Boppe was a Middle High German song poet who lived in the second half of the 13th century. Little is known about Boppe's life. Due to historical references, his sayings can be narrowed down to the 1280s and 1290s, but there is no extra-literary evidence. In the Meistersang , Master Boppe was revered as one of the twelve old masters who were considered the inventors of their art. The Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Codex Manesse) does not give him a title, but the Jenaer Liederhandschrift c...
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Boppe was a Middle High German song poet who lived in the second half of the 13th century. Little is known about Boppe's life. Due to historical references, his sayings can be narrowed down to the 1280s and 1290s, but there is no extra-literary evidence. In the Meistersang , Master Boppe was revered as one of the twelve old masters who were considered the inventors of their art. The Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Codex Manesse) does not give him a title, but the Jenaer Liederhandschrift calls him "Meister". The author's picture in the Codex Manesse shows Boppe, who is also called "strong Boppe" by the Meistersinger and may have had this nickname during his lifetime, bending a horseshoe . Boppe is also mentioned in various master catalogs well into the 17th century, for example in one by Lupold Hornburg around 1350: "Des Boppen sang von vogel, tyren wol gebispelt ist" (Des Boppen song contained many a beautiful example of birds [and] animals ). Under the name "Boppe", the Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (C) has 8 tones with a total of 40 stanzas, 20 of which are in tone I (Hofton). Only this tone found its way into the further tradition. There are 18 stanzas in the Jenaer Liederhandschrift (12 of which have also survived in C), some more in other older manuscripts. A total of 30 traditional sayings have been preserved in Tone I. In addition, the Hofton has been handed down extensively in the later master song manuscripts. The Kolmar song manuscript offers the most extensive tradition with a total of 190 stanzas in 48 units, 33 of which are attested several times (often in a different strophic order). But most of these stanzas probably date from the 14th and 15th centuries. Thematically in Boppe's texts - as well as in other song poets - a connection to contemporary historical reality is recognizable; In addition to personal and moral questions, he also deals with political and theological ones. In his stanzas there are all themes of courtly proverbial poetry, the enumeration of courtly virtues and vices as well as the moral interpretation of natural phenomena and animals. Some stanzas are addressed to individuals, including a lament for Konrad von Würzburg .
