DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.74283#0193
THE PAGEANTS
175
on the theme of the "Gliicksrad" was performed in Lubeck in
1444,233 while in the carnival play Ein Spil von dem Herzogen
von Burgund™ a "Glucksrat," on which are two figures, is called
in to prove the Messiah false: "Hie get ein das Glucksrat und des
forsten figur oben und des Messia unden . . ."235 Of a more
pageantic nature is the tableau of the wheel of fortune presented
at Bruges in 1515 during the entry of Charles V.236
In some instances the wheel undergoes a remarkable change:
the agony suffered by its victims transforms it into a wheel of
torture, "Fortune takes over Ixion's wheel and Ixion along with
it."237 A dramatic example of such a wheel appears in Cailleau's
miniature of the Valenciennes passion: in the tower over Hell-
mouth a wheel is revolving with two sinners on it; it is a wheel of
fortune in the flames of hell. For the fools, in their earthly purga-
tory, the torture on the wheel is limited to grinding, a quick
method of sharpening their wits. This satire is of a piece with
another cure suggested in mockery of the fools, that of planing
off a man's follies; thus the herald in Wickram's Das narrengiessen
(1537) remarks dryly on the application of these cures in some
cities:238
Inn einer thet man d narren teiiffen,
An andren enden thet mans schleyffen,
Am dritten bhobelt und zersegen . ..
The uncouth man, Hans Sachs suggests in his carnival farce, "Das
hobeln der groben manner,"239 should be brought to a carpenter
233 Creizenach, I, 485.
234 Fastnachtsspiele, XXVIII, Nr. 20.
235 Ibid., p. 176; cf. also p. 189: "Auch eur gnaden pildnus hat/ Daran geben die
oberst stat . . ." Although Hans Sachs conjures up "Frau Gluck" for his Fortunatus
(Werke, XII, 192ft.), he includes no stage direction or text referring to her wheel;
in his Spruch, "Das walzend Gluck" (Werke, IV, 157-60, 1534), however, we
find "das Gluck" standing on a ball, controlling the fates of men with her wheel.
236 Cf. Herrmann (Forschungen), p. 384.
237 Patch, op. cit., p. 167.
238 Georg Wickrams Werke (Stuttg. Lit. Ver.), CCXXXII, 124. Reich, I, 94, n. 1,
notes that the joke of planing a man belongs to the ancient mimicae ineptiae,
and cites an example in the mime of Genesius; the fool Genesius feels heavy and
asks to be made light; the other mimes pretend that he wishes them to plane
him down; cf. also Nicoll (Masks), p. 121. In another scene of this mime Genesius
is dipped into water in imitation of baptism.
239 Hans Sachs, Werke, XXI, 309ft. (1563). Cf. also the "refining" treatment
administered to Johannes Eck in the satiric comedy, Eccius dedolatus (1520),
as a cure for his anti-Luther disputation at Leipsic.
175
on the theme of the "Gliicksrad" was performed in Lubeck in
1444,233 while in the carnival play Ein Spil von dem Herzogen
von Burgund™ a "Glucksrat," on which are two figures, is called
in to prove the Messiah false: "Hie get ein das Glucksrat und des
forsten figur oben und des Messia unden . . ."235 Of a more
pageantic nature is the tableau of the wheel of fortune presented
at Bruges in 1515 during the entry of Charles V.236
In some instances the wheel undergoes a remarkable change:
the agony suffered by its victims transforms it into a wheel of
torture, "Fortune takes over Ixion's wheel and Ixion along with
it."237 A dramatic example of such a wheel appears in Cailleau's
miniature of the Valenciennes passion: in the tower over Hell-
mouth a wheel is revolving with two sinners on it; it is a wheel of
fortune in the flames of hell. For the fools, in their earthly purga-
tory, the torture on the wheel is limited to grinding, a quick
method of sharpening their wits. This satire is of a piece with
another cure suggested in mockery of the fools, that of planing
off a man's follies; thus the herald in Wickram's Das narrengiessen
(1537) remarks dryly on the application of these cures in some
cities:238
Inn einer thet man d narren teiiffen,
An andren enden thet mans schleyffen,
Am dritten bhobelt und zersegen . ..
The uncouth man, Hans Sachs suggests in his carnival farce, "Das
hobeln der groben manner,"239 should be brought to a carpenter
233 Creizenach, I, 485.
234 Fastnachtsspiele, XXVIII, Nr. 20.
235 Ibid., p. 176; cf. also p. 189: "Auch eur gnaden pildnus hat/ Daran geben die
oberst stat . . ." Although Hans Sachs conjures up "Frau Gluck" for his Fortunatus
(Werke, XII, 192ft.), he includes no stage direction or text referring to her wheel;
in his Spruch, "Das walzend Gluck" (Werke, IV, 157-60, 1534), however, we
find "das Gluck" standing on a ball, controlling the fates of men with her wheel.
236 Cf. Herrmann (Forschungen), p. 384.
237 Patch, op. cit., p. 167.
238 Georg Wickrams Werke (Stuttg. Lit. Ver.), CCXXXII, 124. Reich, I, 94, n. 1,
notes that the joke of planing a man belongs to the ancient mimicae ineptiae,
and cites an example in the mime of Genesius; the fool Genesius feels heavy and
asks to be made light; the other mimes pretend that he wishes them to plane
him down; cf. also Nicoll (Masks), p. 121. In another scene of this mime Genesius
is dipped into water in imitation of baptism.
239 Hans Sachs, Werke, XXI, 309ft. (1563). Cf. also the "refining" treatment
administered to Johannes Eck in the satiric comedy, Eccius dedolatus (1520),
as a cure for his anti-Luther disputation at Leipsic.