Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the Text
- Introduction: From the Early Middle Ages to the Late Sixteenth Century
- 1 The Kaiserchronik: The Emergence of Charlemagne in Chronicle Literature
- 2 Priest Konrad’s Rolandslied and the Glorification of Charlemagne
- 3 The Stricker’s Karl der Große: Adaptation and Innovation of the Myth of Charlemagne in the Thirteenth Century
- 4 The Myth of Charlemagne in Fourteenth-century German Literature: The Karl Meinet Compilation
- 5 Elisabeth von Nassau-Saarbrücken’s Königin Sibille: the Double-edged Sword in the German and the Dutch Prose Version
- 6 Charlemagne in the Dutch and German Tradition of Malagis
- 7 Charlemagne as Saint. The Religious Transmutation of the Early Medieval Myth: the Zürcher Buch vom Heiligen Karl (Fifteenth Century)
- 8 Charlemagne in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German Literature
- Afterword
- Bibliography
- Index
- Bristol Studies in Medieval Cultures
Afterword
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the Text
- Introduction: From the Early Middle Ages to the Late Sixteenth Century
- 1 The Kaiserchronik: The Emergence of Charlemagne in Chronicle Literature
- 2 Priest Konrad’s Rolandslied and the Glorification of Charlemagne
- 3 The Stricker’s Karl der Große: Adaptation and Innovation of the Myth of Charlemagne in the Thirteenth Century
- 4 The Myth of Charlemagne in Fourteenth-century German Literature: The Karl Meinet Compilation
- 5 Elisabeth von Nassau-Saarbrücken’s Königin Sibille: the Double-edged Sword in the German and the Dutch Prose Version
- 6 Charlemagne in the Dutch and German Tradition of Malagis
- 7 Charlemagne as Saint. The Religious Transmutation of the Early Medieval Myth: the Zürcher Buch vom Heiligen Karl (Fifteenth Century)
- 8 Charlemagne in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German Literature
- Afterword
- Bibliography
- Index
- Bristol Studies in Medieval Cultures
Summary
FAMOUS INDIVIDUALS throughout history have regularly inspired the fantasy and captured the imagination of poets, artists, composers, sculptors and others, prompting admiration or hatred, but certainly not indifference. People have tended to conceive and project dream images of major role models, as they needed iconic figures they could identify with, and hence profit from their charisma.1 Max Weber famously defined charisma in the political or religious realm as follows:
These [supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities] are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader.
He continues:
Charismatic authority is thus specifically outside the realm of everyday routine and the profane sphere. In this respect, it is sharply opposed both to rational, and particularly bureaucratic, authority, and to traditional authority, whether in its patriarchal, patrimonial, or any other form.
However, for Weber the charismatic leader is usually a revolutionary or a prophet, who specifically breaks with traditional authority. This cannot be said at all for Charlemagne, who nevertheless displayed enormous charisma, especially because his rank as king, and then as emperor, made it possible for him to routinize his charisma – again Weberian terms – and to permeate all of society by means of his personality and constant presence within the military, religious, economic and cultural framework. Weber calls this a ‘patrimonial bureaucracy’, which emerged primarily in the European Middle Ages and in Japan during the Shogun period.
Charlemagne proves to be an almost perfect example of such a charismatic icon, as he has been admired and glorified, but also maligned, ridiculed and hated, in much medieval German and Dutch literature and, indeed, all over medieval and early modern Europe. He was also very much present in the art and historiography of that time, as I discussed in the Introduction. Bringing together what we have learnt through our discussions of individual major texts in which Charlemagne appears, we can consolidate our newly acquired understanding of the myth complementing his historical presence and identify the powerful, long-lasting discourse on this unique figure as perceived by poets and artists.
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- Charlemagne in Medieval German and Dutch Literature , pp. 197 - 202Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021