Overview
Medium: Poem (Minnesang, based on extant example)
Written: October 2025
Inspiration: Based upon Neidhart von Reuental’s summer song, The Woods were Bare and Gray (Germany, 12th-13th century)
First Performed: Midrealm Crown Tourney, Fall 2025 (October 18, 2025)
As summer leaves us now,
and leaves fall from the bough,
the time comes for seasonal king.
Now let ring,
through the air,
our cries for Kith von Atzinger!**
A knight who travelled west,
Cynaguan** list he best,
and western Princedom rule.
Till crown jewel,
and lady’s hand,
he stole away to Midrealm’s land.
Writer of poems, maker of things,
rider of steeds, champion of kings,
never was there one so grand!
His sinister hand,
do not discount,
lest this Viscount the list surmount!
*Pronounced as “atz-ing-AIR”
**Cynagua is pronounced “SIN-ah-gwah-n”
Notes
This poem was written for the Crown Tourney Praise Poetry Project in the fall of 2025. It was written for the combatant Sir Kith von Atzinger.
Being based on a Minnesang, there wasn’t a standard rhyme or syllable scheme to go off of, so instead I tried my best to match the example poem’s structure, that being: 6 lines per stanza, composed of rhyming couplets; 6 syllables for lines 1 and 2, 6-8 syllables for line 3, 3-4 syllables for lines 4 and 5, 8 syllables for line 6.
Research & Resources
Neidhart von Reuental was a famous Minnesanger of the 12th and 13th century, whose songs were primarily categorized as “Summer Songs” and “Winter Songs”, based on length and tone. Both opened with a description of the season’s change (winter to summer or summer to winter), which is where the categorization comes from.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
Summer songs were shorter and often discussed either an observation of nature or a tale of courtly love and/or a celebration of some sort. Winter songs were significantly longer and often told a satirical tale of village romance.
The translation used for inspiration was taken from J.W. Thomas’ Medieval German Lyric Verse in English Translation, chapter 8 (p. 134). The anthology is open access, and is available for download HERE.
English Text
THE WOODS WERE BARE AND GRAY
(Der walt stuont aller grise)
The woods were bare and gray,
in ice and snow they lay,
but warmer skies have clothed each bough.
See them now,
maidens fair,
and dance among the flowers there.
From many tiny throats
I heard the silver notes
of little birds in sweetest song.
Flowers throng
in grass and briar,
the meadow dons her spring attire.
I love the charms of May;
I saw my darling play
and dance beneath the linden's crown.
Its leaves bent down,
every one,
to shade her from the radiant sun.
Angist Arts 
