Melker Marienlied#
Melker Marienlied, first German Marienlied (song in praise of the Virgin Mary), probably composed between 1130 and 1160 in a monastery in Bavaria or Austria and handed down in a manuscript kept in the Abbey of Melk. The 14 verses consisting of 3 rhyming couplets each and the refrain "Sancta Maria" tell of the conception and birth of Jesus.
Literature#
Deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters (lex.); G. M. Schaefer, Untersuchungen zur deutsch-sprachigen Marienlyrik, 1971.