Saturday, October 17, 2020

GERMANY ~ Till Eulenspiegel Museum - Schöppenstedt ~

... This museum pays tribute to Till Eulenspiegel a fascinating folk character, possibly a real person, from the Middle Ages... the story soon became popular all over Europe... he was a villain in German folklore but a jester and freedom fighter in Flemish literature... a practical joker and many of his escapades are satires on period politics... story books about him were banned by the catholic church at one time... the museum has a very extensive Eulenspiegel archive with around 3,000 volumes of literature... you can see old Eulenspiegel prints, posters, graphics, sculptures and historical documents... there are also special events and temporary exhibitions... the museum has around 8,000 visitors annually... with one stamp of the 32 "Recreational stamp offices" found in the northern Harz foreland... and postmarked on World Postcard Day👍... Thanks a lot Dustin!【ツ】 

According to the chapbook, Eulenspiegel was born in Kneitlingen near Brunswick around 1300. As a vagrant, he travelled through the Holy Roman Empire, especially Northern Germany, but also the Low Countries, Bohemia, and Italy. He is said to have died in Mölln, Schleswig-Holstein, near Lübeck and Hamburg, of the Black Death in 1350.

His name translates to "owl mirror", and the frontispiece of the 1515 chapbook, as well as his alleged tombstone in Mölln, display the name in rebus writing by an owl and a hand mirror. 

The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak by Charles De Coster (1867) transfers the character to the context of the Reformation and the Dutch Revolt. The Ulenspiegel (modern Dutch: Tijl Uilenspiegel) from this novel became a symbol of the Flemish Movement.


Stamp: 

 Definitives - Flowers
 (01-07-2019)

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