | Auf das sein Zorn=Pfeil stetig dringe ein’ become the much more assonated, alliterated, and forceful ‘Er habe mich zu einem Ziel erkohren/ | Vor seinem Zorn= und scharffe Pfeile Pein’. Other changes are more significant. The fourth line of the original poem greets the ‘Betrübt’ster Tag’ with which the poem opens, whereas the final version reiterates the idea with a more intense adjective, ‘Beschwärtzter Tag’. In the original Kuntsch recalls her wish that she should not have lived to see Dorothea Friderica’s funeral bier (line 18); in the later version the painful sight is this same bier occupied. Here too the grief-stricken mother has become ‘matt’, rather than ‘müd’ (line 42), suggesting a weariness of spirit, and at the end of the poem she is no longer destined to be merely ‘unglückhafft’, but ‘Jammer=voll’. The change from ‘O Tag/ den ich ohn Ende werd beklagen’ to ‘O Tag! den ich beständig muß beklagen’ (line 2) demonstrates stylistic use of paradox, for the baroque virtue of constancy (‘Beständigkeit’) requires steadfast acceptance of tribulation. By the end, when the poet is beginning to display this virtue, there is a change from ‘Und gern zulassen/ daß der Himmel nimmt; | Was mir hier zeitlich nicht kan wieder werden’ to the stronger ‘Und gerne leiden/ […]’. The later version is also altered to bring it into line with the other poems in the anthology. Whilst the original initially ascribes the blows or ‘Hertzens=Risse’ to inexorable Fate (line 20), the later version is quite clear that they are inflicted by Heaven. This development carries with it the hope that, if Heaven has inflicted the wounds, Heaven will heal them ( Job 5: 17–18), although, as Carrdus points out, she could not have edited those poems which were originally published only after her death (I. III, I. IV) or the texts that Wilisch mentions in his speech for Kuntsch (the subtitle, the dedication, I. epigraph, I. I, II. epigraph, and IV. epigraph). It seems that Stockmann carried out much of the editing. See Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 53–4. ⁷¹ ‘Denn [Gott] verletzet, vnd verbindet, Er zuschmeisst, vnd seine Hand heilet.’ ( Job 5: 18, WA Bibel, X. 1, 17) The following line makes clear that Kuntsch has this verse in mind.


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an association reiterated in line 57. And where the original poem speaks of Dorothea Friderica’s white robe of righteousness and the ruby gems of Christ’s blood, with which she is now adorned (lines 71–2), the later version draws a closer connection between the blood and the righteousness which has been purchased by it: ‘Sie kleidt der Unschuld Liljen=weisse Seiden/ | Welch Kleid von JEsus Blut Rubinen gläntzt’. In his introduction Hunold writes that Kuntsch’s verse pleased his heart, even if it occasionally offended his ear, since the poems are not all formally flawless. Just as male canaries sing more sweetly than the females, so men tend to produce better verse, he argues. However, Hunold appears to ascribe male literary superiority more to limited educational opportunities for women than an inherent lack of skill.⁷² Kuntsch may not have enjoyed the formal Latin education from which most seventeenth-century male poets benefited, but she had connections with contemporary writers, most notably with the poet and headmaster of the Gymnasium in Altenburg, Johann Christoph Wenzel, who wrote plays for his charges to perform, and who may have influenced Kuntsch’s own operetta ‘Megarnie’,⁷³ and with Ernst Stockmann (Christoph Gottlieb’s paternal grandfather), a poet and author of a popular work on madrigals.⁷⁴ That Kuntsch also encouraged her daughter to write can be inferred from Margarethe Elisabeth’s poem on the death of her younger sister, Dorothea Friderica.⁷⁵ ⁷² Kuntsch, Gedichte, Hunold’s preface, fols)()(v –)()(2r ; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 63–6. ⁷³ Kuntsch, Gedichte, IV. I; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 212–16. For Carrdus’s discussion of the occasion marked by this poem, see pp. 380–1. ⁷⁴ Ernst Stockmann, […] Poetische Schrifft=Lust/ Oder hundert Geistliche Madrigalen/ Einer zierlichen Italiänischen Art Verse/ […], part I (Leipzig: Georg Heinrich Fromman, 1668); […] Poetischer Madrigalischer Schrifft=Lust/ Geistlicher und anderer Madrigalen/ als einer höchst=zierlichen/ ungemeinen Art der Poesie Anderer Theil […], part 2 (Leipzig: Georg Heinrich Fromman, 1701). Kuntsch wrote her first madrigal in 1690, shortly before her daughter announced her engagement to Stockmann’s son Gottfried (Carrdus, ‘Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch’, p. 136). ⁷⁵ Margarethe Elisabeth Kuntsch, ‘Als Jhre Hertzliche=geliebte einige Schwester […] aus allen Jammer erlöset wurde/ […]’ (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), FLB Gotha, LP N 4◦ 11, 00002 (24b/5); reproduced in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 229–30. For other poems by Margarethe Elisabeth, see Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 230–36.

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The poems on the deaths of the children In her thesis on Kuntsch, Hedstrom assumes that the anthology may not contain all of Kuntsch’s poems since those on the deaths of her children only begin with the sixth bereavement, Johanna Blandine († 1685).⁷⁶ If this were true, it could only be that Kuntsch deliberately omitted them from the manuscript, since Hunold writes of an editorial decision to leave in some poems less than formally perfect.⁷⁷ However, it is not necessarily the case that Kuntsch wrote poems on the first five deaths. Of these, two were stillborn and two miscarried, and the unbaptized babies are not named in the autobiography or in the poem II. XIV, which commemorates all the children, named and unnamed, except for the first stillbirth. But this alone is unlikely to be the reason, since the premature baby boy, who died at birth on 22 November 1686 before he could be baptized, is commemorated in a poem (II. VII) and given the pastoral name Chrisander, and his initials CK suggest that Kuntsch would have named him Christoph. Moreover, the second poem, addressed to Johanna Blandine, insists that she has gone to be with her two sisters and three brothers in heaven, showing Kuntsch’s belief that unbaptized children, whether stillborn, miscarried, or premature, were nonetheless destined for heavenly bliss, in accordance with the consolation books.⁷⁸ Kuntsch addresses this point explicitly in the poem on the death of six of her grandchildren.⁷⁹ Once again she gives pastoral names to the children and adds footnotes detailing the dates of their deaths, but in the footnotes she also includes a stillborn ⁷⁶ Hedstrom, thesis, p. 67, n. 10. ⁷⁷ ‘Man hätte einige geistl. Gedichte hierinnen auslassen können/ die nicht so wohlfließend als die andern gerathen: allein man ist der Meynung gewesen/ es werde so wenig dem Ruhm wohlgedachter Frauen Räthin von Kuntsch/ als dem verständigen und geneigten Leser entgegen seyn/ den schönen Geist in den harten Versen gleichfalls zu betrachten/ und in Gegeneinanderhaltung mit den lieblichen zu erkennen/ wie die geringern würden aussehen haben/ wenn gleiche Zeit oder Gedult/ wie zu den guten/ übrig gewesen’. (Kuntsch, Gedichte, Hunold’s preface, fo.)()(2v ; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 64, lines 73–81.) ⁷⁸ For example, Johann Gottfried Olearius’s Vorblick Des frölichen Wieder=Sehens und Wieder=Zusammenkunfft der seligen Außerwehlten Eltern/ Kinder/ Ehgatten/ Geschwister/ und guten Freunde/ Jm Ewigen Leben: […] (Leipzig: Johann Wittigau, 1667), pp. 188–208; cf. p. 43 of this study. ⁷⁹ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. XV ‘Bey dem sechsfachen Grabe der Kindes=Kinder’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 132.


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twin who appears in the poem as ‘Ein unbenahmter Sohn/ den GOTT mit Nahmen kenn’t’ (line 7). There are four factors which may well explain the absence of earlier poems on the deaths of the children. Firstly, it seems probable that Kuntsch began to write when she felt herself especially singled out for suffering; to lose a couple of children was painful but hardly unusual. Secondly, the first child, a stillbirth, was born in the second year of Kuntsch’s marriage when, at the age of 19, she would almost certainly have been occupied with her new housekeeping duties and then in 1672 with the move to Altenburg. Thirdly, the first poem on Johanna Blandine is sparked partly by the loss of her daughter and partly by the date on which she died. Kuntsch entitles this opening poem in her ‘cypress wood’ ‘Der unglückliche zwölffte Maji’ since her father had died on the same day nine years earlier, and the poem mourns the former bereavement as well as the fresh one, which has reopened an old wound.⁸⁰ Fourthly, the first datable poem in the entire anthology is from 1681,⁸¹ which suggests that Kuntsch may not have been writing verse at all before this time. The prefatory verse for the funeral poems, ‘Düstrer Cypressen=Wald Der Hertzlich Traurenden Und Mitleidenden SYLVIen’ reveals Kuntsch’s predominant concern in this book to be the deaths of her children: Der alter Römer steckt Cypressen um die Baar/ Wenn ihm ein werther Freund war durch den Tod geblieben. Die setzet Sylvie der liebsten Kinder=Schaar/ Und andern mehr/ den sie zu Ehren hat geschrieben/ Sie balsamt sie mit Myrrh= und Thränen=Saltze ein/ Daß ihr Gedächtniß mög stets unverweßlich seyn.⁸²

Her own relations are the subjects of more than half of the poems in this book, and by ordering them not solely by date, but grouping together her closest bereavements, she carefully constructs an ⁸⁰ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. I.; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 114–15. ⁸¹ Hedstrom, thesis p. 67. This is Gedichte, IV. XI: ‘Auf den Verlust des teutschen Reichs/ den es an Straßburg erlitten. 1681’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 222. ⁸² Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 114. Carrdus cites from the 1717 text, ‘Cvpresso, Lacrimis luctibusque apta, Tumbam cingunt venerabilem Matronae Sanctissimae, Margarethae Svsannae de Kuntsch […]’, which was published by the Altenburg headmaster Christian Friedrich Wilisch and is bound into Kuntsch’s funeral booklet in the Stolberg collection.

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overwhelming picture of her loss.⁸³ It is notable that the poems for her family and close friends, for example Sophia Christiana Geyer,⁸⁴ are significantly more personal in tone and detail than her other more typical occasional poems, such as the one on the death of Christian Friedrich Keyser’s son.⁸⁵ Sometimes the personal elements are facts, for example her particular grief that she could not follow her son Christoph Friedrich’s coffin to the funeral because she was still recovering from the birth of Johanna Blandine. Within the poem this detail becomes affectively charged: Dieß schärfet jetzt mein Leid/ daß du so früh must scheiden/ Da noch das Wochen=Bett in meinem Zimmer steht/ Und ich dich/ liebstes Kind/ nicht kan zur Grufft geleiten/ Doch wisse/ daß mein Geist mit dir zu Grabe geh’t/ Ja ich hab dich vielmehr in meine Brust begraben/ Darinne wirst du stets noch gegenwärtig seyn/ Mein Geist wird sich an dir mit tausend Küssen laben/ Dem fällt fast Augenblicks dein werth Gedächtniß ein.⁸⁶

The topos here is that if her son is buried in her heart, his memory will continue to grow; indeed, it bears poetic fruit and produces a tree in her cypress forest. Kuntsch also uses personal details for symbolic effect, as is clear in the sonnet for Guillestes, or Gottfried Wilhelm, at whose birth she nearly died: SO ziehst du hin mein Sohn/ und läßt mich hier allein/ Mich ärmste/ die ich dich mit Kummer kaum gebohren/ ⁸³ The poems on the deaths of her children and six of her grandchildren open this book. They are followed by the other epicedia, also in chronological order. It is not clear why the poem for her 2-year-old grandson Gottfried Wilhelm Stockmann (‘Wigestes’), who died in 1709, appears towards the end of the collection rather than with other close family members. ⁸⁴ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. XX: ‘Auf Jungfer Christianen Sophien Geyerin […] Ableben, den 3. Septembris 1689.’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 138–41. (Carrdus takes her text from a collection of epicedia for Sophia Christiana, ‘Cupressus Geieriana […]’ (Altenburg: [n.pub.], 1689). ⁸⁵ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. XXVII: ‘Als Herrn Doctor Christian Friedrich Keysers […] ältestes Söhnlein Georg Friedrich/ den 16. Februarii 1691. versturbe. Madrigal’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 147. ⁸⁶ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. III, lines 61–8; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 118.

Paul Fleming and Margarethe S. von Kuntsch Und über der Geburth mein Leben fast verlohren/ Ich dacht Benoni solt mir ein Jaebez seyn/ a) Und seine Herrlichkeit mein künfftig heller Schein. Doch ward dein zarter Geist dem Himmel auserkohren/ Und wieder mich hat sich das Unglück nur verschwohren/ Bey mir gehts übel zu/ du must mir Bria seyn/ b) Ich nenn dich Icabod, die Herrlichkeit ist hin/ c) Weh mir/ daß ich durch dich ie Mutter worden bin. Wenn hab ich einen Sohn/ von dir/ o HERR/ gebethen/ d) Daß du auf kurtze Zeit mir dennoch einen giebst/ Und durch so frühen Tod mich biß in Tod betrübst/ Die Herrlichkeit ist hin/ mein Horn in Staub getreten.⁸⁷

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a) I. Par. 4, 9. Gen. 35,18

b) I. Par. 8, 23 c) I. Sam. 4, 22 d) II Reg. 4, 28

Here Kuntsch names biblical characters who mirror her situation. She begins in line one by alluding to Israel’s complaint as her children are taken away into exile and captivity: ‘Ziehet hin jr lieben Kinder, ziehet hin, Jch aber bin verlassen Einsam’.⁸⁸ Rachel, who died giving birth to her second son whom she named Benoni (‘meines schmertzen Son’), provides the second reference.⁸⁹ Jacob changed the boy’s name to Benjamin (‘der rechten Son’), but for Kuntsch the child, her youngest at this point, remains a Benoni, his death adding emotional anguish to the physical pain of labour. Jabez’s mother also bore him in agony; however, Jabez was blessed by God, who kept him from harm.⁹⁰ Gottfried Wilhelm, on the other hand, has become a Beriah which means ‘misfortune’,⁹¹ and Kuntsch calls him ‘Icabod, die Herrlichkeit ist hin’, the name given to Eli’s grandson, born at a time of deep distress when the Ark of the Covenant had been captured by the Philistines.⁹² Kuntsch’s reference here may well be a hint that she feels abandoned by God. Finally, she cites the words of the Shunammite ⁸⁷ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. XIII: ‘Als das siebend gebohrne Söhnlein/ der anmuthige Guillestes, oder G.W.K. den 6. Septembris 1690. seines Alters 7. Wochen und 4. Tage seelig abschied’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 130. ⁸⁸ Baruch 4: 19, WA Bibel, XII, 303. ⁸⁹ Genesis 35: 18. ⁹⁰ 1 Chronicles 4: 9. ⁹¹ ‘Vnd [Ephraim] beschlieff sein Weib, die ward schwanger, und gebar einen Son, den hies er Bria, darumb das in seinem Haus vbel zugieng’ (1 Chronicles 8: 23, WA Bibel, IX. 2, 119). ⁹² ‘Vnd sie [Eli’s daughter-in-law] hies den Knaben Jcabod, vnd sprach, die Herrligkeit ist da hin von Jsrael, weil die Lade Gottes genomen war, vnd jr Schweher vnd jr Man. Vnd sprach abermal, Die Herrligkeit ist da hin von Jsrael, Denn die Lade Gottes ist genomen’ (1 Samuel 4: 21–2, WA Bibel, IX. 1, 199).

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woman.⁹³ The prophet Elisha had foretold that the childless woman would bear a son, but when the son dies, she rebukes Elisha with offering her false hope, a theme which echoes throughout Kuntsch’s verse. The allusion to this story is all too poignant: Elisha raises the Shunammite boy from death, but for Kuntsch the glory is irreparably lost, and she concludes by assuming Job’s mourning posture when he complains that God has inflicted wound upon wound on him: ‘JCh habe einen Sack vmb meine haut geneet, vnd habe mein Horn in den staub gelegt’ (Job 16: 15).⁹⁴ Kuntsch’s application of pastoral names to her children is striking. All the baptized children are given pastoral pseudonyms related to their Christian names, as is the premature Chrisander. SperbergMcQueen has suggested that the pastoral is a mode where personal expression is more conventional,⁹⁵ hence its choice for courtly romances which focus on the emotions of characters in a remote setting. If Kuntsch recognized this to be the case, it would suggest that she adopted the names to allow herself to reveal more of her own feelings than would be usual in funeral poetry.⁹⁶ The names were not necessarily part of the original poems, but may have been added later when Kuntsch began to put the collection together,⁹⁷ and the fact that the poems for her husband often address themselves to Chrisander shows that she used the names to draw a closer family connection between the poetess ‘Sylvie’ and the subjects of her poems. The subtitle ‘Der Schäferin SYLVJen Einsamer Zeit=Vertreib Jn Poetischen Wäldern und Feldern’ alludes to the tradition of the ‘Poetische Wälder’ (sylvae), discussed in Chapter 2. Carrdus sees this as a pre-emptive strike; by allying her name with the genre of occasional poetry, Kuntsch is insisting that her writing is not inappropriate for a woman because these are poems that can be written quickly and in her spare time. At the same time, it is a nod to poetic tradition ⁹³ ‘Sie sprach, Wenn hab ich einen Son gebeten von meinem Herrn? Sagt ich nicht, du solltest mich nicht teusschen?’ (2 Kings 4: 28, WA Bibel, IX. 2, 15) ⁹⁴ WA Bibel, X. 1, 39. ⁹⁵ Sperberg-McQueen, The German Poetry of Paul Fleming, p. 79. ⁹⁶ Carrdus suggests that Kuntsch’s use of these pastoral names embodies her ‘Wunsch nach persönlicher Zurückgezogenheit’ (Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 46). ⁹⁷ The original publication for Dorothea Friderica does not mention the girl’s pastoral name (Fritalea).


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within Altenburg and beyond, a means of claiming a modest corner within the republic of letters.⁹⁸ Kuntsch’s poems stand out because of the personal anguish which they express. But how do they compare with other epicedia in their use of the typical tripartite structure? Kuntsch claims that she has written the poems as a memorial to her children: ‘Sie balsamt sie mit Myrrh= und Thränen-Saltze ein/ | Daß ihr Gedächtniß mög stets unverweßlich seyn’,⁹⁹ but in line with other funeral verse for children, the laudatory element is either greatly reduced or absent. The one poem where it could be said to play a large part is for Christoph Friedrich (Fillidor). This catalogues what she has lost in her little boy, apparently a model of 7-year-old virtue, but his qualities are evoked primarily to increase the pathos of the ensuing lament.¹⁰⁰ We might argue that the seasons poem, discussed in Chapter 5, is commemorative, since it records the deaths of all of Kuntsch’s children, but all that is noted is the dates of their deaths. The emphasis here is not so much on the children and their lives, as on the inordinate sufferings of their mother.¹⁰¹ On closer inspection, then, this poem has much in common with Kuntsch’s other poems, where many lines are given over to lamentation. In her long poem on Dorothea Friderica’s death, Kuntsch sees herself as marked out for particular sorrow: Euch frag ich nun/ die ihr hie um mich stehet/ Und meinen überhäufften Jammer sehet/ Sagt/ meine Freunde sagt/ was düncket euch? Man stöß’t zum eilfften mahl in meine Wunden Ein scharff Gewehr/ wer hat daß ie empfunden/ Ist auch ein Schmertzen/ welcher meinem gleich?¹⁰² ⁹⁸ Carrdus cites works published in Altenburg with similarly pastoral titles, which she contends may have influenced Kuntsch’s collection (Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 46). ⁹⁹ Epigraph to the second book; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 114. ¹⁰⁰ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. III: ‘Als der dritt geborhne allerliebste Sohn/ der Hoffnungsvolle Fillidor, oder C.F.K. den 8. Junii 1685. seines Alters 7. Jahr 10. Monat. 3. Wochen seinem Schwestergen durch einen unverhofften Tod nach folgete’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 116. The ‘Schwestergen’ is Johanna Blandine, who died on 12 May. ¹⁰¹ Poem for Christian Gottlieb (Celadon), Gedichte, II. XIV; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 130–2. ¹⁰² Kuntsch, ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz’ (revised version in Gedichte, II. IX), lines 25–30; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 127. Carrdus discusses the poem in ‘Consolation Arguments’, p. 148.

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She echoes Israel’s lament: ‘Euch sage ich allen, die jr fur vber gehet, Schawet doch vnd sehet, Ob irgend ein schmertzen sey, wie mein schmertzen, der mich troffen hat, Denn der HERR hat mich vol jamers gemacht, am tage seines grimmigen zorns’,¹⁰³ and as this passage has often been read Christologically, she may here be drawing a connection with her suffering Saviour, an association strengthened by reference to the sharp weapon which is plunged into her wounds.¹⁰⁴ Elsewhere she certainly identifies herself as a woman of sorrows, acquainted with grief: ICh bin zum Unglück nur gebohren Und seh’ daran kein Ende nicht/ Der Himmel hat mich außerkohren Zum Ziel dahin er Pfeile richt/¹⁰⁵

In this poem, the second of two entitled ‘Klage und Trost bey hartem Verhängniß’, she characterizes herself as someone destined to sit amongst the thorns and to burn in the sun of affliction whilst those around her find shade and solace. Her sufferings hold her captive,¹⁰⁶ and in ‘Sie hat eine sehnliche Begierde zu sterben’ she complains bitterly that even the peace of the grave eludes her: ‘DEr Tod hat Schatten=Art/ flieht den/ der nach ihm läufft/ | Ach wieder meinen Wunsch muß ich noch länger leben’.¹⁰⁷ Children were regarded as a gift of God in marriage. But for Kuntsch this very gift becomes a curse. In 1686 she bore and lost two children within ten months, and in 1690 she rails against her own fertility, asking bitterly: Was nutzt die Fruchtbarkeit die mir verliehen/ Was bleibt mir doch von allen meinen Mühen/ Von zwölffen seh ich noch ein einig Kind.¹⁰⁸

From the poems it is clear that Kuntsch struggled not only with the natural sorrow of losing a beloved child, but also with the ¹⁰³ Lamentations 1: 12, WA Bibel, XI. 1, 377. ¹⁰⁴ I am grateful to Oxford University Press’s reader for drawing my attention to this interpretation. ¹⁰⁵ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I.X, lines 1–4; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 88. ¹⁰⁶ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. X, lines 9–12; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 88. ¹⁰⁷ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. VII, lines 1–2; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 83. ¹⁰⁸ Kuntsch, ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz’ (revised version in Gedichte, II. IX), lines 34–6; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 127.


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ensuing spiritual blows to her faith. In fact, in the account of her life, she names this spiritual element as the greater part of her sufferings: Dieses sind also diejenigen Creutz=Proben/ die ich ausgestanden/ und der Welt am meisten in die Augen geleuchtet; die andern heimlichen Unfälle/ Anfechtungen und Bekränckungen meiner Seele sind vielleicht nicht geringer sondern weit weit grösser gewesen/ bleiben aber allein zwischen GOtt und mir;¹⁰⁹

She writes several times of being ‘ver-’ and ‘zernichtet’, the progression to the more intensive prefix mirroring her accumulated grief and spiritual struggles, and, as Hedstrom has noted, she often uses storm imagery to express God’s harsh and frequent afflictions.¹¹⁰ Such ich das Mittel/ das ein ieder Bey grösten Unglück braucht/ hervor/ Werff vor des Höchsten Thron mich nieder/ Und fleh’ zu seinem heilgen Chor/ Ziehn Donner=Wolcken doch zusammen/ Und statt der Hülff/ die ich verlangt/ Seh’ ich ein Wetter voller Flammen/ Das über meinen Häupten hangt.¹¹¹

The imagery is developed, of course, to greatest effect in the poem on Christian Gottlieb’s death, detailing how her children have been ¹⁰⁹ Kuntsch, ‘Curriculum Vitæ’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 319, lines 226–30. ¹¹⁰ Hedstrom, thesis, p. 88. Kuntsch also uses the imagery of ‘Creutz=Stürme’ at several points in her biographical account, for example where she reports that she suspected that her happiness at the birth of Gottfried Wilhelm in 1690 would be shortlived: ‘Allein weil ich nach meinem Vermuthen/ (O eine allzu wahre Vermuthung) bestimmet noch länger zu leyden/ must ich gegen meinen Wunsch und Hoffen zu ferneren Leben genesen/ wiewohl meine Gesundheit den Stoß/ den sie bey dieser Niederlage empfangen/ niemahls verwinden wird/ alle die Meinen freueten sich meines Wiederaufkommens/ und des neugebohrnen/ und dem äusserlichen Ansehen nach gesunden Söhnleins/ mir aber kam es allezeit vor als ein kurtzer Sonnenblick/ bey unbeständigen stürmischen Wetter/ und weil ich wohl gewohnet/ nur unglücklich zu seyn/ konte ich mir die Hoffnung gantz nicht machen/ daß sein geseegnetes Wachsthum der Lohn für meine Schmertzen seyn würde/ und fürchtete immer das ärgste. Der Ausgang wiese auch/ daß meine Furcht besser als der andern gute Hoffnung gegründet gewesen/ […]’, ‘Curriculum Vitæ’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 318, lines 187–200. ¹¹¹ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. X, lines 65–72; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 90.

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struck down one by one by unseasonal blows which wreak havoc on the natural order.¹¹² The sonnet for Heinrich Ehrenfried, her third-born son, is entirely lamentation. This is unusual for a funeral poem set as a sonnet, where the sestet usually brings the consolation, offering a fresh perspective on the complaint of the octet. Here Kuntsch works with a different pattern which nonetheless exploits the expressive possibilities of the sonnet form: the second quatrain describes her hopes for her son, whilst the sestet shows how these have been dashed. The possible consoling element, that the baby only had three days to live before exchanging his cot for the heavenly dwellings, is not developed, and the emphasis is not on this happy exchange, but on the brevity of his earthly life and its effect on his grieving mother: DU werther Heinrich du/ Ach mein gewünschter Sohn/ Du holder Ehrenfried/ Ach meiner Hoffnung Spitze Liegt jetzt mit dir im Staub/ wie bittre Wunden=Ritze Schlägt mir dein früher Tod? Dein erster Blick gab schon/ Für die Geburths=Angst mir recht Zucker=süssen Lohn/ Die Hoffnung schmeichelte in der Gedancken Sitze/ Du würdst mir künfftig seyn/ was sonst der liebste Fritze/ Der mittlern Jahre Lust/ des Alters Stab und Cron. Ach! aber weit gefehlt/ GOtt/ der dich nur gelieh’n/ Heißt dich den dritten Tag schon wieder von uns ziehn/ Und vor des Himmels Zelt vertauschen deine Wiegen/ Mir bleibet nichts als Schmertz der meine Seel durchdringt/ Und den bethränten Wunsch aus Mund und Herzen bringt: Ach solt ich doch mit dir im Sarg und Grabe liegen!¹¹³

Kuntsch depicts the hope which had crept insidiously into her heart, figured by the enjambment spilling over from the first quatrain, and which now lies with her son in the dust. The negative impact of ‘schmeicheln’ to describe this hope is key to understanding Kuntsch’s verse on her children. Again and again she describes hope as deceptive; it raises the spirits only to dash them all the more cruelly. She connects Heinrich Ehrenfried with Christoph Friedrich (Fritz, line 7) because ¹¹² Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. XIV; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 130–2. See the discussion of this poem in Chapters 4 and 5. ¹¹³ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. VIII; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 126.


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he was the son whom Heinrich Ehrenfried was to replace and because Christoph Friedrich, dying at 7, represented the longest period of invested hope which came to nothing. The first poem on the death of Johanna Blandine speaks of ‘eingebildetes Glück’ which shatters like a fragile glass,¹¹⁴ and in I. X she explains that this imagined happiness is actually ‘eine Ursach neuer Pein’.¹¹⁵ The previous poem offers a fatalistic interpretation of her troubles: WIeder wem das blinde Glück sich als Feindin hat verschworen Von dem Anfang seines Lebens/ dem muß alles rückwärts gehn/ Er beginne/ was er will/ vor ihn ist nichts guts erkohren/ Dieß sind Wort/ die einem Heyden/ einem Christen nicht anstehn. Der miß’t seiner Schickung Lauff nicht nach blindes Glückes Wuthe/ Sondern weiß/ daß alles rührt von dem allerhöchsten Gute/ Der die Seinen durch sein Auge leit’t/ und führt mit seiner Hand/ Und sie durch die rauhe Wüste führt in das gelobte Land.¹¹⁶

As a Christian, Kuntsch must reject the thought that her life is determined by a capricious, even malevolent force, and must acknowledge that she is in the hands of a loving Father who leads her along rocky paths to bring her into the promised land of eternal bliss. She struggles to accept the chastisements which God inexplicably inflicts on her, asking in the first poem for Dorothea Friderica for help to place her confidence in ‘was künfftig ist und ewig heist’.¹¹⁷ The progression from lamentation to consolation is demonstrated very clearly in Kuntsch’s poem on the death of her premature daughter Margarethe (Margaris): WIe bist du Seele doch in mir so sehr betrübet/ Was ficht mein Hertze dich vor Angst und Kummer an? Bedenckst du nicht/ daß dich der Höchste hertzlich liebet/ Auch alles/ was er thut/ zum besten wird gethan? Dir komt recht seltzam vor die Art/ die zu regieren Dein GOtt und König stets in seinem Reiche hält/ Da er/ die ihm beliebt/ nur will durch Dornen führen/

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¹¹⁴ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. I, line 26; Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 114. ¹¹⁵ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. X, line 20; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 89. ¹¹⁶ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. IX; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 88. Hedstrom identifies in this poem the rhetorical device of propositio and refutatio (thesis, p. 89). ¹¹⁷ Kuntsch, ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz’ (revised version in Gedichte, II. IX), line 63; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 128.

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Paul Fleming and Margarethe S. von Kuntsch Und läst auf Rosen gehn die Laster=volle Welt. Dich deucht sehr rauh zu seyn/ daß dein so langes Hoffen Ein kurtzer Augenblick in Staub und Asche legt/ Und daß des Höchsten Grimm so offt auf dich getroffen/ Weil man das achte Kind dir schon zu Grabe trägt. Allein/ so muß es seyn/ wir müssen etwas leiden/ Und durch viel Trübsal hin zu jener Crone gehn/ Der Weg ist eng und schmal zum Reich der ewgen Freuden/ Man kan nicht hier und dort in gleichem Glücke stehn. Dieß ist dein Theil vom Creutz das dir GOtt auf geleget/ Der/ was dir werden soll/ eh als du warst/ bedacht/ Wohl dir/ wenn es dein Hertz nur fein gedultig träget/ Und sich hiedurch dem Bild des Heylands ähnlich macht. Es ist ja unser Heil durch Leiden eingegangen Zu seiner Herrlichkeit/ so must du gleichfalls gehn/ Wenn du das Erbe wilt/ daß dir bereit/ empfangen/ Und nicht zurück auf Welt und ihr Vergnügen sehn. Die Welt nimt hier ihr Theil/ dir ists dort auf gehoben/ Und zwar so herrlich/ groß/ so völlig/ und so reich/ Daß was man hier auch mag als was besonders loben/ Nicht dem geringsten Punct von solcher Freude gleich. Es ist hier/ glaub es nur/ ein Schatten und kein Wesen/ Ein Rauch der bald verfleugt/ so bald ein Windgen weht/ Weh dem/ der solchen Dunst/ zu seinem Schatz erlesen/ Und dessen höchster Trost nur in den eiteln steht. Hingegen mehr als wohl/ wohl dem der GOtt vertrauet/ Und nimt/ wie er es schickt/ mit gleichem Muthe an/ Es kömt gewiß die Zeit/ da er vergnüglichst schauet Daß/ was der HErre thut/ sey alles wohl gethan.¹¹⁸

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Using one of her favourite rhetorical devices, rogatio (the asking and answering of questions), Kuntsch expresses the disjunction between her faith and her feelings. Faith tells her that God is a loving father, but how can she reconcile this with her bitter experience of his repeated wrath (line 11)? In the first twelve lines her head pre-empts her heart’s objections and exposes them as ‘Schein’: ‘Dir komt recht seltzam vor die Art/ die zu regieren | Dein GOtt und König stets in seinem Reiche ¹¹⁸ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. VI: ‘Als nach GOttes Willen das sechst gebohrne Töchterlein/ die kleine Margaris, oder M. K. den I. Februarii 1686. noch unvollkommen zur Welt kam/ und bald starb’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 124.


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hält/’, ‘Dich deucht sehr rauh zu seyn/ daß dein so langes Hoffen| Ein kurtzer Augenblick in Staub und Asche legt/’.¹¹⁹ Turning these arguments on ‘Allein’ (line 13), she suggests that in fact her sorrow is all part of God’s plan for her life, laid out before she was born (line 18). She interprets her troubled existence as the narrow, rocky path that leads to heaven,¹²⁰ and is confident that in the life to come she will be recompensed to the degree to which she has suffered: ‘Man kan nicht hier und dort im gleichem Glücke stehn’. For Kuntsch’s Christian faith, suffering is part of the divine plan, not because God is, as he sometimes appears, a capricious tyrant, but so that she can share in Christ’s ‘Creutz’ and grow into Christ’s likeness (lines 17, 20–4). Like Christ, she must accept her cup humbly, secure in the knowledge that she will share his inheritance in heaven. She must plough onwards along the narrow path, not looking back to the world behind her, as Lot’s wife did.¹²¹ Lines 25–32 employ commonplace vanitas images, but Kuntsch’s use of them is not typical. Rather than allowing them to lead into a straightforward contemptus mundi and then to a vision of her daughter’s heavenly joys, she introduces these images to explain her situation to herself. Her treasures (her children) await her in heaven, where one day her faith and her heart will join in acknowledging God’s wondrous, if inscrutable, ways. Consolation arguments occupy more than half of this poem. We do not see the same proportion in later epicedia. As Carrdus observes, these ‘appear not even to seek the traditional composure of consolation, but only to long for full lament’.¹²² The poems for Heinrich Ehrenfried, Gottfried Wilhelm, and the premature Chrisander offer no solace, the epicedium for Dorothea Friderica exposes the ineffectiveness of human consolation, and the final poem for Christian Gottlieb finds hope only in thoughts of death. Kuntsch’s poems, then, stand out from other epicedia because of the extent and intensity of the lamentatio, especially in the later ones. She emphasizes her great sorrows, not least by comparison with other suffering parents, ¹¹⁹ My emphasis. ¹²⁰ ‘Gehet ein durch die enge Pforten, Denn die Pforte ist weit, vnd der weg ist breit, der zur Verdamnis abfüret. Vnd jr sind viel, die drauff wandeln. Vnd die Pforte ist enge, vnd der weg ist schmalh, der zum Leben füret’ (Matthew 7: 13–14, WA Bibel, VI, 37). ¹²¹ Genesis 19: 26. ¹²² Carrdus, ‘Consolation Arguments’, p. 150.

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biblical and classical, male and female. In her first poem on Johanna Blandine she echoes Jephthah’s agonized cry when he learns that he must sacrifice his only daughter: ‘Ach! Kind wie beugst du mich/ wie hast du mich betrübt’,¹²³ and in the following poem she cites the ubiquitous words of David, that she will go to join her children even though they may not return to her.¹²⁴ By working with both biblical and classical examples, Kuntsch demonstrates that she is writing within a poetic tradition which she knows and understands. When 7-year-old Fillidor (Christoph Friedrich) dies in June 1685, she seeks out figures from her list of stock exempla with whom she might compare herself: ‘Ich weiß/ man wird nicht leicht ein solch Exempel wissen/ | Daß eine Mutter je so schmertzlich ward gebeugt’.¹²⁵ At first glance, the Maccabean mother and the early Christian martyr Felicitas seem to suit her purpose admirably, for both were forced to witness the execution of their seven sons.¹²⁶ Like these mothers, Kuntsch has watched seven children die. But for her these two examples of maternal grief do not quite hit the mark. Their suffering was short-lived: each was executed immediately after her sons. Kuntsch, on the other hand, is condemned to live with her sorrow: Die Mütter so ich hab zum Beyspiel angezogen/ Die waren damit noch weit glücklicher als ich/ Weil sie auch alsobald zun Sternen aufgeflogen/ Ich bleib halb tod zurück/ o tieffer Seelen=Stich!¹²⁷

In the poem for the premature Chrisander Kuntsch employs the same device of seeking out a comparison, only to show how inadequately it expresses her pain: ¹²³ Judges 11: 35. Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. I, line 33; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 115. ¹²⁴ ‘Vmb das Kind fastet ich vnd weinet da es lebt. Denn ich gedacht, Wer weis, ob mir der HERR gnedig wird, das das Kind lebendig bleibe. Nu es aber tod ist, was sol ich fasten? Kan ich jn auch widerumb holen? Jch werde wol zu jm fahren, Es kompt aber nicht wider zu mir.’ (2 Samuel 12: 22–3; WA Bibel, IX. 1, 333) Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. II, lines 35–6; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 116. ¹²⁵ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. III, lines 15–16; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 117. ¹²⁶ For the story of the Maccabean mother, see 2 Maccabees 7. For Felicitas, see Gregory the Great, Homiliæ in Evangelia, I, 3, in Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologia cursus completus. […] Series latina […], 221 vols. (Paris: Migne, 1844–65), LXXVI, column 1087A. ¹²⁷ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. III, lines 25–8; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 117.

Paul Fleming and Margarethe S. von Kuntsch ALß dort Timantes Agamemnons Schmertz/ Da Iphigenien man opfern wolte/ Und wie sein Vater Hertz Sich drob gequählet/ bilden solte/ Da zog er einen Flohr/ Desselben Antlitz vor. Und zeigte damit an/ Es könne seinem Pinsel nicht gelingen/ Wie kläglich er gethan/ Recht lebhafft durch die Farben rauß zu bringen. Warum? der Hertzens=Stoß Sey gar zu starck und groß. Was ist ein eintzig mahl/ Man stelle Agamemnon mich entgegen/ Mich/ der des Würgers Stahl Das neunte Kind hat müssen nun erlegen/ Indem worauf mit Lust Ich hofft/ ins Grab gemust. Zwung ein so tapfrer Held/ Ein König der gewohnet zu regieren/ Der damahls wolt ins Feld Ein Kriegs=Heer gegen seine Feinde führen/ Durch sein sonst tapfres Hertz Nicht einen solchen Schmertz? Ja traut der Künstler sich Nicht zu/ da er sonst künstlich war in schilden/ Durch seines Pinsels Strich Der Eltern Schmertz bey Kinder Tod zu bilden/ Daß er vielmehr verdeckt/ Was ihre Seel erschreckt/ Wer giebet mir denn Muth/ Wer will mir meine Feder künstlich schärffen/ Wie jetzo wall’t mein Blut/ Auf dieses Blatt mit Worten zu entwerffen/ Die ich ein Weib nur bin/ Ach! hier erstarrt mein Sinn. Die Hand erzittert mir/ Die Feder will mir ihren Dienst versagen/ Es schüttert das Papier/

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Paul Fleming and Margarethe S. von Kuntsch Und kan die Schmertzens=Worte nicht ertragen/ Drum zeuge stummes Leyd Von meiner Traurigkeit!¹²⁸

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There are two comparisons at work in this poem. The first deals with the magnitude of Kuntsch’s grief. She likens herself to the Greek commander, Agamemnon, who was compelled to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Diana in exchange for fair winds to sail to Troy.¹²⁹ In the third strophe, Kuntsch rejects the comparison she has set up. She has lost nine children to Agamemnon’s one daughter. If this single bereavement was more than the great warrior could bear, how is she, a woman, to endure her losses? But woven through the poem is a second, linked comparison. In around 400 bce Timanthes of Cythnos produced a (now lost) painting of this sacrifice.¹³⁰ In it, he shows Iphigenia being carried to her death by Odysseus and Menelaus, Agamemnon’s brother. The expressions on the faces of these two great warriors reveal their horror and consternation at what is about to happen. But Agamemnon, the victim’s father, is depicted turned away with a veil covering his face.¹³¹ Pliny praises Timanthes for this artistic device in his Natural History. He suggests that Timanthes recognized the impossibility of capturing Agamemnon’s raw paternal grief. Having exhausted his affective repertoire in his depictions of the bystanders, he makes a virtue of necessity and veils Agamemnon, thereby implying more than ¹²⁸ Kuntsch, Gedichte, II. VII: ‘Als gleiches Unglück mit dem fünftgebornen Söhnlein/ dem kleinen Chrisander oder C.K. den 22. November 1686. durch GOttes Verhängniß sich begab’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 125–6. ¹²⁹ The story is told in Aeschylus, The Oresteian Trilogy (Agamemnon) and in Euripides’ tragedy Iphigeneia at Aulis. The parallels with Jephthah’s sacrifice ( Judges 11) are striking. Kuntsch alludes to this story in II. I, line 32. ¹³⁰ A first-century copy of the painting discovered in the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii is now housed at the Museo Archeologico in Naples. See Alfonso de Franciscis, Il Museo Nazionale di Napoli (Cava dei Tirreni, Naples: Di Mauro, 1963), plate XXXV and pp. 72–3. ¹³¹ Timanthes is usually credited with inventing this scenario, but in fact it is described in Euripides’ Aulis tragedy: ‘When King Agamemnon saw the girl entering the grove to be sacrificed, he groaned aloud, and bending his head backward, he wept, holding his garment before his face’ (Euripides, Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Rhesus, tr. David Kovacs, The Loeb Classical Library, 495 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002), lines 1547–50). There is considerable debate amongst scholars about the date and authenticity of the final scene, and it is even possible that the painting preceded (and therefore influenced) these verses. This need not concern us here.


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he can actually show.¹³² Cicero and Quintilian were also impressed by this tactic.¹³³ Both emphasize that Timanthes also demonstrated a pleasing awareness of decorum, for this grief would have been too much for the spectator to bear: there are certain events and emotions which should not be shown or put into words. In the early modern period, the example was a commonplace, used to demonstrate that parental grief is a serious matter.¹³⁴ Christian Gueinz uses it in his speech at Magdalene Carpzov’s funeral in 1647: DAs mit keiner Feder beschrieben/ mit keiner zungen ausgesprochen/ in keinem abris gebildet werden könne/ wie schmertzlich es sey wenn man fromme kinder/ liebe töchter/ übrige eintzige freude verliere/ kan ein iedweder/ den solches unglück betrübet/ gläuben. Der kunstreiche mahler Timanthes hat es durch des vaters Agamemnonis/ da seine Tochter Jphigenia geopffert ward/ verhüllung andeuten wollen: den Priester Calchanta hat ¹³² Pliny the Elder, Natural History, tr. H. Rackham, The Loeb Classical Library, 10 vols. (London: Heinemann, 1947–52), XXXV. 36. 73–4. ¹³³ Cicero, Brutus, tr. G. L. Hendrickson, and Orator, tr. H. M. Hubbell, The Loeb Classical Library, 342, rev. edn. (Cambridge, Mass.; Harvard University Press; London: Heinemann, 1962; repr. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997): Orator, xxii.74; Quintilian, Institutio oratoria [The Orator’s Education], ed. and tr. Donald A. Russell, The Loeb Classical Library, 124–7 and 494, 5 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001), II. xiii. 13. ¹³⁴ In his study ‘ ‘‘Intellegitur plus semper quam pingitur’’: The Renaissance Heritage of Timanthes’ Veil’, D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 2002, Paolo Alei states that ‘while [the painting of ] the tragedy of Iphigenia was rarely replicated, its emotional effect, epitomised by the veiled father, became a subject of sophisticated rhetorical discussions and pictorial representations’ (p. 95), with veiled figures abounding in religious art. It is unlikely that early modern German writers would have seen versions of the Timanthes paiting; rather, the work became a commonplace in rhetorical treatises, mediated through Pliny and Quintilian (see nn. 132–3 above). By the time Kuntsch wrote her poem, the example was used in sermons, consolation books, and funeral speeches to illustrate both the enormity of parental grief and the problems of giving it adequate expression. Wolfgang Amling recounts it in his funeral sermon for Amalia Juliana, Princess of Anhalt-Bernburg (1597–1605), LP Stolberg 5444, fo. Cijr ; Johannes Olearius, who cites the example in his consolation book Beständiger Trost Wider die schrecklichen Hiobs=Posten/ […] (Leipzig: Johann Wittigau, 1668), p. 107, had already used it in his funeral sermon for Catharina (1655–63), Elisabeth (1660–3), and Dorothea (1662–3), Princesses of Saxony-Weissenfels, LP Stolberg 19542–4 (fo. Aijv ), and Carl Adam Seiffart uses it to open his funeral oration for Dorothea Juliane Mitius (1674–7), LP Stolberg 16376, fo. A2r . Michel de Montaigne rehearses the story in his essay on sorrow (‘De la tristesse’ in Les Essais, 5 vols. in 3 (Hildesheim: Olms, 1981), p. 10. This is based on Fortunat Strowski’s edition (Bordeaux: Pech, 1906).

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er betrübt/ den freund Ulyssen traurig/ den verwandten Ajacen weinend/ den bruder Menelaum klagend/ abgebildet: aber des vaters angesicht gantz verhüllet/ dargestellet. Das was obgedacht/ andeutend.¹³⁵

Kuntsch brings Timanthes and his painting into her poem for several reasons. It allows her to express the magnitude of her grief by alluding to a commonplace that others would understand. At the same time, she shows her familiarity with rhetoric by applying aposiopesis in the final strophe: like Timanthes’ brush, she allows her pen to fall silent in the face of a horror which lies beyond human expression—and thus expresses it all the more poignantly. In this comparison she can be both parent (Agamemnon) and poet ( Timanthes). Cornelia Niekus Moore describes this poem as a very personal expression of grief despite the classical comparison.¹³⁶ In fact, this is perhaps the least personal of Kuntsch’s poems for her children. That is not to say that it is not affectively charged. On the contrary, the device allows Kuntsch to point to the very enormity of her sorrow: it is so great that it cannot be captured in words. But it is greater testament to Kuntsch’s poetic skill than to her premature son. We seem to have moved a long way from Fleming’s expression of confidence in his own poetic and consolatory abilities. But in fact Kuntsch’s very assertion of her inability to give her grief words shows her rhetorical skill, her ability to play the allusion games of male poets from behind the veil of assumed female incompetence and to exploit adeptly the affective possibilities within her poems.¹³⁷ Kuntsch compares herself with a number of biblical and classical parents, but the most sustained comparison is undoubtedly with Job, whose name is synonymous with unparalleled suffering and endurance. Between 1687 and 1688 she seems to have felt this kinship particularly keenly, which resulted in a series of poems based on ¹³⁵ From the funeral booklet for Magdalene Carpzov (1631–47), LP Stolberg 7036, fo.)(ijr . ¹³⁶ Niekus Moore, ‘Gelegenheitspoesie von Frauen in den Niederlanden und Deutschland im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert’, in Lothar Jordan (ed.), Niederländische Lyrik und ihre deutsche Rezeption in der Frühen Neuzeit, Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 99 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2003), pp. 109–26 (113): ‘Das Gedicht auf das neunte Kind enthält die klassischen Vergleiche, die die Tradition diktiert, ansonsten ist es ein ganz persönlicher Ausdruck.’ ¹³⁷ For further discussion of this poem, see Carrdus, ‘Consolation Arguments’, pp. 150–1.


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extracts from the book of Job which she considered applicable to her particular situation.¹³⁸ By 1688 she had lost ten children, just like Job, and she wishes, with him: O wär ich wie in vor’gen Zeiten/ In Tagen da der Schutz des Höchsten ob mir hielt’/ Und meiner Kinder Zahl vergnüglich um mich spielt’/ Sein Licht must’ mich im finstern leiten/¹³⁹

She thinks herself into the role of Job, using the kind of meditation that Harsdörffer and Rist had recommended.¹⁴⁰ She chooses passages that display a longing for death and a wish that she had never been born ( Job 3: 11–26), or which emphasize the extent of her anguish.¹⁴¹ They show how she is tossed between hope and despair. She follows the order of the biblical narrative until line 155, but at the point where the consolation begins, she returns to the great promise of chapter 19: Was mich erqvickt in allen Schmertzen/ Ist daß mein Zeuge/ der in Himmels Höhen schweb’t/ Und der mich durch sein Blut erlöset/ ewig leb’t/ Der Trost kommt nicht aus meinem Hertzen/ Weil er leb’t werd auch ich einst auferweck’t/ Umgeben mit der Haut/ in diesem Fleische prangen/ Das nicht mehr wird voll Mängel hangen/ Nein! unverweßlich/ starck/ schön/ gläntzend/ unbefleckt/ Und Engelgleich werd ich vor GOttes Throne stehn/ Ja selbst sein Antlitz sehn/ Mein Auge wird ihn schaun/ mein Arm wird ihn umfangen.¹⁴² ¹³⁸ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. VIII: ‘Ein Auszug aus etlichen Capiteln des Buchs Hiob/ bey einer langwierigen und schmertzlichen Unpäßlichkeit 1687. und 1688. aufgesetzt’; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 83–8. ¹³⁹ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. VIII, lines 144–7; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 87. This is based on Job 29: 2, 3, and 5: ‘O das ich were wie in den vorigen monden, in den tagen da mich Gott behütet. Da seine Leuchte vber meinem heubt schein, vnd ich bey seinem Liecht im finsternis gieng. […] Da der Allmechtige noch mit mir war, vnd meine Kinder vmb mich her’ (WA Bibel, X. 1, 61). ¹⁴⁰ Hedstrom, thesis, p. 119. ¹⁴¹ ‘HJob antwortet, vnd sprach, Wenn man meinen jamer wöge, vnd mein Leiden zusammen in eine Wage legte. So würde es schwerer sein, denn sand am meer, Darumb ists vmb sonst, was ich rede’ (Job 6: 1–3, WA Bibel, X. 1, 19). ¹⁴² Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. VIII, lines 155–65; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 87–8. ‘Aber ich weis das mein Erlöser lebet, vnd er wird mich hernach aus der Erden auffwecken. Vnd werde darnach mit dieser meiner haut vmbgeben werden, vnd werde

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This cycle shows the same progression from complaint to (in many cases reluctant) acceptance that we see so often in Kuntsch’s poems. Here she concludes with a commentary on what she has read and written, her belief in the resurrection of the body and restitution in heaven. O Trost der alles überwäget Was mir allhier vor Leid und Pein wird angethan/ Es komme nun Verlust/ Creutz/ Kranckheit/ Tod/ heran/ Wenn ewigs Wohl man gegen leget/ Wird durch des Geistes Krafft voll Muth der Muth/ Daß auch nicht Schwerdt noch Strang/ Pfahl/ Wasser/ Rad/ noch Flammen/ Mich von GOtt trennen all zusammen/ Nim hin zu deiner Ehr die leichte Hand voll Blut/ Nim alles hin/ nur laß mir deine Gnad und Huld/ Die decke meine Schuld/ Sprichst du gerecht O HErr/ wer ist der kan verdammen?¹⁴³

The unmarried Fleming wrote epicedia for friends and acquaintances, but Kuntsch’s verse stems from the bitter experience of losing her own children, whom she had carried in hope and borne with pain. This distinction is clear in the tone of the verse. Fleming’s intense grief at the loss of his friend Georg Gloger shows that he could express deep feeling when personally affected, but his poems on the death of children are very rational, almost without emotion. As Kuntsch identifies with Job, perhaps Fleming might be cast as one of Job’s cold comforters. His arguments are doctrinally and rhetorically orthodox, but for a modern reader they lack empathy. Kuntsch’s poems, on the other hand, seem to be cries of a woman whose heart and faith are tested almost beyond endurance. They appear to plumb depths of emotion that we have seen in few of the epicedia in this study, but ultimately they, like the other more conventional poems, find consolation in the promises of heavenly reunion. This is, after all, the in meinem fleisch Gott sehen. Den selben werde ich mir sehen, vnd meine augen werden jn schawen, vnd kein frembder’ (Job 19: 25, WA Bibel, X. 1, 45). ¹⁴³ Kuntsch, Gedichte, I. VIII, lines 166–76; in Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 88. Here Kuntsch recalls the promises of Romans 8: 34–5 to sustain her in her hope.


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last thought in the poem which records all her losses: ‘Mein Licht/ mein Hort/ mein Trost/ GOTT bring mich bald zu euch!’¹⁴⁴ ¹⁴⁴ II. VII. Carrdus observes that ‘[a]lthough [Kuntsch] loses hope of consolation on earth, she never loses faith in the final consolations of eternity’ (‘Consolation Arguments’, p. 149). Note the tricolon in the final line, which concludes with the thought of consolation.

Conclusion When 9-year-old Dorothea Friderica Kuntsch died in January 1690, her mother was, by her own testimony, devastated. Obwohl ich nun wohl vermeinte/ es solte nach einer solchen überhäufften Creutzes=Last mich mein GOtt dieses bittern Kelches einmahl überheben und es lassen genug sein/ so muste doch/ um mir mein Leben vollends zu verbittern/ die noch eintzige Ergötzung meiner müheseeligen Tage/ meine Liebste Dorothea Friderica mir vollend entzogen werden.¹

In her poem ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz’ Kuntsch claims that earthly pleasure has died with her daughter: ‘Mein süsses Licht verkreucht sich in die Erden/ | Dahin es mein Vergnügen mit sich nimmt’.² She has begged Heaven for mercy, but the ‘Demant=festen Schlüsse’ which have ordained her for such extraordinary suffering will not be deflected. Like Job, with whom she so readily identifies, she accepts the doctrinal orthodoxy of her friends’ attempts at consolation whilst highlighting its impotence in the face of her losses. Bemüht/ euch nicht mir Tröstung zuzusprechen/ Kein Wunder wär es möcht das Band zerbrechen Daß meinen Leib mit seiner Seel’ verbind/ Was nutzt die Fruchtbarkeit die mir verliehen/ Was bleibt mir doch von allen meinen Mühen/ ¹ Kuntsch, ‘Curriculum Vitæ’; in Anna Carrdus, (ed., introd., and comm.), Das

»weiblich Werck« in der Residenzstadt Altenburg (1672–1720): Gedichte und Briefe von

Margaretha Susanna von Kuntsch und Frauen aus ihrem Umkreis (Hildesheim: Olms, 2004), p. 318, lines 167–72. ² Kuntsch, ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz’ (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), lines 23–4; cited from Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 127.

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Von zwölffen seh ich noch ein einig Kind. Jhr habt zwar recht/ ich preise eure Güte/ Jhr führet solche Ding mir zu Gemüthe/ Die ich bey vor’gen Fällen längst bedacht/ Wo aber auch das Creutz so gar ohn Ende/ Läst wol der Stärckste sincken seine Hände/ Und die Gedult wird selbsten müd gemacht.³

For Kuntsch the very consolatory tropes with which she has comforted herself in the past are now a source of new pain, and the poem ends on a rather discordant note: that ‘GOttes Rathschluß mich auff dieser Erden | Nur unglückhafft zu seyn vorlängst bestimmt!’ Kuntsch’s poems on the deaths of her children stand out from so many of the epicedia in this study. The lamentatio is much more prominent, especially in the later poems: again and again, Kuntsch emphasizes the extraordinary extent of her sufferings and the continual assaults on her faith and her peace of mind. But how close do we really come to Kuntsch’s actual feelings? What we find, on closer, inspection, are not the raw emotional outpourings of an individual, but those experiences and emotions made public, mediated, and shaped by the form and genre conventions of the epicedium. Kuntsch knew these conventions and was adept at employing them. Even the autobiographical prose account of her life makes use of affective rhetorical figures and established metaphors (the bitter chalice, the storms of sorrow). In his study of Johannes von Tepl’s prose dialogue between death and a ploughman, apparently motivated by the loss of the fifteenthcentury author’s wife, Christian Kiening considers how readers should respond to personal literary expressions of grief voiced within a rhetorical tradition: Das Sprechen von der eigenen Trauer ist […] von demjenigen, das der Trauer anderer oder der Trauer als solcher gilt, nicht zuletzt in seiner Affektdimensionen geschieden, bleibt aber an das System geschriebener oder ungeschriebener Konventionen gebunden. Auch dort, wo sich ein traurendes Ich artikuliert und von einem lebensweltlichen Ereignis die Rede ist, wird ³ ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz’, lines 31–42.

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nicht einfach der reine Affekt greifbar, wohl aber vielleicht die Differenz zu den Vorgaben generalisierter sozialer Praxis.⁴

The lamenting ‘Ich’ in Kuntsch’s poems is more than a lyrical ‘Ich’, a poetic ego. But although her verse relates traumatic personal experiences, it works within the same framework—both literary and social—as other late seventeenth-century funeral poems, and, like these, it reflects the intellectual and doctrinal environment in which it was written. Kuntsch is not only a mother writing about her own losses; she is also writing at a time when Pietism was encouraging emotional introspection. In the same way, the apparently cold comfort of Paul Fleming’s poems owes as much to the influence of neo-Stoicism as to his status as an unmarried man writing for acquaintances. It is not possible to reconstruct from early modern epicedia the actual emotions of bereaved individuals. In an article which asks whether grief is universal, the sociologist Lyn Lofland offers a distinction between grief and mourning which is helpful for our discussion. Grief is a private emotional response to bereavement, and mourning is the public expression of that grief, conditioned by social expectations and conventions, whether explicit or implicit, externally imposed or internalized by the individual.⁵ Even if we were to consider diary entries rather than poems, carefully constructed literary works with their own rhetorical and structural rules, we should encounter this problem, since the very language through which individuals might articulate to themselves their experiences of loss is socially determined.⁶ ⁴ Christian Kiening, Schwierige Modernität: Der ›Ackermann‹ des Johannes von Tepl und die Ambiguität des historischen Wandels, Münchener Texte und Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters, 113 ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1998), p. 404. ⁵ Lyn Lofland, ‘The Social Shaping of Emotion: The Case of Grief ’, Symbolic Interaction, 8 (1985), 171–90; cited in Jenny Hockey, ‘Changing Death Rituals’, in Jenny Hockey, Jeanne Katz, and Neil Small (eds.), Grief, Mourning and Death Ritual (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001), pp. 185–211 (198–9). This argument echoes Émile Durkheim’s conclusions about mourning rites in his work on aboriginal tribes: ‘Mourning is not the spontaneous expression of individual emotions. [… I]t is not a natural movement of private feelings wounded by a cruel loss; it is a duty imposed by the group’ (The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life: A Study in Religious Sociology, tr. from the French by Joseph Ward Swain (London: Allen & Unwin; New York: Macmillan, 1915), p. 397). ⁶ ‘We shall never reach the real, substantive roots of any given single utterance if we look for them within the confines of the single, individual organism, even when

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What can we learn, then, from a study of early modern Lutheran funeral poetry for bereaved parents? We learn that occasional poetry, so long an object of contempt amongst literary historians, is a rich and fascinating source, not only bringing to light long-forgotten poets, but, more importantly, revealing how a particular society, informed by particular theological and poetological views, at a particular point in history responded through poetry to a universal event. The number of poems written and published when a child died belies the suggestion that pre-Enlightenment society was indifferent to infant mortality. If, as Lakoff and Johnson suggest, ‘the most fundamental values in a culture [are] coherent with the metaphorical structure of the most fundamental concepts in the culture’,⁷ the prevalence of the wound metaphor suggests that contemporaries considered the loss of a child a disruptive and devastating event. The epicedia also highlight the social construction of mourning: behavioural prescriptions for the bereaved and the recognition that consolation plays an important role in strengthening community ties. And they show how the (relatively) new doctrines concerning death and dying manifest themselves in funeral rites and customs. Like extra-mural burial,⁸ the poems reflect the doctrinal separation of the living and the dead. The bereaved are enjoined to relinquish their loved ones to the merciful care of God and to become functioning members of the community of the living once again. A minor concession is made to the desire to remain in the liminal stage between the living and the dead; mourners are comforted with the promise of reunion in heaven (which is almost that utterance concerns what appears to be the most private and most intimate side of a person’s life. Any motivation of one’s behavior, any instance of self-awareness (for self-awareness is always verbal, always a matter of finding some specifically suitable verbal complex) is an act of gauging oneself against some social norm, social evaluation—is, so to speak, the socialization of oneself and one’s behavior.’ From V. N. Voloshinov (Mikhail Bakhtin?), Freudianism: A Critical Sketch, tr. I. R. Titunik and ed. in collaboration with N. H. Bruss (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987); in Pam Morris (ed.), The Bakhtin Reader: Selected Writings of Bakhtin, Medvedev and Voloshinov (London: Arnold, 1994), pp. 38–48 (45). For a brief discussion of the problems in establishing beyond doubt the authorship of this text, see Morris, The Bakhtin Reader, pp. 1–2. ⁷ George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980; repr. 1981), p. 22. ⁸ See Craig M. Koslofsky, The Reformation of the Dead: Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450–1700 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000), pp. 40–77.

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always construed as a continuation of earthly life, despite the insistence on its fundamental otherness), and some are even permitted to hear their children speaking from beyond the grave. However, these ventriloquized children do little more than encourage their parents to moderate their grief, resume their daily lives, and await the promised reunion in the life to come. In his study The Reformation of the Dead, Craig Koslofsky adopts an anthropological paradigm established by Robert Hertz in the early twentieth century. Hertz argued that funeral rituals are structured around three pairs of oppositions: the body/ the soul, the individual/ the community, and the living/ the dead.⁹ In Lutheran funeral poetry the soul takes precedence over the body, the collective triumphs over the individual, and the needs of the living are placed unambiguously above concerns for the dead. ⁹ Robert Hertz, ‘Contribution à une étude sur la représentation collective de la mort’, Année sociologique, 19 (1907), 48–137; tr. Rodney and Claudia Needham as ‘Contribution to the Study of the Collective Presentations of Death’, in Death and the Right Hand, introd. E. E. Evans-Pritchard ([London]: Cohen & West, 1960). The paradigm is based on a study of Indonesia and Borneo. Cited in Koslofsky, The Reformation of the Dead, pp. 6–7, 104–7.

Biographies of poets and authors The following gives biographies, where available, of the authors of epicedia, funeral sermons, and consolation books cited in this study. Johann Æschardt (1574–1643) studied at Leipzig before becoming headmaster of the Gymnasium in his hometown of Halle in 1604. He then worked as a clergyman in Mansfeld. From 1630 he was general superintendent in Eisleben; he held this post when he preached the sermon for Franz Mordian von Kärßenbrock. (LP Stolberg 3665, Eijr –Givv ; LP Kärßenbrock; DBA I 7 408–13; Erler, I, 11b) Georg Aland (1630–94) followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a judge in his native town, Jüterbog. He studied at Wittenberg and then at Leipzig, where he presumably made the acquaintance of Rosina Richter’s family. (LP Stolberg 3926, fos. D4r –Fv ; LP Richter, fos. Eijr –E4r ; Früh et al. no. 26, I, 15; Weissenborn, I, 424a.55 and 469b.101; Erler, II, 3b) Valentin Alberti (1635–97) was the son of a Silesian pastor from Lähn, who came to Leipzig to study in the 1650s and remained in the city for the rest of his life. He held various school and university posts in philosophy and theology, and was a staunch defender of Lutheran orthodoxy. When he wrote a poem for the parents of Susanna Engelmann in 1664, he was professor of logic and metaphysics, and by the time he wrote the Invitatio ad exequias for the funeral of Johanna Maria Zittemann in 1680, he had become rector of the university. (LP Stolberg 3929, fos. K2r –L2r ; LP Engelmann, fo. F4r ; LP Zittemann, fo. Jv ; Früh et al. no. 38, I, 21–3; DBA I 12 232–51 and II 16 457–60; Erler, II, 4a) Wolfgang Amling (Evodius Theodulus) (1542–1606), who came from Münnerstadt in Franconia and studied at the universities of Jena, Tübingen, and Wittenberg, was headmaster of the St Bartholomei school and superintendent in Zerbst. In 1605 he preached the funeral sermon for Amalia Juliana, Princess of Anhalt-Bernburg. (DBA I 20 249–61, I 298 366, I 1422 324–33, and II 27 293–8; ADB I 399–400)

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Biographies of poets and authors

Andreas Anger was a pastor at Langenreichenbach (near Torgau) when he wrote his epicedium for Elisabeth Pfeffer in 1632. He came from Thum in Bohemia and had studied at Leipzig in the 1620s. (LP Pfeffer, fos. Hiijv –H4r ; Erler, I, 8a) Samuel Apol was a chaplain, possibly in Theusing (today Touˇzim), when he wrote an epicedium for Dorothea Stetana in 1612. (LP Stetana, fos. Ciijv –C4v ) Friedrich Balduin (1575–1627) was a tanner’s son who studied at Wittenberg and Leipzig, and held church posts in Freiberg and Oelsnitz, before returning to Wittenberg in 1604 as professor of theology. In 1599 he was crowned a poet laureate, and in 1607 became superintendent in Wittenberg, a post which he held when he preached the funeral sermon for Christian and Magdalena Blume. (Früh et al. no. 228, I, 146–9; LP Blume; Wetzel, I, 92–4; DBA I 51 337–51; ADB II 16–17; Hartwig, p. 404b.38; Erler, I, 14b; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 113–17) Gottlieb Becker came from Stolpen in Saxony. He studied philosophy and medicine at Wittenberg from 1671, and came into contact with the father of Maria Elisabeth Schneider, who was professor of medicine. Becker submitted his dissertation and defended it before Elisabeth’s father two months after her death. (LP Schneider, fos. M4v –Nv ; FLB Gotha Diss. 8◦ 00058 (14); Juntke, Album, p. 14b) Johann Nicolaus Bencker (1626–71) was related to the Olearius dynasty through his mother Anna (whose father was Johann Olearius the Elder). He studied at Leipzig and Wittenberg before he was summoned to a preaching post at St Marien in his hometown, Halle. He became pastor of St Moritz, Halle (early) in 1658, around the time that he wrote a poem on the death of his relative August Olearius († 1657). (LP Stolberg 4435, fos. D4r –Eiijv ; LP Olearius, 1657 (Stolberg 17398), fo. Av ; Früh et al. no. 362, I, 231–2; Erler, II, 23b; Weissenborn, I, 461a.141) Gottfried Benig (1642–66) was a law student in his native city of Leipzig when he wrote an epicedium for Anna Maria Muller. ¨ He had already studied at Wittenberg. (LP Stolberg 4451, fos. Ciijr –Diijr ; Früh et al. no. 370, I, 237–8; LP Müller, fos. F4r –Gr ; Weissenborn, I, 592b.21) Adam Bernd (1676–1748) was a native of Breslau who studied in Leipzig and worked there as preacher and catechist at St Peter’s from 1711, where he delivered his sermon Nöthige Vorbereitung eines Christen Auff den Tod (1720). He was suspended from his post in 1728 on suspicion of cryptoCatholicism. He also wrote under the pseudonym Melodius. (DBA I 89: 204–07, 1424 349–54; ADB II 411)


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Christian Beuchen (Beiche) was a deacon at Dahme when he preached a sermon for Johanna Eleonore and Christian Wilhelm Lehmann in 1700. (LP Lehmann, fos. Gr –J2v ) Paul Bose (1630–94), a native of Leipzig, was educated partially by the theologian Martin Geier (q.v.), to whom he was related on his mother’s side. He studied at Leipzig, Altdorf, Wittenberg, and Jena, and developed an interest in writing poems and hymns. From 1662 to 1666 he held the position of junior preacher at one of the Leipzig churches; during this period he wrote his epicedium for Theodora Sabine Koch. He later worked in Dresden, finally as archdeacon. (LP Stolberg 4123, pp. 47–65; Früh et al. no. 611, I, 376–7; LP Koch, pp. [22a–b]; DBA I 129 329–31; Wetzel, IV, 49–50; Erler, II, 42b; Weissenborn, I, 541a.98; Jauernig, p. 75b) Bernhard Heinrich Brillwitz was at school in Halle with Georg Leopold von Eisenreich. (LP Eisenreich, fos. av –a2r ) Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680–1747), father of Catharina Margarethe and Johann Bernhard, was a poet laureate and author of the multi-volume Jrdisches Vergnügen in GOTT (1721–48). He was born in Hamburg and studied at Halle and Leiden. He returned to Hamburg and, together with Johann Ulrich König (q.v.) and Michael Richey (q.v.), was a founding member of the Teutschübende Gesellschaft, and later the Patriotische Gesellschaft. In 1730 he was crowned a poet laureate and made a count palatine. He served as a city councillor and an ambassador for Hamburg, and was then given a post as praetor in nearby Ritzebüttel. (DBA I 148 2–69, II 180 127–33; ADB III 345–6; Juntke, Halle, p. 52b) Albin Buxbaum preached the funeral sermon for Maria Elisabeth Cundisius in 1639. He was already in his post as deacon of the cathedral church in Merseburg by 1626, and was to remain there until at least 1657. (LP Cundisius, fos. Ciijv –C4v ; RSB Zwickau: 20.10.9 (12) and 49.3.7 (15)) Friedrich Cahlen (1613–63) was born in Bad Lauchstädt and educated in nearby Merseburg and at the University of Jena. He was crowned a poet laureate in 1639. In 1640 he became deputy headmaster of the Gymnasium in Halle, and headmaster in 1652. August Olearius († 1657) was one of his charges. In 1660 Cahlen became headmaster of the Gymnasium in Hof, where he remained until his death. (Früh et al., no. 2863, IV, 1729–30; LP Olearius, 1657 (Stolberg 4922), fos. Ar –A4v ; DBA I 173 371–2; Mentz and Jauernig, p. 41a; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 279–81) Johann Benedikt Carpzov (1639–99) was the son of Johann Benedikt Carpzov the Elder (1607–57), archdeacon of St Thomas’s in Leipzig and

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professor of theology. Johann Benedikt the Younger held university chairs in theology and oriental languages. After holding the posts of deacon and archdeacon at St Thomas’s, he became pastor in 1679 and a professor of theology at the university in 1684. It was in this capacity that he preached the funeral sermon for Martha Sophia Jöcher. He was a forceful opponent of Pietism in Leipzig. Martin Geier (q.v.) was his brother-in-law. (LP Stolberg 2904, pp. 939–50; Früh et al. no. 2936, IV, 1778–81; LP Jöcher; DBA I 180 275–7 and II 217 128–34; ADB IV 21–2; Jauernig, p. 115b; Winkler, Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum, p. 176) Christoph Cerycius was a poet laureate from Pergau (near Borna). He appears to have studied medicine, and in 1631 he wrote an epicedium for Magdalene Avenbeck. Flood suggests that the wide range of dates attributing poems to a person of this name may be explained by the fact that both father and son wrote verse. (LP Avenbeck, fos. Diijr –D4v ; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 312–13) Christian Corpus came from Görlitz and studied at the universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig. When he married in 1700 he was a pastor in Stein and Lauterbach and a member of Leipzig’s Assembly of Preachers. He wrote an epicedium for Christian Gotthelf Tischer in 1708. (LP Tischer, p. 77; VD17 14: 068639G; Juntke, Album, p. 69b; Erler, II, 65c) Georg Cretzschmar came from Treuen (Vogtland). By the time of Anna Maria Muller’s ¨ death in 1662, he had completed his medical studies at Leipzig. (FLB Gotha: Med. 4◦ 00109/03(03); HAB Wolfenbüttel: Xb 2806 (58); LP Müller, fos. Eiijr–v ; Erler, II, 238a) Martin Dieterich († after 1676) was a pastor in Gadegast near Wittenberg when he wrote his epicedium for Anna Margarethe and Maria Elisabeth Schurer ¨ in 1637. He later became deacon in nearby Prettin. (LP Schürer, fos. cijv –c4r ; FLB Gotha: LP F 8◦ III, 00035 (21)) Johannes Dornfeld (1643–1720) was born in Angermünde and came to Leipzig as a student in the 1660s. From 1678 he was assessor of the philosophy faculty, a position he held when he wrote his epicedium for Johanna Maria Zittemann in 1680. He was later appointed superintendent in Leipzig. (LP Stolberg 7772, pp. 30–45; LP Zittemann, fo. J2r ; DBA I 249 245–56; Erler, II, 81a) Johann Caspar Drachstedt (1637–71) was born in Halle and schooled there. Johann Nicolaus Bencker (q.v.) was his brother-in-law. Drachstedt’s 1658 epicedium for Andreas Vollrad Nietner may have been sent from Rostock, where he was at university. He later worked as a tutor to the court in Madgeburg. Johann Gottfried Olearius (q.v.) preached


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at his funeral and Andreas Vollrad’s brother wrote an epicedium. (LP Stolberg 7489, fos. Aiijv –Br ; PS Nietner, fo.)(4r ) Ernst Benjamin Eckardt came from Greußen in Thüringia. A year after he wrote an epicedium for Maria Magdalene Temme in 1713, he matriculated as a law student at Halle. This suggests that he may have known Maria Magdalene’s brother Augustinus Temme (q.v.). (LP Temme, [p. 12]; Juntke, Halle, p. 129b) Martin Eßkuchen studied at Leipzig in the 1620s, and by 1663, when he wrote the figured poem for Catharina, Elisabeth and Dorothea, Princesses of Saxony-Weissenfels, he was pastor at Oppin (near Halle). (LP Sachsen-Weissenfels, [p. 67]; Erler, I, 98a) Johann Albert Fabricius (1668–1736) was a theologian, philologist, prolific author, and friend of Barthold Heinrich Brockes (q.v.), with whom he was a member of the Teutschübende Gesellschaft. Orphaned young, he was placed under the guardianship of Valentin Alberti (q.v.). He studied at Leipzig, but in 1693 he left his hometown for Hamburg, and later became professor of philosophy and rhetoric and then headmaster at the Johanneum. (DBA I 303 287–379; Erler, II, 98b) Joachim Feller (1638–91) was a hymnwriter, poet laureate, and professor of poetry. He was born in Zwickau and educated there and at Leipzig, where he wrote epicedia for Anna Maria Muller ¨ and Theodora Sabine Koch, as well as the funeral oration for Barbara-Catharina Schäffer. He held posts at the St Nikolai school in Leipzig, and then became professor of poetry, licentiate in theology, university librarian, and a member of the Großes Fürstencollegium. He died falling from a window while sleepwalking, having chosen as the text for his funeral sermon ‘Fället er/ so wird er nicht weggeworffen’ (Psalm 37: 24), a pun on his name. (LP Stolberg 9147, fos. E4v –F4v ; Früh et al. no. 1316, II, 789–90; LP Müller, Eijr –Eiijr ; LP Koch, pp. [23a–b]; PS Schäffer, 1664; Wetzel, I, 220–2; DBA I 312 358–69 and II 360 44–5; ADB VI 614–15; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 542–8) August Hermann Francke (1663–1727) was a leading Halle Pietist and professor of oriental languages and theology at the new university. In 1698 he oversaw the foundation of the Halle orphanage at Glaucha. The complex, today known as the Franckesche Stiftungen, included two schools and a printing press. In 1715 Francke became pastor at St Ulrich’s in the centre of Halle. He was Juliana Patientia Schultt’s mentor and preached the sermon for her funeral, as well as for Georg Leopold Eisenreich. (LP Schultt; LP Eisenreich; Wetzel, I, 251–63; Johannsen, pp. 82–4; DBA I 337 365–418 and II 388 1–97; ADB VII 219–31)

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Christian Friedrich Franckenstein (1621–79) came from Leipzig and studied at Wittenberg. He held various school and university posts in Leipzig and Halle. In 1648, when he wrote an epicedium for Caspar Eichholz, he had been assessor of the Leipzig philosophy faculty for four years. (LP Stolberg 9790, pp. 33–8; Früh et al. no. 1586, II, 943–4; PS Eichholz, fo. Aijr ; DBA I 339 1–3; ADB VI 244–5; Weissenborn, I, 413b.74) Johann Frentzel (1609–74) was born in Annaberg and educated at Meissen and Leipzig. He was working as a private tutor in Leipzig when he wrote the epicedium for Veronica Roth in 1643. In 1650 he was crowned a poet laureate, and in 1658 became a member of the Kleines Fürsten-Collegium. In the following year he moved to Magdeburg to take up the post of vicar at the cathedral church, and was later a canon at Zeitz. Several sources mention his peculiar technique for composing poems: rolling around on the floor. He was the father of Michael Hieronymus († 1665) and Johann Abraham († 1671). (LP Stolberg 9049, fos. G2r –H4r ; Früh et al. no. 1615, II, 963–4; PS Roth, fos. Ar –A4v ; Wetzel, I, 295–7; Johannsen, pp. 87–8; DBA I 342 365–75 and II 395 287; Erler, I, 117c; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 597–9) Ahasver Fritsch (1629–1701) was a lawyer and a prolific writer. He came from Mücheln and was educated at the Gymnasium in Halle, the hometown of Heinrich and Jakob Scheffer. A few months after their death in 1650 he moved to the University of Jena. In 1657 he took up a post as tutor to Albrecht Anton, Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. In 1661 he became a privy counsellor and in 1669 was made a count palatine. He was later director of the chancellery, president of the consistory, superintendent of schools, and, from 1681/82, chancellor. He had a great influence on the writings of Aemilie Juliane, Countess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. (LP Stolberg 8846, pp. 22–30; Früh et al. no. 1655, II, 991–2; LP Scheffer, fo. Bijv ; Wetzel, I, 299–303; Johannsen, pp. 89–90; DBA I 352 363–402 and II 409 302–4; ADB VIII, 108–9; Mentz and Jauernig, p. 111a; Flood, Poets Laureate, p. 2415) Christian Frölich, who wrote an epicedium for Johanna Eleonore and Christian Wilhelm Lehmann, may have been born in Augustusburg and matriculated at Wittenberg in 1692. He was working as a cantor in 1700. (LP Lehmann, [p. 2a]; Juntke, Album, p. 123b) Martin Geier (1614–80) studied in his native Leipzig and at Wittenberg. He became professor of theology at Leipzig, archdeacon of St Nikolai and then of St Thomas’s, where he was later pastor, rector of the university, and, from 1661, superintendent. In this capacity he preached the funeral sermons for Maria Maul and Johann Georg von Ponickau. In


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1664/5 he took up the post of chief preacher to the electoral court in Dresden. Johann Benedikt Carpzov the Younger (q.v.) was his brotherin-law. (LP Stolberg 10525, pp. 81–116; Früh et al. no. 1773, II, 1065–8; Wetzel, IV, 152–5; Johannsen, pp. 98–9; DBA I 375 233–42, 389 247–8 and II 433 335; ADB VIII 504–5; Weissenborn, I, 374b.278; Winkler, Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum, p. 175) Benjamin Gerlach (1633–83), who came from Reisen (today Rydzyna) and went to school in Lissa, studied at the universities of Leipzig, Wittenberg, Strasbourg, and Basel, returning to Lissa in 1654. The town was sacked in 1656 and Gerlach lost everything, including his manuscripts. He and his wife stayed with Melchior von Stosch, and in 1658 he preached the funeral sermon for Alexander von Stosch. In the 1650s and 1660s he held posts at churches in Wahlstadt, Herrnstadt, and Winzig, before moving to Schweidnitz in 1667. Here he and Gottfried Hahn (q.v.) were colleagues, and they preached the sermons for the funeral of Barbara Helena von Sommerfeld and Falckenhain. (LP Stolberg 11039, fos. D3v –E4v ; LP Sommerfeld and Falckenhain; DBA I 384 75–103; Weissenborn, I, 500a.483) Sophia Christiana Geyer (1676–89) was the only surviving child in her family, and died at the age of 13. Her family was on friendly terms with Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch’s family. Geyer composed songs which were performed at her funeral and included in the funeral booklet. (LP Stolberg 10763, pp. 31–3; Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 423–4) Gottfried Gräve (1641–1719) was a Leipzig councillor, librarian, and, from 1708, mayor. When he wrote an epicedium for Martha Sophia Jöcher in 1694, he had already lost all four children from his first marriage. (LP Stolberg 10866, pp. 38–50; LP Jöcher, fos.)o(4v –)o(5r ; DBA I 413 247 and II 470 380) Johann Grubelius (Grubel) from Gräfenhainichen (Wittenberg) was one of Gottfried Neuhausen’s fellow students, and matriculated at the university a few months before his friend drowned in the Elbe in 1666. (LP Neuhausen, [p. 9]; Juntke, Album, p. 144a) Christian Gueinz (1592–1650), who came from Kohlau (near Guben) and studied at Wittenberg, was an author, member of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft (‘Der Ordnende’) and renowned headmaster of the Gymnasium in Halle from 1627. He delivered speeches at the funerals of Franz Mordian von Kärßenbrock and Magdalene Carpzov. (LP Stolberg 10691, pp. 27–35; PS Kärßenbrock; LP Carpzov; Wetzel, I, 358–61; DBA I 434 344–53, ADB X 89–91; Weissenborn, I, 174b.392) Gabriel Guttner ¨ (1584–1642), the son of a clergyman of the same name, came from Delitzsch. He studied at Wittenberg, held church

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posts in Oberschlemma and Zschocken and, when his children Gabriel and Rosina died in 1629, was pastor in Lößnitz. (LP Güttner; VD17; Weissenborn, I, 65a.468) Gottfried Hahn (1622–95) was senior pastor at Schweidnitz in Silesia. He and Benjamin Gerlach (q.v.) were colleagues and were responsible for the sermons at the funeral of Barbara Helena von Sommerfeld and Falckenhain in 1672. Eleven years later Hahn preached Gerlach’s funeral sermon. (LP Stolberg 11039; LP Sommerfeld and Falckenhain; DBA I 460 57) Michael Hahn († 1651), headmaster of the Gymnasium in Wittenberg and poet laureate, came from Chemnitz and studied at Wittenberg. Hahn wrote an epicedium for Sophie Elisabeth Ro¨ ber in 1631; twenty years later her father, Paul Ro¨ ber (q.v.), preached the sermon at Hahn’s funeral. (LP Stolberg 2123; Früh et al. no. 2150, III, 1297; LP Röber, fos. K2r –M2r ; Weissenborn, I, 335b.269; Flood, Poets Laureate, p. 756) Georg Ludwig Hamberger († after 1690) came from Gunzenhausen in Franconia. He was educated at Crailsheim and Heilbronn, then at Wittenberg. In 1675 he presented his dissertation before Georg Green, professor of history, and the following year he wrote an epicedium for Green’s daughter Christina Margarethe. In 1678 he became a teacher at the Gymnasium in Ansbach, almost immediately thereafter deputy head and adjunct to the Ministry, and, from 1693, dean in Feuchtwang. (PS Green (c); DBA I 466 214–15; Juntke, Album, p. 150b) Enoch Hanmann (1621–80) was a student at the University of Leipzig when he wrote an epicedium for Catharin-Elisabeth Mossbach in 1648. He later became a licentiate in theology and, in 1653, superintendent in Rochlitz. (Früh et al., no. 2193, III, 1325–6; PS Mossbach, 1648; DBA I 469 368) Andreas Hartmann (1612–82), author of an epicedium for Sophie Elisabeth Meyer, was a poet (pseudonym Hylas) active in the circle of Johann Georg Schoch and Gottfried Finckelthaus. He served as secretary to Moritz, Duke of Saxony-Zeitz. (PS Meyer; DBA I 478 17–18) Johann Heermann (1585–1647) was a Silesian theologian, hymnographer, and poet laureate. The son of poor parents, Heermann lodged with and worked for Valerius Herberger (q.v.). He was educated in Breslau and Brieg, and then took up a post as tutor to a noble family, whose sons he accompanied to the universities of Leipzig, Jena, and Strasbourg. In 1611/12 he was ordained deacon in Köben, and later became pastor. He held this post when he wrote an epicedium for Sophie Elisabeth, daughter


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of Paul Ro¨ ber (q.v.). In the 1630s he retired to Lissa on grounds of ill health. (Heermann, Geistlicher Wieder=Todt, XLII, pp. 672–83; Früh et al. no. 2289, III, 1386–7; LP Röber, fo. Hr ; Wetzel, I, 385–403; Johannsen, pp. 112–14; DBA I 494 50–91 and II 541 415–38; ADB XI 247–9; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 805–18) Johann Christoph Heinigke, who came from Altenburg, was a law student at the University of Jena and the recipient of a stipend from Friedrich Wilhelm III, Duke of Saxony-Altenburg, when he wrote his poem celebrating the accession of Ernst, Duke of Saxony-Gotha in 1672. He later worked for the court in Altenburg in various capacities. (Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Altenburg, Sammlung Leichenpredigten, Sachsen=Altenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm und Magdalena Sibylla (3); Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Altenburg, Sammlung Leichenpredigten, no. 11; Jauernig, p. 374b) Valerius Herberger (1562–1627), a hymnwriter and clergyman in his native Fraustadt, acted as mentor to Johann Heermann (q.v.). He wrote the popular funeral hymn ‘Valet will ich dir geben/ du arge, falsche Welt’, and from 1611 to 1622 published his collection of funeral sermons with the title Geistliche Trauer=Binden. (LP Stolberg 11786, fos. Eijr –Fijr ; Früh et al. no 2424, III, 1464–5; Wetzel, I, 410–13; Johannsen, pp. 117–18; DBA I 516 212–31 and II 563 124–32; ADB XII 28–9; Winkler, Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum, p. 104) Philipp Jakob Heustreu († 1673) came from Merseburg and studied at Jena and Leipzig. At the time of Johann Friedrich Olearius’s death, Heustreu was deacon to the court at Halle, and therefore a junior colleague of the boy’s father, Johannes Olearius (q.v.). He also knew the father of Johann August Bretnutz ¨ from the court; Johann Bretnütz worked as a tutor to the ducal household. Heustreu later became a preacher at Magdeburg cathedral. (LP Olearius, 1659, pp. [4b–5a]; LP Bretnütz, fos. A4v –Br ; Mentz and Jauernig, p. 157a; Erler, I, 187c) Gottfried Hillmann (1637–1718), who wrote an epicedium for August Olearius in 1657, was born in Kamenz (Oberlausitz) and studied at the Gymnasium in Halle and then at the universities of Leipzig, Wittenberg, and Jena. He worked as a private tutor in Merseburg before returning to his hometown, first as a clerk and later as the mayor. (LP Olearius, 1657 (Weimar); DBA I 538 33–6; Erler, II, 185a; Juntke, Album, p. 173a; Jauernig, p. 407b) Johann Christoph Hilscher (1627–77), who came from Leipzig, studied at Wittenberg and then at Leipzig before becoming deacon at Colditz. He wrote an epicedium for his nephew Johann Paul Höpner in 1649. (VD17

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14:014130C; LP Höpner, 1649, fo. Gijr ; Weissenborn, I, 458b.44; Erler, I, 189c) Hans Heinrich Höpner (1629–91), son of the theologian Johann Höpner (and brother to Anna Magdalene), was born in Leipzig and studied at Wittenberg. In 1649 he wrote an epicedium for his cousin Johann Paul Höpner. From 1671 he worked in the Treasury. (VD17; LP Höpner, 1649, fos. Gv –Gijr ; Weissenborn, I, 453b.254) Paul Höpner (1613–72), the father of Johann Paul Höpner, was pastor, licentiate in theology, and, from the 1640s, superintendent in Leisnig. He preached the sermon for Barbara Marie Kaulisch in 1672 and contributed an epicedium to her funeral booklet. (LP Höpner, 1649; LP Kaulisch, fos. Pijr–v ) Georg Hund was an organist in Kohren when he wrote a poem for Magnus Wilhelm, Kurt, and Rudolph August Löser in 1696. (LP Löser, fo. Ddv ) Clemens Hutt was pastor in Merseburg when he wrote his epicedium for Albrecht Bose in 1615. (LP Bose, fos. H4r –Jiijr ) Wilhelm, Count of Isenburg-Budingen ¨ matriculated at the University of Halle in 1717, a couple of months after the death of his friend, Georg Leopold Eisenreich. They had studied together at the school in Glaucha founded by August Hermann Franke (q.v.). (LP Eisenreich, pp. [15–18]; Juntke, Halle, p. 249b) ´ Tobias Keller came from Guhrau (now Gora) in Silesia. He studied at the universities of Leipzig and Jena, and had taken his MA by the time he wrote his epicedium for Andreas Vollrad Nietner in 1658. (PS Nietner, fos.)(iijr –)(4r ; Erler, II, 214a; Jauernig, p. 122b) Johann Joachim Knoche (1646–71) came from Hildesheim and matriculated to read philosophy and theology at Jena. He wrote an epicedium for Johann Conrad Evers in 1669. (VD17 1: 035634 W; LP Evers, fos. Hijr –Hiijr ; Jauernig, p. 149a) Christian Knorr, who wrote an epicedium for Theodora Sabine Koch in 1664, may well be the chemist, alchemist, cabbalist, and poet Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, the son of a pastor who was born in Alt-Rauten, Silesia, in 1636 and studied at Leipzig in the late 1650s and early 1660s. Although Knorr von Rosenroth appears to have left Leipzig by 1664, he may well have sent back his contribution. In 1665 he certainly contributed a Pindaric ode to a collection of epicedia for Andreas Gryphius by Leipzig scholars, attached to the funeral oration by Baltzer Siegmund von Stosch. In this publication and in Koch’s funeral booklet both poems are directly preceded by an epicedium by Bartholomeus Francke. Knorr von Rosenroth left Leipzig to travel to


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France, England, and the Netherlands, and his time in Amsterdam was particularly formative. Here he studied oriental languages and became very interested in Cabbala. In 1668 he was invited to work for Christian August, Duke of Sulzbach, and remained in Sulzbach until his death in 1689. (LP Koch, fos. Er – v ; LP Stolberg 10989, pp. 86–90 (http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/th-1074-4/start.htm); Garber, Breslau, I, 364, no. 0843–361066 [StB Breslau Rhed./St Elisabeth: 4 F 1015,62]; DBA I 673 140–62, I 938 71 and 74, II 725 185–7; ADB XVI 327–8; Erler, II, 63c) Johann Ulrich König (1688–1744) was a poet and librettist from Esslingen who had read theology and law at Stuttgart and Tübingen. He spent ten years in Hamburg, where he co-founded the Teutschübende Gesellschaft in 1715 together with Michael Richey (q.v.) and Barthold Heinrich Brockes (q.v.). He edited the latter’s Kindermord. From 1619 he was in Dresden as court poet, later holding the posts of privy counsellor and master of ceremonies. He was a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and was ennobled in 1740. (DBA I 682 387–407) Justus Jon von Kospoth (1639–72) was a student at the University of Jena when he wrote his epicedium for Martha Justina Alberti in 1658. He later worked for the younger branch of the Reuß family at the court at Schleiz. (LP Stolberg 14387, pp. 73–91; LP Alberti, fos. K4r–v ; Jauernig, p. 166a) Margarethe Elisabeth Kuntsch (1672–1735) was the daughter of Margarethe Susanna (q.v.) and Christoph von Kuntsch, sister to Dorothea Friderica and mother of Christoph Gottlieb Stockmann. In 1692 she married Gottfried Stockmann (q.v.), the son of Ernst Stockmann (q.v.), moved to Gera and bore him twelve children, seven of whom died in infancy or childhood. (Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 409–10) Vitus Langenstätter († 1679), who came from Gleussen, was a town clerk in Leipzig. He had studied at the University of Leipzig in the 1660s. In 1670 he wrote a dialogue poem for the funeral booklet of Hieronymus Kramer. He may well have received financial help or professional advancement from Hieronymus’s father, whom he claims as a patron. (LP Kramer, fos. Aiijv –A4r ; VD17 1: 674895A; Erler, II, 249c) Christian Liechte was a theology student when he wrote his epicedium for Agnes Margarethe von Rauchhaupt in 1669. (LP Rauchhaupt, fos. Fijv –F4r ) Georg Lilien (1596/7–1666) enjoyed the patronage of Anna, Electress of Brandenburg, for whom his widowed mother had worked. His second post was at a parish in Wallsleben, to which he was summoned by Caspar von

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Klitzing. A member of the Klitzing family had supported Lilien during his theological studies, and in 1626 he had written an epicedium for Caspar’s son, Caspar Ludolph von Klitzing, shortly after the death of his own wife and young son. Lilien later became deacon of St Nikolai in Berlin and then court preacher to Anna Sophia, Margravine of Brandenburg, and provost to the Berlin churches. He lost this post in 1665 because of religious controversies in Brandenburg, and, although he was eventually reinstated, died a troubled man. (Früh et al., no. 3736, IV, 2268–70; LP Klitzing, fos. Eiijv –E4v ; Wetzel, II, 71; DBA I 765 263–6 and II 814 89; ADB XVIII 644–5) Georg Linzner was born at Kamenz (Oberlausitz) and read theology at Wittenberg. In 1674 his work MEMENTO MORI was published, and by 1680 he had become a schoolmaster in Breslau. (Wetzel, II, 76; Johannsen, p. 156; DBA I 770 1–12; Weissenborn, I, 581b.433) Hans Löser (1653?–1715) was an earl marshal, privy counsellor, and receiver of taxes for electoral Saxony. He had studied at Wittenberg. When his three sons Magnus Wilhelm, Kurt, and Rudolph August died in 1696 he was already a widower. (LP Löser; DBA I 777 212; Juntke, Album, p. 208b) Johann Lupius came from Quenstedt and wrote an epicedium for Samuel Mossbach in 1641. (LP Mossbach, 1641, fos. Diijr –D4v ) Tobias Mahn, who was born in Altenburg, was the holder of a stipend from Friedrich Wilhelm III, Duke of Saxony-Altenburg. He studied at Leipzig and Jena, before becoming a pastor in Göllnitz near Altenburg and a poet laureate. (PS Saxony-Altenburg, 1672, pp. [1b–2a]; Erler, II, 274c; Jauernig, p. 496b; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 1223–4) Georg Friedrich Märck was a pastor in Bützow when he wrote his Hochtröstliche Todes=Gedancken/ oder seelige Todes=Betrachtung, which was published in 1691. Johann Maukisch (1617–69), who came from Freiberg, was a theology student at Leipzig when he wrote his epicedia for Maria Dorothea Trub ¨ in 1644. In 1651, on completion of his doctorate, he became headmaster of the Gymnasium and pastor in Danzig. (Früh et al., no. 4043, V, 2458–9; PS Trüb, fos. Aiijr –A4r ; Wetzel, II, 157–9; ADB XX, 689; Erler, II, 280c–1a) Johann Georg May (Majus, Mey) may have come from Großglogau in Silesia. If so, he studied at the universities of Jena and Leipzig in the 1670s. In 1680 a man of this name wrote an epicedium for Johanna Maria Zittemann. (Jauernig, p. 497b; Erler, II, 281b) Johann Ulrich Mayer (1616–79) studied in his native town of Leipzig, where he later held various church posts. By 1667 he was pastor at St Thomas’s. By the time he preached the funeral sermon for his nephew


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Hieronymus Kramer he had lost seven children. (LP Kramer; DBA I 839 255–60; Erler, I, 293b) Johann-Albrecht Mintzel († 1653) was a printer in Leipzig and Hof. He published the funeral sermon for Johann, Maria Magdalene, and Christian Laurentius Teuber in 1633 and appears to have appended an epicedium to it. (VD17; LP Teuber, fos. G4r–v ) Johann Sebastian Mitternacht (1613–79) was a Thuringian who read philosophy, philology, and theology at the universities of Jena and Wittenberg, and held church and school posts in Teutleben and Naumburg. From 1646 he was headmaster of the Gymnasium Ruthenaeum in Gera, where he knew the father of Martha Justina Alberti. He was crowned a poet laureate in 1648, and in the 1650s he became a member of the Deutschgesinnte Gesellschaft under the pseudonym ‘Der Erfreuliche’. In 1666/7 he became superintendent in Neustadt an der Orla, and in 1667 court preacher to Moritz, Duke of Saxony-Zeitz. He also published under the pseudonym Jocosus Severus Medius. (LP Stolberg 16462, pp. 21–32; Früh et al. no. 4237, V, 2603–5; Wetzel, II, 179–80; LP Alberti, fos. Kv –K2v ; DBA I 849 60–81; ADB XXII 34; Weissenborn, I, 381a.200; Mentz and Jauernig, p. 208b; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 1344–58) Martin Moller (1547–1606) was a clergyman and hymnwriter whose Manuale DE PRAEPARATIONE AD MORTEM (1593) enjoyed numerous reprints. He held various church posts, and from 1600 was senior pastor at St Petri in Görlitz. (Wetzel, II, 182–6; Johannsen, pp. 184–5; DBA I 855 148–62 and II 907 135; ADB XXII 128) Hugo Mörlin († 1635) was the son of a Leipzig merchant. He read law at the universities of Jena and Leipzig, and, in 1633, he wrote an ode on the death of Anna Maria Marci, the daughter of a Leipzig lawyer. He was a student friend of Christian Werner (q.v.), who contributed an epicedium on his death. (RSB Zwickau: 6.6.26 (87); LP Marci, fos. Jijr –Jiijv ; Erler, I, 300c; Mentz and Jauernig, p. 212b) Michael Neander (1525–95) was born Michael Neumann in Sorau (Niederlausitz). As a young man he studied at Wittenberg, where Melanchthon gave him the name Neander. In 1550 he became headmaster of the monastery school at Ilfeld and, in 1559, when the abbot died, he was given responsibility for the whole institution. In his final years he was accused of crypto-Calvinism, a charge he vigorously denied. (LP Stolberg 16995, pp. 25–39; Früh et al. no. 4455, V, 2776–7; DBA I 886 151–64 and II 938 51–63; ADB XXIII 341–5; Foerstemann, p. 210b.7) Johann Reichard Neuheller, who came from an Austrian noble family, was educated at the Franckesche Stiftungen in Halle at the same time as Georg Leopold Eisenreich. He matriculated as a law student at Halle

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in the year of Eisenreich’s death, 1717. (LP Eisenreich, pp. [33–6]; Juntke, Halle, p. 312b) Christian Nolle was on the staff of the school at Gröbzig, and therefore worked for the father of Dorothea Juliane Mitius, who died in 1677. He may have come from Wurzen and studied at Leipzig. (LP Mitius, fos. B2r–v ; Erler, II, 315b) Adam Olearius (1603–71), diplomat, travel writer, mathematician, and linguist, may have been the author of an epicedium for Anna, Magdalene, and Juda von Wirth in 1632. Olearius’s friend Paul Fleming also contributed an epicedium for the sisters. Olearius came from Aschersleben and studied at Leipzig, taking his MA in 1627. From 1630 to 1633 he was deputy head of the St Nikolai school. In 1633 he left Leipzig for Russia and Persia as part of a delegation in the service of Friedrich III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. He continued to work for the family as ducal librarian and court mathematician. He was a member of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft (‘Der Vielbemühete’). (LP Wirth, [pp. 463a–7b]; DBA I 916 37–50, II 967 168–208; ADB XXIV 269–76 and XXV 797; Erler, I, 321c) Johann Christian Olearius (1646–99) was the son of Johannes Olearius (q.v.). He was educated at Halle, Weimar, and Allstedt and the University of Jena, where he read philosophy and theology. From 1672 he was pastor at Querfurt. In 1674 he took his doctorate in theology at the University of Jena, and in 1681 became pastor of St Moritz in his hometown, Halle. From 1685 he was senior pastor at St Marien in Halle and superintendent. When he wrote his epicedium on the death of Regina Maria Nicolai in 1691 he had lost five children. (Früh et al. no. 4664, V, 2894–6; LP Nicolai, fo. b2r ; Wetzel, II, 261; DBA I 916 209–12 and II 967 167; Jauernig, p. 570b) Johannes Olearius (1611–84) was born in Halle and educated at the University of Wittenberg. In 1643 August, then Archbishop of Magdeburg and from 1657 Duke of Saxony-Weissenfels, appointed him as his court preacher. He held various church posts, including visitor to the schools and churches in the archbishopric of Magdeburg and to the University of Leipzig. In 1660 he preached at the funerals of August von Alvensleben and August Bertram von Pfuhl, and in 1663 he delivered the sermon for Duke August’s three daughters, Catharina, Elisabeth, and Dorothea. In 1664 Olearius became general superintendent in Halle, and in 1680, when August died and Magdeburg became the possession of Brandenburg, he accompanied August’s successor, Johann Adolph I, to the new residence at Weissenfels. Olearius served as court preacher and general superintendent at Weissenfels until his death. (Früh et al., 4666, V, pp. 2897–9000; LP Alvensleben, 1660; LP Pfuhl; LP Sachsen-Weissenfels;


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Wetzel, II, 252–61; Johannsen, p. 198; DBA I 916 123–44 and II 967 162–3, 210–11; ADB XXIV 279–80; Weissenborn, I, 341a.413) Johann Gottfried Olearius (1635–1711), a hymnwriter, was a son of the theologian Gottfried Olearius (1604–85). He studied at Leipzig and Jena, was ordained by his father, and held various posts at St Marien in Halle, becoming pastor in 1665. Two years later he wrote Vorblick Des frölichen Wieder=Sehens. From 1688 he was senior pastor and superintendent in Arnstadt; he held this post when his son August Theodor died in 1690. (LP Olearius, 1690; Wetzel, II, 262–6; Johannsen, p. 199; DBA I 916 266–92 and II 967 163, 214; ADB XXIV 280; Erler, II, 318c–19a; Jauernig, p. 570b) Johann Oppel (1594/5–after 1669) came from Zwickau and studied at the University of Wittenberg. From the mid-1620s he was pastor in Landsberg. In this capacity he preached the funeral sermon for Johann Conrad Evers in 1669. (LP Evers; Weissenborn, I, 246a.538). Joachim Othe (Otho) came from Pritzwalk (near Greifswald) and studied at Wittenberg. In 1659 he wrote an epicedium for Johann Balthasar Fleischhauer. (LP Fleischhauer, fos. K4r –Lr ; Weissenborn, I, 514b.104) Christoph Ottho was a deacon in Lößnitz when he preached the funeral sermons for Gabriel and Rosina Guttner ¨ in 1629. He had already been in post in 1617, and was therefore a long-standing colleague of the children’s father, Gabriel Guttner(q.v.). ¨ (LP Güttner; FLB Gotha: 16 T.hom. 4◦ 00175 (01)) Andreas Pancratius (1529/31–76) was born in Wunsiedel and studied at Wittenberg. He took up a post as preacher in Amberg (Oberpfalz), but was driven out by Calvinists. From 1567 he was superintendent and inspector of schools in Hof (Vogtland). Here he preached the series of seven funeral sermons for children in 1575–6, which were published in 1588. (LP Stolberg 568, fos. Kkkiijr–v ; DBA I 929 306–15; Foerstemann, p. 244a.39; Winkler, Die Leichenpredigt im deutschen Luthertum, p. 73) Johann Peisker (Peißker) (1631–1711), a philologian and poet, was born in Langenberg (Vogtland) and studied at the universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg. In 1669 he became headmaster of the school in Wittenberg, where he remained until his death. One of the teachers was the father of Johann Stephan Pilarick, for whom Peisker wrote an epicedium in 1687. He was a member of the Deutschgesinnte Gesellschaft under the pseudonym ‘Der Ungemeine’, and by 1663 he had been crowned a poet laureate. (PS Pilarick, fos. Av –A2r ; Wetzel, II, 282; DBA I 938 237–42; Weissenborn, I, 582b.26; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 1500–3) Andreas Petermann was deacon in Delitzsch when he wrote an epicedium for Maria Sophia Mayer in 1658. Before he held this position,

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he had been a pastor in Kraußnitz. (LP Mayer, fos. H3r–v ; VD17 1: 623746Z) Johann Pfeffinger (1493–1573) was born in Wasserburg, Bavaria, but educated in Saxony. In 1518 he became a subdeacon at Salzburg, and was ordained in the following year. He found his concerns about the church mirrored in the Reformation tracts that he read, and in 1523 he moved to Wittenberg, where he studied for four years. He took up a pastor’s position at Sonnewalde, but was forced to leave when he married in 1528. He was offered a position outside Leipzig, and in 1539 became the city’s first Lutheran superintendent. In 1549 he became a canon at Meissen and professor of theology at Leipzig. (LP Stolberg 17779; Früh et al. no. 4817, VI, 2998; DBA I 950 171–83 and II 1000 200–2; ADB XXV 624–30; Foerstemann, p. 123a.25) Daniel Benedikt Pforth (Pfordt) came from Neustadt in Silesia. He studied at the universities of Leipzig and Jena, and he may have been in Halle in the 1650s, when he wrote his epicedium for August Olearius. (LP Olearius, 1657 (Weimar); Erler, II, 332a; Jauernig, p. 592b) Gregorius Pirner, from Belgern (near Torgau), came as a student to Leipzig in the 1630s. In 1646 he wrote an epicedium for Dorothea Scheibe. (PS Scheibe, [p. 1b]; Erler, II, 334b). Benjamin Praetorius (1636–c.1674) was a clergyman, hymnwriter, and poet laureate from Obergreßlau (near Weissenfels). In the early 1650s Praetorius studied philosophy at Leipzig, and then in 1657 became a clergyman in Großlissa near Delitzsch. In the following year he wrote his epicedium for Maria Sophia Mayer. (LP Mayer, fos. H4v –Jijr ; Grischow, p. 37; Wetzel, II, 314–15; Johannsen, p. 208; DBA I 976 33–43; ADB XXVI 514; Erler, II, 340a; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 1591–2) Johannes Praetorius (also Hans Schultze, Lustigerus Wortlibius, and other pseudonyms) (1630–80) came from Zetlingen in the Altmark. Praetorius was educated at schools in Salzweldel and Halle, and then at the University of Leipzig. In 1659 he was crowned a poet laureate. He appears to have corresponded with Johann Rist, and was a member of the Elbschwanenorden under the name Prophulidor. In 1671 he wrote an epicedium for Johann Abraham Frentzel. (PS Frentzel; DBA I 976 238–41; ADB XXVI 520–9; Erler, II, 340b; Flood, Poets Laureate, pp. 1599–1605) Johann Quirsfeld (1642–86), archdeacon in Pirna, preached the funeral sermons for Johann Gottfried and Clara Margarethe Strauß, whose father, Johann Michael, was superintendent in the town. Quirsfeld was born and schooled in Dresden, attended the University of Wittenberg from 1663, and in 1670 took up a position at the school in Pirna. In 1675


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he became deacon and in 1680 archdeacon, three years after publishing his Geistliche Hochzeit des Lammes. (Früh et al., no. 5062, VI, 3145–6; LP Strauß; Wetzel, II, 320; DBA I 990 300–11 and II 1035 159; ADB XXVII 48; Juntke, Album, p. 268b) Christoph Reim († after 1700) was a theology student at the University of Jena when he wrote his epicedium for Dorothea Friderica Kuntsch. He knew the family well because he had worked as a tutor to Christoph Friedrich, for whom he wrote an epicedium in 1685. By 1700 he was a clergyman in Rasephas (near Altenburg). (VD17; PS Kuntsch, 1690; PS Kuntsch, 1685; Jauernig, p. 623a) Balthasar Reinheckel († after 1632) came from Glauchau and studied at the universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg. By 1617, when he wrote his epicedium for Maria Magdalene Gundermann, he had returned to his native town to become deputy headmaster. He later became headmaster. (LP Gundermann, fos. Jiijv –J4r and Kiijr –K4v ; RSB Zwickau: 26.1.13. (313); Erler, I, 360a; Weissenborn, I, 96a.133) Michael Richey (1678–1761) was born in Hamburg and studied at the Johanneum and then at the University of Wittenberg. He took up a post as headmaster in Stade, but resigned on grounds of ill health after eleven years. He returned to Hamburg, where he worked as private tutor and was instrumental in setting up the Teutschübende Gesellschaft with Barthold Heinrich Brockes (q.v.) and Johann Ulrich König (q.v.). In 1717 he took up a teaching post at the Johanneum. (DBA I 1030 304–81; ADB XXVIII 436–9; Juntke, Album, p. 278b) Johann Richter had taken his MA by the time he wrote an epicedium for Johann August Bretnutz ¨ in 1662. Bretnütz’s father was tutor to the royal household in Halle, and Richter may already have been his colleague. By the following year he was tutor to Catharina, Elisabeth, and Dorothea, Princesses of Saxony-Weissenfels, and in 1663 he wrote an epicedium for them. (LP Bretnütz; LP SaxonyWeissenfels) Gregor Ritzsch (1584–1643) was a Leipzig printer. He was born in Bohemia, apprenticed after his father’s death, and came to Leipzig to work with his kinsman Michael Lantzenberger, for whose daughter Margarete he wrote an epicedium in 1628. He returned to the city after his journeyman years and worked as a printer until his death, when the business passed to his son Timotheus. He wrote hymns based on sermons, and sometimes added his own epicedia to the funeral booklets he published: see the booklets for Anna, Magdalene, and Juda von Wirth (1632), and Anna Catharina Severus (1638). (Früh et al., no. 5376, VI, 3322–3; LP Lantzenberger, fos. Ciijr–v ; LP Wirth,

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[pp. 472a–5a]; LP Severus, fos. Ev –Eijv ; Wetzel, II, 392; DBA I 1043 290–1; ADB XXVIII 705) Martin Ro¨ ber (1583–1633) was the pastor of St Ulrich’s in Halle from 1611 and the brother of Paul Ro¨ ber (q.v.). He came from Wurzen and was educated at schools in Leipzig and Pforta, and then at the universities of Leipzig, Jena, and Wittenberg. In 1616, following an outbreak of measles, in which his youngest daughter Maria died, he published his consolation manual Am schwartzen Sontag Guter Rath vnd kräfftiger Trost/ für Christliche Eltern/ so jhrer krancken oder sterbenden Kinder halber betrübet sind. (LP Stolberg 18959, fos. Cijv –Diijv ; Früh et al. no. 5386, VI, 3329; DBA I 1046 118–19) Paul Ro¨ ber (1587–1651) was the younger brother of Martin (q.v.) He studied medicine and theology at the universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg, before taking up various preaching posts in Halle and Magdeburg. By the time his daughter Sophie Elisabeth died in 1631, he had become a professor of theology, pastor of St Marien in Wittenberg, and superintendent. He preached at the funeral of Anna Margarethe and Maria Elisabeth Schurer. ¨ (LP Stolberg 18961, fos. Kiijv –Mijv ; Früh et al. no. 5387, VI, 3329–32; LP Schürer; Wetzel, II, pp. 398–9; DBA I 1046 123–44 and II 1084 384; Weissenborn, I, 61b.291) Carl Friedrich Romanus († c.1749), who came from Leipzig, followed family tradition by entering the legal profession. In 1703 he took his doctorate, and from 1720 served as an assessor of the law faculty at the University of Leipzig. From 1723 he worked as a judge. In 1711 he wrote an epicedium for Charlotte Sophie Weise. (LP Weise, Dr –Ev ; DBA I 1052 275; ADB XXIX, 100–2; Erler, II, 365b) Heinrich von Ryssel (1619–94) was a businessman and senator in his hometown, Leipzig, where he had also studied. In 1670 he wrote an epicedium for Hieronymus Kramer. (LP Stolberg 19301, pp. 53–64; LP Kramer, fo. B2v ; Erler, I, 383c) Caspar Conrad Saher (1604–59) was educated at the Gymnasium in Hof, and then at the University of Wittenberg. His first post was a curacy in his father’s parish, Mönchberg. In 1630 he became a subdeacon at Kulmbach, and three years later he preached the funeral sermon for Achatz von Guttenberg. In 1649 he became superintendent at Wunsiedel. (Früh et al., no. 5586, VII, 3459–60; DBA I 1074 401–7 and II 1116 304; Weissenborn, I, 269b.344) Sigismund Schererz (Scher-erzius) (1584–1639) was born into a mining family in Annaberg. He studied at Leipzig and Wittenberg, and held various church posts. He was forced to leave his position at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Prague because of political unrest, and in 1622 came


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to Lüneburg as the pastor at St Lamberti, becoming superintendent a year later. He remained here until his death, and his experience of losing seven children in an outbreak of the plague in 1626 led to the publication of his THränen=Tüchlein in 1628. (Früh et al., no. 5736, VII, 3547–8; Wetzel, III, 54–8; DBA I 1097 311–32; Erler, I, 395a; Weissenborn, I, 47a.343) Michael Schernack (1622–75) was born in Treuenbrietzen and studied at Wittenberg. He became a preacher at St Marien in Wittenberg, where he was colleagues with Johann Balthasar Fleischhauer’s father. (LP Fleischhauer, fos. Jijr –Kr and Kijr –Kiijr ; Wetzel, III, 59; DBA I 1098 219–20; Weissenborn, I, 475a.307) Johann Simon Schernhauer (Schermhauer) († after 1678) came from Weissensee in Thuringia. He studied at Jena and Wittenberg, and when he wrote his epicedia for Christina Elisabeth and Karl Gottfried Wagner in 1677–8 he was working as a deacon in Wittenberg. (LP Wagner, [1677], fo. Aijr ; LP Wagner, 1678, [pp. 22b]; Jauernig, p. 691b; Juntke, Album, p. 298a) Friedrich Schmidt (Schmied) (1661–1723) was the son of an Altenburg clergyman, who studied at Wittenberg and then became a court preacher, and later a canon in his hometown. In 1717 he acted as confessor to Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch. (Juntke, Album, p. 303a; Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 375) Jakob Schopper (1545–1616) was a theologian from Biberach in Swabia who held posts in various cities before settling in Altdorf in 1589 as a clergyman and professor of theology. In the following year he published his memento mori work Sterbkunst […]. (Früh et al., no. 5974, VII, 3691; DBA I 1135 111–30; ADB XXXII 373–4; Foerstemann, p. 181b.15) Heinrich Schrader, who wrote an epicedium for August von Alvensleben in 1660, may have come from Hildesheim and studied at the universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg in the 1620s. (LP Alvensleben, 1660, fos.)(4r–v ; Erler, I, 413b; Weissenborn, I, 312a.309) or he may have come from Helmstedt and read theology at Jena from 1664 (HAB Wolfenbüttel: H: J 38.4◦ Helmst. (10); Jauernig, p. 722a). Juliana Patientia Schultt (1680–1701) received an excellent education from her father. She read Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French, and wrote poetry: she contributed an epicedium to Sophia Christiana Geyer’s funeral booklet. In 1699 her father was appointed councillor in the principality of Hesse-Darmstadt. The family travelled via Halle, and Juliana Patientia was given permission to remain there to work with August Hermann Francke (q.v.), who became her mentor. Here she taught at the girls’ school in Glaucha. Francke preached the sermon at her funeral. (LP Stolberg 20724, pp. 44–9; LP Geyer, p. 65; Carrdus,

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Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 425–6; Witt, Bekehrung, Bildung und Biographie, pp. 194–9; Wetzel, III, 127–8; DBA I 1150 81–97; ADB XXXII 708–9) Carl Adam Seiffart (Seyffart), who came from Halle, may well have been the son of the poet laureate and pastor Carl Seyffart (1630–81). Carl Adam took his MA in 1676 and defended his thesis the following year, a few months after he delivered the funeral oration for Dorothea Juliane Mitius. He appears to have become the headmaster of the school at Sangerhausen. (LP Mitius; Halle ULB: an 78 L 1675 (3), 01 A 6607 (13), and AB 153190 (7)) Gottlob Friedrich Seligmann (1654–1707) came from Heinewalde near Zittau. He studied at the University of Leipzig, and became a professor of physics and metaphysics at the University of Rostock, and an archdeacon of St Jakobi. In 1686 he became a licentiate in theology and returned to Leipzig, first as a deacon of St Nicolai, then as an archdeacon and later as pastor of St Thomas’s. In 1694 he wrote an epicedium for Martha Sophia Jöcher. He became a professor of theology, and held various positions at the university, before becoming the chief court preacher at Dresden in 1707. (LP Stolberg 21086, pp. 59–65; Früh et al., no. 6237, VII, 3853–6; LP Jöcher, fos.)o(3v –)o(4r ; DBA I 1174 255–65 and II 1215 409; Erler, II, 420b) Christoph Siegmundt was a pastor in Franckenberg and an assistant to the Inspection in Chemnitz. In 1672 he preached a funeral sermon for Friedrich Noah Mylius. (FLB Gotha: LP E 8◦ IV, 00020 (03)) Thomas Steger (1628–74), who came from Leipzig, studied philosophy and theology in his hometown. He became a deacon of St Thomas’s and a licentiate in theology. In 1670 he wrote an epicedium for Hieronymus Kramer. A year later he became archdeacon at St Thomas’s. His funeral sermon was preached by Johann Ulrich Mayer (q.v.). (LP Stolberg 3012, pp. 1492–7; Früh et al., no. 6435, VIII, 3967–8; LP Kramer, fo. Av ; DBA I 1215 456; Erler, II, 437a) Nathanael Steltzner came from Oelsnitz (Vogtland) and studied at Wittenberg. When he wrote his epicedium for Christian Gotthelf Tischer in 1708 he was a pastor in Schönbach. (LP Tischer, pp. 76–7; Juntke, Album, p. 335a) Ernst Stockmann (1634–1712) was a superintendent in Allstedt and a poet laureate who was particularly known for his madrigals. His son Gottfried (q.v.) married Margarethe Elisabeth Kuntsch (q.v.), daughter of Margarethe Susanna. (LP Stolberg 21698; Wetzel, III, 264–5; Johannsen, pp. 261–2; DBA I 1230 353–69; ADB XXXVI 294–95; Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 368)


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Gottfried Stockmann (1664–1716), a lawyer and court official, was the son of Ernst Stockmann (q.v.) and husband to Margarethe Elisabeth Kuntsch (q.v.). In 1690 he contributed an epicedium to the funeral booklet for his sister-in-law Dorothea Friderica Kuntsch. (DBA I 1230 372; Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, p. 409) Valerius Stockmann came from Rochlitz and studied at Leipzig in the 1590s. When his son, Johannes, died in 1625, Stockmann was a member of the council in his hometown. (LP Stockmann; Erler, I, 451a) Augustinus Temme was the son of the Halle doctor Johann Temme and brother of Maria Magdalene. He wrote an epicedium for his sister in 1713. (LP Temme, pp. [9–12]) Johannes Teutschmann (1582–1655) was a deacon at St Bernhardin in Breslau when his consolation book, Geistliches Wischtüchlein, was published in 1623. He later became archdeacon, and appears to have remained at the church for the rest of his life. (Garber, IX (Breslau—St Bernhardin), p. 254, no. 0585–533040 [Stadtbibliothek Breslau—St Bernhardina—4 V 19, 71 e]) Johannes Thiele (Thile) (1646–88) appears to have been a schoolboy in Wittenberg when he wrote a poem on the death of Johann Balthasar Fleischhauer in 1659. He studied at Leipzig and Wittenberg and became professor of anatomy and botany in his hometown. (LP Fleischhauer, fo. Mijr ; VD17; Juntke, Album, p. 346b; Erler, II, 455a) Caspar Titius (Titz, Tiez) (1570–1648) was born in Löbejün. He attended school in Halle and studied at the universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg, taking his MA in 1595. In 1598 he became a deacon at Könnern, and in 1618 he moved to become pastor in Hettstedt. His work LOCI THEOLOGICI HISTORICI was published in 1633 and reprinted several times after his death. (DBA I 1275 431–8; Erler, I, 469b; Hartwig, p. 397a,37) Esaias Tribauer may have been born in Iglau (now Jihlava in the Czech Republic). When his Trostschrifft was published in 1565 he was a clergyman in Brieg, and by 1571 he had taken up a post in his hometown. (DBA I 1284 220; ADB XXXVIII 595) Samuel von Triewald (1688–1743) was a Swedish poet, satirist, and diplomat. He knew Barthold Heinrich Brockes (q.v.), and was a member of the Teutschübende Gesellschaft. Christoph Vischer (Fischer or Piscator) († 1600), who came from Joachimsthal, was a friend of Philipp Melanchthon. He studied at Wittenberg and was ordained by Johannes Bugenhagen. He held church posts in Jüterbog, Bensen, and Schmalkalden, where he became superintendent. In 1569 he wrote his Trostschrifft, which was published in the town in 1573. By this time he had moved on to a post in Meiningen, then

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in 1574 to Celle and in 1577 to Halberstadt, finally returning to Celle as general superintendent and court preacher in 1583. (Johannsen, p. 77; Wetzel, I, 235–42; DBA I 321 400–22 and 1309 43; ADB VII, 51–2, XL, 30–1; Foerstemann, p. 185b.36) Christoph Heinrich Vorhoff, who came from Trempen, matriculated as a law student at the University of Halle in 1712. He studied and shared lodgings with Georg Leopold Eisenreich’s elder brother. (LP Eisenreich, pp. [29–32]; Juntke, Halle, p. 155a) Thomas Wagner († after 1679), who came from Merseburg, studied at the University of Leipzig. By the time he wrote his epicedium for Anna Maria Muller ¨ in 1662 he held a teaching post at the St Nikolai school. By 1679 he had become a pastor at Wesmar and Ranitz (near his hometown). (LP Müller, fos. Diijv –D4r ; FLB Gotha: LP F 8◦ V, 00033 (28); Erler, II, 479b) Joachim Wagnitz (Wagenitz) came from Wusterhausen near Greifswald. He matriculated at the University of Wittenberg in 1588, and he later became a clergyman in Dabergotz. It was in this capacity that he preached the funeral sermon for Caspar Ludolph von Klitzing in 1626. (LP Klitzing; Hartwig, p. 358a.9). Georg Walther († 1580), who was born in Erfurt, had become archdeacon at St Ulrich’s in Halle by 1552. He was dismissed from his post because of a quarrel with the archbishop’s court preacher, Jakob Eisenberg. (DBA I 1330 307–8) Immanuel Weber (1659–1726) was a professor of law at the University of Giessen and a count palatine (from 1697). He read theology at Leipzig before changing to law. During this time he composed an epicedium for Johanna Maria Zittemann. He then moved to the University of Jena, worked as a private tutor and archivist to the family of Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, and from 1698 taught history and then law at Giessen, where he was also the university librarian. (LP Zittemann, fos. J2v –Kv ; DBA I 1336 166–240; ADB XLI 306–7; Jauernig, p. 865a) Christian Wehner was a musician at the court in Altenburg when he wrote an epicedium on the death of Christian, Duke of Saxony-Altenburg in 1663. He may have come from Rochlitz; someone of this name studied at Jena in the 1650s. (LP Saxony-Altenburg, 1663 (Stolberg 19513); Jauernig, p. 869a) Hieronymus Weller (Fholler) (1499–1572) was born in Freiberg and studied at Meissen and Wittenberg. He was a close friend of Luther, and became superintendent and inspector of schools in Freiberg. (DBA I 1349 178–9, 208–9; Foerstemann, p. 68a.25)


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Christian Werner († 1663) appears to have studied at the University of Leipzig at the same time as Hugo Mörlin (q.v.), for whom he wrote an epicedium in 1635. He became a secretary to the chancellery in Magdeburg where he knew the father of August von Alvensleben. When he died, his funeral sermon was preached by Johann Gottfried Olearius (q.v.). (LP Alvensleben, 1660, [p. 13b]; FLB Gotha: LP Z 8◦ 00038 (14); RSB Zwickau: 6.6.26. (87); Erler, I, 503a) Christian Friedrich Wilisch (1684–1759) came from Liebstadt and studied at Leipzig. After working at the Gymnasium in Annaberg, he became headmaster of the Altenburg Gymnasium. He held this position when he delivered a speech at the funeral of Margarethe Susanna von Kuntsch in 1717. In 1720 he became the court preacher, but he left Altenburg in 1723 to become superintendent in Freiberg. (DBA I 1372 1–13; Erler, II, 499a; Carrdus, Das »weiblich Werck«, pp. 36, 44–5, 470) Hieronymus Nikolaus Winckelmann, a law student at Leipzig from Weissenfels, wrote an epicedium for Hieronymus Kramer in 1670. He died in 1675 before he had completed his legal training. (VD17 14: 072011C; LP Kramer, fo. A4v ; Erler II, 499c) Paul Winckelmann (1638–71) was the brother of Hieronymus Nikolaus Winckelmann (q.v.). He read philosophy and then theology at Leipzig. In 1669 he took up a post as a clergyman at St Nikolai, and in the following year at St Johannis. It was in this year that he wrote an epicedium for Hieronymus Kramer. (LP Stolberg 23143, fos. D4r –Eiijv ; Früh et al., no. 7269, IX, pp. 4464–5; LP Kramer, fo. Aijr ; Erler, II, 499c) Johann Winckler (1642–1705) was born in Grimma. He studied at Leipzig, Jena, and Tübingen. He held various church posts in Homburg vor der Höhe, Braubach am Rhein, Darmstadt, and Mannheim, before becoming a pastor and superintendent at Wertheim. He held this post when he wrote Die Gewißheit der Seeligkeit in 1684, although in the same year he moved to Hamburg to become pastor at St Michaelis. (LP Stolberg 23032, pp. 32–6; Früh et al., no. 7279, IX, 4470–2; DBA I 1376 26–54 and II 1411 422–6; ADB XLIII 365–73; Erler, II, 500b; Jauernig, p. 897b) Nicolaus Zapf(ius) (1600–72) was born in Milbitz (near Rudolstadt) and educated at Arnstadt and then at the universities of Jena and Wittenberg. In 1632 he became the deacon of the philosophy faculty, in 1633 he moved to the theology faculty in Erfurt, and in 1637 he was made professor of Hebrew. In 1643 he became the court preacher in Weimar, and in 1644/5 he was made general superintendent. In 1655 he preached the funeral sermon for Eleonore Justina Krause. (Früh et al., no. 7412, IX, 4553–4; Weissenborn, I, 275a.166; ADB XLIV 694–5; Mentz and Jauernig, p. 372b)

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Caspar Ziegler. It is not possible to determine whether the ‘Trostschrift’ written in 1648 for the parents of Hans-Jakob Schäffer was the work of Caspar the Elder (1581–1657), who was a lawyer, judge, and proconsul to the Leipzig city council, or of his son, Caspar the Younger (1621–90), a lawyer and a poet who became a public prosecutor, an adviser to the Wittenberg consistory, a professor of law, and rector of the university. (PS Schäffer, 1648. For Caspar the Elder: LP Stolberg 23510, pp. 25–35. For Caspar the Younger: Wetzel, III, 464–8; DBA I 1411 253–68; ADB, XLV 184–7; Weissenborn, I, 411b.4; Jauernig, 922b) Johann Caspar Zopff (1609–after 1682) was born in Lobenstein (Vogtland) and studied at the University of Leipzig, where he worked for the Leyser family. In 1638 he was appointed court preacher to the younger branch of the Reuss family. After two years he moved to an archdeaconship in Gera, and in 1645 he became a licentiate of theology and superintendent. In 1658 he preached the funeral sermon for Martha Justina Alberti. (LP Stolberg 23570, pp. 30–51; Früh et al., no. 7603, IX, 4608–9; LP Alberti; DBA I 1418 355; Erler, I, 527c)

Funeral booklets and occasional poems for the children cited Alberti, Martha Justina (1645–58). Preacher: Johann Caspar Zopff. Sermon: ‘Hochzeit des Lambs […]’. Text: Revelation 19: 6–8. Epicedia: ‘Castrum Doloris sive publici luctus monimenta. Das ist: Etliche Traur= und Trost=Oden/ samt unterschiedlichen Epicediis’. (Jena: Samuel Krebs, [1658]), LP Stolberg 3702. Alvensleben, August von (1657–60). Preacher: Johannes Olearius. Sermon: ‘Ars non moriendi incomparabilis Die aller vortreflichste kunst der Unsterbligkeit/ […]’. Text: Psalm 118: 17. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]). LP Stolberg 5293. Epicedia: ‘Trauer und Trost=Gedancken […]’. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 5293. Epicedia: ‘Vielfaltig vermehrte Himmels Frucht […]’ [by Christian Werner?]. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 5293. Epicedia: ‘Hochädle Zu immergrünendem Wachsthum versetzte Himmels=Pflantze AUGUSTUS […]’ by Friedrich Cahlen. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 5293. Alvensleben, Floriana Carlotta von (1661–70). Preacher: Albert Benecke. Sermon: ‘Eine Christliche Trost=Predigt/ Von der Unaußsprechlichen und Unermeßlichen Liebe und Güte GOTTES/ Für traurige und betrübte Hertzen/ […]’. Text: Jeremiah 31: 3. ‘Trawer= und Trost=Rede’ by Gebhard Johann Alvensleben. Epicedia: untitled section. (Helmstedt: Johann Heitmüller, 1672), LP Stolberg 5295. Anhalt-Bernburg, Amalia Juliana, Princess (1597–1605). Preacher: Wolfgang Amling. Sermon: ‘Christliche Trostpredigt/ Von dem seligen Abschied aus diesem zeitlichen Jammerthal/ […]’. Text: Romans 14: 7–9. Epicedium: untitled section. (Zerbst: Johann Schleer, 1605), LP Stolberg 5444. Anhalt-Cöthen, Luise Amoene, Princess (1609–25). Preacher: Adam Streso. Sermon: ‘Christliche Leichpredigt/ Aus dem schönen Bet= und

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Funeral booklets and occasional poems

Trostspruch des 31. Psalms/ v.6. […]’. Text: Psalm 31: 6. Epicedia: untitled section. (Cöthen: [n.pub.], 1625), LP Stolberg 5457. Avenbeck, Magdalene (1617–31). Preacher: Polykarp Leyser. Sermon: ‘Leichpredigt Aus den Worten des H. Apostels Pauli/ in der 2. an die Corinth. am 11. […]’. Text: 2 Corinthians 11: 2. Epicedia: ‘Himlische/ wolselige Heimfarth. […]’. (Leipzig: Justus Janson, [1631]), LP Stolberg 3909. Blume, Magdalena (1609–26) and Christian (1610–26). Preacher: Friedrich Balduin. Sermon: ‘Zweene Leichsermons/ Vber den seligen Abschied zweyer frommer Geschwister/ […]’. Text (for Christian): Wisdom 4: 7–14. Text (for Magdalena): Revelation 14: 13. Oration by Georg Wecker. Epicedia: unnamed section. (Wittenberg: Johann Gormann, 1626), HAAB Weimar: Q, 3:9 (n. 5) 4◦ . Bose, Albrecht (1604–15). Preacher: Johann Warmundt. Sermon: ‘Eine Christliche Leich= vnd Trostpredigt. […]’. Text: Ecclesiasticus 41: 5–7. Epicedia: ‘THRENOLOGIÆ’. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Bismarck, 1616), LP Stolberg 6428. Braun, Dorothea Sophie (1622–38). Preacher: Christian Lange. Sermon: ‘Christliche Leichen=Predigt Von der zukünfftigen Aufferstehung/ Gewißheit vnd Herrligkeit/ […]’. Text: Job 19: 25–7. Epicedia: ‘EPICEDIA’. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, 1638), LP Stolberg 4980. Bretnutz, ¨ Johann August (∗ † 1662). Preacher: Gottfried Olearius. Sermon: ‘Trost=Sermönlein/ […]’. Epicedia: untitled section. (Halle/ S.: Melchior Oelschlegel, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 5054. Epicedia: ‘Trauer= und Trost=Gedichte […]’. (Halle/ S.: Melchior Oelschlegel, 1662), LP Stolberg 5054. Brockes, Catharina Margarethe (1714–15). Epicedia: ‘Schuldigstes Beileid der Teutsch=übenden Gesellschaft/ über das frühzeitige Absterben des erstgebohrnen und einzigen Töchterleins Herrn. Lic. Barthold Heinrich Brockes’. (Hamburg: Friedrich Konrad Greflinger, 1715), SUB Hamburg: A/ 121835. Brockes, Johann Bernhard (1716–31). Epicedia: ‘Ueber den Sarg eines Tugend=begabten Jünglings ausgestreute Cypressen’. (Hamburg: Johann Christoph Kißner, 1732), BL: 1568/ 6500. Carpzov, Magdalene (1631–47). Oration: ‘GOTT unser Zuversicht und Thurm […]’ (and epicedium) by Christian Gueinz. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [1647?]), LP Stolberg 7036. Cundisius, Maria Elisabeth (1638–9). Preacher: Albin Buxbaum. Sermon: ‘GOtt gibt es/ GOtt nimmt es/ Ein Christ lobt es/ Das ist: Christliche Leichpredigt/ Von Christlicher Eltern Trost vber dem frühzeitigen Todt


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jhrer Kinder/ […]’. Text: Job 1: 21. Epicedia: ‘[…] EPICEDIA […]’. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, 1639), LP Stolberg 7370. Eichholz, Caspar († 1648). Epicedia: ‘Trauer=gedichte […]’. (Leipzig: Timotheus Höne’s heirs, [n.d.]), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (159). Eisenreich, Georg Leopold (1700–17). Preacher: August Hermann Francke. Sermon: ‘Die Allerwichtigste Frage an die Christliche Jugend […]’. (Halle/ S.: Christian Henckel, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 8660. Epicedium: ‘Bey dem Frühzeitigen Hintritt […]’ by Wilhelm, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen. (Halle/ S.: Christian Henckel, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 8660. Epicedia: ‘Eisenreichisches Trauer= und Liebes=Gedächtniß im PÆDAGOGIO REGIO Zu Glaucha an Halle/ 1717’. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 8660. Epicedium: ‘[…] Lebens=Lauff ’ by Christoph Heinrich Vorhoff. (Halle/ S.: Christian Henckel, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 8660. Epicedium: ‘Liebes= und Freundschafts=Thränen/ […]’ by Johann Reichard Neuheller. (Halle/ S.: Christian Henckel, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 8660. Engelmann, Susanna (*† 1664). Preacher: Georg Höfich. Sermon: ‘Der Rechten Verletzen/ Vnd Lincken Ergetzen/ […]’. Text: 4 Esra 10: 12 (= 2 Esdras 10: 12). Epicedia: untitled section. (Leipzig: Johann Erich Hahn, 1665), LP Stolberg 7621. Evers, Johann Conrad (1661–9). Preacher: Johann Oppel. Sermon: ‘Christliche Sterbens=Vorbereitung/ […]’. Text: 1 Kings 13: 20–32. Epicedium: ‘Trauer= und Trost=Gedicht […]’ by Johann Joachim Knoche. (Leipzig: Johann Georg, 1670), LP Stolberg 7568. Fleischhauer, Johann Balthasar (1648–59). Preacher: Abraham Calov. Sermon: ‘[…] HISTORIA VITÆ PUERI SUNEMICI Die schöne Trostreiche Histori/ von dem Lebenslauff des Knabens in Sunem/ welchen Elisæus von den Todten aufferwecket hat/ […]’. Text: 2 Kings 4: 8–37. Oration by the Rector of Wittenberg University. Oration: Michael Schernack. Epicedia: Untitled section. (Wittenberg: Job Wilhelm Fincelius, 1659), LP Stolberg 9426. Frentzel, Johann Abraham (1670–1). Epicedia: ‘A & JESUS! Neue Jahres=Zeit/ Bringet neue Traurigkeit/ […]’ (by Johannes Praetorius?). (Leipzig: Johann Wittigau, [1671]), Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale): 78 M 465, Kapsel (9) (2). Geyer, Sophia Christiana (1676–89). Preacher: Johann Hankius. Sermon: ‘Die zarte und liebe JEsus Braut. […]’. Text: Isaiah 61: 10. Oration: ‘Die Christliche Weißheit’ by Johann Chares. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 10763.

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Geyer, Sophia Christiana (1676–89). Songs: by Geyer and Johann Peter Hüttenrauch. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 10763. ‘Cupressus Geieriana […]’ (Altenburg: [n. pub.], 1689). Green, Christina Margarethe († 1676). Epicedium: ‘Blumen=Gedicht/ Auf das allzu frühe Grab Einer Zarten Blume/ […]’ by Georg Green’s companions. (Wittenberg: Matthaeus Henckel, [1676]), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 828–109a. Epicedium: ‘Schuldige Beyleidschrift/ […]’ by Georg Ludwig Hamberger. (Wittenberg: Matthaeus Henckel, [1676]), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 828–109c. Grosse, Anna Maria (1618–33). Preacher: Christian Lange. Sermon: ‘Christliche Leichpredigt Vber die Wort des 73. Psalms: […]’. Text: Psalm 73: 25–6. Epicedia: ‘Frommer Kinder Ehrenspiegel/ […]’. (Zwickau: Melchior Göpner, 1633), LP Stolberg 10100. Gundermann, Maria Magdalene (1606–17). Preacher: Martin Hammer. Sermon: ‘Jobs Marter Vnd Jobs Trost. […]’. Text: Job 19: 23–7a. Epicedia: ‘LAMENTATIONES IN FUNERE […]’. (Leipzig: Justus Janson, [1617]), LP Stolberg 10144. Guttner, ¨ Gabriel (1623–9) and Rosina (1627–9). ‘LUCTUS S. JOBI, ET SANGVIS JESU CHRISTI FILII DEI SANCTISSIMI. Das ist: Zwo Christliche Leich=Predigten: […]’. Preacher: Christoph Ottho. Sermon 1 (Gabriel): ‘Jst genommen aus dem I. Cap. deß Buchs Jobs/ vnd fürnemlich auß dem dicto: DOMINUS dedit, &c. […]’. Text: Job 1: 21. Sermon 2 (Rosina): ‘Auß I. Ioh. I. Von dem Rosinfarben thewren Blut Christi JESV/ welches von allen getaufften Kinderlein alle Sündenfleck vnd vnreinigkeiten abwäschet vnd reiniget. […]’. Text: 1 John 1: 7. Epicedia: untitled section. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, 1629), LP Stolberg 10518–19. Höpner, Anna Magdalene († 1647?). Epicedia: ‘Gebührendes Mitleiden/ […]’. (Leipzig: Friedrich Lanckisch’s heirs, 1647), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (127). Höpner, Johann Paul (1643–9). Preacher: Martin Lindener. Sermon: ‘TRIFOLIUM CONSOLATORIUM, Oder Dreyfacher Hertzens=Trost Christlicher Eltern/ und anderer betrübten Seelen/ […]’. Text: Romans 14: 7–9. Epicedia: ‘EPICEDIA’. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, 1650), LP Stolberg 12728; HAB Wolfenbüttel: Da 581 (25). Jöcher, Martha Sophia (1679–94). Preacher: Johann Benedikt Carpzov. Sermon: ‘Der Christen Ehren=Kleid/ [ … ]’. Text: ‘Christi blut und gerechtigkeit/ das ist mein schmuck und ehrenkleid/ etc.’ (Leipzig: Immanuel Tietze, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 13464. Epicedia: ‘Wohlmeinende Trost=Zeilen/ [ … ]’. (Leipzig: Christoph Fleischer, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 13464.


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Kärßenbrock, Franz Mordian von (1616–35). Preacher: Johann Æschardt. Sermon: ‘AGON SPIRITUALIS. Das ist/ Geistliche/ Christliche Ritterschafft/ […]’. Text: 2 Timothy 4: 7–8. Epicedia: ‘Trost Getichte […]’. (Wittenberg: Job Wilhelm Fincelius, 1636), LP Stolberg 14141. Oration: ‘Seliges Andencken […]’ by Christian Gueinz. Epicedia: untitled section. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, 1635), HAB Wolfenbüttel: A: 48.7 Poet. (109). Kaulisch, Barbara Marie (1656–72). Preacher: Paul Höpner. Sermon: ‘Geistlicher Braut=Schmuck/ […]’. Text: Isaiah 61: 10. Oration: by Erasmus Harress. Trostschrift: by Johannes Christoph Fugmann. Epicedia: ‘FLORES […]’. Epicedium: ‘Schuldige Trauer=Pflicht/ […]’ by Friedrich Adam. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 13847. Epicedium: ‘LUCTOSUM SPONSI FATUM, […]’ by Georg Caspar Kirchmaier. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 13847. Kirchmaier, Maria Dorothea († 1679). Epicedium: ‘Der in einen Thränen =Winter verwandelte SOMMER […]’ (Wittenberg: Johann Sigismund Ziegenbein, [1679]), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 828–152a. Klitzing, Caspar Ludolph von (1625–6). Preacher: Joachim Wagnitz. Sermon: ‘Christliche Trawer= vnd Trostpredigt: […]’. Text: Wisdom 4:7–14. Epicedium: Martin Wagnitz. Epicedium: ‘Trost=Sonnett […]’ by Georg Lilien. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, 1631), LP Stolberg 14299. Koch, Theodora Sabine (1650–64). Preacher: Samuel Lange. Sermon: ‘Die beste Treue […]’. Text: Revelation 2: 10. Epicedia: Untitled section. (Leipzig: Henning Köler’s widow, 1664), LP Stolberg 13728. Epicedia: ‘Letzter Ehrndienst: […]’. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 13728. Kramer, Hieronymus (1654–70). Preacher: Johann Ulrich Mayer. Sermon: ‘Der Geistliche Kramer/ […]’. Text: Romans 8: 28. Trost=Schrifft: by Johann Christian Hetzer. (Leipzig: Johann Bauer, [1670]), LP Stolberg 14389. Epicedia: ‘Klage= und Trost=Worte/ […]’. (Leipzig: Johann Bauer, [1670]), LP Stolberg 14389. Krause, Eleonore Justina (1648–55). Preacher: Nicolaus Zapf. Sermon: ‘Hochzeit des Lambs mit 144000. Jungfrauen/ […]’. Text: Revelation 14: 4–5 (Jena: Georg Sengenwald, 1656), LP Stolberg 13832. Kuffer, Johanna Magdalene (1667–8). Invitatio ad exequias: Conrad Viktor Schneider. Oration: Georg Green. Epicedia: untitled section. (Wittenberg: Johann Borckardt, [1668]), LP Stolberg 13927. Kuntsch, Christoph Friedrich (1677–85). Epicedium: ‘Schmertzliche Abschieds=Ode […]’ by Christoph Reim. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1685]), FLB Gotha: LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24d/ 1).

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Kuntsch, Dorothea Friderica (1680–90). Epicedia: ‘ACERBUM LUCTUM […]’. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, 1690), FLB Gotha: LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b/ 1). Epicedium: ‘Als Jhre Hertzlich=geliebte einige Schwester […] Durch einen unverhofften wiewol seeligen Todt aus allen Jammer erlöset wurde […]’ by Margarethe Elisabeth Kuntsch. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), FLB Gotha: LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b/ 5). Epicedia: ‘CUPRESSUS FUNEREA in funere VIRGINIS […]’. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), FLB Gotha: LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b). Epicedium: ‘Das beklagte und getröstete Vater= und Mutter Hertze/ […]’ by Christoph Reim. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), FLB Gotha: LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b/ 2). Epicedium: ‘Das blutende Mutter=Hertz […]’ by Margarethe Susanna Kuntsch. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), FLB Gotha: LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b/ 6). Epicedium: ‘Schuldigste Condolentz, […]’ by J. H. S. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), FLB Gotha: LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b/ 3). Epicedium: ‘Uber Die Toden=Grufft Der nunmehro seeligsten Jf. Dorotheen Friedericen Kuntschin/ […]’ by Gottfried Stockmann. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, [1690]), FLB Gotha: LP N 4◦ II, 00002 (24b/ 4). Lantzenberger, Margarete (1623–8). Preacher: Erhart Lauterbach. Sermon: ‘Christliche Oster=Leichpredigt/ […].’ Text: Matthew 28: 8–10. Epicedia: untitled section. (Leipzig: Johann-Albrecht Mintzel, 1628), LP Stolberg 14774. Lehmann, Johanna Eleonore (1698–1700) and Christian Wilhelm (1699–1700). Preacher 1: Christoph Geißler. Sermon 1: ‘Christi kräfftiges Vnterrichtungs= und Trost=Wort/ […]’. Text: Mark 10: 14. Preacher 2: Christian Beuchen. Sermon 2 (‘Stand=Sermon’): ‘Das Dem himmlischen Lehns=Herrn willigst=abgetretene Lehn=Guth/ […]’. (Wittenberg: Christian Kreusige, [n.d.]), HAAB Weimar: 2◦ XXXVI, 52 (n.9)∗ . Epicedia: ‘Trost=Zeilen/ […]’. (No publication details), HAAB Weimar: 2◦ XXXVI, 52 (n.9)∗ . Leipzig, Sophie von (1607–9). Preacher: Gabriel Moller. Sermon: ‘Christliche Leichpredigt/ […]’. Text: Revelation 14: 1–5. Epicedia: ‘NÆNIA THRENI ET LACRYMÆ […]’. (Wittenberg: Lorenz Seuberlich, 1609), LP Stolberg 15063, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale): Pon Zc 3505, QK. Leyser, Christina Dorothea (∗† 1660). Epicedia: ‘Letzte Mittgabe mit welcher Die liebe Gottes Gabe […] außgestattet und beehret worden/ […]’. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 15161.


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Löser, Magnus Wilhelm (1678–96), Kurt (1681–96) and Rudolph August (1683–96). Preacher: Valentin König. Sermon: ‘Der Drey Edlen Helden/ Löbliches Verhalten und herrliche Belohnung/ […]’. Texts: Job 19: 25–7 (Magnus Wilhelm), Wisdom 5: 16–17 (Kurt), and Wisdom 3: 1–4 (Rudolph August). Oration: Petrus Diemann. ‘Trostschreiben’: Gottlob Innocentius von Einsiedel. Epicedia: untitled section. Oration: Moritz Wilhelm Haberlandt. (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter [1696]), LP Stolberg 15864–6. Marci, Anna Maria (1618–33). Preacher: Christian Lange. Sermon: ‘Leich=Predigt Vber die Wort des Königes Davids im 103. Ps. […]’. Text: Psalm 103: 15–18. Invitatio ad exequias: Christian Lange. Epicedia: untitled section. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 15947. Martin, Gotthelf Christian († 1690). Epicedium: ‘Der Vnterbrochene Menschen=Schluß/ […]’ by the Chur-Sächsisches Convictorium. (Wittenberg: Christian Schrödter, [n.d.]), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 828–156b. Mayer, Maria Sophia (1657–8). Preacher: Jakob Clauder. Sermon: ‘Sanffter Todes=Weg/ […]’. Text: Baruch 4: 19, 20 & 23. Oration: by Christmann Bornmann. Epicedia: ‘Christlicher Mit=Jammer/ […]’. (Leipzig: Quirinus Bauch, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 15847. Meyer, Sophie Elisabeth († 1637?). Epicedium: ‘ODE […]’ by Andreas Hartmann. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, 1637), HAB Wolfenbüttel: Yv 148 Helmst. 8 (115). Mitius, Dorothea Juliane (1674–7). Oration: ‘A Thränen und Weinen […]’ by Carl Adam Seiffart. Epicedia: untitled section. (Wittenberg: Christoph Schrödter, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 16376. Mossbach, Catharin-Elisabeth († 1648?). Epicedium: ‘Gedancken/ Vber den allzufrühzeitigen Hintritt Catharin=Elisabeth Moßbachin/ […]’ by Enoch Hanmann. (Leipzig: Timotheus Ritzsch, 1648), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (188). Mossbach, Samuel (1640–1). Preacher: Johannes Andreas Tilemann. Sermon: ‘Labsal in Trübsal […]’. Text: Psalm 42: 12. Epicedia: ‘CARMINA CONSOLATORIA […]’. ([Leipzig]: Gregor Ritzsch, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 16537. Möstel, Beata Maria († 1632?). Epicedium: ‘Auff Jung. Beaten Marien […]. Trostlied An die hochbetrübten Eltern’ by Paul Fleming (and an epicedium by Sigmund Jancke). (Leipzig: [n.pub.], 1632), HAB Wolfenbüttel: K 349. 4◦ Helmst. (72). Muller, ¨ Anna Maria (1647–62). Preacher: Samuel Lange. Sermon: ‘Der Saure und Süsse Todt/ […]’. Text: Isaiah 57: 1–2. Epicedia: ‘Hertzliche Traur= und Trost=Gedancken/ […]’. ([Leipzig]: Johann Wittigau, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 16669.

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Neuhausen, Gottfried (1650–66). Epicedia: ‘Trauer=Ode/ […]’ by David Wendeler and friends. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 17071. Nicolai, Regina Maria (1676–91). Preacher: Johann Jeremias Reichhelm. Sermon: ‘Die Christo zugebrachte Jungfrau/ […]’. Text: 2 Corinthians 11: 2. Epicedia: untitled section. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld’s widow’s press, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 17132. Nietner, Andreas Vollrad (1652–8). Epicedia: ‘Trost= und Ehren= Pfeiler […]’. (Halle/ S.: Salfeld’s press, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 8837, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale): Nv 332 (26). Olearius, August (1646–57). Preacher: Friedrich Wilhelm Leyser. Sermon: ‘Dreyfache Ehren=Seule der Gnaden/ deß Glücks/ und der Herrligkeit deren iede mit einer Dreyfachen Ehren=Crone geziehret […]’. Text: Wisdom 4: 7–15. (Halle/ S.: Salfeld’s press, [1658]), LP Stolberg 17398. Epicedia: ‘AUGUSTUS […] EPICEDIIS HONORATUS. […]’. (Halle/ S.: Salfeld’s press, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 17398. Epicedia: ‘Jugend= und Tugend=Lob […]’. (Halle/ S.: Salfeld’s press, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 17398. Oration: ‘[…] OLEÆ SVRCVLVS nuper-florentissime, nunc eheu! præmaturè resecte: […]’ by Friedrich Cahlen. Epicedia: Untitled section. (Halle/ S.: Melchior Oelschlegel, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 4922. Epicedia: ‘A Jmmergrünender Oel=Zweig/ […]’. (Halle/ S.: Melchior Oelschlegel, [1657?]), HAAB Weimar: 40,3: 34 (n.30/ 41)∗ . Olearius, August Theodor (1688–90). Preacher: Johann Quirinus Heden. Sermon: ‘Eine gantz unvermuthete und klägliche doch selige Veränderung des THEATRI: […]’. Epicedia: ‘Anhang etlicher/ meist freywilliger/ Dem weiland Holdseligen AUGUST-THEODORO OLEARIO gewiedmeter Leichgedichte’ (Arnstadt: Heinrich Meurer, 1690), LP Stolberg 17489. Olearius, Johann Friedrich (1659). Epicedia: ‘Selige Versetzung Auß diesem irrdischen Welt=Garten in das Himmlische Paradieß […]’. (Halle/ S.: Salfeld’s press, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 9100. Pfeffer, Elisabeth (1618–32). Preacher: Johannes Schreiter. Sermon: ‘[…], Christus allein/ Vnd sonsten kein. […]’. Text: Isaiah 63: 1–6. Epicedia: untitled section. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, 1632), LP Stolberg 17782. Pfuhl, August Bertram von (1659–60). Preacher: Johannes Olearius. Sermon: ‘Agallochum. Das Hertzerquickende Paradieß=Holtz/ welches alles Creutz= und Wiederwertigkeit kräfftiglich lindern und ändern kan. […]’. Text: Genesis 22. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 17808. Epicedia: ‘Christliches Mittleiden […]’. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 17808.


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Pilarick, Johann Stephan (1685–7). Epicedia: ‘Christliches Beyleid […]’. (Wittenberg: Christian Schrödter, [n.d.]), BEP Wittenberg: Fun 827–022b. Polus (Pole), Christine. Epicedium: ‘[…] Ode […] An die betrübte Eltern’ by Paul Fleming. (Reval: Christoph Reusner, 1635), RSB Zwickau: 6.4.19. (2). Rauchhaupt, Agnes Margarethe von (1658–69). [Together with her elder brother Christoph Friedrich von Rauchhaupt]. Preacher: Christoph Hahn. Sermon: ‘Christlicher Eltern Gebühr/ […]’. Text: Baruch 4: 19, 20, & 23. Epicedia: untitled. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld’s widow and heirs, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 18400. Richter, Rosina (1640–57). Preacher: Johann-Benedikt Carpzov. Sermon: ‘[…] Die rechte Vergnügung eines Christen/ […]’. Text: Psalm 73: 25–6. Oration by Georg Aland. (Leipzig: Johann Bauer, [1657]), LP Stolberg 18828. Ro¨ ber, Sophie Elisabeth (1630–1). Preacher: Jakob Martin. Sermon: ‘Gedenck= vnd Leichsermon/ […]’. Text: Luke 18: 16. Invitatio ad exequias: Ambrosius Rhodius. Oration: Gottfried Olearius. Epicedia: Untitled section. (Wittenberg: Johann Gorman’s heirs, [1631]), LP Stolberg 18960. Roth, Veronica († 1643). Epicedia: ‘Triumph der seeligen Seele/ […]’ by Johann Frentzel. (Leipzig: Timotheus Ritzsch, [n.d.]), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (26). Saxony-Altenburg, Christian, Duke (1654–63). Preacher: Johann Christfried Sagittarius. Sermon: ‘Schmertzliche Klag=Seule/ […]’ (includes a description of the funeral procession). Text: Lamentations 5: 15–17. (Altenburg: Johann-Bernhard Bauerfincken, 1663), LP Stolberg 19512. Epicedium: ‘Die Unsterbligkeit der Fürsten […]’ by Christoph Vater. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 19513. Epicedium: ‘Heisse Thränen/ […] by Christian Wehner. (Altenburg: Johann Michael, [1663]), LP Stolberg 19513. Saxony-Altenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm iii, Duke (1657–72). Epicedia: ‘Hertz=schmertzliche Thränen/ […] (Altenburg: Gottfried Richter, 1672), Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Altenburg, Sammlung Leichenpredigten: Sachsen=Altenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm und Magdalena Sibylla (3). Saxony-Weissenfels, Catharina (1655–63), Elisabeth (1660–3), and Dorothea (1662–3), Princesses. Prefaced by a description of the funeral, the coffins, and the funeral procession. Preacher: Johannes Olearius. Sermon: ‘BEATISSIMA RUTÆ PERENNIS TRANSPLANTATIO, Die seelige Versetzung Dreyer immergrünenden Sächsischen Rauten=Pfläntzlein in den Him[m]lischen Paradiß=Garten des ewigen

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Lebens/ […]’. Text: Job 1: 21. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 19542–4. Epicedia: ‘Hertz=Creutz […]’ by Martin Eßkuchen. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 19542–4. Schäffer, Barbara-Catharina († 1664). Oration and epicedium: ‘Trost= Recept/ […]’ by Joachim Feller. (Leipzig: Johann Bauren, [1664]), HAAB Weimar: O,5: 49 (n.2)∗ . Schäffer, Hans-Jakob (1642–8). ‘[…] Trost=Schrifft […]’ by Caspar Ziegler. (Leipzig: Timotheus Ritzsch, [n.d.]), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (157). Epicedia: ‘Klag= und Trost=Stimmen/ […]’. (Leipzig: Timotheus Ritzsch, [n.d.]), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (178). Scheffer, Heinrich (1645–50) and Jakob (1648–50). Epicedia: ‘Des aufferstandenen Ertzhirten bald heimgeholte Schäfflein/ […]’. (Halle/ S.: Christoph Salfeld, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 19831–2. Scheibe, Dorothea (1640?–6). Epicedia: ‘Grabe=Gedichte/ […]’. (Leipzig: Timotheus Ritzsch, [n.d.]), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (131). Schmid, Philipp Christoph († 1719). Epicedia: ‘Mitleidige Klage und Trost […]’. (Halle/ S.: Johann Christian Hilliger, [n.d.]), Universitätsund Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Saale): an Gb 956, 2◦ (108). Schneider, Maria Elisabeth (1655–73). Preacher: Abraham Calov. Sermon: ‘[…] BEATA OPTIMÆ PARTIS ELECTIO. Das ist: Die höchstselige Erwehlung des besten Theils/ […]’. Text: Psalm 73: 25–6. Oration: by Simon Friedrich Frentzel. Invitatio ad exequias: Wilhelm Leyser. Epicedia: ‘EPICEDIA’. (Wittenberg: Matthaeus Henckel, [1673]), LP Stolberg 20315. Schultt, Juliana Patientia von (1680–1702). Preacher: August Hermann Francke. Sermon: ‘Der Jungfrauen=Stand der Kinder Gottes’. (Halle/ S: Christian Henckel, 1702), LP Stolberg 20724. Schurer, ¨ Anna Margarethe (1621–37) and Maria Elisabeth (1625–37). Preacher: Paul Röber. Sermon: ‘Das 1. Außerlesenste 2. Teüerbarste vnd 3. Allerschönste Scharlach=Kleid/ Des Bluts Jesu Christi/ des Sohns Gottes/ […]’. Text: 1 John 1: 7. Song: ‘Von dem Purpur=Rohten Würmlein/ Jesu Christo/ ein Andächtigergesang/ Jm thon/ Da Jesus an dem Creutze stund’ (by Paul Röber?). Invitatio ad exequias: Henning Grosse. Epicedia: untitled section. (Wittenberg: Ambrosius Rothe’s heirs, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 20636–7. Epicedia: untitled section. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 20636–7. Severus, Anna Catharina (1624–38). Preacher: Christian Lange. Sermon: ‘Christliche Leichenpredigt/ Von den Vrsachen/ die vns zum Sterben sollen


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willig vnd frewdig machen/ […]’. Text: 2 Timothy 4: 6–8. Epicedia: untitled section. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, 1638), LP Stolberg 21054. Sommerfeld and Falckenhain, Barbara Helena von (1653–72). Preacher: Benjamin Gerlach. Sermon: ‘Heimführung Der Braut CHRJSTJ zur Hochzeit in Himmel […]’. Text: Psalm 45: 14–16. (Breslau: Baumann’s heirs [publisher]; Johann Christoph Jacob [printer], 1672), BL: 4886.bb77 1–3(1). Preacher: Gottfried Hahn. Sermon: ‘Geistliche Verlobung Einer gläubigen Seelen mit Christo/ […]’. Text: Hosea 2: 19–20. (Breslau: Baumann’s heirs [publisher]; Johann Christoph Jacob [printer], 1672), BL: 4886.bb77 1–3(2). Stetana, Dorothea (1597–1612). Preacher: Christoph Fürgang. Sermon: ‘Kurtze/ einfeltige/ doch Christliche Leichpredigt/ […]’. Text: Isaiah 38: 1. Epicedia: untitled section. (Leipzig: Wolfgang Meißner, 1613), LP Stolberg 21502. Stockmann, Johannes (1611–25). Preacher: Ambrosius Polenz. Sermon: ‘Christliche Leichpredigt/ vber die wort Psalm 68. Gott leget vns eine Last auff/ […]’. Text: Psalm 68: 20. Epicedia: ‘[…] SVSPIRIA PARENTIS, SYMBOLA DEFVNCTI, Epicedia Affinium, Fautorum & Amicorum. […]’ by Valerius Stockmann. Epicedia: ‘Epicedia Condolentium’. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, 1626), LP Stolberg 21555. Strauß, Clara Margarethe (1668–82) and Johann Gottfried († 1682). Preacher: Johann Quirsfeld. Sermon: ‘Die Selige Heimführung Der geistlichen Himmels=Braut/ […] Und die him[m]lische Promotion des seligen STUDIOSI […] (Pirna: Johann Heinrich Stremel [1682]). FLB Gotha: LP P 8◦ IV, 00020 (12). Temme, Maria Magdalene († 1713). Preacher: Johann Michael Heinecke. Sermon: ‘Die wahren Jungfrauen des Lammes […]’. Text: Revelation 14: 4–5. (Halle/ S.: Johann Montag, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 21983. Epicedium: ‘Die seelige Erndte=Zeit Einer Gottergebenen Seele […]’ by Augustin Temme (and epicedium by Ernst Benjamin Eckardt). (Halle/ S.: Johann Montag, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 21983. Teuber, Johann (1618–33), Maria Magdalene (1627–33), and Christian Laurentius (1631–3). Preacher: Jakob Teubner. Sermon: ‘Leichpredigt/ Bey der Christlichen Sepultur dreyer leiblichen Geschwister: […]’. Text: Psalm 91: 14–16. Epicedia: ‘Klag= vnd Trost Schrifft’ by J.A.M. [Johann-Albrecht Mintzel?]. (Leipzig: Johann-Albrecht Mintzel, 1633), LP Stolberg 22019–21. Tischer, Christian Gotthelf (1697–1708). Preacher: Clemens Thieme. Sermon: ‘Christliche Aufferziehung der Kinder/ als ein wohlgegründeter Trost über ihr zeitiges Absterben/ […]’. Text: 1 Timothy 4: 6. Oration: by

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Johann Justus Töpffer. Epicedia: ‘EPICEDIA’. (Leipzig: Johann Heinrich Richter, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 22201. Trub, ¨ Maria Dorothea (*† 1644). Epicedia: ‘Mitleidende Klageschrifft […]’. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, [n.d.]), RSB Zwickau: 48.8.13. (76). Wagner, Christina Elisabeth (1673–7). Oration: Johann Christian Sauereßig. Epicedium: (by Johann Christian Sauereßig?). (Wittenberg: Johann Borckhard [publ.] and Simon Lieberhirt [printer], [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 22729. Epicedia: ‘Der glückseelige Nahmens=Tag Christinen […]’. (Wittenberg: Matthaeus Henckel, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 22729. Epicedia: ‘Englischer Brautwagen […]’. (Wittenberg: Johann Borckhard [publ.] and Simon Lieberhirt [printer], [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 22729. Wagner, Karl Gottfried (1677–8). Epicedia: ‘AMARANTHUS IMMORTALIS, […]’. (Wittenberg: Johann Borckhard [publ.] and Simon Lieberhirt [printer], [1678]), LP Stolberg 22729a. Weinmann, Magdalena. Epicedium: ‘Ode’ by Paul Fleming. (Leipzig: [n.pub.], 1632), RSB Zwickau: 9.5.6. (135). Weise, Rachel Christiana (1698–1711) and Charlotte Sophie (1699–1711). Title of booklet: ‘Wohlverdientes Denckmahl/ Zweyen Geliebten Schwestern. […]’. Oration for Rachel Christiana: ‘Letztes Ehren=Gedächtniß/ […] by Friedrich Weise. Epicedia (for Rachel Christiana): untitled section. Oration for Charlotte Sophie: ‘Trauer=Rede, […] (Zufriedenheit die beste Trost=Rede)’ by Gottlob Friedrich Jenich. Epicedium (for Charlotte Sophie): ‘[…] Lebens=Lauff’. Epicedium (for both girls): ‘Uber das frühzeitige Absterben Zweyer beliebten Töchter, […]’ by Heinrich Levin von Könitz. Epicedia: ‘Trost=Zeilen/ Einiger Gönner und Freunde’. Oration: ‘Gedächtniß=Rede Uber den Todt Zweyer geliebten Töchter’ by J. B. Schreckenfels. (Leipzig: Christoph Friedrich Rumpff, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 22764–5. Epicedium: ‘Bey dem Frühzeitigen Absterben Jungfer Charlot. Sophien Weisin/ […]’ by Carl Friedrich Romanus. (Leipzig: Brandenburg press, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 22765. Winckler, Gottfried (1654–61). Sermon: ‘Einfältige Leich-Lection! […]’. Text: Wisdom 4: 10–14. (Leipzig: Christian Michael, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 23150. Epicedium: unnamed figured poem. (No publication details), LP Stolberg 23150. Wirth, Anna (1614–32), Magdalene (1615–32), and Juda von (1623– 32). Preacher 1 (Anna): Johann Höpner. Sermon: ‘Christliche Leich Predigt Vber das Psalm=Sprüchlein aus dem 73. Psalm. HERR/ wenn ich nur dich habe/ so frage ich nichts nach Himmel vnd Erden/ [et]c. […]’. Text: Psalm 73: 25–6. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, 1632). LP Stolberg 23200–2.


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Preacher 2 (Magdalene): Christian Lange. Sermon: ‘Christliche Leich Predigt Vber den trostreichen Spruch des Königs Davids im 126. Ps. Die mit Thränen säen/ werden mit Frewden ernden/ [et]c […]’. Text: Psalm 126: 5–6. (Leipzig: Gregor Ritzsch, [1632]), LP Stolberg 23200–2. Epicedium: ‘Trawriges Gedächtnüß […]’ by A[dam] O[learius]? (Leipzig: Abraham Lamberg’s heirs, 1632), LP Stolberg 23200–2. Epicedium: ‘[…] Paull Flemmings Trostlied […]’. (No publication details). LP Stolberg 23200–2. Epicedium: ‘ ‘‘Himmlische Ehre der vnsträfflichen Seelen: […]’’ by Gregor Ritzsch’ ([Leipzig]: [Gregor Ritzsch], 1632), LP Stolberg 23200–2. Zeidler, Elisabeth (1629–43). Preacher: Johannes Höpner. Sermon: ‘Leichen=Sermon Vber das trostreiche Sprüchlein des geistreichen Mannes Assaphs/ […]’. Text: Psalm 73: 25–6. Oration: by Friedrich Rappolt. Invitatio ad exequias: Franz Romanus (?). Epicedia: ‘Klag= und Trost=Schrifften […]’. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, [1643]), LP Stolberg 23445. Epicedia: ‘[…] Epicedia In Honorem & Memoriam Trigæ piè defunctarum […]’. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, [n.d.]), attached to LP Stolberg 23452a. Zeidler, Johann († 1644). Epicedia: ‘Wiederholeter Trost […]’. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 23448. Epicedium: ‘Grosses Wort Der standhafftigen Tugend: Sich nicht bewegen lassen; […]’ by Tobias Clausnitzer. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 23448. Zeidler, Maria (1631–43) and Anna (1638–43). Preacher (for Maria): Ananias Weber. Sermon (for Maria): ‘Christlicher Eltern rechtmässige Verhaltung bey seligem Hintritt ihrer lieben Kinder/ […]’. Text: Baruch 4: 19, 20, & 23. Oration: by Friedrich Rappolt. Invitatio ad exequias by Franz Romanus (?). Epicedia (for Maria): ‘Vernewerter Trost Auff vernewertes Hertzleid und Betrübnüß […]’. Oration (for Anna): Friedrich Rappolt. Epicedia: ‘Gedritter Trost Auff das dritte Hertzleid und Betrübnüß […]’. (Leipzig: Henning Köler, [1643]), LP Stolberg 23452–2a. Zittemann, Johanna Maria (1664–80). Preacher: Georg Lehmann. Sermon: ‘Des Geistlichen Seelen=Bräutigams Unermeßliche Liebe/ […]’. Text: Jeremiah 31: 3. Epicedium: by Georg Lehmann. Oration: by Immanuel Weber. Invitatio ad exequias: Valentin Alberti. Epicedia: ‘Als Uber dem frühzeitigen Erblassen Jhrer Hertzgeliebten Tochter/ […] Herr Matthias Zittemann/ Und Fr. Anna Catherina […] Höchst=betrübte Eltern worden/ […]’. (Leipzig: Christian Götze, [n.d.]), LP Stolberg 23560.

Bibliography Reference works Adelung, Johann Christian, Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, mit beständiger Vergleichung der übrigen Mundarten, besonders aber der Oberdeutschen, 4 vols., 2nd edn. (Leipzig: Breitkopf [and Härtel], 1793–1801); facs. edn. in Documenta Linguistica. Quellen zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache des 15. bis 20. Jahrhunderts, ser. 2: Wörterbücher des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts ( Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1990). Arnswaldt, Werner Konstantin von et al., Katalog der fürstlich Stolberg-Stolberg’schen Leichenpredigten Sammlung, Bibliothek familiengeschichtlicher Quellen, 2, 4 vols. (Leipzig: Degener, 1927–35). Encyclopædia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971). Erler, Georg (ed.), Die jüngere Matrikel der Universität Leipzig 1559–1809, 3 vols., I: Wintersemester 1559—Sommersemester 1634, II: Wintersemester 1634—Sommersemester 1709, III: Wintersemester 1709—Sommersemester 1809 (Leipzig: Giesecke and Devrient, 1909). Fabian, Bernhard, and Willi Gorzny (eds.), Deutsches biographisches Archiv (Munich: Saur, 1982–6). ¨ Fischer, Albert, and Wilhelm Tumpel (eds.), Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, 6 vols. (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1902–16). Flood, John L., Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire: A BioBibliographical Handbook, 4 vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006). Foerstemann, Karl Eduard (ed.), Album Academiae Vitebergensis, Ältere Reihe (1502–1602), I: 1502–60 (Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1841). ¨ Gustav, Hans Goedeke, and Hans Jurgen ¨ Fruh, von Wilckens, Die Leichenpredigten des Stadtarchivs Braunschweig, Sonderveröffentlichungen des niedersächsischen Landesvereins für Familienkunde, 14, 10 vols. (Hanover: Niedersächsischer Verein für Familienkunde, 1976–90). Garber, Klaus (ed.), Handbuch des personalen Gelegenheitsschrifttums in europäischen Bibliotheken und Archiven, im Zusammenwirken mit der Forschungsstelle Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit und dem Institut für Kulturgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit der Universität Osnabrück, 18 vols. (Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 2001– ). Gerhard, Karl (ed.), Album Academiae Vitebergensis, Ältere Reihe (1502–1602), III: indices (Halle/S.: Niemeyer, 1905).

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Francisci, Erasmus Erinnerung der Morgenröte/ Oder Geistliches Hanen=Geschrey/ An die vertieffte Hertzen im Schatten deß Todes: vermittelst drey und sechtzig Aufmunterungen menschlicher Seelen/ zu wahrer ernstlicher Bekehrung/ von der Sünden Nacht/ zum Aufgang aus der Höhe; von der Gewalt der Finsterniß/ zum Morgen=Glantze Göttlicher Gnaden und Barmhertzigkeit; von der Ruchlosigkeit/ zur Busse; von der Eitelkeit/ zu Grund=fester Hoffnung/ vom Zweiffel und Mißglauben/ zum Glauben und gläubigem Wandel; vom Tode zum Leben: angestimmet […] (Nuremberg: the heirs of Johann Andreas Endter and Wolfgang Endter, 1672; rev. edn.: Wolfgang Moritz Endter, 1689). Die Letzte Rechenschafft Jeglicher und aller Menschen/ abzulegen/ Zu den Füssen der Ewigen Majestet: Jn vier und sechszig Bedenckungen Deß Sonderbaren Seelen=Gerichts/ und Allmenschlichen End=Gerichts/ abgehandelt/ Darinn nechst ausführ= und gründlicher Versicherung der Gewißheit solcher Göttlichen Gerichte/ das besondere Vorgericht der Seelen/ samt ihrem Zustande zwischen dem zeitlichem Tode und ewigem Leben/ die Beschaffenheit der Vorzeichen deß Jüngsten Tages/ die Erscheinung deß majestetischen Richters/ Ausferweckung aller Todten/ Verfordrung aller Menschen und Teufel zu gerichtlicher Abrechnung/ derselben endliche Verurtheil= und Einweisung zum ewigen Leben oder Tode/ wie auch unsre nothwendige Anschickung zu solchem grossen Gerichte/ erörtert wird: Denen Unbußfertigen heilsam=schrecklich/ den Bußfertigen Trost=erfreulich fürgestellet/ auch mit vielen neuen Liedern und Sinnbildern gezieret/ […] (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Moritz Endter and Johann Andreas Endter’s heirs, 1681; repr.: Johann Andreas Endter’s heirs, 1684). Das Unfehlbare Weh der Ewigkeit für die Verächter der Gnaden =Zeit; Mit Grund=erwiesenem Bericht von der Hellen/ und ihrer Gewißheit/ von der verzweifelten Hinfahrt verfluchter Seelen an den Ort der Quaal/ von der abscheulichen Gestalt und Ungelegenheit selbiges Orts/ von derer/ so im Tode entschlaffen sind/ verächtlichen Auferstehung/ schmähendem Gerichts=Stande/ Verstossung zur Hellen/ und ewig=grausamen Marter =Wesen; Aller Mütter Kindern/ Fürnehmen und Geringen/ zu treuer Warnung/ und Erweckung Christlicher Fürsichtigkeit/ so wol mit ausführlicher Beschreibung/ als vielen Sinn=Bildern/ und Kupffer=Figuren/ Vorgestellet/ […] (Nuremberg: Wolfgang Moritz Endter and Johann Andreas Endter’s heirs, 1682; repr. 1686). Franck, Johann, […] Geistliches Sion Das ist: Neue Geistl. Lieder/ und Psalmen/ nebst beygefügten/ theils bekanten/ theils lieblichen neuen Melodeyen/ sambt der Vater=unsers=Harffe/ Wie auch sein Jrrdischer Helicon/ Oder Lob= Lieb= und Leid=Getichte/ und dessen verneuerte Susanna/ Sambt hinzugethanen/ denen Liebhabern der deutschen Poesie

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Index of Bible Verses Genesis 3 (17–19) 112 n. 32 Genesis 4 (1–16) 33 n. 91 Genesis 9 (20–7) 34 n. 91 Genesis 19 (26) 215 n. 121 Genesis 22 (1–13) 85, 260 Genesis 35 (18) 207 n. 89 Genesis 37 (34–5) 70 Exodus 3 (8) 113 n. 36 Exodus 15 (23–5) 88 n. 47 Exodus 16 (31) 113 n. 35 Exodus 17 (8–16) 44 n. 129 Leviticus 12 (2–3) 39 n. 113 Numbers 11 (5) 112 n. 32 Numbers 13 (28) 113 n. 36 Numbers 17 (8) 146 Numbers 21 (4–9) 40 n. 118 Judges 11 (29–40) 216 n. 123, 218 n. 129 Ruth 1 (20) 88 n. 47 1 Samuel 2 (12)–4 (22) 34 n. 91 1 Samuel 4 (21–2) 207 n. 92 1 Samuel 16 (23) 59 2 Samuel 12 (22–3) 32 n. 85, 216 n. 124 2 Samuel 13–18 34 n. 91 1 Kings 13 (20–32) 255 2 Kings 4 (8–37) 189 n. 46, 255 1 Chronicles 4 (9) 207 n. 89 1 Chronicles 8 (23) 207 n. 91 Job 1 (21) 80, 255, 256, 262 Job 3 (11–26) 221 Job 5 (17–18) 25, 91, 101 n. 84, 202 Job 6 (1–3) 221 n. 141 Job 16 (15) 208 Job 19 (23–7a) 16–17, 222 n. 142, 254, 256, 259 Job 29 (2, 3 and 5) 221 n. 139 Psalm 1 (3) 144 n. 23 Psalm 18 58 Psalm 23 (6) 83 Psalm 31 (6) 254 Psalm 37 (24) 233 Psalm 39 (2,10) 100

Psalm 42 (12) 259 Psalm 45 (14–16) 263 Psalm 68 (20) 263 Psalm 73 (25–6) 256, 261, 262, 264, 265 Psalm 80 (6) 112–13 n. 33 Psalm 91 (14–16) 263 Psalm 92 (13–14) 144–5 n. 23 Psalm 103 (15–18) 91 n. 56, 142, 259 Psalm 118 (17) 253 Psalm 126 (5–6) 265 Psalm 130 83 Psalm 142 (6–8) 194 Proverbs 3 (11–12) 37 Proverbs 17 (3) 37 n. 107 Isaiah 6 (3) 134 n. 84 Isaiah 22 (13) 108 Isaiah 26 (20) 34 n. 93 Isaiah 38 (1–6) 155 n. 74, 263 Isaiah 40 (1) 13 n. 1 Isaiah 49 (15) 20 n. 30 Isaiah 57 (1–2) 259 Isaiah 61 (10) 170, 255, 257 Isaiah 62 (5) 163 Isaiah 63 (1–6) 260 Jeremiah 3 (8) 163 Jeremiah 7 (4) 87 n. 43 Jeremiah 9 (22) 149 n. 40 Jeremiah 13 (25) 87 n. 43 Jeremiah 31 (3) 253, 265 Lamentations 1 (12) 4, 210 Lamentations 3 (15) 113 n. 34 Lamentations 5 (15–17) 261 Ezekiel 12 (18) 113 n. 33 Daniel 2 (31–45) 191 n. 52 Hosea 2 (19–20) 163, 263 Jonah 4 (6–7) 146 Malachi 3 (2–3) 37 n. 107 2 Esdras 10 (12) 255 Wisdom 3 (1–4) 42 n. 122, 259 Wisdom 4 (7–15) 33, 86, 96 n. 70, 123 n. 59, 143 n. 18, 184, 257, 260, 264

308

Index of Bible Verses

Wisdom 5 (16–17) 259 Ecclesiasticus 14 (18) 30 n. 72 Ecclesiasticus 30 (22–5) 24 Ecclesiasticus 38 (16–25) 29, 30 n. 71, 32, 36 n. 99 Ecclesiasticus 41 (5–7) 254 Baruch 4 (19, 20 & 23) 207 n. 88, 259, 261, 265 I Maccabees 9 (37–41) 168 n. 130 2 Maccabees 7, 188–9, 216 Matthew 6 (19–21) 159 n. 91, 183 n. 29 Matthew 7 (13–14) 215 n. 120 Matthew 9 (15) 163 n. 108 Matthew 9 (23–6) 42 n. 122 Matthew 10 (37) 32 n. 82 Matthew 13 (22) 85 n. 37, 143 n. 17 Matthew 17 (2) 42 n. 123 Matthew 22 (1–13) 163 n. 108, 172 Matthew 25 (1–13) 172 Matthew 28 (8–10) 258 Mark 5 (39) 42 n. 122 Mark 10 (14) 258 Luke 2 (29–32) 169 n. 131 Luke 7 (11–15) 339 n. 114, 189 n. 46 Luke 8 (22–5) 155 n. 73 Luke 8 (40–56) 42 n. 122 Luke 16 (22) 165 n. 118 Luke 18 (16) 261 Luke 23 (42–3) 39 n. 112 John 3 (14–15) 40 n. 118 John 3 (29) 163 n. 108 John 4 (47–53) 135 n. 86 John 11 (1–44) 29 n. 70

John 12 (24) 111, 147 John 15 (5) 146 Acts 5 (19–20) 169 n. 133 Romans 6 (23) 153 n. 62 Romans 8 (28) 257 Romans 8 (34–5) 222 n. 143 Romans 11 (24) 145 Romans 12 (15) 30 n. 71, 44 n. 127, 56 Romans 14 (7–9) 253, 256 1 Corinthians 9 (24–5) 168 1 Corinthians 15 (36–8) 147 2 Corinthians 1 (3–4) 44 n. 128 2 Corinthians 7 (10) 30 n. 73 2 Corinthians 11 (2) 163 n. 109, 254, 260 Ephesians 5 (22–32) 163 n. 110, 164 Philippians 1 (21) 34 n. 94, 153 n. 65 1 Thessalonians 4 (13) 8, 17, 31 1 Timothy 4 (6) 263 2 Timothy 4 (6–8) 68 n. 125, 160, 168 n. 128, 257, 263 Hebrews 12 (5–8) 37, 79 n. 22, 185 1 Peter 5 (4) 170 n. 137 1 John 1 (7) 84 n. 35, 256, 262 1 John 4 (16) 162 Revelation 2 (10) 257 Revelation 4 (8) 134 n. 83 Revelation 14 (1–5) 257, 258, 263 Revelation 14 (13) 254 Revelation 19 (6–9) 163, 170 n. 137, 172 n. 143, 253 Revelation 21 (4) 157 n. 81 Revelation 21 (23) 134 n. 83

Index Absalom, son of David (II Samuel 13–18) 33, 36 n. 100 acrostic poems 80–5, 100 Adelung, Johann Christian 71 n. 7 Adler, Jeremy D. 77 nn. 19 and 20 AEschardt, Johann 160 n. 93, 229, 257 affects (emotions) 15–17, 20, 23, 28, 47, 50–6, 58–9, 69 n. 4, 96, 98, 101, 121–2, 134, 136, 179 n. 20, 218, 219, 220, 225–6 Agamemnon 217–20 Aikin, Judith P. 163 n. 106 Aland, George 144, 229, 261 Alberti, Martha Justina 81 n. 28, 119 n. 48, 153, 170 n. 136, 239, 241, 252, 253 Alberti, Valentin 111 n. 27, 229, 233, 265 Alei, Paolo 219 alexandrine line 130, 131, 177 alien righteousness (iustitia aliena) 164 Alsted, Johann Heinrich 50, 55–6, 121 Alvensleben, August von 80, 115, 143, 147, 151, 242, 247, 251, 253 Alvensleben, Floriana Carlotta von 72 n. 11, 253 Amling, Wolfgang 219 n. 134, 229, 253 Amnon, son of David (II Samuel 13) 33 anagrams 85–6, 87–8 anapaests 129, 131 Anger, Andreas 89–90, 122, 230 Anhalt-Bernburg, Amalia Juliana, Princess 219 n. 134, 229, 253 Anhalt-Cöthen, Ludwig, Prince 50 n. 13, 93, 124 Anhalt-Cöthen, Luise Amoene, Princess 93, 124, 253 antithesis 28, 53, 79, 98, 111–3, 119–20

apatheia 16, 52 Apol, Samuel 143 n. 20, 230 Apollo 66, 168, 188 n. 45, 189, 192 Ariès, Philippe 2 Aristotle 48–9, 51 n. 18, 52, 53, 55, 56 n. 40, 67 Arndt, Johann 195 n. 62 Arnswaldt, Werner Konstantin von 10 n. 37 ars moriendi 7 n. 22, 8, 105–7, 115–16 Astell, Ann W. 163 n. 111 Augustine, Aurelius (Augustine of Hippo) 25, 42, 137 n. 1 Avenbeck, Magdalene 115 n. 40, 232, 254 Badinter, Elisabeth 2 n. 4 Bakhtin, Mikhail 227 n. 6 Balde, Jakob 60 n. 54 Balduin, Friedrich 158, 230, 254 baptism 8, 38–9, 43, 59, 165, 204, 208 Battafarano, Italo Michele 193 n. 55 Becker, Gottlieb 92 n. 58, 230 Becker-Cantarino, Barbara 7 n. 22 Bencker, Johann Nicolaus 111 n. 29, 230, 232 Benig, Gottfried 95, 230 Bepler, Jill 10 n. 37 Bergmann, Michael 93 n. 60 Bergmann, Wenceslaus 196 n. 62 Bernard of Clairvaux 26, 30 n. 75 Bernd, Adam 109, 230 Berns, Jörg Jochen 128 n. 75 Beuchen, Christian 156 n. 78, 231, 258 Birken, Sigmund von 46, 57, 69 n. 3, 71–2 n. 10, 80, 89, 122, 127, 129, 131, 138 Blume, Christian and Magdalena 158, 230, 254 Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus 16, 23 Boge, Birgit 7 n. 25

310 Bogner, Ralf Georg 7 n. 25 Bopp, Barbara A. 175–6 n. 8 Borcherdt, Hans Heinrich 49–50 n. 13, 129 n. 78 Bormann, Karl 52 n. 20 Bose, Albrecht 142, 157–8, 160, 238, 254 Bose, Paul 161, 231 Bowlby, John 25, 26, 123 Brancaforte, Elio Christoph 176 n. 11 Braun, Dorothea Sophie 94, 254 Brehme, Christian 175 Bretnütz, Johann August 115 n. 41, 159, 237, 245, 254 bridal imagery 113–14, 125–6, 131, 134, 161–73, 187–8 Brillwitz, Bernhard Heinrich 149, 231 Brockes, Barthold Heinrich 63–6, 99–100, 231, 233, 239, 245, 249 Brockes, Catharina Margarethe († 1714) 63–6, 99, 231, 254 Brockes, Catharina Margarethe († 1731) 99 Brockes, Johann Bernhard 64 n. 69, 99, 231, 254 Brockes, Maria Gerdrut 99 Buchner, August 49–50, 129 n. 78, 175, 178 Bugenhagen, Johannes 39 nn. 111 and 115, 249 Bürger, Thomas 10 n. 37 burial, see funerals Burton, Robert 24, 51–2 Buxbaum, Albin 88, 231, 254 Cahlen, Friedrich 145, 231, 253, 260 Calvinist funeral booklets 7 n. 25 Carpzov, Johann Benedikt 73 n. 13, 172–3, 231–2, 235, 256, 261 Carpzov, Magdalene 219–20, 235, 254 Carrdus, Anna 3 n. 7, 4 n. 9, 9 n. 35, 14 n. 8, 19 nn. 27 and 28, 21 n. 37, 27 n. 63, 69 n. 5, 99 n. 76, 100 n. 82, 104–5, 119 n. 47, 120 n. 51, 121 n. 52, 123, 174 n. 1, 180 n. 26, 188 n. 44, 193 n. 56, 194 n. 57, 195 n. 59, 196 n. 62, 202 n. 70, 203 n. 73–4, 208, 209 nn. 98 and

Index 102, 215, 220 n. 137, 223 n. 144, 235, 239, 247, 248, 249, 251 catharsis 53 Catholic funeral booklets 7 n. 25 Cerycius, Christoph 115 n. 40, 232 chronograms 80 Cicero, Marcus Tullius 16, 25–6, 27, 31 n. 79, 50–1, 54, 55, 56 n. 40, 100, 119, 121 n. 53, 219 Clarke, Elizabeth 2 n. 5 Cleve, John W. van 119 n. 45 Clewell, Tammy 27 n. 59 Cohen, Kathleen 109 n. 21 commemoration 11, 71–89, 101, 190, 204, 209 consolatio, see laudatio, lamentatio, consolatio contemptus mundi 111, 118, 128, 131, 133, 154–5, 186, 215 contraria contrariis sananda 28, 38, 94, 113 Cook, Elizabeth 77 n. 19 Corpus, Christian 158 n. 84, 232 Cox, Virginia 119, 120 n. 50 Cretzschmar, Georg 150 n. 45, 232 Cruse Bereavement Care 123 Cundisius, Maria Elisabeth 88, 231, 254–5 Cunningham, Hugh 1 n. 1 Dach, Simon 9 n. 35 dactyls 50 n. 13, 107, 128–31, 166, 178 David, lament for his infant son (II Samuel 12) 32, 35, 79, 216 delectare, see prodesse et delectare DeMause, Lloyd 2 n. 4 dialogue 17, 116–30, 149, 151, 183, 193, 225, 239 Dieterich, Martin 160, 232 docere, see prodesse et delectare dolls 2–3 Dooren, Jan Pieter van 7 n. 25 Dornfeld, Johannes 113 n. 37, 232 Dousa, Janus 177 n. 15 Drachstedt, Johann Caspar 85–6, 232–3 ´ Durkheim, Emile 226 Dyck, Joachim 50 n. 15, 51 n. 16, 54 nn. 28 and 30, 56 n. 37, 121 n. 54

Index Eberti, Johann Caspar 157 n. 81 echo poems 126–8 Eckardt, Ernst Benjamin 112 n. 30, 233, 263 Eichholz, Caspar 145, 234, 255 eidolopoeia 120–1 n. 52 Eisenreich, Georg Leopold 101 n. 84, 149 n. 43, 158 n. 85, 231, 233, 238, 241–2, 250, 255 Elschenbroich, Donata 2 n. 4 Engel, George L. 25 Engelmann, Susanna 111, 229, 255 epicedium (funeral poem) 5, 6, 7, 8, 9–10, 11, 45, 59, 60, 61, 62, 67, 68–9, 72, 77, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 96, 98, 101, 111, 118, 120, 122–3, 129, 136, 138, 141, 142, 146, 147–8, 155, 156, 160, 166, 168, 173, 177, 178, 179, 183 n. 30, 185, 187, 188, 208, 212, 222, 225, 226, 227–8 epithalamium (nuptial poem) 59, 60, 131, 166 n. 124 Erler, Georg 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252 Ernst, Jakob Daniel 195 n. 62 Ernst, Ulrich 77 n. 19 Eßkuchen, Martin 77–80, 233, 262 etymological word-play 69, 79–80, 88–9 Evers, Johann Conrad 108–9, 125, 238, 243, 255 Fabricius, Johann Albert 65–6, 233 Felicitas, Christian martyr 216 Feller, Joachim 127–8, 141, 233, 262 figured poetry 73–4, 75 n. 17, 77–80 Finckelthaus, Gottfried 175, 236 Fischer, Albert 81 n. 32, 84 n. 36 flectere (movere) 50–1, 54, 55–56, 58, 137 Fleischhauer, Johann Balthasar 71, 158 n. 86, 166, 243, 247, 249, 255 Fleming, Paul 9 n. 35, 10, 11, 60, 93 n. 60, 101–2, 174–93, 222, 226, 242, 259, 261, 264, 265

311 Flinn, Michael W. 1 n. 1 Flood, John L. 12 n. 40, 131 n. 81, 174 n. 2, 190 n. 49, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 236, 237, 240, 241, 243, 244 Foerstemann, Karl Eduard 241, 243, 244, 247, 250 Folter, Roland 77 n. 19 Forschungsstelle für Personalschriften, Philipps-Universität, Marburg 6 n. 16 Förster, Friedrich 194 Förster, Friedrich Günter 195–6 Francisci, Erasmus 195–6 n. 62 Franck, Michael 107–8 Francke, August Hermann 104, 233, 247, 255, 262 Franckenstein, Christian Friedrich 145 n. 24, 234 Frentzel, Johann 131–4, 154–5, 161 n. 98, 234, 261 Frentzel, Johann Abraham 154–5, 157, 234, 244, 255 Frentzel, Michael Hieronymus 154, 234 Freud, Sigmund 9, 25, 26–7, 173 Freylinghausen, Johann Anastasius 81 n. 32, 108 n. 14 Fritsch, Ahasver 98 n. 75, 141–2, 234 Frölich, Christian 156, 234 Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft 46, 49–50 n. 13, 93, 109, 235, 242 Früh, Gustav 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 251, 252 funeral booklet (Leichenpredigt) 5–10, 60, 63, 72, 75, 104, 128, 156, 172 biography (Lebenslauf ) 6, 7 n. 25, 10 n. 36, 63 n. 63, 153, 195 n. 59, 225 poetry, see epicedium oration (Abdankung) 6, 7, 9, 17, 104, 219 n. 134 sermon 5–6, 7, 8, 10, 17, 22, 33, 38, 60, 63, 73, 89 n. 51, 92, 105, 135, 153, 156, 166–7 n. 125, 219 n. 134

312 funerals 8, 18 n. 20, 63 nn. 63 and 65, 63 n. 63, 71, 103–4, 168–9 n. 131, 227 burial of unbaptized infants 39 nocturnal burial 7 Fürstenwald, Maria 5–6, 9 Garber, Klaus 239, 249 Geier, Martin 22 n. 42, 73–5, 172 n. 142, 231, 232, 234–5 gendered images 156–73 Gerhard, Johann Andreas 195 n. 62 Gerlach, Benjamin 167 n. 125, 168–70, 171–2, 173 n. 144, 235, 236, 263 Geyer, Sophia Christiana 170 n. 137, 206, 235, 247, 255–6 Gloger, Georg 174–5 n. 3, 177, 180, 192 n. 53, 222 Goebel, Martin 163 n. 111, 164 n. 112 Goedeke, Hans, see Früh, Gustav Grau, Heinrich 10 n. 37 Gräve, Gottfried 106 n. 11, 235 Green, Christina Margarethe 146 n. 29, 148 n. 38, 151 n. 54, 236, 256 Gregory I, Pope 216 n. 126 Gregory of Nyssa 40 n. 117, 44 n. 130 Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina von 77 Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm 153 n. 64, 157 n. 80 Grischow, Johann Heinrich 244 Grosse, Anna Maria 150 n. 45, 151 n. 57, 176 n. 10, 256 Grubelius, Johann 124 n. 65, 235 Gryphius, Andreas 8 n. 27, 9 nn. 34 and 35, 49, 103, 146 n. 32, 238 Gryphius, Christian 60 n. 54, 62 Gueinz, Christian 109–10, 219–20, 235, 254, 257 Gundermann, Maria Magdalene 160–1, 171, 245, 256 Guttenberg, Achatz von 166 n. 125, 246 Güttner, Gabriel (the Elder) 81–5, 100, 235–6 Güttner, Gabriel (the Younger) 81–3, 100, 243, 256

Index Güttner, Rosina 81, 83–5, 100, 243, 256 Hadewig, Johann-Heinrich 68 Hahn, Gottfried 169, 235, 236, 263 Hahn, Michael 154 n. 70, 236 Hahn, Philipp 22 n. 41, 104 n. 2 Ham, son of Noah (Genesis 9) 33–34 Hamberger, Georg Ludwig 151 n. 54, 236, 256 Hanemann, Gedeon 180 Hanmann, Enoch 151 n. 53, 157 n. 80, 236, 259 Harper, Anthony J. 12 n. 40, 174 n. 3, 175 nn. 5, 6 and 7 Harsdörffer, Georg Philipp 27, 46, 49, 51, 54, 56–7, 87, 127, 129, 130, 131, 137–8, 156 n. 76, 221 Hartmann, Andreas 149, 236, 259 Hartwig, Otto 230, 249, 250 Hecuba 188–9 Hedstrom, Elke O. 194 n. 57, 196 n. 63, 199 n. 68, 204, 204 n. 76, 205 n. 81, 211, 213 n. 116, 221 n. 140 Heermann, Johann 106 n. 9, 111 n. 28, 236–7 Heinigke, Johann Christoph 61 n. 56, 237 Heinsius, Daniel 177 Herberger, Valerius 22, 27, 69–71, 92, 236, 237 Hertz, Robert 228 Hessus, Helius Eobanus 58, 68 n. 2 Heustreu, Philipp Jakob 115, 146 n. 30, 237 Higgins, Dick 77 n. 19 Hillmann, Gottfried 151 n. 52, 237 Hilscher, Johann Christoph 129 n. 76, 237–8 Hippolytus of Rome 163–4 Hockey, Jenny 226 Holstein-Gottorp, Friedrich III, Duke 176, 242 Hophni and Phinehas, sons of Eli (I Samuel 2–4) 33–4, 207 Höpner, Anna Magdalene 153 n. 61, 238, 256 Höpner, Hans Heinrich 142 n. 15, 238

Index Höpner, Johann 152, 238, 264, 265 Höpner, Johann Paul 128–30, 142 n. 15, 237–8, 256 Höpner, Paul 167, 170–1 n. 138, 238, 257 Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) 47–8, 49, 54, 56, 75 Houlbrooke, Ralph A. 2 n. 5, 18 n. 24, 24 n. 48 humours (Galenic theory) 23–4, 27–8, 31, 51–2, 98, 113 Hund, Georg 98, 238 Hund, Georg Heinrich 96 Hunold, Christian Friedrich (Menantes) 65 n. 70, 87, 193 n. 56, 197–8, 203, 204 Hutt, Clemens 142 n. 13, 157–8, 160 n. 94, 238 indulgences 18 Ingen, Ferdinand van 8 n. 29, 61 nn. 57 and 58, 67, 108, 109–10 n. 22, 111 n. 25, 124 inventio 54, 156 n. 76 Iphigenia 217–20 Isenburg-Büdingen, Wilhelm, Count 158 n. 85, 238, 255 Jacobi, Klaus 53 nn. 25 and 26 Jauernig, Reinhold 231, 232, 234, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 247, 250, 251, 252 Jephthah’s sacrifice ( Judges 11) 216, 218 n. 129 Jesusminne 119 n. 49, 165 Job 16–7, 25, 79, 80, 91, 101 n. 84, 202–3, 208, 220–22, 225, 254, 255, 256, 259, 262 Jöcher, Martha Sophia 106 n. 11, 158 n. 68, 172–3, 232, 235, 248, 256 Johannsen, Johann Friedrich 233, 234, 235, 237, 240, 241, 243, 244, 248, 250 John Chrysostom 31, 35 n. 96 Johnson, Lathrop P. 127 n. 71 Johnson, Mark 138, 227 Johnston, Gregory S. 121 n. 52, 169 n. 131 journey, metaphor 154–5

313 Juntke, Fritz 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 240, 242, 245, 247, 248, 249, 250 Jürgensmeier, Friedhelm 7 n. 25 Justin Martyr 40 n. 117 Karant-Nunn, Susan 63 Kärßenbrock, Franz Mordian von 109–10, 160, 229, 235, 257 Kaulisch, Barbara Marie 167–8, 170, 238, 257 Kayser, Wolfgang 130 n. 80 Keller, Tobias 86–7, 238 Kempe, Martin 52–3 Kemper, Hans-Georg 23 nn. 44 and 45, 53 n. 23, 94 n. 65, 97 nn. 72 and 73 Ketelsen, Uwe-K. 62–3, 64 n. 68, 65 n. 70, 67 Keyser, Georg Friedrich 206 Kiening, Christian 149 n. 40, 225–6 Kindermann, Balthasar 137 n. 1 Kirchmaier, Maria Dorothea 141, 257 Klaj, Johann 46, 130, 131 Klein, Luise 106 n. 9 Kleßmann, Eckhart 64 n. 67 Klibansky, Raymond 23 n. 44 Klitzing, Caspar Ludolph von 96–7, 240, 250, 257 Kloke, Ines 10 n. 36, 157 n. 82 Knoche, Johann Joachim 108–9, 125, 238, 255 Knorr, Christian 142–3, 238–9 Kobelt-Groch, Marion 10 n. 36, 115 n. 42, 153 n. 67, 156, 173 Koch, Theodora Sabine 127–8, 142–3, 161, 231, 233, 238–9, 257 König, Johann Ulrich 66, 231, 239, 245 Koretzki, Gert-Rüdiger 6 nn. 19 and 21, 75 n. 14 Koslofksy, Craig M. 7 n. 23, 8 n. 28, 18, 63 nn. 63 and 65, 227 n. 8 Kospoth, Justus Jon 81 n. 28, 239 Kramer, Hieronymus 116–18, 129 n. 76, 151 n. 58, 154 nn. 69 and 71, 158–60, 239, 240–1, 246, 248, 251, 257

314 Krause, Eleonore Justina 166 n. 125, 251, 257 Krummacher, Hans-Henrik 11 n. 38, 12 n. 40, 59, 68 nn. 1 and 2, 69 nn. 3 and 4, 90 n. 53, 178, 179, 183 n. 30, 185 Krußbiorn, son of Peter 176 n. 10, 178, 179 Kuffer, Johanna Magdalene 75 n. 15, 257 Kuntsch, Christian Gottlieb (Celadon) 139–41, 148, 209 n. 101, 197, 211–12, 215 Kuntsch, Christoph Friedrich (Fillidor) 112–13, 120, 139–41, 148, 197, 206, 209, 212–13, 216, 245, 257 Kuntsch, Christoph von 5, 195, 208, 239 Kuntsch, Christoph? (the Younger) (Chrisander) 139–41, 148, 197, 204, 208, 215, 216–20 Kuntsch, Dorothea Friderica (Fritalea) 1, 4–5, 139–41, 148, 197, 198, 199–203, 208 n. 97, 209–10, 213, 215, 224–5, 239, 245, 249, 258 Kuntsch, Gottfried Wilhelm (Guillestes) 139–41, 148, 197, 206–8, 211 n. 110, 215 Kuntsch, Heinrich Ehrenfried (Helidon) 139–41, 148, 197, 212–13, 215 Kuntsch, Johann Friedrich (Floridan) 139–41, 148, 197 Kuntsch, Johanna Blandine (Bellinde) 112–13, 120, 139–41, 148, 197, 204–5, 206, 209 n. 100, 213, 216 Kuntsch, Margarethe (Margaris) 139–41, 148, 197, 213–15 Kuntsch, Margarethe Elisabeth 5, 196, 198, 203, 239, 248, 249, 258 Kuntsch, Margarethe Susanna von 1, 4–5, 10, 11, 60 n. 54, 112–13, 120, 125, 139–41, 142 n. 11, 148, 174, 193–223, 224–6, 235, 239, 247, 248, 251, 258

Index Lakoff, George 138, 227 Langen, August 119 n. 49, 127 n. 71 Langenstätter, Vitus 116–18, 120, 151, 239 Lantzenberger, Margarete 151 n. 50, 245, 258 Lappenberg, J. M. 176, 183 n. 27, 187 n. 39 laudatio, lamentatio, consolatio 11, 68–9, 71, 72–73, 79, 80, 88, 89–91, 95, 100, 101–2, 138, 148, 152, 168, 173, 178–9, 189, 209, 212, 213, 215 Laurence, Anne 2 n. 5, 24 n. 49 Lausberg, Heinrich 120–1 n. 52 Lehmann, Johanna Eleonore and Christian Wilhelm 156, 231, 234, 258 Leighton, Joseph 12 n. 40 Leipzig, Sophie von 150 n. 44, 258 Lenz, Rudolf 5 n. 14, 6 n. 20, 7 n. 24, 9, 64 n. 63 Leyser, Christina Dorothea 151 n. 51, 258 Liechte, Christian 115 n. 40, 239 Lilien, Georg 96–7, 239–40, 257 limbo 38 Linton, Anna 126–7 n. 70, 156–7 n. 79, 162 n. 100, 163 n. 111 Linzner, Georg 106, 195 n. 62, 240 Lipsius, Justus 17 Lofland, Lyn 226 Löser, Hans 92–3, 96, 97–8, 100, 240 Löser, Hans von 176 n. 10, 177, 186 n. 37, 188 Löser, Magnus Wilhelm, Kurt and Rudolph 92–3, 96, 97–8, 100, 238, 240, 259 Lubac, Henri de 11 n. 39 Lupius, Johann 150 n. 45, 240 Luther, Elisabeth 3 Luther, Magdalena 3–4, 20 Luther, Martin 3–4, 8, 15, 18, 20, 22, 33 n. 88, 38–9, 41, 57–9, 87, 88 n. 47, 105, 115, 134–6, 153 n. 63, 164, 250 Lütkemann, Joachim 195 n. 62

Index Maccabean mother (II Maccabees 7) 188–9, 216 Mahn, Tobias 61 n. 56, 240 Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon) 97 Major, Johann 81 n. 32 Männling, Johann Christoph 69 n. 3, 87 Marci, Anna Maria 149 n. 39, 241, 259 Märck, Georg Friedrich 106 n. 9, 240 Marino, Giambattista 64 n. 68, 66 Marschall, Veronika 80 nn. 25 and 27, 87 n. 41 Martin, Gotthelf Christian 146 n. 29, 151 n. 49, 259 Maukisch, Johann 130 n. 79, 240 Maul, Maria 22 n. 42, 234 May, Johann Georg 114, 154 n. 69, 240 Mayer, Johann Ulrich 159, 240–1, 248, 257 Mayer, Maria Sophia 123, 151 n. 56, 243, 244, 259 McClure, George W. 15, 16 n. 14, 17, 26 n. 57, 29 n. 69 Meermann, Petrus 151 n. 57 Meid, Volker 178 n. 17 Melanchthon, Philipp 13–14, 20, 24, 241, 249 Melpomene, muse of tragedy 90–1, 94–5 memento mori 8, 36, 108–9, 110–11, 124, 151 Menander 68 n. 2 Menantes, see Hunold, Christian Friedrich Mennecke-Haustein, Ute 15 Mentz, Georg 231, 234, 237, 241, 251 metropatheia 16, 17, 52 Meyer, Sophie Elisabeth 149, 236, 259 Mintzel, Johann-Albrecht 149 n. 51, 241 miscarriage 38, 43, 196, 197, 204 Mitius, Dorothea Juliane 151–2, 219 n. 134, 242, 248, 259 Mitternacht, Johann Sebastian 153 n. 66, 241 Moller, Martin 107, 241 Montaigne, Michel de 219 n. 134

315 Moos, Peter von 15, 25 n. 54, 26 nn. 55, 56 and 57, 28 n. 65 Mörlin, Hugo 149 n. 39, 241, 251 Mossbach, Catharin-Elisabeth 151 n. 53, 157 n. 80, 236, 259 Mossbach, Samuel 150 n. 45, 240, 259 Möstel, Beata Maria 176 n. 10, 178, 179, 180–6, 259 mourning bands 22, 69–71, 72, 92 movere, see flectere Müller, Anna Maria 94–5, 125–6, 141, 146–7, 150 n. 45, 151 nn. 55 and 57, 156, 230, 232, 233, 250, 259 Müller, Heinrich 195 n. 62 Münsterberger, son of Martin 176 n. 10, 178, 179 Mylius, Friedrich Noah 166 n. 125, 248 Nain, widow of (Luke 7) 39, 188–9 Naumann, Walter 193 n. 55 Neander, Michael 14 n. 8, 35 n. 96, 241 neo-Stoicism 10, 16, 226, 174, 176, 178, 179, 183, 185, 186, 193 Neuhausen, Gottfried 124, 235, 260 Neuheller, Johann Reichard 101 n. 84, 241–2, 255 Neumark, Georg 53 n. 22 Nicolai, Philipp 115 n. 42 Nicolai, Regina Maria 100, 242, 260 Niedeling, Johannes 195 n. 62 Niekus Moore, Cornelia 6 n. 17, 7 nn. 22 and 25, 20 n. 32, 45 n. 131, 63 n. 63, 104 n. 2, 105 n. 4, 106 n. 9, 195 n. 59, 220 Nietner, Andreas Vollrad 85–7, 232–3, 238, 260 Niobe 188–9 Nolle, Christian 151–2, 242 occasional poetry 6, 10, 11–12, 59–67, 75, 88, 166, 176 Olearius, Adam 155 n. 74, 176 n. 11, 177 n. 17, 242 Olearius, Anna Sibylla 19 n. 27

316 Olearius, August 107–8, 111, 145, 151 n. 52, 230, 231, 237, 244, 260 Olearius, August Theodor 100, 145–6, 260 Olearius, Johann Christian 100, 242 Olearius, Johann Christoph 19 n. 27 Olearius, Johannes 19–20, 28, 40 n. 117, 79, 94, 115, 143, 152 n. 60, 219 n. 134 237, 242–3, 253, 260, 261–2 Olearius, Johann Friedrich 19 n. 27, 146 n. 30, 237, 260 Olearius, Johann Gottfried 43, 100, 145–6, 204 n. 78, 232–3, 243, 251 Omeis, Magnus Daniel 69 n. 3 Opitz, Martin 48, 49, 54, 60, 75, 93 n. 61, 129 n. 78, 174–5, 178 Oppel, Johann 108, 243, 255 Origen of Alexandria 40 n. 117, 44 n. 130, 163–4 Othe, Joachim 166 n. 123, 243 Ottho, Christoph 84 n. 35, 243, 256 Pancratius, Andreas 20–1, 243 Panofsky, Erwin 23 n. 44 Parkes, Colin Murray 123 Paxson, James J. 121 n. 52 Pegnesischer Blumenorden, Pegnitzschäfer 46, 49, 52, 57, 127, 131, 165 n. 121 Peisker, Johann 146 n. 31, 243 peripateia 53, 95 Petermann, Andreas 123 n. 60, 243–4 Petersen, Johann Wilhelm 162 Petrarch, Francesco 17, 23–4, 28–9, 36, 119 Pfeffer, Elisabeth 89–90, 122, 230, 260 Pfeffinger, Johann 14 n. 8, 43, 44, 244 Pforth, Daniel Benedikt 107–8, 244 Pfuhl, August Bertram von 40 n. 117, 152 n. 60, 242, 260 Pietism 10, 162, 226, 232, 233 Pilarick, Johann Stephan 146 n. 31, 243, 261 Pindaric ode 125–6, 167 Pirner, Gregorius 90–92, 244 plant imagery 139–48, 157 Plato 15–16, 47–49 Poetische Wälder 60, 72 n. 10, 208–9

Index Pollock, Linda 1 n. 1 Polus (Pole), Christine 176 n. 10, 178, 186 n. 37, 190–91, 192, 261 Ponickau, Johann Georg von 73 n. 14, 234 Praetorius, Benjamin 151 n. 56, 244 Praetorius, Johannes 154–5, 157 n. 81, 244, 255 prodesse (docere) et delectare 49–51, 56, 57, 58, 137 prosopopoeia 83, 104, 120–4, 136 Pseudo-Cicero 121 n. 53 Pseudo-Dionysios of Halicarnassus 68 n. 2 Pseudo-Seneca 17 Quintilian, Marcus Fabius 51 n. 16, 54–55, 56, 121–2, 219 Quirsfeld, Johann 162, 165, 166–7, 170 n. 136, 244–5, 263 Rauchhaupt, Agnes Margarethe 115 n. 40, 239, 261 Reim, Christoph 5 n. 13, 245, 257, 258 Reinheckel, Balthasar 161 n. 97, 171, 245 Reinis, Austra 106 n. 9 requiem mass 8, 106, 134 resurrection 8, 16–17, 31, 39, 41–3, 109 n. 21, 118, 147, 172, 173, 222 reunion in heaven 32, 33, 41–3, 79, 92, 111, 118, 120, 122, 148, 222 Reuss-Gera, Heinrich Posthumus, Count 169 n. 131 revenant spirits 134–6 Richey, Michael 65 n. 70, 66, 231, 239, 245 Richter, Aemilius Ludwig 39 n. 116 Richter, Johann 159 n. 90, 245 Richter, Rosina 144, 229, 261 Ring, Hermann tom 149 n. 41 Rist, Johann 72 n. 10, 221, 244 Ritzsch, Gregor 151 n. 50, 160, 245–6, 265 Röber, Martin 26, 30–1, 35–6, 42 n. 122, 246 Röber, Paul 22 n. 42, 171 n. 138, 236, 237, 246, 262

Index Röber, Sophie Elisabeth 111, 154 n. 70, 236, 246, 261 Romanus, Carl Friedrich 110–11, 246, 264 Rosenfeld, Hellmut 149 nn. 40 and 41 Roth, Veronica 131–4, 161, 234, 261 Rothe, Kaspar 135 n. 86 Rudolf, Rainer 105 n. 7 Rusterholz, Sibylle 8 n. 27, 9 n. 35 Rutilius, Martin 81 n. 32 Ryssel, Heinrich von 129 n. 76, 246 Saher, Caspar Conrad 166 n. 125, 246 Sales, François de 195 n. 62 Saubert, Johannes 196 n. 62 Saxl, Fritz 23 n. 44 Saxony, Friedrich the Wise, Elector 8 n. 27 Saxony, Johann the Constant, Elector 8 n. 27 Saxony-Altenburg, Christian, Duke 76–7, 166, 250, 261 Saxony-Altenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm III, Duke 61 n. 56, 77, 195, 237, 240, 261 Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg, Ernst the Pious, Duke 61 n. 56, 77, 195, 237 Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg, Magdalene Augusta, Duchess 199 Saxony-Weissenfels, Anna Maria, Duchess 19 Saxony-Weissenfels, August, Duke 19, 77–80, 242 Saxony-Weissenfels, Catharina, Elisabeth and Dorothea, Princesses 19, 77–80, 143–4, 219 n. 134, 233, 242–3, 245, 261–2 Scaliger, Julius Caesar 68 n. 2, 177 Schäffer, Barbara-Catharina 156 n. 77, 233, 262 Schäffer, Hans-Jakob 150, 156 n. 77, 158, 252, 262 Scheffer, Heinrich and Jakob 141 n. 10, 156 n. 77, 234, 262 Scheffler, Johann (Angelus Silesius) 164–5 Scheibe, Dorothea 90–91, 244, 262 Schein, Johann Hermann 175, 176–7

317 Schererz, Sigismund 14, 21, 28, 89, 246 Schernack, Michael 71 n. 8, 247, 255 Schernhauer, Johann Simon 170 n. 136, 247 Schindler, Marvin S. 193 n. 55 Schirmer, David 72 n. 10, 175 Schmid, Philipp Christoph 158, 262 Schmidt, Friedrich 194 n. 57, 247 Schneider, Maria Elisabeth 71, 92, 230, 262 Schoch, Johann Georg 72 n. 10, 175, 236 Schönburg-Waldenburg, Maria Juliane von 177, 178, 187–8, 192 Schopper, Jakob 106 n. 9, 247 Schottelius, Justus Georg 72 n. 10, 178 n. 17, 195 n. 62 Schrader, Heinrich 151 n. 48, 247 Schreiber, M. 146–7, 156 Schultt, Juliana Patientia 104–6, 233, 247–8, 262 Schürer, Anna Margarethe and Maria Elisabeth 160, 171 n. 138, 232, 246, 262 Schürer, Maria 101–2, 176 n. 10, 183 n. 28, 189–90, 192 Schütz, Heinrich 169 n. 131 Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Aemilie Juliane, Countess 162–3, 234 Scripture, interpretation: allegorical 11 n. 29, 40 n. 117, 164 anagogical 11 n. 29, 165, 170 literal 11 n. 29 tropological 11 n. 29, 44 n. 130, 160, 172 typological 40 nn. 117 and 118, 44 n. 130, 85, 210 seasonal imagery 139–42, 148, 212 Segebrecht, Wulf 12 n. 40 Seiffart, Carl Adam 219 n. 134, 248, 259 Seligmann, Gottlob Friedrich 154 n. 68, 248 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus 16, 25–6, 27 n. 62, 32, 42 n. 124, 94 n. 63, 100, 183 n. 28 Severus, Anna Catharina 160, 245–6, 262–3

318 Shorter, Edward 2 Shunammite mother (II Kings 4) 189, 207–8 Siegmundt, Christoph 166 n. 125, 248 Signa, Boncompangno da 26 Simpson, David 120 Sommerfeld and Falckenhain, Barbara Helena von 168–70, 171–2, 173, 235, 236, 263 Song of Songs 119 n. 49, 163–4 Sperberg-McQueen, Marian R. 9 n. 35, 177, 178, 179–80, 188, 208 Staden, Johann 81–2 n. 32, 84 n. 36 Statius, Publius Papinius 60 Steger, Thomas 154 n. 71, 248 Steiger, Johann Anselm 9 n. 35, 103 n. 1, 146 n. 32 Steltzner, Nathanael 143 n. 19, 248 Stetana, Dorothea 143 n. 20, 230, 263 Stieler, Kaspar 27 n. 63 stillbirth 38, 43, 140 n. 5, 196, 197, 204, 205 Stockmann, Christoph Gottlieb 193 n. 56, 197–8, 199, 202 n. 70, 203, 239 Stockmann, Ernst 203, 239, 248 Stockmann, Gottfried 5 n. 13, 203, 239, 249, 258 Stockmann, Gottfried Wilhelm (Wigestes) 206 n. 83 Stockmann, Johannes 81, 249, 263 Stockmann, Valerius 81, 249, 263 Stoicism 16, 17, 42, 52 Stolberg-Stolberg, Sophie Eleonore, Countess 10 n. 37 Stone, Lawrence 2 n. 4 Stosch, Alexander von 167 n. 125, 235 Strauß, Clara Margarethe and Johann Gottfried 167, 244–5, 263 Tatlow, Ruth 87 Temme, Augustinus 112, 233, 249, 263 Temme, Maria Magdalene 112, 233, 249, 263 Tepl, Johannes von 149 n. 40, 225 Tertullian, Quintus Septimius Florens 40 n. 117

Index Teuber, Johann, Maria Magdalene and Christian Laurentius 149 n. 41, 241, 263 Teutschmann, Johannes 13, 21–2, 33 n. 90, 42 n. 124, 249 Teutschübende Gesellschaft 64–6, 99, 231, 233, 239, 245, 249, 254 Thiede, Werner 41 n. 120 Thiele, Johannes 158 n. 86, 249 Thomas, Keith 2 Timanthes of Cythnos 217–20 Tischer, Christian Gotthelf 143 n. 19, 158 n. 84, 232, 248, 263–4 Titius, Caspar 104 n. 2, 135–6, 249 Trach and Birkau, Charlotte Margarethe Sophia 157 Trach and Birkau, Dorothea Sophia, Baroness 157 transi tomb 109, 110 tree imagery 144–6 Tribauer, Esaias 29–30, 31 n. 76, 32, 35, 36 n. 100, 37, 41–2, 249 Triewald, Samuel von 65, 249 Trüb, Maria Dorothea 130, 240, 264 Tümpel, Wilhelm 81 n. 32, 84 n. 36 vanitas 71, 107–8, 131, 184, 186, 215 Vater, Christoph 76–7, 261 Viazzo, Pier Paolo 1 n. 1 Vickers, Brian 15, 16 n. 14, 17 n. 19, 32 n. 83, 55 n. 35 Vida, Marco Girolamo 54 Vischer, Christoph 14 n. 8, 28, 31 n. 80, 34, 35 n. 96, 37–8, 39–40, 42–3, 44, 249–50 Voloshinov, Valentin Nikolaevich 227 n. 6 Vorhoff, Christoph Heinrich 101 n. 84, 250, 255 Wackernagel, Philipp 84 n. 36 Wagner, Christina Elisabeth 170 n. 136, 247, 264 Wagner, Karl Gottfried 170 n. 136, 247, 264 Wagner, Thomas 125–6, 250 Wagnitz, Joachim 96 n. 70, 250, 257 Wahll, Johann Samuel 54, 56

Index Walther, Georg 14 n. 8, 22, 29, 31 n. 80, 32 n. 82, 33, 35 n. 96, 36, 39, 250 Wangersheim, Kunrad 176 n. 10, 178, 179 Warnock, Robert G. 77 n. 19 Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen 23 n. 44 Weber, Immanuel 96 n. 69, 250, 265 weeping 22, 26, 29–31, 56, 69, 71, 79, 89–90 Wehner, Christian 166, 250, 261 Weinmann, Magdalena 176 n. 10, 186–7, 188, 264 Weise, Charlotte Sophie 110–11, 246, 264 Weise, Rachel Christiana 110–11, 264 Weissenborn, Bernhard 229, 230, 231, 234, 235, 236, 238, 240, 241, 243, 245, 246, 247, 251, 252 Weller, Hieronymus 22 n. 41, 250 Wentzlaff-Eggebert, Friedrich-Wilhelm 149 n. 41 Wenzel, Johann Christoph 203 Werner, Christian 147 n. 36, 241, 251, 253 Wetzel, Johann Caspar 230, 231, 233, 234, 235, 237, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 250, 252 Wilckens, Hans Jürgen von, see Früh, Gustav Wilisch, Christian Friedrich 199 n. 66, 202 n. 70, 205 n. 82, 251 Winckelmann, Hieronymus Nikolaus 159 n. 89, 251

319 Winckelmann, Paul 159–60, 251 Winckler, Gottfried 73, 74, 77, 264 Winckler, Johann 40–1, 251 Winkler, Eberhard 5 n. 14, 8 n. 27, 9, 20 n. 32, 64 n. 27, 73 n. 13, 172 n. 142, 232, 235, 237, 243 Wirth, Anna, Magdalene and Juda von 155 n. 74, 176 n. 10, 179, 186, 242, 245–6, 264–5 Witt, Ulrike 105 n. 4, 248 Wolfskehl, Marie-Luise 164 n. 115, 165, 166 n. 122 wound, metaphor 4, 11, 22, 25–8, 69, 71, 89, 91, 92–8, 202, 205, 210, 227 Wurtzwaller, Tobias 179 Zapf, Nicolaus 166 n. 125, 251, 257 Zedler, Johann Heinrich 19 n. 27, 31 n. 78, 61, 62, 71 n. 7, 81 n. 32, 102 n. 86, 150 n. 46 Zeidler, Anna 142, 265 Zeidler, Elisabeth 88–89, 142, 265 Zeidler, Johann 142, 265 Zeidler, Maria 88–9, 142, 265 Zeller, Winfried 104 n. 2 Zesen, Philipp von 60 n. 54, 72 n. 10, 131 n. 82 Ziegler, Caspar 158, 252, 262 Zittemann, Johanna Maria 96 n. 69, 113–14, 154 n. 69, 229, 232, 240, 250, 265 Zopff, Johann Caspar 170 n. 136, 252, 253

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