Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (c. 930–1000) was canoness in the Benedictine abbey of Gandersheim in lower Saxony and prodigious author of epic poetry and drama in Latin. Her extant works include eight saint’s lives, six theatrical pieces, an historical account of deeds of Otto the Great and another of the foundation of the Abbey of Gandersheim. All of these works except for the last are transmitted by an eleventh-century manuscript from St. Emmeram in Regensburg (Munich, Bavarian State Library, Clm 14485), discovered in 1493 by German humanist Conrad Celtis. The first edition, including two woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer, was published in 1501.
Hrotsvit lived as a secular canoness in the Abbey of Gandersheim in lower Saxony. She had close connections with the abbess Gerberga II (949–1001) and the Royal family. Referring to the meaning of her name in Old Saxon, she declares that she, “the strong voice of Gandersheim,” wrote this book to emulate and replace the popular plays of the Roman comedian Terence, aiming to edify and entertain.