Aus der Chronika eines fahrenden Schülers

Aus der Chronika eines fahrenden Schülers, an uncompleted narrative written by C. Brentano in 1802 and published in 1818 in F. Förster's Sängerfahrt. The stimulus to write it came from perusal of the Limburger Chronik, and Brentano has successfully caught the naïve chronicle tone. His story purports to be taken from an ancient MS., begun in 1338 by ‘Johannes der Schreiber’, a name derived from his source. The story begins in Strasburg, where Johannes has been taken into service by an aged knight, Veltlin von Türlingen. The opening pages, containing passages praising the beauty of Strasburg Minster, form a frame (see Rahmen) to the story. Veltlin asks Johannes to read the story of his life, which is entitled ‘Chronika des fahrenden Schülers Johannes Laurenburger, von Polsnich an der Lahn’. It begins with childhood recollections, which include the knowledge of his knightly birth and the humble circumstances in which he lived with his pious widowed mother Els. This phase of the story proves to be a frame within the original frame, for Johannes now gives his mother's story told in the first person. Els tells of the early death of her mother, at which point the story breaks off. The book contains a number of inserted songs, of which the best known is, ‘Es sang vor langen Jahren/Wohl auch die Nachtigall’.

A revised and slightly longer version of the Chronika was found in Brentano's papers and published in 1880 in Stimmen von Maria Laach.