Man and His Activities in The Medieval Latin Hymnographic Tradition: The St. Gallen Poetic School as a Case Study

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Abstract

The article deals with reflecting the place of man and his activities in the artistic worldview of the medieval hymnographer. Church poetry created in the monastery of St. Gallen in the 9th–10th centuries served as a material for the research. The study showed that the corpus of poetic texts dedicated to the heroes and anti-heroes of Christianity, which developed in St. Gallen, reflected not only general Christian ideas concerning man and his activities, but also the views developed by three like-minded people and friends, the poets Notker Balbulus, Ratpert and Tuotilo. Poetic texts, combined with music and performed during services not only in St. Gallen, but also in other monasteries and churches in Europe, made it possible to disseminate these views in a form convenient for assimilation and memorization. The school of St. Gallen, where the poets taught, was known throughout Europe and had a reputation as a place where they not only provided an excellent education, but also paid attention to the spiritual development of their students. Boys from aristocratic families entered the school, and later became abbots of monasteries, missionaries, and bishops. They did not lose contact with the monastery and, occupying high church positions, became conduits not only of the Christian, but also of the St. Gallen worldview, in which an important place was occupied by man whose actions determined his life and posthumous destiny.

About the authors

M. R. Nenarokova

A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: maria.nenarokova@yandex.ru
25a Povarskaya Str., Moscow, 121069, Russia

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