Confraternities in the Slovenian Lands and their Significance for Baroque Slovenian Literature

Abstract

Baroque confraternities, like their forebears, were religious in nature and became a source for the many cultural initiatives and needs for literature in Latin as well as in German and the Slovenian language. This essay presents several examples of Slovenian literary texts, printed as well as in manuscript form, which came into existence because of confraternal devotional practices. They cover virtually all the basic literary genres and make up a small literary system with poetry (poems, hymns), prose (sermons, meditations), and drama (Passion plays).

Keywords

• confraternities
• baroque
• slovenian literature
• manuscripts
• hymns
• sermons
• passion plays