Friedrich von Hausen

Friedrich von Hausen, a Middle High German Minnesänger, belonged to a well-known noble family from Rheinhausen nr. Mannheim. He was a member of the entourage of the Emperor Friedrich I, and took part in two campaigns in Italy in 1186 and 1187. On the second of these his commander was Heinrich VI, then German King. He died on Friedrich's crusade in 1190.

Hausen modelled his Minnelieder on Provençal and Old French poetry, and had for this reason an important historical formative role. In his songs, in which nature plays no part, minne is the courtly relationship of the lover in the service of his lady. Hausen's three crusade songs (Kreuzlieder), in which courtly minne and God are in conflict, and God in the end triumphant, are the summit of his achievement.