biography
| name: |
Heinrich von Meißen
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popularly known as Frauenlob (‘praiser of women’)
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pronunciation:
[hiynrikh fon miys
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (c.1250–1318)
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| biography:
| Poet, born in Meißen, Germany. Before settling in Mainz in 1312 he travelled as Minnesänger from court to court, including those of Rudolf von Habsburg, Bohemia, the Tirol, and Brandenburg. He earned his literary pseudonym through a song praising the Virgin Mary and for championing the female ideal of the high-born ‘frouwe’ against the ‘wîp’. He generally glorified women in his works, which comprised learned and elaborate songs and sayings but which were sometimes criticized as extravagant in content and mannered in style. An adherent of the chivalric ideal, he was claimed as model and founder by the Meistersinger, who developed Minnesang in the direction of bourgeois themes and rigid technique. |
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