Freidank

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Freidank (Vrîdanc or Vrîgedanc) was a wandering unordained clerk or scholar presumed to be of Swabian origin. He was probably born at the end of the 12th century. In 1228-1229 he took part in the crusade of Emperor Frederick II. He may have died in 1233, if he was the magister Fridancus whose death was reported in the annals of the Cistercian monastery at Kaisheim. Hartmann Schedel however claimed to have seen in Treviso in 1465 a monument with the inscription Freydanck.

1 Life
2 Works
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Life

Born at the end of the 12th century in the Alemannic (South German) linguistic region, Freidank was probably a cleric without office, educated in writing and proper speech, who earned a living by his poetry on his travels.

It seems likely that he was involved in the Fifth Crusade; the Akkon-Sprüche (Acre Sayings) , which form part of the major work Bescheidenheit, are also from this period([1]). During the crusade he reached Jaffa and was probably a crusader during the period of the Peace Treaty of Jerusalem with Al-Kamil (18 February 1229) and Frederick's self-coronation as King of Jerusalem. Like most people who took part in the crusades, he perceives the often cynical and brutal realities of such undertakings and this often influences his works.

[edit] Works

His work "Bescheidenheit" (Modesty or Experience), created between 1215 and 1230, has survived. It is a collection of rhyming aphorisms in 53 thematic divisions and about 4,700 verses which encapsulate the folk wisdom and experience of the period. The work was very popular for an extremely long time and was thought of as a "Bible of the world". It has been transmitted in numerous manuscripts and also in a Latin translation ("Fridangi Discretio") and was quoted by many authors, including Hugo von Trimberg and Rudolf von Ems. As late as 1508 Sebastian Brant published a new edition of it.

A critical edition of "Vridankes Bescheidenheit" by Jakob Grimm appeared in 1834 (although he assumed that Freidank was identical with Walther von der Vogelweide). A more recent edition is that of H.E. Bezzenberger, originally published in 1872 and reprinted in 1962.