Haspel: Lamentation (Klagelied)
Verse 1
Ich, Haspel, muss erst fahen an
tichten, das ich zwar nie began:
einr nacht da für ich an den Rhin
do hört ich klägliche not,
Gotlieben klagen, si wer tod.
do müßt ich lon min kropfen sin,
ich loßt ir zů, ich an si gafft,
ze iüngst schrei sie mit luter kraft:
“owe mir und minr brůderschaft!
Translation
Verse 1
I, Haspel, must now start writing poetry
which I have truly never done:
One night I drove to the Rhine,
and in pitiful distress I heard
Gottlieben lamenting that she was dead.
Then I had to stop knocking,
I listened to her, I looked at her.
Finally she screamed with loud force:
“Oh, woe to me and my brotherhood!
Audio sample
Haspel: Lamentation (Klagelied)
Verse 2
Ich, Gotlieben, mag weinen wol.
etwan min kist und kast was voll,
ietz ston ich nůn alleine.
etwan hies ich Gotlieben rich
und lebt mit fröuden auch herrlich,
nun heiss ich Hungersteine!
des můss ich schreien jamer, schand
uf die, die mich beraubet hand,
si sien hie ald dort zu land."
Translation
Verse 2
I, Gottlieben, can well cry.
Once my boxes and chests were full,
now I stand alone.
Once I was called rich Gottlieben
and lived wonderfully in joy,
now I am called Hungerstein!
Therefore I must cry out in misery,
shame on those who robbed me,
here as well as there, they are onshore.”
Audio sample
Haspel: Lamentation (Klagelied)
Verse 3
Die pfallez jamerlichen schreigt:
“dann miner recht bin ich entfreigt,
dez sind nun us min ehren.
etwan das bistum dienet mir
gewaltigklich nach miner bgir,
das hat sich nun verkerert. […]“
Translation
Verse 3
The Palatinate cried out pitifully:
“Now that I have been freed of all my rights,
my reputation is over.
The bishopric used to serve me
in a powerful way as I wished,
but this has now changed. [...]”
Audio sample
Desperate Cities Lament
Nightly lamentations on the Rhine: The city of Gottlieben is devastated and laments the suffering it has endured to a figure named Haspel.
Gottlieben is doing particularly badly because she recently caught fire due to a conflict with Bishop Johann von Markdorf. What Gottlieben once owned has been lost, which is why the personified town now calls herself Hungerstein (Rock of Hunger). The Palatinate also complains to Haspel about the legal issues since the change of government in the bishopric. In the past, her well-being was taken care of, but now her former rights have been revoked.
Contents
The author of the lament appears as a fisherman and speaks to various towns around Lake Constance about the serious consequences of the inauguration of Heinrich III von Brandis as bishop. In total, more than twenty personified towns complain in around ten verses. Some of them describe an illness from which they are dying in agony (Castel), or question what will happen to them (Radarach, Bomgarten). The song ends with the note that the text was copied from an ancient book (uralten büch).
What else?
Historical sources about the dispute can be found in the Einsiedeln monastery archive. There, Brandis is described as a weak leader who allowed his relatives to influence government affairs.
