Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library-The Works of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim

Hrotsvit, who lived at the convent of Gandersheim in Saxony in the tenth century, is the first Latin dramatist since late antiquity whose work survives. Her plays are preeminently written for women and motivated by a desire to surpass Terence. The Works of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim is the first English translation of her plays and poems.

The complete works of the first known woman playwright

Hrotsvit, a canoness at the convent of Gandersheim in Saxony during the tenth century, is the first Latin dramatist since late antiquity whose work survives. While her plays are still frequently performed, her other works are not readily available in English.

A desire to provide a morally superior, elegant alternative to Terence motivated Hrotsvit—instead of lascivious women, chaste virgins; instead of misbehaving young men defying their fathers, well-behaved young women obeying their mothers and defying male superiors; instead of erotic love, the love of Christ. Her plays are preeminently women’s plays: written for an audience of women and principally about women. Her female characters have extensive speaking parts; they are active, assertive, and self-directed.

In addition to the plays, Hrotsvit composed poems centered on saints and holy persons such as the Virgin Mary, Saint Denis, and the early Christian martyr Agnes. She also wrote epics on Otto the Great and on the founding of Gandersheim Abbey. Her poems for Theophilus and for Saint Basil both present versions of the Faustus legend. The Works of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim includes all of these texts, plus her introductory letters and several shorter poems, in this first complete translation of Hrotsvit into English.