Beards and Texts: Images of Masculinity in Medieval German Literature

238 Pages·2021·4.396 MB·English

by  Sebastian Coxon

Beards and Texts explores the literary portrayal of beards in medieval German texts from B Beards and Texts
the mid-twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries. It argues that as the pre-eminent symbol
for masculinity the beard played a distinctive role throughout the Middle Ages in literary e
discussions of such major themes as majesty and humanity. At the same time beards served
a
as an important point of reference in didactic poetry concerned with wisdom, teaching and Images of masculinity in
r
learning, and in comedic texts that were designed to make their audiences laugh, not least
d
by submitting various fi gure-types to the indignity of having their beards manhandled. medieval German literature
s
Four main chapters each offer a reading of a work or poetic tradition of particular

signifi cance (Pfaffe Konrad’s Rolandslied; Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Willehalm; a
‘Sangspruchdichtung’; Heinrich Wittenwiler’s Ring), before examining cognate material
n
of various kinds, including sources or later versions of the same story, manuscript
variants and miniatures and further relevant beard-motifs from the same period. The d
book concludes by reviewing the portrayal of Jesus in vernacular German literature,

which represents a special test-case in the literary history of beards. As the fi rst study of T
its kind in medieval German studies, this investigation submits beard-motifs to sustained
e
and detailed analysis in order to shed light both on medieval poetic techniques and the
normative construction of masculinity in a wide range of literary genres. x
t
s
Sebastian Coxon is Reader in German at UCL. He joined the Department of German
(SELCS) in 2000, having studied in Oxford and Cologne. His principal fi eld of research
is medieval German literature.
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m Cover image: Sebastian Coxon
Leiden, University Library,
VGG F4, fol. 251v: CC BY.
The dead king’s eldest son gets
the fi rst shot at his father’s corpse
(Hugo von Trimberg’s Renner).
Cover design:
www.ironicitalics.com

Beards and Texts

Beards and Texts
Images of masculinity in medieval
German literature
Sebastian Coxon
First published in 2021 by
UCL Press
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
Available to download free: www.uclpress.co.uk
Text © Author, 2021
Images © Author and copyright holders named in captions, 2021
The author has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
to be identified as the author of this work.
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the following information:
Coxon, S. 2021. Beards and Texts: Images of masculinity in medieval German literature.
London: UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787352216
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ISBN: 978-1-78735-223-0 (Hbk.)
ISBN: 978-1-78735-222-3 (Pbk.)
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111 9781787352216
For PWC, a true reader

Contents
List of figures ix
List of abbreviations xi
1 Beards and texts, texts and beards 1
2 Beards and majesty: Pfaffe Konrad’s Rolandslied 30
3 Beards and humanity: Wolfram’s Willehalm 62
4 Beards, teaching and learning: ‘Sangspruchdichtung’ 99
5 Laughter and beards: Wittenwiler’s Ring 137
6 Jesus’s beard 176
Conclusion 189
Appendix: A sample of references to Charlemagne’s beard 196
Bibliography 203
Index 220
ContentS vii