Vaganten in Byzanz, Prodromoi im Westen. Parallellektüre von byzantinischer und lateinischer Betteldichtung des 12. Jahrhunderts
Goliards in Byzantium, Prodromoi in the West. Parallel Reading of Byzantine and Latin Begging Poetry

Summary/Abstract: This study is a comparative analysis of Greek and Latin poems that were written at the same time, around the middle of the 12th century. They belong to the same genre, begging poetry. In the Byzantium, I deal with the poems of Theodoros Prodromos, of the so-called Manganeios Prodromos and of the Ptochoprodromika collection; in the West, the poems of Hugh Primas of Orleans and of the Archpoet. The first part of the study analyzes the contents of the texts and compares their themes and the topoi of the begging poems: hunger, cold, age, weakness and death, the motif of the cloak, work with the literary persona. The second part demonstrates the similar usage of the tropes and figures based on irony, hyperbole and antithesis. The aim of the study is not only to point out the similar features of Latin and Greek begging poetry and partly the analogous non-literary context, but also to foster a better understanding and interpretation of Byzantine begging poetry based on a comparative analysis.

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