Salvete Omnes,
on the Valentine's Day perhaps it could be good and proper to see some chivalry, medieval romance &courtly love and who could be better that the XIII century German knight and poet Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Sir Ullrich, scion of the ministrialis * class family and himself a minnesinger or troubadour, authored the famous collection of poems titled Frauendienst ( Service of Ladies), which was translated into English by J.W. Thomas in 1969. You can borrow the 2004 edition from Archive Library. There are articles on sir Ulrich and his poetry on Academia.
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| there is humor in Ulrich's poetry - eg the lady trick a suitor by suspending him in the air |
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and my most favorite plate of the Codex Manesse - our Piast prince Henryk Probus, where his horse's caparison bear letters that make a word - AMOR which mean Love.
ps * ministrialis class in Polish medieval society was represented by the włodyka class (scartabellat). Below the wlodyka class there were the panosza (panozi or domicelli). They were absorbed into the naoblity (szlachta) or pushed into the peasantry etc during the closing up of the noble class in the XV century.
Valete
