!!!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 U. Seelbach, Bibliographie zu W. d. G., 1981; G. Schindele, Helmbrecht, in: Literatur im Feudalismus, 1975. %%language [Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Wernher_der_Gartenaere|class='wikipage austrian'] %% [{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}] [{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]