Neidhart: Ein altiu diu begunde springen ... (Sommerlied 1)
(from Teaching Framework, p.26)

Neidhart ‘von Reuental’ was an arch-mocker (he was a successor of Walther’s, who flourished c.1240 in South-East Bavaria/Austria). The idea of civilised courtship between men and women – where the Lady is remote from her suitor and the Knight woos her in the spirit of Frauendienst – is parodied by him in the following verses. (There is also mockery of old women’s sexual urges here, of course, and a sense of Neidhart mocking himself.)

What was Neidhart trying to say? We can only guess the answer from the content of his poetry – because, as with so many medieval writers, we know almost nothing about the poet himself. The audience he was writing for was the Court – the knightly class. His immediate predecessors wrote in the tradition of Minnesang and most of their love-poetry reflects the tension between a knight’s sexual desires and his reluctant self-restraint. ‘Hohe Minne’ (‘lofty love’) – it was argued – was good for the character. By loving a lady and keeping that love secret even from her, a man’s inner being was purified (see the poem tougen minne). Neidhart’s subject-matter is startlingly different. He often echoes the restrained diction of Minnesang (‘er pfliget niht stæter minne’ v.2) but this must be ironic because the contexts are so inappropriate. In this poem the main character is neither a Knight nor a Lady but a randy old peasant-woman who makes no secret of her sexual wishes and who will not listen to her daughter’s warnings. Neidhart’s main satirical targets are, evidently, highly-sexed matrons and their cautious daughters. – But also himself ! He poses here as a potent old goat, distrusted by nice girls yet irresistible to elderly females.

Did he succeed in saying it? The mockery of old (peasant) women is obvious and effective from the opening simile – we don’t expect to hear of old women leaping about like kid-goats carolling traranuretun traranuriruntundeie like some sweet 16-year-old (‘picking flowers’ is code for sexual adventuring). This has to be mockery, but there’s nothing actually in the poem’s tone to suggest disapproval.

Neidhart’s self-ironisation is equally effective, mainly because it is done obliquely: Minnesänger normally lament their love-sickness directly in relation to some unnamed (young?) lady. Here the poet doesn’t write in the first person; instead he has the old woman name him as her suitor, followed by her daughter’s warning about his bad reputation. Thus, obliquely, Neidhart’s sexual prowess is made manifest and his ego is well flattered. (But it’s got to be all a pose, surely ?)

Was it worth saying? This particular poem is light-hearted and relatively trivial – are we, today, shocked to hear about old women parading their sexual desires in public? Of course there’s no good reason why ‘old’ people shouldn’t also long for love: they/we just have to keep it in proportion.

— Elsewhere in Neidhart’s poetry there are other deeply serious themes (as with all the best satire), e.g. the pain of jealousy, of rejection, rivalry, old age’s debilities, poverty, and Neidhart’s suffering at the hands of his fickle Mistress – ‘Vrou Werltsüeze’ – Dame Sweetie World. Neidhart plays on these painful themes mostly with a laugh.

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