Origins (Austria)
When the bishop entered the scriptorium, the monk and the little boy looked up from the slate displaying the boy's clumsy, childish handwriting.
'Look', Gottschalk of Hagenau said and showed them a large parchment. 'Can you find your name, little one?'
The boy's strikingly coloured eyes — were they really violet?, Gottschalk wondered — fixated on the parchment. With a focused frown, the boy searched the lines, silently forming words with his lips as he read them. Then, his whole face lit up with a smile. 'It says possessions of Duke Henry of Bavaria in regione vulgari vocabulo Ostarrîchi — in the region called Ostarrîchi in the vernacular — are granted to you, my bishop.'
'Yes, Ostarrîchi, that was fine', the bishop of Freising said, stroking the little boy's brown hair. 'I can see you are making good progress. But come with me now, both of you, it's time for mass.'
'Will the monks sing again at mass?', the boy asked eagerly, and added, a little wary, 'I'll only come with you if they will.'
'Yes, they will, but you don't go to church for …' The bishop's voice trailed off as the boy's hopeful eyes met his. Never mind, he thought. Perhaps to some, the wonders of creation are revealed through music.
—
Notes:
Ah. 209 words. Close to a double drabble.
On this day, 1018 years ago (1 November 996), the term 'Ostarrîchi', later becoming Austria (Österreich), was mentioned in a parchment (BayHStA, Kaiserselekt 859) for the very first time. (At least that's what is thought; parchments with earlier mentionings of that name might have existed, but not come down to us.) At that time, Ostarrîchi was still part of the duchy of Bavaria, becoming independent as the duchy of Austria only in 1156, its 'foundational document' being the so-called Privilegium minus (17 September 1156).