Herrad of Landsberg (Landisperg)

HERRAD di LANDSBERG (LANDSPERG). – Abbess, born ca. 1125–30 into the noble Alsatian family of Landsberg; having entered the monastery of Hohenburg (Odilienberg, Alsace), she was there a faithful disciple of the abbess Relinda, whom she succeeded in office in 1171. Following in her footsteps, she succeeded in bringing the monastery to great flourishing.

Indeed, for its better religious service, she founded nearby the Convent of S. Gorgono, entrusting it to the Premonstratensians; and she founded another, with a hospice, at Truttenhausen for the Augustinians. For the instruction and edification of the nuns, moreover, she composed the Hortus deliciarum, a kind of encyclopaedia of all the theological and secular learning of the twelfth century: Sacred Scripture, expounded especially in its mystical meanings current in the Middle Ages; theology, philosophy, geography, history, the fine arts, etc. The title was chosen by the author (and was common in Latin, especially medieval Latin) because the work gathered together, as in a “garden of delights,” all the “flowers” that could be collected from the works of the Fathers, theologians, and philosophers, and from the books of the Bible. It in fact contains, sometimes quoted verbatim, passages from authors ranging from the earliest Fathers to the contemporaries Anselmo di Canterbury (d. 1109) and Ruperto di Deutz (d. 1135). H. herself added several poetic works, accompanied by musical notation.

ART. - A manuscript of the Hortus deliciarum, precious for the miniatures that adorned it, was preserved together with the only existing copy in the Strasbourg Library, and both were lost in the Library fire of 23 August 1870. Fortunately, it was possible to recover approximately 230 of the 336 miniatures in the original manuscript, thanks to reproductions in studies preceding its destruction and to the casts commissioned by J. de Bastard, now held at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. These reproductions were collected and published by A. Straub and G. Keller (2 vols., Strasbourg 1901). It is above all from these that one can form an idea of the originals, resplendent in vivid colors, with a remarkably refined design that at times achieves considerable expressive force. The presence of several illustrators is nevertheless evident, owing to the alternation of various influences in the different miniatures: from a Byzantine schematism one passes to a majesty of composition with an almost classical character, especially in the figures of Christ and the Apostles, or to a vivacity and expressive power that are typically Romanesque. Taken as a whole, moreover, the miniatures are of considerable interest for Christian iconography and symbolism: see, for example, the myth of Ulysses and the Sirens.

Gérard saw an intimate fusion between text and miniatures, and therefore did not hesitate to attribute these also to H. Marignan, on the other hand, not only deprived the famous abbess of the honor of their composition, which he considered beyond a woman’s capabilities, but, following a careful and detailed examination of the miniatures, concluded that both the costumes and the iconography and the very character of the representations placed the date of execution at the beginning of the 13th century; he therefore concluded that it was not the original that had been illustrated, but a second exemplar dating from around 1230. - Vedi rav. XCI.