Part 19

_Old and Middle High German Period_: W. Braune, _Althochdeutsche Grammatik_ (2nd ed., Halle, 1891); the same, _Abriss der althochdeutschen Grammatik_ (3rd ed., 1900); F. Holthausen, _Altsachsisches Elementarbuch_ (Heidelberg, 1899); W. Schluter, _Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altsachsichen Sprache_, i. (Gottingen, 1892); O. Schade, _Altdeutsches Worterbuch_ (2nd ed., Halle, 1872-1882); G.E. Graff, _Althochdeutscher Sprachschatz_ (6 vols., Berlin, 1834-1842) (Index by Massmann, 1846); E. Steinmeyer and E. Sievers, _Althochdeutsche Glossen_ (4 vols., Berlin, 1879-1898); J.A. Schmeller, _Glossarium Saxonicum_ (Munich, 1840); K. Weinhold, _Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik_ (3rd ed., Paderborn, 1892); H. Paul, _Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik_ (5th ed., Halle, 1900); V. Michels, _Mittelhochdeutsches Elementarbuch_ (Heidelberg, 1900); O. Brenner, _Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik_ (3rd ed., Munich, 1894); K. Zwierzina, "Mittelhochdeutsche Studien," in _Zeitschrift fur deutsches Altertum_, vols. xliv. and xlv.; A. Lubben, _Mittelniederdeutsche Grammatik_ (Leipzig, 1882); W. Muller and F. Zarncke, _Mittelhochdeutsches Worterbuch_ (4 vols., Leipzig, 1854-1866); M. Lexer, _Mittelhochdeutsches Handworterbuch_ (3 vols., 1872-1878); the same, _Mittelhochdeutsches Taschenworterbuch_ (8th ed., 1906); K. Schiller and A. Lubben, _Mittelniederdeutsches Worterbuch_ (6 vols., Bremen, 1875-1881); A. Lubben, _Mittelniederdeutsches Handworterbuch_ (Norden, 1888); F. Seiler, _Die Entwicklung der deutsch. Kultur im Spiegel des deutschen Lehnworts_ (Halle, i., 1895, 2nd ed., 1905, ii., 1900).

_Modern High German Period_: E. Wulcker, "Die Entstehung der kursachsischen Kanzleisprache" (in the _Zeitschrift des Vereins fur kursachsische Geschichte_, ix. p. 349); the same, "Luthers Stellung zur kursachsischen Kanzleisprache" (in _Germania_, xxviii. pp. 191 ff.); P. Pietsch, _Martin Luther und die hochdeutsche Schriftsprache_ (Breslau, 1883); K. Burdach, _Die Einigung der neuhochdeutschen Schriftsprache_, (1883); E. Opitz, _Die Sprache Luthers_ (Halle, 1869); J. Luther, _Die Sprache Luthers in der Septemberbibel_ (Halle, 1887); F. Kluge, _Von Luther bis Lessing_ (Strassburg, 1888) (cf. E. Schroder's review in the _Gottinger gelehrte Anzeiger_, 1888, 249); H. Ruckert, _Geschichte der neuhochdeutschen Schriftsprache bis zur Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts_ (1875): J. Kehrein, _Grammatik der deutschen Sprache des 15. bis 17. Jahrhunderts_ (Leipzig, 2nd ed., 1863); K. von Bahder, _Grundlagen des neuhochdeutschen Lautsystems_ (Strassburg, 1890); R. Meyer, _Einfuhrung in das altere Neuhochdeutsche_ (Leipzig, 1894); W. Scheel, _Beitrage zur Geschichte der neuhochdeutschen Gemeinsprache in Koln_ (Marburg, 1892); R. Brandstetter, _Die Rezeption der neuhochdeutschen Schriftsprache in Stadt und Landschaft Luzern_ (1892); K. Burdach, "Zur Geschichte der neuhochdeutschen Schriftsprache" (_Forschungen zur deutschen Philologie_, 1894); the same, "Die Sprache des jungen Goethe" (_Verhandlungen der Dessauer Philologenversammlung_, 1884, p. 164 ff.); F. Kasch, _Die Sprache des jungen Schiller_ (Dissertation, 1900); F. Kluge, "Uber die Entstehung unserer Schriftsprache" (Beihefte zur _Zeitschrift des allgemeinen Sprachvereins_, Heft 6, 1894); A. Waag, _Bedeutungsentwickelung unseres Wortschatzes_ (Lahr, 1901).

Mention must also be made of the work of the German commission of the Royal Prussian Academy, which in 1904 drew up plans for making an inventory of all German literary MSS. dating from before the year 1600 and for the publication of Middle High German and early Modern High German texts. This undertaking, which has made considerable progress, provides rich material for the study of the somewhat neglected period between the 14th and 16th centuries; at the same time it provides a basis on which a monumental history of Modern High German may be built up, as well as for a _Thesaurus linguae germanicae_. (R. Pr.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] K. Mullenhoff and W. Scherer, _Denkmaler deutscher Poesie und Prosa_, 3rd ed., by E. Steinmeyer, 1892, No. lxvii.

[2] For a detailed description of the boundary line cf. O. Behaghel's article in Paul's _Grundriss_, 2nd ed., pp. 652-657, where there is also a map, and a very full bibliography relative to the changes in the boundary.

[3] Cf. J. Grimm, _Deutsche Grammatik_, 3rd ed., i. p. 13; F. Kluge, _Etymologisches Worterbuch_, 6th ed., pp. 75 ff.; K. Luick, "Zur Geschichte des Wortes 'deutsch,'" in _Anzeiger fur deutsches Altertum_, xv., pp. 135, 248; H. Fischer, "Theotiscus, Deutsch," in Paul and Braune's _Beitrage_, xviii. p. 203; H. Paul, _Deutsches Worterbuch_ (1897), p. 93.

[4] Cf. P. Kretschmer, _Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache_ (Gottingen, 1896), who holds the mingling of Celtic and Germanic elements in southern and south-western Germany responsible for the change. It might also be mentioned here that H. Meyer (_Zeitschrift f. deut. Altertum_, xlv. pp. 101 ff.) endeavours to explain the first soundshifting by the change of abode of the Germanic tribes from the lowlands to the highlands of the Carpathian Mountains.

[5] Of writers who have made extensive use of dialects, it must suffice to mention here the names of J.H. Voss, Hebel, Klaus Groth, Fritz Reuter, Usteri, G.D. Arnold, Holtei, Castelli, J.G. Seidl and Anzengruber, and in our own days G. Hauptmann.

[6] Cf. F. Staub and L. Tobler, _Schweizerisches Idiotikon_ (1881 ff.); E. Martin and F. Lienhart, _Worterbuch der elsassischen Mundarten_ (Strassburg, 1899 ff.); H. Fischer, _Schwabisches Worterbuch_ (Tubingen, 1901 ff.). Earlier works, which are already completed, are J.A. Schmeller, _Bayrisches Worterbuch_ (2nd ed., 2 vols., Munich, 1872-1877); J.B. Schopf, _Tiroler Idiotikon_ (Innsbruck, 1886); M. Lexer, _Karntisches Worterbuch_ (1862); H. Gradl, _Egerlander Worterbuch_, i. (Eger, 1883); A.F.C. Vilmar, _Idiotikon von Kurhessen_ (Marburg, 1883) (with supplements by H. von Pfister); W. Crecelius, _Oberhessisches Worterbuch_ (Darmstadt, 1890-1898). Professor J. Franck is responsible for a _Rheinisches Worterbuch_ for the Prussian Academy.

[7] Cf. the article "Mundarten" by R. Loewe in R. Bethge, _Ergebnisse und Fortschritte der germanistischen Wissenschaft_ (Leipzig, 1902), pp. 75-88; and F. Mentz, _Bibliographie der deutschen Mundartforschung_ (Leipzig, 1892). Of periodicals may be mentioned Deutsche Mundarten, by J.W. Nagl (Vienna, 1896 ff.); _Zeitschrift fur hochdeutsche Mundarten_, by O. Heilig and Ph. Lenz (Heidelberg, 1900 ff.), continued as _Zeitschrift f. deutsche Mundarten_, Verlag des Allgemeinen Deutschen Sprachvereins. Owing to its importance as a model for subsequent monographs J. Kinteler's _Die Kerenzer Mundart des Kantons Glarus_ (Leipzig, 1876) should not be passed unnoticed.

[8] Cf. especially H. Tumpel, "Die Mundarten des alten niedersachsischen Gebietes zwischen 1300 und 1500" (Paul und Braune's Beitrage, vii. pp. 1-104); _Niederdeutsche Studien_, by the same writer (Bielefeld, 1898); Bahnke, "Uber Sprach- und Gaugrenzen zwischen Elbe und Weser" (_Jahrbuch des Vereins fur niederdeutsche Sprachforschung_, vii. p. 77).

[9] Upper Saxon and Thuringian are sometimes taken as a separate group.

[10] Cf. W. Braune, "Zur Kenntnis des Frankischen" (_Beitrage_, i. pp. 1-56); O. Bohme, _Zur Kenntnis des Oberfrankischen im 13., 14. und 15. Jahrh._ (Dissertation) (Leipzig, 1893), where a good account of the differences between the Rhenish Franconian and South Franconian dialects will be found.

[11] Cf. C. Norrenberg, "Lautverschiebungsstufe des Mittelfrankischen" (_Beitrage_, ix. 371 ff.); R. Heinzel, _Geschichte der niederfrankischen Geschaftssprache_ (Paderborn, 1874).

[12] This is also the dialect of the so-called Siebenburger Sachsen.

[13] Cf. E. Sievers, _Oxforder Benediktinerregel_ (Halle, 1887), p. xvi.; J. Meier, Jolande (1887), pp. vii. ff.; O. Bohme, l.c. p. 60.

[14] Lower Hesse (the northern and eastern parts) goes, however, in many respects its own way.

[15] On the High German dialects cf. K. Weinhold, _Alemannische Grammatik_ (Berlin, 1863); F. Kauffmann, _Geschichte der schwabischen Mundart_ (Strassburg, 1870); E. Haendcke, _Die mundartlichen Elemente in den elsassischen Urkunden_ (Strassburg, 1894); K. Weinhold, _Bairische Grammatik_ (1867); J.A. Schmeller, _Die Mundarten Baierns_ (Munich, 1821); J.N. Schwabl, _Die altbairischen Mundarten_ (Munchen, 1903); O. Brenner, _Mundarten und Schriftsprache in Bayern_ (Bamberg, 1890); J. Schatz, _Die Mundart von Imst_ (Strassburg, 1897); J.W. Nagl, _Der Vocalismus der bairisch-osterreichischen Mundarten_ (1890-1891); W. Gradl, _Die Mundarten Westbohmens_ (Munich, 1896); P. Lessiak, "Die Mundart von Pernegg in Karnten" (Paul and Braune, _Beitrage_, vol. xxviii.).

[16] Cf., for a hypothesis of two _Umlautsperioden_ during the Old High German time, F. Kauffmann, _Geschichte der schwabischen Mundart_ (Strassburg, 1890), S. 152.

[17] Cf. W. Wilmanns, _Deutsche Grammatik_, i. (2nd edition) pp. 300-304.

[18] Wilmanns, l.c. pp. 273-280. It might be mentioned that, in Modern High German, these new diphthongs are neither in spelling nor in educated pronunciation distinguished from the older ones.

[19] Cf. Wilmanns, pp. 280-284.

[20] Ibid. pp. 129-132.

[21] Cf. K. Lachmann, _Kleinere Schriften_, i. p. 161 ff.; Mullenhoff and Scherer's _Denkmaler_ (3rd ed.), i. p. xxvii.; H. Paul, _Gab es eine mhd. Schriftsprache?_ (Halle, 1873); O. Behaghel, _Zur Frage nach einer mhd. Schriftsprache_ (Basel, 1886) (Cf. Paul and Braune's _Beitrage_, xiii. p. 464 ff.); A. Socin, _Schriftsprache und Dialekte_ (Heilbronn, 1888); H. Fischer, _Zur Geschichte des Mittelhochdeutschen_ (Tubingen, 1889); O. Behaghel, _Schriftsprache und Mundart_ (Giessen, 1896); K. Zwierzina, _Beobachtungen zum Reimgebrauch Hartmanns und Wolframs_ (Haile, 1898); S. Singer, _Die mhd. Schriftsprache_ (1900); C. Kraus, _Heinrich von Veldeke und die mhd. Dichtersprache_ (Halle, 1899); G. Roethe, _Die Reimvorreden des Sachsenspiegels_ (Berlin, 1899); H. Tumpel, _Niederdeutsche Studien_ (1898).

[22] For literature bearing on the complicated question of the _Druckersprachen_, readers are referred to the article "Neuhochdeutsche Schriftsprache," by W. Scheel, in Bethge's _Ergebnisse ... der germanistischen Wissenschaft_ (1902), pp. 47, 50 f. Cf. also K. von Bahder, _Grundlagen des nhd. Lautsystems_ (1890), pp. 15 ff.

[23] A German _Priamel_ mentions as an essential quality in a beautiful woman: "die red dort her von Swaben."

[24] Cf. for a detailed discussion of the noun declension, K. Boiunga, _Die Entwicklung der mhd. Substantivflexion_ (Leipzig, 1890); and, more particularly for the masculine and neuter nouns, two articles by H. Molz, "Die Substantivflexion seit mhd. Zeit," in Paul and Braune's _Beitrage_, xxvii. p. 209 ff. and xxxi. 277 ff. For the changes in the gender of nouns, A. Polzin, _Geschlechtswandel der Substantiva im Deutschen_ (Hildesheim, 1903).

[25] Cf. C. Blanckenburg, _Studien uber die Sprache Abrahams a S. Clara_ (Halle, 1897); H. Strigl, "Einiges uber die Sprache des P. Abraham a Sancta Clara" (_Zeitschr. f. deutsche Wortforschung_, viii. 206 ff.).

[26] Cf. F. Kluge, _Etymologisches Worterbuch_ (6th ed.), pp. 508 ff. One can speak of: _Studenten-, Soldaten-, Weidmanns-, Bergmanns-, Drucker-, Juristen-, und Zigeunersprache, und Rotwelsch_. Cf. F. Kluge, _Die deutsche Studentensprache_ (Strassburg, 1894); _Rotwelsch_ i. (Strassburg, 1901); R. Bethge, _Ergebnisse_, &c., p. 55 f.

[27] Cf. H. Wunderlich, _Unsere Umgangssprache_ (Weimar, 1894).

[28] Cf. Th. Siebs, _Deutsche Buhnenaussprache_ (2nd ed., Berlin, 1901), and the same writer's _Grundzuge der Buhnensprache_ (1900).

[29] W. Braune, _Uber die Einigung der deutschen Aussprache_ (Halle, 1905); and the review by O. Brenner, in the _Zeitschrift des allgemeinen deutschen Sprachvereins_, Beihefte iv. 27, pp. 228-232.

[30] Cf. K. Luick, _Deutsche Lautlehre mit besonderer Berucksichtigung der Sprechweise Wiens und der osterreichischen Alpenlander_ (1904); O. Brenner, "Zur Aussprache des Hochdeutschen" l.c., pp. 218-228.

GERMAN LITERATURE. Compared with other literatures, that of the German-speaking peoples presents a strangely broken and interrupted course; it falls into more or less isolated groups, separated from each other by periods which in intellectual darkness and ineptitude are virtually without a parallel in other European lands. The explanation of this irregularity of development is to be sought less in the chequered political history of the German people--although this was often reason enough--than in the strongly marked, one might almost say, provocative character of the national mind as expressed in literature. The Germans were not able, like their partially latinized English cousins--or even their Scandinavian neighbours--to adapt themselves to the various waves of literary influence which emanated from Italy and France and spread with irresistible power over all Europe; their literary history has been rather a struggle for independent expression, a constant warring against outside forces, even when the latter--like the influence of English literature in the 18th century and of Scandinavian at the close of the 19th--were hailed as friendly and not hostile. It is a peculiarity of German literature that in those ages when, owing to its own poverty and impotence, it was reduced to borrowing its ideas and its poetic forms from other lands, it sank to the most servile imitation; while the first sign of returning health has invariably been the repudiation of foreign influence and the assertion of the right of genius to untrammelled expression. Thus Germany's periods of literary efflorescence rarely coincide with those of other nations, and great European movements, like the Renaissance, passed over her without producing a single great poet.

This chequered course, however, renders the grouping of German literature and the task of the historian the easier. The first and simplest classification is that afforded by the various stages of linguistic development. In accordance with the three divisions in the history of the High German language, there is an Old High German, a Middle High German and a New High German or Modern High German literary epoch. It is obvious, however, that the last of these divisions covers too enormous a period of literary history to be regarded as analogous to the first two. The present survey is consequently divided into six main sections:

I. The Old High German Period, including the literature of the Old Saxon dialect, from the earliest times to the middle of the 11th century.

II. The Middle High German Period, from the middle of the 11th to the middle of the 14th century.

III. The Transition Period, from the middle of the 14th century to the Reformation in the 16th century.

IV. The Period of Renaissance and Pseudo-classicism, from the end of the 16th century to the middle of the 18th.

V. The Classical Period of Modern German literature, from the middle of the 18th century to Goethe's death in 1832.

VI. The Period from Goethe's death to the present day.

I. THE OLD HIGH GERMAN PERIOD (c. 750-1050)

Of all the Germanic races, the tribes with which we have more

## particularly to deal here were the latest to attain intellectual

maturity. The Goths had, centuries earlier, under their famous bishop Ulfilas or Wulfila, possessed the Bible in their vernacular, the northern races could point to their _Edda_, the Germanic tribes in England to a rich and virile Old English poetry, before a written German literature of any consequence existed at all. At the same time, these continental tribes, in the epoch that lay between the Migrations of the 5th century and the age of Charles the Great, were not without poetic literature of a kind, but it was not committed to writing, or, at least, no record of such a poetry has come down to us. Its existence is vouched for by indirect historical evidence, and by the fact that the sagas, out of which the German national epic was welded at a later date, originated in the great upheaval of the 5th century. When the vernacular literature began to emerge from an unwritten state in the 8th century, it proved to be merely a weak reflection of the ecclesiastical writings of the monasteries; and this, with very few exceptions, Old High German literature remained. Translations of the liturgy, of Tatian's _Gospel Harmony_ (c. 835), of fragments of sermons, form a large proportion of it. Occasionally, as in the so-called _Monsee Fragments_, and at the end of the period, in the prose of Notker Labeo (d. 1022), this ecclesiastical literature attains a surprising maturity of style and expression. But it had no vitality of its own; it virtually sprang into existence at the command of Charlemagne, whose policy with regard to the use of the vernacular in place of Latin was liberal and far-seeing; and it docilely obeyed the tastes of the rulers that followed, becoming severely orthodox under Louis the Pious, and consenting to immediate extinction when the Saxon emperors withdrew their favour from it. Apart from a few shorter poetic fragments of interest, such as the _Merseburg Charms_ (_Zauberspruche_), an undoubted relic of pre-Christian times, the _Wessobrunn Prayer_ (c. 780), the _Muspilli_, an imaginative description of the Day of Judgment, and the _Ludwigslied_ (881), which may be regarded as the starting point for the German historical ballad, the only High German poem of importance in this early period was the _Gospel Book_ (_Liber evangeliorum_) of Otfrid of Weissenburg (c. 800-870). Even this work is more interesting as the earliest attempt to supersede alliteration in German poetry by rhyme, than for such poetic life as the monk of Weissenburg was able to instil into his narrative. In fact, for the only genuine poetry of this epoch we have to look, not to the High German but to the Low German races. They alone seemed able to give literary expression to the memories handed down in oral tradition from the 5th century; to Saxon tradition we owe the earliest extant fragment of a national saga, the _Lay of Hildebrand_ (_Hildebrandslied_, c. 800), and a Saxon poet was the author of a vigorous alliterative version of the Gospel story, the _Heliand_ (c. 830), and also of part of the Old Testament (_Genesis_). This alliterative epic--for epic it may be called--is the one poem of this age in which the Christian tradition has been adapted to German poetic needs. Of the existence of a lyric poetry we only know by hearsay; and the drama had nowhere in Europe yet emerged from its earliest purely liturgic condition. Such as it was, the vernacular literature of the Old High German period enjoyed but a brief existence, and in the 10th and 11th centuries darkness again closed over it. The dominant "German" literature in these centuries is in Latin; but that literature is not without national interest, for it shows in what direction the German mind was moving. The _Lay of Walter_ (_Waltharilied_, c. 930), written in elegant hexameters by Ekkehard of St Gall, the moralizing dramas of Hrosvitha (Roswitha) of Gandersheim, the _Ecbasis captivi_ (c. 940), earliest of all the Beast epics, and the romantic adventures of _Ruodlieb_ (c. 1030), form a literature which, Latin although it is, foreshadows the future developments of German poetry.

II. THE MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN PERIOD (1050-1350)

(a) _Early Middle High German Poetry._--The beginnings of Middle High German literature were hardly less tentative than those of the preceding period. The Saxon emperors, with their Latin and even Byzantine tastes, had made it extremely difficult to take up the thread where Notker let it drop. Williram of Ebersberg, the commentator of the _Song of Songs_ (c. 1063), did certainly profit by Notker's example, but he stands alone. The Church had no helping hand to offer poetry, as in the more liberal epoch of the great Charles; for, at the middle of the 11th century, when the linguistic change from Old to Middle High German was taking place, a movement of religious asceticism, originating in the Burgundian monastery of Cluny, spread across Europe, and before long all the German peoples fell under its influence. For a century there was no room for any literature that did not place itself unreservedly at the service of the Church, a service which meant the complete abnegation of the brighter side of life. Repellent in their asceticism are, for instance, poems like _Memento mori_ (c. 1050), _Vom Glauben_, a verse commentary on the creed by a monk Hartmann (c. 1120), and a poem on "the remembrance of death" (_Von des todes gehugede_) by Heinreich von Melk (c. 1150); only rarely, as in a few narrative Poems on Old Testament subjects, are the poets of this time able to forget for a time their lugubrious faith. In the _Ezzolied_ (c. 1060), a spirited lay by a monk of Bamberg on the life, miracles and death of Christ, and in the _Annolied_ (c. 1080), a poem in praise of the archbishop Anno of Cologne, we find, however, some traces of a higher poetic imagination.

The transition from this rigid ecclesiastic spirit to a freer, more imaginative literature is to be seen in the lyric poetry inspired by the Virgin, in the legends of the saints which bulk so largely in the poetry of the 12th century, and in the general trend towards mysticism. Andreas, Pilatus, Aegidius, Albanius are the heroes of monkish romances of that age, and the stories of Sylvester and Crescentia form the most attractive parts of the _Kaiserchronik_ (c. 1130-1150), a long, confused chronicle of the world which contains many elements common to later Middle High German poetry. The national sagas, of which the poet of the _Kaiserchronik_ had not been oblivious, soon began to assert themselves in the popular literature. The wandering _Spielleute_, the lineal descendants of the jesters and minstrels of the dark ages, who were now rapidly becoming a factor of importance in literature, were here the innovators; to them we owe the romance of _Konig Rother_ (c. 1160), and the kindred stories of _Orendel_, _Oswald_ and _Salomon und Markolf_ (_Salman und Morolf_). All these poems bear witness to a new element, which in these years kindled the German imagination and helped to counteract the austerity of the religious faith--the Crusades. With what alacrity the Germans revelled in the wonderland of the East is to be seen especially in the _Alexanderlied_ (c. 1130), and in _Herzog Ernst_ (c. 1180), romances which point out the way to another important development of German medieval literature, the Court epic. The latter type of romance was the immediate product of the social conditions created by chivalry and, like chivalry itself, was determined and influenced by its French origin; so also was the version of the _Chanson de Roland_ (_Rolandslied_, c. 1135), which we owe to another priest, Konrad of Regensburg, who, with considerable probability, has been identified with the author of the _Kaiserchronik_.

The Court epic was, however, more immediately ushered in by Eilhart von Oberge, a native of the neighbourhood of Hildesheim who, in his _Tristant_ (c. 1170), chose that Arthurian type of romance which from now on was especially cultivated by the poets of the Court epic; and of equally early origin is a knightly romance of _Floris und Blancheflur_, another of the favourite love stories of the middle ages. In these years, too, the Beast epic, which had been represented by the Latin _Ecbasis captivi_, was reintroduced into Germany by an Alsatian monk, Heinrich der Glichezaere, who based his _Reinhart Fuchs_ (c. 1180) on the French _Roman de Renart_. Lastly, we have to consider the beginning of the _Minnesang_, or lyric, which in the last decades of the 12th century burst out with extraordinary vigour in Austria and South Germany. The origins are obscure, and it is still debatable how much in the German Minnesang is indigenous and national, how much due to French and Provencal influence; for even in its earliest phases the Minnesang reveals correspondences with the contemporary lyric of the south of France. The freshness and originality of the early South German singers, such as Kurenberg, Dietmar von Eist, the Burggraf of Rietenburg and Meinloh von Sevelingen, are not, however, to be questioned; in spite of foreign influence, their verses make the impression of having been a spontaneous expression of German lyric feeling in the 12th century. The _Spruchdichtung_, a form of poetry which in this period is represented by at least two poets who call themselves Herger and "Der Spervogel," was less dependent on foreign models; the pointed and satirical strophes of these poets were the forerunners of a vast literature which did not reach its highest development until after literature had passed from the hands of the noble-born knight to those of the burgher of the towns.