Minnesang

Minnesang was a tradition of German lyric- and song-writing that flourished in the Middle High German period (12th to 14th centuries). The name derives from minne, the Middle High German word for love, as that was Minnesang's main subject. People who wrote and performed Minnesang were known as Minnesänger, and a single song was called a Minnelied. The Minnesänger are comparable to the Occitan troubadours and northern French trouvères, but they are "an original German contribution to courtly lyric."