Early New High German literature

German literature from the mid 14th to the mid 17th century

Early New High German literature refers to literature written in German between the middle of the 14th century and the middle of the 17th. The term Early Modern German literature is also used to cover all or part of the same period.^[1]

The fundamental development from Middle High German literature was

the giving up of a small range of literary subjects which had been of vital interest to a chivalrous society eclectic in its tastes, and the adoption of a wider, more complex, range of subjects interesting a wider public which was not chivalrous but citizen.^[2]

Key authors and works

Authors

Götz von Berlichingen
Ulrich Boner
Sebastian Brant
Johann Fischart
Hans Folz
Ulrich Füetrer
Sebastian Franck
Andreas Gryphius
Ulrich von Hutten
Heinrich Kaufringer
Daniel Casper von Lohenstein
Martin Luther
Martin Opitz
Hans Rosenplüt
Hans Sachs
Johannes von Tepl
Georg Wickram
Heinrich Wittenwiler
Oswald von Wolkenstein
Niklas von Wyle

Anonymous works

Dukus Horant
Fortunatus
Historia von D. Johann Fausten
Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid
Till Eulenspiegel
Tristrant und Isalde

Notes

^ Reinhart 2007.
^ Brooke 1955, p. xiii.

Sources

Brooke, Kenneth (1955). An Introduction to Early New High German. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. doi:10.1080/19306962.1957.11786878. With a selection of texts.
Palmer, Nigel F (1997). "The high and later Middle Ages (1100-1450)". In Watanabe-O'Kelly, H (ed.). The Cambridge History of German Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 40–91. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521434171.003. ISBN 978-0521785730.
Philipp, Gerhard (1980). Einführung ins Früneuhochdeutsche. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer. ISBN 3494020922. With a selection of texts.
Reinhart, Max, ed. (2007). Early Modern German Literature 1350-1700. The Camden House History of German Literature. Vol. 4. New York, Woodbridge: Camden House. ISBN 978-1571132475.
Watanabe-O'Kelly, Helen (1997). "The Early Modern Period (1450–1720)". In Watanabe-O'Kelly, H (ed.). The Cambridge History of German Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 40–91. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521434171.003. ISBN 978-0521785730.