biography
| name: |
Hrotsvith or Hrotsvit von Gandersheim
|
pronunciation:
[rotsveet]
| sex:
| female
|
| lived:
| (c.935–after 973)
|
| biography:
| Poet and canoness in the convent of Gandersheim. Of noble Lower Saxon parentage, she was encouraged to write by her abbess, and between 960 and 973 produced a range of works. These include dramas (Gallicanus, Dulcitius, Callimachus, Abraham, Pafnutius, Sapientia) and religious ‘Legenden’ (Maria, De ascensione Domini, Gongolfus, Pelagius, Theophilus, Basilius, Dionysius, Agnes). She also wrote historical epics. Her plays - an exceptional mediaeval example of Christian drama - follow Terence's model, but reject what she saw as his immorality in favour of emphasis on chastity and other Christian virtues. |
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