| Abstract: | Almost a thousand years ago at Grandershein, an abbey in Medieval Germany, a woman lived under the monastic rule of this Benedictine-like abbey. This woman functioned as most of her contemporaries in the abbey. She learned about the scriptures and studied classical writers; she did spinning, weaving and embroidery as was the custom in most Saxon nunneries. But there is one thing that differentiates this woman from the rest of the nuns as well as other women of her time. Roswitha, the loud voice of Gandersheim, had a talent which she believed that God had given her to use for His Glory, and Roswitha did not allow her talents to go fallow. The unusual talent that Roswitha had been endowed with was writing, and she was especially attracted to dramatic literature. This talent was exceptional not only because she was woman invading a man's intellectual world, but because it is believed that her dramatic works are a link from Greek drama to present day form. There is no evidence of dramatic works between the works of antiquity and Roswitha's works. An intensive study of her works and their relation to her world will show Roswitha's role at that time and today, as well. |
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