OTFRIED
350
OTHLO
an open warfare, and Oswin, unable to meet the
superior forces of his adversary, disbanded his army,
either from worldly prudence (liede) or heroic virtue
(monk of Tyuenioutli), and made liis way for greater
security to Hunwald an eorldorman upon whom lie
had lately conferred the fief of Gilling. Hunwald
promised to conceal him but treacherously betrayed
him to Ethelwin, one of Oswy's officers, and he was
murdered. He was buried at Gilling and soon after-
wards transferred to Tynemouth, though another
account says he was buried at Tynemouth. The
anonymous monk of St. Albans, who in the reign of
King Steplien was resident at Tynemouth, and there
wrote tlie saint's life, says that his memory was for-
gotten during the Danish troubles, but in 1065 his
burial-place was made known by an apparition to a
monk named Ednmnd, and his relics were translated
on 11 March, 1100, and again on 20 August, 1103.
At the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry
^TII there was still a shrine containing the body
and vestments of St. Oswin. A portion of his body
was preserved as a relic at Durham (cf. Smith,
"Bede", HI, .xiv). Eanfleda, Oswy's queen, daughter
of St. Edwin, prevailed upon him to found in repara-
tion a monastery at Gilling, some remains of which
still exist, though it was destroyed by the Danes.
Bede in his "History" (HI, xiv) gives a description
of his character and features: "most generous to all
men and above all things humble; tall of stature
and of graceful bearing, with pleasant manner and
engaging address". There is now preserved in the
British Museum (Cotton MS. Galba A. 5.) a psalter
which until the fire of 1731 bore the inscription
"Liber Oswini Regis."
Tynemoi'th and C.\pgrave, Nova Legenda Anglia:, ed. Horst- M.tN. II (Oxford, 1901), 268; Acta SS., Aug.. IV. 63; Surtees Soc. Publ: Miscellanea Biographica, VIII, 1-59, and Introd. (London. 1834); Lives of English Saints, ed. Newm.in (London, 1900); Raine in Did. of Christ. Biag., a. v.; and Bdtleb, Lives of the Saints, III (Baltimore), 287-88.
S. Anselm Parker.
Otfried of Weissenburg, the oldest German poet known by name, author of the "Evangelienbueh", a rhymed version of the Gospels, flourished in the ninth century, but the exact dates of his life are unknown. He was probably born at or near Weissenburg in Al- sace, where he also seems to have received his earliest education. Later on he studied at Fulda under the famous Rabanus Maurus, who was abbot there after 822 and presided over the monastic school. After com- pleting his studies, Otfried returned to Weissenburg and entered the well-known Benedictine abbey there, becoming prefect of the abbey-school. He was notary there in .S.51. At Weissenburg he began his great poem, the "Liber evangeliorum theotisce conscriptus", the completion of which occupied the greater part of his hf e. It was dedicated to King Louis the German and to Bishop Salomo of Constance, to both of whom rhymed epistles are addressed in the Franconian dialect. The poet also addressed an epistle in Latin prose to Bishop Liutbert of Mainz to gain official approbation for his work. Hence the poem must have been finished some time between 8G3, when Liutbert became archbishop, and 871 , when Salomo died. In the letter to Liutbert, Otfried tells us that he undertook to write the poem at the request of some of the brethren and of a venerable lady, whose name is not mentioned, for the express purpose of supplanting the worldly poetry that found such favour with the people. He furthermore wished to make known the story of the Gospels to those who did not know Latin. The poem itself is in strophic form and contains some 1.5,000 lines. It is divided into five books, with reference to the five senses, which are to be purified and sanctified by the reading of the sacred story. The first book narrates the Nativity of Christ; the second and third. His Teachings and Mira- cles; the fourth, the Passion; the fifth, the Resurrec- tion, Ascension, and Last Judgment. Between the
narrative portions chapters are inserted superscribed
"Moraliter", "Spiritahter", "Mystice", in which the
events narrated are interpreted allegorically and sym-
bolically.
While Otfried bases his work chiefly on the Vulgate, he also makes use of the writings of Rabanus, Bede, and Alcuin, as well as those of St. Jerome^ St. Augus- tine, and others. In fact he is more of a theologian than a poet, though some passages show undeniable poetic talent. Still, the poem is far infciicir to the "Heliand" (q. v.), and never became re:illy popular. Particularly noteworthy is the opening chapter of the first book, where the autlior explains his reasons for writing in German, and not in Latin. This passage glows with a noble patriotism; the Franks are praised with sincere enthusiasm and are favourably compared with the Greeks and Romans. In form, Otfried's poem marks an epoch in German literature: it is the first poem to employ rhyme instead of the old Ger- manic alliteration, though the rhyme is still very im- perfect, being often mere assonance, with frequent traces of alliteration. Three almost complete manu- scripts of the work are preserved, at Vienna, Heidel- berg, and Munich; fragments of a fourth are found at Berlin, Wolfenbiittel, and Bonn. The Vienna codex is the best. Otfried was noticed as early as 1495 by the Abbot of Tritheim, and passages from his poem ap- peared in print as early as 1 53 1 , in the " Libri tres rerum Germanicarum " of Beatus Rhenanus. An edition then appeared at Basle, 1571, with a preface by Mathias Flacius, of Illyria. Graff, who published an edition at Konigsberg, 1831, called the poem "Krist", but that name is now obsolete. Modern editions are those of Kelle (3 vols., Ratisbon, 1856-81), Piper (Paderborn, 1878, and Freiburg, 1882-84), and Erdmann in Zach- er's " Germanistische Handbibliothek", V (Halle, 1882). Modern German versions have been made by Rapp (Stuttgart, 1858) and Kelle (1870).
See introductions to the editions of Kelle, Piper, and Erd- mann. Also, Lachmann, Otfrid in Kleinere Schriftcu, I (Berlin, 1876), 449-60; ScHONBACH. Otfridstudien in Zeitschrift fiXr deu- tsches Altertum, 38-40; ScHtiTZE, Beilrdge zur Poe'.ik Olfrids (Kiel, 1887); Martin in Allgcmeinc Deutsche Biographie, XXIV, 529 sq.; PLtJMHOFF, Beitrdge zu den Quellen Otfrids (Kiel, 1898).
Arthur F. J. Remy.
Othlo (Otloh), a Benedictine monk of St. Emmer- an's, Ratisbon, b. 1013 in the Diocese of Freising; d. 1072. Having made his studies at Tegernsee and Hersfeld, he was called to Wiirzburg by Bishop Megin- hard on account of his skill in writing. He entered the Benedictine Order, 1032, at St. Emmcran's in Ratisbon, was appointed dean, 1055, and entrusted with the care of the monastic school. To escape the oppressions of Bishop Otto he fled to Fulda in 1062 where he remained until 1067, when, after a short stay at Amorbach, he returned to Ratisbon and employed his time in literary work. In his early days he had a great relish for the Classics, especially for Lucan, but later he thought them not suited for religious, and tried to replace the heathen authors by writings of his own which served for education and edification. Othlo is praised as modest and pious; he was opposed to dialectics, not out of lack of education but because he wished to be untrammelled by set words and forms. He is accused of having originated the legend oi the transfer of the relics of St. Denis the Areopagite to Ratisbon, and also of having forged many letters of exemption for his abbey (Lechner in "Neues Archiv", XXV, 627, and "Zeitschr. fiir kath. Theol.", XXXI, 18). Among his writings are: " Dialogus de suis tenta- tionibus, varia fortuna et scriptis", which marked the beginning of autobiography in the Middle Ages (Mabillon, "Anal, nov.", IV, i07) ; Life of St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon ("Acta SS.", Nov., II, 1, 565); Life of St. Boniface, compiled from the letters of the saint found at Fulda; Life of St. Alto (partly in "Acta SS.", Feb., II, 3.59 and entire in " Mon. Ger. hist. : Scriptores", XV, 2, 843); Lifeof St. Magnus (" Acta SS.", Sept., II, 701).
