003. Janicke - On the Impact of the Merseburg Incantations-3 · · 2017-07-28Extremo, Saltatio...
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On the Impact of the Merseburg Incantations Stefan Jänicke [email protected] Leipzig University, Germany While searching for medieval manuscripts suitable for the “Monumenta Germaniae Historica” (a collec- tion of German historical sources) in 1841, Georg Waitz visited the library of the Merseburg Cathedral (Jankofsky, 2013). Rather coincidentally, he found a page with two magic spells in a theological composite manuscript: the Merseburg Incantations (see Fig. 1). Realizing the importance of his discovery, he asked Ja- cob Grimm to analyze and evaluate the text. The first Merseburg Incantation is a blessing of release telling about “Idisen” (female dieties) freeing either them- selves or captured warriors from chains. The second Merseburg Incantation is a healing spell to cure a dis- located horse foot. The spells in Old High German were written down in the 10th century, but their origin is still unclear, maybe several hundred years earlier. The first time publicly presented at the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Jacob Grimm denoted the value of the Merseburg Incantations by calling them a gem, and nothing from the most popular librar- ies would have a similar value (Grimm, 1842). Figure 1: Merseburg Incantations manuscript A number of works interpret content, meaning and origin of the Merseburg Incantations (e.g., Schu- macher, 2000, Beck, 2003, and Schmitt, 2011). In con- trast to these rather profound analyses and interpre- tations of the Merseburg Incantations, our project aims at examining their global impact. We therefore design a platform that brings together various types of sources––tagged with citation year, source type, reference purpose––citing the Merseburg Incanta- tions. Some examples are listed below. Sources citing the first Merseburg Incantation: • “Die Südharzreise”, Frank Fischer, 2010, travelog • “Mara und der Feuerbringer, Band 03: Götterdämmerung”, Tommy Krappweis, 2012, novel • “Angelina Jolie - The Lightning Star”, C. Duthel, 2012, biography • “Seelenriss: Depression und Leistung- sdruck”, Ines Geipel, 2013, psychology • “Das siebte Buch: Objektorientierung mit C++”, Ernst-Erich Doberkat, 2013, pro- gramming • “Die Schwarzen Musketiere - Das Buch der Nacht”, Oliver Pötzsch, 2015, novel • “Charlemagne”, Johannes Fried and Peter Lewis, 2016, historiography Sources citing the second Merseburg Incanta- tion: • “The Key to Music’s Genetics: Why Music is Part of Being Human”, Christian Lehmann, 2014, musicology (example for healing through singing) • “Ring of the Nibelungs”, German dubbing, 2004, TV Movie (entertainment) • “Die Leute vom Domplatz”, Episode 1, 1979, German TV Series (entertainment) • “To Ride a White Horse”, Pamela Ford, 2015, novel • “Healing Symbols in Psychotherapy: A Rit- ual Approach”, Erik D. Goodwyn, 2016, psy- chology • “Harzer Pferdezucht im Spiegel der Ges- chichte”, Bernd Sternal, 2015, horse breed- ing • “Metallische Implantate in der Knochenchi- rurgie”, Erich Frank and Herbert Zitter, 1971, medicine (bone surgery)
Transcript of 003. Janicke - On the Impact of the Merseburg Incantations-3 · · 2017-07-28Extremo, Saltatio...
On the Impact of the Merseburg Incantations
StefanJänicke [email protected],Germany
Whilesearchingformedievalmanuscriptssuitablefor the “Monumenta Germaniae Historica” (a collec-tion of German historical sources) in 1841, GeorgWaitzvisited the libraryof theMerseburgCathedral(Jankofsky, 2013). Rather coincidentally, he found apagewithtwomagicspellsinatheologicalcompositemanuscript: theMerseburg Incantations (seeFig. 1).Realizingtheimportanceofhisdiscovery,heaskedJa-cobGrimmtoanalyzeandevaluatethetext.ThefirstMerseburg Incantation is ablessing of release tellingabout “Idisen” (female dieties) freeing either them-selvesorcapturedwarriors fromchains.ThesecondMerseburgIncantationisahealingspelltocureadis-locatedhorsefoot.ThespellsinOldHighGermanwerewrittendown in the10thcentury,but theirorigin isstillunclear,maybeseveralhundredyearsearlier.Thefirst time publicly presented at the Royal PrussianAcademyofSciencesinBerlin, JacobGrimmdenotedthe value of the Merseburg Incantations by callingthemagem,andnothingfromthemostpopularlibrar-ieswouldhaveasimilarvalue(Grimm,1842).
Figure 1: Merseburg Incantations manuscript
Anumberofworksinterpretcontent,meaningandoriginoftheMerseburgIncantations(e.g.,Schu-macher,2000,Beck,2003,andSchmitt,2011).Incon-trasttotheseratherprofoundanalysesandinterpre-tationsoftheMerseburgIncantations,ourprojectaimsatexaminingtheirglobalimpact.Wethereforedesignaplatformthatbringstogethervarioustypesofsources––taggedwithcitationyear,sourcetype,referencepurpose––citingtheMerseburgIncanta-tions.Someexamplesarelistedbelow.
Sources citing the first Merseburg Incantation: • “DieSüdharzreise”,FrankFischer,2010,
travelog• “Mara und der Feuerbringer, Band 03:
Götterdämmerung”, Tommy Krappweis,2012,novel
• “Angelina Jolie - The Lightning Star”, C.Duthel,2012,biography
• “Seelenriss: Depression und Leistung-sdruck”,InesGeipel,2013,psychology
• “DassiebteBuch:ObjektorientierungmitC++”, Ernst-Erich Doberkat, 2013, pro-gramming
• “Die Schwarzen Musketiere - Das BuchderNacht”,OliverPötzsch,2015,novel
• “Charlemagne”,JohannesFriedandPeterLewis,2016,historiography
Sources citing the second Merseburg Incanta-tion:
• “TheKeytoMusic’sGenetics:WhyMusic isPart of Being Human”, Christian Lehmann,2014, musicology (example for healingthroughsinging)
• “Ring of the Nibelungs”, German dubbing,2004,TVMovie(entertainment)
• “DieLeutevomDomplatz”,Episode1,1979,GermanTVSeries(entertainment)
• “ToRideaWhiteHorse”,PamelaFord,2015,novel
• “Healing Symbols in Psychotherapy: ARit-ualApproach”,ErikD.Goodwyn,2016,psy-chology
• “Harzer Pferdezucht im Spiegel der Ges-chichte”,BerndSternal, 2015,horsebreed-ing
• “Metallische Implantate inderKnochenchi-rurgie”, Erich Frank and Herbert Zitter,1971,medicine(bonesurgery)
• “Norse Magical and Herbal Healing”, BenWaggoner,2011,medicine(medievalmedi-caltextcollection)
Sources citing both Merseburg Incantations:
• “HandbuchdergermanischenPhilologie”,Frie-drichStroh,1985,philology
• “GötterundKultederGermanen”,RudolfSimek,2004,mythology
• Anumberofmusicsongs,e.g.,performedbyInExtremo, Saltatio Mortis, Corvus Corax or Ti-betréa,music(entertainment)
• MerseburgIncantationsGeocache,https://opencaching.de/OC07B5,since2004,geocachingpuzzle
Althoughthisisonlyatinysnapshotofsourcesrefer-ring to theMerseburg Incantations,sometendenciesarealreadyvisible.WhereasbothMerseburgIncanta-tionsarecitedinanumberofbooksonmythologyandphilology(onlyoneofeachcategoryis listedabove),therearealsosomedifferencesdependentonthespellcontents, e.g., historiography for the first spell, andmedicine for the second. Next to these reasonablesource types, therearealsounexpected findings likeprogrammingforthefirstspell,andhorsebreedingforthesecond.BothMerseburgIncantationsarealsoof-ten used for entertainment purposes in the form ofnovels,inmusicsongs,orinmovies.Alsoaninterest-ing finding is a Geocaching puzzle guiding to a Geo-cachethatishiddeninMerseburg. Theprojectisdesignedasatwo-stagestudentin-ternship, where Masters students of the humanitiesandcomputersciencecollaborativelyworktogetherinordertogainexperiencesforfuturedigitalhumanitiesprojects.Thefirststepisdataacquisition,whichisper-formedbyhumanitiesstudents.Althoughwebsearchengines,e.g.,platformswithdigitizedcontentssuchasGoogleBooksorInternetArchivefortextualsources,aretheentrypointsfordataacquisition,dataextrac-tionandstructuringisdonemanuallytoensurehighdataqualityandtocapturethepurposeof therefer-enceaspreciselyaspossible.Forexample,weextractdetailedinformationaboutthecontextinwhichaspelliscited,e.g.,inthebiographyaboutAngelinaJoliethefirstMerseburg Incantation is referenced in amoviedescription of Beowulf, in which Angelina Jolie par-tookasa supportingactress.Thesecondstepofourprojectisthedevelopmentofaninteractivevisualiza-tionsystemtosupportthedynamicexplorationofthedatacollection.Therefore,computersciencestudents
designseveralvisualinterfacesthatsummarizediffer-entmetadatainformation(e.g.,atimelinetovisualizethetemporalimpact,oratagcloudtoillustratesourcetypes).Oneof themajor functionsof thesystem isacomparativeviewon thedifferent contexts inwhichthe Merseburg Incantations are cited together andeach of them individually. Although the data is col-lectedinatimelimitedproject,thesystemisdesignedas aweb-based crowdsourcing platform, so that thedatabasecanbeextendedaftertheproject.Aspecificfeatureofthesystemisgenericity,whichmakesitap-plicabletoothertextsinquestion.Forexample,creat-ingacollectionofcitationsoftheTriererZaubersprü-cheortheHildebrandsliedwillbepossible,alsointheformofacomparativeanalysis. Aninterpretiveapproachusingourproposedsys-temwillbecomplicatedduetothefactthatthecollec-tioncontainsseriousscholarlyaswellasartisticalref-erences,anditisnotpossibletodrawaclearlinebe-tweensuchgroups.Also,weconsidereachcitationasequallyrelevant,whichmightnotevolveaconvincingrepresentationofimpact.Whileitisfurthermorenotpossibletocollect“all”citations,supportinghypothe-sesgenerationafterdistantreadinganalysesisnotthepriorpurposeofoursystem.Ouraimisrathertoes-tablishastartingpointforexploringthefar-reachingsignificance of the Merseburg Incantations––one ofthemost importantwritten samples of German lan-guage,eventheoldestandonlyknownpreservedtextaboutGermanicPaganism inOldHighGerman.Withourproject,wewanttofulfilltheresponsibilitytosus-tainablyhighlightthisuniqueness.
Bibliography Beck,W.(2003).DieMerseburgerZaubersprüche(Vol.16).
ReichertVerlag.Grimm,J.(1842).ÜberzweientdeckteGedichteausderZeit
des deutschen Heidenthums. Abhandlungen der Kö-niglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. AusdemJahre1842.
Jankofsky,J.(2013).Merseburg:1200Jahrein62Porträts
&Geschichten.MitteldeutscherVerlag.Schmitt, M. (2011). Althochdeutsche Zaubersprüche als
TextzeugeneinerZeitdesÜbergangszwischengerman-ischemHeidentumundsichetablierendemChristentum– Form und Inhalt frühmittelalterlicher Magiepraxis.Magisterarbeit.
Schumacher, M. (2000). Geschichtenerzählzauber. Die'MerseburgerZaubersprüche'unddieFunktionder"his-toriola"immagischenRitual.InR.Zymner(Ed.),ErzählteWelt-WeltdesErzählens.FestschriftfürDietrichWeber(pp.201-215).Köln:Chora.
