Officials on the Scaffold

Lutheran Martyrdom in Andreas Gryphius' Catharina von Georgien

Bibliographic Data

ID3507400
AuthorsNiels Nykrog (0000-0001-6643-845X, University of Copenhagen, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume13
Issue4
Pages345
Publication date2022-04-11
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel13040345
OpenAlexW4223519770
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited25

In a reading of Gryphius' Catharina von Georgien within its political and confessional context of Silesia at the end of the Thirty Years' War, this article analyzes the transformation of the Christian martyr cult within early modern German tragedy. It argues that Gryphius used the hagiographic type of the royal martyr as a moral example and figure of governmental order. He depicted the pious Georgian martyr Queen Catharina and her devout officials as an inspiring community of civic virtue to be imitated by his fellow Silesians. This patriotic injunction of the tragedy resonates with legal concepts of public law put forward by Gryphius' mentor, Georg Schönborner and others. The article finds that Gryphius' martyr tragedy must be read as an aesthetic contribution to some of the legal movements decisive for German state formation around 1650

Archaeology · Art · Confessional · Cult · Martyr · Political science · Politics · Theology · Virtue · Classics · Historical and Cultural Studies of Poland · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · History · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

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