The Literature Book

49

See also: The Song of Roland 48 ■ Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart 50 –51 ■

The Canterbury Tales 68–71

E

ntertainment in the early

medieval courts of Europe

was provided by minstrels,

who recited or sang epic poems.

But in the 11th century, a number

of more aristocratic poets, at first

in Occitania, southern France,

became traveling minstrels. In

order to distinguish them from

the jongleurs, or the common

entertainers, they became known

as troubadours, and their poetry

moved from a focus on historical

narrative to songs of courtly love—

the chivalrous exploits of knights

and their noble lady loves.

Noble entertainers

Lyric poetry caught on first in

northern France, and later in Italy

and Spain. In the next century,

the noble entertainers emerged

in Germany as Minnesänger, or

minnesingers. Foremost among

these was Walther von der

Vogelweide (c.1170–c.1230), who

also wrote political and satirical

poetry. He is best known for his

charming “Under the Linden Tree,”

a love poem in the courtly tradition

of the troubadours but distinct in

key respects. With its memorable

refrain of the nightingale singing

“Tandaradei,” he references the

choruses of folk song, and more

significantly, some of the poem’s

most beautiful words are not those

of a noble lady, but a simple girl.

These features anticipated the

eventual end of the age of courtly

lyric poetry, which in Gemany was

marked by the emergence of new,

professional, poet-composers, the

Meistersinger, or mastersingers. ■

HEROES AND LEGENDS

TANDARADEI

SWEETLY SANG

THE NIGHTINGALE

“UNDER THE LINDEN TREE” (LATE 12TH CENTURY),

WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Troubadours and

minnesingers

BEFORE

Late 11th century The

troubadour tradition of courtly

love poetry, written in the

southern French Occitan

dialect (langue d’oc), spreads

to Spain and Italy.

12th century Poets known as

trouvères, including Chrétien

de Troyes, begin to compose

lyric poems in the northern

French dialect (langue d’oïl).

Late 12th century Der von

Kürenberg and Dietmar von

Aist pioneer the German

Minnesänger tradition.

AFTER

Late 13th century Heinrich

Frauenlob, one of the last of the

Minnesänger, sets up a school

for Meistersinger.

c.1330s Troubadour numbers

wane before they vanish with

the Black Death (c.1346–53).

Still you may find there,

Lovely together,

Flowers crushed and

grass down-pressed.

“Under the Linden Tree”

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