Ulrich von Lichtenstein (c.1200/10-c.1275), a Middle High German Minnesänger, belonged to an important Austrian noble family and was himself a man of mark, becoming high Steward (Truchseß), and later marshal, of his native province of Styria. He fought in internal wars in Styria and in the campaign in Hungary in 1246, when he was present at the battle on the Leitha, in which his lord, Friedrich II, der Streitbare, was killed.
Ulrich's Minnelieder are formally derived from Walther von der Vogelweide and Reinmar der Alte. They reflect conventional Minnedienst, and are classified by the poet under such headings as tanzwîse, sincwîse, tagewîse, or ûzreise (Ausreise). The most remarkable feature of Ulrich's poetry, however, is the framework in which he himself assembled it. Under his own title Frauendienst (Vrouwen dîenest) he collected some 60 songs and connected them with an autobiographical narrative of c.3, 700 lines written in rhyming couplets. This purported autobiography (and there seems no doubt that the episodes are not entirely fictitious) is, however, partial, since it concerns only Ulrich's life of Minnedienst in the service, successively, of two different ladies. The devotion to the ideal mistress (which in Ulrich coexists satisfactorily with the claims of a wife) appears to have something of the role of a sport and is combined with a sporting activity to which Ulrich was passionately attached—the joust. Tournaments are his real-life substitute for Arthurian romance. In this way an element of realism, and with it an expression of sensuality, is infused into the stylized poetry of remote love, though this view has been challenged. Frauendienst was completed in 1255; it was followed two years later by Das Frauenbuch (Der Vrouwen Buoch), a theoretical discussion of minne in rhyming dialogue between a knight and a lady. Both works appeared, ed. K. Lachmann, in 1841; Frauendienst, ed. F. V. Spechtler, in 1987.
Ulrich von Liechtenstein
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Ulrich von Liechtenstein (1200 – 1278) was a medieval nobleman, knight, politician, and minnesanger. He was born in 1200 in Murau, located in present day Austria. After the usual noble training as a page and a squire to Margrave Heinrich of Istria, he was knighted by Duke Leopold VI of Austria in 1223. Leader of the Styrian nobility, he had a hand in absorbing Styria into the Habsburg Empire, and he became Styria’s governor. He owned three castles, one of them at Lichtenstein, near Judenburg.
The rest of his life is unrecorded. It is possible that he was one of the noblemen in Styria taken prisoner by King Otakar II of Bohemia 1269. He died in 1278 and was buried in Seckau.
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Works
Frauendienst
Ulrich is famous for his supposedly autobiographical poetry collection Frauendienst (Service of the Lady). He writes of himself as a protagonist who does great deeds of honor to married noblewomen, following the conventions of chaste courtly love. The protagonist embarks on two remarkable quests. In the first quest, he travels from Venice to Vienna in the guise of Venus, the goddess of love. He competes in jousts and tourneys and challenges all the knights he meets to a duel in the honor of his lady. He breaks 307 lances and defeats all comers. The noblewoman, however, mostly spurns his affections and demands more deeds and even mutilation for even the honor to hold her hand. In the second quest, he takes on the role of King Arthur, with his followers becoming Arthurian Round Table characters. The collection was finished in 1255.
Frauenbuch
Frauenbuch was a dialogue, published in 1257, lamenting the decay of chivalric courtship.
Popular culture
The hero of the 2001 film A Knight’s Tale, played by Heath Ledger, assumes the title “Ulrich von Liechtenstein” when he poses as a knight. As “undefeated” in jousts, this was a worthy name to take. The name also proved to work well in the plot and provided the necessary contrast to the hero's true name, William Thatcher. However, the character claims to come from Guelders, which was not in Austria but rather in the Low Countries (now in the Dutch province Gelderland). Also, the film is set in the second half of the 14th century, not the 13th century.
Bibliography
- von Liechtenstein, Ulrich. The Service of Ladies, translated by J.W. Thomas, UK: Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2004, ISBN 1843830957
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