fore the year 1000 of Our Lord had ended,
longing to be united with the Lord of Hosts, on the 16th of December,
she died "and her soul rose to the pure light of the purest ether," says
the chronicler, "and to describe all the miracles at her grave, another
book would be necessary. But not to cover them entirely with silence at
her grave the blind recover their lost sight, the paralyzed the use of
their limbs, those sick with fever are cured there. Many ailing with
manifold diseases are healed by the grace and the compassion of Our Lord
Jesus Christ." Forsooth, A. D. 1000 is yet the blessed time when "faith
transported mountains."

The most memorable women of the Ottoman epoch is perhaps the nun
Roswitha, or Hrotsuit, of the cloister of Gandersheim, who is regarded
as the first German poetess, although her works are exclusively in
Latin. Born of a noble Saxon family she came early to Gandersheim, where
she was educated by the Carmelite sister Richardis and the highly
cultured Abbess Gerberga, Otto's niece. She became steeped in the
classics, and was soon able to imitate them to such an extent that her
fame as the bright ringing voice of Gandersheim soon spread over the
Christian world. She composed in Latin hexameters a eulogy on Saint
Mary, legends of saints, and an epic of Otto's great deeds (_Carmen de
gestis Oddonis I. Imperatoris_). The last work is rich in valuable
information, but a part of it has, unfortunately, been lost. She also
wrote the history of her cloister from its foundation until 919. But her
fame is founded especially on her Latin comedies, or rather dramatic
sketches, six in number, imitating the style of Terentius, but borrowing
the material from sacred legends, and chiefly glorifying chastity and
virginity. She takes as her themes womanly martyrdom, and the strength
of which even the frail woman is capable, if animated by faith and
virtue. She writes with a moral ascetic view and preeminently for her
sisters in the cloisters. Yet, because of the taste of her time she
introduces the reader to situations which are rather delicate. Hence
ensues a strange blending of classic sensualism and Christian
spiritualism. The fire of sensuality blazes throughout, though the
conclusion is always edifying through martyrdom; there is a struggle
between vice and virtue, but in the end, the triumph of Christian
sacrifices carries the day over the temptations and the sins of this
world. Kuno Francke (_Social Forces i