Heilsbronn, Monastery of

HEILSBROWN, MONACO di. - Under this name a collection of ascetic works has been handed down, produced by an anonymous Cistercian monk of the abbey of H., near Nuremberg. He is perhaps to be identified with Conrad of Brun-

delsheim (v.). Among the authors cited, who include St. Bernard and the scholastics, there is also Conrad Soccus, abbot of H. from 1303 to 1321. It is therefore more than probable that the M. di H. dates from the first half of the 14th century. Furthermore, the style is that of central Germany, with traces of the Bavarian dialect.

The oldest of these treatises is Das Buch der sieben Grade ("Book of the Seven Degrees") of 2218 verses, copied in 1390 by the priest Ulrich Cunifex of Eschenbach and preserved in a single manuscript in Heidelberg. The treatise entitled Liber de corpore et sanguine Domini, also called Das Buch von den 6 Namen des Fronleichnams, or even Goldene Zunge, is written in prose, but has its prologue and conclusion in verse. In the prologue the author gives himself the appellation der Mönch von H. ("Monk of H."), under which he has passed into history. The aforementioned Heidelberg manuscript also preserves the Tochter Syon ("Daughter of Zion") in 596 verses, which deals with mystical union with God, and the Legend of St. Alexius, in 436 verses, the attribution of which to the M. di H. is rather doubtful. On the other hand, Das Puch von der Minne must be considered lost.