Richard's birthday trip to Merseburg

I had a great birthday again this year. Kathy organized a long weekend in Halle, Merseburg, and Querfurt. We had an excellent dinner in Halle at the Alchimistenklause  on Friday, visited the cathedral in Merseburg and the castle in Querfurt on Saturday, saw the Sky Disk of Nebra in Halle on Sunday, and toured the chocolate factory there on Monday.

The Merseburger Zaubersprüche (magical incantations of Merseburg) were written down by a monk in old high German more than a thousand years ago (in the tenth century). In 1842 a theologian found them in the cathedral library in Merseburg and made them known to the Brothers Grimm, who then made the incantations famous.  There are two incantations. One serves to free a captive, and the second heals a horse's leg.  The first one follows.

Once sat women,
They sat here, then there.
Some fastened bonds,
Some impeded an army,
Some unraveled fetters::

Escape the bonds,
flee the enemy!

Book with Zaubersprüche

The second incantation follows.

Phol and Wodan were riding to the woods,
and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained
So Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, conjured it;
and Frija, Volla's sister, conjured it;
and Wodan conjured it, as well he could:

Like bone-sprain, so blood-sprain,
so joint-sprain:
Bone to bone, blood to blood,
joints to joints, so may they be glued

The document is the only text in old high German where the pagan Germanic gods appear (Wodan, Balder, Friia, Volla, Sunna, Phol, Sinhtgunt). The names have there equivalents in the North Germanic paganism that we are familiar with from Norse mythology. But the Eddas of Snorri Sturluson are several centuries newer. The advantage of the Norse version is that Snorri documented it so well, so we are much more familiar with Odin, Baldr, Frigg, Fulla, Sunna, and so on.

If I understood the tour guide correctly, the reason for the rarity of such text is that the alphabet wasn't established until Charles the Great (Charlemagne) had a writing system made for his native language, either old Frankish or old high German or old low Frankonian. (Charles started a Grammar, but it has unfortunately been lost.) Around the same time he was also leading a campaign to convert the pagans to Christianity. So fewer of the nobility in Germany were pagans shortly after the book was written.

The book was written by a cleric from the abbey in Fulda, so it is primarily a religious text written in Latin. The bottom third of the page with the incantations (the top two-thirds have the incantations) has a short prayer in Latin. Elsewhere in the book is the baptismal oath (in Latin), which includes the pledge to reject the devil and also "Thunaer ende Woden" (Thor and Wodan). So why include the Zaubersprüche at all? Maybe by writing them in the language of the pagans and not Latin, the Zaubersprüche are being denigrated. Maybe their inclusion is a recognition that healers should use whatever works.  

After the tour of the Library we went into the cathedral itself. There was a festival for the 1000-year anniversary of the consecration of the church. Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich II and his empress Kunigunde were present for the consecration. This has some interest for us because the same Heinrich established the diocese in Bamberg, just 45 minutes north of us.  They were responsible for putting Bamberg on the map, and both were canonized, in 1147 and 1200, respectively.  Their tomb in the cathedral in Bamberg was created in 1513 by Tilman Riemenschneider, is a gothic masterpiece.

Kunigunde and Heinrich II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a special exhibit in Halle on the Sky Disk of Nebra, and it was another highlight of the trip. We wrote about the Sky Disk a couple of years ago when we traveled to see the wood henge and ark of the sky disk at Goseck and Nebra, respectively. The museum near Nebra dedicated only to the the Sky Disk is called the "ark". It has a planetarium, and there is a fantastic presentation on how the Sky Disk was used for predicting leap year and the seasons. Nebra is about 10 miles south of Querfurt.

Sky Disk and other objects in the hoard

 The home of the Sky Disk is the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle. It has resources far beyond what the small but excellent museum in Nebra has. They were successful in getting the Nebra Sky Disk  added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2013. The museum in Halle was also able to put together a special exhibit together with the British Museum on the Aunjetitz culture that produced the Sky Disk 3700 year ago.  We learned about the expansive trade routes that brought tin and gold from England and copper from Austria. We also learned about the advanced farming techniques that enabled the people to produce enough flour to feed thousands of people every day, including a large army. The grinding stones were huge, and required two people to work the upper stone.

 

 

There was also information on the burial rites of the leaders. Just a few kilometers southeast of Halle in Bornhöck was the largest funerary monument of the central European Early Bronze Age (1800 b.c.), a large mound white-washed with limestone. Grave robbers plundered it and the soil was removed between 1844 and 1890 a.d., but a lot of information can be obtained from the remains. It was similar to burial mounds in Leubingen and Helmsdorf, where huge treasures have been discovered. Rather than bury corpses on their sides as for average people, the corpses of rulers were buried face-up (to look into the sky?) The social rank of the person was indicated by the amount of gold jewelry and the number of bronze weapons (such as those found with the Sky Disk) buried in the mound.

Not far from Merseburg is Querfurt, a small city with a beautiful castle. The castle was under siege by renovators while we were there, but the museum was open. The age of the castle is unknown, but it was mentioned in the tithe records of the Hersfeld monastery in 866. The chapel was added in 1004, and the Romanesque version we see today was built in 1162. The tomb of ruler of Querfurt during the 1300s, Gebhard XIV von Querfurt, is inside the church. Gebhard was a knight in the second Italian campaign of Holy Roman Emperor Karl IV (Charles the Fourth of Prague fame), and so Gebhard's son was made Archbishop of Magdeburg.  

We ate well in Halle too. We stopped at a place called the Alchimistenklause, which means the Alchemists' hermitage. It has been in business since 1873 in an old building with lots of charm. We started with drinks. Kathy had Lavendelsekt with Limettenkaviar (Riesling champagne with lavender oil and candied lime) You can see the small pieces of lime in the photo of the champagne glass (most are on the bottom, but some keep floating to the top). I had apple beer. Both were great. For the main course Kathy had baked cheese and wine biscuits and sliced beef carpaccio with herbs and flowers, and I had pork loin with air-dried ham.

Riesling champagne

Alchemistenklause

 

Main courses

Halle also has a castle ruin, where a light show was performed for Reunification Day (October 3). The castle Giebichenstein was a residence for Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great (936-973), who later gave it to the Archbishop of Magdeburg. The archbishops made Giebichenstein Castle their principal residence from 1382 until the archbishops moved into the newly built Moritzburg castle in Halle in 1503 (Moritzburg is today a modern art museum, which we will have to visit on our next visit to Halle.) The castle ruin overlooks the Saale river, and we walked along the banks of the river back to the Moritzburg. There are moored boats and little huts along the banks that sell food and drink. Because it was my birthday, we stopped for ice cream.

There are more treats in Halle. The oldest chocolate factory in Germany was just a block from our hotel. The name is Halloren, and it is comparatively small. It was founded in 1804 in Halle, and after its initial glory days, it fell on hard times during the communist period (Halle was in the GDR). The factory was practically worthless by the time of the fall of the wall, but the name Halloren still had marketing appeal. So some German investors from Hanover invested in the factory and gradually brought it back to western standards. 

There is a museum that presents the history of chocolate in Central America through the Spanish acquisition to the popularization in England. The history of the Halloren company is given last, and there is a life-size sculpture of the founder in his office, all made out of chocolate! The furniture, food, fireplace, rug, even the walls! And the smell was amazing! We had to buy way too much chocolate at the factory store before leaving.

Marburg: a University Town, Saint Elisabeth's Final Resting Place and the Brothers Grimm

Before we went to Marburg, its appeal for us was two attractions:

• as the place where the Brothers Grimm were professors at the university and,
• the Elisabethkirche, the church built on the grave of St. Elizabeth.

Before we left, we had added a third attraction:

• the picturesque town on the hill
  

We started by getting an overview of the town by going to a look-out point on the hill on the opposite side of the Lahn river. On the hill is a tower built during Germany's Romantic period by a guy of the name Spiegel. The locals call the tower the Spiegelslustturm (literally, Spiegel's passion tower, where "passion" is used in the sense of enjoyment).  From here you can see both the Elisabethkirche and the Landgrave's Palace looking over the town.

We rode a bus up the hill to the Landgrave's Palace.  The ride was a bit nerve-racking, even as as the driver slowly  drove up the steep and narrow streets. Sometimes it seemed like the bus was going to start slipping backwards down the hill!

 The Landgrave's Palace was built in many stages. It started as a castle in the late 800s, and in 911 it belonged to Konrad I, the first Frankish king of East Francia (i.e., Germany) not a member of Charlemagne's descendants.

 It was expanded in four phases over the centuries until it was converted to a palace during the Renaissance period (when castles were becoming obsolete).

It was expanded in two more phases since then, and today it is a museum.

We walked down the hill through the old town below the palace. This was the nicest surprise of the trip. The old town is the site of the old city hall, the old university, and many half-timbered buildings. We started with Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) at Bückingsgarten, which is perched just below the castle and looks out over the town.

Terrace of the Bückingsgarten

Half-timbered buildings in the old town

Old City Hall

Impressive building on the old city market square

We found a building with a plaque stating that Martin Luther stayed here. He must have been very influential, because the university is the oldest protestant university in the world, founded in 1527 during Luther's lifetime. We also found the building where Jacob Grimm lived. The brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm also studied and were professors at the university here, making the city a popular stop on the German Fairy Tale Road. The first ever winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine also studied here. The current university buildings were built between 1873 and 1891.

On our second day in Marburg we visited the Elisabethkirche. Who was Elizabeth? We have written about Elisabeth of Hungary in earlier blog posts. To recap, at the age of four, Elizabeth was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in Wartburg, Germany, to be betrothed to Ludwg IV, Landgrave of Thuringia. She was raised by the Thuringian court, surrounded by the local language and culture. In 1221, at the age of fourteen, Elizabeth married Ludwig. In the spring of 1226, when Thuringia suffered floods, famine, and plague, Ludwig went to Italy to represent the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, at the Imperial Diet. Elizabeth, now nineteen years old, assumed control of affairs at home. When Elizabeth was 20, Ludwig died on his way to the sixth crusade, leaving their son Hermann ruler. Ludwig's brother, Heinrich Raspe, assumed regency, and Elizabeth left the Wartburg for Marburg.

the Elisabethkirche

Around 1223, when Elizabeth was sixteen, the priest and later inquisitor, Konrad von Marburg, was appointed as her confessor, and he had great influence over Elizabeth. She began doing good works, such as distributing alms in all parts of their territory, even giving away state robes and ornaments to the poor. Below Wartburg Castle, she built a hospital with twenty-eight beds and visited the inmates daily to attend to them. After moving to Marburg, Elizabeth built another hospital. When she died, she was buried in the chapel of the hospital.

Grave of St. Elizabeth

Very soon after the death of Elizabeth in 1231, miracles were reported that happened at her grave, especially those of healing.  It was here in 1235, the year Elizabeth was canonized, that construction was started on the church by the Order of the Teutonic Knights. Although there were earlier Gothic churches in Germany, such as the one in Trier with a circular plan, the Elisabethkirche is the first Gothic hall church with a nave and two side aisles. The ceiling of the side aisles is the same height as the nave, which characteristic of German Gothic. Another characteristic is the height of the steeples, which took until 1340 to complete. At the crossing of the choirs is a beautiful rood screen.

Nave of the Elisabethkirche

 

The construction of a golden shrine was started in 1235 and ended in 1249 when the bones were moved from the grave to the shrine. The shrine is a masterpiece of the goldsmiths’ art, and it is still the greatest treasure of the Church. The shrine was decorated with over 850 pearls and precious stones, of which three dozen precious stones from the Mediterranean region and the near east were had carved reliefs. (Under Napoleon, 117 stones, a crucifix, and various parts of figures went missing.) The shrine also has exceptionally fine filigree figures and scenes.The long sides show the 12 apostles, and the roof shows 8 reliefs from the life of Elizabeth. Each side has a gable roof with either Jesus, Mary, or Elizabeth. Elizabeth's shrine became one of the main German centers of pilgrimage of the 14th century and early 15th century. It seems to be as large as the shrine of the three kings in the Cologne cathedral!

Elizabeth's shrine

The cult around the relics of Elisabeth was outlawed by her descendant Landgrave Philipp during the Reformation. However, the church was able to keep its relics because it belonged to the Order of Teutonic Knights, which was in turn answerable to the Holy Roman Emperor. In order to drive the pilgrims out of Marburg, the Landgrave allowed the shrine to be broken open on the 18th May 1539 and the bones to be removed. The chief of the Teutonic Knights protested against this, and he insisted that the Statthalter (Governor for the Landgrave) scatter the remains in the Pilgrims’ Cemetery of the Michelchen Church near the Elisabeth Church. But the Governor hid them in his moated fort in Wommen. In 1547, Philipp was arrested by the Emperor after a defeat in the Schmalkalden war. Philipp was able to use the bones of Elisabeth as a ‘bargaining chip’ to secure his release. He ordered that the bones be transferred to Marburg where, after a short stay, they were transported in 1558 to the chapel of the Elisabethine in Vienna.

There is also some beautiful medieval stained glass in the choir of the church. The Elisabeth window is among them. It represents scenes from the legend of St. Elisabeth. One of the best-known legends says that she used to go down the hill to the town bringing bread from the castle to give to the poor. She would hide the basket of bread under her cloak. Once, her husband, who in this version of the story did not approve of her sharing the wealth, demanded to know what was under her cloak. When she opened her cloak, the basket was filled with roses. 

In another legend, she cared for the poor and sick in the castle, even caring for a leper in her own bed. When her husband heard of this, he was upset, running to her bedroom to throw the poor leper out. When he got there, there was only a crucifix in the bed, and he was forced to admit, "Such a guest is always welcome". 

Elisabeth's story and legends are what make the local history interesting. You might remember the story of Empress Kunigunde, the wife of Emperor Heinrich II, who reigned around 1000 AD, who founded the Bishopric of Bamberg and had the Bamberg Cathedral built, just a half-hour's train ride north of us. Empress Kunigunde was also said to have performed miracles during her lifetime. She was worshiped as a saint, and her relics and a tomb depicting her miracles are displayed in the Bamberg Cathedral.

Americans in the US might have folk-tales and tall tales, but there are very few legends about historic women who were so revered as to have generated stories about their supposed sainthood. It is the centuries of recorded history that make the culture so rich here in Europe. The way Christianity formed layers that built on the pagan traditions that existed in Europe prior to 600 AD, gradually becoming more and more orthodox as time went on, is fascinating to learn about. 

Surrounding the Elisabethkirche are other buildings that belonged to the Order of Teutonic Knights.

Deutsches Haus

 

Mineralogy Museum

The oldest university building was impressive. It was actually built in the Gothic style in the 1500s. You know how many American universities have neo-Gothic architecture? They all want to look like this building.

One last mention of the Brothers Grimm. Throughout the city, there is a trail with stations presenting sculptures that represent the stories that the Brothers Grimm collected. As we took a short cut through the old botanical garden, we stopped by a pond that had a fountain merrily splashing away. The picturesque pond had lily pads, and on the lily pads, small fuzzy birds with long legs were skipping from one to the other, peeping as they went. It turned out that the mommy and daddy birds were on shore, while the kids amused themselves in the water. Floating on the pond was a silver fish. The fish represents the Grimms' tale of the fisherman and his wife. The fisherman caught the fish, who granted wishes for the fisherman's wife. She wished herself into a palace because she wanted to live like the emperor, and then decided that it would be better to live like the pope, made the wish, and ended up back in the fisherman's hut. 

Neuenburg Castle: one of the largest in Central Germany, the Wartburg's big brother

Wartburg Castle is very well known. Our blog from 2009 describes the connection with my favorite medieval Minnesinger (troubadour), Wolfram von Eschenbach; St. Elisabeth of Thuringen, who was brought to the Wartburg from Hungary when she was four years old; and most famous of all, Martin Luther, who translated the Bible into German there.

Not as well known is the Neuenburg Castle. It and the Wartburg were built by the same person, a Frankish Count called Ludwig der Springer (Louis the Jumper), at about the same time, around 1090. In spite of its obscurity, the supporting scientists writing about Naumburg Cathedral also found Neuenburg Castle  worthy of the designation World Heritage Site.

"Of the highest significance for the chivalric and courtly cultures of this time is Neuenburg Castle established by the landgraves of Thuringia. It counts among the greatest Romanesque Castle complexes worldwide and preserves one of the most impressive spiritual testimonies to the life of Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia with its
exceptional two-storey chapel."

By the year 1100, Neuenburg Castle was the largest and most important fortification in central Germany. Still today, sections of the curtain walls in the north and east, part of the gate, the part of the castle on the lower part of the slope, and trenches in the east and in the south are open to visitors. The landmark is the castle keep, called "Dicker Wilhelm" (fat William), which today is outside of the castle on the high ground. It is visible from far away as a symbol of power.

Dicker Wilhelm

Visitor's entrance to the castle

The original castle was built in the Romanesque style, and the best evidence of that is the chapel.

 "the Chapel of Neuenburg displays the distinctive fusion of the Rhenanian and Saxon artistic styles as a masterpiece of the courtly art, strongly connected with the life of Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia"
The chapel has two stories. The ground floor was for the peasants, and the upper floor for the nobles.

Upper floor of the chapel

Ground floor of the chapel

The ground floor has an opening in the ceiling. That opening met the liturgical requirements that the peasants have a view of the room with the altar and can hear the priest. The upper floor is very fancy, except for the hole in the floor. The four impressive columns in the middle of the room get their dark color from the  carboniferous limestone of which they are made.

Outside of the entrance to the upper floor is a statue of St. Elisabeth. This is the same woman we talked about in out blog "Poets and Thinkers". She was brought to the Wartburg when she was four years old, and married Ludwig IV, the Landgrave of Thuringia, when she was 14 and he was 20. After her husband's death when she was 20, and just a few weeks before the birth of her third child, Gertrude, she sent her children away and regained her dowry. She used the money to build a hospital in Marburg where she herself served the sick. In 1224 or 1225 she visited Neuenburg and is said to have cured a sick man.

Neuenburg Castle was a popular place. Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa visited Neuenburg Castle in 1172, and the legend of the “living wall” of soldiers providing the best military defense was born.  The most important poets of the 13th century, namely Wolfram von Eschenbach and Walther von der Vogelweide, also stayed at Neuenburg Castle. And this is where Heinrich von Weldecke, who was an inspiration to Hartmann von Aue and Gottfried von Straßburg, completed his AEneas novel, which was the first courtly romance in a Germanic language.