, were later
remodelled and have come down to us as the Heldenbuch and the
Nibelungen-lied. The intellectual light in Germany went out with the
death of Charlemagne, except in the cloisters.

The Normans on the West and the Hungarians in the East menaced the
country, and the only important literary work of the time is a poem
written by a monk at the close of the ninth century. It is called
"Ludwig's Lied;" and celebrates the triumph of Louis over the Normans.
Roswitha, a nun in the tenth century, wrote some Christian dramas in
Latin that are remarkable as coming from the pen of a woman in the
Middle Ages.

The invasions of the Hungarians and Slavs in the eleventh century
effectually prevented the blossoming of any literary effort, except for
some poems known as the Lombard Cycle, in which the rude pagan legends
of antiquity were blended with the dawnings of Christianity. But in
1138, when Conrad III became Emperor of Germany, his accession was
followed by the Crusades, which spread a flame of enthusiasm and
chivalry among the Germans.

In 1149 Conrad and Louis VII of France joined forces to lead a Crusade
to the Holy Land, and thus the German and French nobility became
intimately acquainted, and Provencal poetry soon began to have an
effect on German literature.

Emperors and nobles held court and received their foreign guests with
splendid display and hospitality. Poets and singers were welcomed, and
the chivalric literature was soon taken up by the Suabian minstrels who
became known as the Minnesingers.

From 1150 to 1300 was the golden age of Suabian literature and German
chivalry. During this period numerous romances of chivalry were
translated into German.

They have been divided into different classes, or cycles.

The first, and most ancient, have to do with Arthur and the Knights of
the Round Table. Their origin is Anglo-Norman, and they were probably
taken from old Welsh chronicles in an early age, and were known in
Britain and Brittany before the poets began to put them in rhyme.

The most popular of these romances was the San Graal, or Holy Grail, a
subject that has engaged some of the best poets of all countries. In
this legend the Cup, which was supposed to have been used at the Last
Supper, in some way is brought to Golgotha during the Crucifixion, and
is used to preserve some of the blood that flows from Christ's side,
when it is opened by the soldier's spear. Joseph of Arimathea is
thought to h