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'''Minne''' - (from [[Old High Germanic]] "love") a special concept embedded in the [[courtly love]] tradition, indigenous for the feudal culture of late [[Middle Ages]]. It considers a spiritual relationship between a knight and his beloved lady, in which both sides feel responsible for their love duties. The word "minne" was introduced into scholarly literature in the 19th century. |
== '''Minne''' == - (from [[Old High Germanic]] "love") a special concept embedded in the [[courtly love]] tradition, indigenous for the feudal culture of late [[Middle Ages]]. It considers a spiritual relationship between a knight and his beloved lady, in which both sides feel responsible for their love duties. The word "minne" was introduced into scholarly literature in the 19th century. |
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The golden era of minne was the turn of the 12th and 13th century. Minne was then highly developed by German arists who inherited the concept already enriched by the French troubadours. Two towns - Turingen and Vienna competed with each other for the "poetic centre" title and it was in these towns that two most respected poets - Walter von der Vogelweide and Reinmar from Hagenau presented their poems. The minnesang knight aimed at reaching an emotional fulfillment, the greatest prize for his efforts being his lady's affection. In the 13th century minne reached a status almost similar to that of religion, but as woman's beauty was perceived to be God's creation, minne never stood against christianity. Apart from lady's love, minne was also constituted by ere (honour) and Gotes hulde (divine help). Minnedienst, therefore, became a courtly ritual. |
The golden era of minne was the turn of the 12th and 13th century. Minne was then highly developed by German arists who inherited the concept already enriched by the French troubadours. Two towns - Turingen and Vienna competed with each other for the "poetic centre" title and it was in these towns that two most respected poets - Walter von der Vogelweide and Reinmar from Hagenau presented their poems. The minnesang knight aimed at reaching an emotional fulfillment, the greatest prize for his efforts being his lady's affection. In the 13th century minne reached a status almost similar to that of religion, but as woman's beauty was perceived to be God's creation, minne never stood against christianity. Apart from lady's love, minne was also constituted by ere (honour) and Gotes hulde (divine help). Minnedienst, therefore, became a courtly ritual. |
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'''References''' |
'''References''' |
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Revision as of 14:53, 13 November 2010
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== Minne == - (from Old High Germanic "love") a special concept embedded in the courtly love tradition, indigenous for the feudal culture of late Middle Ages. It considers a spiritual relationship between a knight and his beloved lady, in which both sides feel responsible for their love duties. The word "minne" was introduced into scholarly literature in the 19th century.
Minne in courtly literature
Minne in its roots was a concept used to describe a positive, emotional and spiritual relationship between God and people, but was soon used to name a divine and mental connection between men (mostly knights) and women (courtly ladies). Although minne was present in different shades, being a social, erotic, friendly and sexual feeling, a conceptualization of one of its aspects, namely the divine and spiritual relationship between the representatives of two opposite sexes, was predominant. It was a Platonic feeling, a mutual understanding between an idealised knight who obeys his duties and his Lady of Heart. In this meaning the notion of minne used to be captured in German love songs (Minnesang) and epic poems since the year 1170. Later, in the 12th and 14th centuries, minne became a typically courtly relationship, characteristic for the culture of knights (Ritterkultur). The concept of minne was supposed to hallow an earthly feeling by giving it a sense of heavenly, sacred atmosphere, but also to teach listeners and readers of literature what a perfect relationship between a man and a woman should look like[1]. In this way "minne" transgressed literature and entered courtly culture as such.
Good example of literary minne can be found in the predicament of Sir Gawain in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" when Gawain faces the dilemma of being either loyal to sir Bertilak or to his wife - faithfulness to one of them would mean unfaithfulness towards the other one. His relationship with Mrs Bertilak is a fine mixture of sexual voluptousness, courtly behaviour and knight's duties toward a lady - accepting her gifts, being loyal to her wishes and advice and, finally, spending an intimate night with her.
Minne in the troubadour tradition
In the later middle ages, minne was borrowed as a concept by French troubadours. As Johann Huizinga[2] writes, the troubadours referred to minne mostly by pointing at the fact that its main characteristic was lack of satisfaction. This allowed the fine connection of eroticism and innocent, spiritual love. According to the Dutch historian, such love enabled the male lover to develop his virtue and purity, which resulted in the spiritual side of love being extensively visible in poetry. All social and Christian values were inferior to the ideal of faithful love - all this having happened via the concept of minne. The concept itself remained unchanged until the finishing of "Roman de la Rose" by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun which put more pressure on the erotic and sexual aspect of love, with love affair being one of the romance main topics[3]. Three troubadours were of special importance for the development of minnesang - Guiot de Provins, Doetes de Troyes and Henry von Veldeke. The latter's version of "The Eneid" in a fine way joins the ancient hero tradition with the medieval knightly virtues, putting a special pressure on frauendienst - duties of knight towards his lady.
The golden era of minne
The golden era of minne was the turn of the 12th and 13th century. Minne was then highly developed by German arists who inherited the concept already enriched by the French troubadours. Two towns - Turingen and Vienna competed with each other for the "poetic centre" title and it was in these towns that two most respected poets - Walter von der Vogelweide and Reinmar from Hagenau presented their poems. The minnesang knight aimed at reaching an emotional fulfillment, the greatest prize for his efforts being his lady's affection. In the 13th century minne reached a status almost similar to that of religion, but as woman's beauty was perceived to be God's creation, minne never stood against christianity. Apart from lady's love, minne was also constituted by ere (honour) and Gotes hulde (divine help). Minnedienst, therefore, became a courtly ritual.
References
- ^ European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, Curtius Ernst Robert, trans. Willard R. Trask, New York: Harper Row Publishers, 1953
- ^ The Autumn of the Middle Ages, trans. Rodney J. Payton and Ulrich Mammitzsch, Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1996
- ^ The Knight and Chivalry, Barber Richard, London, 1970
Last updated: 2010-11-13