Justice and the Social Context of Early Middle High German Literature. By Robert G.
Sullivan. Medieval History and Culture, 5. New York and London: Routledge,
2001. Pp. xviii + 186. $70.00.
The German empire of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was fraught with uncertainty.
Blood feuds, capricious lords, and civil unrest during the disputed reign of
Henry IV created an unstable environment in which daily existence was subject to
the whims of others. Yet the vernacular literature of this period is strangely silent on
these issues, occupying itself almost wholly with religious concerns. Such disregard
for worldly affairs was long considered the mark of the Cluniac reform movement.
However, as Robert Sullivan demonstrates in his recent monograph, a juncture
indeed exists between the period's secular realities and the religious concerns of
Early Middle High German poets, namely the concept of reht, or justice.
Glenn Ehrstine
University of Iowa |
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