The Castle of Courtly Love (Die Minneburg): A Medieval German Allegorical Poem

• This annotated translation of the Minneburg is the first to appear of the complete work in English, or, for that matter, in any language. The anonymous and fragmentary Minneburg, composed sometime during the second quarter of the fourteenth century in the vicinity of Würzburg, is one of the most extensive and complicated allegories of Love from the German Middle Ages. Within its five chapters – an uncustomary format in late Middle High German literature – and three ‘digressions’ (‘underbint’), the reader encounters a unique revealing of the intimate connection between love, including Amor, and the Almighty, set against the backdrop of otherworldly castles and allegorical figures. The Minneburg is not simply a fascinating commentary on how the love of a noble woman should be procured, but rather a didactic treatise on the acquisition of love as a triumph of virtue over vice, albeit love that, while instigated by a male suitor, requires reciprocity as an integral component if it is to be sanctioned by the Almighty.

Middle High German, Allegory, Romance, Courtly Love

• Winder McConnell is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of California, Davis. He is the author, editor, or translator of many books on medieval German literature, including A Companion to the Nibelungenlied and The Epic of Kudrun: A Critical Commentary.