Муспилли: Древневерхненемецкая поэма о судьбе души

Old High German poem

Muspilli is an Old High German alliterative verse poem known in incomplete form (103 lines) from a ninth century Bavarian manuscript. Its subject is the fate of the soul immediately after death and at the Last Judgment. Many aspects of the interpretation of the poem, including its title, remain controversial among scholars.

The text is extant in a single ninth century manuscript: Clm 14098 of the Bavarian State Library, Munich. The bulk of the manuscript contains a Latin theological text presented between 821 and 827 by Adalram, bishop of Salzburg, to the young Louis the German (c. 810–876). Into this orderly written manuscript, the text of the Muspilli was untidily entered, with numerous scribal errors, using blank pages, lower margins and even the dedication page. Though in Carolingian minuscules, the handwriting is not that of a trained scribe. The language is essentially Bavarian dialect of the middle or late 9th century. The poem's beginning and ending are missing: they were probably written on the manuscript's outer leaves, which have since been lost. Legibility has always been a problem with this text, and some early editors used reagents which have left permanent stains. There are many conjectural readings, some of them crucial to modern interpretation of the work. (48–62) But (many?) men of God (gotmann ) believe that in that battle Elias will be wounded (or killed?). (When?) Elias's blood drips onto the earth, (then?) mountains will burst into flame, trees will no longer stand, waters will dry up, the moon will fall, the sky will smoulder, middle earth (mittilagart) will burn. a verdict frequently echoed in 20th century research. On many issues, agreement is still lacking. Its reception by scholars is significant in its own right, and as a study in evolving critical paradigms. Already by 1900, this (literally) marginal work had come to be monumentalised alongside other medieval texts against a background of German nation building, but also in keeping with the powerful, European wide interest in national antiquities and their philological investigation.

As an exemplar of Christian eschatology, much of the Muspilli is theologically conventional, and remarkable mainly for its vivid presentation of Christian themes in a vernacular language at such an early date. With biblical support and backed by established dogma, the poet evidently saw no difficulty in juxtaposing the particular judgment (lines 1–30, with souls consigned immediately (sar) to Heaven or Hell) and the general judgment on the Last Day (31–36 and 50 ff). Most of the poem's Christian features are an amalgam of elements from the Bible. Key passages in the Gospels (particularly Matthew 24, 29 ff; 25, 31 ff; and Luke 21, 5 ff) predict calamities and signs, including a darkening of sun and moon, the stars falling from the heavens and a loud trumpet, followed by Christ's Second Coming and the Last Judgment. The Second Epistle of Peter, chapter 3, foretells the 'Day of the Lord' and its all consuming fire. Many significant signs are described in 2(4) Esdras 5, and in non canonical works such as the Apocalypse of Thomas, in a tradition later formalised as the Fifteen Signs before Doomsday.

Schmeller, Johann Andreas (ed.) (1832). Muspilli. Bruchstück einer alliterierenden Dichtung vom Ende der Welt. Munich: Jaquet
Müllenhoff, Karl & Wilhelm Scherer (eds.) (1892/1964). Denkmäler deutscher Poesie und Prosa aus dem VIII–XII Jahrhundert. 3rd edition (revised by Elias Steinmeyer). Berlin: Weidmann, 1892. 4th edition. Berlin, Zürich: Weidmann, 1964. Vol. I, pp. 7–15; vol. II, pp. 30–41
Steinmeyer, Elias von (ed.) (1916). Die kleineren althochdeutschen Sprachdenkmäler. Berlin: Weidmann, 1916. 2nd edition. Berlin, Zürich: Weidmann, 1963. pp. 66–81
Braune, Wilhelm (1994). Althochdeutsches Lesebuch. 17th edition revised by Ernst A. Ebbinghaus. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Section XXX, pp. 86–89