Heinrich Von Veldeke - The Life of Saint Servatius

The Life of Saint Servatius

Veldeke wrote the Life of Saint Servatius, which was likely his first work, for mister Hessel, sexton of the Maastricht Servatius chapter, and for Agnes van Metz, countess of Loon. The work consists of two parts. The first part is a biography (vita) of Servatius of Maastricht, the patron saint of that town, who supposedly died on May 13 384. This part is usually dated around 1170. The second part treats the miracles of Servatius after his death. It is sometimes assumed that the second part of the opus was only written between 1174 and 1185.

Servatius is an Armenian who travels to Lorraine and becomes bishop of Tongeren. The sinful citizens of Tongeren turn against him, causing him to flee to Maastricht. When Servatius becomes aware that God intends to punish the citizens of Tongeren by sending Atilla the Hun to them, he goes on a pilgrimage to Rome and prays on the grave of Peter to divert the disaster. His prayers go unfulfilled, but Peter does give him a silver key with which Servatius can grant mercy and impart punishment on sinners. The citizens of Tongeren are all killed, but Servatius grants them mercy and so they all go to heaven in the end.

Maastricht was situated on an important crossroads: the road from Cologne from the west, the Meuse river as north-south axis. In Veldeke’s day, the canons of the Servatius chapter tried their hardest to promote pilgrimages to the grave of the saint. It is in this context that the origin of Veldeke’s Servatius must be situated. Dating back to the same period are the current Servatius church and the reliquary (Distress Case) that contains the remains of Saint Servatius. In times of great distress and disasters, the Case is carried through the town. Veldeke’s Servatius is a liberal adaptation of the Actus Sancti Servatii by Jocundus (written between 1066 and 1088) and the Vita Sancti Servatii, that is indirectly inspired by the Actus. The Servatius has been preserved completely in a manuscript from 1470 (Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, BPL 1215). Also, several fragments have been found in various book bindings that all originate from a manuscript that may have been written while the poet was still alive (ca. 1200).