1The digital critical edition Janez Ludvik Schönleben: Haeresis fulminata – Strela udari krivoverca (Johann Ludwig Schönleben: Haeresis fulminata – Lightning Strikes a Heretic) is a result of research in the postdoctoral project Jesuit Plays as a Factor in the Development of Early Modern Drama: The Slovenian and Central European Context (Z6-8260), which was financed by the Slovenian Research Agency from the national budget. It presents a play that was created in 1651 at the Jesuit college in Ljubljana. The author of the play was the Ljubljana native Johann Ludwig Schönleben (1618–1681), who was initially a Jesuit and then, after leaving the order, served as a diocesan priest and later as the Ljubljana cathedral dean. He was a versatile Carniolan man of letters, historian, preacher, Mariologist theologian, philosopher—and, as this critical edition shows, a playwright as well.
2This Jesuit play, which was written in Slovenia by a locally born author, is taken from the privacy of the archives and presented to the Slovenian general public in order to unveil a long (1597–1773) but poorly known chapter in Slovenian theater history that was shaped by the Jesuits with their school and religious performances.
3There are multiple reasons for publishing the critical edition of the playHaeresis fulminata. Content and dramaturgical analyses of the play show that it is well-thought-out in terms of its theme and content, refined in terms of dramaturgy, and carefully worked-out in the performative sense. It was created during a period when the dramatic activity of the Ljubljana Jesuits was especially lively (1640–1672), with several school and religious performances held every year. The choice of this play was also influenced by the fact that it is one of the rare plays by the Ljubljana Jesuits whose authorship is indisputably attested. This play also has a central place in research on Jesuit dramatic activity in Slovenian territory because it was discovered first. Prior to that, there was no known Jesuit play preserved in its entirety that had originated from Ljubljana, and so studies on manifestations of the Jesuit order’s theater in Slovenia were limited to a few preserved program notes (periochae; that is, summaries of the content of the plays by acts and usually with lists of cast members).
1Although the play Haeresis fulminata was known by title due to its mention in Jesuit sources—and from these it was known that program notes were printed for its performance—details about the play were unknown. Printed specimens of the Latin and German program notes were not preserved, and the manuscript of the play, which was first mentioned by Peter Radics in the introduction and supplement to his 1865 edition of the play Der verirrte Soldat, was considered lost. Along with Haeresis fulminata, Radics mentioned the titles of some other Ljubljana plays that he had seen while organizing the former Auersperg Trust Library in Ljubljana.
2The vagaries of fate dictated that Radics was the first to mention all these texts and also the last to see them. When Ljubljana was struck by an earthquake in 1895, it also badly damaged the Auersperg palace, and so both its library and archive were transferred to Losensteinleiten Castle in Upper Austria. The library was later relocated to Uruguay and then to London, where much of the collection was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in 1982 and 1983. The Auersperg family archive was later turned over to the National Archives of Austria (Österreichisches Staatsarchiv)—specifically, to its House, Court, and State Archives (Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv) in Vienna. All traces of the Ljubljana Jesuits’ plays and program notes were lost during the relocations, sales, and transfers of the Auersperg library and archives.
3The discovery of the play Haeresis fulminata in 2013 during the course of research on Johann Ludwig Schönleben was a great surprise to me. Because it was considered lost—it was presumed that that it had been sold off together with other manuscripts and books in 1982 and 1982—its discovery raised new questions and led to more detailed study of the former library of the Auerspergs and their preserved family archives. Tracing Radics’s organization of the Auersperg library and archives showed that Radics removed certain specimens of library material from the regular library stock that he considered to have special significance for the Auersperg family because of their form (manuscripts and incunabula), content, and dedications, and he placed them in a section that he dubbed Auerspergiaca. Because his organization of the library was disrupted by the earthquake and relocation of the library, and later its sale, it was not possible to determine the fate of this section. The discovery of the play Haeresis fulminata therefore reawakened hope that this entire section or at least part of it might be preserved in the Auersperg family archives.
4This anticipation was initially followed by disappointment when it was established that the plays and program notes were not listed in the inventory of preserved archival material. The hope remained that they might be hiding somewhere and would be discovered in overlooked corners of the archive that were still not inventoried. Therefore in the first months of the postdoctoral project I prepared a list of potentially preserved plays and program notes by the Ljubljana Jesuits based on preserved inventories and catalogs from the Auersperg library, Radics’s testimonies in the introduction and supplement to his edition of the play Der verirrte Soldat, and details that could be gathered from his records on organizing the library. With the help of Luka Ručigaj and Maria Zdislava Röhsner, the curator of the Auersperg family material at the House, Court, and State Archives in Vienna, who permitted inspection of material still not inventoried, these sought for and greatly desired plays were found in October 2018 in part of the archive not inventoried. They were awaiting discovery in a rather undistinguished place: in an old banana box.
5Because the trail to the main discovery of theater material by the Ljubljana Jesuits was laid by unearthing Schönleben’s play Haeresis fulminata, which was the first to be found, and because it is also such a well-conceived and well-written work, it is also the first to be examined in detail. The play is also interesting in terms of its theme because it presents a combination of political and church history—and not just any, but the period that led to the first major ecclesiastical schism between East and West: the Acacian schism. Understanding the political backgrounds, theological theories, and frictions between them clarifies individual aspects of the themes used and contributes to a better understanding of the story of the play and the goals that Schönleben wished to achieve by staging it.
1The full title of Schönleben’s play is Haeresis fulminata. Anastasius Tyrannus Orientis Haereticus. Judging by the manner in which the title is written, it can be concluded that the first phrase, Haeresis fulminata (literally, ‘heresy struck/destroyed by lightning’), is the primary title, and the second phrase—especially if the dot separating the primary and secondary titles is viewed as the conventional sive or seu ‘or, that is’—is an explanatory title: Anastasius Tyrannus Orientis Haereticus (‘Anastasius, the Heretical Tyrant of the East’). Because it is difficult to convey the Latin compactness of the title in Slovenian, the title was translated in a sentential manner: Strela udari krivoverca ‘Lightning Strikes a Heretic’. Although the central place in the title is occupied by the word haeresis ‘heresy’, which Schönleben used in the text with various shades of meaning, the translation uses the word metonymically. It designates a heretic, who is primarily the incarnation of something concrete (i.e., Anastasius), and indirectly of course any kind of heresy. In this manner, the Slovenian translation seeks to reflect the plasticity of the original title image—that is, the thunderbolt, and thus clearly illustrate what Schönleben wanted to achieve with the play: to portray the cruel end of any kind of heresy through the fate of the protagonist Anastasius. The decision to use a metonymic translation also proved very fitting because it summarizes in one sentence what Schönleben additionally clarified in the play’s secondary title: »Heresy—[that is,] Anastasius, the heretical tyrant of the East—struck by lightning.«
1Schönleben defined his play as a tragedy on the title page, and it can be added that it is a play with a historical theme. It can be categorized as an allegorical and didactic Christian play. The play Haeresis fulminata outlines the cunning ascent of Anastasius, an official in the Byzantine court, to the throne of the Byzantine Empire. Anastasius decides to depose the reigning emperor, Zeno, with the help of Zeno’s wife Ariadne. He takes advantage of her affection and infatuation to include her in his criminal plan. Because Zeno enjoys his wine too much, Anastasius intoxicates him with Ariadne’s help, declares him dead with his accomplices, and together with Ariadne seals him alive in a sarcophagus. When cries are later heard from the sarcophagus, the courtiers in favor of Anastasius ignore them and let Zeno die. To these themes, Schönleben added another important theme of the play in the scene showing Anastasius’s enthronement as emperor: Anastasius’s heresy, which manifested itself in his propensity for Monophysitism. For this reason, at the request of Patriarch Euphemius, he had to sign a declaration of orthodoxy before his enthronement. From this theme, Schönleben then developed others, among which the most prominent is Anastasius’s violent confrontation with his political and religious opponents and his cruelty to innocent and simple people. All this led to his ruin and eventually to dying by being struck by lightning. Even more fateful for him than lightning, however, was his judgment before God, which plunged him into eternal doom and death. Even though the character of the heretical Emperor Anastasius is at the forefront of the play, Schönleben probably wanted to present the sad fate of any heresy to the audience more than Anastasius’s ruin and to draw parallels with Lutheranism on Carniolan soil.
1The first part of the digital critical edition Haeresis fulminata – Strela udari krivoverca presents the play at three levels. The original appearance of the play is presented with digital facsimiles, which show the script as well as the flyleaves and covers. The diplomatic transcription of the text is the connecting link between the manuscript original and the critical transcription of the text, whose role in this edition is assumed by the translation of the Latin text into Slovenian. Because this is a complex play whose details cannot be systematically examined separately from the text itself, these are collected and explained in a critical apparatus directly next to the translation of the play into Slovenian.
2The second part of the edition consists of accompanying studies. The first part describes the codicological and paleographic characteristics of the manuscript and the ecdotic principles of the edition. This is followed by a presentation of Schönleben’s maturation as a playwright. His first contacts with Jesuit theater production, his early experiments with drama, and his interest in the beginnings of the dramatic creativity of the Jesuit college in Ljubljana are described. The study continues by focusing on the manuscript of the play Haeresis fulminata, its content and special features, and preserved testimonies in sources about its staging. It can be concluded from the content of the play and stage directions that music and dance played an important role in the performance, and so places that especially confirm this are highlighted in particular. Of interest was the extent to which Schönleben’s crafting of the play Haeresis fulminata was independent, and to what extent he was influenced by others, and so performances of plays with a similar theme are presented, both before and after Schönleben. The motives and other impulses that guided him in writing the play are also presented.
3This is followed by an attempt to contextualize Schönleben’s play in the time and broader environment of the Jesuit order’s theater. Because the topic of Schönleben’s play relates to the colorful political and religious history of the Byzantine Empire in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, the historical background of the reign of Emperor Anastasius I is outlined. Religious conflicts and theological divisions from the time before he assumed power and especially during his time are also described. All of this is done to clarify the individual segments of the dramatic narrative and make it easier to follow what is happening in the play. Explanation of the historical background also somewhat clarifies Schönleben’s selection of themes. The more detailed content of the play is presented through the program notes, integrated in the core text of the play: individual scenes and choruses in the play are introduced by short summaries and a list of the speakers. The presentation of Schönleben’s play concludes with an outline of the literary character of the play.
1Preserved fragments of Jesuit play production in Ljubljana and reports about it testify that Jesuit religious theater in Slovenian territory was certainly an important element in the general cultural and theatrical development of the country due to its relatively long existence (over 170 years) and due to regular performances. It developed a sense of aesthetic appreciation of theater and drama, and it undoubtedly played a fundamental role in defining the further development of Slovenian theater culture. The approaches that the Jesuits selected for this, how they shaped dramatic stories, and how they staged them and presented them to audiences can only be indicated by the preserved play scripts themselves. Therefore, the main purpose of the digital critical edition of the Jesuit play Haeresis fulminata is to present the preserved manuscript text from different angles, allow genuine contact with the text, and make concrete at least part of such an important period for Slovenian theater history.
1The digital critical edition Haeresis fulminata – Strela udari krivoverca also presents the manuscript text of the play in its original form in order to allow the reader to have authentic contact with the text. Along with a diplomatic transcription and translation, both the interior and exterior of the manuscript are presented: the text of the play, flyleaves, binding leaves, inside of the covers, and covers. The manuscript of the play is reproduced with digital photos at a resolution of 300 dpi.
2The digital facsimile was created in June 2013 by Mikrofilm- und Scantechnik GmbH. Permission for publishing the digital facsimile of the play Haeresis fulminata as an integral part of this electronic critical edition was provided in November 2019 by the management of the House, Court, and State Archives in Vienna. The digital images for this publication were prepared by Marko Zaplatil.
1The diplomatic transcription of the play faithfully follows the original because it retains all its characteristics, at both the external and internal level of the text—both at the level of individual words and lines, as well as at the level of pages and individual scenes. The diplomatic transcription follows the original division of words between the lines. It takes into account abbreviations and parts of the text that are underlined, crossed out, corrected, inserted, and added above the line, and it also marks missing words and incomplete parts of the text.
1The use of upper- and lower-case letters follows the original, also taking into account the capitalization of letters at the beginnings of verse lines. The diplomatic transcription consistently follows the graphemes written in the original and preserves the diacritics. The transcription distinguishes between ſ and s, it preserves the distinction between v and u, i and j, and ii and ij, and it writes ligatures consistently (æ, &). The punctuation also mirrors the original manuscript source.
1The diplomatic transcription presents all breviographs, acronyms, suspensions, and contractions in their original form, providing a written-out form next to them. For all such abbreviations, the entire word is marked as abbreviated (not only a syllable, ending, etc.), and so the written-out form applies to the entire word and not only its abbreviated part.
2The following abbreviations are used in the diplomatic transcription:
| Diplomatic transcription of abbreviation | Written-out form of abbreviation |
|---|---|
| ' | 1Abbreviation for final -e; 2Example: men' – men e |
| ʾ | 1Abbreviation for final -m; 2Example: suuʾ – suu m |
| ₉ | 1Abbreviation for final -us; 2Example: virtutib₉ – virtutib us |
| tɿ | 1Abbreviation for final -tur; 2Example: rotantɿ – rotan tur |
| و | 1Abbreviation for initial con-; 2Example: وsignent – con signent |
| ͠q | 1Abbreviation for enclitic -que; 2Example: Fratris͠q – Fratris que |
| ͠ | 1Indicates various types of abbreviations inside a word (double letter, missing letter, suspension, contraction); 2Examples: ge͠meus – ge mm eus, perim͠ut – perimu n t, ͠n – non, D͠nam – D omi nam, n͠ris – n ost ris, etc. |
1The diplomatic transcription suitably indicates damaged parts of the text caused by holes in the paper or ink stains. The part of a word that cannot be read due to paper damage is indicated with three question marks (???). Where context permits, the diplomatic transcription offers an editorial proposal for reading the damaged text. Missing text in the original is indicated in square brackets in the diplomatic transcription: […].
1The diplomatic transcription preserves abbreviated written designations of speakers at the beginning of their lines and offers a suitable written-out form. Abbreviations of multiword names of speakers are marked as one abbreviated unit, even when the abbreviation appears as several words in a row (e.g., Ge: P: – Genius Prouinciae and not Ge: – Genius, P: – Prouinciae).
2In places where the indication of speakers in the text is somewhat ambiguous, the diplomatic transcription uses the list of speakers provided at the beginning of the scene. If this is also not possible, the transcription provides an editorial suggestion for reading the text.
3The diplomatic transcription preserves the use of shared lines. These are verse lines shared or split between two or even more speakers. Stage directions are positioned in the same place as in the original.
4Special symbols similar to an em-dash or double dash (—) also appear in the text. In some places it is clear that they mark a long or brief pause in the speech (e.g., p. 10v) or interruption of speech (e.g., p. 34v), and in other places the reason for this mark cannot be clearly explained (e.g., p. 59r). In these places, the diplomatic transcription consistently preserves the external appearance of the manuscript text.
5Musical notation appears in three places between the lines (pp. 13r and 13v). This is included in the diplomatic transcription in the form of an excerpt of the musical notation taken from the digital facsimile.
1The Latin text is transcribed along with its grammatical peculiarities and deviations, and spelling and errors. Inconsistent punctuation is also preserved. Deviations from the grammatical norm are indicated in the diplomatic transcription only in cases when it was absolutely necessary; namely, in places where the Latin text could not otherwise be properly understood.
1The critical transcription of the text of the play Haeresis fulminata is a translation of the Latin text into Slovenian. Directly next to the translation, a critical apparatus is added, which includes an explanation of all the features of the play that are difficult to explain separately from the text itself.
2The translation follows the metrical scheme of the original, so that Latin forms are mostly translated into analogous Slovenian ones, of course in line with the principles of Slovenian metrics, and in some cases replaced by similar ones (in structure and length). A characteristic of the play is the large number of shared lines, when verse lines are shared or split between two or even more speakers. Because it was sometimes difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, to preserve the metrical scheme of the original verse and at the same time properly convey the meaning of the Latin original in Slovenian, it was necessary to adopt some compromise solutions in some places. As a result, the meaning, metrical scheme of verse lines (with the aforementioned adjustments), and the final number of lines of text in the Latin original and the Slovenian translation remained the same, but this caused quite a few problems in the parallel presentation of the diplomatic transcription and the translation.
3Because the symbols for pauses (—) in the Latin original are not vital for the Slovenian meaning, they are not taken into account in the Slovenian translation. Illegible parts of the original are marked in the translation with a question mark in square brackets: [?], and missing parts of the text are marked with ellipses in square brackets: […].
4Translation problems were caused by ambiguities in the Latin text, such as errors made by the transcriber of the text, grammatical errors, missing and unknown words, places that were difficult to read, and inconsistent punctuation. Because this is the first translation of a Jesuit play into Slovene, it was not possible to rely on any model, and so many places in the text required verification in manuals of medieval and modern Latin, and thorough and repeated reflection and consultation.
5The Greek and Latin names in the play are Slovenianized in line with postclassical or ecclesiastical pronunciation such as was used in Jesuit theater. To avoid any lack of clarity, the same principles are followed in the commentaries and accompanying studies, even though this is historically inauthentic and it would be independently advisable to write the names in authentic form; for example Church Latin: Akacij ‘Acacius’, Cedren ‘Cedrenus’ versus the authentic Greek pronunciations Akakij ‘Akakios’, Kedren ‘Kedrenos’.