SOURCE: An introduction to Der arme Heinrich by Hartman von Ouwe, fourth edition, edited by J. Knight Bostock, translated by Erich Gierach, Basil Blackwell, 1961, pp. xvii-xl.

In the following excerpt, Bostock examines Der arme Heinrich in light of the Medieval (platonic) belief that each person is naturally suited to a particular order of existence.

All serious literature which is the product of a sophisticated culture, such as that of the thirteenth century, is the expression of the moral philosophy of its time, and it is often impossible to grasp an author's intention without some knowledge of contemporary thought. Many of the ideas and even much of the language of the courtly poetry cannot be understood without a knowledge of contemporary religious literature such as the sermons of Berthold von Regensburg, of didactic works such as Der welsche Gast by Thomasin von Zerclæaere, and of legal codes such...