Taylor, Edgar [Hrsg.]; Austin, Sarah [Hrsg.]: Lays of the minnesingers or German troubadours of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: Illustr. by specimens of the contemporary lyric poetry of Provence and other parts of Europe ; With histor. and crit. notes, and engravings from the ms. of the minnesingers in the king's library at Paris, and from other sources (London, 1825)

84 GERMANY.

the days of what we are accustomed to call the
deepest barbarism. It is hardly necessary to refer
to the earliest observers of their manners, for the pur-
pose of reminding the reader that the deeds of their
warriors, as related in legendary songs, were always
the delight of the ancient Germans. Time has laid its
unsparing hand on much ; yet some interesting and
venerable reliques have survived; and there is little
doubt that in the Nibelungen Lied, the Helden-buch,
and the Scandinavian Eddas and Sagas, we see,
though in a comparatively modern dress, fragments
of a remote and almost primitive antiquity ; such,
perhaps, as Jornandes heard and referred to as his-
torical materials at the court of Theoderic, who, like
Alfred and Charlemagne, seems to have encouraged
the ancient vernacular literature of his country.

The reigns of Charlemagne and his successors in
the Carlovingian dynasty, exhibit the first glimpses
of distinct light thrown upon that portion of the an-
cient poetry of Germany which has survived to us.
Though merciless and cruel in his views of territorial
aggrandizement, Charlemagne had the discernment
to see that the most politic plan for giving stability
to his authority consisted in amending the religion
and enlightening the understandings of the tribes
over whom he triumphed in arms. Though his lite-
rary tastes were acquired in Italy, he had judgement
enough to postpone the popular learning of the day