Wernher der Gartenaere#

Wernher der Gartenaere, second half of the 13th century, travelling poet from the Innviertel or from Lake Garda. Author of the first German "Dorfgeschichte" ("Meier Helmbrecht", 1250-1280, in 1,922 verses) in the tradition of "Doerperlyrik" ("Doerper" = yokel), mainly represented by Neidhart von Reuental. Helmbrecht, dissatisfied son of a peasant, leaves his parents' farm dressed as a nobleman with the hope of becoming a knight. He roams the country as the page of a robber baron until he is finally captured. As a consequence, his parents disown him and he is hanged by the farmers he previously robbed. The story was probably meant to serve as a warning to those wanting a more flexible Estate system, to discourage peasant's ambitions and as a criticism of the territorialisation policy of the Habsburgs.

Edition: H. Brackert et al. (eds.), W. d. G., Helmbrecht, 1978.

Literature#