The novel is about the 10th-century monk and hymn writer Ekkehard II at the Abbey of Saint Gall. Ekkehard has a romantic affair with a widow who visits the abbey. He has an oak cut down when he learns a woman is using it in pagan ceremonies. When there is a Hun invasion, Ekkehart goes to battle and proves to be a skilled warrior.[1]
Reception
The novel was published in 1855 by Johann Valentin Meidinger Sohn. With the 4th edition in 1873, it turned into a phenomenon, becoming one of Germany's most popular novels of the 19th century. By 1903, it had been printed in 200 editions.[2]
^Wunderlich, Werner (1998). "Medieval Images: Joseph Viktor von Scheffel's Novel Ekkehard and St. Gall". Medievalism in the Modern World. Brepols. pp. 193–226. ISBN2503501664.
^Eggert, Hartmut (1971). Studien zur Wirkungsgeschichte des deutschen historischen Romans 1850-1875. Studien zur Philosophie und Literatur des neunzehnten Jahrhundert (in German). Vol. 14. Frankfurt: Klostermann. ISBN3465008731.