“Minnesang” is the term given to a large collection of lyric poetry written in Austria, Germany and Switzerland during the Middle Ages. The word identifies the theme of love (Middle High German “minne”) and points to the fact that these were
songs, intended to be performed to a musical accompaniment, though little of the music has survived. The emphasis here will be on the poets composing at the end of the 12th and during the first decades of the 13th century and exemplifying some of the important trends and features in a complex development. This is a period of great productivity in German narrative, and the two areas taken together demonstrate the remarkable flowering of courtly literature in German. Like the narrative works of Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried von Strassburg,…
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Citation: Gibbs, Marion E.. "Minnesang". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 July 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1446, accessed 23 November 2024.]
