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Dancing with the hangman : symbol, myth and ritual in the medieval German legend, the Schelmensage
Dancing with the hangman is an investigation into the medieval German legend known as the Schelmensage, which has its location in Bergen-Enkheim in Frankfurt, Germany - the town where I was born. It is a legend that concerns the manner in which a hangman became knighted by the emperor Barbarossa. I...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Religious Studies
2014
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| _version_ | 1867613802735861761 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Klein, Marie Bastienne |
| author2 | Chidester, David |
| author_browse | Chidester, David Klein, Marie Bastienne |
| author_facet | Chidester, David Klein, Marie Bastienne |
| author_sort | Klein, Marie Bastienne |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Dancing with the hangman is an investigation into the medieval German legend known as the Schelmensage, which has its location in Bergen-Enkheim in Frankfurt, Germany - the town where I was born. It is a legend that concerns the manner in which a hangman became knighted by the emperor Barbarossa. I received the legend from my mother. My initial research question was to find out why the legend was being told for over a period of 900 years. The thesis investigation reveals the legend to be a German trickster myth, achieving this analysis using various theories to define it as myth. The work of Paul Ricoeur on mimesis, is cast in an arc of the prefigured world of action, the act of configuration and the ability of a person to reconfigure a situation or a life, which is applied so as to understand the structures which underlie the legend's meaning. Regarding the word Schelm as the symbolic core of this legend the thesis analyses this symbolism through its etymology, a structural analysis of its five different versions and its ritual performance in the play, Der Schelm von Bergen. The thesis considers the impact of being personally involved with the subject matter. The analysis is woven with personal episodes and this is defended as a reflexive methodolgy. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8050 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:41:56.635Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | Department of Religious Studies |
| publisherStr | Department of Religious Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8050 Dancing with the hangman : symbol, myth and ritual in the medieval German legend, the Schelmensage Klein, Marie Bastienne Chidester, David Dancing with the hangman is an investigation into the medieval German legend known as the Schelmensage, which has its location in Bergen-Enkheim in Frankfurt, Germany - the town where I was born. It is a legend that concerns the manner in which a hangman became knighted by the emperor Barbarossa. I received the legend from my mother. My initial research question was to find out why the legend was being told for over a period of 900 years. The thesis investigation reveals the legend to be a German trickster myth, achieving this analysis using various theories to define it as myth. The work of Paul Ricoeur on mimesis, is cast in an arc of the prefigured world of action, the act of configuration and the ability of a person to reconfigure a situation or a life, which is applied so as to understand the structures which underlie the legend's meaning. Regarding the word Schelm as the symbolic core of this legend the thesis analyses this symbolism through its etymology, a structural analysis of its five different versions and its ritual performance in the play, Der Schelm von Bergen. The thesis considers the impact of being personally involved with the subject matter. The analysis is woven with personal episodes and this is defended as a reflexive methodolgy. 2014-10-03T12:51:21Z 2014-10-03T12:51:21Z 2005 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8050 eng application/octet-stream application/pdf Department of Religious Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Klein, Marie Bastienne Dancing with the hangman : symbol, myth and ritual in the medieval German legend, the Schelmensage |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Dancing with the hangman : symbol, myth and ritual in the medieval German legend, the Schelmensage |
| title_full | Dancing with the hangman : symbol, myth and ritual in the medieval German legend, the Schelmensage |
| title_fullStr | Dancing with the hangman : symbol, myth and ritual in the medieval German legend, the Schelmensage |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dancing with the hangman : symbol, myth and ritual in the medieval German legend, the Schelmensage |
| title_short | Dancing with the hangman : symbol, myth and ritual in the medieval German legend, the Schelmensage |
| title_sort | dancing with the hangman symbol myth and ritual in the medieval german legend the schelmensage |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8050 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kleinmariebastienne dancingwiththehangmansymbolmythandritualinthemedievalgermanlegendtheschelmensage |