OTFRIED, ot'frk (c.800-e.870). An Alsatian poet and theologian. As a student at the Abbey of Saint Gall he was a friend of Solomon, after wards Bishop of Constance; he then studied at Fulda under Rabanus Maurits. Next Otfried be came priest and monk in the wealthy abbey of Weissenburg, where he acted as a notary (851). Ilis fame is due wholly to his Frankish or Theodisc (Deutsch) poem on the Gospels. Not understanding Latin hymns, the Frankish folk kept up their heathen songs. Otfried made up his mind to do away with this habit by put ting Christian songs into Frankish, declaring that he would break the Devil's wickedness, cast down foul legends, and rid his people of the songs that only awoke worldly long ings, that wounded the ears of the righteous and saddened the heart. Otfried's Liber Erunyc liorum Domini Gratin Theodisee Conscript as be gins with dedications to Louis the German and to Bishop Solomon in Frankish verses, and to Liutbert, Archbishop of Mainz, in Latin prose. The poem is fifteen thousand verses long and in strophes like the Latin hymns. It is remarkable because it uses rhyme instead of the allitera tion customary in Old Germanic poetry, and be eause it has a regular, even a Latin rhythm. Poetically, it is inferior to the Helfand, a work of similar character. On the ground that we
have five senses, and that each sense stirs us to its special sin. Otfried divided his poem into five parts: (1) The nativity of John the Bap tist; (2) the meeting of the first disciples, the first miracles, the spread of Christ's teachings; (3) the story of astounding miracles that shook the Jewish faith; (4) the Passion; (5) the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Judgment. It is doubtful whether this poem, ended in 856, ever accomplished Otfried's aim; yet it is for the philologist and the student of cultural his tory a work of great value. Of Otfried's other writings only a few bits are left. The best manu script of his Liber Evangelionon is at Vienna. Consult: Piper. Otfricds Erangelientmeh (Frei burg, 1S84) ; Kelle's Text (Regensburg, 1S56 69) ; Glossary (ib., 1879-81) : Erdmann's Text (Halle. 1882-83) : translations by Rapp (Stutt gart, 1858). Rechenherg (Chemnitz. 18621, and Belle (Prague, 1S701. Consult also: Laehmann. in his Kleinere Sehriften (Berlin. 1876) : Schtitze, Beitrage zur Poetik Otfrierls (Kiel, 1887); and Tesch, Zur Entsteltungsgesehichte des Erange lienbaches von Otfried (Greifswald, 1890).