Heinrich von Morungen

Heinrich von Morungen (died 1222)[1] was a Minnesinger, whose 35 surviving Middle High German songs are dated on both literary and biographical grounds to around the period 1190–1200.[2] Alongside Walter von der Vogelweide and Reinmar he is regarded as one of the most important Minnesänger:[3] he was "the most colourful, passionate, tender and musical of the Minnesänger"[4] and his work "marks a new and brilliantly effective stage in the development of the German lyric."[5]

Miniature of Heinrich von Morungen from the Codex Manesse.

Life
Memorial for Heinrich von Morungen in the grounds of St Thomas's Church, Leipzig.

Morungen is identified with the Hendricus de Morungen who is mentioned in two charters of Dietrich I, Margrave of Meissen. This Hendricus presumably originated from the castle of Morungen near Sangerhausen in Saxony-Anhalt, a location consistent with the language of the songs.[2][6] As a "retired knight" (miles emeritus) he received from his patron Dietrich, also a patron of Walter von der Vogelweide,[7] a pension for his "high personal merits" (alta suae vitae merita). In 1213 he transferred this to the monastery of St Thomas in Leipzig, which he entered himself in 1217. According to a 16th century source based on the records of the monastery, he died there in 1222.[2] The same source reports a certainly apocryphal story of a visit to India.[7][8]

In the Late Middle Ages, there was extant a ballad of Der edele Möringer ("The Noble Moringer"), which transferred to Heinrich von Morungen the stock theme of the return of a husband believed lost.[8]

Works

Manuscript tradition

The manuscript tradition preserves 115 strophes of Morungen's, constituting 35 songs. He is represented in the three main Minnesang manuscripts:.[8][9]

  • MS A (the Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift, 1270-1280) has 29 strophes under Morungen's name, though three of these are ascribed to Ulrich von Singenberg in MS C.
  • MS B (the Weingarten Manuscript, first quarter of the 14th Century) has 25 strophes under Morungen's name and three under Dietmar von Aist's.
  • MS C (the Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift, the Manesse Codex, c. 1304) has by far the largest collection, with 104 strophes under Morungen's name. Of these 43 appear in the "Tross Fragment" (MS Ca), which is based on C.

Four other manuscripts have small amounts of additional material:

The strophe with neumes in the Carmina Burana manuscript (folio 61r)
  • MS E (the Würzburg Manuscript (München, Universitätsbibliothek, 2° Cod. Ms. 731c., the Housebook of Michael de Leone, 1345-1354) has eight strophes (two songs) of Morungen's under the names of Walther von der Vogelweide and Reinmar.
  • MS M (the Carmina Burana MS, Munich, Staatsbibliothek, clm 4660) has a single anonymous strophe matching one in C. It is the only Morungen text with neumes.[3]
  • MS p (Berne, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 260) has four strophes of Morungen's.[10]
  • MS S (the Kremsmünster fragment, CC248) has three strophes of the song "Sîn hiez mir nie widersagen" (MF 130,9), including one strophe not in any other MS. At the end of this song on folio 78r of MS C a space large enough for a single strophe has been left, which may have been intended for the additional strophe.[11]

Themes

An essential theme in Morungen's work is the demonic nature of Minne, the Middle High German word for this type of love, which for the mediaeval writers was embodied by the ancient classical goddess of love, Venus. Minne is experienced partly as a magical, pathological, even fatal power, but also as a religious and mystical experience.

Morungen is a very graphic lyricist: he particularly often makes use of images of shining (sun, moon, evening star, gold, jewels, mirror) as comparisons by which to describe the lady who is being sung and praised.

In form and content the poems are influenced by the Provençal troubadour lyric: dactylic rhythms and through-rhymes (Durchreimung) occur frequently. Motifs in the content have also been taken over from the same source: for example, the motif, otherwise rare in German Minnesang, of the "notice of termination of the service of love" (Lied XXVII), the roots of which are to be found in classical literature (for example Ovid).

Legacy

Although Morungen is explicitly named in the works of later poets more rarely than Walther or Reinmar, his surviving corpus of 35 songs is larger than that of any contemporary Minnesänger other than these two, and his influence on the Minnesang tradition was considerable.[12][3]

The Songs
Song I[lower-alpha 1] Si ist ze allen êren MF 122,1[lower-alpha 2]
Song II Mîn liebeste und ouch mîn êrste MF 123,10
Song III Het ich tugende niht sô vil MF 124,32
Song IV In sô hôher swebender wunne MF 125,19
Song V Von den elben MF 126,8
Song VI a West ich, ob ez verswîget möhte sîn MF 127,1
Song VI b Der alsô vil geriefe MF 127,12
Song VII Ez ist site der nahtegal MF 127,34
Song VIII Sach ieman die vrouwen MF 129,14
Song IX Sîn hiez mir nie widersagen MF 130,9
Song X Ich hân sî vür alliu wîp MF 130,21
Song XI a Ich bin iemer ander und niht eine MF 131,25
Song XI b Ich bin iemer ander, niht der eine MF 131,25
Song XII Ist ir liep mîn leit und mîn ungemach MF 132,27
Song XIII Leitlîche blicke MF 133,17
Song XIV Mîn herze, ir schoene und diu minne MF 134,6
Song XV Ez tuot vil wê MF 134,14
Song XVI Wê, wie lange sol ich ringen MF 135,9
Song XVII Owê, war umbe volg ich tumbem wâne MF 136,1
Song XVIII Diu vil guote MF 136,25
Song XIX Vrowe, wilt du mich genern MF 137,10
Song XX Vrowe, mîne swaere sich MF 137,17
Song XXI Ob ich dir vor allen wîben MF 137,37
Song XXII Ich waene, nieman lebe MF 138,17
Song XXIII Ich hôrte ûf der heide MF 139,19
Song XXIV Solde ich iemer vrowen leit MF 140,11
Song XXV Uns ist zergangen MF 140,32
Song XXVI Mich wundert harte MF 141,15
Song XXVII Si hât mich verwunt MF 141,37
Song XXVIII Ich bin keiser âne krône MF 142,19
Song XXIX Wie sol vröidelôser tage MF 143,4
Song XXX Owê, sol aber mir iemer mê MF 143,22
Song XXXI Hât man mich gesehen in sorgen MF 144,17
Song XXXII Mir ist geschehen als einem kindelîne MF 145,1
Song XXXIII1 Ich wil ein reise MF 145,35
Song XXXIII2 Ich wil immer singen MF 146,11
Song XXXIV Vil süeziu senftiu toeterinne MF 147,4
Song XXXV Lange bin ich geweset verdâht MF 147,17

Notes
  1. Song numbering in the 36th and later editions of Des Minnesangs Frühling (1975–).
  2. Song numbering based on the page and line numbering in the first edition of Des Minnesangs Frühling (1857), universal before the 36th edition and still widely used even in most recent literature.

Editions
  • Moser, Hugo; Tervooren, Helmut, eds. (1988). "XIX: Heinrich von Morungen". Des Minnesangs Frühling. Vol. I: Texts (38 ed.). Stuttgart: Hirzel. pp. 236–282. ISBN 978-3777604480.
  • Tervooren, Helmut (2003). Heinrich von Morungen. Lieder (3rd ed.). Stuttgart: Reclam. ISBN 3-15-009797-5. With commentary and Modern German translation.

Translations

Notes
  1. Tervooren 1989, cols. 804–805.
  2. Kesting 1969.
  3. Kellner 2021, p. 666.
  4. Wapnewski 1975, p. 65:"der farbigste, leidenschaftlichste, zǎrteste und musikalischste unter den Minnesängern".
  5. Gibbs & Johnson 2002, p. 254.
  6. Tervooren 1989, col. 804.
  7. Sayce 1982, p. 166.
  8. Tervooren 1989, col. 805.
  9. Kellner 2021, p. 665.
  10. Tervooren 1989, col. 806.
  11. Edwards 1989, pp. 17–18.
  12. Johnson 1999, p. 157.

References
  • Edwards, Cyril (1989). "The Growth Of A Song: Heinrich Von Morungen's 'Robber Lady' (MF130, 9)". Medium Ævum. 58 (1): 17–33. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  • Gibbs, Marion; Johnson, Sidney (2002). Medieval German Literature: A Companion. New York, London: Routledge. pp. 252–257. ISBN 0-203-90660-8.
  • Johnson, L Peter (1999). Die höfische Literatur der Blütezeit (1160/70-1220/30). Geschichte der deutschen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zum Beginn der Neuzeit. Vol. II, Teil 1. Tübingen: Niemeyer. pp. 157–166. ISBN 978-3-484-10703-8.
  • Kellner, Beate (2021). "Heinrich von Morungen". In Kellner, Beate; Reichlin, Susanne; Rudolph, Alexander (eds.). Handbuch Minnesang (PDF). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 665–677. doi:10.1515/9783110351859. ISBN 978-3-11-035181-1. S2CID 243658982.
  • Kern, Manfred; Edwards, Cyril; Huber, Christoph, eds. (2015). Das "Narzisslied" Heinrichs von Morungen. Zur mittelalterlichen Liebeslyrik und ihrer philologischen Erschließung. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter. ISBN 978-3-8253-7531-7.
  • Kesting, Peter (1969), "Heinrich von Morungen", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 8, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 416–417; (full text online)
  • Sayce, Olive (1982). "Heinrich von Morungen". The medieval German lyric, 1150-1300: the development of its themes and forms in their European context. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 166–180. ISBN 0-19-815772-X.
  • Tervooren, Helmut (1989). "Heinrich von Morungen". In Ruh, Kurt; Keil, Gundolf; Schröder, Werner (eds.). Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters. Verfasserlexikon. Vol. 3. Berlin, New York: Walter De Gruyter. Cols 804–815. ISBN 978-3-11-022248-7.
  • Wapnewski, Peter (1975). Waz ist minne: Studien zur mittelhochdeutschen Lyrik. Munich: Beck. ISBN 3406058655.

Further reading
  • Fisher, Rodney W. (1996). The Minnesinger Heinrich von Morungen. An Introduction to His Songs. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications. ISBN 1573091162.

Facsimiles
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