DOI Artikel:
Pokora, Jakub: Totus morio: dwa wyjątkowe pomniki błaznów książąt pomorskich z przełomu XVI i XVII wieku
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16407#0248
246
JAKUB POKORA
1. Identification of the figure on the tombstone
It happens quite often in the case of jesters, that it is impossible to agree upon the person. There is no indication of the first
name of the défunt on the tombstone and the prince John Frederick had two jesters of the same family name Hintze. In the earliest
sources (1604/1605 - 1619) we meet the name of one of them only - Georg. The names of the second one - Claus and Giirgen -
appeared not before 1763. So all we can say is that the tombstone is the memoriał of the jester Hintze. Ergo. the right thing will
be to speak about Hintze without distinguishing the first name. The same rule should be applied to his biography.
2. Hintze's biography
It has been claimed sińce 1763 that Hintze was originally a gooseherd in the village of Butterdorf an from there he got to
the court of the prince John Frederick. In reward for his loyal service the prince gave him for the life his native village, whose
name in praise of the owner has been changed from Butterdorf into Hintzendorf (Sowno). It happened probably in 1579, as it was
in this year that the inhabitants of the village obtained from the prince the privilège releasing them from the participation in the
woolves hunting, valid still in 1784. The death of the jester was unusual. For the lese-majesty (wanting to cure the prince of the
shakes he pushed him unawares into the cold water) he was sent to the błock. But the cured prince ordered the headsmen on the
sly to use an animabbrush or a saussage (Rute oder Wurst) instead of a sword. The end of the joke was tragic - Hintze died of
fright. The prince, fuli of sorrow after the death of the loyal servant ordered to bury him in a smali church (chapel?) in Hintzendorf
and to put a tombstone on his grave. After the 30 Years War the tombstone was moved to the local cemetery and sińce 1889 it
has been in its actual place.
The life-story of the jester, but especially his origin and the circumstances of the death have influenced the interprétation
of the attribute on the tombstone. Usually it is described as a kind of a sheep-hook (Hiither-Keule, Schâferkeule, Schleuderstab),
sometimes as a brush or a saussage and only occasionally as a jesters sceptre (Narrenkolbe). Only the last identification is correct.
The given biography of Hintze is reliable to some extent only. As in the case of other jesters, in many points it is a pure
fiction taken from the popular facecious literaturę. As the "jester topos" one can take from example the appointment to a court
jester and the cause of death. Hintze had been appointed in exactly the same way as the most celebrated German jester Claus Narr
( the gooseherd made an impression on the prince with his wit when he appeared among the crowd gathered to greet the ruler
having his geese tied and hanged at his waist). The end of his life was similar to that of the famous Italian jester Gonella.
So in the life-story of Hintze there are éléments known from the biographies of earlier jesters from the 15th - beginning of
the 16th century. The lack of knowledge about this, as well as about the matters of jesters (the institution of a jester existed in
Pomerania till 1620 only) entailed, that J.C.C. Oerlichs first, in 1763, and the others after him have modernized the common jester
attribute in a peculiar and false way.
Having explained the problem of the attribute, let us pass to the analysis of the contents of the tombstone. Hintze with his
left hand with the raised and erect thumb and forefinger is making the gesture colligit. In this way he absorbs and focuses the
attention of the spectator on the figure presented on the tombstone and characterized with the distich: Sic caput ecce manus
gestusque.../Hintzius haud mirum morio erat, the translation of that was given by Oerlichs as an old one: "Heintz war also gestalt
an Haupt und an Geberden (sic!)/Kein Wunder war ja das! er war ein Narr auf Erden."
The epitaph contains three main features distinguishing the jester as the représentative of a group of people of a spécifie
occupation and status.
Sic caput concerns of course the head - the place where all the jester jokes are born. From the other side, the headwear
unusual for a jester - calpack, that, without the bells, of course, is characteristic mostly for the men of science, but used also with
pleasure by the Pomeranian rulers of the Renaissance, seems to show that Hintze was not a stupid guli but a morsophus.
Ecce manus is probably related to the right hand holding the jesters sceptre, the symbol of his power - of the right to déclare
the truth with impunity.
Ecce gestus concerns the big mobility of the whole person. The posture of the image unusual for the tombstone of that time
is due not only to the fact that every jester is an actor whole ancestor was the ancient mimus calvus and the scion is the clown
of today. The reason is différent. The author of the tombstone wanted probably to show the essence of the personality of a jester
- of an always troubled man what manifested itself in the ceaseless running about and the movement.
One of the signs of madness or tomfoolery as maintained a Szczecin pastor P. Cradelius tn 1619, is pedum vacillatione. And
it is just like that, that the Hintze's way of bearing was presented - he is not treading normally, but his movements are chaotic
and absurd. He walks like a drunk. And it is why at his staggering feet there is the last empty, overthrown mug being an
inséparable attribute of each jester, together with a glass, a jug etc. In the case of Hintze the mug becomes a symbol. It is situated
in the corner of the tombstone, the usual place of the shield. So we can assume that Hintze belonged to the kind of people described
by pastor Cradelius as "Bier und Wein Narren".
In the opinion of the author of the article, the tombstone of Hintze is quite unusual from the point of view of the European
tradition. The monuments of this kind are the utmost rarity in contrary to the painted portraits of the most famous jesters. It is
possible to point to two only, parallel, though, alas, rather distant cases, both from the 2nd half of the 14th century. The first and
the nearer one is the no more existing tombstone of Thevenin de Saint-Legier, d. 1374, the jester of Charles V the Wise in the
St. Maurice Church in Senlis 1 France). The second one is a figure of the jester known as Getreuer Eckart among the procession
of courtiers on the wali of the tomb of the count Giinther XXV von Schwarzburg (d. 1368) and his wife Elisabeth (d. 1381) in the
Liebenfrauenkirche in Arnstadt.
The last of the court jesters in Pomerania was Mięsko (Misca, Miska, Misska, Miskę, Mitsche, Mitschi). Contrary to the
Hintze's his biography has a quite good documentary évidence, owing to two sources - a diary of the famous Philip Hainhofer of
Augsburg, who in 1617 was a guest of the Pomeranian prince Philip II, and the funeral sermon preached by P. Cradelius, the pastor
at the St. Peter and Faul Church in Szczecin.
JAKUB POKORA
1. Identification of the figure on the tombstone
It happens quite often in the case of jesters, that it is impossible to agree upon the person. There is no indication of the first
name of the défunt on the tombstone and the prince John Frederick had two jesters of the same family name Hintze. In the earliest
sources (1604/1605 - 1619) we meet the name of one of them only - Georg. The names of the second one - Claus and Giirgen -
appeared not before 1763. So all we can say is that the tombstone is the memoriał of the jester Hintze. Ergo. the right thing will
be to speak about Hintze without distinguishing the first name. The same rule should be applied to his biography.
2. Hintze's biography
It has been claimed sińce 1763 that Hintze was originally a gooseherd in the village of Butterdorf an from there he got to
the court of the prince John Frederick. In reward for his loyal service the prince gave him for the life his native village, whose
name in praise of the owner has been changed from Butterdorf into Hintzendorf (Sowno). It happened probably in 1579, as it was
in this year that the inhabitants of the village obtained from the prince the privilège releasing them from the participation in the
woolves hunting, valid still in 1784. The death of the jester was unusual. For the lese-majesty (wanting to cure the prince of the
shakes he pushed him unawares into the cold water) he was sent to the błock. But the cured prince ordered the headsmen on the
sly to use an animabbrush or a saussage (Rute oder Wurst) instead of a sword. The end of the joke was tragic - Hintze died of
fright. The prince, fuli of sorrow after the death of the loyal servant ordered to bury him in a smali church (chapel?) in Hintzendorf
and to put a tombstone on his grave. After the 30 Years War the tombstone was moved to the local cemetery and sińce 1889 it
has been in its actual place.
The life-story of the jester, but especially his origin and the circumstances of the death have influenced the interprétation
of the attribute on the tombstone. Usually it is described as a kind of a sheep-hook (Hiither-Keule, Schâferkeule, Schleuderstab),
sometimes as a brush or a saussage and only occasionally as a jesters sceptre (Narrenkolbe). Only the last identification is correct.
The given biography of Hintze is reliable to some extent only. As in the case of other jesters, in many points it is a pure
fiction taken from the popular facecious literaturę. As the "jester topos" one can take from example the appointment to a court
jester and the cause of death. Hintze had been appointed in exactly the same way as the most celebrated German jester Claus Narr
( the gooseherd made an impression on the prince with his wit when he appeared among the crowd gathered to greet the ruler
having his geese tied and hanged at his waist). The end of his life was similar to that of the famous Italian jester Gonella.
So in the life-story of Hintze there are éléments known from the biographies of earlier jesters from the 15th - beginning of
the 16th century. The lack of knowledge about this, as well as about the matters of jesters (the institution of a jester existed in
Pomerania till 1620 only) entailed, that J.C.C. Oerlichs first, in 1763, and the others after him have modernized the common jester
attribute in a peculiar and false way.
Having explained the problem of the attribute, let us pass to the analysis of the contents of the tombstone. Hintze with his
left hand with the raised and erect thumb and forefinger is making the gesture colligit. In this way he absorbs and focuses the
attention of the spectator on the figure presented on the tombstone and characterized with the distich: Sic caput ecce manus
gestusque.../Hintzius haud mirum morio erat, the translation of that was given by Oerlichs as an old one: "Heintz war also gestalt
an Haupt und an Geberden (sic!)/Kein Wunder war ja das! er war ein Narr auf Erden."
The epitaph contains three main features distinguishing the jester as the représentative of a group of people of a spécifie
occupation and status.
Sic caput concerns of course the head - the place where all the jester jokes are born. From the other side, the headwear
unusual for a jester - calpack, that, without the bells, of course, is characteristic mostly for the men of science, but used also with
pleasure by the Pomeranian rulers of the Renaissance, seems to show that Hintze was not a stupid guli but a morsophus.
Ecce manus is probably related to the right hand holding the jesters sceptre, the symbol of his power - of the right to déclare
the truth with impunity.
Ecce gestus concerns the big mobility of the whole person. The posture of the image unusual for the tombstone of that time
is due not only to the fact that every jester is an actor whole ancestor was the ancient mimus calvus and the scion is the clown
of today. The reason is différent. The author of the tombstone wanted probably to show the essence of the personality of a jester
- of an always troubled man what manifested itself in the ceaseless running about and the movement.
One of the signs of madness or tomfoolery as maintained a Szczecin pastor P. Cradelius tn 1619, is pedum vacillatione. And
it is just like that, that the Hintze's way of bearing was presented - he is not treading normally, but his movements are chaotic
and absurd. He walks like a drunk. And it is why at his staggering feet there is the last empty, overthrown mug being an
inséparable attribute of each jester, together with a glass, a jug etc. In the case of Hintze the mug becomes a symbol. It is situated
in the corner of the tombstone, the usual place of the shield. So we can assume that Hintze belonged to the kind of people described
by pastor Cradelius as "Bier und Wein Narren".
In the opinion of the author of the article, the tombstone of Hintze is quite unusual from the point of view of the European
tradition. The monuments of this kind are the utmost rarity in contrary to the painted portraits of the most famous jesters. It is
possible to point to two only, parallel, though, alas, rather distant cases, both from the 2nd half of the 14th century. The first and
the nearer one is the no more existing tombstone of Thevenin de Saint-Legier, d. 1374, the jester of Charles V the Wise in the
St. Maurice Church in Senlis 1 France). The second one is a figure of the jester known as Getreuer Eckart among the procession
of courtiers on the wali of the tomb of the count Giinther XXV von Schwarzburg (d. 1368) and his wife Elisabeth (d. 1381) in the
Liebenfrauenkirche in Arnstadt.
The last of the court jesters in Pomerania was Mięsko (Misca, Miska, Misska, Miskę, Mitsche, Mitschi). Contrary to the
Hintze's his biography has a quite good documentary évidence, owing to two sources - a diary of the famous Philip Hainhofer of
Augsburg, who in 1617 was a guest of the Pomeranian prince Philip II, and the funeral sermon preached by P. Cradelius, the pastor
at the St. Peter and Faul Church in Szczecin.