No. 30.-VOL. 1.

EARLY GERMAN POETRY. No. 1.

The rage for an acquaintance with the previously concealed treasures of German literature has been abundautly satisfied by the multiplied dissertations, which have, from time to time, appeared on the works of writers since the Reformation. Prior to this period, however, some beautiful productions were occasionally published, especially from the Minnesingers or German Troubadours of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

In taking these collectively a considerable degree of monotony will be perceptible, but individual sonnets exhibit as much poetic feeling, as much grace and tenderness, as are to be met with in the amatory lays of the present day. In this article it will be our object to exhibit a short account of those earlier poems of the Germans, with a few faithful translations, chiefly from specimens in the valuable work of M. Heinsieus.*

Of some of the lays of the Minnesingers a translation has already been published, within the last few years; and, according to Mr. Roscoe, M. Sismondi has announced his intention of devoting himself to the production of a work on the literature of the north, similar to that which he has given to the world on that of the south, of Europe, and if he should succeed as well with his description of the Teutonic as he has in that of the Romanic poets and be fortunate enough to meet with as good a translator as Mr. Roscoe, we may anticipate a fund of amusement and instruc

tion.

ductions of the Germans may admit of three great divisions-according to the period at wich they were written.-1. German poetry prior to the period of the Minnesingers.-2. Period of the Minnesingers and 3. Period of the Mastersingers.

I. GERMAN POETRY PRIOR TO THE MIN

NESINGERS.

In the time of Tacitus, the Germani had their minstrels or bards, who sang in honor of their god Tuisco, as well as for the purpose of infusing a martial spirit into the minds of their warriors; and these songs, being transmitted from father to son, recorded the history and manners of their ancestors. Charlemagne is said to have prepared a collection of them, but there are no traces of it extant. They cannot have been distinguished for harmony, as Julian compares them to the screeching of wild fowl. One of the earliest native poets, whose productions have reached us, was Ottfried, a pupil of Rhabanus Maurushimself a pupil of Alcuin, the learned English monk, who, in the year 804, was employed by Charlemagne as preceptor to his son. Ottfried, who was a monk of the Cloister of Weissenburg in Elsass, rendered the evangelists into German rhyme about the year 870. Prefixed to this translation are three dedications-one to Ludwig, King of the East Franks, another to Luitpert, archbishop of Mentz and the third to Salomo, bishop of Kostnitz. Of manuscripts, yet remaining, those at Vienna, and in the Heidelberg library are best known. The oldest and most rare of the printed copies is that of Flacius, published at Basel in 1571, in 8 vo. with a glossary An by Gassar an Augsburg physician. edition of it also occupies a space of 400

folio pages in the 1 vol. of the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Teutonicarum of Schilter. Although valuable to the philologist, the work of Ottfred is intrinsically poor, compared with the much earlier productions of the poets of antiquity.

Again, amongst the original poetical productions is a hymn, occasioned by the victory, obtained on the Scheldt by Ludwig III. in the year 881, over the Normans -the author of which is not known.

After a description of the injuries, which the Franks had sustained from the Normans, Ludwig is commanded by God to avenge them the king accepts the com

mand.

"Tho nam her skild indi sper "Ellianlicho reit her"Then took he spear and shield And quickly sought the field, To venge him as he wish'd, On his antagonist: Nor was it long before

He met the Norman power:
Now prais'd be God' says he,
"T is what I long'd to see:
Then boldly rode the king
Whilst chaunting forth a hymn;
And altogether sang
Kyrieleison:

Now when the song was sung
The battle was begun;
The blood rush'd to the face
Of the valiant Frankish race:
But none so like a knight,
As Ludwig veng'd in fight;
The nimble aud the great
Both traits in him innate.

We ought not, perhaps, to overlook, entirely, the works of a German poetess, Hroswitha, a nun of Gandersheim, who flourished about the year 980. Besides a life of Otto I. in Latin verse, and several Legends in Hexameters and Pentameters, she wrote, in the same language, some religious Dramas, in which she attempted

an imitation of Terence.

berg 1501, in folio, and another, the latest, by Heinr. Leonh. Schurzfleisch, Wittenberg, 1707, 4to.

Of a much more elevated character must be considered the author of a poem in praise of Hanno, Archbishop of Kölln who died in 1075. We are not acquainted with the writer, but he probably lived at the conclusion of the eleventh century, and seems to have been some monk of considerable poetic spirit and distinguished learning. Martin Opitz found the manuscript in the Rhediger library at Breslau and gave an edition of it to the world in 1639, accompanied with valuable notes: it was also published by Schilter in his Thesaurus, and since that time various impressions of it have appeared.

Of all the early roems of the Germans the most distinguished, perhaps, is the original epic of the Nibelungen: so popular indeed is it, that a writer in the Conversations Lexicon, now before us, considers it worthy to stand alongside the Homeric Epic. It is more than 600 years old, and in connexion with two others,-Chrimhildens Rache (Chrimhild's Revenge), and the Lamentation-was formerly ascribed to Conrad of Würzburg: but from recent investigations by Aug. Wilh. Schlegel, the topographical descriptions in the poem, as well as other internal evidences, would seem to indicate Klingsohr of Hungary, or, still more probably, Heinrich of Ofterdingen, as the author: still Conrad of Wurzburg is estimated to have been the editor. The plot of the poem is the unhappy fate of the Nibelungen or Niflungen-a powerful race of heroes of antient Burgundythe loves of two individuals of this race involving the destruction of the whole. The chief hero's name is Siegfried, king of Holland and Nibelungen (Norway-from Nebellande-misty land) who received from Gunther, king of Burgundy, for great services rendered to him, Chriemhilde, his beautiful sister. But Gunther's wife, Brunhilde, so contrives that Siegfried is murdered. From this time Chriemhilde seeks to revenge the death of her husband, and finally succeeds in cutting off the head of Hagene, the murderer, with the very sword which he had taken from Siegfried at the time of the murder.

scene is on the Rhine, and on the frontiers of Austria and Hungary. "The editor of this Epic" says M. Heinsius" and with him every connoisseur and Amateur of the antient literature of Germany, maintains the preeminent merit of this poem. It is a happy, select, patriotic performance, indicating not only the manner, but the romantic imagination of the poet: it is rich in admirably depicted characters, and in faithful delineations, so that this poem

must be estéemed the most valuable mon

ument of German antiquity." "Too high a valuation of it however," he properly adds, "as has been the case in modern

In order that our readers may judge of the form and substance of this national poem, we shall give a metrical version from the "first adventure" of the edition of Hagen, in which we have preferred, as in all the other examples, fidelity to elegance.

ERSTE ABENTEURE.

Uns ist in alten maehren wunders viel gesait. Von helden lobebaeren, von grosser Arbeit

To us, the wond'rous feats of old, it often falls to hear,

Of commendable heroes bold; of many a fight

severe;

Of joys and of festivities; of weeping and lament:

Of combats of brave chavaliers, you now shall hear anent.

In Burgundy there flourished a highly noble maid,

No country could exhibit a more beautiful 'tis said:

Chriemhilde was her chosen name: she was a

beauteous wife.

For her was many a val'rous knight foredoom'd to loss of life.

This maid was form'd for tenderness, and many a hero bold,

midst of all their might;

For them serv'd much proud chivalry, full many a native knight,

With commendable honor for the period of their lives,

Till they perish'd from a jealousy 'twixt two

illustrious wives.

A Queen of passing beauty, lady Ute was their dame,

And Dankrat was their loving sire-a prince

of mighty fame,

From whom they had their heritage of prowess great and one,

Who in his yet more youthful days important feats had done.

After describing some of the knights, who served under these chieftains, the adventure goes on

It happened once upon a time that Chreimhild, virgin mild,

Dreamt she was rearing up with care a beau

teous falcon, wild,

Which two huge eagles pounc'd upon, and kill'd before her eyes;

No greater sorrow to her heart than this one could devise.

She quickly sought her mother dear, Dame Ute, whom she found,

Who, after having heard the dream, thus tried it to expound.

"Until my day of death shall come I, single, shall | remain,

"In order that from mortal man I ne'er may suffer pain."

"Nay vow not thus so rashly, love!" her mother mildly spoke,

must revoke ;

'By love this may encompass'd be: thou'lt make a beauteous wife,

na.

mens. We have likewise a free imitation of the Eneid, by Heinrich of Veldeck, from the French of Chretien of Troyeswho lived in the middle of the twelfth century—with some interpolations. MSS. of this are still extant at Gotha, Vienna and Eybach near Geisslingen in Swabia.

Lastly, Ovid's metamorphoses were translated by Albrecht of Halberstadt.

Charlemagne and his paladine, and Arthur and his round table, the romance of which is known to almost every one, were also fertile sources for the poets of this period. A collection of poems, regarding the round table, was published at Vienna in

1811.

Of these poems-of indigenous or foreign origin the former, it would seem, were distributed generally amongst the

her dream she spied;

How much she did revenge herself on those by blood allied,

Who after that did murder him, you shall be told anon,

From this one val'rous knight's decease, died many a mother's son.

Not less distinguished is the collection of antient, heroic, songs-the Heldenbuch or book of heroes—all the chivalric narratives being probably founded on national traditions. The chief hero of the book is Dietrich of Berne. Like the Nibelungenlied it is valuable as a history of the manners of the nation during the middle ages; and, like it contains, as a natural consequence, much national, German, poetry. The collection is supposed to be the united work of Heinrich of Ofterdingen and Eschilbach. Manuscripts of it are to be found at Strassburg and Dresden.

The first edition appeared in 1509 at Strassburg in Folio; and others, subsequently, at Frankfort on the Maine.

To the purely foreign fictions of this

only at the courts, where, even at this time, a preference for foreign productions was perceptible.

II. PERIOD OF THE MINNESINGERS.

The Germans seem to have received their taste for Romantic poetry from the Provençal poets-the Troubadours: this taste was strongly encouraged by the Swabian emperors, the first of whom ascended the imperial throne of Germany in the year 1138, and it became highly improved and cultivated by the Swabian poets, German Troubadours or Minnesingers, as they were termed, from the old German words Minna and Minnen, which signified love and friendship-the common subjects of their songs.

raise poetry to a higher state of excellence. All things concurred, at this period, to power, population and commerce: the Germany had considerably increased in princes and nobles were more powerful and the pomp of the courts consequently greater; the imperial towns had become

opulent. Trade had induced luxury ;and time, another and a better spirit. The romantic extravagancies of the Provençals found a ready reception in the minds of the Germans, from their previous chivalric excitement by the crusades, which had commenced in the year 1096. The poetry to which that spirit gave occasion, being encouraged by the Swabian emperors, became a favorite study of the higher classes. The Minnesingers distributed themselves. over Germany and composed not only those poems of which we have already spoken, but also numerous Lyric songs, distinguished for their grace and tenderness, and for which they have been more celebrated than for any other of their productions. They also produced several romantic poems which, however, were chiefly imitations or translationsof the Provençal poetry of the Troubadours. The best extant, collection of these small poems of the middle ages, and which contains between 1400 and 1500 songs, by 136 poets, is that by Rudger Manesse of Zurich, made in the beginning of the fourteenth century, and, consequently, at the end of the flourishing period of the Minnesingers: several of these have been modernized and published by Tieck, Græter, Weckherlin, Hagen, Busching, Hofstæter and others.

The oldest of those Swabian poets or Minnesingers, whose works and names have reached us, is Heinrich of Veldeck or Veldig. He was a native of the north of Germany; lived at the end of the twelfth and commencement of the thirteenth century, and was the author of Schobischen Eneidt-the translation of the Eneid to which we have referred-and several other poems, printed in the collection of Manesse. His sentiments are much more beautiful than the form in which he has chosen to convey them in the original, if we judge from the specimen given by Bouterwek (Band. ix. p. 105.)

Min sendes denken.

My ardent thoughts, nay! all my mind, Entirely without change,

Are but to witness to my fair,

The way my passions range;

And how, with constant heart, so long,
Accustom'd I have been,

To paint in many a tender song,
Her purity and sheen.

Walther von der Vogelweide was a favorite Minnesinger, who lived in the first half of the thirteenth century and was a wandering singer from one court to another. His chief patron was Leopold of Austria, from whom he received very valuable presents. His songs prove him to have been a man of the world, and breathe highly patriotic sentiments, as evinced by the following examples.

Durch suezet und gebluemet sint die reinen frow

Es

en;

wart nie niht so wunnekliches anzeschouen How sweet, like flowers, are ladies fair; There's nought so beauteously divine, In air, on earth, in meadows green, Where lilies and where roses shine; The dewy grass in month of May,

The songsters warbling in the trees; All, all, combin'd, to me are null, Compar'd with such delights as these. The aspect of a lady fair,

Can every gloomy thought disperse, And, quick as lightning, from the mind, All grief and dreariness everse : So lovely pout her rosy lips,

In love such gracious smiles impart, Whilst lays, direct from sparkling eyes, Pierce deep into the inmost heart.

And again :

Tuetsche man sint wolgezogen ;
Als engel sint due wib getan.
Well bred are the German men;
Their wives for angels taken;
Whosoe'er abuses them

Must surely be mistaken,
Virtue and the purest love,

If any wish to find 'em,
Let them come to German land,

They need not look behind 'em.
Oh! my native land for me;
May I long live to view it,
Many countries have I seen

But never can eschew it;
For though to look out for the best,

Has been my fond devotion,
May woe betide me if I have,

For foreign modes a notion.

Walther of Metz, Hartmann of Aue, Albrecht of Halberstadt, Wolfram of Eschens bach, Heinrich of Ofterdingen, NicolauKlingsohr, Gottfried of Strassburg, Ottocar of Horneck, Reinbot of Doren, Reinmar the elder, Conrad of Wuerzburg, Ulrich of Lichtenstein, Jacob von der Warte-all of