| Influences | Poets | Manuscripts | Form | Development | Sociology | Performance | Links |
Under one aspect, Minnesang was basically a game or pastime for the idle nobility. It was a courtly activity, in which the composer/performer declared real or feigned love for a woman presumed to be in the audience. Some of the known Minnsinger were indeed members of the high nobility, including the emperor himself.
Other Minnesinger belonged to the lesser nobility, the class of "ministeriales," or landless knights.
But there were also professional performers, such as Walther von der Vogelweide, who makes it clear in several of his songs that he was not a noble.
On the other hand, Walther also insists that he ranked above the common "Spielleute," travelling groups that included all kinds of performers. He states proudly that he never received old clothes in payment for his art, as the Spielleute did, and in fact the one documentary reference to Walther is an entry in the travel diary of the bishop of Passau which states that the "singer Walther" had been given money to buy a coat.
This page will be expanded by the participants in the course.
| Influences | Poets | Manuscripts | Form | Development | Sociology | Performance |
| Dr. James McMahon | Culpeper's CTC Program | Kevin Smith | ||||