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Wernher der Gartenaere
© Copyright Wernher der Gartenaere, beginning of the "Meier Helmbrecht". Manuscript of the Ambraser Heldenbuch (Cod. ser. nov. 2662 of the Austrian National Library, Vienna Wernher der Gartenaere, second half of the 13th century, travelling poet from the Innviertel or from Lake Garda. Author of the first German "Dorfgeschichte" ("Meier Helmbrecht", 1250-1280, in 1,922 verses) in the tradition of "Dörperlyrik" ("Dörper" = yokel), mainly represented by Neidhart von Reuental. Helmbrecht, dissatisfied son of a peasant, leaves his parents' farm dressed as a nobleman with the hope of becoming a knight. He roams the country as the page of a robber baron until he is finally captured. As a consequence, his parents disown him and he is hanged by the farmers he previously robbed. The story was probably meant to serve as a warning to those wanting a more flexible Estate system, to discourage peasant's ambitions and as a criticism of the territorialisation policy of the Habsburgs. Edition: H. Brackert et al. (eds.), W. d. G., Helmbrecht, 1978. Literature: U. Seelbach, Bibliographie zu W. d. G., 1981; G. Schindele, Helmbrecht, in: Literatur im Feudalismus, 1975.
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