Höfische Dichtung

Höfische Dichtung, courtly literature, falls into two categories in German literature:

(1)the lyric (see Minnesang and Spruch) and epic (see Höfisches Epos) of the period 1150-1250, the so-called Blütezeit of Middle High German literature, in which the poems were written by the knights or their more literate retainers, not for reading, but for performance, especially in the long winter evenings, in song, chant, or declamation in the courts of the princes, to whom the knights paid homage or from whom they sought favour. They were designed to entertain, but often also to express the high ideal of the knightly life.
(2)The literature of the absolutist courts of the 17th c., in which a man of lower rank would hold appointment as court poet (Hofpoet)

. Among the better-known court poets are F. R. von Canitz, B. Neukirch, J. von Besser, and J. U. König. Court poetry is a literature which sets out to entertain, and often to flatter, the prince and his intimates.