Ulrich von Gutenburg (or Gutenberg; fl. late 12th century) was an Alsatian nobleman and

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

poet. He can be traced at the court of Emperors

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

and Henry VI between 1172 and about 1200. The main influence on his poetry was

Friedrich von Hausen Friedrich von Hausen (Middle High German: Friderich von Hûsen) was a medieval German poet, one of the earliest of the Minnesingers; born sometime between 1150–60; d. 6 May 1190. Life His name is mentioned frequently in legal documents, for the ...

, whom he may have known personally. His style is highly formal and he is represented in the

chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

s by a lyric poem of six stanzas in the ''

Minnesang (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who wr ...

'' tradition and a similarly themed long poem of 350 verses. His long poem is a '' Leich'' and may be the earliest secular example of its kind in German. Both his known works explore unrequited love, but whereas the lyric verses portray a lady's love as ennobling and educative, the ''Leich'' is an expression of feelings of hopelessness. In the lyric, the knight earns the lady's love by becoming a better person. In the ''Leich'' the knight pleads with the lady for mercy by appealing to her greater virtue.

Notes

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External links

* * {{Authority control Alsatian nobility 12th-century German poets German male poets Minnesingers