Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/594

 chronicle of the Teutonic Order translated from the Latin of Peter von Dusburg by Nikolaus von Jeroschin (c. 1340). Of higher poetic value are the legends, fables, and anecdotes that enjoyed such popularity in this period. The best-known collection of fables was "Der Edelstein," containing a hundred fables translated from the Latin by Ulrich Boner, a Dominican monk of Berne (c. 1340). Of the many didactic poems of this period, by far the most famous was the "Narrenschiff" (Ship of Fools) of the learned humanist Sebastian Brant (d. 1521), which appeared in 1494 and achieved a European reputation. This is a satire of all the vices and follies of the age, of which no less than one hundred and ten kinds are enumerated. A satiric tendency pervades also the "Reinke de Vos," a Low German version from a Dutch original of the famous story of Reynard the Fox (1498). The allusions in this poem to the vices of men high in Church and State are unmistakable.

As for lyric poetry the Minnesang dies out, Hugo, Count of Montfort (c. 1423), and Oswald von Wolkenstein (d. 1445) being its last representatives. The cultivation of the lyric is now taken up by the burghers; the Meistersang displaces the Minnesang.

Poetry in the hands of this class became a mere matter of technic, a trade that was taught in schools established for that purpose. The guild system was applied to art, and the candidate passed through different grades, from apprentice to master. Tradition names Mainz as the seat of the oldest school, and Heinrich von Meissen (d. 1318) as its founder. Of the many cities where schools flourished, none gained such a reputation as Nuremberg, the home of Hans Sachs.

Very little of the poetry of these meistersingers has literary merit. The best lyric poetry of this period and the following is found in the Volkslied, a song generally of unknown authorship, expressive of the joys and sorrows of people in all stations and ranks of life. Contemporary events often furnished the inspiration, as in Halbsuter's song of the battle of Sempach (1386). Other songs deal with legendary subjects, as for instance the song of Tannhaeuser, the minstrel knight who wandered into the Mountain of Venus and then journeyed to Rome to gain absolution. The religious lyric of this period is largely devoted to the praise of the Blessed Virgin; in this connexion Heinrich von Laufenberg, a priest of Freiburg im Breisgau, later a monk at Strasburg (d. 1460), is specially noteworthy.

Another literary genre that now rose into prominence was the drama, the origin of which here as elsewhere is to be sought in the religious plays with which the great Christian festivals, especially Easter, were celebrated. These plays had a distinct purpose; they were to instruct as well as to edify. But gradually they assumed a more secular character, they were no longer performed in the church, but in the marketplace or some public square. Laymen also began to participate, and in the fourteenth century German takes the place of Latin. Besides the Passion, Biblical stories and legends were dramatized. One of the oldest and most striking of such plays is the Tegernsee play "Antichrist" (twelfth century). A famous drama of which the text is preserved is that of the wise and foolish virgins, performed at Eisenach in 1322.

The origin of the secular drama is not wholly clear. In the fifteenth century this genre is chiefly represented by the Shrovetide play, which undoubtedly traces its origin to the mummeries and the coarse funmaking indulged in on special occasions, notably on Shrove-Tuesday. No doubt the religious drama exerted its influence on the development of the secular drama. As a rule the latter was extremely crude in form and also incredibly coarse in language and content. The chief place for these plays was Nuremberg, and Hans Folzs and Hans Rosenblüt are the best-known authors in this line. In their plays appears the tendency that was to make of this literary genre an effective vehicle for satire.

In this period of utilitarianism prose comes to occupy a leading position. The romances of chivalry were turned into prose, foreign romances were translated, and thus arose the Volksbücher, of which the most noteworthy is that of Till Eulenspiegel, a notorious wag, around whom gathered all kinds of anecdotes. The original Low German book of 1483 is lost, the oldest High German version dating from 1515. In connexion with translated literature the names of the earliest German humanists, Heinrich Steinhöwel, Niklas van Wyl, and Albrecht von Eyb should be mentioned.

History was now written in German prose. Of prose chronicles we possess a number, as that of Strasburg (to 1362), of Limburg (to 1398), and the Thuringian chronicle of Johannes Rothe, a monk of Eisenach (1421).

But the best German prose of this period is to be found in the writings of the mystics. The founder of this school was Master Eckhart (d. 1327), a Dominican monk, and the Dominican Order became its chief exponent. Eckhart was accused of pantheism, but repudiated any such interpretation of his utterances. His disciple, Heinrich Seuse (Suso), also a Dominican (d. 1366), was less philosophical and more poetical. The third great mystic, Johannes Tauler (d. 1361), a Dominican of Strasburg, gave the teachings of his predecessors a more practical turn. The service which the mystics rendered to the German language in making it the medium for their speculations can hardly be overestimated.

The greatest preacher of the period was Geiler von Kaysersberg of Strasburg (d. 1510), whose series of sermons based on Brant's "Ship of Fools" was especially famous.

—The effects of Humanism in Germany began to be felt in the attention given by such men as Erasmus and Reuchlin to the study of the Bible in the original languages. For German literature the Reformation was a calamity. The fierce theological strife absorbed the best intellectual energy of the nation. Literature as an art suffered by being pressed into the service of religious controversy; it became polemic or didactic, and its prevailing form was prose.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is the most important figure of this period and his most important work is his translation of the Bible (printed complete at Wittenberg, 1534; final edition, 1543-45). The German translations before his time had been made from the Vulgate and were deficient in literary quality. Luther's version is from the original, and although not