| The
Minnesinger
Hello, I am a Minnesinger,
and in case you do not know what that
is I’ll tell you. “Minne” is an old Germanic word for love. So I
am a singer about love.
One might also say that we were the
entertainers of the nobility during the 12th and 13th century. Being a
nobleman myself, I wrote songs and rhymes about all those female idols
that appeared in my dreams, and I - like some friends of mine -traveled
to other places and castles where I performed my songs accompanying
myself on self-made instruments.
As we visited many important places, we
certainly learned a lot of news that we brought along, too. In those
days, there was no mail, no newspaper, and if news had to be sent, it
was only possible through special messengers. So you see, everybody was
also waiting for me just to hear something from the “outside world”.
The most famous Minnesinger was Walther
von der Vogelweide who turned his ballads into dances, and some of his
tunes became so popular that they were the origin of many a folk song. |
