Gottfried von Hagenau facts for kids
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Gottfried von Hagenau, also known as Götz von Hagenau, was a priest, doctor, and poet who lived during the Middle Ages. He was also a theologian, which means he studied religion. Gottfried was probably born in Haguenau, a town in Alsace, sometime before the year 1275.
Gottfried studied medicine and theology in Strasbourg and Paris. After his studies, he worked as a school principal in Basel, Switzerland. Later, he moved to Strasbourg and became a doctor there. He also wanted to become a priest (called a canon) at the St Thomas' Church. At first, he was not accepted. But he went to court in Rome and won his case, so he became a canon at St Thomas' Church in 1300. He passed away on September 26, 1313. He is buried in the church, and his fancy Gothic ledger stone (a stone slab marking a grave) is still there today. The stone shows him dressed as a priest, holding a book. The writing on it says he was a master, doctor, and canon of St. Thomas' Church in Strasbourg, and that he died on October 26, 1313.
Gottfried's Famous Poem
Gottfried wrote a long poem in Latin called Liber sex festorum beatae Virginis, which means "Book of the Six Feasts of the Blessed Virgin." This poem has 4,134 rhyming lines and is about the life and special days of Mary, the mother of Jesus. He finished writing it between 1293 and 1300, and he wrote it for Bishop Conrad of Lichtenberg.
The original handwritten copy of this poem was studied by Johann Michael Moscherosch in 1653. Sadly, this important manuscript was destroyed. It was lost along with another famous book, the Hortus deliciarum, when the Strasbourg city library burned down during the Siege of Strasbourg in 1870. Luckily, copies of Gottfried's poem were made before this happened by people like Charles Schmidt, Jérémie-Jacques Oberlin, and Eberhard Gottlieb Graff. These copies are now kept in the National and University Library in Strasbourg.
Church Contributions
In 1307, Gottfried helped introduce a special church celebration called the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at St Thomas' Church. This feast was celebrated there until the church became Protestant in 1524. Gottfried even gave his own money to the church to help make this celebration possible.
See also
- Gottfried von Strassburg
- Reinmar von Hagenau
