Women's honor

When women honor of Stricker is a didactic didactic poem, which was created in the first half of the 13th century in Lower Austria.

The poem is aimed primarily at court society in the high Middle Ages. In particular, the knights are addressed, whose un virtuous behavior the narrator laments. You violate the rules of proper love , as it corresponded to the social ideas of the time. In doing so, they question the ethical and cultural foundations of chivalry. With his teaching of the mines, the narrator therefore consciously tries to influence court society. The duties of a knight include praise and the tireless pursuit of the favor of women at court. The role of women is also clearly defined. Through her virtue she not only conveys joy and honor to the knight, but also contributes to his moral purification. In this way, it indirectly helps him to fulfill his duties as ruler.

The poem has been handed down in fragments in four manuscripts. Among them are the oldest, the Viennese manuscript 2705 and the Ambraser Heldenbuch . On the basis of these manuscripts, research has reconstructed a uniform version of women's honor . The coherent text is now available to readers in different editions .

In terms of content, only a few topics are dealt with in women's honor . Several lines of argument aim to stimulate thought in the audience. A multitude of rhetorical figures and tropes also add to the complexity of the poem.

The honor of women occupies a special position in German literature of the high Middle Ages , as the piece cannot be assigned to a specific genre . In addition to elements from the Minne lyric and the chant , the didactic poem contains passages that are very close to spiritual poetry and epic. It is also expanded with an allegory and a bîspel .

The success of the women's honor hoped for by the knitter failed to materialize . In any case, there is no evidence for the reception of the poem. Since he belonged to the class of traveling professional poets and was therefore dependent on the financial contributions of the public, the knitter later turned to other literary forms. Through his rhyming couple poems, novels and fairs , he finally became one of the most important writers of his time.

Structure and content of the didactic poem

The work can be roughly divided into three parts: a prologue (verse 1-180), a middle section (v. 181-1804) and a concluding epilogue (v. 1805-1902). The extensive middle section contains, in addition to disputes and Minnesian poetry, elements from folk etymology , several allegories, catalogs of virtues for men and women, and a final example.

Prologue (v.1-180)

• • The poet argues with his heart. He complains that court society is no longer what it once was and that it constantly demands new documents. The conversation ends with the decision to comply with the audience's request and design a new women's prize .
  • The knitter is committed to the status of traveling professional poets and explains his resulting ignorance of women.

sin live unde vrouwen pris, / they are unknown to another. (v.142f)

His life and the women's award they are unknown to each other.

• • This is followed by a demarcation against those who think differently and the complaint that the women's price has deteriorated.

Middle section (v.181-1804)

Verse indication	content
(v.181-260)	Women have divine grace and should therefore be praised. the ere gave in got / that one should recognize oneself on earth / ze to the host / should be recognized with eren / and ir lop iemer meren. (v.226-230) God gave them the honor that they should be honored on earth as the highest being [...] and their praise should always be increased.
(v. 261-301)	Allegory of woman grace . In praising the woman, the man receives her grace. It is all the greater, the more eagerly the man seeks the favor of the woman. In a figurative sense, the woman brings the results of his striving to the woman. Grace , which decides the happiness of man and woman.
(v. 302-379)	Determination of the qualities a woman must possess in order to earn the name vrouwe (New High German: lady - the linguistic designations of New High German and Middle High German are abbreviated as nhd and mhd in the following ). Next, the narrator defines right love . The meaning of the term Minne used in court literature of the high Middle Ages does not coincide with that of the New High German word love . Love encompasses the social duties of high-ranking persons at court; especially the tireless pursuit of the knights and the non-return of their efforts by the court ladies. For knights and knight sons, love is a child's play (nhd .: children's game). ir minne is a child's game / bi whom the wolves should advise, / both knights and knights kint. (v. 338ff) Your love is child's play in which [both knights and knights' sons] are well advised, At present, however, there is a valsheez life (nhd .: false life; v. 371).
(v.380-519)	The virtues of women are praised. The narrator uses visual comparisons for this: The beauty of women exceeds that of nature and the month of May. A virtuous man thinks he is in paradise at the sight of them. how should bluomen unde shin / den ougen so süeze sin / so diu seen the vrouwen? / […] / sint sunk in the vröude, / daz in des dunken, / he si come in daz paradis./ (v.397ff; 417ff) How would flowers and trees appear as beautiful to the eyes as the face of women? [...] Once they have sunk into joy, he begins to believe that he has come to paradise.
(v.520-568)	Catalog of virtues with the characteristics that a knight must have in order to be able to perform proper love service.
(v.569-785)	Without women there would be no knighthood. They are both a condition and a justification of a chivalric life (v. 569-580). Further comparisons are made: God created women like angels and women are the flowers of the world (v.593; 598). Women give the knight vröude (nhd .: joy) and êre (nhd .: honor) (v.623; 627; 641). Repeated mention of the knightly virtues. Antithesis: Differentiation from those who have no virtue. To them, the narrator counts the gelîchsenaere (NHG hypocrites from MHG weak verb.. Gelîchesen - NHG .: feign v 711th) and the rüemaere (ndh bouncer v 748th.)
(v.786-1095)	The most important thing in the world is the joy that women give to knights. Women are therefore the heart of the world. If the world were without women, it would be ane heart (nhd .: without heart; v. 808-812). In an excursus, the narrator ties in with the vrouwe-wîp discussion that existed in court literature at the time: Those who are called wîp (nhd.:Weib) should not be ashamed of the name. Basically the terms vrouwe and wîp are the same and the term vrouwe honors every virtuous woman, poor or rich (v.852-889). Next, the narrator names the people who have no chivalrous virtues and therefore have no part in joy (v. 935-1030). The knitter distinguishes between 1. those who became hermits because of God, 2. those who were deprived of their joie de vivre by the devil, 3. people who were excluded from society because of wickedness or infidelity, 4. the eternally sorrowful or joyless , 5. twisted people with no concept of virtue or social reference and finally 6. fools who understand nothing and live like cattle. The list is followed by an assessment and a conclusion by the narrator. In an insert from the folk etymology, the narrator explains the connection between the term vrouwe and the verb vröuwen . One should like to wizzen daz, / through which schult and umbe waz / man vrouwen call '' vrouwe '/ [...] / daz vrouwen lip unde live / sol vrouwen and givee, / that is recognizable by name./ [...] / in what ir vröuwen wol known, / the vrouwen vrouwen namen vant (v. 1069-1091) One should like to know through what guilt and why women are called vrouwe [...] the women's body and life should have and give joy, you can tell from their name [...] He was well aware of their joy, who gave the women their names Has
(v. 1096-1385)	Allegory of the virtue tree. The virtues of women are as varied as a forest full of trees. The individual virtues of women are assigned to components of the tree, the trunk, the branches, the flowers, etc. and then explained in detail.
(v.1393–1495)	This is followed by a direct address to the audience by the narrator and a summary of the previous moral teaching. The section ends with a demarcation from the poet's personal opponents and enemies of women.
(v.1496–1614)	Transition to the example : The difference between women and knights is that women always behave virtuously. Many knights slacken their virtues because the ministry is too difficult for them. Announcement of an exemplary narrative that should clarify the consequences of dishonorable love. the gave the strite a zil, / si duhte the work ze vil, / sus wart diu vröude verlan./ […] / and wellent ritter walten / the erelosen minne, / […] / so landlord vil sheer dies / the knight vröude so even, / [...] / I say iu wol ein maere / because with me both of them / part from each other / and the guilty rebuke (v. 1543ff; 1584-1589; 1608-1611) They gave the argument a goal, it burdened the work too much, so the joy subsided. [...] And want Ritter exercise of honorable loose Minne [...] so [the Knights joy] will end completely, [...] I tell you a Mare with whom I both [the infamous and the virtuous knight] separate from each other and the guilty accusation
(v.1615-1804)	Ackermann's example: First of all, there is a story of a farmer who harvests the grain in the field before it is ripe. The other farmers complain about this behavior, whereupon the farmer is punished by the high court for his deed. The story is then transferred to the real situation at the medieval courts: the narrator concludes that knights who treat women badly or who do not seek their favor enough die without honor and joy. he should die ane vröude / and should acquire the lon, / which the evil liute acquired / the ane korn perish (v.1761–1764) He is to die without joy and to get the reward that the wicked people who died without grain got

Epilogue (v.1806-1902)

• • The narrator repeats once more: Joy is the most important thing in the world, virtuous women are the heart of the world and the source of joy and honor.
  • Increase the initially established theory, women possess divine grace, to a final punch: women are the other got the werlde (NHG .: the second God of the world).
  • The poet once again acknowledges his affiliation with the class of travelers and thus again justifies his ignorance of women.
  • The poem ends with mendicant verses to the audience and (potential) patrons, befitting their class and usual for literary texts of the time :

I get chased away min armout; / daz si den vrouwen complained, / because I don't praise me, / wan daz confused me armout (v. 1897–1900)

[May] my poverty be dispelled; by complaining to women [may] not prevent me from praising them unless it makes my poverty worse

Tradition and edition of women's honor

The honor of women has been handed down in fragments in four different manuscripts. Both the Heidelberg manuscript Cod. Pal. germ. 341 (hereinafter referred to with the sigle H) as well as the Codex Bodmer 72 (hereinafter: K) contain, in the context of several dozen short poems of verse, a rhyming text with the heading “Ditz ist von der vrouwen ere / Die die werlt zieret sere " . The two copies are the basis of all scientific editions of the honor of women and have a length of 1608 and 1688 verses. Manuscript K contains 80 verses accidentally duplicated. The resulting order 1260/1290 and thus oldest Vienna manuscript no. 2705 (hereinafter abbreviated by the letter A) contains a überschriftslos received text that today women honor is attributed. Some passages of this text agree with the manuscripts H / K. The 102 verse long piece is very close to the knitting technique and the usual rhyme use of the knitter. Because of the lack of author assignments in handwriting A, it is not possible to say whether it is actually a work by the knitter. Finally, there is a piece in the Ambraser Heldenbuch (Vienna Cod. Sn 2663 - hereinafter abbreviated by the letter d) with the heading “der frawn lob” . It begins with verses 1321 and 1401 of the manuscripts H / K and is regarded as a supplementary text source of the didactic poem because of its partly different or additional verses.

For almost 100 years, research has dealt with traditional and edition-related problems of women's honor . The literary scholars Franz Pfeiffer , Hans Lambel, Karl-Ferdinand Kummer and Maria Maurer tried in their studies to reconstruct the form originally conceived by the poet. However, they completely ignored the question of the literary historical significance of the piece. There is now a consensus that the individual and scattered parts of women's honor cannot be combined into a single poem. A critical edition , as intended by Karl Lachmann, is hardly possible. According to his model, the first step is the recensio (checking examination) of an archetype of the tradition by comparing different traditions. This is followed by the emendation , the improvement or adaptation of the reconstructed text to the historical context of its creation. However, the tradition of women's honor is neither closed, nor can the relationship of the manuscripts involved in it be precisely determined. The reason for this is that the individual text passages cannot be clearly assigned to the knitter. When creating the manuscripts, more emphasis was generally placed on grouping the texts according to topic than on author assignments and other sources. A work was therefore always related to a thematic association with others, regardless of the author.

The manuscripts H and K are largely identical in terms of painting and font. This applies to all of its content. The wording and minor errors that arose while writing down the texts are also similar. Maria Maurer therefore suspected that both manuscripts go back to a common model. Other positions assume that there were several versions of women's honor from the beginning . Multiple edits of one and the same piece are not uncommon for knitters and also for other authors of the high Middle Ages. The reason for this is that most of the literary texts of the high Middle Ages were initially intended for oral presentation. They found their way into the various manuscripts only later. So it is quite possible that the knitter himself or other speakers adapted the poem to the respective situation and the audience and thus different forms of women's honor developed over time. The short fragment from the Viennese manuscript (A) could be a text passage that was taken from an originally larger context and presented separately.

Structure of women's honor

Form and position in the overall work of the knitter

The honor of women is a didactic poem about the correct ministry, which alternates between praise and instruction. It occupies an isolated position both in the complete works of Strickers and in the rest of German literature of the 13th century.

In terms of content, the knitter takes up an already familiar topic, the women's prize. In a women's award song , also known as Minne leich , women in general or an individual woman were praised in a particularly artistic representation. "The novelty of the one woman of honor is' [...] in their formal structure, the fusion of many of epic and lyric well-known aspects of love themes into a single, multi-faceted theoretical-didactic poem." . In the prologue to women's honor , the knitter made it clear that he deliberately wanted to create a new form of women's award with his poem .

Sit man niuwer maere gert / nu volge in as ir will si, / [...] / Thu said min heart but too / daz me daz waegeste tuo / and give a lop to the vrouwen, (v. 74f; 83ff).

Because one asks for new stories (now) follow their will, [...] My heart advised me to do this to do the best (most reasonable) and to give praise to women

From his writings it can be seen that the knitter had an extensive education. This includes knowledge of the basics of the French language, law and theology. In addition, he was very familiar with existing cultural and social conventions, whether through personal experience or through intensive literature study. The region of Lower Austria in which he worked was under the influence of the cultural centers of Paris and Cologne. Some sections of the woman honor show a striking resemblance to the originally from French literature Minne speeches . In the German courtly novels there was only a marginal discussion of the Minne issue and related questions. Over the years, the mini excursions became independent. Since the end of the 13th century, the Minnerede has been referred to as an independent genre. The honor of women shows that the knitter perceived important literary impulses early on and incorporated them into his works.

writing style

The didactic poem consists of rhymed pairs of rhymes , which are structured according to the scheme aa bb cc dd . The verses are four-lobed, with raising and lowering alternating in regular rotation.

Swer Rehter Liebe niemer m ac / gepflegen still ir never gepfl ac / who turns si iemer swa he k at ./ Ez si wip or m an , / the real love affirms / and liep von liebe sch eident , / [...] (v.761-766)

Who never likes to cultivate real love never cared for he prevents them whenever he can. Be it woman or man, who feel the sorrow of true love and separate the pleasant from love, [...]

In the conception of the poem, the knitter took over literary models known to him, transformed them and thus gave them a different meaning. For example, he processes motifs from classic courtly novels, modifies them and gives them a new meaning. Or he takes over the language formulas from the poetry and uses them in a completely foreign context. The literary historian Hanns Fischer was one of the first to find linguistic formulas, images and comparisons from the classical courtly poetry of the Staufer era in the knitter's work. The knitter ties in with the literary traditions of minstrels by making use of very pictorial language in many places in his didactic poem. The metaphorical terms mostly come from the realm of nature. He compares women with the month of May, with trees and flowers. The elements gold and silver symbolize beauty and poverty for him (v. 385f & 1113; v.350). The typical stylistic devices of Middle High German didactic poetry include the rhetorical question and the alternation between speech and counter-speech. Both can also be found in women's honor .

I see the virtues of violence! (v.1106) Which is the virtue of power, / who manicvalt the virtues / der werlt ze all quotes / and nobody a virtuous host? (v.1135–1138)

I have seen the forest of virtues! Which is the forest of virtues, of the manifold virtues the world at all times And will never be without virtues?

The author uses the rhetorical question to express his subjective impression. By creating a fictional conversation, the author directly involves the audience without addressing it directly. An example of this is the poet's argument with his heart at the beginning of the play.

Min heart argued with me, [...] / I said , they are dead, / kept the few virtues / [...] / as reflected spoke daz herze min : / nu praise si unz si guot sin; / who are still in high spirits / (v.1-14)

My heart fought with me [...] I said 'dead are those who kept many virtues. [...] then my heart replied: now praise them as long as they are good; who are in the [state of] high courage.

The honor of women also contains numerous word figures such as alliterations , antitheses and anaphora .

Alliterations:	l ip unde l just (v.225) with the w erlde w hould w esen (v.588) I ir g üete g ar g esaget (v. 1831)	Body and life Those who wanted to endure with the world I have fully called their goodness
Antitheses:	des hazzes süeze (v.135) guot and sleht (v.199) junc or old (v.528)	The sweetness of hatred good and bad young or old
Anaphora:	Si sint of a crown vröude Si sint a liht the tougen (v.434f) A mirror of thought A widerstrît the waver A herze the staete (v.445ff)	You are a crown to joy You are a light of miracles A mirror of thoughts A conflict of doubts A heart of constancy

The male virtues

The term knight in women's honor

It is undisputed that the knitter tried to influence the ethical foundations of chivalry of his time with his didactic poem.

In the original sense, knights were soldiers who did military service. With the emergence of courts in the Middle Ages and forms of social life, certain ethical foundations also developed. There were precise ideas about how the men (and women) should behave appropriately. One of the duties of a knight was to treat the women at court well and to venerate them. The term minne service was derived from this requirement . In the literature of the high Middle Ages, there was the ideal image of the so-called high love , according to which the knight tirelessly sought the favor of a lady. This persistent striving for love was equated with the service of the vassal (term for a servant) to the employer. He was of vital importance to court society. If the knight did not behave properly, the woman ignored him. Without their favor, however, the knight led a joyless life, according to the opinion of the time. On the other hand, those who adhered to the guidelines gained respect at court.

In verses 495-588 of the honor of women , the narrator goes into the desired characteristics of men for the first time. The catalog of virtues found in it is used several times in the further course of the poem.

We should have complete Ir grace, ir service and ir favor / And the hunted with Rehter art / The muoz two sin tugent./ Ern sol daz age and the youth / do not part from each other; / he should in both / and should ir both han violence: / so he is always young and old. (v. 520-528) He should also be wise the old and the grisen / matched with the knowledge: / so in the wisen lon is ready. (v. 531-534) Because he the rich maze / bi the milte remain laze / and the vow of minne / and the manhood by the senses / the states bi der triuwe, / the buoze bi der riuwe, / the best bi of truth, / be patient for work, / bi hochvart diemüete, / modesty bi of goodness / and the vuoge bi of shame. (v. 537-547)

who your perfect Devotion wants to have admiration and favor and acquires it according to custom, it must have two virtues. He is supposed to age and youth do not separate from each other; he should follow them both and shall have power over both: then he is always young and old. He shall also give the chiefs, the old and the old like with wisdom: then he gets [her] wages. That he has the mighty powers lets stay with friendliness and [keeps] joy with love and the manhood in mind the consistency in reliability, the improvement in repentance the good upbringing on probation [in battle] Patience at work, Modesty in noble living wise action in kindness and the decency of shame.

The narrator's argument leads to the above-mentioned conclusion that without women and the women's award there would be no knighthood. Love is raised to be the queen of virtues. If it is absent, all other virtues are worthless. Therefore the most important duty of the knight is to render love to the woman. The narrator emphasizes his demands by repeatedly establishing a direct reference to God and his fixed order.

Haete diu werlt niht vrouwen, / what should one knight schouwen? / Who would they be known? / Zwiu should then be good? What would there be in then high muot? [...] / Got was subject to that. he has in many lands / loved the knights we live; / he gave in vrouwen, / which he created for the angels (v. 569ff; 589-593)

If there were no women in the world where could you see knights? How would they be recognizable? Then who should dress him well? Then what would give him great courage? [...] God understood that. he has in many countries loved the life of knights; he gave him women which he created like angels.

Women are the origin of all virtues, as they encourage men to do ministry. Your favor gives joy and honor within court society. But only a virtuous man can do real love ministry. For this reason, the narrator warns the women that they should beware of gelichsenaere [n] (nhd .: hypocrites; v. 711) and also rüemaere [n] (nhd .: boasters; v. 748).

But if she is well nimed, because he uses the vrouwen misscinnamon, according to mac si keren. Swenne he is the same I don't want to take care of your hats, he is because of ir ere ouch under (v. 729-734)

She should certainly know that he resents women, she may act accordingly. If he's on his own terms does not pay attention and does not want to take care of it, he also leaves her honor on the way.

The words are aimed at the women at first sight, but indirectly the knights are asked to behave virtuously. This shows a contradiction in Stricker's theory of mines. On the one hand, a knight can only do ministry if he behaves virtuously. On the other hand, virtue only comes to him through women. Women are therefore both a prerequisite and a justification for a knightly existence.

Depraved virtue: the plowman's example

In the Bîspel vom Ackermann , which is part of women's honor , the knitter illustrates his general doctrine of virtue, which he previously presented in an abstract manner.

The Bîspel vom Ackermann is integrated into the didactic work as an independent internal unit and corresponds to the typical characteristics of the genre. This includes its engraved form , i.e. the retention of a single meter , and the relatively short length of 189 verses. It is divided into two sections. The part of the picture (1615–1690) tells of a curious incident. In the following exposition (v.1691–1725) the fictional situation is generalized and transferred to a real context. In the image part of the women's honor , the heterodiegetic narrator reports on a farmer who mows his grain out of impatience before it is ripe. The work in the field is too little for him, measured against the subsequent yield.

he said 'there is work / ze groz and is thou verdikeit ze small, (v. 1635ff)

He said there is work too big and the yield too small,

Other peasants notice the farmer's deed and accuse him in court. He is convicted by a judge for his wrongdoing. Since he has not sufficiently valued the yields of his field, no more grain will be given to him in the future either. From now on he has to starve and live without joy.

In the interpretation part , history and teaching intent are brought into harmony. Bîspel are generally characterized by a high level of visual language. In the case of women's honor , motifs from nature are used for comparison with the courtly world. The farmer's field is symbolic of his wife. The grain is the fruit of her love: Daz korn is called vröude (nhd .: the grain [is] called joy; v.1707). In reality, the grain is ephemeral, but not the woman's love. In principle, it is infinite. However, if you treat the plant inappropriately, it will die and with it the joy it brought its owner.

should he acquire daz obez, / there is no force too much. (v. 1366f)

if he wants to acquire the fruits [of the tree of virtue], there is no violence involved.

The story of the peasant is carried over to court society in the following part. He represents the knights, for whom the service of women seems too laborious and who therefore want to forego love . In doing so, they also renounce the joy that only women can give the knight. The element of jurisdiction is a new feature of the Stricker, closely resembles the in the later Minne speeches often occurring fictitious Minne courts has. In both cases it is a staged representation of a condemnation of those who have not obeyed the laws of the love service . The offense against the ideals of court society is punished with the isolation of the perpetrator.

Secular examples, like that in women's honor , always argue ordo- related and conservative. The Ordo denoted the social rank that a person held. In the high Middle Ages, society was divided into three groups according to functions. The class included the clergy, teachers and writers. The second class (military class) represented the knights / the nobility. After all, the farmers belonged to the so-called nutritional status. According to the idea, this order was given by God and should not be doubted. If you behaved improperly, it had far-reaching consequences. In the worst case, the affected person was threatened with social decline.

The figure of the farmer was often taken by poets to make it clear to the public what tragic consequences the failure to apply moral principles can have. If the story was set in the rural sphere, the poet could present his teaching openly. At the same time, a generally disparaging attitude towards the lower class became clear. Most of the Bîspel farmers were simple-minded and stupid and therefore incapable of loving courtly. The high love was tied exclusively to the court and the courtly manners. The farmer who, in his uncouth manner, does not adhere to social morals, has to live with his difficult fate. As a result, he is both a mockery and a comical figure of the bîspel . His role was not just to amuse the audience. Rather, it should recognize that it must escape the fate of the farmer at all costs. If the audience was put off, the author's work was done.

The role of the court lady

In many places of women's honor , the beauty of women is emphasized, which is to be admired. Stylistically, the author of the poem made use of pictorial comparisons from nature. Women exceed the beauty of May and flowers in their grace. The praise is even heightened by drawing on motifs from the divine. Every man thinks he is in paradise when he sees a woman (v.397ff; 417-421).

The ideal of high love envisaged that women, unlike knights, should be virtuous and infallible. Because of this, they were portrayed as graceful and beautiful in court literature. Her appearance was an expression of the true and good of her soul, a mirror of inner beauty. The virtue of women serves one purpose - to purify the man. The courtly lady awakens in him the great power of love by animating the knight to do love with her beauty and exemplary behavior. In this way, she passes on the values ​​she represents to the knight. After successful, tireless advertising, the man is ultimately virtuous too. He obtained êre (nhd .: honor) at court.

Ditz is the one who gives you: / There knights knightly lives, / That’s what the vrouwen did. (v.641ff)

This is the honor they give: That the knights live chivalally They get that from women.

One did not automatically have social prestige just because one held a certain position at court. A member of the upper class had to earn it first by behaving in accordance with the Christian commandments, as well as meeting social expectations and doing ministry. Love and marriage were therefore not private affairs, but central values ​​of the court public.

In contrast to the ideal of high love, in which the lady was always aloof, the fulfillment of the desire for love is quite possible in women's honor . Before that, love ministry consisted of a tireless pursuit of favor with women, in which men demonstrated their perseverance and moral strength. Marriage was excluded from love. It's different with the knitter. He is thus considered to be a pioneer in the bourgeoisisation of Minne didactics, towards a changed conception of marriage and the relationship between man and woman.

In women's honor, the knitter has reversed the actual gender relationship. Women were generally thought to be imperfect and dependent. They needed constant guidance from their husbands. In line with this, it is in the land of Canon Law, the Decree of Gratian from the 12th century that the woman because of her state of servitude [...] the man in particular subject to be [to] (lat .: propter condicionem seruitutis , qua uiro in omnibus debet subesse ; vlg. Gratian around 1150, column 1254) The Decretum Gratiani was created in the middle of the 12th century and is one of the main works of the Camaldolese monk Gratian. But not only here, also in the Christian literature of the Middle Ages, women were mostly portrayed as a morally weak being who easily succumbed to temptation.

Impact history

Audience and client

It is assumed that the knitter, because of his status as a traveling professional poet, wrote for no specific audience. The honor of women is aimed primarily at court society, but it is assumed that he also wanted to reach listeners from the upper middle class and clerical circles. The teaching of the knitter is therefore applied across all classes. Evidence for this can be found in the descriptions of the duties and characteristics of knights and women, which are kept very general. He also takes up the vrouwe-wîp discussion (v.786-1095) that existed in medieval court literature in the honor of women . The narrator emphasizes here that there is basically no difference between women of different social classes. He even makes concessions to the poor, saying that poverty harms the exercise of right love . For wealthy knights, however, love must be child's play .

An assignment to patrons, certain rulers or institutions in the vicinity of the knitter is not possible, as there are only very vague indications in his work. It is assumed that the honor of women originated in Lower Austria at the beginning of the Stricker's Bîspel period at the end of the 1220s and the beginning of the 1230s. The assumption of the literary scholar Hermann Menhardt that the knitter could have written the poem in honor of Duke Friedrich II's sister Constanze on the occasion of her marriage in 1231 has not yet been confirmed. In some places, however, there are indications that suggest a women's community as the client. During the knitter's creative period, starting with the French courts, a social change took place that gave women greater freedom than the law that had been in effect until then. Under the protection of courtly society, they were no longer subject to men in everything as before. They therefore made their own decisions and used the conviviality at court to educate themselves. It is therefore very likely that courtly poetry was also based on the wishes and judgment of noble ladies.

reception

The honor of women has only been handed down in fragments in various manuscripts and has hardly been received. Often performed pieces were mostly taken up by other authors and processed in their own works. There is, however, no reliable evidence of intertextual references to women's honor. One possible reason for the poem's lack of success could be its prominent position. The knitter created a form of women's award that was new and unfamiliar. She found no imitators. As a traveling professional poet he was dependent on financial donations from patrons, the knitter turned to other forms of writing in the following years, which apparently corresponded more to the taste of the public. Examples are the mare or the bîspel. With his later pieces, which were widely imitated, the knitter made a decisive contribution to the further development of court literature of the 13th century.

Picture gallery

• 

  Viennese manuscript No. 2705 (A), sheet 54 ^vab (women's honor from 429-454)

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  Viennese manuscript No. 2705 (A), sheet 55 ^rab (women's honor from 455-510, from 569-588)

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  Heidelberg manuscript Cod. Pal. germ. 341 (H), sheet 283 ^rab (honor of women from 1-48)

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  Ambraser Heldenbuch (Vienna Cod. Sn 2663 - d), sheet 1 ^rabc (honor of women from 1321–1526)

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  Ambraser Heldenbuch (Vienna Cod. Sn 2663 - d), sheet 1 ^ra (excerpt: Frau Ehren v. 1321–1352)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The following verses refer to Klaus Hofmann (Hrsg.): Strickers 'Frauenehre'. Tradition, textual criticism, edition, literary historical classification. NG Elwert Verlag, Marburg 1976.
2. ↑ The translations into New High German do not claim to be completely correct. The following was used as a working aid: Matthias Lexer (Ed.): Middle High German Pocket Dictionary. S. Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart 1992.
3. ↑ II The honor of women. In: Sabine Böhm: The Stricker - a poet profile based on his complete works. European university publications, series 1, vol. 1530, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. u. a. 1995, p. 137.
4. ↑ Codex Bodmer 72, Bodmeriana Library, Cologny-Genève. Former name: Kalocsa Codex 1, Archbishop's Library. See Hans-Joachim Ziegeler et al. a .: The knitter. In Burghart Wachinger u. a. (Ed.): Author's Lexicon. 2nd Edition. Volume 9. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995, line 427 f.
5. ↑ In contrast to the facsimile edition , the color or black-and-white reproduction of the original text, and the diplomatic print , the unchanged reproduction of the text with modern characters, one speaks of an edition when the editor either tries to extract the original text from various sources To reconstruct sources (master manuscript principle), or if a normalized manuscript is available. This form is also called an adjusted handwriting impression and sees minor changes in the text, e.g. B. Standardization of different spellings. Most of the time, one orientates oneself on the oldest surviving text and corrects obvious errors by comparing them with other sources. See Horst Brunner (Hrsg.): History of German literature in the Middle Ages at a glance. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2007, p. 24f.
6. ↑ Franz Pfeiffer: Women's honor from the knitter. In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature (7) 1849, pp. 478–521; Hans Lambel: On the tradition and criticism of the women's honor of the knitter. In: Symbolae Pragenses. Vienna 1893, pp. 82-98.
7. ↑ Horst Brunner (ed.): History of German literature in the Middle Ages at a glance. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2007, p. 25.
8. ^ Ziegeler, line 432.
9. ↑ Maria Maurer: Die 'Frauenehre' von dem Stricker , zugl. Diss. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg 1927, S. 3f.
10. ^ Ingeborg Glier: Artes amandi. Investigation of the history, tradition and typology of German miner speeches. In: Munich texts and studies on German literature of the Middle Ages (MTU). Vol. 34, Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1971, p. 37.
11. ↑ Karl-Ernst Geith u. a .: The knitter. In: Burghart Wachinger u. a. (Ed.): Author's Lexicon. 2nd Edition. Volume 9. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995, p. 419.
12. ↑ John Margetts: I have the courage and the sit / which I heart learns. Self-sense in the knitter? In: Emilio González (Hrsg.): Die Kleinepik des Strickers: Texts, genre traditions and problems of interpretation, philological studies and sources. Vol. 199, Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 130.
13. ↑ Maurer, pp. 9-12.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Böhm, p. 131.
15. ↑ Hilkert Weddige (Ed.): Introduction to Germanistic Medieval Studies. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, p. 255.
16. ↑ In the Middle Ages, pride had a different meaning than it does today. At that time it was said as much as: joyfully elevated, festive mood, for example at court festivals or knight tournaments.
17. ↑ Dieter Vogt: Knight image and knight teaching in the instructive small poetry of the knitter and in so-called Seifried Helbling. In: European University Writings. Series 1, Vol. 845, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1985, p. 133 f.
18. ↑ Franz-Josef Holznagel: Tamed Fictionality. On the poetics of the Reimpaarbîspels. In Emilio González (ed.): Die Strickers' Kleinepik: Texts, genre traditions and problems of interpretation. Philological studies and sources. Volume 199. Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 47; 60.
19. ↑ Holznagel, p. 49ff.
20. ↑ Holznagel, p. 58
21. ↑ Weddige, pp. 160f.
22. ↑ Gerhard Köpf (Ed.): Märendichtung. JB Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1978, p. 69.
23. ↑ Joachim Bumke (ed.): Court culture. Literature and society in the high Middle Ages. Vol. 2, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich ³1986, p. 423; 452.
24. ↑ Böhm, pp. 140f.
25. ↑ Bumke, p. 428; 452.
26. ↑ Bumke, pp. 454ff.
27. ^ Böhm, p. 137.
28. ^ Ziegeler, line 434
29. ↑ Dieter Vogt: Knight image and knight teaching in the instructive small poetry of the knitter and in so-called Seifried Helbling. European University Papers Series I, Vol. 845, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1985, p. 139.
30. ↑ Weddige, p. 174.
31. ^ Vogt, p. 132.
32. ↑ Geith, Z. 418f
33. ↑ Köpf, p. 52.
34. ↑ Elke Ukena-Best: The knitter. Smaller seals. Attribution problems. In: Burghart Wachinger u. a. (Ed.): Author's Lexicon. 2nd Edition. Volume 9. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995, line 434.
35. ↑ Weddige, p. 183.
36. ↑ For example, Maria Maurer examined women's honor with regard to its parallels to the courtly epic. Her special focus was on Gottfried von Strasbourg's Tristan, in which there is a passage that is headed with the words "the highest praise for women" . See Maurer, p. 13.

• Klaus Hofmann (Ed.): Strickers 'Frauenehre'. Tradition, textual criticism, edition, literary historical classification. NG Elwert Verlag, Marburg 1976.

1. ↑ p. 2
2. ↑ p. 4f.
3. ↑ p. 29.
4. ↑ p. 3; 6; 228
5. ↑ p. 169.
6. ↑ p. 166; 169; 174.
7. ↑ pp. 172-175.
8. ↑ p. 185f.
9. ↑ p. 229.
10. ↑ p. 237ff.
11. ↑ p. 238.

List of symbols

Sheet xy rab (c) Handwriting A Handwriting d Handwriting H Handwriting K lat nhd mhd sp. v. z.

Parchment sheet No. xy recto, columns a, b (and c) Viennese manuscript No. 2705 Ambraser Heldenbuch, Vienna Codex Ser. Nov. 2663 Heidelberg manuscript, Codices Palatini germanici 341 Kalocsa Codex 1, today's name: Codex Bodmer 72, Library Bodmeriana, Cologny-Genève Latin New High German Middle High German column verse row

literature

Text output

• Klaus Hofmann (Ed.): Strickers 'Frauenehre'. Tradition, textual criticism, edition, literary historical classification. NG Elwert Verlag, Marburg 1976, ISBN 3-7708-0550-X .
• Maria Maurer: The 'women's honor' from the knitter. Certified dissertation at the Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg 1927.

Research literature on women's honor

• The honor of women. Chapter II, In: Sabine Böhm: The Stricker - a poet profile based on his complete works. European university publications, series 1, vol. 1530, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. u. 1995, ISBN 3-631-49214-6 , pp. 131-146.
• Franz-Josef Holznagel: Tamed Fictionality. On the poetics of the Reimpaarbispel. In Emilio González (ed.): Die Strickers' Kleinepik: Texts, genre traditions and problems of interpretation. Philological Studies and Sources, Vol. 199, Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-503-07983-1 , pp. 47-71.
• John Margetts: I have the courage and the sit / that I love. Self-sense in the knitter? In: Emilio González (Hrsg.): Die Kleinepik des Strickers: Texts, genre traditions and problems of interpretation. Philological studies and sources, Vol. 199, Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-503-07983-1 , pp. 117-134.
• Dieter Vogt: image of knights and apprenticeships in knitter's didactic small poetry and in so-called Seifried Helbling. European University Papers, Series 1, Vol. 845, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1985, ISBN 3-8204-8298-9 .

Working aids and further literature

• Horst Brunner (Hrsg.): History of the German literature of the Middle Ages at a glance. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-009485-3 .
• Joachim Bumke (Ed.): Court culture. Literature and society in the high Middle Ages. Vol. 1 and 2, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich ³1986, ISBN 3-423-30170-8 .
• Karl-Ernst Geith, Elke Ukena-Best, Hans-Joachim Ziegeler: The knitter. In: Burghart Wachinger u. a. (Ed.): Author's Lexicon. 2nd Edition. Volume 9. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995, ISBN 3-11-016911-8 , Z.417-449.
• Ingeborg Glier: Artes amandi. Investigation of the history, tradition and typology of German miner speeches. In: Munich texts and studies on German literature of the Middle Ages (MTU). Vol. 34, Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1971, ISBN 3-406-02834-9 .
• Gerhard Köpf (Ed.): Fairy Poetry. JB Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-476-10166-5 .
• Matthias Lexer (Ed.): Middle High German pocket dictionary. S. Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-7776-0494-1 .
• Hilkert Weddige (Ed.): Introduction to Germanistic Medieval Studies. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-36749-6 .

Image sources

• Manuscript A (parchment 23.8 cm × 15.8 cm, around 1260/1290)
• Manuscript H (parchment 30.8 cm × 22.5 cm, around 1320/30)
• Manuscript d (parchment 48.5 cm × 36.5 cm, 1502–1517 by Hanns Ried)