Women of the Teutonic Nations Part 8

The longing for a distant, hard-hearted, beloved lady is expressed by Heinrich von Morungen in tones worthy of the best traditions of the Greek lyric poets:

"My lady dearly loves a pretty bird, That sings and echoes back her gentle tone; Were I, too, near her, never should be heard A songster's note more pleasant than my own; Sweeter than sweetest nightingale I'd sing.

For thee, my lady fair, This yoke of love I bear, Deign thou to comfort me and ease my sorrowing.

"Were but the troubles of my heart by her Regarded, I would triumph in my pain; But her proud heart stands firmly, and the stir Of pa.s.sionate grief o'ercomes not her disdain.

Yet, yet I do remember how before My eyes she stood, and spoke, And on her gentle look My earnest gaze was fix'd; O were it so once more!"

Another Minnesinger, Kristan von Hamle, is an exponent of romantic love:

"Would that the meadow could speak!

And then would it truly declare How happy was yesterday, When my lady was there: When she pluck'd its flowers, and gently prest Her lovely feet on its verdant breast.

Meadow! what transport was thine, When my lady walked across thee; And her white hands pluck'd the flowers; Those beautiful flowers that emboss thee I Oh, suffer me, then, thou bright green sod, To set my feet where my lady trod!"

And again, Master Hadlaub, the last of the line of true Minnesingers, at the end of the thirteenth century:

"I saw yon' infant in her arms carest, And as I gazed on her my pulse beat high; Gently she clasp'd him to her snowy breast, While I, in rapture lost, stood musing by; Then her white hands around his neck she flung, And prest him to her lips, and tenderly Kiss'd his fair cheek as o'er the babe she hung.

"Straight she was gone; and then that lovely child Ran joyfully to meet my warm embrace: Then fancy with fond thoughts my soul beguiled; It was herself! O dream of love and grace!

I clasp'd him, where her gentle hands had prest, I kissed each spot which bore her lips' sweet trace, And joy the while went bounding through my breast."

The minnesong reached its climax of perfection in Walter von der Vogelweide, who is unsurpa.s.sed, even by Goethe, as a lyric poet. The following dancing song is typical of his work:

"Lady, I said, this garland wear!

For thou wilt wear it gracefully; And on thy brow 't will sit so fair; And thou wilt dance so light and free; Had I a thousand gems, on thee, Fair one! their brilliant light should shine: Would'st thou such gift accept from me, O doubt me not, it should be thine.

"Lady, so beautiful thou art, That I on thee the wreath bestow, 'Tis the best gift I can impart; But whiter, rosier flow'rs I know, Upon the distant plain they're springing, Where beauteously their heads they rear, And birds their sweetest songs are singing: Come! let us go and pluck them there.

"She took the beauteous wreath I chose, And like a child at praises glowing, Her cheeks blush'd crimson as the rose When by the snow-white lily growing; But all from those bright eyes eclipse Receiv'd; and then, my toil to pay, Kind, precious words fell from her lips; What more than this I shall not say."

Minnesong represented at first, and during its growth, purity in love, and profound respect for n.o.ble womanhood. Goethe's word: "Wilt thou in life know what is seemly, inquire it of n.o.ble women," is fully realized.

We like to dwell on this phase of our theme, for soon we shall have to descend to the very depths of corruption and impurity.

If we had not the chronological records of history, it would be hard to believe that a nation could be swept by a century of religious wars from the ideals set forth in minnesong to the degeneracy that characterized the "Era of Desolation."

But in the early days of minnesong, modesty, chast.i.ty, and measure or moderation (_diu maze_) are concomitants of the ideal of womanhood. Love is then the extinction of self. Walter von der Vogelweide says: "True minne never entered false hearts!"

Even Gottfried von Stra.s.sburg, the poet of pa.s.sion and sensual love, in this respect the very counterpart of Walter von der Vogelweide, sings:

"Of all the things of this our World, On which the golden sunlight shines, Not one is blessed as a wife That vows her life and body sweet And manners also to measure refined."

Measure, like the Greek _kalokagathia_ of a gentleman, implies the harmony and the development of all the inner and outer virtues and charms. The sacredness of the relations between the s.e.xes is originally almost of a religious nature. The lady of the knight's heart and the Holy Virgin are strangely blended.

There are among the lyrics of the Minnesingers many which are devoted entirely to religious topics, especially the glory of the Virgin, a specimen of which may here be given:

"Maria! Virgin! mother! comforter Of sinners; queen of saints in heav'n that are!

Thy beauty round the eternal throne dost cast A brightness that outshines its living rays: There in the fulness of transcendent joy Heaven's king and thou sit in bright majesty: Would I were there, a welcom'd guest at last Where angel tongues reecho praise to praise!

There Michael sings the blessed Saviour's name Till round the eternal throne it rings once more, And angels in their choirs with glad acclaim, Triumphant host, their joyful praises pour: There thousand years than days more short appear, Such joy from G.o.d doth flow and from that mother dear."

The eternal longing for the divine then melts mysteriously into the longing for the youthful love of woman. This longing is perhaps nowhere in literature expressed with more touching, more nave delicacy than by Gottfried when he has fair Sigune speak to Herzeloide concerning her Schionatulander whom she loved as ever woman loved man, and who was then absent in war:

"For the loved friend is all my spying; From the window on the road, over heather and bright meadows All in vain; I espy him not: Alas! my eyes by tears must dearly pay for longing love.

"From the window do I ascend to the battlement, And spy eastward, westward, after tidings from him, Who long ere this has conquered all my soul; Count me among old lovers, for my love abides.

'When I then on wild tides glide in my boat, My eyes glance over thirty miles away, If I may find such tidings As would free me from sad longing for my bright young friend.

"Where is my joy? Why has departed Lofty spirit from my heart?

Pain and woe expelled our peace; I would gladly suffer for him, if I suffered but alone, Yet I know sweet longing draws him hither, though he must be far.

"Woe to me! How can he come? All too far is my true one.

For him I shudder now in cold, now burn in fire.

Thus Schionatulander makes me glow, His love kindles me as Agremontin does the Salamander."

Yet whether lofty or earthly, platonic or ardent, the centre of the lyrics of the Minnesingers is always the relation of the s.e.xes. The manner of giving expression to the "eternal feelings" as Goethe calls them varies according to the desire, the hope, or the hopelessness of the lover. The lady is entreated for grace (Huld); she encourages the knight or keeps him at a distance; love ceases to be pure, feelings become fantastically exaggerated; the veneration of woman becomes morbid, sometimes even senseless; love is often allegorized; a magic charm envelops the singer; the world surrounding him is changed, his nature pa.s.ses the natural bounds; melancholy, ever the legacy of German nature even in the midst of joy, prompts the desire that the epitaph on his tomb should record how faithful he was to his lady. He dreams, perchance, that a rose tree with two blooming branches embraces him and interprets the dream as a fulfilment of his secret desire. This fantastic unnaturalness of the super-realization of love had a demoralizing effect upon both men and women: it developed mock lovers and mock love.

Thus the love cult gradually degenerated. This was especially due to the fact that married women were in most cases the object of minne. French customs and thought entered more and more into German life. When the consummation of love appeared hopeless because of obstacles of a moral or social nature, the lovers, perchance, indulged themselves in a perverse mutual satisfaction of a puerile nature, such as the exchange of their undergarments for a night. Wolfram von Eschenbach relates that Gahmuret used to wear the shirt of his beloved Herzeloide over his armor in battle.

With the development of heraldry, the knight wore the colors of his lady love. He fought in tournament of real war for his lady. Frequently ladies imposed services and even hard and dangerous exploits upon their importuning lovers, either to test their love, or for the sake of sensation, or even to keep obstinate lovers at a distance. We must not believe that the knights went out cheerfully. "Let no one inquire," says Hartmann von der Aue, "after the cause of my journey. I confess frankly: love bade me to vow the crusade and now commands me to undertake the journey. It cannot be helped, and an oath must not be broken. Many a one boasts of what he has done from love, but where are deeds? I hear only words.... This is love indeed, if one for its sake expatriates himself.

Behold, how it drives me from home! Truly, if Sultan Saladin still lived and all his army, they would not move me one pace from Franconia! Yet only the body crosses the sea, the heart remains behind with the beloved one." But the reward of love (_Minnesold_) is always kept in view. In the rarest cases it consists in an ideal satisfaction, except perhaps if the lady is of a very high rank and birth. Generally, however, it is real sensuality. The descent of morality can be gauged from the fact that it was not unusual for a lady to permit her lover to pa.s.s a night in her arms, upon the condition that he might not touch her impurely without her express consent. Perhaps a bare sword was placed between the two lovers as a guard of good behavior. Hartmann von der Aue defends the practice in _Iwein_: "If any one declare it a wonder that Iwein lay so near a strange maiden without indulging in love, he knows not that a strong man can abstain from anything he chooses to abstain." In fact, the custom of a common couch became well-nigh a national German inst.i.tution, as it was called "_Beilager upon truth and faith._" Among German peasants of certain sections says Weinhold this Beilager continues to this very day; but it is considered as a real betrothal.

There is a small literature in existence on the "nights of proof"

(_Probenachte_) of German maidens.

Yet in general the heads of families were not so accommodating regarding the young female members of their household. We learn of a cla.s.s of "watchers" or spies (_Merker_) whose mission it was to watch over the honor of the maidens. A whole crop of poetry, the so-called watch songs, sprang up, dealing with the subject. The business of the clandestine lover is to escape from the snares and the watchfulness of those spies.

The following example of a watch song, of a high literary and poetic value, is typical:

"I heard before the dawn of day The watchman loud proclaim: 'If any knightly lover stay In secret with his dame, Take heed, the sun will soon appear; Then fly, ye knights, your ladies dear, Fly ere the daylight dawn.

"'Brightly gleams the firmament, In silvery splendor gay; Rejoicing that the night is spent, The lark salutes the day; Then fly, ye lovers, and be gone!

Take leave before the night is done, And jealous eyes appear.'

"That watchman's call did wound my heart, And banish my delight; Alas, the envious sun will part Our loves, my lady bright On me she looked with downcast eyes, Despairing at my mournful cry, 'We tarry here too long.'

"Straight to the wicket did she speed; 'Good watchman, spare thy joke!

Warn not my love, till o'er the mead The morning sun has broke: Too short, alas! the time, since here I tarried with my leman dear, In love and converse sweet.'

"'Lady, be warn'd! on roof and mead The dew drops glitter gay; Then quickly bid thy leman speed, Nor linger till the day; For by the twilight did I mark Wolves hying to their covert dark, And stags to covert fly.'

"Now by the rising sun I view'd In tears my lady's face; She gave me many a token good, And many a soft embrace.

Our parting bitterly we mourn'd; The hearts which erst with rapture burn'd, Were cold with woe and care.

"A ring with glittering ruby red, Gave me that lady sheen, And with me from the castle sped Along the meadow green: And whilst I saw my leman bright, She waved on high her kerchief white: 'Courage! to arms!' she cried.

"In the raging fight each pennon white Reminds me of her love; In the field of blood, with mournful mood, I see her kerchief move; Through foes I hew, whene'er I view Her ruby ring, and blithely sing, 'Lady, I fight for thee.'"

The end of wooing is thus always understood to be the gratification of pa.s.sion. But many ladies of the era of chivalry were extremely exacting, and imposed heavy tasks for the attainments of the prize which they alone could bestow. They allowed very slight favors at first, a glance, a trifle, otherwise they let the lover long and languish, as, for instance, in the case of the knight Ulrich von Lichtenstein, whom we shall soon consider more closely. Sometimes, however, favors which by modern standards would appear very improper were readily granted with a charming navete! The lover was allowed to accompany the lady of his heart to her bed chamber, and wait upon her and help her undress, a rather crucial service, as the mediaeval custom was to sleep without any garments at all.

Weinhold calls minne the crown jewel of the German language, the love which rests in the soul; but it also had its shameful history of debas.e.m.e.nt, and finally met its death when the sensual prevailed over the spiritual, when minne became l.u.s.t. Reinmar von Zweter could well say: "Minne is the gilding of love, a treasure above all virtue a teacher of pure morals, companion of chast.i.ty and fidelity, the n.o.blest thing that is in the world, to which only woman can be compared. Minne flees from the fool, a.s.sociates with the wise; minne strengthens honor, truth, and modesty." At the era of decadence of chivalry, however, minne came to mean s.e.xual enjoyment par excellence.