Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/635

 Books and Science in the Middle Ages 541 admired, they usually sang of love, hence their name (German, Walther Minne). The most famous of the minnesingers was Walther vogdweide von der Vogelweide (d. about 1228), whose songs are full of charm and of enthusiasm for his German fatherland. Wolfram von Eschenbach (d. about 1225) in his story of Parsifal gives the long and sad adventures of a knight in search of the Holy Grail — the sacred vessel which had held the blood of Christ, which only a person perfectly pure in thought, word, and deed could hope to behold. Section 94. Medieval Science So long as all books had to be copied by hand, there were, of course, but few of them compared with those of modern times. The literature of which we have been speaking was not in general read, but was only listened to, as it was sung or recited by those who made it their profession. Wherever the wandering troubadour or minnesinger appeared he was sure of a delighted audience for his songs and stories, both serious and light. People unfamiliar with Latin could, however, learn little of the General past, for there were no translations of the great classics of K?palt Greece and Rome, of Homer, Plato, Cicero, or Livy. All that they could know of ancient history was derived from the fan- tastic romances referred to above, which had for their theme the quite preposterous deeds ascribed to Alexander the Great, ^neas, and Caesar. As for their own history, the epics relating to the earlier course of events in France and the rest of Europe were hopelessly confused. For example, the writers attributed to Charlemagne a great part of the acts of the Frankish kings from Clovis to Pippin. Of what we should call scientific books there were practically Medieval none. It is true that there was a kind of encyclopedia in verse See' which gave a great deal of misinformation about things in general. Every one continued to believe, as the Greeks and Romans had done, in strange animals like the unicorn, the dragon, and the