{"id":20230,"date":"2020-10-19T14:17:08","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T12:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/der-wilde-mann-von-wolfenbuettel\/"},"modified":"2023-06-16T14:06:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T12:06:57","slug":"the-wild-man-of-wolfenbuettel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/the-wild-man-of-wolfenbuettel\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Wild Man of Wolfenb\u00fcttel\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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28 October 2020<\/em><\/span><\/p>

We find instances of \u2018wild men\u2019 stretching right back to ancient times. One early example of such a figure is that of Enkidu from the Epic of Gilgamesh.<\/p>

The Old Testament offers another example in the form of King Nebuchadnezzar. The delusional king was cast out of the community of men and ate grass like an ox. His hair grew like eagle feathers and his nails became like bird claws. The focus here is on the notion of the civilised human who succumbs to madness and is transformed temporarily into a \u2018wild man\u2019.<\/p>

In medieval literature a \u2018wild man\u2019 also makes an appearance in the Iwein<\/em> poems of Chr\u00e9tien de Troyes and Hartmann von Aue. In artistic representations, he usually appears naked with thick wild hair and carrying a club. He is a counterpart to the courtly knight, although he is beyond any association with \u2018good and evil\u2019 or \u2018friend or foe\u2019. When he loses the favour of his lady, Iwein offers another example of a Nebuchadnezzar-style character: he succumbs to madness, rages and for a while lives naked in the forest.<\/p>

It is easy to find other examples of such figures. Even in the early modern and modern eras, audiences have been fascinated by such motifs. Evidence of them is found in the works of authors ranging from Shakespeare to Grimmelshausen, and from the Brothers Grimm to Goethe, who says in Faust<\/em>, \u2018Here are the Wild Men, that\u2019s our name, The Wild Men of Harz Mountains fame.\u2019 Goethe\u2019s mention of the Harz Mountains is of particular interest for the \u2018wild man\u2019 of Wolfenb\u00fcttlel. Alongside the \u2018wild men\u2019 we also find examples of \u2018wild women\u2019. The latter is a subject worthy of further examination, although, unfortunately, it is not the subject of this text.<\/p>

But let us turn our attention to the \u2018Wild Man of Wolfenb\u00fcttel\u2019. The object in question is a text signed with the initials \u2018B.W.\u2019, which have been determined to be those of the author Burkard Waldis (c.1490\u20131556). Waldis was arrested on several occasions by both Catholic and Protestant authorities, tortured and set free again. After converting to Protestantism, he worked as a whitesmith and coin appraiser and wrote a treatise on coins. His parable Vom verloren Sohn<\/em> (The Lost Son) was first presented during Shrovetide in 1527. In 1541\/42 he studied theology in Wittenberg and attended lectures held by Martin Luther. He then went on to serve as military chaplain to Landgrave Philip during the Schmalkaldic War. Waldis composed other literary works, including three other diatribes in around 1540 focusing on the conflict between the Schmalkaldic League, the Protestants and the Catholics.<\/p>

Two different printed versions of \u2018Der Wilde Man von Wolfenbuttel\u2019, both published in 1542, have been handed down. One of these is attributed to the Egenolff workshop in Marburg, the other to the printer and publisher Fr\u00f6lich in Strasbourg. The focus below is on the Marburg version. The words \u2018Der Wilde Man von Wolfenb\u00fcttel\u2019 appear on the title page, followed by the Latin motto derived from the prophecy of Jeremiah: Maledictus homo, qui confidit in homine, et ponit carnem brachium suum<\/em> (KJV: Cursed be<\/em> the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm). This is followed by five Latin distiches that most likely are excerpts from an elegy by Christophorus Copehenus Erfurdianus. The text of the poem runs for 12 pages and 425 rhyming couplets. In his edition published in 1883, Friedrich Koldeway describes the style of \u2018this salty satire\u2019 as follows: \u2018The verses flow lightly and pleasingly, the tone of the polemic is powerful and coarse, in keeping with the tastes of its times, but\u00a0\u2026 it is not without a modest degree of dignity.\u2019<\/p>

If we examine the text more closely, we find that the Wild Man is not mentioned until verse 251. A modern translation of this part of the text runs as follows: \u2018This is the wild man so fell \/ of whose exploits ye have sooth heard tell \/ that his deeds and manly bloom, \/ his knightliness and full many a palm \/ of victory and triumph gained shall be herewith right named. \/ Who e\u2019en with the Devil a pact did swear \/ and thereby did presume so far \/ as to defy God and saintly hands \/ and boldly gorge on aught that moved in German lands. \/ A braggart, of himself full proud, \/ a blasphemer who knows not God, \/ a godless wretch, debaucher in sooth, \/ a curser of God\u2019s word and truth, \/ a misanthrope, defiler of the good, \/ a murd\u2019rous incendiary and spiller of blood\u00a0\u2026\u2019 And so it goes on. The reader must make it through another 28 verses before the Wild Man\u2019s identity is revealed: \u2018That was the Welf of Wolfenb\u00fcttel: \/ Now he is just an Aschenpr\u00fcttel<\/em> [or \u2018Cinderella\u2019, an early reference to this name, known from the fairy tale].\u2019 By this time, contemporary readers knew very well that the \u2018Welf of Wolfenb\u00fcttel\u2019 was a clear reference to Herzog Heinrich der J\u00fcngere (1489\u20131568), even if his name never appears explicitly in the text. Heinrich was the last Catholic duke of Brunswick-L\u00fcneburg. He defied all attempts to introduce the Reformation and was a captain in the Catholic League of Nuremberg. Heinrich\u2019s duchy was conquered by Protestant troops in 1542. His defeat and incarceration served as the background for Burkard Waldis\u2019s debate poem.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\n\t\t\tHerzog Heinrich thaler from 1549 with the image of a \u2018wild man\u2019<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\"Taler\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/use>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\tHerzog Heinrich thaler from 1549 with the image of a \u2018wild man\u2019<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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But how did Waldis come up with the idea of depicting Heinrich as a \u2018wild man\u2019? As has been shown elsewhere, he was not entirely innocent. He described himself as such in his own letters, and had coins minted with the image of a \u2018wild man\u2019 from 1539 on. The silver for the coins was originally from the Harz Mountains, from the Wildermann (Wild Man) mine, for example.<\/p>

The coins were so widespread that it occurred to many people to identify the duke, who was so hated by the Protestants, as the Wild Man. However, equating these two figures does no justice either to the the ambiguous figure of the Wild Man or to the much-maligned duke.<\/p>

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PURL:<\/span> http:\/\/diglib.hab.de\/?link=154<\/a><\/em><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The author<\/h2>\n\t\t\t

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Leiter der Abteilung Bibliothekarische Dienste und Stellvertretender Direktor<\/h4>\n Dr. Johannes Mangei<\/a>\n \n \n
\n +49 5331 808-303<\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/use>\n <\/svg>\n E-Mail Schreiben<\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t
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Forschungsinteressen Buch- und Bibliotheksgeschichte Handschriftenkunde K\u00fcnstlerb\u00fccher, Samisdatliteratur Historische Stadtansichten Geschichte des Kart\u00e4userordens Nieders\u00e4chsische Landesgeschichte   Curriculum Vitae Geboren 1968 in Freiburg i. Br. Allgemeine Hochschulreife, Kolleg St. Sebastian, Stegen 1988 Berufsausbildung zum Offsetdrucker, Fa. Schweizer Druck (heute: Dreisam-Druck) in Kirchzarten 1988-1991 Studium: Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Historische Hilfswissenschaften und Germanistik, Albert- Ludwigs-Universit\u00e4t, Freiburg 1991-1997, (Magister Artium, 19.12.1997 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":10550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[141,274],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-info","category-hablog-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20230"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23024,"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20230\/revisions\/23024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}