This research report deals with the function of the figure of Death
in German literature from the 14th to the 16th century and its early
Latin predecessors. This thesis aims to give an overview of such
texts, written predominantly in Latin until the first half of the
15th century and also in German from the second half of the 15th
century.
From the overview of the texts, it is evident that the figure of
Death was employed mainly by reform-oriented groups within the
Church in texts whose contents had a socio-religious bias. This,
together with an analysis of the possible recipients of the texts,
provides support for the thesis that these groups must have used
the figure of Death within the social context of the period (from
the 12th to the 16th century) in an attempt to protect the interest
of the Church as an institution as well as its strong influence on
society. The time span from the 14th to the 16th century is then subdivided
into two epochs. The first epoch encompasses the period from the
14th century to the beginning of the Reformation; the second epoch
encompasses texts dating from the beginning of the Reformation.
Several texts from each epoch are analysed in detail in order to
prove the thesis. The choice of texts takes into account the dominant
church reform groups as well as the most relevant genres of
the time. This investigation shows that the church established its
hold on society, on the one hand, by keeping the higher clergy and
the nobility in the place assigned to them by the concept of "ordo",
and on the other hand, by directing social criticism at the people
of high standing, and so appeasing the lower classes who were
looking to heretical groups for the realization of their spiritual
needs and social ambitions.
Reform was thus seen by the reform-oriented people within the Church
as upholding the "God-given" social order, related to the Great
Chain of Being, by all estates. The more this order crumbled because
the real political power-brokers had changed, the more universal
the criticism of the figure of Death became. After the Reformation,
however, the universality of social criticism was increasingly restricted
to the local level, being mainly aimed at rich individuals
within the city population. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/8673 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Thiel, Gudrun Else Kaethe. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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