The Manesse Codex or
Grosse Heidelberger Liederhandschrift is a book copied and illustrated between
1305-
1340 in
Zürich. It contains love songs in Middle
High German by important poets, several of whom were famous rulers. The term for these poets,
Minnesänger, combines the words for "romantic love" and "singer", reflecting the content of the poetry, which adapted the
Provençal troubador tradition to German. This manuscript has pictures of the authors which depict each poet as an idealized knight, dressed in his own heraldic colors and devices, making it possible for readers to identify them.
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