[6.] At the beginning of the poem Helmbrecht’s elaborately embroidered hood is described at length.
[7.] This is not to be understood as a mockery of religion. A dying person might be shrived by a layman if no priest was at hand, a bit of earth or grass being substituted for the holy host.
[ XXX. THOMASIN OF ZIRCLAERE]
A North-Italian cleric—Zirclaere was a village in the old duchy of Friuli—who wrote a rimed treatise on manners, morals, education, etc. He wrote first in Wälsch, i.e. Italian, or more probably French, and then in German. His German title, Der wälsche Gast, was a bid for the hospitable reception of the foreigner’s book in Germany. And it was well received, there being evidence that it was widely read for two centuries. The poem consists of 14,752 verses in ten books and was written in 1215. There is no poetry in it, but it is interesting as a specimen of medieval didacticism.
From the ‘French Guest,’ Book 3: Life’s compensations; riches and poverty.
Der Bauer möchte werden Knecht,
Dünkt ihm einmal das Leben schlecht;
Der Knecht, der wäre gern ein Bauer,
Dünkt ihm einmal das Leben sauer.
Der Pfaffe möchte Ritter wesen,