Handschrift.” Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache
und Literatur 81 (1959): 111–115.
Piper, Paul. “Die Gedichte der Ava.” Zeitschrift für deutsche
Philologie 19 (1887): 129–196, 275–321 [(“V” and “G”)].
Schacks, Kurt. Die Dichtungen der Frau Ava. Graz: Wiener
Neudrucke, 1986.
Schröder, Edward. “Frau Ava und die Osterfeier.” Zeitschrift
für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur 50 (1908):
312–313.
——. “Ava und Bettina.” Anzeiger für deutsches Altertum und
deutsche Literatur 42 (1923): 90–91.
——. “Aus der Gelehrsamkeit der Frau Ava.” Zeitschrift für
deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur 66 (1929):
171–172.
——. “Spiel und Spielmann.” Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum
und deutsche Literatur 74 (1937): 45–46.
Stein, Peter K. “Stil, Struktur, historischer Ort und Funktion.
Literarhistorische Beobachtungen und methodologische
Überlegungen zu den Dichtungen Frau Avas,” in Festschrift
für Adalbert Schmidt zum 70. Geburtstag. Stuttgart: Heinz,
1976.
Wesenick, Gertrude. “Frühmittelhochdeutsche Dichtung des 12.
Jahrhunderts aus der Wachau. Frau Avas Gedichte.” Ph.D.
diss., University of Tübingen, 1963.
Woelfert, Rosemarie. “Wandel der religiösen Epik zwischen
1100 und 1200 dargestellt an Frau Avas Leben Jesu und der
Kindheit Jesu des Konrad von Fusses-brunnen.” Ph.D. diss.,
University of Tübingen, 1963.
Ernst Ralf Hintz
FRAUENLOB (d. November 29, 1318)
Heinrich von Meißen, called Frauenlob (literally, Praise
of Women), wrote Middle High German poetry in the
late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. He died on
November 29, 1318, and lies buried in Mainz. There be-
ing practically no nonliterary traces of his life, nearly all
we know of him derives from his literary production. In
later political poems (Sangspruchdichtung), Frauenlob
names a series of historical personalities who provide
dates for certain texts and may indicate a degree of
mobility (e.g., Duke Heinrich von Breslau, King Eric of
Denmark, among others); living and deceased poets of
his time are named (e.g., Walther von der Vogelweide,
Konrad von Würzburg, and many others) who offer hints
of a relative chronology.
Frauenlob’s literary production is broad, but many
of the texts are extant in only one copy, thus making
editing diffi cult. For example, numerous poems have
been distorted by scribal misunderstandings and errors,
and present a daunting philological challenge. Equally
problematic is the question of authenticity. Owing
to questionable reasoning on the part of the scholar
Helmuth Thomas, the standard edition of Frauenlob’s
poems, edited by Stackmann and Bertau, contains
an incomplete catalogue. To attain the broadest pos-
sible picture of Frauenlob’s oeuvre, one must consult
Ettmullter’s edition of 1843.
Frauenlob was comfortable composing in all genres:
songs, political lyrics, disputes, and narrative poetry.
Often his songs represent traditions common in the fi rst
half of the thirteenth century, employing topics such as
courtly love (minne), nature, and religion. His series
of songs, especially those on the Virgin Mary and the
Trinity, are thematically and formally more ambitious.
Frauenlob combines and refi nes traditional motives,
often in a particular fashion: cryptic, encoded, aimed
at a knowledgeable, elite audience. Within his Sprucb-
dichtung, Frauenlob also expressed his own thoughts on
poetry and his own role as a poet. Thus, on the one hand,
he sees himself as a grateful successor to the great poets
of the past (he especially honors Konrad von Würzburg),
while, on the other hand, he presents himself as their
superior: once he remarks, ûz kezzels grunde gât mîn
kunst (from the depth of the caldron emerges my art),
thereby setting himself apart from other poets.
A noteworthy composition is Frauenlob’s “Dispute
between Minne and the World,” in which both allegori-
cal partners—minne as courtly love personifi ed—argue
in learned fashion for their respective relative rank.
Frauenlob’s Leiche are undoubtedly achievements of
the highest order. He composed praises of the Crucifi x,
of minne, and of the Virgin Mary, and the melodies for
each. It is because of the song to Mary, in praise of the
heavenly woman, that Frauenlob received his nickname,
Praise of Women, although his praise of worldly women
may have also played a role. This song is Frauenlob’s
masterpiece: his theology, pious praise of Mary, and
natural philosophy are combined in an immense concept
and present a dimension of popular language praise of
Mary hitherto unseen in this genre, a dimension that
still today presents critical challenges. The love poem
provides an unconventional concept of courtly love:
minne is now founded in natural philosophy as a pro-
ductive force of nature that unites opposites to create
nature anew and to perpetuate the process of nature.
The crucifi x poem, fi nally, deals with the theological
concepts of trinity, incarnation, salvation, and crucifi x
worship, at one unique linguistically and from the point
of view of the motif.
Frauenlob marks a literary transition; he looks back
on some one hundred years of tradition he knows well;
intellectually he is well trained in many areas; he at-
tempts to reapproach the great poetical topics aestheti-
cally and substantively.
See also Konrad von Würzburg; Walther von der
VogelweideFurther Reading
Bein, Thomas. Studien zu Frauenlobs Minneleich. Frankfurt am
Main: Lang, 1988.
Cambridger “Frauenlob”-Kolloquium 1986. Wolfram-Studien
10, ed. Werner Schröder. Berlin: Schmidt, 1988 [collection
of papers from conference].
Ettmüller, Ludwig, ed. Heinrich von Meißen, des FrauenlobsFRA AVA