Minnesingers in helmets with birdcage and stylized axes
A memorable scene from the Soviet wide-screen feature film "Black Arrow" directed by Sergei Tarasov, filmed in 1985 based on the novel of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is during this scene that the minstrel sings a love song to the verses of Walter von der Vogelweide, which became the epigraph to this article...
Praise to husband and wife
When they live in love.
Their soul and body are on par with
For each hour, Lord, bless!
And in full happiness let their life pass.
Doubt not, blessed and he
Who honors virtue in himself
As in the one who chose one,
And who, to the joy, took a wife,
Girlfriend in life and fate.
Walther von der Vogelweide [1160(?) – 1228(?)]
Translation by Wilhelm Levick
When they live in love.
Their soul and body are on par with
For each hour, Lord, bless!
And in full happiness let their life pass.
Doubt not, blessed and he
Who honors virtue in himself
As in the one who chose one,
And who, to the joy, took a wife,
Girlfriend in life and fate.
Walther von der Vogelweide [1160(?) – 1228(?)]
Translation by Wilhelm Levick
History and culture. Today we continue the story about the minnesingers from the “Manesian Codex”, which, as before, will be illustrated with “pictures” from this manuscript and photographs of “little soldiers” by EK Castings and Silver Dream Studio.
It is interesting that VO readers were very interested in the question of whether a figurine of perhaps the most famous of the minnesinger knights, Walter von der Vogelweide, would be made, on whose coat of arms and, accordingly, on his helmet, a golden bird cage with a nightingale sitting in it was depicted.
Walther von der Vogelweide. "The Manesan Code"
At one time, the Penza artist V. Korolkov drew how this knight might look in reality, but whether this is true or not is very difficult to say.
This is an illustration from the book "Knights. Castles. Weapon" (Rosman, 2005). It depicts the knight Walter von der Vogelweide in the very center.
The problem here is probably that it is extremely difficult to cast a 1:30 scale white metal figure with such a decoration on the helmet. It is practically impossible! What can be done? You can cast a figure with a cage base on the helmet and a "bird" sitting on it, and then manually drill holes with a diameter of 0,7-0,5 mm around the circumference, insert "lattice bars" made of thin wire into them, and then attach the upper part of the cage to them. In any case, this work will be very complex and labor-intensive, which is why the cost of such a figure will increase sharply. But maybe the EK Castings company will still decide on such an experiment? Because otherwise the "Knights of the Codex Manes" collection comes out incomplete!
But what is this knight so famous for, why can't he just be ignored "for technical reasons"? The thing is that he is very famous and is the author of many impressive literary works.
It is known that he belonged to the knightly class, but he did not have his own castle or land. And only in his declining years and, in fact, right before his death (1228), Emperor Frederick II gave him a small fief as a reward. And even then after numerous requests to grant him a fief, since his vagabond life was extremely difficult.
The poet was born around 1160-1170, in his youth he was at the court of the Austrian Duke Leopold V, where he learned to compose poetry. And from 1198 he began to travel from one castle to another and from lord to lord, serving them as a ministerial - a hired knight. And where did fate not take him, including Palestine, conquered by the Crusaders.
At the beginning of his creative path, Vogelweide, in accordance with the fashion of the time, wrote about "high love", but then he developed his own style and manner of presentation. His political views also changed: he shared the views of which lord he served and from whom he hoped to receive more land.
Thus, in 1198 he supported Philip of Swabia, but without receiving any benefit from this, he went over to his enemy Otto IV, and after his defeat in 1214 he moved under the wing of the Hohenstaufens and began to praise Frederick II. At the same time, at the same time, he managed to change several lords of lower rank, without hiding the selfish motives of his loyalty. He expressed it this way:
"The one who is kind to me will always be dearer to me."
But Walter also knew how to praise the generosity of his lords. For example, he thanked Dieter III Katzenelbogen for the diamond he received around 1214 in verse:
"A diamond, a noble stone, was given to me by a most beautiful knight."
He established his estate near Würzburg and persistently convinced German knights to participate in the crusade of 1228, and it is even quite possible that he himself joined the army of crusaders and accompanied it to Tyrol. He died in 1228 and, according to legend, bequeathed that the birds on his grave be fed.
Vogelweide addressed all sorts of topics in his poetry. He wrote about the national dignity of the Germans and lamented “German silver flowing into an Italian casket" But in his love lyrics he departed from the previous idealistic traditions of depicting love and began to write about it as a completely earthly and mutual feeling of lovers. Moreover, a completely reasonable feeling, based on the social closeness of lovers.
A wife from noble ladies
Not everyone wants to take it, however.
Fools don't know what we need
There is honor and joy in such a marriage.
He who is frivolous is glad to love
The one that I was able to easily obtain.
But, having loved joy and honor,
Marry someone who is more noble,
And if you became her friend,
There is honor and joy in that.
What's the point of love when it's
Did we manage without service?
Is it his fault or hers?
Can such a connection be called love?
Don't wait, freeing yourself from service,
A lady worthy of respect.
Loving good manners in a man,
She is far from a boor.
Only a fool appreciates a fool, -
Should I say why?
Translation by Wilhelm Levick
Not everyone wants to take it, however.
Fools don't know what we need
There is honor and joy in such a marriage.
He who is frivolous is glad to love
The one that I was able to easily obtain.
But, having loved joy and honor,
Marry someone who is more noble,
And if you became her friend,
There is honor and joy in that.
What's the point of love when it's
Did we manage without service?
Is it his fault or hers?
Can such a connection be called love?
Don't wait, freeing yourself from service,
A lady worthy of respect.
Loving good manners in a man,
She is far from a boor.
Only a fool appreciates a fool, -
Should I say why?
Translation by Wilhelm Levick
However, he believed that when bringing love down from heaven to earth, it is necessary to observe “measure”. But Walter did not like “rural simplicity”, just as he did not like rich peasants – well, everything is clear with this, why it was so.
About 200 poems have been preserved by him, that is, he was a very prolific poet. He enjoyed great respect among the minnesingers, many of whom considered themselves his students and did not hesitate to imitate him. So it is quite possible to speak of a poetic school of Walther von der Vogelweide.
Wolfram von Eschenbach. "The Manesan Code"
The second knight-minnesinger that I would like to tell you about is Wolfram von Eschenbach (around 1170 – around 1220). By the way, little is known about him either, but he wrote a lot and it was precisely by writing that he became famous for centuries. First of all, these are courtly songs – very beautiful and soulful. In total, nine of his songs are known (only the lyrics) and two of his melodies, and all of these works are considered masterpieces. He also wrote three novels in verse, including the novel “Parsifal”, which immortalized his name. It is useless to retell the contents of this novel – it needs to be read. But it is worth saying that this work made such a strong impression on the composer Richard Wagner that, based on it, he wrote an opera of the same name, and the creator of “Parsifal” himself was brought out as a character in another of his operas – “Tannhäuser”.
Wolfram von Eschenbach. Figurine by EK Castings. True, it is not entirely clear why the axes on the shield are golden. After all, in the miniature from the "Manesian Codex" they are black in both cases. However, it is beautiful, what can you say. And considering that the image of this knight in the "codex" is not reliable, why not?
True, there is one very important and at the same time funny moment in all this. The fact is that at the time when Wolfram lived, helmet decorations in the form in which they are depicted in the "Manesian Codex" simply did not exist, and he himself died long before it was written. That is, the image of von Eschenbach in the illustration in this book is completely imaginary. But why a medieval artist put a helmet with two stylized axes as a heraldic emblem on the great poet-knight, today we can only guess!
Helmet with axes. Reconstruction by the author. The fact is that in the "Manesian Codex" Wolfram von Eschenbach is depicted in a closed knight's helmet. However, such helmets appeared somewhat after his death. Most likely, if you put a helmet with crests in the form of axes on him, you should take into account the era. It was at the beginning of the 13th century that "tablet" helmets or "saucepan helmets" were in fashion, either cylindrical in shape or slightly widening at the top and with a conical bottom. The "handle" of such a "saucepan" bent down and served as a nasal guard. The helmet is made entirely of packaging cardboard and painted from an aerosol can. The fastenings are molded from ... bread crumb and also painted. This homemade product was used in the summer camp of the Rostum company, during the "knightly shift" there ...
To be continued ...
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