Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/420

EICHSTÄTT first of his larger works, the novel "Ahnung und Gegenwart", was written partly at home, in Lubowitz, where he spent several years after the completion of his studies, partly in Vienna, where he had gone to qualify himself for the Austrian civil service; his friendly relations with Fr. Schlegel and his adopted son, the painter Veit, kept awake the poet's romantic enthusiasm.

In 1813, when Prussia and Austria were preparing for the War of Liberation, Eichendorff abandoned his poetry, his professional studies, and his preparation for the civil service, and joined the famous volunteers of Lützow at Breslau. Again, in 1815, when Napoleon had returned from Elba, he followed the call to arms, although he had just married (Oct., 1S14) Luise von Larisch, and entered Paris with the conquerors. It was only in 1816 that the chivalric baron left the army and entered the Prussian civil service as a lawyer at Breslau. The next three years passed in quiet seclusion ; their principal literary production is the story "Das Marmorbild". He received his first appointment in 1820 on the Catholic board of education at Danzig; there he took a lively interest in the restoration of the Marienburg, a house of the Teutonic Order; later (1844) he wrote its history at the request of the Government. His tragedy " [sic]Der letzte Held von Marienburg" was suggested by this circumstance. At the same time appeared his most popular production, "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts". In the year 1831 he was called to Berlin as councillor in the ministry of public worship. In this high office he found many opportunities to be useful to the Church; but he also met with difficulties under a government which did not shrink from imprisoning the Archbishop of Cologne, Clemens August. When Eichendorff, who was a stanch Catholic, was asked to defend the measures of the Government in public, he asked for his dismissal, which, however, was not granted till 1844. The succeeding years were passed mostly in Berlin, where the poet was occupied more with literary and historical than with poetical work; after the death of his wife (1855) he lived with his family at Neisse. Two years later, having finished his swan-song, the epic "Lucius", he died.

What has established the fame of Eiehendorff as a poet and has given him a place not only in literature, but also in the heart of the people, are his simple but heartfelt songs. Many of them have become Volkslieder (popular songs) in the truest sense of the word; almost all are fitted for singing owing to their spirit and their melodious language. There is hardly another German poet who has found so many composers for his songs. The great lyrical talent which made Eiehendorff the master of the short story ("Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts", "Das Marmorbild", "Schloss Durande"), was prejudicial to the novel "Ahnung und Gegenwart", and to the longer story' "Dichter und ihre Gesellen", inasmuch as the action is neglected for discursive discussions. Lack of compression and of action has also been censured in the two dramas, "Ezelin von Romano" and "Der letzte Held von Marienburg". Still, "Ezelen", the tragedy of a consuming pride ruined through the very abuse of its gigantic strength, no less than "Der letzte Held", in which Plauen fails on account of his exceeding magnanimity and bravery, amply testify to the dramatic talent of the poet. His best comedy "Die Freier" has been found very well adapted to the stage. In his later years Eiehendorff devoted his genius more to the history of literature. His history of the poetical literature of Germany (Kempten, 1907), especially the description of romanticism, outlined as it is by one of its best representatives, is of lasting value, also the sketch of the German novel in the eighteenth century. His solid character and his strong religious faith raise "the champion of romanticism" far above his fellow-poets. Not only did his genius never lead him away from the duties which religion and custom imposed upon him, but he also knew how to distinguish between poetical ideal and reality, and to avoid the underlying want of truth to which the earlier romanticism had succumbed.

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 Eichstätt, , in Bavaria, lies north of the Danube, and is suffragan to Bamberg. The diocese was founded by St. Boniface, who consecrated his nephew St. Willibald (born 700 of an Anglo-Saxon royal family) first as abbot- [sic] and regional bishop (741), and then (745) circumscribed and organized the diocese. Willibald called to his aid his brother Wunibald, who, together with St. Boniface, had been active on the German mission of Thuringia, and also his sister St. Walburga. He erected for them the monastery of Heidenheim on the Hahnenkamm, where the saintly pair laboured most effectively and found their resting-place (Wunibald d. 7C1, Walburga d. 779). Willibald, well known for his knowledge of the Christian Orient and as a pilgrim to Palestine, founded in Eichstätt a flourishing school over which he presided as magister. He died in 781. The unbroken series of his successors down to the present time (1909) counts seventy-five names. Bishop Erchanbold (882-912) of the Carlovingian line laid the foundation for the secular power of the see. Gradually this increased, especially through the inheritance of the Counts of Hirschberg (extinct in 1305), under Bishop Johann von Dirpheim (1305-1306), who was also chancellor of Emperor Albrecht I. Like other German princes, the bishops of Eichstätt acquired sovereignty (under Bishop Hartwig in 1220), and after various struggles became, from the fourteenth century, independent rulers over a territory which at one time comprised 437 square miles with 56,000 subjects. In the "secularization" of 1803 these domains were made over to Bavaria.

There were many illustrious incumbents of the See of Eichstätt. Bishop Reginold (965-989) was admired as a poet, musician, scholar, and orator. Bishop Heribert (1022-1042) was a patron of the cathedral school. Gundekar II (1057-1075) rebuilt the cathedral, composed the " Pontifieale", in which the lives of his predecessors, the "Vitæ Pontificum Eystettensium", and many other subjects, especially liturgical, are treated. This work, still preserved in the original (Codex M), is of great value for the history of the diocese. Gundekar is venerated as a saint. His predecessor was Gebhard I (1042-1057), the chancellor and friend of Henry III. Hildebrand, afterwards Gregory VII, did not rest until this emperor allowed the reluctant Gebhard to assume the papal dignity. He was the first pope whom in a long time the clergy and people of Rome had chosen freely. As Victor II (1055- 