Geistreiche Indirektheit in höfischer Kommunikation: Hartmann von Aue und Engelbert von Admont

Abstract

Abstract To criticize someone in a way that does not publicly expose the addressee is still one of the elementary rules of politeness. This article traces the history of a particularly sophisticated form of polite criticism that refers to the facts worthy of criticism only indirectly, in a generalizing gesture, and often metaphorically. Primarily an element of learned conversation, this kind of communication occurs also in courtly contexts in the High and Late Middle Ages – e. g. in the courtly novel (Hartmann von Aue’s Iwein et al.) and in Engelbert of Admont’s instructions for cultivated behavior in the manner of a lord. Contrary to assumptions in current research literature, however, in neither case does this mode of communication reflect a new linguistic ideal to be learned by the readers for appropriate courtly behavior. Instead, it remains closely tied to the authors’ learned habitus.