Till Eulenspiegel (German pronunciation:[tɪlˈʔɔʏlənˌʃpiːɡəl];Low German:Dyl Ulenspegel[dɪlˈʔuːlnˌspeɪɡl̩]) is the protagonist of a European narrative tradition. A Germanchapbook published around 1510 is the oldest known extant publication about thefolk hero (a first edition ofc. 1510/12 is preserved fragmentarily), but a background in earlierMiddle Low Germanfolklore is likely. The character may have been based on a historical person.
Eulenspiegel is a native of theDuchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg whosepicaresque career takes him to many places throughout theHoly Roman Empire. He playspractical jokes on his contemporaries, at every turn exposing vices. His life is set in the first half of the 14th century, and the final chapters of the chapbook describe his death from theplague of 1350.
Eulenspiegel's surname translates to "owl-mirror"; and the frontispiece of the 1515 chapbook, as well as his alleged tombstone inMölln, Schleswig-Holstein, render it as arebus comprising anowl and a handmirror. It has been suggested that the name is in fact a pun on aLow German phrase that translates as "wipe-arse".[1]
Modern retellings of the Eulenspiegel story have been published since the latter 19th century.The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak, byCharles De Coster (1867), transfers the character to the period of theReformation and theDutch Revolt; the novel'sUlenspiegel (in modernDutch,Tijl Uilenspiegel) was adopted as a symbol by theFlemish Movement.
According to the chapbook, Eulenspiegel was born inKneitlingen inLower Saxony nearBrunswick around 1300. As a vagrant (Landfahrer), he travelled through theHoly Roman Empire, especiallyNorthern Germany, but also theLow Countries,Bohemia, andItaly. He is said to have died inMölln, Schleswig-Holstein, nearLübeck andHamburg, of theBlack Death in 1350.
The first known chapbook on Eulenspiegel was printed inc. 1510–1512 in Strasbourg. It is reasonable to place the folkloristic origins of the tradition in the 15th century, although, in spite of suggestions to the effect "that the name 'Eulenspiegel' was used in tales of rogues and liars in Lower Saxony as early as 1400",[2] 15th-century references to a Till Eulenspiegel turn out to be surprisingly elusive.[3] The text of the first extant edition, printed byJohannes Grüninger, is in theHigh German language. There has been a debate surrounding the possible existence of an olderLow German edition, now lost.This version has been attributed toHans Dorn, the only known printer active in Brunswick at the beginning of the 16th century (active from at least 1502). Sodmann (1980) in support of this hypothesis adduced the woodcut of a fool on horseback holding a hand mirror used by Dorn in later prints, as the title illustration of hisLiber Vagatorum andGrobianus, which may originally have served as the title illustration of the lost Eulenspiegel edition.[4]
There are several suggestions as to the author of the 1510 chapbook, none of which has gained mainstream acceptance. Candidates includeThomas Murner,[5]Hermann Bote,Hieronymus Brunschwig, or an author collective surroundingJohannes Grüninger, including Thomas Murner,Johannes Adelphus,Tilemann Conradi andHermannus Buschius.[6]The author of the 1515 edition in a short preface identifies himself only as "N". He gives the year 1500 as the date when he originally began to collect the tales, stressing the difficulty of the project and how he wanted to abandon it several times, saying that he is now publishing it after all to "lighten the mood in hard times". The preface also announces the inclusion of material fromPfaff Amis andPfaff vom Kahlenberg, but no such material is present in the 1515 edition.[7]
The literal translation of the High German name "Eulenspiegel" is "owl-mirror" (henceowle-glasse). It is both innocuous and indicative of his character and has been explained as a garbled form of an expression for "wipe-the-arse".[1]
Many of Till's pranks arescatological in nature, and involve tricking people into touching, smelling, or even eating Till's excrement.[9][10]Scatological stories abound, beginning with Till's early childhood (in which he rides behind his father and exposes his rear-end to the townspeople) and persisting until his death bed (where he tricks a priest into soiling his hands with feces).[3]
In modern scholarship, there have been some attempts to find evidence for the historicity of Till Eulenspiegel's person. Hucker (1980) mentions that according to a contemporary legal register of the city of Brunswick oneTill van Cletlinge ("Till from/of Kneitlingen") was incarcerated there in the year 1339, along with four of his accomplices, for highway robbery.[11]
_in_M%25C3%25B6lln.JPG)
InMölln, the reported site of Eulenspiegel's death and burial in the plague year of 1350, a memorial stone was commissioned by the town council in 1544, now on display in an alcove on the outside wall of the tower of St. Nicolai church. The stone is inscribed in Low German, as follows:
Anno 1350 is dusse / steen upgehaven und / Tyle ulen spegel lenet / hier under begraven. / Marcket wol und / dencket dran. wat / ick gwest si up eren. / All de hir vor aver / gan. moten mi / glick weren.
This stone was carved in 1350, and Tyl Ulenspegel lies buried underneath. Note well and remember what I have been on Earth. All those who pass here will become as I am now.
The inscription (including the date of 1350) was allegedly copied from an older tombstone, now lost. This older tombstone is referred to in the chapbook of 1515, and it is mentioned as still being extant in 1536.[12][unreliable source?]The 1544 stone is mentioned byFynes Moryson in hisItinerary of 1591.Moryson also reports that in his time, the citizens of Mölln held a yearly festival in Eulenspiegel's honour, on which occasion they would present the clothes worn by Eulenspiegel when he died.[13]
The two earliest printed editions, inEarly New High German, were printed byJohannes Grüninger inStrasbourg. The first edition was unknown before sixteen folia of printing proofs were discovered in 1971 in the binding of a Latin edition ofReynard.Peter Honegger dated these pages to 1510/11 based on the type used,[14] but this date has since been called into question. Only a single specimen of the first edition has been preserved, discovered in 1975.[15] Thirty folia are missing, including the title page. A previous owner has replaced the missing pages by pages torn from an Eulenspiegel edition of c. 1700.It was most likely published in 1512. The sixteen folia discovered by Honegger are likely printing proofs for this edition.It consists of 100 folia with 66 woodcuts of high quality.[citation needed]
The 1515 edition was also printed by Grüninger in Strasbourg. Its full title reads:
Ein kurtzweilig Lesen von Dyl Ulenspiegel, geboren uß dem Land zu Brunßwick, wie er sein leben volbracht hatt, xcvi seiner geschichten.
A diverting read ofDyl Ulenspiegel, born in the land of Brunswick, how he spent his life; 96 of his stories.
The text is divided into 95 chapters (numbered to 96 as chapter number 42 is missing).The 1515 edition is decidedly inferior, missing many of the illustrations of the older edition, and showing signs of careless copying of the text.[citation needed]It is uncertain how many of these chapters were present in the earlier edition of 1510/12, although some of the chapters appear to be later additions. The initials of the final six chapters form the "acrostic"ERMANB, which has been taken as a hidden reference to the book's author.The first chapters are dedicated to Till's childhood. In chapter nine, Till leaves his mother and begins his life as a vagrant. He takes up diverse occupations, but each chapter ends with his moving on to another place.The final seven chapters are dedicated to his death and burial.
In the chapbooks, Eulenspiegel is presented as atrickster who plays practical jokes on his contemporaries, exposing vices at every turn, greed and folly, hypocrisy and foolishness. As Peter Carels notes, "The fulcrum of his wit in a large number of the tales is his literal interpretation of figurative language."[16] (Previously,Goethe made a similar observation.[17]) Although craftsmen are featured as the principal victims of his pranks, neither the nobility nor the pope is exempt from being affected by him.
A third Strasbourg edition, of 1519, is better yet and is usually used in modern editions to provide the sections that are missing in the surviving 1510/12 copy.[3]
_at_Michiel_Hillen_van_Hoochstraten.jpg)
The 'Antwerp group' of Eulenspiegel editions comprises a number of Flemish, French and English publications. The dating of these publications is still an issue of contention. The Antwerp printerMichiel Hillen van Hoochstraten is believed to have printed the first Dutch-language version of the Till Eulenspiegel story. In the past, the Hillen edition was dated to 1512 or 1519, but recent scholarship places it in the period between 1525 and 1546. Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten appears to have used for his translation a German text, in manuscript or printed, that is now lost, which antedated the Grüninger edition.[18]Jan van Doesborch is believed to have printed the first English translation in Antwerp possibly as early as 1520. In this edition the nameUlenspiegel is renderedHowleglas (as it were "owl-glass"). Later English editions, derived from the Antwerp group, were printed byWilliam Copland in London, in 1547 and 1568.[19]
Owleglasse is mentioned inHenry Porter'sThe Two Angry Women of Abington (1599) and again inBen Jonson's comedic playThe Alchemist (1610).
The first modern edition of the chapbook of 1519 is by Lappenberg (1854). Lappenberg was not yet aware of the existence of the 1515 edition.The 1515 and 1519 editions were published in facsimile by Insel-Ferlag in 1911 and 1979, respectively.An English translation by Paul Oppenheimer was published in 1972.[20]
Editions of Eulenspiegel in German, Dutch, Flemish, French and English remained popular throughout the early modern period. By the late 17th century, Eulenspiegel and his pranks had become proverbial, with the French adjectiveespiègle "impish, mischievous" derived from his name.[21] The German nounEulenspiegelei (as it were "owlglassery") is recorded in the early 19th century.[22]
Hans Sachs (1494-1576) the renowned Meistersinger of Nuremberg drew material from theVolksbuch for 46 of his comic tales (Schwänke) and Carnival plays(Fastnachtspiele). Thirty of theSchwänke were set to Meistersinger melodies(töne). Fellow Nuremberger Jacob Ayrer (1544-1605) also produced an Eulenspiegel Carnival play.
In the eighteenth century, German satirists adopted episodes for social satire, and in the nineteenth and early twentieth century versions of the tales werebowdlerized to render them fit for children, who had come to be considered their chief natural audience, by expurgating their many scatological references.[16]
The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak, an 1867 novel by Belgian authorCharles De Coster, has been translated, often in mutilated versions, into many languages. It was De Coster who first transferred Ulenspiegel from his original late medieval surroundings to theProtestant Reformation. In this version, Ulenspiegel was born inDamme, West Flanders and became a Protestant hero of theDutch Revolt. The author gives him a father, Claes, and mother, Soetkin, as well as a girlfriend, Nele, and a best friend,Lamme Goedzak. In the course of the story Claes is taken prisoner by the Spanish oppressors and burned at the stake, while Soetkin goes insane as a result. This tempts Thyl to start resistance against the Spanish oppressors. Thanks to the 1867 novel, Ulenspiegel has become a symbol ofFlemish nationalism, with a statue dedicated to him in Damme.
Alfred Jarry, author ofGestes et opinions du Docteur Faustroll, pataphysicien (1911), mentions Ulenspiegel's unruly behaviour in the Appendix chapter entitledLes poteaux de la morale: « Till Ulenspiegel, on s’en souvient, ne coordonnait point autrement ses opérations mentales : se dirigeant vers un faîte, il se réjouissait du dévalement futur. » ("Till Ulenspiegel, we recall, did not coordinate his mental operations differently: heading toward a cliff, he rejoiced in future downfall.")
A French edition,Les Aventures de Til Ulespiègle, was published by Constantin Castéra in 1910.In 1927,Gerhart Hauptmann wrote the verseTill Eulenspiegel.
Ulenspiegel was mentioned inMikhail Bulgakov'sThe Master and Margarita as a possible prototype for theblack cat characterBehemoth.
Michael Rosen adapted the story into a 1989 children's novel, illustrated byFritz Wegner:The Wicked Tricks of Till Owlyglass,ISBN 978-0744513462.
Daniel Kehlmann in his novelTyll (2017) places TyllUlenspiegel in the context of theThirty Years' War.
The Italian civil law professorFrancesco Gazzoni uses the name Till Eulenspiegel as apseudonym for himself in his book "Favole quasi giuridiche" (in English, "Semi-juridical Fables").
Thomas Mann uses Till Eulenspiegel in dialogue by the young Hans Castorp in the novelThe Magic Mountain (Der Zauberberg) as a metaphor for trickery in speaking of the apparent lag between Earth's astronomical procession around the Sun and the experienced weather— that the declared start and renewal of Spring does not start after the Winter Solstice when the days begin to lengthen, and similarly that Autumn should seemingly begin after the Summer Solstice and yet that is when Summer is declared to start.
Ray Goossens had a 1945 comic strip based onTijl Uilenspiegel, where Tijl and Lamme Goedzak were portrayed as a comedic duo. The series was sometimes calledTijl en Lamme too.[23]
Willy Vandersteen drew two comic book albums about Uilenspiegel, "De Opstand der Geuzen" ("The Rebellion of theGeuzen") and "Fort Oranje" ("Fort Orange"), both drawn in a realistic, serious style and pre-published in the Belgian comics magazineTintin between 1952 and 1954. They were published in comic book album format in 1954 and 1955. The stories were drawn in a realistic style and in some instances followed the original novel very closely, but sometimes followed his own imagination more.[24]
Belgian comics artistGeorge van Raemdonck adapted the novel into a comic strip in 1964.[25]
Between 1985 and 1990,Willy Vandersteen drew a comics series namedDe Geuzen of whom the three main characters are Hannes, his girlfriend Veerle and Tamme, Hannes' best friend. All are obviously inspired by Tijl Uilenspiegel, Nele andLamme Goedzak.[24]
Kibbutz theatre director and producerShulamit Bat-Dori created an open-air production ofTill Eulenspiegel atMishmar HaEmek, Israel, in 1955 that drew 10,000 viewers.[26][27]
In Moscow in 1974,Grigoriy Gorin adapted De Coster's novel as a play originally entitledThe Passion of Tyl. A Two-Part Farcical Comedy (The Passion of had to be removed later) which alluded to the state of theSoviet Union. Performed at theLenkom Theatre with music byGennady Gladkov it had elements ofrock opera.[28][29] In 2019, the original libretto was restored and official soundtrack released.[30][31]
Clive Barker incorporated elements of the Till Eulenspiegel story in his 1982 playCrazyface.[32][33][34]
In 1894–1895,Richard Strauss composed thetone poem,Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28.
In 1902,Emil von Reznicek adapted the story as anopera,Till Eulenspiegel.
In 1913,Walter Braunfels adapted the story as an opera,Ulenspiegel.
In 1916, theBallets Russes adapted the story as a ballet, later re-adapted byGeorge Balanchine forJerome Robbins at theNew York City Ballet.
In the late 1930s or early 1940s, the Russian composerWladimir Vogel wrote a drama-oratorio,Thyl Claes, derived from De Coster's book.
In 1983, the Soviet composerNikolai Karetnikov and his librettist, filmmakerPavel Lungin, released asamizdat opera,Till Eulenspiegel, which received its official release in 1990.[35]
The PolishpoetJacek Kaczmarski wrote an epitaph to Eulenspiegel in 1981 "Epitafium dla Sowizdrzała".[36]
Between 1945 and 1950, a German satirical magazine was calledUlenspiegel.The satirical magazineEulenspiegel was published from 1954 in Berlin,East Germany.
In 1916, choreographerVaslav Nijinsky created the balletTill Eulenspiegel set toTill Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28. by Richard Strauss. The libretto was by Vaslav Nijinsky, afterCharles De Coster and the costumes were by Robert Edmond Jones. The work premiered on 23 October 1916 at the Manhattan Opera House in New York City.
In 1956, the filmLes Aventures de Till L'Espiègle was made byGérard Philipe andJoris Ivens, which adapted De Coster's novel. (English title: "Bold Adventure"). The film was a French-East German co-production.
In 1965, thebelgian animated shortChomophobia, made byRaoul Servais, features Eulenspiegel.
In 1973,Walter van der Kamp directedUilenspiegel, a Dutch film.
Rainer Simon directedTill Eulenspiegel in 1975, which was an East-German production made for State Television. Due to Nudity, it was not suitable for children as State Television banned airing the film before 7pm (this version is an adult version).
Ulenspiegel (Legenda o Tile), was a 1976 Soviet film, based on De Coster's novel, and directed byAleksandr Alov andVladimir Naumov, "The Legend of Till Ullenspiegel" (1976).[37]
In 2003,Eberhard Junkersdorf adapted the story into a feature-length animated film.
In 2014,Christian Theede directed the filmTill Eulenspiegel [de].
In 1961, the BRT (nowadays theVRT) made a children's TV series,Tijl Uilenspiegel.
There are three museums in Germany featuring Till Eulenspiegel. One is located in the town ofSchöppenstedt in Lower Saxony, which is nearby his assumed birthplace Kneitlingen. The second is located in the supposed place of his death, the city ofMölln in Schleswig-Holstein, and the third in Bernburg (Saale), Sachsen-Anhalt. In the town of Damme, Belgium, there is also a museum honoring him, and there is a fountain and statue featuring Till Eulenspiegel in the Marktplatz of Magdeburg, capital city of Sachsen-Anhalt.
TES, the firstBDSM organization founded in the United States,[38] formerly known as The Eulenspiegel Society, took its original name from Till Eulenspiegel. TES was founded in 1971 and had the name "The Eulenspiegel Society" until it formally changed its name to "TES" in 2002. The original name was inspired by a passage fromAustrianpsychoanalystTheodor Reik'sMasochism in Modern Man (1941),[39] in which he argues that patients who engage in self-punishing or provocative behavior do so in order to demonstrate their emotional fortitude, induce guilt in others, and achieve a sense of "victory through defeat". Reik describes Till Eulenspiegel's "peculiar" behavior—he enjoys walking uphill, and feels "dejected" walking downhill—and compares it to a "paradox reminiscent of masochism", because Till Eulenspiegel "gladly submits to discomfort, enjoys it, even transforms it into pleasure".[40]
Notes
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Bibliography
Media related toTill Eulenspiegel at Wikimedia Commons
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
