Hrosvitha von Gandersheim (ca. 930 – ca. 1000)

As is common with names from the Middle Ages, the name is found in various documents as Hrosvitha, Hroswitha, Hrotswitha, Hrotsuit, or Roswitha. Hrosvitha was the first woman writer in German literary history. The name von Gandersheim is a place name rather than a family name in the modern sense, she was “from Gandersheim”. Specifically she lived at the convent of Gandersheim, a Benedictine convent in the Saxon area of Germany. Her writings (religious legends and moral and historic dramas) had been lost for centuries but was rediscovered and published by Conrad Celtes in 1493. (The 1551 edition featured woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer.)

Hrosvitha entered the convent at about age 23. She was interesting in writing as a means of bringing glory to God. She was encouraged in her work by the abbess and assisted in her researches by an excellent convent library. Latin was the language of the church and the educated, and Hrosvitha wrote in that language.

Hrosvitha, erste deutsche Dichterin, lebte von 935 bis 1000. Sie verbrachte einen großen Teil ihres Lebens als Nonne in einem Benediktinerkloster in Gandersheim. Sie schrieb sechs Komödien in lateinisch, um der heidnischen Moral klassischer Werke entgegenzuwirken. Weitere Werke beinhalten Gedichte basierend auf christlichen Legenden sowie zwei Chroniken über Otto den Großen und das Kloster in Gandersheim.