WOMAN'S LONG STRUGGLE 43 



distinguished for their learning and for the splendid work 

 they performed for the education of their sex during the 

 long period of the Middle Ages. But however great their 

 preeminence in these respects, they were not without rivals. 

 There were, besides the schools, already named, conducted 

 by St. Lioba and her companions, also flourishing schools 

 in Germany under the direction of native nuns, whose suc- 

 cess as educators was as marked as that of Lioba or Hilda, 

 and who, in addition to their labors in the class-room, 

 achieved distinction by their productive work. The Anglo- 

 Saxon convents developed few writers, whereas those of 

 Germany produced several who not only shed luster on 

 their sex but who also showed what woman is capable of 

 accomplishing when accorded some measure of encourage- 

 ment and full liberty of action. 



One of the most noted writers of her age was the famous 

 nun of Gandersheim, Hroswitha, who was born in the 

 early part of the tenth century. She was the pupil of the 

 abbess Gerberg, who was of royal lineage, and one of the 

 most zealous promoters of learning and culture in Saxony 

 during the forty-two years of her rule in the convent to 

 which she and her favorite pupil gave undying renown. 



Hroswitha 's literary work consists of legends and con- 

 temporary history in metrical form and of her dramas 

 written in the style of Terence. As a writer of history and 

 legends she ranks with the best authors of her time, while 

 as a writer of dramas she stands absolutely alone. Hers, 

 indeed, were the first dramatic compositions given to the 

 world during the long interval that elapsed between the 

 last comedies of classic antiquity and the first of the mir- 

 acle plays which had such a vogue between the twelfth and 

 the sixteenth century. 



Her dramas, which, of all her works, have attracted the 

 most attention, are seven in number. They deal with the 

 moral and mental conflicts which characterized the period 

 of transition from heathendom to Christianity. Some of 



