1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ruodlieb

RUODLIEB, a romance in Latin verse by an unknown German poet who flourished about 1030; he was almost certainly a monk of the Bavarian abbey of Tegernsee. The poem is one of the earliest German romances of knightly adventure, and its vivid picture of feudal manners gives it a certain value as an historical document. The poet was probably an eye-witness of the episode (ll. 4231-5221) which represents the meeting of the emperor Henry II. with Robert of France on the banks

of the Maas in 1023. Ruodlieb was left unfinished, and furthermore the MS. was cut up and used for binding books, so that the fragments were only gradually discovered (from 1807 onwards) and pieced together. The framework of the story is borrowed from a popular märchen of the youth who takes service away from home, and is paid in wise saws instead of current coin. He receives at the same time a loaf, with instructions not to cut it until he is once more at home. This contains the coins. The proverbs, usually three in number, were increased in Ruodlieb to twelve, each of which was the starting-point of an episode by which the hero was made to appreciate its value.