Wernher von Homberg
Wernher von Homberg (also Werner; Hohenberg, 1284 – 21 March 1320) was a knight in the service Emperor Henry VII, and later of Frederick the Fair. His Minnesang poems are recorded in the Codex Manesse.
Wernher's father was Ludwig of
Wernher inherited territories that today form the northern part of the
In 1309, Wernher was given the position of reeve of Schwyz. He participated in the Italian campaign of emperor Henry during 1310 – 1313. For his service in Milan, he received the title of lieutenant general of Lombardy as well as the right to collect the imperial tax at Flüelen. He entered the service of king Frederick in 1314. In the Morgarten war of 1315, he attempted to mediate between the parties, and does not appear to have participated as combatant.
In 1315, he married the widow of his step-father, Maria von Oettingen (d. 1369). In 1319 he went to support the
Poems
Eight Minnelieder are attributed to Wernher in Codex Manesse, with the following incipits:[2]
- 1. Mit urlob wil ich hinnan varn / unt scheiden von dem lande / und niemen wider komen drin ("With leave, I will fare hence, and depart from the land, and never come back to it")
- 2. Min vro minnekliche Minne / war umbe hant ir mir die sinne / so ser, so vast an si gewant ("My lady lovable Love, why have you set my mind so much, so fast upon her?")
- 3. Mit urlob wil ich scheiden von dem lande / hertz' unde muot daz laz' ich ir ze pfande ("With leave I will depart the land, my heart and mind I give to her as pawn")
- 4. Mich jamert uz der mâze / nach der lieben vrowen min ("I yearn beyond all measure for my beloved lady")
- 5. Ez ist ein spot / vart ie hertze von leide verseret / sam daz mine? Minne daz ist din getat ("It is a mockery, was there ever a heart as devastated by suffering such as mine? Love, this is your doing")
- 6. Wol mich hiut und iemer me, ich saeh ein wip, der ir munt von roete bran ("It is well for me, today and forever more, I have seen a woman, whose mouth was burning with redness")
- 7. Ich muoz klagen, daz diu zit / sich so gar verkeret hat ("I must lament, that the times have turned around so completely")
- 8. Wie mak daz iemer so beschehen / daz ich so sere fürcht' ein wip ("How could it ever have come to pass, that I am so afraid of a woman")
References
- ^ Martina Wehrli-Johns (2012-12-29). "Oetenbach" (in German). HDS. Retrieved 2019-05-18.
- ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Barthold, "Minnelieder des Grafen Wernher von Homberg" in: Der Römerzug König Heinrichs von Lützelburg vol. 2 (1831), 72-80.
- Homberg, Wernher von in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.