Il contesto storico-politico nello Spruch n. 2 di Bruder Wernher

This contribution aims to provide a new interpretation of Bruder Wernher’s anti-papal Spruch N. 2 (Gregorie, babest, geislich vatter, wache vnd brich abe dinen slaf!). The analysis will take into account some relevant documents produced by the papal and imperial chanceries, in order to better define the historical and political context which may be reflected in the text. Thus, it will be shown that the poet enters into the debate of the second half of the 1230s, giving voice to growing demands for a change in the political strategy adopted by Gregory IX against Frederick II. Furthermore, it will be argued that the opening lines of the Spruch contain an allusion to Psalm 43 (Exsurge, quare dormis, Domine?). Therefore, the poet touches upon a crucial issue in the ideological and political conflict between sacerdotium and regnum: the role as vicarius Dei that both the Pope and the Emperor claimed to hold.