To his friends he gave and to the poor, Unto God praying evermore The spirit that was in him to save, And make his bed soft in the grave.
What still remained aside he set For Holy Church's benefit.
Of all that heretofore was his Nought held he for himself, I wis, Save one small house with byre and field:
There from the world he lived concealed,--There lived he, and awaited Death, Who being awaited, lingereth.
Pity and ruth his troubles found Alway through all the country round.
Who heard him named, had sorrow deep And for his piteous sake would weep.
The poor man who tilled Earl Henry's field had a daughter, a sweet and tender maiden who, out of love for Henry and a heart of Christ-like pity, at last offers herself to die for him.After a struggle Henry accepts the sacrifice.But when he knows it is about to be made his heart rises against it and he refuses to permit it.At this the maiden is much grieved.She takes it as a token that she is not pure enough to be offered for him.She prays for a sign that she may hope to become wholly cleansed.In answer to this prayer Earl Henry is in one night cleansed of the leprosy.He then joyfully takes the maiden for his bride and leads her before his kinsman and nobles for their consent.
"Then," quoth the Earl, "hearken me this.
The damozel who standeth here,--And whom I embrace, being most dear,--She it is unto whom I owe The grace it hath pleased God to bestow.
He saw the simple spirited Earnestness of the holy maid, And even in guerdon of her truth Gave me back the joys of my youth, Which seemed to be lost beyond all doubt, And therefore I have chosen her out To wed with mae knowing her free.
I think that God will let this be.
Lo! I enjoin ye, with God's will That this my longing ye fulfill.
I pray ye all have but one voice And let your choice go with my choice."Then the cries ceased, and the counter-cries, And all the battle of advice, And every lord, being content With Henry's choice, granted assent.
Then the priests came to bind as one Two lives in bridal unison, Into his hand they folded hers, Not to be loosed in coming years, And uttered between man and wife God's blessing on the road of this life.
Many a bright and pleasant day The twain pursued their steadfast way, Till hand in hand, at length they trod Upward to the kingdom of God.
Even as it was with them, even thus, And quickly, it must be with us.
To such reward as theirs was then, God help us in His hour.Amen.-- Tr.by Rossetti.
THE MINNESINGERS.
In the twelfth century, Germany had a remarkable outburst of lyric poetry, chiefly songs of love.The influence of the crusades, the spread of the romances of Arthur and Charlemagne roused over all Germany the spirit of poetry.The poets of this new movement are called Minnesingers.It is interesting to notice that the same poets who wrote these love lyrics, wrote also long romances of chivalry; the greatest names among them being Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Heinrich von Ofterdingen, Gottfried von Strassburg, and Walther von der Vogelweide.They were of all ranks, but chiefly belonged to the upper classes--knights, squires, princes, and even kings being numbered among them.Their extraordinarily large number may be gathered from the fact that from the twelfth century alone the names of one hundred and sixty Minnesingers have come down to us.
Their names and their songs have been handed down largely by tradition, since the mass of them could neither read nor write, and for a century or more their work was preserved orally.
The subject of these songs was almost always love--generally love of a sweetheart; sometimes of the simpler aspects of nature, sometimes the love of the Virgin.Besides this they wrote also many didactic, religious, and patriotic songs.The rhythmical and metrical structure of their verse was very complicated and generally very skillful, sometimes, however, running into eccentricities and barren technicalities.The Minnesinger generally composed the music of his song at the same time with the verse.
The bloom of the Minnesong passed away in the latter half of the thirteenth century.The songs became theological, didactic, political, more and more forced and complicated in form, more and more filled with quaint new figures, far-fetched conceits, and obscure allusions.Then gradually developed the school of the Meistersingers, who formed themselves into a guild of poets to which only those were admitted who passed examination upon the difficult technical rules that had been built up.The poetry of the Meistersinigers was, for the most part, tedious and artificial.The poets were not nobles and soldiers, but burghers and artisans.They reached their highest development in the sixteenth century.The most famous of them was Hans Sachs (1494-1575), who, in the space of fifty-three years, wrote 6181pieces of verse.
DIETMAR VON AIST.Twelfth Century.
By the heath stood a lady All lonely and fair;As she watched for her lover, A falcon flew near.
"Happy falcon!" she cried "Who can fly where he list, And can choose in the forest The tree he loves best!
"Thus, too, had I chosen One knight for mine own, Him my eye had selected, Him prized I alone:
But other fair ladies Have envied my joy, And why? for I sought not Their bliss to destroy.
"As to thee, lovely summer, Returns the birds' strain, As on yonder green linden The leaves spring again, So constant doth grief At my eyes overflow, And wilt not thou, dearest, Return to me now?""Yes, come, my own hero, All others desert!
When first my eye saw thee, How graceful thou wert;How fair was thy presence, How graceful, how bright!
Then think of me only, My own chosen knight!"
There sat upon the linden-tree A bird and sang its strain;So sweet it sang, that, as I heard, My heart went back again:
It went to one remembered spot, I saw the rose-trees grow, And thought again the thoughts of love There cherished long ago.
A thousand years to me it seems Since by my fair I sat, Yet thus to have been a stranger long Was not my choice, but fate:
