Codex Manesse — Count Rudolf von Neuenburg Among the Roses (fol. 20r)

A page from the Codex Manesse, the great illuminated songbook of medieval German courtly poetry, made in Zurich between about 1300 and 1340 and now held at Heidelberg University Library.

The red rubric names the poet: Count Rudolf von Neuenburg — Rudolf of Neuchâtel, who died in 1196 and stands among the earliest Minnesänger gathered in the manuscript. He sits on a cushioned bench, a chaplet of red flowers in his hair, holding a rose between his fingers while a trellis of rose vines spreads across the whole field behind him. The rose is the emblem of Minne, courtly love, and the poet's absorbed, downcast gaze belongs to the same convention.

In his other hand he holds a banner left blank, drawn in nothing but a red outline. Above, the shield bears the red and white chevrons on gold of the house of Neuchâtel. Faint lines of the manuscript's own text show through the paint, and a row of small black merlons closes the picture at the foot.

• Manuscript: Codex Manesse (Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift), Cod. Pal. germ. 848
• Origin: Zurich, c. 1300–1340
• Original: illumination on parchment, tempera and gold leaf
• Museum-quality reproduction on fine art paper

Part of our medieval collection — see also our digital art book Knight, Death and the Devil.