Documentation for the Poem “I follow her Banner”

Introduction

This entry is a poem I wrote in the style of the German Minnelieder (Minnesongs) like those found in the “Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift”, also known as Codex Manesse (The Great Heidelberg Songbook) and the “Weingartner Liederhandschrift” (The Konstanz-Weingarten Songbook). In those books, Minnesongs, which originate between 1160 and 1330, are compiled.

The original idea was only to write a poem in the style of the German Minnesang, although in the English language, to allow it to be judged in this Kingdom A&S competition.

However, after the english version of the poem was written, I decided to write a version in Middle-High German (Mittelhochdeutsch), the language of the original Minnesongs.

Then the question of an adequate presentation arose, and after some research of period forms of presentation, it became clear that the only suitable form would be that of the two great medieval German “Liederhandschriften”, the Codex Manesse and the Weingartner Liederhandschrift.

The poem itself is entered into this contest in the category “creative writing”, whereas the presentation in the form of a miniature is entered into the contest in the category “Calligraphy and Illumination”. The two entries are meant to be judged separately, although they are related to each other in a very intimate way and could be seen as one piece of art. 

History of the German Minnesang

The German Minnesang had its highpoint between the late 12^th century and the beginning of the 14^th century.

The expression is a construction of the two Middle High German words “Minne” (Love) and “Sang” (Song, Poem), and thus means “Love song” or “Love poem”. In fact, in those times, the poems were mostly presented in the form of a song. Unfortunately, because the melodies were hardly ever written down, but conveyed through the generations by oral transfer, in most cases we can only speculate how such a song might have sounded like.

The lyrics of these songs, however, were written down and have survived the centuries.

The roots of the German Minnesang lie in Southern France, where the local Troubadours or Trouvères sang their “Love songs” since the mid 11^th century. From there it spread to other parts of Europe. Especially the time of the second crusade in the mid 12^th century brought frequent contacts between the different European cultures, as knights and their entourage from various corners of Europe came together for the war in the Holy Land.

At first, the French songs of the Trouvères were just translated into German, and then the form, themes and melodies were used with original German lyrics.

But soon, a distinctive and genuine form developed, and at the end of the 12^th century the German Minnesang had emancipated itself from the French origins – it had become an independent and authentic art form of medieval Germany.

Themes of the Minnesang

The premise of the Minnesang is the love of the writer for a noble woman.

The majority of the songs/poems typically begin with some description of Nature – characteristics of the seasons, like blooming flowers, green meadows, the scent of the forest, the chirping of bids and the like.

This picture is then used to describe the writer’s own mood. This can either be done in a very cheery way: “Spring is here and my heart is filled with joy”; or in a contradictory manner: “Spring is here but I am depressed and without hope”.

Invariably, there is a description of the woman he loves, her beauty, her virtues and her lovely features, which is either followed by his feelings of unfulfilled love and sorrow, because the woman is unattainable for him; or he describes his hope, that one day everything might fall into place and they would finally be together.

Forms of Minnesongs

The most common form of a Minnesong was the “canzone”, which consists of “Stollen”, “Stollen”, “Abgesang”.

Both “Stollen” had the same meter and rhyme scheme, whereas the “Abgesang” had a different structure.

Here is a typical example, by Friedrich von Hausen (ca. 1190):

Each line has four iambic feet, except for the last line of the second strophe, in which each syllable fill a whole foot.

Note that one line in the Abgesang does not rhyme with any other line. Such a rhyme is called a Waise, an orphan. If, however, the orphan in one strophe rhymes with the corresponding line in other strophes of the same song, it is called a Korn. 

Very popular was also a series of lines with the same ending. Here an example from Neidhart von Reuental (1180-1240):

Meie, dîn liehter schîn                                        a
und diu kleinen vogelîn                                       a
bringent vröuden vollen schrîn                           a
daz si willekomen sîn                                           a
ich bin an den vröuden mîn                                  a
mit der werlde kranc.                                           b
alle tage ist mîn klage,                                         c
von der ich daz beste sage                                   c
unde ir holdez herze trage,                                   c
daz ich der niht wol behage                                  c
von der schulden ich verzage                               c
daz mir nie gelanc.                                                b

But also more complicated constructions were used. Here an example from Konrad von Würzburg (1225-1287): 

Jârlanc wil diu linde                                        a
vom winde                                                       a
sich velwen,                                                    b
diu sich vor dem walde                                    c
ze balde                                                            c
kan selwen.                                                      b
trûren ûf der heide                                           d
mit leide                                                            d
man üebet:                                                        e
sús hât mir diu minne                                        f
die sinne                                                            f
betrüebet.                                                         e

The models for my poem
The style of the poem is consistent to the original period Minnesongs, in this special case it is modeled after the theme, style and structure of three different poems from the same time period (end of 12^th century/ beginning of 13^th century): 

1) I modeled the contents of my poem after the style of Reinmar von Hagenau, who lived at the turn of the 12^th/13^th centuries in Vienna. He was one of the most revered Minnesänger of his time and was considered to be the Master of the art of courtly poems.

In his poems, he described the patiently endured sorrow of the Minnesänger, in his futile love for an unattainable noble woman. He praises the beauty of the woman, her high virtues and his undying and total devotion to her, although she never even rewards him with the tiniest smile, so his hopes are crushed.

Modern scholars describe his style the following way: “Nobody suffered more beautiful than Reinmar”.

2) For the basic rhyme scheme of the poem, I used the poem “Muget ir schouwen” by Walter von der Vogelweide (1190-1230):

Note: In the Middle-High version of my poem, I deviated slighty from that scheme because no translation would fit the scheme used in the english version.
Instead of C-D-D-C at the end, I used C-D-E-C. This is consistent with the poem “Der Ostertag” by Reinmar von Hagenau:
Ich wil allez gâhen                                       a
zuo der liebe, die ich hân.                            b
sô ist ez niender nâhen,                                a
daz sich ende noch mîn wân.                        b
doch versúoche ich ez alle tage                     c
und gediene ir sô, daz si âne ir danc             d
mit fröiden muoz erwenden                          e
kumber, den ich trage                                  c

3) Whereas Walter uses different rhymes in the next strophe, I chose to repeat the endings of the rhymes in the first strophe in the remaining two strophes of my poem as well. This structure can be found i.a. in the Song collection of the Codex Carmina Burana (ca.1230):

Sources

1)      Gotische Buchmalerei – Minnesänger; R.Pieper & Co Verlag, München 1978; ISBN 3-492-02393-2

2)      Codex Manesse

3)      www.minnesang.com

This German website is maintained by Dr.Lothar Jahn (PhD in Music Science), who is the director of the medieval theater group DINGO (a not for profit society).

The website has a very extensive library of Minnesongs. It also delivers useful information about ca. 40 of the more prominent German Minnesänger, as well as some facts about the history of the Minnesang. It also delivers a very good insight into the themes of the poems, and also has some sound samples of Minnesongs. 

The sources that were used to assemble this site consist of the following publications:

• Joachim Bumke: Höfische Kultur: Literatur und Gesellschaft im Hohen Mittelalter. dtv Verlag
• Helmut Brackert: Minnesang. Mittelhochdeutsche Texte und Übertragungen. Fischer Verlag
• Stefan Zeyen: daz tet der liebe dorn. Erotische Metaphorik in der deutschsprachigen Lyrik des 12.-14. Jhdts. Essen 1996
• Carmina Burana. Die Lieder der Benediktbeurer Handschrift. Zweisprachig. dtv klassik Verlag
• Heinrich von Morungen: Lieder. Reclam Verlag
• Diverse: Frauenlieder des Mittelalters. Reclam Verlag
• Neidhart von Reuental: Lieder. Reclam Verlag
• Diverse: Tagelieder des deutschen Mittelalters. Reclam Verlag
• Reinmar: Lieder. Reclam Verlag
• Walther von der Vogelweide: Werke 2: Liedlyrik. Reclam Verlag
• Heinrich von Morungen: Lieder. Reclam Verlag

4)      www.emory.edu/COLLEGE/CULPEPER/MCMAHON/minnesang.html

This website id maintained by James V. McMahon, Professor of German Studies at Emory University.

It is part of a online university course about medieval German Music and Literature. Here is the course description:

This course will study Minnesang, German sung poetry of the 12th and 13th centuries. Literary scholars usually concentrate on the texts of this genre, acknowledging that they were always sung, but paying very little attention to the music. Musicologists consider the music, trying to find adequate ways to interpret the notation and the performance, but they usually ignore the poetic content of the texts. In this course we will give equal weight to both aspects, while investigating also the historical and cultural background against which this genre arose, the development of various themes within the genre, the poet-composers who produced the songs, and the influence of these songs on later literature, reaching even into the present.

The following sources were used:

a.      The so-called "Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift," in the library of the University of Heidelberg.

b.      The "Weingartner" Liederhandschrift, in the Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart.

c.      The famous "Manesse" manuscript (named for the Manesse family in Switzerland, who formerly owned it); also called the "Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift," also now in the library of the University of Heidelberg.

d.      The Jena manuscript, containing a song by Spervogel.

e.      The Münster Fragment, found in the Staatsarchiv in Münster in 1910, and containing 26 strophes or parts of strophes, one of which has the complete melody of Walther von der Vogelweide's Palästinalied.

f.        The Carmina Burana manuscript, containing songs attributed to Reinmar, Dietmar, Heinrich von Morungen and Walther von der Vogelweide.

g.      The Kremsmünster manuscript, in the library of the monastery in Kremsmünster in Austria. It contains seven strophes of a German song attributed in other collections to Walther von der Vogelweide.

5)      Mittelhochdeutsches Taschenwörterbuch, Matthias Lexer, Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart 1992; ISBN 3-7776-0494-1