1.
Minnesang
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Minnesang was a tradition of lyric and song writing in Germany that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century, people who wrote and performed Minnesang were known as Minnesänger, and a single song was called a Minnelied. The name derives from minne, the Middle High German word for love, the Minnesänger were similar to the Provençal troubadours and northern French trouvères in that they wrote love poetry in the tradition of courtly love in the High Middle Ages. In the absence of reliable information, there has been debate about the social status of the Minnesänger. Some clearly belonged to the higher nobility – the 14th century Codex Manesse includes songs by dukes, counts, kings, some Minnesänger, as indicated by the title Meister, were clearly educated commoners, such as Meister Konrad von Würzburg. It is thought that many were ministeriales, that is, members of a class of lower nobility, broadly speaking, the Minnesänger were writing and performing for their own social class at court, and should be thought of as courtiers rather than professional hired musicians. Friedrich von Hausen, for example, was part of the entourage of Friedrich Barbarossa, as a reward for his service, Walther von der Vogelweide was given a fief by the Emperor Frederick II. Several of the best known Minnesingers are also noted for their poetry, among them Heinrich von Veldeke, Wolfram von Eschenbach. This is referred to as the Danubian tradition, from around 1170, German lyric poets came under the influence of the Provençal troubadours and the Northern French trouvères. For example, Friedrich von Hausens Ich denke underwilen is regarded as a contrafactum of Guiot de Provinss Ma joie premeraine, by around 1190, the German poets began to break free of Franco-Provençal influence. The later Minnesang, from around 1230, is marked by a turning away from the refined ethos of classical minnesang. The most notable of these later Minnesänger, Neidhart von Reuental introduces characters from lower social classes, additionally, it is often rather difficult to interpret the musical notation used to write them down. Although the contour of the melody can usually be made out, There are a number of recordings of Minnesang using the original melodies, as well as Rock groups such as Ougenweide performing songs with modern instruments. In the 15th century, Minnesang developed into and gave way to the tradition of the Meistersänger, the two traditions are quite different, however, Minnesänger were mainly aristocrats, while Meistersänger usually were commoners. At least two operas have been written about the Minnesang tradition, Richard Wagners Tannhäuser and Richard Strauss Guntram, the standard collections are 12th and early 13th Century Minnesang, H. Moser, H. Tervooren, Des Minnesangs Frühling. Vol. Kraus, G. Kornrumpf, Deutsche Liederdichter des 13, 14th and 15th centuries, Thomas Cramer, Die kleineren Liederdichter des 14. Jhs.4 Vols There are separate editions of Walthers works, There are many published selections with Modern German translation. Liederhandschrift Olive Sayce, The medieval German lyric, 1150-1300, the development of its themes and forms in their European context ISBN 0-19-815772-X Ronald J. Taylor, The Art of the Minnesinger
2.
Illuminated manuscript
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An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders and miniature illustrations. Comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted, islamic manuscripts may be referred to as illuminated, illustrated or painted, though using essentially the same techniques as Western works. This article covers the technical, social and economic history of the subject, for an art-historical account, the earliest surviving substantive illuminated manuscripts are from the period 400 to 600, produced in the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire. The significance of these works lies not only in their inherent artistic and historical value, had it not been for the monastic scribes of Late Antiquity, most literature of Greece and Rome would have perished in Europe. As it was, the patterns of textual survivals were shaped by their usefulness to the severely constricted literate group of Christians, the majority of surviving manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, although many survive from the Renaissance, along with a very limited number from Late Antiquity. The majority of manuscripts are of a religious nature. However, especially from the 13th century onward, a number of secular texts were illuminated. Most illuminated manuscripts were created as codices, which had superseded scrolls, a very few illuminated manuscript fragments survive on papyrus, which does not last nearly as long as vellum or parchment. Most medieval manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on parchment, beginning in the late Middle Ages manuscripts began to be produced on paper. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in the early 16th century, Manuscripts are among the most common items to survive from the Middle Ages, many thousands survive. They are also the best surviving specimens of medieval painting, indeed, for many areas and time periods, they are the only surviving examples of painting. There are a few examples from later periods, the type of book that was most often heavily and richly illuminated, sometimes known as a display book, varied between periods. In the first millennium, these were most likely to be Gospel Books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Romanesque period saw the creation of many huge illuminated complete Bibles – one in Sweden requires three librarians to lift it. Many Psalters were also illuminated in both this and the Gothic period. Finally, the Book of Hours, very commonly the personal book of a wealthy layperson, was often richly illuminated in the Gothic period. Other books, both liturgical and not, continued to be illuminated at all periods, the Byzantine world also continued to produce manuscripts in its own style, versions of which spread to other Orthodox and Eastern Christian areas. See Medieval art for other regions, periods and types, reusing parchments by scraping the surface and reusing them was a common practice, the traces often left behind of the original text are known as palimpsests. The Gothic period, which saw an increase in the production of these beautiful artifacts, also saw more secular works such as chronicles
3.
Miniature (illuminated manuscript)
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These include Persian miniatures, and their Mughal, Ottoman and other Indian offshoots. This article gives an art historical account of the miniature form, for the techniques involved in production, see illuminated manuscript. The earliest extant miniatures are a series of colored drawings or miniatures cut from the Ambrosian Iliad and they are similar in style and treatment with the pictorial art of the later Roman classical period. Of even greater value from a point of view are the miniatures of the Vatican manuscript of Virgil, known as the Vergilius Vaticanus. They are in a perfect condition and on a larger scale than the Ambrosian fragments. The drawing is quite classical in style, and the idea is conveyed that the miniatures are copies from an older series. The colors are opaque, indeed, in all the miniatures of early manuscripts the employment of body color was universal. The method followed in placing the different scenes on the page is highly instructive of the practice followed, as we may presume, by the artists of the early centuries. Again, for the purpose of securing something like perspective, an arrangement of zones was adopted. It was reserved for the Byzantine school to break away more decidedly from the natural presentment of things, but on comparing the miniatures of the Byzantine school generally with their classical predecessors, one has a sense of having passed from the open air into the cloister. Under the restraint of ecclesiastical domination Byzantine art became more and more stereotyped, the tendency grows to paint the flesh-tints in swarthy hues, to elongate and emaciate the limbs, and to stiffen the gait. Browns, blue-greys and neutral tints are in favor, in the miniatures of Byzantine manuscripts are first seen those backgrounds of bright gold which afterwards appear in such profusion in the productions of every western school of painting. The influence of Byzantine art on that of medieval Italy is obvious, the early mosaics in the churches of Italy, such as those at Ravenna and Venice, also afford examples of the dominating Byzantine influence. In the native schools of illumination of Western Europe, decoration only was the leading motive, the highest qualities of the miniatures of the 10th and 11th century of this school lie in fine outline drawing, which had a lasting influence on the English miniature of the later centuries. But the southern Anglo-Saxon school rather stands apart from the line of development of the western medieval miniature. Under the Carolingian monarchs there developed a school of painting derived from classical models, in this school, which owed its origin to the encouragement of Charlemagne, it is seen that the miniature appears in two forms. Accompanied as it was with profuse decoration in border and initial, on the other hand, there is also the miniature in which there is an attempt at illustration, as, for example, the depicting of scenes from the Bible. Here there is freedom, and we trace the classical style which copies Roman, as distinguished from Byzantine
4.
Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor
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Henry VI, a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany from 1190 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King of Sicily and he was the second son of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his consort Beatrix of Burgundy. In 1186 he was married to Constance of Sicily, the daughter of the Norman king Roger II of Sicily. Henry, still stuck in the Hohenstaufen conflict with the House of Welf, had to enforce the claims by his wife against her nephew Count Tancred of Lecce. Based on a ransom for the release of King Richard I of England, he conquered Sicily in 1194, however. Henry was born in autumn 1165 at the Valkhof pfalz of Nijmegen to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, at the age of four, his father had him elected King of the Romans during the Hoftag in Bamberg at Pentecost 1169, and Henry was crowned on 15 August at Aachen Cathedral. Henry was fluent in Latin and, according to the chronicler Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, was distinguished by gifts of knowledge, wreathed in flowers of eloquence, and learned in canon and Roman law. He was a patron of poets and poetry, and he almost certainly composed the song Kaiser Heinrich, in one of those he describes a romance that makes him forget all his earthly power, and neither riches nor royal dignity can outweigh his yearning for that lady. Having returned to Germany in 1178, Henry supported his father against insurgent Duke Henry the Lion and he and his younger brother Frederick received the knightly accolade at Mainz in 1184. The emperor had already entered negotiations with King William II of Sicily to betroth his son. He and Constance were married on 27 January 1186 in Milan, in the Hohenstaufen conflict with Pope Urban III, Henry moved to the March of Tuscany, and with the aid of his liensman Markward von Annweiler devastated the adjacent territory of the Papal States. Back in Germany, he took the reins of the Empire from his father, further difficulties arose when the exiled Welf duke Henry the Lion returned from England and began to subdue large estates in his former Duchy of Saxony. A Hohenstaufen campaign to Saxony had to be abandoned when King Henry received the message of the death of King William II of Sicily on 18 November 1189, the Sicilian vice-chancellor Matthew of Ajello pursued the succession of Count Tancred of Lecce and gained the support of the Roman Curia. To assert his own rights in the dispute, Henry initially supported Tancreds rival Count Roger of Andria. While he sent an Imperial army to Italy, Henry initially stayed in Germany to settle the succession of Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia and he had planned to seize the Thuringian landgraviate as a reverted fief, but Louis brother Hermann was able to reach his enfeoffment. The next year, the king followed his army across the Alps, in Lodi he negotiated with Eleanor of Aquitaine, widow of King Henry II of England, to break the engagement of her son King Richard with Alys, a daughter of late King Louis VII of France. He hoped to deteriorate English-French relations and to isolate Richard, who had offended him by backing Count Tancred in Sicily, Henry entered into further negotiations with the Lombard League cities and with Pope Celestine III on his Imperial coronation, and ceded Tusculum to the Pope. At Easter Monday on 15 April 1191, in Rome, Henry and his consort Constance were crowned Emperor, the crown of Sicily, however, was harder to gain, as the Sicilian nobility had chosen Count Tancred of Lecce as their king
5.
Conradin
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Conrad, called the Younger or the Boy, but usually known by the diminutive Conradin, was the Duke of Swabia, King of Jerusalem, and King of Sicily. Conradin was born in Wolfstein, Bavaria, to Conrad IV of Germany and he is sometimes known as Conrad V of Germany. Though he never succeeded his father in Germany, he was recognized as king of the Germans, Sicily, having lost his father in 1254, he grew up at the court of his uncle and guardian, Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria. His guardians were able to hold Swabia for him, Jerusalem was held by a relative from the royal house of Cyprus as regent. In Sicily, his fathers half-brother Manfred continued as regent, little is known of his appearance and character except that he was beautiful as Absalom, and spoke good Latin. Innocents successor, Pope Alexander IV, continuing this policy, offered the Hohenstaufen lands in Germany to King Alfonso X of Castile and forbade Conradins election as king of the Romans. Having assumed the title of King of Jerusalem and Sicily, Conradin took possession of the Duchy of Swabia in 1262, and remained for some time in his duchy. Conradins first invitation to Italy came from the Guelphs of Florence, they asked him to arms against Manfred. Louis refused this invitation on his nephews behalf, count Guido de Montefeltro representing Henry of Castile, Senator of Rome, offered him the support of the eternal city. Pledging his lands, Conradin crossed the Alps and issued a manifesto at Verona setting forth his claim on Sicily. Notwithstanding the defection of his uncle Louis and of other companions who returned to Germany, the threats of Clement IV, only Palermo and Messina remained loyal to Charles. The revolt spread to Calabria and Apulia, in November of the same year the Church excommunicated him, but his fleet won a victory over that of Charles, and in July 1268, Conradin himself entered with immense enthusiasm in Rome. Having strengthened his forces, he marched towards Lucera to join the Saracen troops settled there since the time of his grandfather. On 23 August 1268 his multi-national army of Italian, Spanish, Roman, Arab and German troops encountered that of Charles at Tagliacozzo and he was tried as a traitor, and on 29 October 1268 he and Frederick were beheaded. With Conradins death at 16, the legitimate Hohenstaufen line became extinct, in the 14th century Codex Manesse, a collection of medieval German lyrics, preserved at Heidelberg, there appear two songs written by Conradin, and his fate has formed the subject of several dramas. His hereditary Kingdom of Jerusalem passed to the heirs of his great-great-grandmother Isabella I of Jerusalem, Conradins grandmothers first cousin Mary of Antioch also staked her claim on basis of proximity of blood, which she later sold to Conradins executioner Charles of Anjou. The general heiress of his Kingdom of Sicily and the Duchy of Swabia was his aunt Margaret, half-sister of his father Conrad IV and married with Albert and their son Frederick claimed Sicily and Swabia on her right. However, these met with little favor
6.
Wenceslaus II of Bohemia
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Wenceslaus II Přemyslid was King of Bohemia, Duke of Cracow, and King of Poland. He was the son of King Ottokar II of Bohemia. He was born in 1271, ten years after the marriage of his parents, Kunigunda was the daughter of Rostislav Mikhailovich, lord of Slavonia, son of a Grand Prince of Kiev, and Anna of Hungary, daughter of Béla IV of Hungary. His great-grandfather was the German king Philip of Swabia, Wenceslaus II was the grandfather of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV. He was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, in 1276 Rudolf I, King of the Romans, placed Ottokar under the ban of the empire and besieged Vienna. This compelled Ottokar in November 1276 to sign a new treaty by which he gave up all claims to Austria, Ottokars son Wenceslaus was also betrothed to Rudolphs daughter Judith. Wenceslauss father died on 26 August 1278 in the Battle on the Marchfeld shortly before Wenceslaus seventh birthday, before Wenceslaus became of age, the government was handled by Otto V, Margrave of Brandenburg, who is said to have held Wenceslaus captive in several locations. He returned to Bohemia in 1283, at the age of twelve and his mothers second husband, Záviš of Falkenštejn, ruled instead of him for a few years. On 24 January 1285, Wenceslaus married Judith of Habsburg, daughter of Rudolf I, in 1290, Wenceslaus had Záviš beheaded for alleged treason and began ruling independently. In 1291, Przemysł II, High Duke of Poland, ceded the sovereign Duchy of Kraków to Wenceslaus, Kraków was associated with the overlordship of Poland, but Przemysł held the other duchies and in 1295 was crowned King of Poland. After Przemysłs death in 1296, Wenceslaus became overlord of Poland and in 1300, in 1298, silver was discovered at Kutná Hora in Central Bohemia. Wenceslaus took control of the mine by making silver production a royal monopoly and issued the Prague groschen, Kutná Hora was one of the richest European silver strikes ever, between 1300 and 1340 the mine may have produced as much as 20 tons of silver a year. In 1300, Wenceslaus issued the new mining code Ius regale montanorum. This was a document that specified all administrative as well as technical terms. Wenceslaus second wife was Elisabeth Richeza, daughter of Przemysł II, later she remarried to Rudolph of Habsburg, duke of Austria, who also became king of Bohemia for a brief period in those unruly years. In 1301, Wenceslaus kinsman Andrew III of Hungary died and the dynasty became extinct in the male line. Wenceslaus was one of the relatives who claimed the throne, and he accepted it from a party of Hungarians on behalf of his son, betrothed to Andrews only child. On 27 August 1301, his son was crowned in Székesfehérvár as King of Hungary under the name Ladislaus V, but the Abas and Matthew Csák switched sides in 1303 and started to support Wenceslaus rival Charles Robert of Anjou
7.
Jousting
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Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horsemen wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The joust became a characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The participants experience close to three and a quarter times their weight in G-forces when the lances collide with their armor. The term is derived from Old French joster, ultimately from Latin iuxtare to approach, the word was loaned into Middle English around 1300, when jousting was a very popular sport among the Anglo-Norman knighthood. Jousting is based on the use of the lance by heavy cavalry. It transformed into a sport during the Late Middle Ages. In England, jousting was the highlight of the Accession Day tilts of Elizabeth I and James I, Jousting was discontinued in favour of other equestrian sports in the 17th century, although non-contact forms of equestrian skill-at-arms disciplines survived. There has been a revival of theatrical jousting re-enactment since the 1970s. The medieval joust has its origins in the tactics of heavy cavalry during the High Middle Ages. From the 11th to 14th centuries when medieval jousting was still practised in connection to the use of the lance in warfare, by 1400, knights wore full suits of plate armour, called a harness. Combatants would begin riding on one another with the lance, Tournaments in the High Medieval period were much rougher and less gentlemanly affairs than in the late medieval era of chivalry. The rival parties would fight in groups, with the aim of incapacitating their adversaries for the sake of gaining their horses, with the development of the courtly ideals of chivalry in the late medieval period, the joust became more regulated. This tendency is reflected in the pas darmes in general. This romanticised chivalric revival was based on the romances of the high medieval period. The development of the term dates to this period. Before the 12th century, cniht was a term for a servant, in the 12th century, it became used of a military follower in particular. Also in the 12th century, a class of noblemen serving in cavalry developed. By the end of the 13th century, chivalry was used not just in the sense of cavalry
8.
Walther von der Vogelweide
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Walther von der Vogelweide is the most celebrated Middle High German lyric poet. He wrote primarily in the Minnesang tradition, but also other poems in other genres. He is known for his innovative and unique style of poetry and his non-Minnesang poems often incorporate political messages, which reveal a great deal about their authors deep-held personal convictions. He was a patriot who proudly supported the dream of German unity. Although he was a devout Catholic, he was an ardent critic of papal authority and he supported the Crusades, but remained highly respectful towards Jews and Muslims. His most notable poems include Under der linden, Elegie, and he continues to have a profound impact on German literature and poetry even today. The main sources of information about him are his own poems and he was a knight, but probably not a wealthy or landed one. His surname, von der Vogelweide, suggests that he had no grant of land, since die Vogelweide seems to refer to a geographic feature. He probably was knighted for bravery and was a retainer in a wealthy. Walther’s birthplace remains unknown, and given the lack of documentary evidence, for this reason, it must be assumed that the singer did not obtain his name primarily for superregional communication, because it could not be used for an unambiguous assignment. Pen-names were usual for poets of the 12th and 13th century, in 1974, Helmut Hörner identified a farmhouse mentioned in 1556 as “Vogelweidhof” in the urbarium of the domain Rappottenstein. At this time it belonged to the Amt Traunstein, now within the municipality Schönbach in the Lower Austrian Waldviertel and its existence had already been mentioned without comment in 1911 by Alois Plesser, who also did not know its precise location. Hörner proved that the still-existing farmhouse Weid is indeed the mentioned Vogelweidhof and he published this in his 1974 book 800 Jahre Traunstein, pointing out that Walther says “Ze ôsterriche lernt ich singen unde sagen”. Powerful support for this theory was given in 1977 and 1981 by Bernd Thum and this is because the singer pours out his sorrows “Bereitet ist daz velt, verhouwen ist der walt” and suggests he no longer knows his people and land, applicable to the Waldviertel. Additionally in 1987, Walter Klomfar and the librarian Charlotte Ziegler came to the conclusion that Walther might have born in the Waldviertel. The starting point for their study is also the words of Walther. These were placed into doubt by research, but strictly speaking do not mention his birthplace, Klomfar points to a historical map which was drawn by monks of the Zwettl monastery in the 17th century, on the occasion of a legal dispute. This map shows a village Walthers and a field marked “Vogelwaidt”, the village became deserted, but a well marked on the map could be excavated and reconstructed to prove the accuracy of the map
9.
Henryk IV Probus
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Henryk IV Probus was a member of the Silesian branch of the royal Polish Piast dynasty. He was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1266, and from also 1288 High Duke of the Polish Seniorate Province of Kraków until his death in 1290. Henry IV was the son of Duke Henry III the White of Silesia-Wrocław by his first wife Judith. A minor upon the death of his father in 1266, Henry IV was placed under the guardianship of his paternal uncle. Ottokar after Władysławs death in 1270 also took over Wrocław, shortly after the death of his uncle, Henry IV returned to Wrocław, where he found himself under the direct care of one of the closest advisers of his late father, Simon Gallicusa. Henry IV received an education, which may explain his subsequent interest in culture. The cooperation between Henry IV and King Ottokar II was exemplary, in 1271 Henry IV participated in an armed expedition against Hungary, which brought an attack on Wrocław by the Árpád princes and their allies, the Dukes of Greater and Lesser Poland. Henry supported King Ottokar II in his conflict with King Rudolph I of Germany in 1276, giving food. When Ottokar was placed under the Imperial ban, Duke Bolesław II the Bald of Legnica took the occasion, had his nephew Henry seized at Jelcz, fortunately for Henry IV, the reaction to his imprisonment was indignation. Ottokars Polish allies, Duke Henry III of Głogów and Duke Przemysł II of Greater Poland, the Bohemian king however only sent febrile appeals and request for release. Henry IVs allies were defeated by Duke Bolesław II s son Henry V the Fat in the bloody Battle of Stolec, where both Dukes Przemysł II and Henry III were captured. While Henry himself did not take part in the Battle on the Marchfeld, he had sent reinforcements to King Ottokar II, whose death was a serious blow to the Wrocław duke. After hearing the news of Ottokars death, Henry IV went to Prague and attempted to gain the guardianship of the kings son Wenceslaus II, as one of his closest relatives, as compensation, the German king gave Henry IV the Bohemian County of Kladsko as a fief. Upon the death of his Bohemian ally, Henry IV reconciled with King Rudolph I and in 1280 went to his Austrian court in Vienna, where Henry tried to obtain for himself the Polish royal crown. Some historians believed that the Duke of Wrocław took the opportunity from his homage to King Rudolph I to expose him the possibility of becoming King of Poland, the relation of Henry IV with his Silesian relatives in general was not good. In 1280 he again suffered the invasion of the Duke Henry V the Fat of Legnica, who was supported by the Margrave of Brandenburg, Przemysł II was forced to give the strategic Lesser Polish land of Wieluń and to acknowledge Henry IVs overlordship, paying homage to him. With the Opole Dukes the situation was more delicate, in 1287, Henry IV obtained the annulment of his marriage with their sister, the fourth of Władysławs sons, Bolko I, remained faithful to Henry IVs politics. In the years 1282–1287 Henry IV was involved in a dispute with the Bishop of Wrocław Tomas II Zaremba
10.
Margrave
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Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defense of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Empire, thereafter, those domains were absorbed in larger realms or the titleholders adopted titles indicative of full sovereignty. Etymologically, the margrave is the English and French form of the German noble title Markgraf. As a noun and hereditary title, margrave was common to the languages of Europe, a Markgraf originally functioned as the military governor of a Carolingian mark, a medieval border province. The greater exposure of a province to military invasion mandated that the margrave be provided with military forces. As a military governor, the margraves authority often extended over a larger than the province proper. The margrave thus usually came to exercise commensurately greater politico-military power than other nobles, the margrave maintained the greater armed forces and fortifications required for repelling invasion, which increased his political strength and independence relative to the monarch. Most marks, and their margraves, sprung up along the Eastern border of the Carolingian Empire, the Breton Mark on the Atlantic Ocean and on the border of peninsular Brittany, and the Marca Hispanica on the Muslim frontier are notable exceptions. The Crusaders created new perilous borders, prone to war against the Saracens, hence had use for real border marches. These margraves became substantially independent rulers of states under the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Emperor, similar to the evolution of dukes, landgraves, counts palatine. The Golden Bull of 1356 was issued by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, the Mark Brandenburg became the nucleus of the House of Hohenzollerns later Kingdom of Prussia and the springboard to their eventual accession as German Emperors in 1871. They also inherited several, mainly Eastern European and Burgundian, principalities, Austria was originally called Marchia Orientalis in Latin, the eastern borderland, as Austria formed the eastern outpost of the Holy Roman Empire, on the border with the Magyars and the Slavs. Since the 19th century the term has been translated as Ostmark by some Germanophones, another Mark in the south-east, Styria, still appears as Steiermark in German today. The Margraves of Brandenburg and the Margraves of Meissen eventually became, respectively, by the 19th century, the sovereigns in Germany, Italy and Austria had all adopted higher titles, and not a single sovereign margraviate remained. However, from 1817 his male-line descendants of both marriages were internationally recognised as entitled to the prefix, which all used henceforth. The title of Margrave of Baden has been borne as a title of only by the head of the House of Zähringen since the death of the last reigning Grand Duke, Frederick II. Likewise, Margrave of Meissen is used as a title of pretence by the claimant to the Kingdom of Saxony since the death in exile of its last monarch, King Fredrick Augustus III, the margrave/marquis ranked below its nations equivalent of duke or of prince, but above count. The wife of a margrave is a margravine, in Germany and Austria, where titles were borne by all descendants in the male line of the original grantee, men and women alike, each daughter was a Markgräfin as each son was a Markgraf
11.
Otto IV, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal
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Otto IV, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal, nicknamed Otto with the arrow was the Margrave of Brandenburg from the House of Ascania from 1266 until his death. Otto was the son of John I and his first wife and his maternal grandparents were king Valdemar II of Denmark and his second wife, Berengaria of Portugal, his paternal grandparents were Albert II and Matilda of Lusatia. After his father died in 1266, Otto IV ruled Brandenburg-Stendal jointly with his older brother John II, Otto IV emerged as the most prominent of the three. In 1269, Otto IV and his co-ruling brothers Conrad and John II accepted Duke Mestwin II of Pomerelia as their vassal, in 1277, Otto tried to have his younger brother Eric elected as Archbishop of Magdeburg. However, the Lords of Querfurt, who were Burgraves of Magdeburg, as a compromise, Günther I of Schwalenberg was appointed. This led to a dispute between Otto and the chapter of Magdeburg Cathedral. During the Battle of Fohse, Magdeburg managed to capture Otto, ottos councillor Johann von Buch paid a ransom of 4000 pounds silver to have him released. The dispute continued during the reign of Günthers successor Bernard III of Wölpe, during a fight in Staßfurt in 1280, Otto was hit by an arrow. Allegedly, he lived for a year with an arrow sticking out of his head and it is not quite clear how long he walked around like that, one tradition says for some time, another says for many years. There are no sources to resolve this. Eric was finally appointed Bishop of Magdeburg in 1283, after Pope Martin IV had given his blessing, in 1278 joined his uncle, King Ottokar II of Bohemia on a campaign in Hungary, where they clashed with Rudolph I of Germany. Ottokar II fell during the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278, Otto IV became guardian for Ottokars seven-year-old son Wenceslaus II. However, he held Wenclaus hostage in Spandau while his armies sacked Bohemia, wencelaus was released in 1283, after Bohemia had paid a ransom and ceded some territory. Wencelaus later maintained cordial relations with Otto IV, in the Treaty of Vierraden of 1284, Otto IV and his co-rulers returned the Pomerelian territories they had conquered earlier. In 1294, the dispute escalated to an armed conflict, in 1295, King Adolph mediated and the conflict was resolved. Later that year, Otto IV made an alliance with Duke Otto II of Brunswick-Lüneburg, in 1292, after the death of King Rudolf, Otto had as elector supported the election of Adolf of Nassau as the new King, against the candidacy of Rudolfs son Albert of Austria. In this, Otto was in league with the Bohemian king who actually was instigator of anti-Habsburg stance, in 1292, Otto IV purchased the Margraviate of Landsberg and in 1292 the County Palatine of Saxony, a territory in the Saale-Unstrut area. In 1303, he purchased Lusatia from Landgrave Dietrich IV, in 1298, Otto IV participated in the overthrow of King Adolph, but not in the military campaign against him
12.
Henry III, Margrave of Meissen
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Henry III, called Henry the Illustrious from the House of Wettin was Margrave of Meissen and last Margrave of Lusatia from 1221 until his death, from 1242 also Landgrave of Thuringia. Born probably at the Albrechtsburg residence in Meissen, Henry was the youngest son of Margrave Theodoric I, Margrave of Meissen and his wife Jutta, in 1230 he was legally proclaimed an adult. Henry had his first combat experience in sometime around 1234, while on crusade in Prussia and his pilgrimage and company is well-documented by Peter of Dusburg, and it resulted in the construction of Balga castle, an important administrative centre for the Teutonic Knights. In 1245 after many years of conflict with the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, he was forced to cede the fortresses of Köpenick, Teltow and Mittenwalde north of Lower Lusatia. In 1249 however, the Silesian duke Bolesław II the Bald granted him the area around Schiedlo Castle at the Oder river. In the struggle between the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX, Henry took the side of the Emperor, in consideration, Frederick II in 1242 promised him the heritage of Henry Raspe as Landgrave of Thuringia and Count palatine of Saxony. In 1243 the Emperor also betrothed his daughter Margaret of Sicily to Henrys son Albert II, Henry remained a loyal supporter of the Hohenstaufens and not before the departure of Fredericks son Conrad IV from Germany did he recognise the antiking William of Holland. From 1273 Henry was an important support to the newly elected Rex Romanorum Rudolph of Habsburg in his struggle against rivaling King Ottokar II of Bohemia, Henry was patron of many tournaments and singing competitions, in which he also took part himself, and commissioned the famous Christherre-Chronik. He set to music hymns to be sung in the churches, in 1234 Henry married Constance of Babenberg, the daughter of Duke Leopold VI of Austria. For his younger son Theodoric, Henry had created – though without imperial consent – the smaller Margraviate of Landsberg in the part of the Lusatian lands around Leipzig. Henry kept for only the Margraviate of Meissen, the remaining Lower Lusatian lands. Only domestic disorders, caused by the unworthiness of his son Albert, clouded the later years of his reign and indeed, long after his death in 1288, led to the loss of Lusatia and Thuringia
13.
Henry I, Count of Anhalt
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Henry I, Count of Anhalt was a German prince of the House of Ascania and Count of Anhalt. He was the oldest son of Bernhard III, Duke of Saxony and Count of Anhalt, by his wife Brigitte, in 1218 Henry was raised to the rank of prince. Henrys most famous ministerialis was Eike von Repgow from Reppichau, who compiled the Sachsenspiegel, Henry also was a renowned Minnesänger. At the beginning of 14th century, five of his Minnelieder were copied into the Codex Manesse, in this source, he is erroneously referred to as a duke. Before his death, Henry divided Anhalt between his sons, Henry inherited Aschersleben, Bernhard received Bernburg, and Siegfried took Zerbst and his other surviving sons, Hermann and Magnus, were ordained priests. C.1211 Henry married Irmgard, daughter of Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia and second cousin of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor through her paternal grandmother Judith of Swabia
14.
John I, Duke of Brabant
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John I of Brabant, also called John the Victorious was Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg. During the 19th century, John I was venerated as a Belgian folk hero, born at Leuven, he was the son of Henry III, Duke of Brabant and Aleidis of Burgundy, daughter of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy. He was also a brother of Maria of Brabant, Queen consort of Philip III of France. In 1267 his older brother Henry IV, Duke of Brabant and his greatest military victory was the Battle of Worringen 1288, by which John I came to reign over the Duchy of Limburg. He was completely outnumbered in forces but led the invasion into the Rhineland to defeat the confederacy. In 1288 Limburg was formally attached to Brabant, John I was said to be a model of feudal prince, brave, adventurous, excelling in every form of active exercise, fond of display, and generous in temper. He was considered one of the most gifted princes of his time and this made him very popular in Middle Ages poetry and literature. Even today there exists an ode to him, so known that it was a potential candidate to be the North Brabant anthem. John I delighted in tournaments and was eager to take part in jousts. He was also famous for his illegitimate children. On 3 May 1294 at some marriage festivities at Bar-le-Duc, John I was mortally wounded in the arm in an encounter by Pierre de Bausner. He was buried in the church of the Minderbroeders in Brussels, on 5 September 1270, he wed Margaret of France, daughter of Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence. She took the title of Duchess of Brabant and he had a son, but both wife and child died shortly after the boys birth. In 1273, He married Margaret of Flanders, daughter of Guy, Count of Flanders and had the following children, Margaret, married 9 June 1292 to Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor. Marie, married to Count Amadeus V of Savoy, John I had several illegitimate children, Gillis van der Balcht Jean Meuwe, Seigneur of Wavre and Dongelberg. Margareta of Tervuren, she was married on 2 March 1292 to Jean de Rode de Lantwyck Jan Pylyser Jan van der Plasch The duke is remembered in the folkish song Harbalorifa that remains popular, the popular Dutch beer Hertog Jan was named after the duke. Dukes of Brabant family tree Hertog Jan
15.
Counts of Toggenburg
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The counts of Toggenburg ruled the Toggenburg region of today’s canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland and adjacient areas during the 13th to 15th centuries. A baronial family of Toggenburg is mentioned in the 11th and 12th centuries and they are named for their ancestral seat, now known as Alt-Toggenburg, near Kirchberg, St. Gallen. The family is attested from the early 13th century, as Toccanburg, Diethelm I was followed by Diethelm II. Either of these was the beneficiary of the inheritance of a number of noble families in c.1200. In 1187, one Werner of Toggenburg became abbot of Einsiedeln, the legend of a Saint Idda of Toggenburg is recorded in 1481, making her the wife of a count of Toggenburg, possibly either Diethelm, or one Heinrich. According to the legend, the husband defenestrated his innocent wife on suspicion of adultery and she survived and lived as an anchoress in Fischingen. Her veneration there is attested for 1410, the early counts were in competition with St. Gallen Abbey, the bishops of Constance and the counts of Kyburg. The inheritance disputes motivated the donation of religious establishments in Bubikon, Rüti, Oberbollingen and Wurmsbach in the 1190s, in 1436, the death of the last count, Frederick VII, Count of Toggenburg, led to the Old Zurich War over the succession. Friedrich VII was later buried in a chapel, the so-called Toggenburger Kapelle given by his wife, Elisabeth Countess of Toggenburg. Elisabeth spent her last days in the Rüti Abbey, writing on 20 June 1442 that she had retreated there,14 members of the family were buried in the Toggenburg vault in the church of the Rüti Abbey
16.
Illerkirchberg
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Illerkirchberg is a town in the district of Alb-Donau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Unterkirchberg had a Roman castrum built around 40 AD as part of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes to secure the street along the shore of the Danube. Oberkirchberg was mentioned in 1087 as seat of the counts of Kirchberg who extinguished in 1519, by then, the county had already been sold to Bavaria and then to Austria. It was finally sold by Emperor Maximilian I. to Jakob Fugger in 1507, together with the adjacent lordships Weißenhorn, Wullenstetten and Pfaffenhofen, schmiechen followed in 1508 and the lordship Biberbach in 1514. The emperor granted him the title of Imperial Count in 1514 so the former burgher could operate his business without interference from local nobility, in the course of his life Jakob Fugger also became lord of more than 50 smaller villages. A new castle was built by the Fugger family in 1767, the castle remained the seat of the Kirchberg branch of the family. Today it is owned by countess Maria-Elisabeth von Thun und Hohenstein, the county became again part of Bavaria between 1805 and 1810 when it was sold to the Kingdom of Württemberg. Today it is part of Baden-Württemberg, located on the Bavarian border
17.
Leiningen family
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Leiningen is the name of an old German noble family whose lands lay principally in Alsace, Lorraine and the Palatinate. Various branches of this family developed over the centuries and a number of those still exist, including the branch of the Princes of Leiningen. The first count of Leiningen about whom anything definite is known was a certain Emich II, whose family became extinct in the line when Count Frederick. Fredericks sister, Liutgarde, married Simon II, count of Saarbrücken, having increased its possessions, the Leiningen family was divided around 1317 into two branches. The elder of these, whose head was a landgrave, died out in 1467, upon this event, its lands fell to a female, the last landgraves sister Margaret, wife of Reinhard, lord of Westerburg, and their descendants were known as the family of Leiningen-Westerburg. Later this family was divided into two branches, those of Alt-Leiningen-Westerburg and Neu-Leiningen-Westerburg, both of which are represented today, meanwhile, the younger branch of the Leiningens, known as the family of Leiningen-Hartenburg, was flourishing. On 27 June 1560, this branch was divided into the lines of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg, founded by Count Johann Philip, in 1779, the head of the Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg line was raised to the rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire with the title of Prince of Leiningen. In 1801, this line was deprived of its lands on the bank of the Rhine by France. A few years later, its possessions were mediatized, and they are now included mainly in Baden, the second prince of the Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg line, Prince Emich Charles, married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After his death in 1814, the princess married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, since 1991, the head of the princely line has been Prince Andreas. The family of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim was divided into three branches, the two senior of which became extinct, at present, it is represented by the counts of Leiningen-Guntersblum and Leiningen-Heidesheim, also called Leiningen-Billigheim and Leiningen-Neidenau. Note that different sources use different sequence numbers for some of the Counts, for consistency across sources, dates of birth and death are useful. Emicho of Leiningen helped lead the German Crusade,1096 and his relationship to the others is unclear. Emich I was Count of Leiningen in 1127, but it is unclear when he died, a document from 1220 refers to his widow. Emich IV, brother of Friedrich IV ruled a portion of the lands at Leiningen-Landeck His son, Emich V and this County was then absorbed into Leiningen-Schaumburg. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. This work in turn cites, Brinckmeier
18.
Otto von Botenlauben
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Otto von Botenlauben or Botenlouben, the Count of Henneberg from 1206, was a German minnesinger, Crusader and monastic founder. Otto von Botenlauben was the son of Count Poppo VI von Henneberg and his wife Sophia, countess of Andechs. In the oldest records, he called himself Count von Henneberg. In 1206, he pronounced himself Count von Botenlauben, after Botenlauben Castle Ruins near Bad Kissingen, Otto’s existence is first recorded at the court of Emperor Henry VI in 1197, when he took part in the Emperors campaign to Italy. In 1220, he sold his lands to the Teutonic Knights and returned to Germany and his sons, Otto and Henry, as well as his grandson Albert, joined the clergy and so Otto’s line ended without an heir. Otto and his wife founded the Cistercian cloister of Frauenroth in 1231, the cloister was destroyed in the Thirty Years War, but their headstone remains to this day. Otto was one of the minnesingers collated in the Codex Manesse and his works are limited, fewer than ten wooing and love songs were carried over, and one lai. His texts are also in the Weingarten and short Heidelberg collection of ballads, Count Otto von Botenlauben in the Codex Manesse
19.
Lord
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Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others acting like a master, a chief, or a ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, the collective Lords can refer to a group or body of peers. The appellation lord is primarily applied to men, while for women the appellation lady is used. However, this is no universal, the Lord of Mann, a title currently held by the Queen of the United Kingdom. Under the feudal system, lord had a wide, loose, an overlord was a person from whom a landholding or a manor was held by a mesne lord or vassal under various forms of feudal land tenure. The modern term landlord is a survival of this function. A liege lord was a person to whom a vassal owed sworn allegiance, neither of these terms were titular dignities, but rather factual appellations, which described the relationship between two or more persons within the highly stratified feudal social system. For example, a man might be Lord of the Manor to his own tenants but also a vassal of his own overlord, where a knight was a lord of the manor, he was referred to in contemporary documents as John, knight, lord of. A feudal baron was a true titular dignity, with the right to attend Parliament, the substantive title of Lord of the Manor came into use in the English medieval system of feudalism after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The title Lord of the Manor was a titular feudal dignity which derived its force from the existence, to the tenants of a manor their lord was a man who commanded on occasion the power of exercising capital punishment over them. The term invariably used in mediaeval documents is simply lord of X, X being the name of the manor. The title of Lord of the Manor is recognised by the British Government, in the form of the Her Majestys Land Registry, modern legal cases have been won by persons claiming rights as lords of the manor over village greens. The heads of many ancient English land-owning families have continued to be lords of the manor of lands they have inherited. The UK Identity and Passport Service will include titles on a British passport as an observation, provided the holder can provide documentary evidence of ownership. The United States however, forbids the use of all titles on passports, australia forbids the use of titles on passports if those titles have not been awarded by the Crown or the Commonwealth. The word is used to refer to any owner of a landed estate and has no meaning in heraldic terms. Lord is used as a term to denote members of the peerage. Five ranks of peer exist in the United Kingdom, in descending order these are duke, marquess, earl, viscount, the appellation Lord is used most often by barons, who are rarely addressed by their formal and legal title of Baron
20.
Heinrich von Veldeke
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Heinrich von Veldeke is the first writer in the Low Countries that we know by name who wrote in a European language other than Latin. He was born in Veldeke, a hamlet on the territory of Spalbeek, the ‘Velkermolen’, a water mill on the Demer river, is the only remainder of this hamlet. In Limburg he is celebrated as a writer of the Old Limburgish, Veldeke’s years of birth and death are uncertain. He must have been born before or around 1150, as he was writing in the early 1170s, there is no evidence that Veldeke was born in 1128, as is often suggested. He certainly died after 1184, because he mentions in his Eneas that he was present at the day that emperor Frederik Barbarossa organised in Mainz at Pentecost of that year. He must have died before Wolfram von Eschenbach wrote his Parzival, Wolfram mentions in that work that Veldeke died prematurely. Veldeke probably was a member of a ministerial class family, the existence of such a family is mentioned in deeds from the thirteenth century. It may be concluded that he received an education, as he used Latin sources in his works. There are two forms of the name that are commonly encountered in modern scholarship, Hendrik van Veldeke or Heinrich von Veldeke. The choice is usually indicative of whether Veldeke is thought of writing in a Dutch or a German literary tradition, other manuscripts give the place name Veldeke variously as Veldekin Veltkilchen or Waldecke. The choice by English language writers varies according to discipline, but as more Germanists work on Veldeke than Netherlandists, sometimes the poets place of origin Veldeke is also used to denote the author without taking a side in the dispute. Veldeke wrote the Life of Saint Servatius, which was likely his first work, for mister Hessel, sexton of the Maastricht Servatius chapter, the work consists of two parts. The first part is a biography of Servatius of Maastricht, the saint of that town. This part is dated around 1170. The second part treats the miracles of Servatius after his death and it is sometimes assumed that the second part of the opus was only written between 1174 and 1185. Servatius is an Armenian who travels to Lorraine and becomes bishop of Tongeren, the sinful citizens of Tongeren turn against him, causing him to flee to Maastricht. His prayers go unfulfilled, but Peter does give him a key with which Servatius can grant mercy. The citizens of Tongeren are all killed, but Servatius grants them mercy, Maastricht was situated on an important crossroads, the road from Cologne from the west, the Meuse river as north-south axis
21.
Neuffen
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Neuffen is a town in the district of Esslingen, in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located 14 km northeast of Reutlingen, and 28 km southeast of Stuttgart and its major attraction is a quite impressive castle with strong walls, the Hohenneuffen, which lays high above the town at the ridge of the Swabian Jura. Neuffen is located on the edge of the Swabian Jura. Neuffen town is 407 meters, the castle ruin Hohenneuffen 743 m above sea level, Neuffen consists of the districts Kappishäusern and Neuffen. To the district Kappishäusern belongs the village Kappishäusern, Neuffen includes the town of Neuffen, the courts Jushof and Pfingstbuckel and the houses Hart and the Hardt. In the urban area are the dialed villages Bodelsberg, Winden and Hofstetten, the first Celtic settlement began around 100 b. Around 1100 the castle Hohenneuffen was originated, due to the good contacts to the Lords of Nifen, Neuffen received already in 1232 the town privileges. 1303 Liutgard of Nifen sold Neuffen to Württemberg, from the 14th century until 1806 Neuffen was the seat of an office. From 1543 the expansion of the castle Hohenneuffen to a fortress was carried out. From a fire 1634 Neuffen was almost completely destroyed, from 1801, the castle was partially canceled. The office Neuffen was assigned 1806 to the newly formed Oberamt Nürtingen, in 1900 the Tälesbahn connected Neuffen to the railway network. In 1938 Neuffen came to the newly formed district of Nürtingen,1973 Neuffen came to the district of Esslingen. July 1,1972, Kappishäusern The Evangelical church members meet in the Gothic church of St. Martin, there is also an Evangelical Free Church. In the Lichtensteinstraße is the Catholic Church, the initial focus was on agriculture, then the wevers, later the textile industry, today dominates the metal industry. On the slopes below the ruins Hohenneuffen are one of the highest situated vineyards in Germany, the Tälesbahn to Nürtingen connects Neuffen with the national rail network. The L1250 combines Neuffen with Linsenhofen and Hülben, on Sundays and public holidays during the summer months, a heritage railway is in operation, run by the Railway Vehicle Preservation Company. Neuffen obtains the drinking water from the Zweckverband Landeswasserversorgung and from own sources, the district of Kappishäusern is supplied with drinking water from the water supply association Jusigruppe. Responsible for waste disposal is the district Esslingen, Neuffen has not only a primary school and a Werkrealschule, but also a secondary school and a housed in elementary school special school
22.
Albrecht II, Count of Hohenberg-Rotenburg
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Albrecht II of Hohenberg-Rotenburg was Count of Hohenberg and Haigerloch and imperial governor of Lower Swabia. He was a member of the house of Zollern-Hohenberg, a branch of the Swabian House of Hohenzollern which split off in the 12th century, two stanzas in the Codex Manesse are attributed to him under the name of Albrecht von Haigerloch. Albrecht was the son of Count Burchard V of Hohenberg and his wife Mechthild hereditary countess from the family of Counts Palatine of Tübingen, on his fathers death in 1253 he inherited the territory around Hohenberg Castle, Haigerloch and Rotenburg. His younger brother Burkhard VI. inherited to lands of his mother around the castles of Nagold and Wildberg, around 1280 Albrecht founded the town of Rotenburg near the existing castle as new administrative center of his county. A more central authority was necessary because of the constant territorial extensions of Hohenberg towards the Neckar and he was a supporter of his brother-in-law, the king Rudolf I of Habsburg, who was married to his older sister Gertrud Anna. He benefited from the rise of the Habsburgs, he was an adviser to the king. In 1290 a visit of Albrecht to the court of Wenceslaus II of Bohemia is documented, Rudolf commissioned Albrecht as a bailiff of the newly-formed territory of Niederschwaben to win back lost imperial territory. However Rudolphs plans to revive the Duchy of Swabia and win it over for the Habsburgs failed, after Rudolfs death Albrecht supported his son Albrecht of Austria against the elected king Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg. Albrecht is also noted as a minstrel, in the Codex Manesse on page 42r is a miniature showing him under the name of Count Albrecht of Haigerloch as a knight in battle. The back of the page contains the two song verses ascribed to Albrecht. The name of his first wife is unknown, from this marriage he had three children, Margaretha m. Henry IV, Margrave of Burgau Mechthild m.1291 Ulrich, Count of Württemberg Rudolf I. Count of Hohenberg, Lord of Triberg His third wife was Countess Ursula von Oettingen, from this marriage two children were born, Albrecht, a monk in Bonndorf 1317 Adelheid m.1317 Konrad I, Count of Schaunberg
23.
Count of Hohenberg
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The Counts of Hohenberg were an ancient Swabian dynasty in the southwest of the present-day Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. In the 13th century, the dynasty of Hohenberg was one of the most prominent lineages in southwestern Germany. In 1381, however, Rudolf III, Count of Hohenberg, about 100 years later, the last sideline died out. The County of Hohenberg persisted de jure until 1806, the Counts of Hohenberg Article in the ADB
24.
Wernher von Homberg
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Wernher von Homberg was a knight in the service Emperor Henry VII, and later of Frederick the Fair. His Minnesang poems are recorded in the Codex Manesse and his father was Louis I of Homberg, and his mother Elisabeth von Rapperswil, the heiress of Rudolf of Rapperswil. At the death of her husband, Elisabeth gave her estates in Rapperswil to her children, Wernher inherited territories that today form the northern part of the canton of Schwyz. Beginning in 1302, king Albert I of Germany laid claim to these territories, in 1303, Wernher sold Homberg castle and the city of Liestal to the bishop of Basel. In 1304 he joined the Livonian crusade of the Teutonic order, Wernher entered the service of king Frederick in 1314. In 1315, he married the widow of his step-father, Maria von Oettingen, countess Elisabeth was like her mother and father before, an ally of the city of Zürich, had those citizenship, and she was patron of the Oetenbach nunnery. Thus Ludwigs sister Cecilia von Homberg became the prioress of the Dominican nunnery, promoted its further development and he died in a campaign in Genoa. Homberg, Wernher von in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
25.
Neftenbach
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Neftenbach is a municipality in the district of Winterthur in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Besides the village of Neftenbach itself, the municipality includes the settlements of Hünikon, Aesch, Riet, Neftenbach is first mentioned in 1209 as Neftinbach. The village was owned by the barons of Wart, whose arms were adopted as the coat of arms in 1921. Neftenbach has an area of 15 km2, of this area,55. 1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29. 8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 14% is settled and the remainder is non-productive, in 1996 housing and buildings made up 10. 3% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest. Of the total area, water made up 0. 5% of the area. As of 20079. 6% of the municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. The municipality is located in the lower Töss Valley and it consists of the village of Neftenbach and the hamlets of Hünikon, Aesch, Riet and Irchelhöfen. Neftenbach has a population of 5,500, as of 2007,9. 3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. As of 2008 the gender distribution of the population was 49. 7% male and 50. 3% female, over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8. 3%. Most of the population speaks German, with Italian being second most common, in the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS, the FDP and the CSP, the age distribution of the population is children and teenagers make up 28. 6% of the population, while adults make up 62. 1% and seniors make up 9. 3%. In Neftenbach about 83. 6% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education, there are 1782 households in Neftenbach. Neftenbach has an unemployment rate of 1. 29%, as of 2005, there were 225 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 56 businesses involved in this sector. 350 people are employed in the sector and there are 52 businesses in this sector. 781 people are employed in the sector, with 129 businesses in this sector. As of 200742. 3% of the population were employed full-time. As of 2008 there were 1060 Catholics and 2678 Protestants in Neftenbach, in the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories
26.
House of Sax
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The noble family von Sax were a medieval noble family in eastern Switzerland. They owned estates and castles on both sides of the Alps in the cantons of St. Gallen, Graubünden and Ticino. The origin of the family is unknown, but they probably stem from Churrätien nobility and were related to the da Torre family, the family divided into two main lines, the Grafen von Sax-Misox and the Freiherren von Hohensax. The earliest mention of a member of the family is in 1137/39 with Eberhard de Sacco, in 1168, they were granted a fief over the Misox valley, probably as a reward for their support of the Hohenstaufen family. The founder of the line was Albrecht of Sax who first appears in a record in 1188 and his brother, Heinrich reorganized the administration of the Abbey of St. Gall and brought it under their authority. Albrechts sons, Ulrich and Heinrich became the abbot and vogt, respectively, between 1208 and 1213 they became vogts over Disentis and Pfäfers Abbeys. In 1212 they supported Frederick II in his bid to become Emperor and gained extensive land, to protect their expansive holdings, the family built Clanx Castle in Appenzell, Hohensax Castle in Sennwald and Mesocco Castle in Mesocco in Graubünden. In 1220, they expanded their holdings into the Leventina. The next 28 years marked a point in the familys power. In 1248, the holdings were divided between two of Heinrichs grandsons. The southern holdings in Graubünden and Ticino as well as Clanx Castle and Pfäfers Abbey were inherited by Heinrich and Albrecht, the northern estates around Hohensax and St. Gallen were inherited by Ulrich who founded the Hohensax line. In 1257 Albrecht of Sax-Misox sold Wartenstein Castle and the villages of Pfäfers, Valens, Vättis, after the decline of the imperial Hohenstaufen family the Sax-Misox lost the Blenio Valley, Monte Dongo and Clanx Castle. Their lands were reduced to the Core of the Misox Valley with the San Bernardino Pass, the distant estate at Arth was granted as a fief to Heinrich and Albrecht von Grünenfels in 1295. Wartau village was sold to the Count of Werdenberg. Caspar and Elizabeths son, Johann von Sax-Misox was initially in service to the Visconti family who were the Dukes of Milan, however, in 1402 he and his brother Albert acquired the Milanese city of Bellinzona. They built castles in Gorduno, Bogiano and Roveredo to protect their conquests, a few years later, in 1406-7, they were forced to accept co-ownership of Bellinzona with Uri and Obwalden. In 1406 Albert of Sax was murdered by a distant cousin at the Torre Fiorenzana near Grono, possibly to gain favor with the Dukes of Milan. In 1413 Johann and another brother, Donat, supported Emperor Sigismund during his campaigns against the Venetians in Italy and were rewarded with the title of count, in 1419 they sold Bellinzona to Uri and Obwalden
27.
Klingnau
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Klingnau is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. Klingnau is first mentioned in 1239 as Chlingenowe, ulrich of Klingen acquired land from the monastery of St. Blaise in 1239 to found the city. He and the reached a agreement over which of the abbeys own peasants could move to the new town. The von Klingen family granted lands around the city to the Knights Hospitaller between 1251 and 1268. The knights owned so much property that in 1268 they moved their order house from Leuggern to Klingnau and they were given a separate gate in the city walls. Walther of Klingen sold the city and surroundings to his cousin the Bishop of Constance Eberhard von Waldburg in 1269, the new owner then appointed a bailiff in the town. Klingnau became the seat of a district that included Koblenz, Siglistorf, Mellstorf, Döttingen. In 1314, Klingnau was granted town privileges, every year at midsummer the citizens were allowed to elect their lower and upper town council and a municipal court. In 1416, the Knights order house moved back to Leuggern, until 1800, an administrator managed the Knights property. From 1415 until 1798, Klingnau was one of the three districts of the county of Baden during the reign of the Swiss Confederation. In the 17th century, some Jewish families occasionally lived in Klingnau, the last bailiff, Joseph Haefelin, lost his post in 1798. As a replacement for the bailiffs, the citizens choose a five-member council, in March 1803, the council was removed by the municipality and replaced with a single Amtmann. The growth of the economy was repeatedly interrupted by disasters like the great fire of 1586 in which 84 houses were destroyed. The plague of 1611 killed 226 people, about one third of the population, the typhoid epidemic of 1813–14 killed about 3,000 people in and around the town, especially soldiers of the allies against Napoleon, who were passing through. They were buried in a grave at the Imperial Cemetery north of the town. The course of the Aare was correct between 1885–1904 in order to combat the devastating floods, between 1931 and 1935, the Klingnau power plant was built for Aarewerke AG, by damming the river. The lake has developed into a place for migratory birds. At the time of city foundation, the area was part of the parish of Zurzach, in 1256 Walter of Klingen granted rights to tithes in the town to the kilchen ze Clingnow
28.
Rothenburg, Lucerne
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Rothenburg is a municipality in the district of Hochdorf in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. Rothenburg has an area of 15.5 km2, of this area,67. 8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 16. 6% is forested. Of the rest of the land,15. 5% is settled, in the 1997 land survey,16. 56% of the total land area was forested. Of the agricultural land,63. 47% is used for farming or pastures, while 4. 32% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the settled areas,5. 86% is covered with buildings,2. 51% is industrial, 2% is classed as special developments,0. 71% is parks or greenbelts and 4. 38% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas,0. 06% is unproductive standing water,0. 13% is unproductive flowing water and Rothenburg has a population of 7,032, over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 13. 2%. Most of the population speaks German, with Serbo-Croatian being second most common, in the 2007 election the most popular party was the CVP which received 29. 1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP, the FDP and the SPS, the age distribution in Rothenburg is,1,825 people or 25. 6% of the population is 0–19 years old. 1,758 people or 24. 7% are 20–39 years old, and 2,652 people or 37. 2% are 40–64 years old. The senior population distribution is 696 people or 9. 8% are 65–79 years old,174 or 2. 4% are 80–89 years old and 26 people or 0. 4% of the population are 90+ years old. In Rothenburg about 80. 6% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education, as of 2000 there are 2,330 households, of which 555 households contain only a single individual. 204 or about 8. 8% are large households, with at least five members, as of 2000 there were 1,046 inhabited buildings in the municipality, of which 872 were built only as housing, and 174 were mixed use buildings. There were 598 single family homes,105 double family homes, most homes were either two or three story structures. There were only 34 single story buildings and 87 four or more story buildings, Rothenburg has an unemployment rate of 1. 3%. As of 2005, there were 215 people employed in the economic sector. 924 people are employed in the sector and there are 77 businesses in this sector. 1918 people are employed in the sector, with 191 businesses in this sector. As of 2000 54% of the population of the municipality were employed in some capacity, at the same time, females made up 42. 5% of the workforce
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Ruschein
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Ruschein is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. Its official language is the Sursilvan dialect of Romansh, Ruschein is first mentioned in 765 as Rucene. Before the merger, Ruschein had an area of 12.5 km2. Of this area,43. 1% is used for agricultural purposes, of the rest of the land, 3% is settled and the remainder is non-productive. The former municipality is located in the Ilanz sub-district of the Surselva district and it is located on a terrace on the northern Vorderrhein valley wall. It consists of the village of Ruschein and the alpine herding settlement of Alp da Ruschein in the furthest Val da Siat, Ruschein had a population of 345. As of 2008,4. 9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals, over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -4. 2%. Most of the population speaks Romansh, with German being second most common, as of 2000, the gender distribution of the population was 44. 1% male and 55. 9% female. The age distribution, as of 2000, in Ruschein is,42 children or 11. 8% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 48 teenagers or 13. 5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population,25 people or 7. 0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 62 people or 17. 4% are between 30 and 39,49 people or 13. 8% are between 40 and 49, and 33 people or 9. 3% are between 50 and 59. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 43. 6% of the vote, the next three most popular parties were the SVP, the FDP and the SP. In Ruschein about 70. 4% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education, Ruschein has an unemployment rate of 1. 62%. As of 2005, there were 29 people employed in the economic sector. 11 people are employed in the sector and there are 4 businesses in this sector. 24 people are employed in the sector, with 10 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the table, Official website Ruschein in German, French
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Dietmar von Aist
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Dietmar von Aist was a Minnesinger from a baronial family in the Duchy of Austria, whose work is representative of the lyric poetry in the Danube region. One Dietmar von Aist is mentioned by name from about 1139 onwards in contemporary records from Salzburg, Regensburg, the surname probably refers to the Aist River, a left tributary of the Danube below the confluence with the Enns. Since about 1125 the noble family von Aist is evidenced in the Mühlviertel region, the Upper Austrian Aistersheim water castle was first mentioned in 1159 together with Freiherr Dietmar von Aist, a ministerialis of the Babenberg ruler Henry II of Austria. If he is identical with the poet is not completely certain on chronological grounds. A certain Ditmarus de Agasta mentioned in records, who died childless about 1171, is possibly the same as Dietmar von Aist. Dietmar is also referred to in the 1220s poem Diu Crône by Heinrich von dem Türlin, a whole series of songs is ascribed to Dietmar, but his authorship can be clearly decided in only a few cases. With those verses which can be attributed to him without any doubt, Dietmar von Aist and his work represent the link between the uncourtly and the courtly forms. He was one of the first poets to use the refrain, the woman takes a decidedly strong position, for example, she is to be able to choose her own partner freely - cf the poem Ez stuont ein frouwe alleine - There stood a woman alone. The first surviving Tagelied is also by Dietmar, Slâfest du, lachmann, Karl, Haupt, Moritz, Vogt, Friedrich, eds. Corrected edition Stuttgart 1995 ISBN 3-476-12244-1 Helmut Tervooren, Dietmar von Aist, in, Verfasserlexikon, vol 2, 2nd edition Berlin 1980, die Miniaturen der Großen Heidelberger Liederhandschrift, edited and explained by Ingo F. Walther, Frankfurt a
31.
Thuringia
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The Free State of Thuringia is a federal state in central Germany. It has an area of 16,171 square kilometres and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area, most of Thuringia is within the watershed of the Saale, a left tributary of the Elbe. Thuringia has been known as the heart of Germany from the late 19th century. It is home to the Rennsteig, Germanys most well-known hiking trail, half of Germanys 136 Winter Olympic gold medals have been won by Thuringian athletes. Johann Sebastian Bach spent the first part of his life and important further stages of his career in Thuringia, goethe and Schiller lived in Weimar and both worked at the University of Jena, which today hosts Thuringias most important science centre. Other Universities in this state are the Ilmenau University of Technology, the University of Erfurt. The name Thuringia or Thüringen derives from the Germanic tribe Thuringii, an older theory claims that they were successors of the Hermunduri, but later research rejected the idea. Other historians argue that the Thuringians were allies of the Huns, came to central Europe together with them, publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus first mentioned the Thuringii around 400, during that period, the Thuringii were famous for their excellent horses. The Thuringian Realm existed until after 531, the Landgraviate of Thuringia was the largest state in the region, after the Treaty of Leipzig, Thuringia had its own dynasty again, the Ernestine Wettins. Their various lands formed the Free State of Thuringia, founded in 1920, the Prussian territories around Erfurt, Mühlhausen and Nordhausen joined Thuringia in 1945. The coat of arms of Thuringia shows the lion of the Ludowingian Landgraves of 12th-century origin, the eight stars around it represent the eight former states which formed Thuringia. The flag of Thuringia is a bicolor, derived from the white. The coat of arms and flag of Hesse are quite similar to the Thuringian ones, symbols of Thuringia in popular culture are the Bratwurst and the Forest, because a large amount of the territory is forested. Named after the Thuringii tribe who occupied it around AD300, Thuringia became a landgraviate in 1130 AD. Most of the remaining Thuringia came under the rule of the Wettin dynasty of the nearby Margraviate of Meissen, in Mühlhausen and elsewhere, the Anabaptists found many adherents. Thomas Müntzer, a leader of some groups of this sect, was active in this city. Some reordering of the Thuringian states occurred during the German Mediatisation from 1795 to 1814, in 1920, after World War I, these small states merged into one state, called Thuringia, only Saxe-Coburg voted to join Bavaria instead. Weimar became the new capital of Thuringia, the coat of arms of this new state was simpler than those of its predecessors
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Harburg, Bavaria
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Harburg is a city of around 6,000 inhabitants on Bavarias Romantic Road with one of the most impressive remaining medieval castles in Germany. It is in the Donau-Ries district, the castle was first mentioned in 1150 and has never been seriously damaged by war. Unlike many other German castles which were built in the last 200 years or rebuilt after World War II, singer Michael Jackson called it the castle of my dreams, and tried unsuccessfully to buy it. The village itself is quaint with many footpaths and a stone bridge. A rare historic Jewish cemetery is another point of interest, Tourist information with a lot of pictures Official Harburg website The Harburg project Tourist information Map
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Heinrich von Morungen
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Heinrich von Morungen or Henry of Morungen was a German Minnesinger. Almost nothing about his life can be deduced from Heinrichs songs, possibly he is identical with the Hendricus de Morungen who is documented in Thuringia. This Hendricus belonged to the class of knights and presumably originated from the castle of Morungen near Sangerhausen. As a retired knight he received from his patron, Dietrich IV, Margrave of Meissen and he transferred this in 1213 to the monastery of St Thomas in Leipzig, which he entered himself in 1217. According to 16th century sources, he died there in 1222 after a journey to India, in the Late Middle Ages, there was extant a Ballad of the Noble Moringer, which transferred onto Heinrich von Morungen the stock theme of the return of a husband believed lost. There survive 35 Minnelieder by Heinrich, with 115 verses, of which only 104 are to be found in the collection of the Codex Manesse. Heinrich is a very graphic lyricist, he often makes use of images of shining as comparisons by which to describe the lady who is being sung. Minne is experienced partly as a magical, pathological, even fatal power, in form and content the poems are influenced by the Provençal troubadour lyric, dactylic rhythms and through-rhymes occur frequently. An introduction often attributed to Heinrich is the Wechsel or exchange in the Tagelied, although the device may be found in the poems of Dietmar von Aist, who is believed to be earlier. Des Minnesangs Frühling, Band 1, Texte, ed Hugo Moser und Helmut Tervooren, 38th revised edition, Stuttgart 1988 ISBN 3-7776-0448-8 Heinrich von Morungen. Lieder, text, translation and commentary by Helmut Tervooren, 3rd edition, Stuttgart 2003 ISBN 3-15-009797-5 Helmut Tervooren, Heinrich von Morungen, in, verfasserlexikon, ed Kurt Ruh et al. 2nd edition, vol 3, Berlin, New York 1981, col
34.
Cup-bearer
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A cup-bearer was an officer of high rank in royal courts whose duty it was to serve the drinks at the royal table. On account of the constant fear of plots and intrigues, a person must be regarded as thoroughly trustworthy to hold the position and he must guard against poison in the kings cup and was sometimes required to swallow some of the wine before serving it. His confidential relations with the king gave him a position of great influence. The position of cup-bearer is greatly valued and given only to a few throughout history. Qualifications for the job were not held lightly but of high esteem valued for their beauty and even more for their modesty, industriousness, a much older role was the appointment of Sargon of Akkad as cup-bearer in the 23rd century BC. Cup-bearers are mentioned several times in the Bible and this officer is first mentioned in Genesis 40,1, where the Hebrew word elsewhere translated cup-bearer is rendered butler. The phrase chief of the accords with the fact that there were often a number of such officials under one as chief. In the Post-exilic period, Nehemiah rose to the high ranking position of cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes. The position placed his life on the every day yet gave Nehemiah authority and high pay. His financial ability would indicate that the office was a lucrative one. Cup-bearers are mentioned further in 1 Kings 10,5,2 Chronicles 9,4, the title Rabshakeh, once thought to mean chief of the cupbearers, is now given a different derivation and explained as chief of the officers, or princes. I.3,8,9, Josephus, Ant, XVI, viii,1, in Greek mythology, Hêbê the Goddess of youth was the original cup-bearer to the Greek Gods of Mount Olympus serving them nectar and ambrosia. Hêbê is the daughter of Zeus and Hera and is doing her cup-bearer duties in Homers Iliad, The gods were seated near to Zeus in council. Graciously Hebe served them nectar, as with cups of gold they toasted one another, hêbê’s role of cup bearer ended when she married war hero Heracles who joined Hêbê amongst the Gods and Goddesses and started a family. Hêbê was then replaced by Ganymede, the Roman Gods are also closely related to Greek Mythology with the Goddess of Youth Juventa being the Roman counterpart to Hêbê. One of the officers who was in the service of the Visigothic kings was called Comes Scanciorum or Count of the Cup-bearers. The count headed the Scancia which in English would be called cellars or buttery and in French échansonnerie, the count would have poured the kings wine or drink personally while the other cup-bearers served other distinguished guests at the royal table. The King of Bohemia ranked as Arch-Cupbearer of the Holy Roman Empire and his duties were normally performed only during coronations
35.
Burgrave
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Burgrave was since the medieval period a title for the ruler of a castle, especially a royal or episcopal castle, as well as a castle district or fortified settlement or city. The burgrave was a count in rank equipped with judicial powers, the title became hereditary in certain feudal families and was associated with a territory or domain called a Burgraviate. The position and office of burgrave could be either by the king, a nobleman or a bishop. Etymologically, the word burgrave is the English and French form of the German noble title Burggraf, the wife of a burgrave was titled Burgravine, in German Burggräfin. The title is originally equivalent to that of castellan or French châtelain, in Germany, owing to the distinct conditions of the Holy Roman Empire, the title, as borne by feudal nobles having the status of Reichsfürst, obtained a quasi-princely significance. The most famous holder was William the Silent, who used his influence over the city to control its government and his predecessors in his family were Engelbrect, Henry and Rene. Subsequently in the Low countries, the rank of burggraaf evolved into the nobiliary synonymous with Viscount, the title Viscount of Antwerp is still claimed by the reigning monarch of the Netherlands as one of the subsidiary titles. The Grand Duke of Luxembourg maintains as a subsidiary title Burgrave of Hammerstein, in the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the position and office of burgrave was also of senatorial rank. Their primus was the Burgrave of Kraków of the capital of Poland and Wawel Castle. Burgmann Ministerialis Vogt List of the burgraves of Meissen This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chambers, Ephraim. Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, james and John Knapton, et al
36.
Lienz
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Lienz is a medieval town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the centre of the Lienz district, which covers all of East Tyrol. The municipality also includes the cadastral subdivision of Patriasdorf, Lienz is located at the confluence of the rivers Isel and Drava in the Eastern Alps, between the Hohe Tauern mountain range in the north, and the Gailtal Alps in the south. It is connected with Winklern in Carinthia by the Iselsberg Pass, the neighbouring municipality of Leisach marks the easternmost point of the Puster Valley. By the consistent growth of the city, some villages around – though officially municipalities in their own right – are now widely considered to be suburbs of Lienz. Those suburbs comprise, The area of Lienz had been settled since the Bronze Age about 2000 BC, celtic people lived here from about 300 BC on, mainly as miners, who came under control of the Roman Empire in 15 BC. The area was incorporated into the province of Noricum and Emperor Claudius had a municipium called Aguntum erected near Lienz in the municipality of Dölsach. Part of the Slavic principality of Carantania, the passed under Bavarian. Lienz itself was first mentioned as Luenzina in an issued by the Bishop of Brixen about 1030. The settlement itself, together with neighbouring Patriasdorf, then belonged of the Patriarchs of Aquileia and it was then purchased by the scions of the Meinhardiner dynasty, who held the office of Aquileian Vögte and chose Lienz as a residence. From about 1127 they called themselves Counts of Görz, located on the important trade route from Venzone in Friuli to Salzburg, the market town of Lienz received city rights on 25 February 1242. In 1278 the Counts finished Burg Bruck, a castle that until 1500 served as their local seat, from the status of an Imperial residence, Lienz sank to the insignificance of a provincial town within the Habsburg Monarchy. During the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars, Lienz was occupied twice by French troops in 1797, after the Austrian defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz, Lienz with Tyrol passed to the Electorate of Bavaria according to the 1805 Peace of Pressburg. In 1809 it became the centre of a district within the short-lived Napoleonic Illyrian Provinces. Until 1918, the town was part of the Austrian monarchy, head of the district of the same name. After the 1938 Anschluss of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany, on 8 May 1945 British forces occupied Lienz, which together with Carinthia and Styria became part of the British occupation zone. At this time several thousand members of the former Wehrmacht 1st Cossack Division coming from Yugoslavia had arrived in and they surrendered to the British troops but were forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union. Lienz has relatively warm and humid summers and cold winters, 1971–2000 there was a recorded precipitation of 915 mm
37.
Friedrich von Hausen
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Friedrich von Hausen was a mediaeval German poet, one of the earliest of the Minnesingers, born some time between 1150–60, d.6 May 1190. His name is mentioned frequently in documents, for the first time in one from Mainz dated 1171 by Christian I. He was born in middle Rhenish territory, as is shown by his dialect, especially by his rhymes, but several towns claim to be his birthplace, in 1175 he was in Italy, and again in 1186 in the suite of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. The next year he was present when Frederick I, Barbarossa and Philip Augustus met between Mouzon and Yvois, and in 1188 he was at Worms in the company of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut. He accompanied the Emperor Frederick, by whom he was held in esteem, on the crusade of 1189, and met his death at the battle of Philomelium. We are told that the whole army mourned his death, Friedrich von Hausen is one of the earliest of the minnesingers who are known to have imitated French models, with which he became acquainted on his travels through Burgundy and Provence. Together with Heinrich von Veldeke he introduced the Romance element into the minnesong, the Provençal influence is especially evident in the dactylic rhythm of his verses, which resulted from the adoption into German of a Romance ten-syllable line with four or five stresses. His rhymes are still occasionally imperfect and his songs more than one strophe. Hausens poetry is rather artificial in form and often abstruse in spirit and he is fond of dallying with a word. Like most of the troubadours or minnesingers he sings chiefly of troubled love and he directly influenced Bernger von Horheim. Text, translation and commentary by Günther Schweikle ISBN 3-15-008023-1 Lachmann, Karl, Haupt, Moritz, Vogt, Friedrich, ISBN 0-521-07888-1 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. Friedrich von Hausen. Jungbluth, Günther, Aarburg, Ursula, Friedrich von Hausen, Neue Deutsche Biographie,5, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, p.599 CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list
