author
active 1234-1255 von Neifen Gottfried
A 13th-century German lyric poet, he is remembered as one of the notable voices of Minnesang, the medieval tradition of courtly love song. His surviving work is prized for its musical elegance and refined treatment of love, nature, and desire.
1 Audiobook
Die Lieder Gottfrieds von Neifen
by active 1234-1255 von Neifen Gottfried
About the author
Gottfried von Neifen was a German Minnesänger, active in the mid-13th century. Sources describe him as coming from an edelfrei noble family in Swabia, and he is mentioned in documents from 1234 to about 1255. He is often linked with the circle around King Henry (VII) of Germany.
His reputation rests on his Minnesang: lyric poetry shaped by courtly culture, often centered on love, longing, beauty, and the changing seasons. Readers and scholars have continued to single him out as an important representative of the later classical phase of Minnesang, and his songs survive in major medieval manuscript traditions, including the Codex Manesse.
Because so little personal information survives, the poems themselves do much of the work of introducing him. What comes through is a polished, artful voice—graceful, musical, and emotionally alert—that still offers a vivid glimpse of medieval German courtly poetry.