Spielmannsdichtung

Spielmannsdichtung, formerly accepted as a generic term for a number of medieval German epics of adventurous and ‘popular’ character. The underlying assumption that these poems were composed and written down by itinerant minstrels is no longer regarded as tenable, since they were as a class vulgar and illiterate. Among the poems formerly classed as Spielmannsdichtung are Herzog Ernst, König Rother, Orendel, Sankt Oswald, and Salman und Morolf. The expression is still sometimes used as a convenient means of grouping these poems.