In this article we will address the issue of Heinrich von Morungen, which has become increasingly relevant in recent years. Heinrich von Morungen is a topic that has aroused great interest in both the scientific community and society in general, due to its impact in various areas. From its origins to its current evolution, Heinrich von Morungen has been the subject of multiple investigations and debates that seek to understand its influence on our environment. Throughout this article we will explore different aspects related to Heinrich von Morungen, analyzing its importance, its implications and the possible future perspectives that this topic may offer.
German Minnesinger from the 13th century
Heinrich von Morungen (died 1222) was a Minnesinger, whose 35 surviving Middle High German songs are dated on both literary and biographical grounds to around the period 1190–1200. Alongside Walter von der Vogelweide and Reinmar he is regarded as one of the most important Minnesänger: he was "the most colourful, passionate, tender and musical of the Minnesänger" and his work "marks a new and brilliantly effective stage in the development of the German lyric."
Life
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. As a "retired knight" (miles emeritus) he received from his patron Dietrich, also a patron of Walter von der Vogelweide, 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. The same source reports a certainly apocryphal story of a visit to India.
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.
Works
Manuscript tradition
The manuscript tradition preserves 115 strophes of Morungen's, constituting 35 songs. He is represented in the three main Minnesang manuscripts:.
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 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:
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.
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 Provençaltroubadour 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.
The Songs
Song I
Si ist ze allen êren
MF 122,1
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
^Song numbering in the 36th and later editions of Des Minnesangs Frühling (1975–).
^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. ISBN978-3777604480.
Tervooren, Helmut (2003). Heinrich von Morungen. Lieder (3rd ed.). Stuttgart: Reclam. ISBN3-15-009797-5. With commentary and Modern German translation.
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. ISBN978-3-484-10703-8.
Kern, Manfred; Edwards, Cyril; Huber, Christoph, eds. (2015). Das "Narzisslied" Heinrichs von Morungen. Zur mittelalterlichen Liebeslyrik und ihrer philologischen Erschließung. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter. ISBN978-3-8253-7531-7.
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. ISBN0-19-815772-X.
Wapnewski, Peter (1975). Waz ist minne: Studien zur mittelhochdeutschen Lyrik. Munich: Beck. ISBN3406058655.
Further reading
Fisher, Rodney W. (1996). The Minnesinger Heinrich von Morungen. An Introduction to His Songs. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications. ISBN1573091162.