Blüten der Überbietung

Abstract

In his love songs, Heinrich von Mügeln demonstrates how he as a Sangspruch poet aspires to mastery (Meisterschaft). This is characterised by a complex and varied use of imagery relating to nature, which allows the poet to surpass the representation and negotiation of love in the Minnesang tradition both rhetorically and conceptionally. The texts also draw on learned knowledge and should be read taking the concepts of natural philosophy of the so-called School of Chartres into account. Using the example of the first three songs, the article shows to what extent the texts thus occupy a position that is as significant as it is exemplary in the lyric history of the late Middle Ages.