ErostrateDiscovering the world's cultures, one work at a time
My list 0

How the works were chosen

Germany

Author · Germany

Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim

Died in 973

Hrotsvitha was born around 935, probably into the Saxon nobility, and entered Gandersheim young, a foundation linked to the Ottonian family. She was a canoness there and not a nun: vows of chastity and obedience, but not of poverty, which left her with property of her own. Her teachers were Rikkarda, then Gerberga, a niece of Otto I and abbess from 949. She wrote in Latin eight saints' legends in hexameters, a verse chronicle of the Ottonian dynasty and, around 973, the history of her abbey. She is attested alive in 973; the date of her death is unknown.

In the catalogue 1