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Clara Hätzlerin

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Clara Hätzlerin
Bornc. 1430
Died1476
OccupationScribe
Years active15th century

Clara Hätzlerin (c. 1430 – 1476/7) was a professional scribe active in fifteenth-century Augsburg.[1] She is the only female scribe whose copying of texts for pay is documented in contemporaneous sources: she appears in the tax books of Augsburg between 1452 and 1476.[2]

Her 1471 Liederbuch (songbook), a varied collection of love poems and an important literary manuscript, was among the sources used by composer Carl Orff for his tragic Die Bernauerin (1947).[1][3]

Background

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Hätzler was born into a family of notaries in Augsburg. Her father Bartolomäus is attested as a so-called Briefschreiber, who as a messenger tended to the legal claims of rich citizens. He is referred to in the tax books of Augsburg between 1409 and 1443, in a book of official correspondence, and as a witness in a letter of Marx Lang.[4] Bartolomäus's legal practice was taken over at his death in 1444/45 by his eldest son, also called Bartolomäus, who is attested as a public notary between 1451 and 1496.

Activity as a professional scribe

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Augsburg was an important centre for professional scribes. Besides Hätzlerin, other calligraphers such as Heinrich Molitor, Heinrich Lengefeld, and Konrad Bollstatter are known to have worked there.[5] It was common for scribes carry out such work in conjunction with other employment in legal, civic, or managerial roles. In Hätzlerin's case, she copied out manuscripts on order from clients while working in the legal practice of her father and brother.

A total of eight manuscripts survive which Hätzerlin is known to have copied:

Commemoration

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Clara-Hätzler-Straße in Augsburg is named after her.

Hätzlerin is one of the 999 notable women whose names are displayed on the Heritage Floor of Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party art installation (1979).[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Cyrus, Cynthia J. (2009). The scribes for women's convents in late medieval Germany. Toronto [Ont.]: University of Toronto Press. p. 55. ISBN 9781442689084.
  2. ^ Ingeborg Giler, "Hätzlerin, Klara," in Verfasserlexicon (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1981), 3:547-9.
  3. ^ Jans, hrsg. von Hans Jörg (1996). Welttheater - Carl Orff und sein Bühnenwerk : Texte von Carl Orff aus der "Dokumentation" : eine Publikation des Orff-Zentrums München. Tutzing: Schneider. p. 7. ISBN 3795208610.
  4. ^ Eduard Gebele, "Clara Hätzlerin," in Lebensbildern aus dem Bayerischen Schwaben (Munich: Hueber, 1958), 6:26-37.
  5. ^ Schneider, Karin (1995). Berufs- und Amateurschreiber. Zum Laien-Schreibbetrieb im spätmittelalterlichen Augsburg. Tübingen: Max Niemayer. pp. 8–26.
  6. ^ Signature "Clara Hätzlerin" in the manuscript Heidelberg Cpg 478
  7. ^ Signature "Clara Hätzlerin" in the manuscript Heidelberg Cpg 677
  8. ^ "Clara Hatzerlin." Heritage Floor, The Dinner Party. Brooklyn Museum. Accessed 5 Feb. 2023.

Further reading

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  • Burghart Wachinger, Liebe und Literatur im spätmittelalterlichen Schwaben und Franken, Zur Augsburger Sammelhandschrift der Clara Hätzlerin, DVjs 56 (1982), 386–406.
  • Edmunds, Sheila. 'The Life and Work of Clara Hätzlerin' in Journal of the Early Book Society for the study of manuscripts and printing history (New York: Pace University Press): 2 (1999).
  • Glaser, Elvira, 'Das Graphemsystem der Clara Hätzlerin im Kontext der Handschrift Heidelberg, Cpg. 677', in: Deutsche Sprache in Raum und Zeit, Festschrift für Peter Wiesinger zum 60. Geburtstag, eds. Ernst and Patocka, Vienna (1998), p. 479–494.
  • Liederbuch der Clara Hätzlerin : aus der Handschrift des Böhmischen Museums zu Prag, ed. C. Haltaus. - Quedlinburg : Basse, 1840; reprint: ISBN 978-3-11-000259-1. (Full text available in both English and German from the Internet Archive)


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