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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
The first purpose of this paper is to review the question of just what sources Conrad Ferdinand Meyer used in writing Der Heilige; the second and more important aim is to interpret in some detail Meyer's use of his material, to show how he adapted it to his purposes and added to it from his creative imagination. Both matters have been discussed by students of Meyer, but usually incidentally, sometimes under mistaken impressions, and never comprehensively. Before proceeding with the actual investigation, it will perhaps serve the purpose of clarity to state my conception of Meyer's purpose in writing the Novelle: it was not primarily to retell or to vivify history, nor to glorify a saint; it was rather to narrate an “unerhörte Begebenheit.” To be sure, Der Heilige is a historical Novelle, but so far as history was concerned Meyer's chief solicitude was to give a vivid background for the characters and events presented, and at the same time to avoid disturbing unduly the preconceived notions of readers with some knowledge of twelfth-century England. This attitude of Meyer's, which he held in general toward history as fictional material, permits many significant deviations from history—deviations which are made for specific artistic purposes. They therefore merit our particular attention.
1 Histoire de la conquête de l'Angleterre par les Normands, 7th ed., Œuvres complètes, i-iv (Paris, 1846). The pertinent sections are Books ix and x, vol. iii, 72–262.
2 Geschichte Alexanders des Dritten und der Kirche seiner Zeit, 2. Aufl. (Leipzig, 1860–64).
3 Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. Eine literarische Skizze zu des Dichters 60. Geburtstag. (Leipzig, 1885), p. 41. In justice to Reitler, it should be pointed out that he was writing in 1885, thus before Meyer's letters had been published. See Briefe Conrad Ferdinand Meyers, nebst seinen Rezensionen und Aufsätzen, hrsg. v. Adolf Frey (Leipzig, 1908). (Hereafter cited as Briefe.)
4 Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. Monographische Skizze (Leipzig, 1925), p. 86. In his bibliography, List includes Reitler's sketch; thus he probably based his assertion upon the earlier statement.
5 “C. F. Meyers Heiliger und die Sage von der schönen Rosamunde,” Die Lit., xxxiii (Oktober, 1930–September, 1931), 117. Nussberger is obviously unaware that Reitler advanced the suggestion before List.
6 Briefe, ii, 279. As a matter of fact, Meissner had mentioned only Thierry as the source (Bll. für literarische Unterhaltung, 1880, Nr. 22, 337–339).
7 For example, Adolf Frey, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. Sein Leben und seine Werke, 4. Aufl. (Stuttgart, Berlin, 1925), and Harry Maync, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer und sein Werk (Frauenfeld, Leipzig, 1925).
8 C. F. Meyer. Sa vie, son œuvre (1825–98) (Paris, 1913), p. 489.
9 “Einige Bemerkungen zu der Novelle C. F. Meyers: ‘Der Heilige’,” Zs.f. d. dt. Unterr., ix (1885), 441–447.
10 C. F. Meyer. Der Heilige in Deutsche Dichter des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Ästhetische Erläuterungen für Schule und Haus, Nr. 18 (Leipzig, Berlin, 1905), 21.
11 Mitteilungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft (Zürich, 1851).
12 Briefe, i, 426–427.
13 Op. cit., p. 489.
14 For bibliography on the Latin biographies of Becket, and on chronicles dealing with the general English history of the period, see Miss Kate Norgate's articles, “Thomas à Becket” and “Henry II,” in the Dictionary of National Biography, and the bibliographical section of Paul Alonzo Brown's The Development of the Legend of Thomas Becket (Doctoral Diss., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1930), pp. 278–280.
15 “Ludebat [Becket] … in calculis bicoloribus Insidiosorum ludebat bella Iatronum.” Vita Sancti Thomæ, in the compilation S. Thomm cantuariensis archiepiscopi et marlyris … opera quae extant omnia. Nunc primum ed…. J. A. Giles (vol. 190 of J. P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiæ; Cursus Computus, Series latina) (Paris, 1854), col. 115 (cited hereafter as Patr, lat. IPO). Meyer could easily have used this work, for it was in the Kantons- (Universitäts-) Bibliothek in Zurich during the period of composition of Der Heilige. See below, footnote 21. See also W. H. Hutton, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, new ed., rev. and enl. (Cambridge, 1926), pp. 28–29.
16 Op. cit., iii, 78.
17 “Ad hanc [London] … quamplures indigenarum Rothomagi et Cadomi … de [sic] transtulerunt, incolæ civitatis esse delegen tes, eo quod mercimoniis aptior et refertior erat quae frequentare consueverant. Ex horum numero fuit Gilbertus quidam cognomento Becchet … in commerciorum exercitio vir industrius.” Passio [applied here, as often, to a biography] Sancti Thomœ …, auctore anonymo Lambethiensi, Patr. lat. 190, cols. 273–274. See above, footnote 15.
18 “Ipsa mulier [Eleanor] … se monacho non regi nupsisse dicens.” Sir Roger Twysden's Historiæ Anglicano: Scriptores Decern (London, 1652), col. 1040. This work was in the Stadtbibliothek in Zurich while Meyer was writing Der Heilige. See below, footnote 21.
19 Mir acida S. Thomœ Canluariensis, in Materials for the History of Thomas Becket (The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, No. 67, ed. by J. C. Robertson and J. B. Sheppard [London, 1875–85]), i, 476–477.
20 In three of the examples given, it is true that the reference is to biographical material on Becket rather than to general chronicles. It seems reasonable to assume, however, that Meyer used the word Chroniken loosely to include not only general chronicles but also medieval biographical material on Becket. This is borne out by Meyer's own use of the term in Der Heilige. Chorister Burkhard first refers to the document in his hands as “ein Pergament… worauf das Leben und die Marter meines Altersgenossen [Becket] beschrieben und verherrlicht ist.” (C. F. Meyer, Der Heilige, 77. Aufl. [Leipzig, 1916], p. 10.) The parchment mentioned is thus clearly a biography of Becket, not a Chronik in the restricted sense of the word. Yet Herr Burkhard subsequently refers twice to the same document as die Chronik. (Ibid., pp. 168, 219.) Meyer thus uses the term Chronik as a synonym for Biographic
21 In an attempt to delimit Meyer's reading somewhat, I wrote to Dr. Felix Burckhardt, Director of the Zentralbibliothek in Zurich, asking what material which could have been used for Der Heilige was in the Zurich Stadtbibliothek (used extensively by Meyer) during the period of composition of the Novelle. Dr. Burckhardt was kind enough to send me a list of those chronicles and other source-works on medieval English history, twenty-one in number, which were either in the City Library or in that of Zurich University at the time of composition of Der Heilige. Only a few of the older works listed by Dr. Burckhardt have been available to me, and some of them would probably be difficult to obtain at all in this country. Even if all of them could be examined, however, the possibility would still exist that Meyer had access to still other of the numerous chronicles.
22 See footnotes 15, 17, 18, and 21.
23 In the extended meaning of the word. See footnote 20.
24 Briefe, ii, 510.
25 Briefe, ii, 305–306. This exposition comprises most of a letter to Hermann Lingg, written in 1880.
26 Briefe, ii, 66.
27 Exposition for Lingg, loc. cit. The italics are Meyer's.
28 Ibid.
29 “An utter contrast to Henry, he could never suppress or even conceal his emotions.” Hutton, op. cit., p. 253.
30 Meyer states in a publisher's notice which he suggested to Haessel: “Der Dichter hat von dem orientalischen Ursprung des Thomas Becket Anlass genommen, demselben einen ganz eigentümlichen modernen Character zu geben, der mit dem mittelalterlich gewaltthätigen des Königs notwendig in Kampf geraten muss” (Briefe, ii, 99).
31 Loc. cit. Meyer's fondness for the delineation of contrasting figures is well-known. Other examples are Waser and Jenatsch in Jürg Jenatsch. Julian Bouffiers and Victor Argenson in Das Leiden eines Knaben, and Angela and Lucretia Borgia in Angela Borgia.
32 See Reinhold Pauli, Geschichte von England (Hamburg, 1853), iii, 189. Thierry does not treat this phase of Henry's character.
33 Thierry, op. cit., iii, 110, 141–142.
34 Briefe, ii, 99, 347, and 349.
35 Op. cit., 489–190.
36 Op. cit., ii, 68–69; iii, 284.
37 Exposition for Lingg, loc. cit.
38 For a good account of various treatments of the subject, see the article by Foss. It should be noted that, in addition to the versions cited by Foss, the story of the King's love affair with Rosamond is told in more or less detail in John Brompton's Chronicon (col. 1151) and in Robert Fabyan's The New Chronicles of England and France (London, 1811, 276–277). Both of these chronicles, according to Dr. Burckhardt's list (see above), were in the Zurich Stadtbibliothek during the composition of Der Heilige. It is thus not at all unlikely that Meyer was acquainted with them and drew at least partly from them. In any case Thierry gives only the bare mention of the affair.
39 “Fair Rosamond,” in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.
40 In a letter of 1881 to Louise von François, Meyer refers to Der Heilige as “absichtlich mehrdeutig” [italics his] (Louise von François und Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. Ein Briefwechsel, hrsg. v. Anton Bettelheim, 2., verm. Aufl., 1920, 1–2). Meyer also comments as follows in a letter to Hermann Friedrichs; “Inwiefern diese [Becket's revenge] eine beabsichtigte oder eine durch die Verkettung der Umstände herbeigeführte ist. darüber kann das Gefühl des Lesers schwanken.” Briefe, ii, 354.
41 Loc. cit.
42 As a matter of fact, Meyer was for a time undecided whether to make of his material a drama or a Novelle, and actually sketched it in dramatic form. See Briefe, ii, 70, 275.
43 See, for example, Pauli, op. cit., iii, 13–87. Richard was quite young, only seven years old, when Becket fled to the Continent in 1164.
44 Exposition for Lingg, loc. cil.
45 Meyer incorporates earlier in the story the following detail concerning the murderers: “Die Morder des Heiligen [wurden] durch ihre Sünde dergestalt entmenscht, dass … selbst ihre Leibhunde den Bissen aus ihrer Hand verabscheuten.” This is not contained in Thierry, but occurs in Brompton's Chronicon (col. 1064). See above, footnote 18. See also A. P. Stanley's Historical Memorials of Canterbury, 6th ed. (London, 1872), p. 104.
46 William Fitzstephen, of. cit., Patr. lat. 190, col. 178, and Edward Grim, Edvardi Vita S. Thomæ, apud Surium, De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis Mense Decembri, pp. 361–362. Strange to say, the latter passage, which contradicts Thierry's own statement in the body of the Histoire de la conquête, was reprinted by him in his Appendix to Book IX (Part 10).
47 See D'Harcourt, op. cit., p. 490.
48 See footnote 42.
49 For a discussion of various romances concerning Richard, see George Henry Needler's Richard Coeur de Lion in Literature (Inaug.-Diss., Univ. of Leipzig, Leipzig, 1890).
50 See, for example, T. A. Archer's article, “Richard I,” in the Dictionary of National Biography, and A History of the Life of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, by G. P. R. James, new ed. (London, 1854).
51 See above, references in text, and footnote 38.
52 I do not know that Meyer read Scott's novels, but it is quite possible, in view of the latter's popularity in Europe and of Meyer's great interest in things historical. Karl Goedeke's long list of translations of the Waverley Novels indicates the wide extent to which Scott was read in Germany (Grundriss der deutschen Dichtung aus den Quellen, iii, Dresden, 1881, 1333–38). See also F. W. Bachmann, Some German Imitators of Waller Scott: An Attempt to Evaluate the Influence of Scott on the Sub-Literary Novel of the Early Nineteenth Century in Germany (Doctoral Diss., Univ. of Chicago, private ed., distr. by the Univ. of Chicago Libraries. 1933), p. 1.
53 Carl Edgar Eggert has suggested Ivanhoe as a possible source for Meyer's portrayal of Richard. See C. F. Meyer's Der Heilige (New York, 1907), Introd., xlii.
54 Ivanhoe (in Everyman's Library), 1st–4th eds. (London and New York, 1906–08), pp. 316–317, 333–336.
55 See footnote 34.
56 See Miss Kate Norgate, “Henry, Second Son of Henry II,” Dictionary of National Biography; William Hunt, “Geoffrey, Count of Brittany,” ibid.; and R. Pauli, op. cit., iii, 163–164.
57 See William Hunt, “John, King of England,” Dictionary of National Biography; William Stubbs, Historical Introductions to the Rolls Series, collected and ed. by Arthur Hassall (London, New York, and Bombay, 1902), pp. 439–443, 487 and footnote; and R. Pauli, op. cit., pp. 472–478.
58 Incidentally, Grim later became one of the chief biographers of Becket.
59 See Thierry, op. cit., iii, 250–252, and Bertran de Born. Sein Leben und seine Werke, hrsg. v. Albert Summing, 1879.
