ogs had caught him, he would not allow them to be
pulled off, but insisted upon enduring their attacks for the glory of
his lady-love. When nearly dead, he was rescued and taken to her castle,
where he recovered health if not mental balance.

More noble than any of these was the tribute paid to women by the
Minnesinger Henry of Meissen. Declining to single out any one fair Muse,
he sang of womankind as a whole, and never ceased to praise their
purity, their gentleness, and their nobility. Through his life he was
honoured by them with the title of "Frauenlob" (praise of women), and at
his death they marched in the funeral procession, and each threw a
flower into his grave, making it overflow with blossoms.

The royal house of Suabia did its best to encourage the art of the
Minnesingers, allowing them a liberty of criticism that would ordinarily
be undreamed of in court life. It is in an epoch little later than this
that we find a singer expressing one of his objections to royalty in the
following verse:

"King Rudolf is a worthy king,
All praise to him be brought;
He likes to hear the masters play and sing,
But after that he gives them naught."

The rise of the Troubadours is due wholly to Oriental influences. There
may have been some native poetry among the pastoral races of the sunny
land of Provence, where the guild flourished, but not a single line of
it remains to us. Moreover, it is certain that the Eastern minstrels
left their impress in Spain, and that the Crusaders brought back from
the Orient, among many other novelties, the custom of encouraging
minstrelsy. The Arabian bards sang chiefly of love, as they well might
in a land where female loveliness received such excessive worship. At
the Saracenic courts, the bards were ever ready to win gratitude, and
even more substantial rewards, by praising the latest favourite at the
expense of former beauties. Provence, with its dazzling sun and glowing
climate, possessed a striking resemblance to the Eastern countries, and
among its inhabitants were many who could boast an Oriental ancestry. No
less than five times did Saracen emirs lead their hosts into the
country, endeavouring to overcome it not only by force of arms, but by
the more peaceful and more certain method of introducing their own
industries and customs. Provence itself was a land of peace and repose,
and could better encourage gentler arts than the warlike nations of
Northern Spain. We