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Sick March 5, 2008

Posted by casualt in Asides, Literature.
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I’ve had some ideas for posts, but I’m sick as a dog. About the best I can do now is follow the call of the meme. Unfortunately for you, the nearest book at hand is an edition and modern German translation of the medieval legend of Pope Gregoire: La vie du pape Saint Gregoire, ou la legende du bon pecheur. The good news is that on page 123 you get the modern German side, not the medieval French:

Er packt ihn an Nasenschutz seines Helms, / legt ihn auf den Hals des Pferdes / und sprengt geradewegs zum Tor. / Er was ohnmaechtig durch den Verlust des Blutes, / das ihm aus der Seite heraustrat, / so dass er nicht merkte, / wie Gregoire ihn forttrug. / Als die Gegner gesehen haben, / dass er den Herzog zu Boden geworfen hatte [lacuna].

Right after Gregoire finishes kicking this guy’s ass, the hot Oedipal sex happens.

Comments

1. Thomas Nephew - March 5, 2008

Wow, thanks — you read some wild stuff! Now get well.

For others, a rough translation:

He grabs him by the noseguard of his helmet /
lays him on the neck of his horse /
and bounds straight for the gate /
He was unconscious from blood loss /
from his side /
so that he didn’t know /
how Gregoire was carrying him away. /
When the opponents saw /
that he had thrown the count to the ground [lacuna].

Argh! — then what happened? I can’t quite believe a pope had Oedipal sex.

2. tom - March 5, 2008

It’s your basic Oedipus story in medieval Christian garb. Grandaddy king dies with a son and daughter, brother rapes sister, she produces Gregoire, the baby is put out to sea, brother goes to Jerusalem to repent and dies underway, sister inherits kingdom but a strong man comes along and takes over, Gregoire grows up in a monastery some place else, smacks some kids around and kid’s mother tells him he’s foundling, he runs off to find his parents, he finds his mother but doesn’t know it’s her, dispatches the strong man, marries mommy, eventually she finds a tablet that reveals his origins, Gregoire runs off to du penance on a rock in the middle of the sea for several years, off in Rome pope dies, cardinals have a vision that they’ll find the next pope on a rock someplace, they take him back to Rome and make him Pope.

The French legend was adopted into Middle High German by Hartmann von Aue. I don’t think there’s ever been an English translation, but I’ve never looked either. I’ve never read it, but I understand Thomas Mann’s Holy Sinner is based on Hartmann von Aue.