Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 2 minutes):Walther von der Vogelweide: Unter den Linden
The Codex Manesse is the most famous mediaeval manuscript produced in German, and also the most widely known, thanks to innumerable reproductions. It is also a significant textual document, since it is the most extensive collection and most important source of the courtly lyric poetry known according to its content and form of presentation as "Minnesang" (love song). On 852 pages the codex contains the work of 140 authors of the period from 1160 to 1330. The authors include, among others, Walther von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Hartmann von Aue, Emperor Henry VI, and Conradin, the last of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. The text is illustrated by 137 full-page miniatures, of which 110 come from the hand of the so-called Foundation Master.
The manuscript is named after the Zurich patrician family Manesse with whom the patron was associated.
|
Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 2 minutes): Walther von der Vogelweide: Unter den Linden |
| Summary of illuminated manuscripts (miniatures) |
| Late Antique and Pre-Romanesque periods |
| 351-400 | 401-450 | 451-500 | 501-550 | 551-600 | 601-650 | 651-700 |
| 701-750 | 751-800 | 801-850 | 851-900 | 901-950 | 951-1000 |
| Romanesque period |
| 1001-1050 | 1051-1100 | 1101-1150 |
| Early and High Gothic periods |
| 1151-1200 | 1201-1250 | 1251-1300 |
| Late Gothic and Renaissance periods |
| 1301-1350 | 1351-1400 | 1401-1450 | 1451-1500 | 1501-1550 |
| Book covers |
| Illuminations by known masters |
| List of illuminators |
