EZZOLIED (ANEGENGE). — A song in Old German (c. 1060) on Christ and the redemption of the world, composed by Ezzo, canon of the cathedral of Bamberga.
Together with the Memento mori and the Canzone di Anno, it constitutes one of the oldest literary monuments of that language, and reflects the various aspects of the religious movement from which the sacred lyric of the period arose. Lacking originality, its merit lies in the incomparable manner in which Ezzo, through enthusiastic fervor, religious ardor, and concision, elaborated the theological material: hence the extraordinary influence it exerted on works of the genre.
BIBL.: Bibliographical indications in G. Ehrismann, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur bis zum Auszug der Mittelalters, II, 1, Monaco 1922, p. 40 ff.; cf. also: H. Steinger, s. V. in Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters, in Verfasserlexikon, I, cols. 504–99. Giovanni Guerra