The Medieval Elbe
Slavs and Germans on the Frontier

The Deeds of Wiprecht

Eula Vision


Toward that end, as he was turning his mind to that same devout intention, Wiprecht passed by chance through a certain village named Eula, where there was a wooden church that had by then almost fallen apart from the old age of the wood. He withdrew into it for the sake of prayer, with his familiar named Giselher. For it was Wiprecht’s custom that he never passed a church without saying a prayer. Rising, therefore, after saying his prayer—wondrous to say!—the chest of relics, which was placed upon the altar, seemed to be opened like a book by divine agency. With the brightness from it glittering in his face, it struck the chest of this very brave man with such great terror that he was scarcely able to remain in his place. Coming out, Wiprecht asked his aforesaid familiar if he had seen anything. After Giselher said that truly he had seen nothing yet had experienced immense terror, Wiprecht described what he had seen, and said he was of a mind to restore this very church. After he had ordered that to be done immediately out of his own expenses, he resumed his journey and reached Groitzsch.

Analysis

This paragraph reads as a set-piece, recording a spiritual experience Wiprecht once had in Eula, where he subsequently rebuilt the church--almost certainly a story told orally, whether by the residents of Eula, the monks of Pegau, or either Wiprecht or this Giselher, about whom we no nothing else.