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TROUBADOURS AND M1NNE-SINGERS. 343
The Provence songs,*my ears to please, And the dance of the Trevisan;
The graceful form of the Arragoneze And the pearl of the Julian; t
An English face and hands to see,
And a page of Tuscany." t
The love songs of the Germans were not so fiery as those of Provence; while the adoration of the troubadour for his love went all lengths, the German knight rendered to his own a much quieter, (and chaster) species of homage. There were not such criminal passions (often ending in murder at the hands of the outraged husband) as in France. In epic poems this school was very successful, and that stateliest of German poems, "The Nibelun-(/en-h'ed," dates from about this time, although its author is not known.
The preservation of many of the songs of the Minne-singers is due to Rudiger of Manesse, a senator of Zurich (fourteenth century). To those who are desirious of seeing the main part of his collection we cannot do better than to recommend the excellent work of F. von der Hagen, fuMinne-sanger," Manessische SammlungJ, in which all the gems of this early growth of mediaeval poetry are given. One peculiar species of their songs were called " Wacht-lieder " (Watch-songs), and represent the pleading of the knight, with the watchman of the castle, for admittance to hia love; or the warning of the watchman to the lover
•Those of the Troubadours
t This line is vague in its meaning.
t Taylor's " Minne-singers," p. 98. |
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