Dictionary of Literary Biography on Notker Balbulus
Notker Balbulus (the Stammerer), known also as Notker I and Notker Poeta, is not to be confused with Notker II, also called Notker Medicus or Physicus (the Doctor), who died in 975, or the illustrious Notker III, also called Notker Labeo (of the Lip) and Notker Teutonicus (the German), who died in 1022. Notker Balbulus wrote in Latin and is remembered for his contribution to the development of the medieval sequentia (sequence) genre. He also wrote chronicles and hymns.
Notker was born of a noble family in Elgg, Switzerland, not far from the monastery of Saint Gall, around 840. His father died young, and Notker was brought up by Adalbert, who had fought with Charlemagne's army against the Saxons and Slavs. At the age of five or six he was placed in the Saint Gall monastery for safekeeping and education. Notker's teacher in these early days was Werinbert, one of the two Saint Gall monks to whom Otfried von Weißenburg's Evangelienbuch (Gospel Book, between 863 and 871) was dedicated. Other teachers were Iso and Moengal (also known by his Latin name, Marcellus), both of whom were renowned for their learning and their ability to teach a broad liberal-arts curriculum. From Moengal, Notker learned the liberal arts; he was particularly fascinated by music, and his early sequences were sung by the monks at Saint Gall.
Notker was not a healthy child, and throughout his life he avoided traveling far from the area around Saint Gall. He did visit Reichenau to exchange manuscripts and consult with monks at that monastery. His early and flattering biographer, Ekkehard IV, stresses that Notker's stammering was due to a physical defect and not to a mental one. Notker was loved by his pupils and admired for his mild manner and commitment to learning.
Many manuscripts testify to the activities of Notker Balbulus, but there are difficulties in separating his work from that of his pupils and later admirers. Notker probably began his writing career while he was still a student, and some of his hymns and sequences no doubt have their origin in this early period. His Martyrologium (896) is an updated version of Ado's martyrology that includes excerpts from the works of Hrabanus Maurus. Notker made sure that the saints of Ireland and Great Britain were included, as well as those of the German-speaking lands.
Notker's tasks in the library at Saint Gall included copying and updating historical texts, collating biblical materials, writing chronicles, and composing original works of prose and poetry for use within the monastery. Much of his work was directed at his pupils: he summarized and simplified complex texts and ideas for the benefit of those in his schoolroom.
Notker was asked to write down the stories and legends surrounding Charlemagne, and he did so in the Gesta Caroli (Deeds of Charlemagne) soon after a visit by Charles III to Saint Gall in 883. Memories of the great empire were still much discussed, particularly in the courts of Charlemagne's descendants, who were having great difficulty keeping their separate parts of the inheritance intact. None of the many surviving manuscripts of this work contain the number of chapters announced by Notker, leading to the suspicion that he never finished the work.
Notker's Vita Sancti Galli (Life of Saint Gall, 883-884) is preserved in an even more fragmentary fashion: late manuscript fragments and printed editions preserve only the first book, and the second and third books survive only in fragments. The work reflects the schoolteacher's concerns even above those of the historian and scholar. It takes the form of a dialogue between Notker and his pupil Hartmann, who died in 884. Teacher and pupil alternate, speaking in both verse and prose. It appears that Notker and Hartmann actually wrote the work together, making it a dialogue in the true sense. The form of the work is unusual, and the inventiveness of the verse sections rather radical, for a saint's life. In later centuries the more traditional dialogues of Alcuin and the straightforward saints' lives of other writers appear to have been preferred, and Notker's work was not much used.
Notker's greatest achievement, apart from his lifelong teaching activities, is undoubtedly his development of the sequence genre. His Liber Hymnorum (Hymnbook) is a collection of these pieces, written from 884 to 887 and dedicated to Liutward, bishop of Vercelli and chancellor of Charles the Fat. The many surviving manuscripts do not agree as to which sequences are Notker's. What is certain is that after his death in 912, Notker was particularly remembered in his own community as the one who wrote the sequences.
The sequence genre probably originated in Lorraine, and Notker received examples from related monasteries in that area. He improved and adapted the form, perfecting the rhythmic, as opposed to the metrical, approach to composition. Neither rhyme nor alliteration is used, and the resulting form has a quiet nobility. Notker composed both words and music and reflected on the problems of notation and stress patterns. The genre stands in stark contrast to the classical verse forms, and it has its home in the context of Christian worship. The words are simple, the style is elevated, and the topics are based on the major Christian festivals. The structure is regular, with balanced half lines, and it was a useful aid in the memorizing of ceremonial texts. Throughout Europe the sequence, including Notker's, enjoyed great popularity until well into the twelfth century.
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