ABSTRACT
German literature of the High Middle Ages, the remarkable flowering described as classical MHG literature, the mittelhochdeutsche Blütezeit, is inextricable from the name of Hohenstaufen, the reigning house that gained dominance in Europe during the latter half of the twelfth century. It had first achieved significance in 1079, when Agnes, daughter of the Emperor Henry IV, had married Frederick of Staufen who was then created Duke of Swabia. It was his father, Frederick of Büren, who in about 1077 had built the castle now known as Hohenstaufen, not far from Stuttgart, one of the first of the many castles throughout Swabia which became the strongholds of the dynasty and important administrative centers.
