Hrotsvitha was a tenth-century poet and dramatist from the Duchy of Saxony. A secular canoness at Gandersheim Abbey, she lived during the Ottonian dynasty and is recognized as the first female writer from the German-speaking lands. She was also the first person to compose dramas in the Latin West following the fall of the Roman Empire. Her literary output, composed in Medieval Latin, focused on Christian themes, including the lives of saints and virtuous women, often utilizing classical poetic forms to promote religious morality.