The poetic generation after WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE is clearly dominated by the AustroBavarian poet Neidhart (only in his poetry he
calls himself, with tongue-in-cheek, von Reuenthal, or “of the dale of sorrow”). In his songs he
mentions many names of places and towns in
Austria, and there are references in his poems to
Duke Frederick II of Austria (1230–46) as his patron, to political events in the 1230s, and to a
Crusade. This Crusade could have been the expedition of Leopold of Austria in 1217 and 1218, or
Emperor Frederick II’s Crusade in 1228 and 1229.
WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH mentions Neidhart
in his Willehalm epos (ca. 1220) as a well-known
singer, whereas Wernher der Gartenære talks in
his Meier Helmbrecht (ca. 1260–70) about Neid-
hart as already dead. This gives us a framework
for his life from ca. 1180/1190 to ca. 1240. The
Manessische Liederhandschrift (ms. C, early 14th
century) includes a fictionalized portrait of the
poet standing between some peasants.
Neidhart is famous for the introduction of two
specific types of love songs, the Summer song and
the Winter song. Whereas in the former the figure
Neidhart is highly successful in winning the love of
the country girls (by itself a grotesque parody of
traditional COURTLY LOVE poetry), in the latter his
economic woes prove to be his greatest hindrance
as the rich peasant lads (many are named) are the
clear winners in the competition for the village
girls. Neidhart also offers remarkable motherdaughter dialogue poems, describes winter sport,
formulates harsh criticism of peasants, and satirizes old women who display uncontrollable sexual
desires. Neidhart projects humorous, but also very
negative images of peasant life, but it seems that
the true target of his criticism is the lower nobility, here cast in the image of peasants. Neidhart enjoyed tremendous popularity, documented not
only by 25 manuscripts and three early-modern
prints, but also by a large number of pseudo-Neidhart songs, grotesque and obscene verse novellas
about the Neidhart figure, and Neidhart-Shrovetide plays from the later Middle Ages. Remarkably
the melodies of many of his songs have been preserved in several 15th-century manuscripts.
Bibliography
Shockey, Gary. “ ‘Gein wem solt ich mich zâfen?’: The
Peasant Lady Speaks in Summer Lay 14 of Neidhart,” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 102, no. 4
(2001): 469–481.
Simon, Eckhard. Neidhart von Reuental. Boston:
Twayne, 1975.
Traverse, Elizabeth. Peasants, Season and Werltsüeze:
Cyclicity in Neidhart’s Songs Reexamined. Göppingen, Germany: Kümmerle, 1997.
Wießner, Edmiund, ed. Die Lieder Neidharts. Fortgeführt von Hanns Fischer. 4th rev. Edited by Paul
Sappler. Altdeutsche Textbibliothek, 44. Tübingen,
Germany: Niemeyer, 1984.
Albrecht Classen