pr

 
 Poetry in the Limburger Chronik, 
 
 UK- Jl'l.l L'S GOKBKI. 
 
 JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. 
 
 [Reprinted from THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OK PHILOLOGY.] 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 PRESS OP ISAAC FRIBDBNWALD, 
 
 1888.
 
 pr 
 
 [Reprinted from AMERICAN JOURNAL OP PHILOLOGY, Vol. VIII, No. 2.] 
 
 II. POETRY IN THE LIMBURGER CHRONIK. 
 
 I. 
 
 Travelling through the romantic valley of the Lahn, we meet 
 about half way between Wetzlar and the Rhein the beautiful 
 ancient city of Limburg. Situated in one of the most fertile parts 
 of Germany, commonly called "der goldne Grund," and chiefly 
 inhabited by a Catholic population, the city with its surroundings, 
 especially during festive days, still bears a mediaeval appearance. 
 Its cathedral, with an abbey founded in the tenth century, belongs 
 to the master-works of the thirteenth century, and is said to con- 
 tain the tomb of the German emperor, Conrad I, who died in 918. 
 Limburg, however, has become still more celebrated in the history 
 , of German literature by reason of the chronicle which was written 
 there in the latter part of the fourteenth century. 
 
 Not only containing numerous accounts of events which are of 
 great value for the local history of the city and the bordering 
 principalities, but also giving highly interesting descriptions of the 
 costumes, as well as the manners and customs of the fourteenth 
 CJ* century, of music and painting, and, above all, preserving many 
 & songs of that period, our chronicle must very early have enjoyed 
 a great popularity, as we may see from the number of manuscripts 
 in which it is preserved to us. When later, during the time of the 
 Reformation and under the influence of the humanists, an interest 
 in the study of German antiquities was awakened, a rich patrician 
 of Frankfort-a-M., Johann Friedrich Faust, for the first time 
 published it in 1617. Two years later a second edition was 
 necessary. This edition, brought out under the unsuitable name of 
 " Fasti Limburgenses," has, in spite of its many defects, until 
 recently been the main source of information concerning the 
 chronicle. The succeeding generation, having lost through the 
 Thirty Years War its national self-consciousness, did not know how 
 to appreciate the value of the book. One editor, in 1747, even 
 complains : " dass der Historicus sich hie und dort mit Kleinig- 
 keiten aufhalte, .zum Exempel mit der Kleider-Mode, mit der 
 Witterung, mit einfaltigen Liedgern."
 
 The two great reformers of German literature, Lessing and 
 Herder, with their keen eye for the poetical element and their 
 deep historical predilections, again called attention to this important 
 document of the fourteenth century. Thus we find in Lessing's 
 posthumous works, 1 under the chapter Beitrage zur Geschichte 
 der deutschen Sprache und Literatur von den Minnes'angern bis 
 auf Luthern 1777, numerous extracts from the chronicle, which he 
 characterizes with the following words : " Es ist die alteste deutsche 
 Chronik, so viel ich weiss, ausserst merkwiirdig, weil sie so viele 
 besondere Kleinigkeiten mitnimmt, dass sie auch fleissig der 
 Lieder gedenkt, die jedes Jahr am meisten gesungen wurden, und 
 sie also noch oft von mir wird angefiihrt werden miissen." 
 
 Herder's opinion of the value of the Limburger Chronik was so 
 high that he intended to give long extracts from it at the begin- 
 ning of the third book of his celebrated Volkslieder. 2 Seeing, 
 however, that it would take too much space, he quotes only a few 
 sentences from it, finally giving its whole title, and expressing the 
 wish that some one else would make proper use of it. His advice 
 has not been followed. While some collectors of popular poetry 
 like Uhland, Erk, Bbhme and others, inserted one or two of the 
 songs into their collections, the fame of our chronicle really rested 
 on a few scanty and, for the most part, erroneous remarks in our 
 histories of German literature. The principal reason for this lack 
 of attention may, perhaps, be found in the want of a critical edition ; 
 for, strange to sa'y, until 1883 we had nothing but a careless reprint 
 of the imperfect edition of Faust. We owe it to the diligent 
 research of Arthur Wyss that we now possess an excellent edition 
 of the chronicle in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. In his 
 little treatise "Die Limburger Chronik untersucht von Arthur 
 Wyss," he, for the first time, inquires into the relation of the 
 different MSS, at the same time settling the question as to the 
 authorship of our document. The results of his investigations 
 being reinforced by fortunate discoveries, were afterwards embodied 
 in his large edition just named. 
 
 An inquiry into the nature of the poetry contained in the 
 Limburger Chronik, its origin, and its relation to former and later 
 lyrics, may be justified by various reasons. While the student 
 will perhaps welcome a handy collection of the songs interspersed 
 in the Chronik which he now can only find in the insufficient form 
 of Faust's text, made by a dilettante musician in the Jahrbuch filr 
 
 1 Lessing, ed. Lachmann, XI 468. * Herder, ed. Suphan, XXV 320, 459.
 
 musikalische Wissenschaft, 1 he will probably also wish for a critical 
 text. For Arthur Wyss, in his laudable effort to give, by the aid 
 of certain documents, the original form of the chronicle, has 
 frequently, for the sake of a " normalisirte Text," reconstructed the 
 language, not always to the advantage of the poems. The prin- 
 cipal aim of this paper, however, will be to inquire whether the 
 poetry in our chronicle is " Volkspoesie," or whether it belongs to 
 the declining " Minnepoesie " or the rising " Meistergesang." A 
 very interesting and lively discussion as to the age of lyrical Volks- 
 poesie, which, of course, would also affect other forms of poetry, 
 has recently been carried on, growing out of certain views of 
 Wilmanns. 2 Starting from the fact that documents from the time 
 before 1160 are wanting, he has denied the existence of any such 
 poetry previous to that year. Burdach 3 and Richard M. Meyer " 
 have tried to controvert this opinion by the use of various argu- 
 ments, without appealing, however, to the songs in the Limburger 
 Chronik. Now, could it be proved that the poetry which has 
 been handed down to us in our chronicle was in no way influenced 
 by the development of artistic lyrical poetry in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, could we further show that a close relation exists between the 
 contents, the metrical forms, the poetical expressions, etc., of our 
 songs and the beginnings of the Minnepoesie as represented in 
 " Minnesangs Friihling " as well as in the Volkslieder of the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, then I believe we shall be justi- 
 fied in drawing a conclusion as to the age of German Volkspoesie 
 in general. 
 
 To this end it does not suffice that we have the assurance of 
 the author of our Chronik : " item zu diser zit da sang und 
 pfelf man dit lit overalle," or " in alien Duschen landen." 
 
 It is necessary to fix the position and character of the Limburger 
 Chronik among similar documents of the time, and to ascertain, 
 above all, whether its author probably composed the songs himself 
 while in his poetical vanity he gave them the attribute of popularity. 
 
 The Chronicle of Limburg belongs to that class of historical 
 literature which had a rich development at the close of the 
 thirteenth and during the fourteenth century, owing to a deeper 
 and more widespread interest in historical matters as it is found 
 especially among the citizens of the great German cities. 6 They 
 
 1 I 115. 2 Wilmanns, Leben Walthers v. d. Vogelw. 16. 
 
 3 Zeitsch. f. d. A. XXVII 343 ff. 4 Ibid. XXIX 121 ff. 
 
 5 Cf. O. Lorenz, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter. Wattenbach, 
 Geschichtsquellen.
 
 are not men of broad views and profound learning, like the his- 
 torians in the times of the Hohenstaufen, who now try to supply 
 the demand of readers. Recruiting their ranks mostly from 
 the lower nobility, from the citizens and the clergy, they make it 
 their chief object to be popular. And corresponding with the 
 course of German politics, with the decline of imperial power and 
 the rise of territorial interests, we find that most of these historical 
 documents are local histories, chronicles of cities. At that time 
 we scarcely meet with an attempt to write a general history of the 
 world or to penetrate by deeper reasoning the course of historical 
 events. But while they betray a charming naivete' in the absence 
 of thoughts, these chroniclers cannot be called free from certain 
 motifs. Historical legends, which to a great extent form the 
 charm of the earlier historians, are almost entirely wanting, and 
 whenever they are introduced, it is done, not with the naive credu- 
 lity of earlier centuries, but with the consciousness of an intention 
 to produce certain effects. Being thus the representatives of a 
 very prosaic view of the world, they did well to choose the form 
 of prose for their productions, for they are intolerable as soon as 
 they try to become poetical. But as writers of German prose, 
 which assured them great popularity, they deserve a high place in 
 the history of German literature. The great development of 
 almost all poetical forms during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries 
 scarcely left space for the use of prose as it had been cultivated in 
 tne latter part of the tenth century in the monastery of St. Gall. 
 It was relegated to the position of the sole medium of expression 
 of theological literature, for the popular form of sermons, or the 
 more scientific writings which contain the philosophical specu- 
 lations of the mystics. A close relation between the language of 
 bodies of laws like the " Sachsenspiegel " and " Schwabenspiegel " 
 may also be observed. 
 
 The gradual turning toward a more prosaic view of the world, 
 the favored use of popular German prose, and the awakening 
 interest in historical studies are principally due, however, to the 
 two great orders, the Franciscans and Dominicans. It was only 
 natural that the Church should start a movement of reaction against 
 the spirit of a time which resembles very much that of the classical 
 times of Lessing, Kant, Goethe and Schiller. Poetry which, to 
 the middle of the eleventh century, had been cultivated almost 
 exclusively by the clergy, had become an ethical power in the 
 hands of knights and burghers. Their ideals were independent
 
 of those of the Church, they preached religious tolerance, and in 
 Walther von der Vogelweide the Pope had one of his most dan- 
 gerous enemies. As the great mass of the German clergy had no 
 influence upon their own people, the Pope in his reactionary efforts 
 very prudently made use of those orders, whose original purpose 
 was the conversion of heretics not only in South France but also 
 in Germany. For here, too, the belief of the Church had been 
 dangerously shaken, and stories of saints and miracles found no 
 believers, according to a contemporary, unless the preacher added 
 carefully the exact place and time where such miraculous occur- 
 rences had taken place. It seems that clerical astuteness speedily 
 took this practical hint, and we soon see them collecting accounts 
 of all kinds of events, historical and miraculous, thus producing 
 an endless literature of more or less value. The Franciscans, who 
 gave Germany some of its greatest preachers, made these collec- 
 tions mostly for practical homiletic use ; they were the arsenals 
 from which the monks took arms for attacking the gay, worldly 
 life in the castles, the cities and the country. The Dominicans, on 
 the other hand, who, from the beginning, show more scientific ten- 
 dencies, manifest the same spirit in their treatment of history. The 
 order which produced scholastics like Albertus Magnus, the cele- 
 brated teacher of Thomas Aquinas, of whom jealous Franciscans 
 said, "Albertus ex asino factus est philosophus et ex philosopho 
 asinus " the same order created a rich historical literature bearing 
 the character of compilations like many of their theological works. 
 Like the Franciscans they either wrote themselves chronicles of 
 cities, or persuaded others to do so. A brief sketch of the literary 
 life and the tendencies of these orders was necessary in order to 
 characterize the author of our chronicle, who, as we shall find, also 
 belonged to the clergy. 
 
 Various accounts of the authorship of the Chronicle of Limburg 
 were given by the different publishers, until Arthur Wyss, in his 
 excellent little treatise, proved beyond doubt that it was written by 
 Tilemann Elhem von Wolf hagen. From several documents recently 
 reprinted in Wyss's large edition of our chronicle, it appears 
 that Tilemann was town clerk of the city of Limburg from 1370-98. 
 From the same source we learn that he belonged to the diocese of 
 Treves. Wolfhagen, therefore, a village not far from Cassel, is 
 evidently his native place, and he was born there probably about 
 the year 1347 ; for, in chapter 13 of the chronicle, he says, " You 
 shall know, everything that happened between 1347 and 1402 has
 
 happened in my days, and I have through God's help seen it with 
 my eyes and heard from my childhood until now." Although an 
 ecclesiastic brought up in one of the monastic schools of Maintz, 
 he calls himself in the barbarous Latin of his time clericus uxoratus t 
 the name of his wife being Grede. It is evident, therefore, that he 
 was not an ordained priest, but had changed his original calling to 
 that of an imperial notary and town clerk of Limburg. 
 
 Much more than these few scanty notes upon his life, however, 
 may be gained from Tilemann's work, in order to draw a picture of 
 the man. Frequent quotations from Aristotle, Cato, the Corpus Juris 
 and the Bible show that he was a man well trained in the scholastic 
 learning of his time. His mention of Johannes Buridan (1327-50), 
 the pupil of Occam and inventor of the " ass between two bundles of 
 hay," probably serves to show that Tilemann, for a time at least, had 
 studied under the great philosopher in Paris. Remembering the 
 picture of the theological world of his time, the motives and efforts 
 of the Dominicans and Franciscans, we must, however, say that 
 Tilemann represents a great exception. While he shares their 
 interest in the writing of history, while he still feels himself an 
 ecclesiastic and condemns certain heretical movements as directed 
 against the Church and the Pope, he does not share their fanatic 
 hatred of poetry and worldly education. Nowhere in the chronicle 
 do we find even a trace that he was led by theological motives or 
 followed the tendencies of the other chroniclers, and only from a 
 few passages can we infer that he consulted other historical 
 sources. 
 
 He relates, according to his own confession, what he has seen 
 and heard ; the contents of the chronicle are, therefore, taken from 
 life, and to this it owes its lasting charm. We hear not only of 
 lesser or greater political events, but he tells us also of the weather 
 in different years, the harvest, the quality of the wine, and of 
 abnormal births. From him we learn of one of the first historical 
 strikes, of social and religious movements ; and to him we owe 
 most valuable accounts of important paintings, as well as of the 
 costumes not only' of men but also of women for he was a mar- 
 ried man. His principal interest, however, seems to have been 
 concentrated upon the arts of music and poetry. And while we 
 may safely conclude that a man of such wide interests, that such 
 a keen and faithful observer, can never have gone through the 
 school of one of the fanatical orders above mentioned, but rather 
 belongs to the old conservative class of ecclesiastics who joined
 
 the knights and citizens in their gay, poetic life, we must still ask 
 how it is possible to meet with such a unique personality in this 
 century ? Comparing other chronicles with a view to the poetry 
 which they contain, we frequently find songs scattered here and 
 there, but they are always chosen to serve some purpose of the 
 author; they are introduced mostly as stylistic embellishments. 
 Tilemann's collection, on the other hand, appears to have been made 
 entirely for its own sake, and, furthermore, betrays so much intimate 
 knowledge of poetry and music as an art that we cannot help sup- 
 posing that its author was either an exceptionally highly educated 
 amateur or a poet himself, probably belonging to the newly arising 
 school of mastersingers. We know that in Maintz there existed 
 one of the first of these schools, which showed, according to a 
 contemporary (cf. Germ. XV 200), a decidedly conservative 
 spirit, in opposition to the newly invented measures and melodies 
 of other schools. Is it not possible that Tilemann, besides receiv- 
 ing his theological training in Maintz, may also have acquired the 
 poetical education of that mastersinger school ? A close exami- 
 nation of his style and of those poetical passages which doubtless 
 belong to him, will perhaps give us a satisfactory answer. 
 
 It cannot be denied that Tilemann's style, although keeping 
 within the typical forms of such chronicles, is remarkably German 
 in its character, and free from the influence of Latin style which 
 has continued to corrupt German prose down to our own time. The 
 tranquillity of epic objectiveness is spread over the chronicle in 
 general, and several descriptions of persons might find a place in any 
 great epic poem. Relating the contest which the city of Limburg had 
 with the Knight Cune, i. e. Konrad von Falkenstein, the protector of 
 Maintz and Treves, he describes him in the following manner : " Item 
 nu saltu wissen phyzonomien unde gestalt hern Conen vurgenant, 
 want ich in dicke gesehen unde geprufet han in sime wesen unde 
 in mancher siner manirunge. He was ein herlich stark man von 
 libe unde wol gepersoniret unde gross von allem gelune, unde 
 hatte ein gross heupt mit eime struben widem brunen krulle, ein 
 breit antlitze mit pussenden backen, ein sharp menlich gesichte, 
 einen bescheiden mont mit glefsen etzlicher masse dicke ; die nase 
 was breit, mit gerumeden naselochern, die nase was ime mitten 
 nider gedrucket; mit eime grossen kinne unde mit einer hohen 
 stirne, unde hatte auch ein gross brost unde rodelfare under sinen 
 augen, unde stont uf sinen beinen als ein lewe, unde hatte gutliche 
 geberde gen sinen frunden, unde wanne dass he zornig was, so
 
 8 
 
 pusseden unde floderten ime sine backen unde stonden ime 
 herlichen unde wislichen unde nit obel." 
 
 While Tilemann shows in passages like this that he had certain 
 poetical gifts, he does not betray the same faculty in his verses. 
 The latter are, with one exception, translations of quotations from 
 the Bible and ancient writers, and appear to be made according to 
 the prescription, " Reim' dich oder ich fress' Dich." Thus he 
 translates a sentence of Aristotle : "Amicus est consolativus amico 
 visione et sermone : Ein frunt sal sime frunde trostlich sin unde 
 dun dass mit rede und gesicht shin." Speaking of the locusts 
 which appeared in Germany in 1362 and did great damage, he 
 quotes the 46th verse of the LXXVII psalm, " Et dedit erugini 
 fructus eorum et laborum eorum locustis," and translates : " Di 
 rupen sollent ire fruchte leben, arbeit der lute ist den Haun- 
 schrecken gegeben." 
 
 Indeed, such verses may pass for the poetical pastime of an 
 amateur who is trying his skill in hours of leisure, but nobody will 
 find in them the traces of a poetical genius. And even at a more 
 important occasion, when Tilemann evidently is so deeply agitated 
 that he asks his readers to pray to God for him, and his local 
 patriotism takes the form of poetry, his verses do not rise above 
 the level of rhymed prose. The independence of Limburg had 
 been at stake after the death of the princes of Limburg, and the 
 Archbishop of Treves, in whose diocese the city was situated, 
 came with many knights and soldiers in order to take possession. 
 Before doing this, however, he called the city council together and 
 asked them what rights and privileges the Archbishop might, 
 in their opinion, claim. But instead of being frightened, the 
 head of the council, the burgomaster Boppe, gave such sharp 
 and legal answers that the Archbishop was astonished, and 
 refrained from touching the independence of Limburg. Full of 
 joy and just pride, Tilemann then writes the following lines : 
 
 " Daran gedenket, it jungen unde ir alden 
 dass ir mit wisheit moget behalden 
 uwer lip, gut unde ere 
 dass ist uwern kinden gute mere." 
 
 It would certainly be a charitable injustice towards Tilemann 
 were we, after having examined the poetry which he claims as his 
 own, to suspect him of having written any of the beautiful songs 
 occurring in the latter part of the chronicle. There is every reason 
 for believing that he is not the composer of any one of the songs
 
 9 
 
 which he tells us were so popular, at various times, in Germany. 
 Nor do passages in which he shows his knowledge of the technical 
 language of the mastersingers prove, as we shall see later when 
 we treat of the metrical peculiarities of these poems, that he must 
 have practised the art of poetry to any further extent than that 
 which has been indicated above. 
 
 Looking over the whole collection of poems contained in the 
 Chronicle of Limburg, we may divide it into three different classes : 
 
 (1) Poetry showing the influence of the declining Minnepoesie ; 
 
 (2) Religious poetry ; (3) Popular songs. 
 
 There is only one poem in the chronicle which strictly belongs to 
 .the first class, and which bears the name of its author, Herr Rein- 
 hard von Westerburg. 
 
 This knight frequently appears in historical documents of that 
 time, not only figuring in many of those fights in which the lesser 
 knights constantly indulged, but also as a favored follower of 
 Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria. He also must have enjoyed great 
 fame as a poet, besides being a very jovial, witty and wild fellow. 
 We possess a beautiful characterization of him by one of his con- 
 temporaries, contained in a poem of a MS of the fifteenth century, 
 which was formerly in the possession of W. Grimm, and is now 
 to be found in the Royal Library of Berlin (cf. Zeitschrift f. d. A. 
 XIII 366 ff.). The author of this poem represents himself as 
 walking in the woods, where he finds an elderly but still handsome 
 lady. As she does not answer his greeting, he takes her by the hand, 
 whereupon she tells him that thirty years ago she had founded a 
 school for the purpose of teaching young knights the rules of 
 honor and drawing them from the pool of disgrace. Tired of the 
 great mass of knights, she had selected from their numbers twelve 
 who had now developed into the bloom of knighthood and were 
 ready to be dismissed, and she herself needed rest. Here the poet 
 interrupts her, and proposes that she should continue her school. 
 She asks him to name some knights whom she might take. This 
 he does, but when mentioning Reinhard von Westerburg he 
 cautiously adds, " He is a little wild and needs your training." 
 
 The story which Tilemann relates is entirely in accordance with 
 this, and furnishes a delightful illustration of Reinhard's wildness. 
 He says : " Item da man schreip dusent druhundert unde siben 
 unde vierzig jar, da worden di von Cobelenze jemerlichen irslagen 
 unde nider geworfen bi Grensauwe unde bliben ir doit hundert 
 unde zwene unde sibenzig man unde worden ir auch darzu vil
 
 10 
 
 gefangen unde dass det Reinhart, herre zu Westerburg. Unde 
 der selbe Reinhart was gar ein kluger ritter von libe, von sinne 
 unde von gestalt, unde reit keiser Ludewigen ser nach unde sang 
 unde machte he dit lit : 
 
 4 Ob ich (lurch si den hals zubreche, 
 wer reche mir den schaiden dan ? 
 so enhette ich nimans der mich reche ; 
 ich bin ein ungefrunter man. 
 
 Darumb so muss ich selber warten, 
 \vi ez mir gelegen si. 
 Ich enhan nit trostes von der zarten, 
 si ist irs gemudes fri. 
 Wei si min nit, di werde reine, 
 so muss ich wol orlaup han. 
 Uf ir genade achte ich kleine, 
 sich, Aa.z lasse ich si vurstan.' 
 
 Da der vurgenant keiser Ludewig daz lit gehorte, darumb so 
 strafte he den herren von Westerburg unde saide, he wolde ez der 
 frouwen gebessert haben. Da nam der herre von Westerburg 
 eine kurze zit unde saide, he wolde den frauwen hesseren unde 
 sang daz lit : 
 
 ' In jammers noden ich gar vurdreven bin 
 dutch ein wif so minnecliche,' etc. 
 
 Da sprach Keiser Ludewig : ' Westerburg, du hast uns nu wol 
 gebessert.' " 
 
 It is evident that Reinhard's poem belongs to that healthy oppo- 
 sition which seems to have begun even in the time of Walther v. 
 d. Vogelweide, and which is generally called the decline of Min- 
 nepoesie. The conditions upon which the latter was based were 
 too unnatural, the circles in which it moved too narrow, to assure 
 it a longer life. For that sickly romantic admiration until recently 
 prevailing in Germany and elsewhere, which saw in those knights 
 the true representatives of die gute, alte Zeit, and adored them as 
 the incarnation of Zucht und Ehrbarkeit, has fortunately passed 
 away. While we fully acknowledge the beauties of many of their 
 productions, we cannot help seeing in their constant groaning, 
 whining and lamenting something extremely unknightly, especially 
 as it was meant for married women, and had but one aim in view, 
 the immorality of which cannot be denied, even if we call it, in 
 Walther's elegant language, " halsen triuten bigelegen." The 
 opposition, however, was not caused by such ethical considerations. 
 Very soon the more sensible minds began to see the comical
 
 II 
 
 element in the relation between knight and iady ; above all, they 
 began to feel that the fundamental idea upon which the whole 
 nature of Minnepoesie rested was as unnatural as it was wrong. 
 The idea that man is the servant of woman had not grown upon 
 German soil, and in spite of all apparent flatteries, contained a very 
 low conception of the woman, if we remember the real aim of this 
 servitude. 
 
 It is very interesting to follow the development of the oppo- 
 sition, a history of which we do not yet possess. Very signifi- 
 cantly, it is inaugurated by that poet in whom the sensual element 
 of Minnepoesie reached its climax, and who afterwards became 
 for this reason the hero of a popular legend, by Tannhauser. He 
 ridicules Minnepoesie by enumerating impossible things which the 
 lady in whose " service " he is, required of him. And as he 
 already praises the simple peasant girl whose love is won more 
 easily than that of a lady in the higher circles, Neidhard von 
 Reuenthal makes the villages near Vienna the scene of his love 
 adventures, and while preserving the air of a minnesinger, brings 
 about highly ludicrous situations. Their followers, Steinmar, 
 Gottfried von Neifen and others go still further by scorning the 
 unnatural feeling itself. Steinmar even compares the throbbing of 
 his love-sick heart to the jumping of a pig in a bag (Als ein swin 
 in einem sacke vert min herze hin und dar). But I have searched 
 in vain in the minnesingers of that period to find a single example 
 in which the poet addressed his ridicule to the lady herself as 
 Reinhard von Westerburg does here. The ties of etiquette and 
 tradition requiring the highest respect for the lady, were too strong 
 yet, even at this late period, and it was because Tilemann felt them 
 to be broken that he mentioned Reinhard's poem. This offence 
 against tradition, which really meant the dissolution of the whole 
 fabric on Minnepoetry, was felt still more keenly by the represen- 
 tative of conservatism, whose glory was based upon the splendor 
 of knighthood by the emperor. For this reason he reprimands 
 Reinhard, asking him to turn from his former course ; and for this 
 reason Reinhard assumes the old, worn-out, love-sick attitude of a 
 minnesinger, behind which we can after all not help seeing the 
 wild rogue. 
 
 Of the same importance which Reinhard's poem has for the 
 history of Minnepoetry are Tilemann's accounts of the develop- 
 ment of religious poetry. The same clear, observing mind which, 
 either by instinctive interest or from scientific motives, noted a
 
 12 
 
 most valuable turn in secular poetic art, has preserved us also an 
 interesting source of knowledge in the field of sacred hymnology. 
 Through Hoffmann von Fallersleben's diligent researches we 
 know that the German church hymn is not entirely a new creation 
 of Luther's. 1 Long before him the German spirit had revolted 
 against the stupid inactivity with which Roman priests and the 
 Roman liturgy had oppressed it. We can trace how the people, 
 beginning with a few senseless vowels added to the strange Kyrie 
 eleison, which they were allowed to sing, gradually created a 
 German church hymn, much to the dislike of the Roman clergy. 
 We owe it to the hate and persecutions of the latter that most of 
 these songs were lost. The few which we still possess of the 
 twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, especially those 
 addressed to the Virgin Mary, are filled with the deepest and most 
 sublime religious feeling, and some songs which the people sang 
 at Easter and Pentecost, such as " Christ ist erstanden " and 
 " Komm, heilger Geist," are still jewels of our present hymnals. 
 Religious sects especially, as e. g. the mystics, which developed 
 a highly spiritual life, cultivated religious poetry, and thus we find 
 that the specimens preserved by Tilemann also belong to one of 
 the religious movements of the fourteenth century. For, excepting 
 the century of the Reformation, no other period was so deeply 
 agitated by religion as the fourteenth century ; and in many 
 respects it may be compared to our present time. Not only do 
 we find there the first beginning of great socialistic movements in 
 Germany, but we also meet with the mania of our own time as 
 well, the 'Antisemitentum,' the ' Judenhetze,' and even with the 
 premonition of our Salvation Army, the Flagellants, among whom 
 originated the songs of which we are about to treat. 
 
 Owing to the few and, for the most part, very imperfect and 
 prejudiced sources of information afforded by contemporary 
 writers, our knowledge of the whole movement is extremely 
 limited. Although it has been proved by Haeser (" Lehrbuch der 
 Gesch. der Medicin") and Hecker ("Die grossen Volkskrank- 
 heiten des Mittelalters ") that this movement was caused by the 
 so-called Black Death, mainly a disease of the lungs, which had 
 been imported from Asia, and which swept through Europe from 
 the Black Sea to Spain, devouring millions of people, we do not 
 know its exact connection with the persecution of the Jews and 
 
 1 Hoffmann von Fallersleberf, Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes bis 
 auf Luthers Zeit.
 
 13 
 
 the geographical route of the Flagellants. Recent investigation, 
 however, has shown that the order of events which is usually 
 accepted, viz., Black Death Persecution of the Jews Flagellants, 
 has to be changed, for Germany at least, into Persecution of the 
 Jews Flagellants Black Death. 1 The news of the approaching 
 plague was a welcome pretext for getting rid of the Jews, who, as 
 Roscher ("Ansichten der Volkswirtschaft ") has proved, were hated 
 as the possessors of money and as public extortioners. Malice, 
 stupidity and religious fanaticism manufactured the story that 
 they had poisoned the wells, and in less than one year all the Jews 
 scattered from Cologne to Austria were killed. The words ' Juden- 
 mord,' ' Judenbrand,' 'Judenschlacht ' are technical terms in the 
 chronicles, which find it quite natural that in Strassburg 2000 Jews 
 were burned at one time ad maiorem Dei gloriam. One chroni- 
 cler remarks (Diessenhofen) crederem finem Hebreorum advenisse, 
 while another writer coolly concludes requiescant in inferno 
 (Chronicum Lampetrinum). We have sufficient proof that the 
 Flagellants, who appear simultaneously with these persecutions, 
 frequently instigated them in the places at which they arrived with 
 their processions. 
 
 Two great periods are to be distinguished in the history of this 
 peculiar fanatical movement. Driven by an agonizing fear of the 
 approaching death, which no human art or power could stay, 
 superstitious people, seeing the wrath and judgment of God in the 
 pest, organized in different parts of Germany a religious order 
 composed of those who thought to be able to reconcile the wrath 
 of God by punishing and torturing themselves. The impression 
 which they created wherever they appeared was overpowering and 
 heartrending, for a genuine religious enthusiasm seemed to break 
 forth like a revelation from mysterious depths. As Tilemann 
 reports, knights, citizens and peasants joined the new order. 
 Closener, the chronicler of Strassburg, writes : " Whenever the 
 Flagellants scourged themselves, then the greatest crowds assem- 
 bled and the greatest weeping was to be witnessed, for they 
 believed everything to be true." And another writer, Hervord, 
 says : Cor lapideum esset quod talia sine lacrimis posset accipere. 
 It was in this first time, when they were welcomed everywhere 
 and still filled with the spirit of repentance, that our hymns were 
 composed. 
 
 Soon, however, we notice a great change in public opinion as 
 
 1 R. Hoeniger, Der schwarze Tod in Deutschland.
 
 well as among the Flagellants themselves. Notwithstanding all 
 the praying, singing and scourging, the plague appeared and 
 swept away millions and millions of people. We must not be 
 surprised that the belief of the public was shaken, that it began to 
 look upon the whole spectacle as a pious fraud. The Flagellants 
 themselves seem to have felt their failing, and in order to preserve 
 themselves they directed their agitation against the clergy, for they 
 were sure this would not fail to make them popular. For a time 
 it seems as if they had successfully calculated upon the public 
 hatred of the depraved clergy. The movement assumes immense 
 proportions ; it spreads over all Germany ; even women and 
 children become Flagellants. Again they are seen to change their 
 policy. Having filled their ranks with the outcasts of society, 
 they begin to show socialistic and anarchical tendencies. Long 
 before they had ceased to be an element of great ethical strength 
 and influence. While in the earlier period their members had not 
 dared to speak to women, a chronicler now writes : transiverunt 
 eciam in similibus turmis mulieres et virgines que, sicut audivi, 
 nonnuncquam plenis, salva reverencia, gremiis redierunt, thus 
 also foreshadowing the frequent elopements of our Salvation Army. 
 They caused a second general persecution of the Jews; they 
 entered and pillaged villages and cities, and finally threatened a 
 complete overthrow of society. A final and radical change in 
 public opinion now follows. Papal and imperial power unite for 
 their destruction. In the same dry words with which the chroni- 
 clers spoke of the burning of the Jews they now relate the general 
 slaughter of the Flagellants. 
 
 It is another proof of the impartiality of Tilemann that, although 
 he shared the popular condemnation of the Flagellants, he has 
 nevertheless written an accurate account of their first appearance. 
 
 We fortunately possess another description of the movement, 
 entirely independent from Tilemann's, which not only verifies the 
 statements of the latter, but will also assist us in obtaining a clear 
 picture of all the ceremonies and processions accompanied by the 
 singing of hymns. It was written by Fritsche (Friedrich) Closener, 
 a contemporary of Tilemann living in Strassburg, and likewise an 
 ecclesiastic and chronicler of his native city. 1 The Flagellants 
 generally marched in troops consisting of one to three hundred 
 members, who had pledged themselves, before entering the brother- 
 
 1 Cf. Lorenz, Geschichtsquellen, p. 33 ; K. Hegel, Die Chroniken der 
 deutschen Stadte, Vol. 8, p. 3 (Einleitung).
 
 15 
 
 hood, to observe strictly its regulations during the thirty to thirty- 
 four days of the procession. As soon as they approached a city 
 or a village they formed a line, following two by two the bearers 
 of precious silk and velvet flags. They were clad in very plain 
 clothes; upon their cloaks and hats red crosses were fastened. 
 And while the church bells were rung to greet them, they marched 
 to the church singing, according to Tilemann's version, the follow- 
 ing song : 
 
 1st disc bedefart so here 
 
 Crist fur selber zu Jherusalem 
 
 und furte ein cruze in siner hant. 
 
 Nu helf uns der heilant ! 
 
 As Tilemann relates, the hymn had been composed for this 
 special purpose, and was used in later times during the proces- 
 sions, " wanne mari di heiligen treit." It has been preserved by 
 Closener 1 in a more perfect form, and it is interesting to observe 
 in this song, as well as in the others recorded by Closener, the 
 constant changes which every genuine folksong has to undergo. 
 
 Nu ist die bettevart so her 
 Crist reit selber gen Jherusalem ; 
 er fiirt ein krtitze an siner hant. 
 nu helf uns der heilant ! 
 
 Nu ist die bettevart so guot. 
 hilf uns, herre, durch din heiliges bluot, 
 daz du an dem kriitze vergossen hast, 
 und uns in dem ellende gelossen hast. 
 
 Nti ist die strfisze also breit 
 
 die uns zu unsere lieben frowen treit 
 
 in unsere lieben frowen lant. 
 
 nu helfe uns der heilant ! 
 
 Wir sullent die busze an uns nemen, 
 daz wir gote deste bas gezemen 
 aldort in sines vatters rich, 
 des bitten wir dich sunder alle gelich. 
 
 so bitten wir den vil heiligen Crist 
 
 der alle der welte gewaltig ist. 
 
 As soon as they had entered the church they kneeled down and 
 sang: 
 
 Jhesus wart gelabet mit gallen 
 
 des sollen wir an sin cruze vallen. (Tilemann.) 
 
 1 Cf. K. Hegel, Chroniken, VIII 105 ; L. Uhland, Volksliedej, II 824 ; W. 
 Wackernagel, Lesebuch, I 1246.
 
 i6 
 
 Then they threw themselves on the ground, stretching out their 
 arms in the form of a cross. In this position they remained until 
 their precentor sang : 
 
 Nu hebent uf die iiwern hende 
 
 daz got dis grosze sterben wende. (Closener.) 
 
 After the first part of their exercises was thus ended, the inhabi- 
 tants of the city or village invited them home and " biittentz in 
 wol " (fed them). The principal performance, the scourging, 
 generally took place twice a day either in a churchyard or in some 
 large open place. Thither they marched in the same order in 
 which they had entered the church, formed a circle, took off their 
 shoes and uncovered the upper part of their bodies. Hereupon 
 they lay down on the ground, indicating by their positions the 
 different sins which they had committed. The adulterer, e. g. 
 placed himself on his face, the murderer on his back, the perjurer 
 held up three fingers, etc. One of the leaders, having stepped 
 over one of the brothers as he lay on the ground, touched him 
 with his whip and said :' 
 
 Stant uf durch der reinen martel ere, 
 Und hilt dich vor der siinden mere. 
 
 Thus he went through the whole circle, and whoever had been 
 touched followed him in the same ceremony until all had risen. 
 Now another circle was formed into which the precentors stepped, 
 intoning the second long hymn, while the brothers two by two 
 went around the circle scourging themselves until the blood flowed. 
 In Tilemann's version the song begins thus : 
 
 Tredet herzu, wer bussen welle, 
 so flihen wir di heissen helle. 
 Lucifer 1st bose geselle, 
 wen he hat, 
 mit beche er in labet. 
 
 This was evidently the most important hymn in these bloody 
 exercises. In a more perfect, but still very corrupt form, we have 
 it preserved not only by Closener, but also in a Low German 
 version. 2 Almost the same thoughts and many similar expressions 
 
 1 Cf. Closener, p. 107 ff. 
 
 2 Cf. Ph. "V^ackernagel, Das deutsche Kirchenlied, II 336.
 
 '7 
 
 occur in a song of the French Flagellants, 1 which points to the 
 international character of the movement as well as to a common 
 source of the various forms of this hymn. After it had been sung 
 the Flagellants again kneeled down and sang : 
 
 Jhesus wart gelabet mit gallen, 
 
 Des sollen wir an ein cruze fallen. (Tilemann.) 
 
 Again they threw themselves on the ground, remaining there for 
 a while until the precentors began : 
 
 Nu hebent uf die uwern hende, 
 
 das got dis grosze sterben wende. 
 
 Nu hebent uf die uwern arme, 
 
 das sich got uber uns erbarme. 
 
 Jhesus, durch diner namen drie, 
 
 Du mach uns, herre, vor sttnden frie ! 
 
 Jhesus, durch dine wunden rot 
 
 Behiit uns vor dem gehen tot. (Closener.) 
 
 1 Or, avant, entre nous tuit frere 
 Batons noz charvingues bien fort, 
 En remembrant la grant misere 
 De Dieu et sa piteuse mort, 
 Qui fut pris de la gent amere 
 Et vendus et train a tort : 
 Et battu sa char vierge et clere ; 
 Ou nom de ce, batons plus fort. 
 
 Loons Dieu et batons noz pis, 
 Et en la doulce remembrance 
 De ce que tu feus abeuvrez 
 Avec le crueux cop de la lance, 
 D'aisil o fiel fut destrampez. 
 Alons a genoux par penance ; 
 Loons Dieu, vos bras estandez ; 
 Et en 1'amour de sa souffrance 
 Cheons jus en croix a tous lez. 
 
 Batons noz pis, batons no face. 
 Tendons noz bras, de grant vouloir 
 Dieux qui nous a fait, nous preface 
 Et nous doint de cieux le manoir. 
 Et gart tous ceulx qu'en ceste place 
 En pitie nous viennent veoir 
 Jhesus ainsi comme devant. 
 -(Leroux de Lincy, Recueil de Chants histor. franc. I 233.)
 
 i8 
 
 Then they stretched out their arms in the form of a cross, and 
 beating their breasts, sang : 
 
 Nu slaget uch sere 
 
 durch Cristes ere. 
 
 Dorch Got so lasset di hoffart faren, 
 
 so wel sich Got ober uns irbarmen. 
 
 This last song, while not recorded by Closener, is given after 
 Tilemann. It was doubtless used wherever the Flagellants appeared, 
 since it is frequently mentioned by contemporary and later writers. 
 Its Dutch version runs as follows : 
 
 Nu slaet u seer 
 
 door Christus eer 
 
 door God so laet die sonden meer. 
 
 An Austrian chronicle (1025-1282), which relates of the earliest 
 Flagellants in 1260, mentions it in the following sentence : Mulieres 
 quoque in domibus simili modo faciendo, et ilium cantum psallebant : 
 
 Ir slaht iuch sSre 
 
 in cristes ere. 
 
 durch got so lat die siinde mere. 
 
 Hence it is highly probable that not only parts of songs, but 
 whole hymns, and perhaps even many ceremonies, had been pre- 
 served by tradition for nearly a century. With the singing of the 
 hymn just quoted the first part of these dramatic exercises closed. 
 A second and third procession and scourging now followed, during 
 which the continuation of " Tredet herzu, wer bussen welle " was 
 sung. 1 The reading of a long letter which, as they pretended, had 
 
 1 Maria stuont in grossen noten 
 Do siu ir liebes kint sach toeten, 
 Ein swerte ir durch die sele sneit. (Cf. Stabat mater.) 
 Daz lo dir, sunder, wesen leit. 
 Des hilf uns lieber herre got, 
 des biten wir dich durch dinen tot. 
 
 Jhesus riefe in hiemelriche 
 sinen engeln alien geliche, 
 er sprach zuo in vil senedeclichen : 
 die cristenheit wil mir entwichen, 
 des wil ich Ian die welt zergan, 
 des wissent sicher, one wan. 
 
 dovor behiit uns, herre got, 
 
 des bitten wir dich durch dinen tot.
 
 19 
 
 been sent from heaven by Christ, usually closed the services. 
 
 Maria bat irn sun den siissen : 
 liebes kint, lo sii dir biissen 
 so wil ich schicken, daz sii miissen 
 beseren sich. des bit ich dich, 
 vil liebes kint, des gewer du mich. 
 
 des bitten wir sunder ouch alle gelich 
 Welich frowe oder man ire e nuo brechen 
 daz wil got selber an si rechen : 
 swebel, bech und ouch die gallen 
 gusset der tiifel in sie alle. 
 Funvar sie sint des duvels bot. 
 
 dovor behiit uns, herre got, 
 
 des bitten wir dich durch dinen tot. 
 Ir mordere, ir strosroubere, 
 uch ist die rede enteil zuo swere, 
 ir wellent uch uber nieman erbarn, 
 des mussent ir in die helle varn. 
 
 dovor behiit uns, herre got, 
 
 des bitten wir dich durch dinen tot. 
 O we, ir armen wuocherere, 
 dem lieben got sint ir unmere. 
 du lihest ein marg al umbe pfunt, 
 daz ziihet dich in der helle grunt, 
 des bistu iemer me verlorn, 
 derzuo so bringet dich gottes zorn 
 
 dovor behtit uns, etc. 
 
 Die erde erbidemet, sich kliibent die steine 
 ir herten hertzen, ir sullent weinen, 
 weinent tottgen mit den ougen. 
 schlahent uch sere durch Cristes ere. 
 durch (in) vergiessen wir unser bluot, 
 daz si uns fur die siinde guot. 
 
 daz hilf uns lieber herre got, etc. 
 Der den fritag nut envastet 
 und den siintag nut enrastet, 
 zwar der miisse in der helle pin 
 eweklich verloren sin. 
 
 dovor behiit uns, etc. 
 Die e, die ist ein reines leben, 
 die hat got selber uns gegeben. 
 ich rat frowen und ir mannen, 
 daz ir die hochfart lasset dannen. 
 durch got so laut die hochfart varn, 
 so wil sich got uber uns erbarn. 
 
 des hilf uns, etc.
 
 20 
 
 Tilemann, finally, has preserved us the first strophes of two hymns 
 which they intoned on leaving the cities and villages : 
 
 O herre vader Jhesu Christ, 
 
 want du ein herre alleine bist, 
 
 der uns die sunde mach vurgeben, 
 
 un gefriste uns, herre, uf besser leben, 
 
 das wir beweinen dinen dot ! 
 
 Wir klagen dir, herre alle unse n6t, etc. 
 
 Or: 
 
 Ez ging sich unse frauwe, kyrieleison, 
 des morgens in dem dauwe, alleluia. 
 Gelobet si Maria ! 
 
 Da begente ir ein junge, kyrieleison, 
 sin bart war ime entsprungen, alleluia. 
 Gelobet si Maria ! etc. 
 
 It was necessary to give a full description of the ceremonies and 
 songs of the Flagellants, in order to illustrate the manner in which 
 Tilemann recorded poetry in his chronicle. Comparing his account 
 with that of Closener and other sources, it will be observed that, 
 although Closener has a more complete text, Tilemann has noted 
 several songs of essential importance for the understanding of the 
 Flagellant movement, which do not occur in Closener. The 
 reason why Tilemann usually does not report more than one 
 strophe of the various hymns is to be found in the fact that they 
 are of interest to him only as newly arisen forms of metrical and 
 musical production. Several times he takes occasion to empha- 
 size that the hymns or " leisen " (kyrieleison), as he calls them, 
 had been composed at this time (der leise ward da gemachet) or 
 belonged exclusively to the Flagellants (ire leisen). Finally, he 
 says : " item du salt wissen, daz disc vurgeschreben leisen alle 
 worden gemachet unde gedicht in der geiselnfart, unde enwas der 
 leisen keine vur gehort." Although Tilemann is mistaken here in 
 regard to the verses " Nu slaget uch sere," which were known 
 as early as 1260, his remark characterizes the manner in which he 
 observed newly arising poetical phenomena. His treatment of 
 these religious hymns will, of course, help to throw light on his 
 account of the remaining popular poetry, as we shall find later. 
 An investigation as to the common source of all the Flagellant 
 poetry is not undertaken in this paper. It is highly probable, 
 however, that it is to be found in Italy, where we meet with the 
 earliest indications of the Flagellant movement in 1 260 ; and that,
 
 21 
 
 following the geographical route of the order, it became by trans- 
 lation and tradition the basis of the Flagellant poetry in the various 
 
 countries. 1 
 
 JULIUS GOEBEL. 
 
 ! A proof for the latter supposition may be found in a passage from a chronicle 
 quoted by Hoffmann, Gesch. des d. Kirchenlieds, p. 132 (Chronicon Pulkavae, 
 Monum. hist. Boem. T. Ill, p. 232) : Eodem anno flagellatorum quaedam secta 
 suboritur, qui velantes capita more claustralium ad cingulum denudati flagellis 
 in estremitatibus nodos habentibus, fortissime se caedebant, quorum etiam 
 quidam processiones, stationes, venias et genuflexiones fecerunt mirabiles, 
 secundum distinctiones linguarum can/antes.
 
 [Reprinted from the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY, Vol. VIII, No. 4.] 
 
 V POETRY IN THE LIMBURGER CHRONIK. 
 
 II. 
 
 The last group of songs preserved by Tilemann seems to have 
 been the most important in the collector's own eyes. It is not 
 only more extensive numerically, but. it is evident that he noted 
 these songs with particular care and pleasure, in several cases not 
 withholding his own criticism : ein gut lit, he says (37, 10), ein gut 
 lit von wise unde von worten (37, 21). There are about fifteen 
 shorter songs or fragments of such, mostly recorded in the first 
 part of the Chronicle with the events from 1350 to 1380, which 
 seems to indicate that Tilemann himself had witnessed their popu- 
 larity during his younger days. He has, therefore, either noted 
 them as they arose, or, in case he wrote the Chronicle during the 
 latter part of his life, has in recording them given pleasant reminis- 
 cences of his youth. Their prevailing theme is that inexhaustible 
 theme of all popular poetry, love, with but two exceptions, which 
 are didactic in character. The longing for the beloved one, the 
 pain and sorrow of parting, and the promise of faithfulness resound 
 here in such beautiful strains that we may well ask, " How is this 
 possible in an age which marks the decline of German poetry, 
 and which is stirred by movements like that of the Flagellants ? " 
 In vain shall we look for a connection with the last representatives 
 of Minnepoetry, whose general character we have already described. 
 Neither will a comparison of the Meistersinger poetry, with its 
 artificial metres and its didactic and allegoric contents, give us a 
 satisfactory answer. 1 There seems to be no doubt that we must 
 look for another source for our songs than those which are histori- 
 cally warranted in German poetry of that time. 
 
 We should certainly commit an anachronism were we to treat 
 our chronicler like a literary critic of the present century, equipped 
 with all the methods of historiography. Considering, however, 
 Tilemann's attitude toward poetical phenomena, which we attempted 
 to characterize in our first essay, it is perhaps justifiable to con- 
 clude that he himself indicates the source of that kind of poetry 
 
 1 Cf. J. Grimm, Ueber den altdeutschen Meistergesang.
 
 24 
 
 of which he has given us a number of specimens. Certain docu- 
 ments, like the famous passage in Gottfried's Tristan, give evidence 
 of the fact that literary criticism had developed to great perfection 
 in many mediaeval circles. And we can fortunately conceive of a 
 man of fine literary taste in those times without questioning him 
 as to his system of philosophical aesthetics. We may, therefore, 
 at least ask whether it is not strange that Tilemann does not men- 
 tion one of the popular songs until he has given us the remarkable 
 account of Reinhard von Westerburg and has characterized the 
 poetry of the Flagellants ? It would rather be peculiar if such songs 
 had not been sung until the year 1350. But it is quite natural, 
 and entirely within our chronicler's character and the limited, 
 undeveloped means of prose expression, that he thus should have 
 directed the attention of his readers to that kind of poetry which 
 he himself esteemed so highly. 
 
 However, even if we do not consider Tilemann's Chronicle one of 
 the first naive attempts at literary criticism or at a history of contem- 
 porary German poetry, his book is of great importance for the 
 history of the German "Volkslied," which still remains to be 
 written. 1 The most important effort in this direction, Ludwig 
 Uhland's classical "Abhandlung " (Schriften zur Geschichte und 
 Sage, III), presents the subject from a comparative point of view, 
 and is less concerned with a critical investigation of the historical 
 growth of German popular poetry. Hence Uhland has confined 
 himself almost exclusively to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
 only occasionally referring to the older forms of the Volkslied in 
 German literature. And in the appendix to his collection (Vol. 
 II 973), where he speaks of his " Quellen" and the linguistic treat- 
 ment of his text, he simply enumerates and describes the former 
 without making mention of our Chronicle and other important 
 collections ; whereas, Tilemann's specimens being the first historical 
 documents of popular poetry after the decline of the " Minnesang," 
 it seems natural that his account should become the starting point 
 of an investigation into the development of the "Volkslied." And 
 while a comparison with the earlier forms of the " Minnesang " 
 and the later " Volkslied " will serve the final aim of this paper, it 
 may perhaps also contribute to a future critical history of German 
 popular poetry. 
 
 1 F. H. Otto Weddigen's Geschichte der deutschen Volkspoesie, a mere com- 
 pilation without original research, can of course not pass for such.
 
 25 
 
 But before we proceed to such a comparison, a few remarks of 
 a more general character may not be out of place. For although 
 we believe ourselves to have proved that Tilemann himself cannot 
 be the author of the songs recorded by him, it might still be 
 claimed that our songs originated under the influence of the Min- 
 nesang. It is one of the principal arguments of Wilmanns that 
 the want of documents of early popular love-poetry is to be 
 explained " aus der Natur des menschlichen Herzens und allmah- 
 licher Entwickelung des geistigen Lebens." If through French 
 influence it became gradually known and fashionable in Germany 
 to give artistic expression to the deepest feeling of the human 
 soul, is it not possible that the popular poetry of which our chronicle 
 relates was at least indirectly due to the fact that the German 
 people in general had learned from the Minnepoetry of the court 
 circles and the " Spielleute " to sing their loves ? 
 
 K. Burdach, in his essay (Zeitschr. f. d. Alt. XXVII 343 ff.) has, 
 according to my opinion, proved conclusively that we owe this 
 love poetry to the general character of Volkspoesie, which is that 
 of a happy improvisation coming and passing away with the 
 moment of its birth, if we do not possess specimens from the 
 oldest times. He has shown further, by the example of the 
 poetry of many nations, especially of savage tribes, that it is not 
 at all against " die Natur des menschlichen Herzens " to express 
 itself in lyrical strains, perhaps long before the rise of the epos ; 
 and the songs of our chronicle may probably add another argu- 
 ment to the evidence against the fallacious notion of a presumed 
 older age of epic poetry. The defenders of this idea support their 
 opinion mainly by the fact that the exterior world lends itself much 
 sooner and much more easily to an objective artistic treatment by 
 the poet than the world of emotions, and wherever the latter 
 begins to find artistic expression it is supposed to commence with 
 a symbolization of the exterior world, as it is still to be found in 
 the " Natureingang " of the Minnesang and the later Volkslied. I 
 believe this is a prejudice to which even Uhland is somewhat sub- 
 ject, although he says of the poetic form of certain parting songs : 
 "Andre Abschiedslieder entschlagen sich ganzlich der Bilder und 
 Naturanklange. Das wahre Weh, die innigste Empfindung ver- 
 schmahen allerdings oft jeden andern Ausdruck als den unmittel- 
 barsten" (Schriften, III 446). But who would deny that " wahres 
 Weh und innigste .Empfindung" the special characteristic of all 
 true Volkspoesie, should not have found its rhythmical expression
 
 26 
 
 at least as early as the exterior world became an object of poetical 
 imagination in epic poetry ? It is a psychological fact that the 
 soul, oppressed by violent passions and emotions, loses the free- 
 dom necessary for an imaginative Artistic treatment of its various 
 conditions. But would we call the rhythmical liberation of the 
 soul, the primitive sounds of deepest emotion that seize us with 
 elementary force, less poetic than the more artistic forms which 
 betray the free play of imagination with the feelings ? The almost 
 entire absence of imaginative forms of expressions, of metaphors, 
 Natureingang, etc., in the songs of our chronicle, which is not due to 
 an element of bare reflection, seems to me a proof of their originality 
 and age as well as of the age of the popular love song in general. 
 Even the epic element, pointing to the peculiar circumstances or 
 situation from which the single poem arose, is here wanting. Only 
 in one case Tilemann mentions that the song was composed in 
 praise of a beautiful woman in Strassburg, but, as if perfectly con- 
 scious of the individual and general character of popular poetry, 
 he immediately and carefully adds that it was true of all good 
 women (unde triffet auch alle gude wibe an, 37, 12). 
 
 This simplicity in the expression of feeling, the absence of 
 stylistic qualities peculiar to artistic poetry, may also be observed 
 in most of the few specimens of German popular poetry before 
 the rise of the Minnesong, with which we shall have to compare 
 our songs. To these we count also the German strophes in the 
 Carmina Burana, a collection of Latin " Vagantenpoesie " made in 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, of both contemporary and 
 of earlier material. Here we only consider those which very 
 probably belong to the twelfth century, and which E. Martin, in 
 his essay on the Carmina Burana (Zeitschr. f. d. Altert. 20, 46 ff.), 
 declared imitations of the Latin poems to which they are appended. 
 Since K. Burdach (Reinmar und Walther, 155 ff.) has refuted 
 Martin's opinion as far as it is based upon metrical considerations, 
 a further discussion of this question is not necessary. Martin, 
 however, in order to support the theory, already advanced by 
 Schmeller, that the German Minnesong had developed from the 
 Latin " Vagantenpoesie," says : " in keiner dieser strophen so 
 getraue ich mich zu behaupten ist ein wiirklich individueller 
 gedanke oder eine hindeutung auf bestimmte verhaltnisse zu 
 finden." According to my opinion of the character of the oldest 
 popular love poetry, this seeming defect is rather a strong proof for 
 their age and originality, which is still further strengthened by their
 
 2 7 
 
 metrical qualities, of which we shall treat later. The same artless 
 expression of the deep feeling of love may be found in the fol- 
 lowing strophe, Car. Bur. 9ga : 
 
 Solde ih noh'den tach geleben, 
 
 dag ih wunschen solde 
 
 nah der diu mir froude geben 
 
 mach, ob si noh wolde. 
 
 Rfin herge muz nah ir streben ; 
 
 mohtih si han holde, 
 
 so wolde ih in wunne svveben, 
 
 swere ih nimmer dolde. 
 
 To this I could easily add more specimens of the same character, 
 though varying in their themes, since the joy at the appearance of 
 spring and in its gay dances certainly found also a very early 
 expression in simple improvised strophes. 
 
 There is, however, one song among the poems of our chronicle 
 which presupposes a definite situation, and which for this reason, 
 probably, has been inserted in many collections of popular poetry, 
 the " Nonnenlied," 48, 5 : 
 
 Got gebe ime ein vurdreben jar, 
 der mich machte zu einer nunnen 
 und mir den swarzen mantel gap, 
 den wiszen rock darunden. 
 
 Sal ich gewerden eine nunn 
 sunder minen willen, 
 so wel ich eime knaben Jung 
 sinen komer stillen. 
 
 Und stillet he mir den minen nit, 
 daran mach he vurlisen. 
 
 The contents of this song immediately remind us of the cele- 
 brated Capitulare of Charlemagne, of 789,' forbidding the nuns 
 winileodes scribere vel mittere, and seem to prove that winileod 
 may, in this connection, very well mean love-song, though its 
 original meaning, according to Miillenhoff (Z. f. d. A. 9, 128 ff.; 
 MSB. 362 ff.), was probably "Gesellenlied." That these " winileod " 
 were certainly not of a very sacred nature can be seen from the 
 additional clause : et de pallore earum propter sanguinis minua- 
 tionem. Our song may, therefore, very well be considered a 
 specimen of the poetry of nuns, even should it destroy the modern 
 idea of a mediaeval nun, the creation of sickly romanticists. 
 
 1 Cf. Wackernagel, Litgesch. I 48 Anm.; Uhland, Schriften, III 457.
 
 28 
 
 Sappho's classic eyas 6e nova Karevftv was, however, frequently para- 
 phrased in the nunneries of various centuries. 1 
 
 1 Since the collections containing this popular poetry are not accessible to 
 every reader in our country I shall quote some of the songs. 
 
 From the sixteenth century we have the following (Bohme, Altdeutsches 
 Liederbuch, N. 242) : 
 
 1. Ach gott wem sol ichs klagen 
 das herzeleiden mein ! 
 
 Mein Herz will mir verzagen, 
 gefangen muss ich sein ; 
 Ins kloster bin ich gezogen 
 in meinen jungen jarn 
 darin ich muste leben 
 kein freud noch luste haben : 
 das klag ich allzeit gott ! 
 
 2. Ach nun zu diser stunde 
 hort was ich sagen tu : 
 Verflucht seind all mein freunde 
 die mirs haben bracht darzu ! 
 Dass ich mich sol erweren 
 des nicht zu erweren ist, 
 mein gut tun sie verzeren, 
 mein sel h5chlich beschweren : 
 das klag ich von himel Christ, etc. 
 
 While the former poem reflects the influence of the Reformation to a certain 
 degree, the following song, from the same century, is entirely composed in the 
 spirit of " Got gebe im," etc. ; cf. Bohme, 243: 
 
 1. Ich sollt ein nonnlein werden, 
 ich hat kein lust darzu ; 
 
 Ich ess nicht gerne gerste, 
 wach auch nicht gerne fru. 
 Gottjjeb dem klaffer ungliick vil, 
 der mich armes magdelein 
 ins kloster bringen wil ! 
 
 2. Im kloster, im kloster, 
 da mag ich nicht gesein ; 
 
 Da schneidt man mir mein harlein ab, 
 bringt mir gross schwere pein. 
 Gott geb dem klaffer ungliick vil, 
 der mich armes magdelein 
 ins kloster bringen wil ! 
 
 3. Und wann es komt um mitternacht, 
 schlagt man die glocken an, 
 
 So hab ich armes magdelein 
 noch nie kein schlaf getan.
 
 2 9 
 
 The imperfect rhymes Jar : gap of our song, which are a sign of 
 its age, have induced me to change the first verse of the second 
 strophe in order to establish the rhymes nunn :jung. All the 
 MSS read here : sal ich ein nunn gewerden ; but it is evident that 
 my proposed reading at least approximates the original text. The 
 rhymes nunnen : drunden, willen : stillen, apparently feminine, are 
 surely to be considered masculine, since none of the last syllables 
 of these words are accented. The expression, Got gebe ime ein 
 vurdreben jar, was evidently proverbial and popular; M. F. 9, 18: 
 got der gebe in leit ! Walther von der Vogelweide, 119, 17 : Got 
 gebe ir rfmer guten tac. 
 
 Proceeding to the remaining songs of our chronicle, we find as 
 one of their characteristic features, which they have in common 
 with all true popular poetry, that they are addressed to girls, and 
 not to married women as most poems of the Minnesingers are. 
 This natural, healthy and ethical condition, gradually disclosed 
 again in the course of his development by the classical represen- 
 tative of Minnepoetry, Walther von der Vogelweide, seems to be 
 a matter of course in our poems. And we are surprised at the 
 
 Gott geb dem klaffer ungliick vil, 
 der mich armes magdelein 
 ins kloster bringen wil ! 
 
 4. Und warm ich vor die abtissin kom, 
 so sicht sie mich sauer an ; 
 
 Vil lieber wolt ich freien 
 
 ein hiibschen jungen man, 
 
 Und der mein steter bule mag sein, 
 
 so war ich armes magdelein 
 
 des fastens und betens frei. 
 
 5. Ade, ade, feins klosterlein, 
 ade, gehab dich wol ! 
 
 Ich weiss ein herzallerliebsten mein, 
 
 der mich erfreuen sol ; 
 
 Auf in setz ich mein zuversicht, 
 
 ein nonnlein werd ich nimmer nicht, 
 
 ade, feins klosterlein ! 
 
 This song was selected as a specimen of the present time ; cf. Erk, Lieder- 
 hort, No. 148 : 
 
 i. O Klosterleben, du Einsamkeit, 
 du stilles und ruhiges Leben ! 
 dir hab ich mich ganzlich ergeben, 
 zu ftihren ein geistliches Leben : 
 O Himmel, was hab ich gethan ! 
 die Liebe war Schuld daran.
 
 30 
 
 sublime simplicity of womanhood which appears in the background, 
 as it were, of these songs. There is no description of the physical 
 beauty of woman, in which the Minnesingers abound ; only once 
 the " zarte rote mondelin " is modestly mentioned. All the quali- 
 ties attributed to her are of a higher ethical character, as rein, gut, 
 minneclich, zart, ziichtig, thus showing the same purity and ten- 
 derness of feeling which appears in the earliest German poems 
 addressed to the Virgin Mary. She is the " liveste frauwe min," 
 the source of pure "freude" There are two strophes which show 
 this very evidently. 65, 2 : 
 
 Gepuret reine und suberlich 
 
 weisz ich ein wip gar minneclich, 
 
 di ist mit zochten wol bewart ; 
 
 ich wolde daz si ez woste, di reine zart. 
 
 37, 13: 
 
 Eins reinen guclen. wibes angesichte 
 und frauweliche zucht darbi 
 di sint werlich gut zu sehen. 
 Zu guden wiben han ich plichte, 
 wan si sin alles wandels fri. 
 
 It is true there are, especially in the earliest Minnesingers, 
 similar expressions of tender feeling, but their poetry was limited 
 
 2. Des Morgens wenn ich zur Kirche geh, 
 muss singen und beten alleine ; 
 
 und wenn ich das Gloria patri sing, 
 
 so liegt mir mein Schatzlein wol immer im Sinn : 
 
 O Himmel, was hab ich gethan ! 
 
 die Liebe war Schuld daran. 
 
 3. Dort kommt mein Vater und Mutter her, 
 sie beten fur sich alleine ; 
 
 sie haben gar schone Kleider an, 
 ich aber muss in der Kutten stahn : 
 O Himmel, was hab ich gethan ! 
 die Liebe war Schuld daran. 
 
 4. Des Mittags wenn ich zum Essen geh, 
 find ich es mein Tischchen alleine ; 
 
 dann ess ich mein Brot und trinke mein Wein : 
 ach, konnt ich bei meinem sch5n Schatzchen sein ! 
 O Himmel, was hab ich gethan ! 
 die Liebe war Schuld daran. 
 
 5. Des Abends wenn ich nun schlafen geh, 
 find ich es mein Bettchen alleine ; 
 dann lieg ich und kann nicht erwarmen : 
 ach, hatt ich mein Schatzchen in Armen ! 
 O Himmel, was hab ich gethan ! 
 
 die Liebe war Schuld daran.
 
 to the exclusive circles of the nobility. We cannot prove that 
 their ideas penetrated among the common people, and it is, there- 
 fore, almost entirely out of the question that they should have 
 influenced popular poetry. It seems, on the other hand, much 
 more probable that they themselves drew from the same source 
 which flows so refreshingly in the songs of our chronicle. For the 
 first time the ethical spirit of the people, destined to become such 
 a powerful element in the literary regeneration of the eighteenth 
 century, manifests itself independently in these deeply felt songs, 
 and we can follow in the later development of the Volkslied the 
 growth of the human ideal disclosed therein. One of the most 
 important documents for the study of its history can be found in 
 the Liederbuch der Clara Hatzlerin (ed. C. Haltaus, 1840), a col- 
 lection of various kinds of poetry made by a nun of Augsburg 
 in the fifteenth century. Among .the 134 lyrical pieces of the first 
 part, which consist of a number of Tagelieder, Meisterlieder, and 
 poems of known poets of that period, we discover several songs of 
 an entirely popular character. Their language and tone resemble 
 so much that of the songs of Tilemann's Chronicle that his asser- 
 tion of the popularity of his songs cannot possibly be doubted. 
 The monostrophic improvisation of the Limburger songs has 
 developed already into the poem of several strophes in the Lieder- 
 buch of the fifteenth century, and the purity and depth of their 
 feeling mark a striking contrast to the lascivious tone of the Tage- 
 lieder which immediately precede them. They also are addressed 
 to girls, who are called schdn, frumm, wandelsfrey (No. 31, i), 
 die rain, die sauberlich (pretty) (38, 8), zart lieb (48, 2), etc. 
 They are der hochste schatz und groste fr'dd (65, i), their heart 
 is genaden vol, etc. It is unnecessary to add that woman is 
 described with the same colors in the classical popular songs of 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 This pure and high conception of womanhood could certainly 
 not be without influence upon the relation of man to woman, and 
 it is here that the ethical spirit of true popular poetry reveals itself 
 in a sublime manner. The final aim for which all the " service " 
 of the Minnesinger was intended is never mentioned in these songs. 
 Instead of the desire for possession, or of sensual enjoyment, it is the 
 idea of eternal fidelity which rules the feelings of all these songs, and 
 it is perhaps significant that the theme of infidelity is scarcely 
 treated in the earliest folksongs. In the following songs this plea 
 for fidelity appears as simply and tenderly expressed as anywhere 
 in the realms of poetry. 37, 23 :
 
 32 
 
 Ach reinez \vip von gucler art, 
 gedenke an alle stedicheit, 
 daz man auch ni von dir gesait, 
 daz reinen wiben obel steit. 
 Daran saltu gedenken 
 und salt nit von mir wenken, 
 di wile daz ich daz leben ban. 
 Noch 1st mir einer klage not 
 von der livesten frauvven min, 
 daz ir zartez mondelin rot 
 \vel mir ungenedig sin. 
 Si wil mich zu grunt vurderben, 
 untrost wel si an mich erben, 
 dazu enweisz ich keinen rat. 
 
 53. 17 : 
 
 Ich wel in hofFen leben vort, 
 
 ob mir it heiles moge geschehen 
 von der livesten frauwen min. 
 Spreche si zu mir ein fruntlich wort, 
 so solde truren von mir flihen. 
 
 flch wel in hoffen leben vort, 
 ob mir it heiles moge geschehen 
 von der livesten frauvven min. 
 Ir gunste i mit heile bekorte. 
 Ach Got, daz ich si solde sehen. 
 
 ilch wel in hoffen leben vort 
 ob mir it heiles moge geschehen 
 von der livesten frauwen min. 
 65, 20: 
 
 Wie mochte mir umber basz gesin 
 
 in ruwen ? 
 
 Ez grunet mir in dem herzen min 
 
 als uf der auwen. 
 
 Daran gedenke 
 
 Min lip, und nit enwenke. 
 
 Of all the songs recorded by Tilemann, 37, 23 will probably 
 remind us most of the style of the Minnesongs, especially since it 
 is mentioned as early as 1350. A closer examination of its 
 language, however, will show its relation to earlier and later folk- 
 songs: von guder art ; cf. Goedeke, Liederbuch aus dem 16 Jahr- 
 hunclert, No. 14, i : vonedler art ; 72, 16 : von edler art. stedicheit 
 is the technical term for fidelity in the Minnesongs as well as in the 
 earlier folksongs; cf. MF. 16, i ; Walther v. d. Vogelw. 43, 29: 
 wir man wir wellen daz diu staetekeit in guoten wiben gar ein 
 kr6ne si ; Liederbuch der Hatzlerin, 36, 17 ; 72, 31 ; 117, 10. In 
 one of the fragments of our chronicle which probably notes only
 
 33 
 
 the beginnings of three strophes, the word truwe is used ; cf. 56, 
 1 8, ich wil dir i mit ganzen truwen leben. The mondelin rot 
 occurs in one of the oldest strophes of the Car. Bur. as roser- 
 varwer mund (1363). ivenken is very often used in the Liederb. 
 d. H. di wile daz ich daz leben han; cf. M. F. 9, 25: die wile 
 unz ich daz leben han. 
 
 53, 17 is of great interest in regard to strophic construction, in 
 hoffen leben; cf. L. d. Hatzl. 102, 31, in hoffen ich leb ; and our 
 chronicle 49, n, hoffen heldet mir das leben. 
 
 65, 20 must certainly be called the gem of Tilemann's collec- 
 tion. " Wi mochte mir umber basz gesin" is a proverbial expres- 
 sion ; cf. Parcival, 222, 30, wie mohte der imer baz gesin. L. d. 
 H. Spriiche, No. 49, Ich bin ir sy mein, wie mocht uns baiden 
 bas gesein. Ez grunet mir in dem herzen min occurs in the 
 mystics: cf. Pfeifer, Deutsche Mystiker, I 4, dar leben unses 
 herren dar grunete und wuchs in der lute herze; cf. MSH. ii2b, 
 so grunet min herze, als iuwer kl. 
 
 The idea of fidelity expresses itself most beautifully also in 
 the two little parting songs of Tilemann's collection. The pain of 
 parting was very effectively introduced into the Tagelieder by the 
 Minnesingers in order to form a strong contrast to the feeling of 
 happiest enjoyment to which the lovers had previously given them- 
 selves up (cf. Walter De Gruyter, Das deutsche Tagelied, 37 ff.) 
 The situation as well as the tone of expressing the sorrow of 
 parting is entirely different in our songs, and perfectly in accord- 
 ance with their ethical character. 45, 5 : 
 
 Ach Got, daz ich si miden musz, 
 di ich zu den freuden hatte irkoren, 
 daz dut mir werlich alzu we. 
 Mochte mir noch werden ein fruntlich grusz, 
 des ich so lange han enboren. 
 51, 22: 
 
 Miden scheiden, 
 daz dut werlich we 
 uzer maszen we. 
 
 Und enist daz nit unmoeglichefi, 
 
 von einer di ich gerne anse. 
 
 My reasons for arranging the last song in this manner will be 
 given later. I believe it is a whole strophe and does not contain 
 the beginnings of several strophes, as Lorenz and Wyss seem to 
 think. Several expressions in both songs recur almost verbally in 
 numerous parting songs not only of the sixteenth century, but also 
 in the Minnesingers and in popular poetry of the present time (cf.
 
 34 
 
 Wilmanns, Leben Walthers, 399). The intimate relation of these 
 songs of the Limburger Chronik to those of the Liederbuch der 
 Hatzlerin appears most manifestly in the following poems quoted 
 from the latter. 50 : 
 
 Gesegen dich got, liebs frawlin zart ! 
 Ich schaid von dir vnd lasz dich hie, 
 Vergisz mein nit, et leyt mir hart, 
 Wann ich dir was mit triuen ye 
 Vnd will dir wencken nymmermer. 
 
 Gesegen dich got, mein hertz ist dein, 
 Du bist mein trost, mein vsserwelt ! 
 Die weil ich leb, so will ich sein 
 Mit stattigkeit zu dir geselt ! 
 So volgt nur fra'd, wa ich hin cher. 
 
 Seid hoffen ist fur trauren gut, 
 So hoff ich wager werd mein sach. 
 Ye lieber chind, ye scherpffer rut, 
 Halt vest, als mir dem gnad versprach, 
 So hab ich frad on wider ker. 
 
 Gesegen dich got, ist nit mein fug, 
 Es pringt mir leid vnd senende clag. 
 Meiner tusend triigen laids genuog 
 An dem, das ich allaine trag ; 
 Doch nert mich hoffen wider her. 
 
 77 : 
 
 Ach schaiden. du vil senende not, 
 
 Das mir dein gwalt ye gepott, 
 Du machst mich plaich, rott, 
 Bis in den tot, 
 Das mir nit wtirser mag gesein. 
 
 Das hertz ist allzeit traurens vol, 
 
 Wann sich lieb von lieb schaiden sol ; 
 
 Es tut nit wol ! 
 
 Darumb ich dol 
 
 Gar senlich in dem hertzen mein. 
 
 Mit manigem seiiftzen ynneclich 
 Stand Bwar mein gedenck hinder sich, 
 Wie wol ich 
 Gen nyemantz sprich, 
 Dest geringer ist das hertz nicht. 
 86: 
 
 Meiden hat mich ser verwundt 
 Gar tieff in meines hertzen grunt ; 
 Das macht ir lieb, von der mir kunt 
 Ist worden gantze stattikait.
 
 35 
 
 Nun hilff geliick zu statter triw, 
 Wann meiden pringt gross affterrew, 
 Gen ainer da mein lieb ist new 
 Tag vnd nacht on vnderschaid. 
 
 Sy liebt mir ye fur all dis welt, 
 Ich hoff, ich vind des widergelt, 
 Das vnser lieb bleib vnvermelt ; 
 In praun vnd gron ist sy geclaidt. 
 
 A decisive proof for the age of our songs, and consequently 
 also indirectly for the age of German Volkspoesie in general, may, 
 according to my opinion, be gathered from their metrical construc- 
 tion. And we shall find that in the structure of the verses as well 
 as of the strophes they follow old Germanic metrical laws. 
 
 For centuries German prosody was suffering under the ascendancy 
 of rules abstracted from the ancients, and even classic poets of the 
 last century were mainly guided by their metrical instinct and feeling. 
 The liberation of those ancient fetters we owe to the excellent re- 
 searches of R. Westphal, who for the first time showed conclusively 
 that the principle of accent and rhythm, and not that of quantity, 
 is the fundamental metrical law of German poetry (Theorie der 
 Neuhochdeutschen Metrik, 2 AufL, 1877). In his essay, Zur ver- 
 gleichenden Metrik der indogermanischen Volker (Kuhn's Zeit- 
 schr. IX 437), he had made the revolutionizing discovery of the 
 common basis of all Indogermanic prosody consisting of 2 X 8 
 syllables divided by a caesura after the eighth syllable. In the 
 second edition of Die Metrik der Griechen von A. Rossbach und 
 R. Westphal, 1868, he attempted to show that the same principle 
 of metrical construction was to be found in the anushtubh of the 
 Veda and the cloka of classical Sanskrit, as well as in the versus 
 saturnius and the old German " Langzeile." His opinion was 
 supported in regard to the prosody of the A vesta by K. Geldner, 
 in his treatise, Ueber die Metrik der jiingeren Avesta, Tubingen, 
 1877. Starting from the results obtained by these two scholars, 
 Professor F. Allen (Kuhn's Zeitschr. XXIV 556 ff.) found that 
 the metrical unity of the Indogermanic verse was the tetrapodic 
 hemistich, out of which the Indian and old Germanic versus 
 longus and also the Greek hexameter had gradually developed. 
 Independently of Allen, H. Usener, in his -excellent book, Alt- 
 griechischer Versbau, ein Versuch vergleichender Metrik, Bonn, 
 1887, which also abounds in valuable suggestions for German
 
 metrics, has reached the same results. 1 In order to support his 
 theory of the development of the hexameter from the tetrapodic 
 Indogermanic " Urvers," Usener justly points to the fact : von 
 hause aus gibt es nur 6inen deutschen vers von vier hebungen. 
 Er wird nicht gemessen nach silbenzahl, nicht nach quantitat, 
 sondern nach jenen vier hebungen, die vom sprachlichen hochton 
 getragen sind. Das ist die form aller unserer erzahlenden poesie 
 gewesen, so weit wir sie zuriick verfolgen konnen und ebenso der 
 volksmassigen lyrik bis auf den heutigen tag. In the course of 
 his discussion he calls attention to the principal peculiarities of the 
 prosody of German popular poetry which are mostly due to the 
 influence of rhythm, as already observed by E. StolteinhisMetrische 
 Studien liber das deutsche Volkslied, 1883, and recently treated 
 by E. Sievers in his essay, Die Entstehung des deutschen Reim- 
 verses (Paul & Braune's Beitrage, XIII 121 ff.) 2 
 
 While we find in the development of the artistic Minnepoetry a 
 gradual observance of the regular change of arsis (Hebung) and 
 thesis (Senkung), the entire omission as well as the accumulation 
 of a number of theses between two arses will be frequently noticed 
 in popular poetry. It is wrong to see in the omission of the thesis 
 the effect of a conscious artistic reflection on the part of the poet, 
 as it has been done by Bartsch, 3 who discovered it in the Nibe- 
 lungenlied, and by R. Becker," who believes to be able to prove 
 it in the earliest Austrian Minnesongs. The absence of the thesis 
 is to be explained not only " aus der freude an kraftvoller betonung " 
 (Usener), but also by the dipodic structure of the German verse, 
 and the consequent distinction of a " haupt- und nebenton." 
 
 A mere glance at the songs of our chronicle will convince us 
 that we have here before us the old Germanic verse of four accents 
 with a frequent syncope of the thesis. I have noticed the following 
 cases : 37, 31 von der livesten fratfwen min; 37, 32 daz ir zartez 
 mondelin rot; 37,33 wel mir ungene"dig sin; 48, 10 sunder mine'n 
 willen ; 48, 12 sinen k6mr stillen ; 53, 19 von der livesten frauwen 
 min; 65, 21 in ruwen; 65, 23 als uf der aiiw6n. A similar 
 syncope of the thesis may be observed in the following German 
 strophes of the Carm. Bur.: 993, 5; icoa, 5; i27a, 4; 1293; 
 
 1 Cf. R. Westphal, Gott. gel. Anz., No. 20,1887. 
 
 2 Unfortunately, I did not receive Professor Wilmanns' exceedingly profound 
 treatise, Der altdeutsche Reimvers, until this essay was printed. 
 
 3 Cf. Bartsch, Untersuch. iiber das Nibelungenlied, 142 <T. 
 4 R. Becker, Der altheimische Minnesang, 50 ff.
 
 37 
 
 i4ia, 3 ; for it is absurd, according to my opinion, if Martin adopts 
 in these cases " sprachlich unrichtige Betonung " in order to save 
 his theory (cf. Burdach, Reinmar und Walther, 156). By the aid 
 of these observations concerning accentuation, I believe to be able 
 to reconstruct one of our songs hitherto considered as a fragment, 
 and as a proof for the fact that Tilemann noted the melody rather 
 than the text of the songs as he did in the case of the Flagellant 
 poetry (cf. Lorenz, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen 3 I 144). I 
 propose to read 51, 22 in the following manner: 
 
 Mi'den, scheiden 
 
 daz dut werlich we 
 
 uszer maszen we. 
 
 und enist daz nit unmoeglichen, 
 
 von einer, di ich gem anse. 
 
 A similar difference between the songs of our chronicle and the 
 artistic Minnepoetry is to be found in regard to the use of the anakru- 
 sis. The strict rules of prosody of the Minnepoetry allow only 
 monosyllabic anakrusis, and there are only a few exceptions to this 
 rule even in the beginnings of the artistic poetry (cf. Haupt, M. F. 
 292). The popular poetry, however, has always treated this rule 
 with disrespect. While the exceptions in M. F. show only dissyl- 
 labic anakrusis, most of the cases occurring in Spervogel and other 
 poems of a popular nature, an anakrusis of two, three and more 
 syllables is not unusual in our songs : 37, 31 von der liveste"n ; 37, 
 32 daz ir zartez ; 65, 23 als uf der auw6n ; 37, 13 eins reinen 
 guden. The same treatment of the anakrusis prevails in Car. Bur. 
 112; io6a, 7 ; loSa, 4. 
 
 A further proof for the popularity and age of the songs of our 
 chronicle can be obtained from an observation of the nature of the 
 rhymes. Although the distinction between masculine and femi- 
 nine rhymes appears quite plainly in our songs, the masculine 
 rhyme is preferred in most cases, a peculiarity also of the Car. Bur. : 
 io6a, 1073, 1153, 1293, i33a, 1343. Imperfect rhyme, quite rarely 
 occurring in artistic poetry after 1190, may be observed in the fol- 
 lowing cases: 37, 4 laszen (Ian) enkan; 37, 23 art : salt; 48, 6 
 nunnen : darunden (darunnen?); 48, 9 nunn:jung\ 53, 18 ge- 
 schehen -.flihen. The fact that even the unaccented e can bear the 
 rhyme, as e. g. in 65, 21, is entirely in harmony with the rhyth- 
 mical laws of German popular poetry, which frequently allow a 
 strong accent on weak syllables. 
 
 113U4H
 
 38 
 
 Still more important proof for the age of our songs may be 
 obtained by observations from the structure of the strophes. It 
 is certainly true that Tilemann's attention was principally directed 
 to the " wise," i. e. the musical melody of the songs he recorded. 
 The following remark will, however, show that the words and their 
 strophic structure did not escape his notice. Pie says in the year 
 1360: "Item in disem selben jare vurvvandelten sich dictamina 
 unde gedichte in Duschen lidern. Want man bit her lider lange 
 gesongen hat mit funf oder ses gesetzen, da machentdi meister nu 
 lider die heissent widersenge, mit dren gesetzen. Auch hat ez sich 
 also vurwandelt mit den pifen unde pifenspel unde hat ufgestegen 
 in der museken, unde ni also gut waren bit her, als nu in ist 
 anegangen. Dan wer vur funf oder ses jaren ein gut pifer was 
 geheissen in dam ganzen lande, der endauc itzunt nit eine flige." 
 Is it not strange that Tilemann, who noticed this change so care- 
 fully, should not have preserved us at least one of those songs of 
 five or six strophes which in that year became unfashionable ? 
 With but three exceptions the recorded songs consist of one 
 strophe only, and a comparison of one of those exceptions (53, 17), 
 called by him a "lit unde widergesenge," with the Meisterlieder 
 accessible to me ' disclosed no relation whatever. The simple 
 answer to our question will therefore be that it is the old mono- 
 strophic form of the popular German song which we have here 
 before us, a form which is given by the improvisatory nature of 
 this kind of poetry. 2 The same form is found in the Car. Bur. 
 and the oldest specimens of the Minnesong, so that it is quite safe 
 to say that all the old German love poetry of which we have no 
 documents consisted of monostrophic poems. The entire absence 
 of songs of five and six strophes can be taken as another proof 
 that Tilemann consciously distinguished between Meisterlieder and 
 that poetry which he recorded. 
 
 It is a well known fact that the old Germanic " Urvers " of four 
 accents, twice or four times repeated, constituted the old Germanic 
 " Urstrophe " as it appears e. g. in Otfrid. Among the songs of 
 our chronicle we meet this strophe twice, 65, 2, and in the " Non- 
 nenlied," 48, 5. There are, however, several songs composed in 
 a strophe which differs very much from this old and simple form. 
 Comparing it with other known strophes we might be inclined to 
 
 1 K. Bartsch, Meisterlieder der Kolmarer Handschrift ; Goedeke-Tittmann, 
 Liederbuch. 
 
 8 Cf. Scherer, Deutsche Studien, I 333 ; Burdach, ibid. 165.
 
 39 
 
 declare it a variety of the old popular Moroltstrophe, but a more 
 careful inspection will show this to be impossible. According to 
 Scherer's investigations, based upon the theories of Mullenhoff 
 (Zeitschrift fur d. Altertum, XVII 569 ff., and Deutsche Studien, I 
 283 ff.), the Moroltstrophe developed from the old custom of length- 
 ening the last of the four verses constituting the old German 
 strophe. The first half of this " Langvers," separated from the 
 latter part by a caesura, was inserted as a new verse in the strophe, 
 and, since it does not rhyme with any of the other verses, is called 
 41 Waise." As a further peculiarity of strophes containing a 
 " Waise," Scherer pointed out that a monosyllabic (stumpfe) 
 Waise will always appear between feminine rhymes and a dis- 
 syllabic (klingende) Waise between masculine rhymes. Since a 
 Waise may be placed before any one of the four- verses of the origi- 
 nal strophe, we get strophes of five, six, seven and eight verses. In 
 my opinion Mullenhoff-Scherer's theory of the development of the 
 " Waise " is somewhat mechanical, and, for various reasons, princi- 
 pally musical ones, I believe that the Waise is a separate verse 
 introduced into the strophe of four verses after an old German 
 custom. 1 Yet, whether we accept Scherer's theory or not, we will 
 not be able to explain the strophe of the Limburger songs by the 
 Moroltstrophe. The usual form of the latter is : 
 
 4 masc. a 
 
 4 masc. a 
 
 4 masc. b 
 
 4 w fern, c (Waise) 
 
 4 masc. b 
 
 of which there are several varieties, all agreeing, however, in having 
 the Waise immediately before the last verse. The form of the 
 strophe of three songs in our chronicle, on the contrary, is : 
 
 4 w fern, a or, 4 masc. a 
 
 4 masc. b 4 ^> fern, b 
 
 3 w fern, c (Waise) 4 masc. c (Waise) 
 
 4 v~> fern, a 4 masc. a 
 4 masc. b 4 ^ fern. b. 
 
 It can easily be seen that this strophe has none of the peculiari- 
 ties of the Moroltstrophe : the position of the Waise before the 
 last verse and the distinction of masculine rhyme and dissyllabic 
 
 1 Cf. R. Becker, ibid. 42 ; but also R. M. Meyer, Grundlagen des Mittelhoch- 
 deutschen Strophenbaus.
 
 4 o 
 
 Waise. We find, however, in all the songs composed after this 
 form a strong pause after the third verse, the close of the first sen- 
 tence even typographically indicated by a period. Among all the 
 strophes of the old popular poetry I found a similar form only in 
 the very old strophe of the Car. Bur. : 
 
 nah mine gesellen ist mir we. 
 Gruonet der wait allenthalben : 
 wa ist min geselle 'alselange '? 
 Der ist geriten hinnen, 
 owi, wer sol mich minnen? 
 
 Richard M. Meyer, in his exceedingly interesting and suggestive 
 treatise quoted above (Grundlagen des Mhd. Strophenbaus, 79), 
 has pointed to the fact that in two old songs preserved under the 
 name of Dietmar von Eist, 37, 4 ; 37, 18, a similar pause may be 
 noticed. He further compares M. F. 3, 7; 3, 12, and several of 
 Neidhard's popular songs, and finds in the form a, a, b | , a 
 reminiscence of the Itjopahattr of the Edda, as he sees in the old 
 Otfridstrophe a reminiscence of the Kvipuhattr. I believe that 
 the first three verses of our songs in question have preserved the 
 same reminiscence of the Ljopahattr. And although the position 
 of the rhymes in our songs is more artistic than that in the Otfrid- 
 strophe (a, a, b, b), I think that their more artistic arrangement is 
 a device to bridge over the pause after the third verse. Should 
 the Moroltstrophe, as Meyer supposes, also have arisen from the 
 Ljopahattr, then the form of our strophe would still be a highly 
 interesting and peculiar document for the transition of alliterative 
 into rhymed poetry. 
 
 An excellent illustration of this process may probably be found 
 in the strophic structure of 53, 17. The repetition of the first 
 three verses in the responsorium will at least show that the form 
 a, a, b was still felt as a strophic whole, while the alliterations : hoffen, 
 heiles,frauwen,fruntlich,flihen, etc., are additional reminiscences 
 of its antiquity. In the later development of German popular 
 lyrics this form is dropped almost entirely ; only once have I found 
 it, in the Ambraser Liederbuch, No. 81. The question, however, 
 has frequently occurred to me whether the tripartite form of the 
 various strophic structures of the Minnesingers has not developed 
 more organically from the Limburger strophe than from the 
 Moroltstrophe. 
 
 Summing up the results of these investigations, I believe we are 
 justified in drawing the following conclusions :
 
 The singular position of the Limburger Chronik in the literature 
 of the fourteenth century, and its great value for the history of 
 German literature in general, are principally due to its author's 
 interest for the poetical phenomena of his time. . While he faith- 
 fully recorded important facts concerning the Minnesong and 
 religious poetry, his greatest merit consists in the preservation of 
 contemporary specimens of popular songs which cannot be classed 
 with any of the existing forms of artistic poetry. We must there- 
 fore consider them as documents of a popular poetry which devel- 
 oped by the side of the poetry historically known to us. A careful 
 comparison of its contents and form with that of earlier and later 
 popular poetry makes it highly probable that German folksongs 
 have existed since the oldest times, although we do not possess 
 documents for all the various periods of its history. The language 
 and the metrical structure of the Limburger songs furnish especially 
 strong proofs of the antiquity of popular German love-poetry. 
 The songs of the Limburger Chronik are therefore very important 
 documents for throwing light upon the character and development 
 of the earlier as well as of the later German Volkslied. 1 
 
 JULIUS GOEBEL. 
 
 1 It is gratifying to me to find that Edward Schroder, the able editor of 
 Scherer's Literaturgeschichte, in an essay on Die erste Kiirenbergerstrophe 
 (Zeitschr. f. d. Alt. XXXII, i Heft, 137 ff.) has reached the same results 
 regarding the importance of the Limburger songs for the study of the 
 older German lyrics. The strophe which Schroder compares with the first 
 Kiirenbergersong in order to reconstruct the text of the latter was excluded 
 from my discussion on account of its didactic nature. Its metrical form is, 
 however, a variety of the same which we find in 37, 13 ; 45, 5; 53, 17, and 
 which I have attempted to explain, p. 464 ff.
 
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