Writing In the Vernacular
Introduction: The Recording and Survival of the Earliest German Texts
The Beginnings of German Literature
Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Old High German
by Cyril Edwards; 2002; ISBN 157113235x
The German vernaculars of the Carolingian period, those dialects known collectively as Old High German in the south, and Old Saxon in the north, spawned what may be termed a "minority literature." Well over 95% of the texts from this time were written in Latin.
An ambivalent attitude to the vernacular can be discerned in this earliest period of literacy in German. On the one hand, the desire of the Church to reach a wider public led to a large number of translations into the vernaculars, or the composition of texts which were translation based; on the other hand there was a stigma attached to the vernacular.
This ambivalence in attitude to the vernacular is reflected in the character of the earliest texts which have survived. A twofold typology attempted here: on the one hand, the majority of the texts clearly originated with the blessing of the Christian Church. A second category, however, comprises texts to which the Church objected and which it condemned in its edicts - what might be termed anti-establishment literature. Two kinds of texts are readily identifiable as belonging to this category: the magico-medical charms, and the early traces of the love-lyric. The former were regarded as suspect because of their associations with heathendom, the latter because of their erotic content.
The charms written down in the Carolingian period survive as "fillers" on originally blank leaves, flyleafs, or in the margins of theological manuscripts. The Merseburg Charms are typical in this respect. The fact that the Wiener Hundesegen (Braune, XXXI, 2), a charm for the protection of dogs that guard cattle, and Contra Vermes (XXXI, 4a), an Old Saxon charm against disease-causing worms, are preserved together with Latin charms serving similar purposes points to a utilitarian function behind their being recorded, rather than their having survived because of any intrinsic interest in them as specimens of vernacular literature.
The co-existence of magic and religion persisted throughout the Middle Ages, disregarding the vituperative condemnation of charms by the Church.
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