Serving the church: the early middle high German cantilena de conversione sancti pauli and the Colmar manuscript

摘要

Little attention has been paid to the third and most fragmentary of the early Middle High German poems from the Colmar manuscript. The Cantilena de conversione Sancti Pauli raises questions not only of form and content, but also of its relationship with the other pieces in the codex. While some problems must remain unanswered, the stylistic variety in what survives of the poem is noteworthy, and it can be linked in intent with the preceding text, the Scopf von dem lône, both liturgically and also in its address specifically to a wealthy audience urged not only to penance, but to support the church in practical ways.