Freidank was a Middle High Germandidactic poet of the early 13th century. He is the author of Bescheidenheit, a collection of rhyming aphorisms in 53 thematic divisions, extending to some 4,700 verses. The work was extremely popular in the German Middle Ages and is transmitted in numerous manuscripts, as well as in a Latin translation.
Life
Nothing about Freidank's life is known with certainty, such hypotheses as there are based on the language and content of his work Bescheidenheit. He would have been born in the later 12th century, and was likely of Swabian origin. Freidank literally translates to "free thought"; passages in Freidank's poetry allude to the freedom of thought, and the name may be an assumed epithet, although Freidank is also recorded as a German family name in the later medieval period; one Bernhard Freidank is mentioned in Helbling's Lucidarius. Wilhelm Grimm argued that the author is Vrîdanc is a pseudonym and that the author of Bescheidenheit is Walter von der Vogelweide. This hypothesis was immediately rejected by the majority of scholars; according to Bartsch, the only German philologist convinced by Grimm's idea was Wackernagel. Based on the contents of Bescheidenheit, its author was educated in writing and proper speech, and it is likely that he was a cleric by education. It seems likely that in 1228–1229 he was involved in the Sixth Crusade of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II, as the section about Acre seems to refer to this period. Freidank may have died in 1233, if he was the magister Fridancus whose death was reported in the annals of the Cistercian monastery at Kaisheim. The chronicler Hartmann Schedel claimed to have seen a monument with Freidank's epitaph in Venetian Treviso in 1465. Gion argued that the Freidank buried in Treviso died in the 1380s and is not to be confused with the author of the Bescheidenheit.
''Bescheidenheit''
The didactic poemBescheidenheit was composed in the early 13th century, between about 1215 and 1230. It is a collection of rhyming aphorisms in 53 thematic divisions and about 4,700 verses which encapsulate the folk wisdom and experience of the period. Critical editions of the work were published by Wilhelm Grimm and by H. E. Bezzenberger. Due to its linguistic elegance, the work was very popular throughout the late medieval period and well into the German Renaissance. It has been transmitted in numerous manuscripts and also in a Latin translation and was quoted by contemporary authors, including Hugo von Trimberg and Rudolf von Ems. Manuscript editions gave way seamlessly to printed editions. Some quotes have survived as proverbs still current in Modern German. The name of Freidank became a standard authority for wise sayings, and was often invoked as the author of gnomic sayings. Grimm divided the work into 54 sections or chapters, as follows: 1. von gote, 1b. von dem avê Marjâ, 2. von der messe, 3. von der sele, 4. von dem menschen, 5. von den juden, 6. von den ketzern, 7. von wuocher, 8. von hôchverte, 9. von der werlde, 10. von sünden, 11. von dem rîchen und armen, 12. von triuwe und untriuwe, 13. von dieben, 14. von spile, 15. von dieneste, 16. von rehte und unrehte, 17. von dem alter, 18. von edele unde tugende', 19. von blinden, 20. von dem honege, 21. von gewinne und guote, 22. von sorgen, 23. von arzâten unde siechen, 24. von nîde, 25. von lobe, 26. von scheltenne, 27. von gesellen, 28. von zorne, 29. von dem himelrîche und der helle, 30. von den pfaffen, 31. von künegen und fürsten, 32. von den wîsen unde tôren, 33. von milten und von kargen, 34. von der 'ere, 35. von trunkenheite, 36. von friunden, 37. von minne und wiben, 38. von erkantnisse, 39. von dem hunger, 40. von wâne, 41. von guote und übele, 42. von unkünde, 43. von tieren, 44. von schatze und pfenninge, 45. von Rôme, 46. von Âkers, 47. von der zungen, 48. von liegenne unde triegenne, 49. von dem Endekriste, 50. von den zehen geboten, 51. von dem tôde, 52. von dem jungesten tage, 53. ein gebet.
