PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

In revising this book, which during the past twelve years has been found to serve a useful purpose in colleges and advanced schools, and also in the hands of general readers, the author has pruned as well as supplemented, correcting at the same time such errors as further study and the strictures of his critics have brought to light. In the Appendix will be found a series of tables, in which the names of a large number of authors are arranged after a plan intended to indicate in each case the epoch, the field of chief distinction (whether poetry or prose), and the comparative significance of the writer. These tables, it is hoped, will help the student to summarize and systematize his knowledge, and also afford hints to such as desire to pursue the subject farther.

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY,

ST. LOUIS, June 6, 1891.

J. K. H.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

FIRST GREAT PERIOD.

CHAPTER I.

THE BEGINNINGS.

First appearance of the Germans in History; the Strife

with Rome; Ulfilas; Karl the Great: as a Warrior,

as a Law-giver and Organizer, his Court, his Influ-

ence on Literature; the Work of the Monks; the

Time of the Hohenstauffen

CHAPTER II.

THE NIBELUNGEN LIED.

The Burgundian Court at Worms; Wooing of Brunhild;

Marriage of Siegfried and Kriemhild; Death of

Siegfried; Etzel's Wooing; Rüdiger; Kriemhild's

Revenge

PAGE

1-29

23-49

CHAPTER III.

THE NIBELUNGEN LIED (continued).

High Appreciation in which the Poem is held; its

Origin and History; the Poem as a Picture of

Primitive German Life and Spirit; Critique of the

Principal Characters; Comparison with Homer;

Spots made interesting through Connection with

the Poem.

(x1)

50-77

CHAPTER IV.

GUDRUN.

The German Odyssey; a Picture of the Life of the early
Sea Rovers; the Heroes of Friesland; Horant's
Singing; the Abduction of Hilda; the Betrothal
of Gudrun; her Captivity; the Heroes at Sea;
the Washing at the Beach; the Rescue; the Ani-
mal Epic

PAGE

78-99

CHAPTER V.

THE MINNESINGERS.

Walther von der Vogelweide; Hadlaub of Zürich;

Ulrich von Lichtenstein; "The Rose-garden at

Worms; "Hartmann von Aue; Gottfried von Strass.

burg; Wolfram von Eschenbach

CHAPTER VI.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROSE.

The German Kaisers; Political Circumstances of Ger-

many from the End of the Thirteenth Century;

Strassburg; the Chroniclers; the Preachers; the

Satirists; the Drama

CHAPTER VII.

THE MASTERSINGERS.

Heinrich Frauenlob; the Artisans; Literary Life of

the Cities; Hans Sachs; "The Tailor and the

Flag; " "Saint Peter and the Goat;" "The Wit-

tenberg Nightingale;” Nuremberg

CHAPTER VIII.

LUTHER IN LITERATURE.

Outline of Luther's Career; his vast Literary Activ.
ity: his Influence upon the German Language

100-127

128-150

151-165

and Literature; the Translation of the Bible; his

Polemical Writings; his Preaching, Letters,

Hymns; Places Associated with Luther

CHAPTER IX.

THE THIRTY YEARS WAR.

From Luther to the End of the Sixteenth Century;

Friedrich, King of Bohemia; Wallenstein and

Gustavus Adolphus; the Portraits in the Castle

at Coburg; Lützen; Exhaustion of Germany;

Decay of Literature

PAGI

166-199

200-239

PART II.

SECOND GREAT PERIOD.

CHAPTER X.

LESSING.

Gottsched and Bodmer; Sketch of Lessing's Life; the

"the

Fables; the early Dramas; "Laocoon;
Hamburg Dramaturgy; "Writings: Political, Pol-
emical, Theological; "Nathan the Wise;" Les-
sing's Resemblance to Luther

CHAPTER XI.

KLOPSTOCK, WIELAND, and HERDER.

Klopstock's Youth; Appearance of the "Messias;" his

Patriotism; his wide Influence; Career of Wieland;

the Favorite of the Elegant World; "Oberon; 99

"The Abderites; " Contrast with Klopstock; the

Career of Herder; Immense Range of his Studies;

his Influence upon Poetry; his "Ideas upon the

Philosophy of History; "Greatness as a Preacher;

his Church and Statue at Weimar

240-293

294-323