Born: 935 (circa), Germany
Died: 973
Country most active: Germany
Also known as: Hrotsvit, Hrosvite, Hroswitha, Hroswithe, Rhotswitha, Roswit and Roswitha
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
HROSWITHA, (Helena Y. Rossen,) a nun of the Benedictine order, was born in Saxony, and died at Gandershein, in 984. She is known as a religious poetess through her “Comædia Sacrce VI.,” edited by Schurzfleisch. These plays were written by her to suppress the reading of Terence, then a very popular author among the literary clergy of the age. She also composed a poetic narrative of the deeds performed by Otho the Great, to whom she was related, and a number of elegies. She wrote altogether in Latin. Her works were printed in Nuremberg, in 1601.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
ROSWITHA OF GANDERSHEIM (920-975)
At the Woman’s World Congress, in Chicago, 1893, Helene Modjeska, chosen leader of the drama in America, placed Roswitha as the first German dramatist. Roswitha taught idealism and morality in all her writings. She believed the drama was the most effective medium through which to impress the minds of the people. She said that it is just as interesting to write about a good woman as one of the opposite kind. In all her dramas virtue is triumphant. The Convent of Gandersheim, founded by Roswitha, a nun and a noblewoman by birth, contained many women of the noblest families of the land. Wars had caused a great shortage of men and Gandersheim proved an oasis for these cultured maidens. Here an opportunity was afforded to study the fine arts and crafts, such as weaving, sewing, and embroidering; costuming, staging, and composing the music for their own plays; cultivating beautiful gardens as a background for magnificent outdoor pageants, in which were dramatized scenes pertaining to religion and patriotism. In 1501, Roswitha’s literary works were found and published. They were illustrated by Durer.