Petruslied (Song of Peter)

The Freising manuscript contains the Genesis Commentary by Hrabanus Maurus (c. 780-856) as the main work. The oldest German church song, the "Petruslied", was recorded as a supplement on leaf 158v at the beginning of the 10th century.

The text is continuously re-numbered, i.e. provided with graphic characters that identify the melody, making the text singable. It consists of three verses, each with two (pure) end rhyme verses. The song is a liturgical prayer with the "Kyrie eleyson" call as the people's chorus to the apostle and heavenly porter Peter for admission into the kingdom of eternal bliss. The language is Bavarian with Rhine-Franconian elements. The "Petruslied" has one line of verse in common with Otfrid's Book of the Gospels (Cgm 14): "daz er uns firtanen giuuerdo ginaden" (that he may show us reprobates mercy).

To the digitised copy