Page - 153 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

9 Water andUrbanstructures inCourtlyNovels 153 zestunt rehte rôt. sofort ganz rot. swer diu ist, diumuozden tôt Werdiese auch ist, siemuss kiesen in kurzer vrist. sofort denToderleiden. sweliu abermaget ist, Welcheaber Jungfrau ist, vonderwirt niemangewar bei derwirdmanesnicht erleben, daz erwerdemissevar dass es eineandere Färbungannimmt niuwan lûter als ein glas, als die klarenGlases, der selben varweals erwas.47 die gleicheFarbe, die es zuvor hatte. The symbolic potential of water as a signifier for purity, i.e. virginity, which derives from the Christian iconographic tradition, is herepervertedbyusingwater as amedium to test the con- testant’s virginity.At the same time thiswater test resemblesmedieval ordealswhichmadeuse of a special metaphysical evidence assigned to the natural elements.48 The pure water that unmasks the culprit in the ordeal here reliably brands the fallenwomenunworthyofmarriage and thusbecomespart of theAmiral’swaysof exertinghis power andcontrol. In thisnovel, the imageryof the locusamoenusasacommonplace for the fulfilmentof love incourtly literature isused tocreateastarkcontrast to thecruel ritualestablishedby theOrien- tal despot, whose garden is anything but a paradisiacal place. The element of water with its aesthetical impact andvast symbolic implicationsofpurity is at the centreof thisdiscourse.At thesametime, theelementofwater,which is forced toserve theritualof theEmperor,becomes onceagaina symbol of absolutepower. The elaborate descriptions ofwaterworks in the Babylonian palace and garden and in the city of Grippia are part of ekphrastic text passages, thus extensive descriptions of artworks or architectures thatevokeanintensevisualizationof theseartfulobjectsorplaces.49Suchrhetori- cal representations of cultural artefacts are not only a common element in medieval novels because theyexhibit artisticmastery, theyalso invite reflectionsonparticular conceptsofmea- ning.50 The intensevisualizationof artfulwaterworks is, apart from its strongaesthetic appeal, an effectivemotif to signify outstanding technological and cultural competence. At the same time, these descriptions refer to Biblical images and evoke a reflection on the underlying reli- giousmeanings. It is furthermorenocoincidence that these extensivedescriptionsof artfully controlledwa- ter are located in theOriental sphere. Such representations of exceptional artistry are symbols for the dialectic of medieval images of the East, and portray a form of ‘pre-modern Oriental- ism’.51 Inmedieval literary contexts, the East often figures as an epitome of the foreign space 47 ‘FloreundBlanscheflur’, ed. Putzo 2015, verses 4462–4482 (translationbyM.D.-K.). 48 In themedieval theological discourse, ordealswere disputed, and from the fourth Lateran Council (1215) on- wards, itwasevenforbidden forclerics to takepart in them.Nevertheless, thepracticeofordeals is stillmentioned in legal texts like the ‘Sachsenspiegel’ or the ‘Schwabenspiegel’ (both 13th century) (cf. Becker 2003, 1594f.). Re- gardless of their concrete significance in legal practice, in literary texts ordealswere a verypopularmotif; several novels, short stories, andplays testify to their potential for abroad rangeof poetical usages. 49Wandhoff doesnot consider the city ofGrippia tobe anekphrasis in the strict sense (cf.Wandhoff 2003, 223). Wandhoff refers to amodern understanding of ekphrasis that distinguishes between the ekphrasis in the proper sense, as a description of a piece of visual art, from the ekphrasis in the broader sense as a rhetorical strategy to evoke an intense visualization of any kind of object (cf. Wandhoff 2003, 21–23). But this division is not really suitable for the description of Grippia. First, architecture in this idealized form is part of visual arts, and,more importantly, the descriptionof the empty city in its sheermateriality leads to aperception that takes the city as a whole tobeaworkof art. 50 Cf.Wandhoff 2003, 5–7. 51 EdwardSaid’s extensive study ‘Orientalism’ (Said 1978) is commonly seenas the founding text of the academic field of post-colonial studies. Themain hypothesis is the assumption thatWestern images of the Orient are based muchmoreoncultural,especially literary,conceptions thanonfactualexperiences.Thismentalconstructionisoften influencedby fantasticor romantic imaginingsof theEastwhichmirrormuchmore thecultural longingsof theWest than the reality ofEasterncultures. Furthermore, theWestern conceptionof theOrient ispredominantlybasedona negative discourse that connects theEastwithmarks like violence, injustice, anddecadence. Therefore, the East is