![]() ![]() First of all, the “I” is supposed to write letters to the beloved, which it promptly does after awakening. The “Frau Minne” (Lady Minne) thus stands for the knowledge of love she helps him to implement the doctrines of courtly love. She drew her bow of horn and shot me in my heart, so that the arrow hurt me and I became even more fond of my dear lady than before.Īs the voice of his heart, Minne explains to the “I” from now on what it has to do to conquer the beloved. In his dream, he meets allegorical figures: Cupid, who appears naked with torches and a spear, and Minne (Courtly Love) with bow and arrow, which she then uses: In Johan of Constance’s “Minnelehre” from the early 14th century, the first-person narrator is suddenly overcome by love for a woman and falls into a deep sleep. All four poems revolve around love, or more precisely, the right way to love. The roles between men and women are clearly allocated here. “On the basis of the four selected texts, we did a kind of deep drilling.”Ĭourtly Poetry – in the Middle Ages, this was the serving love of a knight for a courtly lady. “This type of text can be found throughout Europe,” Philipowski explains. These are medieval poems written in the first person, which deal with courtly love poetry and use allegories. Julia Rüthemann investigated two Middle High German and two Old French texts from the 13th and 14th century. Katharina Philipowski, Professor of Medieval German Studies, and her research assistant Dr. ![]() The tapestry, a replica of the 15th century Millefleurs tapestry “The Lady with the Unicorn”, figuratively represents an abstract concept, namely the sense of taste.Īllegories like these play a major role in the research project “I – Minne – Allegoric”. A unicorn and a lion are sitting by her side, a monkey at her feet is eating something. A large red and gold tapestry depicting an allegorical scene hangs above the brown leather sofa: a lady takes a nibble from a plate handed to her by a servant. Early modern portraits and reproductions of impressive medieval manuscripts adorn the walls of the cozy room on the Neues Palais campus. Some examples of such early works (chivalric or not) include: The Filocolo by Giovanni Boccaccio from 1335/6 (first novel in Italian) Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta again by Boccaccio from 1343/4 (first psychological novel in the West) Le Mort d'Arthur by Thomas Malory from the 1470's (first novel in English) and other such works.Īlso, other countries developed novels - see for example Lady Murasaki's genius Tale of Genji from Heian Japan (early 11th century).When you open the door to Katharina Philipowski’s office, you seem to enter into a different time. Most of the books written in prose were chivalric romances (aka, the kind of books where the brave knight rescues the damsel in distress), which were early signs of what would evolve into the modern form. ![]() However, modern novels grew out of medieval traditions, and there are some medieval books we can consider "novels." In the early 13th century, there was a shift from poetry towards prose writing. In fact, the first "modern novel" was Don Quixote published in 1605, two centuries after the Middle Ages! There are some examples of "novels" dating from the Roman era however, these were very different than ones you would find in modern bookstores. That's a really cool question! Unfortunately, it's also kinda hard to answer, because the genre known as a "novel" has greatly evolved throughout time. ![]()
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