Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1992, Page 258

256
Marianne Kalinke
been known in the short form in Der Heiligen Leben took on a new life as
individual imprints, as sacred Volksbíicher.31
Hendrek og Kunegundis, as the Icelandic legend of Heinrich and
Kunegunde is entitled in the edition, furnishes evidence that not only minute
details derive from a longer redaction, as we saw above, but that the broader
form of the narrative, the structure of episodes and their subdivision into
scenes, derives from a different and longer redaction than that transmitted in
the Passionael. The greater length of many of the legends in Reykjahólabók
is the result of a narrative technique characterized by tension, dramatic
dialogue, detailed depiction, and the provision of motivation for the actions
of the characters. An example of the dissimilar mode of presenting the same
material is the council scene in the legend of Heinrich and Kunegunde that is
to lead eventually to the emperor’s marriage. In the Passionael the scene in
question is quickly told:
do betrachteden de heren wo eyn gued slechte van dem keyser queme. dar de
werld van mochte ghetrostet werden. vnde beden den keiser dat he ene vrouwen
neme. dar vmme leghen se em an. Dat was em swar. wente he hadde vnsen heren
Jhesum cristuz vterkoren to eneme eruen. dat wisten se nicht. vnde spreken ouer
to deme keyser. Dat enbethemet deme ryke nicht. vnde is nycht wontlyk dat gy
dat allene hebben. vnde do gy des nicht. so mote gy vnsen vnwillen hebben Do
trostede sik de keyser godes. deme he syne kusckheyt hadde gelauet beth in
synen doet vnde sprak to den heren. dat se em gheuen ene vrouwen. de em vnde
deme ryke bequeme were. Do worden de heren alle vro. (lviii.c)32
The scene is short, to the point of being laconic. Only the counsellors’
words are expressed in direct discourse, while the emperor’s response is
transmitted in the third person. His change of mind is abrupt and
unmotivated; it could be construed as a reaction to the threatened loss of his
31 Cf. Pater Nonnosius Stettfelder, Dye legend und leben des heyligen sandt Keyser
Heinrich (Bamberg, 1511). A legend of St. George in a 15th-century manuscript in
Zúrich (Deutsche Volksbiicher aus einer Ziircher Handschrift des 15. Jahrhunderts,
Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins, 185 [1889]) is nearly 70 pages in print and thus
comparable to the Icelandic legend, which reaches 75 printed pages. Although the
High German legend is not related to the Icelandic version, it nevertheless attests a
tendency in the German language area to expand especially popular legends to such
an extent that they resemble short novels. Similarly, an augmented version of the
legend of St. Christopher was printed in 1520 (cf. “Legende,” Reallexikon der
deutschen Literaturgeschichte, 11:21).
32 The lords considered how the emperor might produce good heirs that would be of
benefit to the world, and asked the cmperor to take a wife. They beseeched him to do
this. This was difficult for him, for he had chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his heir.
They did not know this, and said to the emperor: It is neither proper for the empire
nor customary that you should rule alone, and if you do not do as we ask, you will
earn our displeasure. The emperor then put his trust in God to whom he had vowed
chastity until death and told the lords to give him a wife who would be fitting both
for himself and the empire. Then all the lords rejoiced.