Leuthold von Seven

Pictorial representation of Leuthold von Seven in Codex Manesse (164v)

Leuthold von Seven was probably a traveling minstrel and song poet from the first half of the 13th century. He probably came from the family of the Lords of Safen / Saven on the Pöllauer Safen in Styria. Today he is awarded 8 songs with a total of 18 stanzas.

Life

For a long time, research on Leuthold von Seven only gave very vague assumptions about the origin and the period of its impact without taking historical sources into account. In the 19th century, due to the similarity of sounds, people believed it came from Säben in the Eisack Valley in South Tyrol , but this turned out to be wrong. The Sanntal in what was then southern Styria (now Slovenia) was also considered as a possible place of origin of the poet. In 1908 attention was drawn to the river Safen near Pöllau, on which the property of the Lords of Safen lay, whose lineage, according to current research, belonged to Leuthold. Because of this ambivalence, younger literary scholars referred to content-related statements and temporal references in the poet's work, but did not comment on his origin. In 1986 Purkarthofer introduced Leuthold into Styrian literary history by locating him in Eastern Styria. He resorted to a documentary evidence that the Styrian historian Fritz Posch had already referred to before him. Since Leuthold was an order and wage seal, the effect of which was of importance beyond the Styrian borders, belonging to a gentleman family is still controversial. In particular, it is unclear whether, as Wiesinger suggested in 2013, he can be called the first minstrel in Styria, even before Ulrich von Liechtenstein . Therefore, the question of the singer's origin and dating has not yet been fully answered.

plant

The works assigned by name to the poet have survived in three manuscripts: Large Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (C) (Codex Manesse), Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (A) and Weingartner Liederhandschrift (B). According to Carl von Kraus , Leuthold is assigned those six songs that are consistently handed down under his name in B and C and in A: For example, there is an anonymous song saying in the Heidelberg manuscript C Swelch man diu jâr hât âne muot. This has the same stanza form as the saying passed down under Leuthold's name in A Mich wonders wie den liuten sî.

In terms of content, the songs show a great variety. Some have evocative traits, others complain about the singer's suffering from love, the dwindling support for poets or the lack of maturity of young men. The form of the songs shows the poet's knowledge of tradition and skill. Reinmar the Fiddler accuses him of the arbitrariness of the subject matter of his work in a mockery.

Text examples

In song IV is a Tagelied in simple tone in which a guard at daybreak to care for the lovers:

IV 'The nû bî love to sleep and indians worries in the day that never ensues. yes, I was afraid that one threw a scream if in: there is my complaint. I see lent that day. ' alsô spoke a wahtaere; 'Ez is me iemer swaere, sol in dâ from means.'

Translation: 'Those who sleep with their sweetheart and do not care about daybreak are now showing no hurry. I am very afraid that people will shout “Shame on them!”: That is my concern. I can already see the light of day. ' Thus spoke a watchman; 'I would be very sorry if disaster happened to you as a result.'

The Sang saying VIII 1 provides a Heischestrophe represents, in the poet's "schame", ie the reluctance or more literally the bashfulness, is discussed with a critical eye on the wealthy: the (wage-seeking) Singer they appear negative, given the refusal of generosity, on the other hand positive for both the taker and the giver with timely insight into the general benefits of benefits. This ethical discussion is just as rich in social value judgments as it is in language games (which can hardly be translated today):

VIII 1 I am amazed at how the liuten sî, who are ashamed and ashamed of themselves, legent to wrestle for whole êren pay. wê daz ir bein ir poor ir tongues no parliament! e heart muse unsaelic sîn who are so ashamed of good things. shame is bezzer then silver unde golt: zwiu sol dem guot demen is ze rehte fetch? swer schame hât, the mac will win friunt. sist all virtues a mirror at all: bî shame one sucks all good things were. yes, they should like to smell love.

Translation: I wonder what it is like for those who, despite their reputation, exercise restraint and burden themselves by doing so where it would apply to strive for high reputation. Oweh, that her legs, arms, hands and tongue do not become slack! Their hearts will be cursed for holding back on doing good! Restraint is better than silver and gold: But what use is his wealth to someone who is not valued? Those who show restraint can certainly make friends. It is a true mirror of all virtues: only through restraint do you become aware of all good things. The mighty should really appreciate her [= this attitude] from the bottom of their hearts!

Pictorial representation

In the Heidelberg song manuscript, in addition to Leuthold's poems, there is also a pictorial representation of the poet. (see above) The picture shows him on horseback, in his left hand he is holding a hunting falcon and in his right a sheet of paper, his seal, which he hands to a lady he admires. A coat of arms and a helmet with ornaments can be seen above the poet's head. Since no seal with a coat of arms has been preserved as proof of the use of a coat of arms, it is assumed that it is a fantasy coat of arms. In a slightly modified form, it is now the coat of arms of the municipality of Hofkirchen in the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district.

output

Karl von Kraus: German song poet of the 13th century. 2nd Edition. Vol. I: Text. Tübingen: Niemeyer 1978.

literature

• Peter Wiesinger: Who was the minstrel Leutold von Seven? In: PBB 135 (2013), pp. 423-441.
• Heinrich Purkarthofer: The minstrel Her Luitold von Seuen and his coat of arms, the Safner and the coat of arms of the community of Hofkirchen. In: Hofkirchen. With contributions by Franz Lang u. Heinrich J. Purkarthofer. Edited by Gottfried Allmer. [00] 1994, pp. 12-20.
• Volker Mertens: Leuthold von Seven . In: The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon . 2nd Edition. Vol. 5th ed. By Burghard Wachinger and Kurt Ruh. Berlin: De Gruyter 1985. Sp. 735-738.
• Carl von Kraus: German song poet of the 13th century. 2nd Edition. Vol. II: Commentary. Concerned by Hugo Kuhn. Tübingen: Niemeyer 1978.

Web links

Wikisource: Leuthold von Seven  - Sources and full texts

• Leuthold von Seven in Codex Manesse (digital copy from Heidelberg University Library)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Wiesinger: Who was the minstrel Leutold von Seven? In: PBB . tape 135 , no. 1 , 2013, p. 423-441 .
2. ^ Heinrich Purkarthofer: The minstrel Her Luitold von Seuen and his coat of arms, the Safner and the coat of arms of the community of Hofkirchen . In: Gottfried Allmer (Ed.): Hofkirchen. With contributions by Franz Lang u. Heinrich J. Purkarthofer . 1994, p. 12-20 .
3. ^ Carl von Kraus: German song poet of the 13th century . 2nd Edition. II: comment. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1978, p. 291-300 .
4. ↑ Volker Mertens: Leuthold von Seven . In: Burghard Wachinger and Kurt Ruh (eds.): The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon . 2nd Edition. tape 5 . De Gruyter, Berlin 1985, p. 735-738 .
5. ^ Karl von Kraus: German song poet of the 13th century. 2nd Edition. I: text. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1978, p. 247 .
6. ^ Karl von Kraus: German song poet of the 13th century. 2nd Edition. I: text. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1978, p. 249 .
7. ^ Heinrich Purkarthofer: The minstrel Her Luitold von Seuen and his coat of arms, the Safner and the coat of arms of the community of Hofkirchen . In: Gottfreid Allmer (Ed.): Hofkirchen. With contributions from Franz Lang u. Heinrich J. Purkarthofer . 1994, p. 18th f .