We must again give our attention to Germany, where a musical development parallel to that of the Provençal and French chivalry had been going forward since the twelfth century. Art music as such had so far been confined in Germany to the church; the composers and scholars devoted to its practice were to be found largely in the monasteries. But about the beginning of the twelfth century an attempt was made by poet-singers of noble birth to found a school of secular song expressing their ideals of life and appealing to people of their rank. This conscious effort of aristocratic singers shared with the unconscious achievement of folk song a certain range of topics, notably historical and sacred, and a certain naïveté of attitude. In other respects it differed from it radically, both in content and in manner, for it was founded upon the ideal of chivalry and was full of the spirit of gallantry. But, while the southern poet-singers made profane love their one great theme, German chivalric poetry in a curious way blended the mediæval adoration of the Virgin Mary with the worship of women in general. From this devotion to _Fru Minne_ (Dame Love) it was called _Minnegesang_ and its singers _Minnesinger_. The beauties of Nature, ever present in German poetry, also formed an important subject in _Minnegesang_. Though simple enough in itself, this first art song of the Germans never equalled the ingenuousness of the _Volkslied_, for a burden of knowledge hampered the flight of the poets’ imaginations and chilled the ardor of their sentiments, and, in the attempt to escape from base realities, they frequently lost themselves in elusive abstractions. The allegorical element, almost absent in the _Volkslied_, was largely represented in _Minnegesang_, which is full of poetic allusions to the heavenly virtues that lead to salvation, and to the deadly sins that pave the road to perdition. _Minnegesang_ was more personal and direct than the _Volkslied_, which tends to socialize or generalize an individual experience until it applies and appeals to all. A product of the castles, _Minnegesang_ was frequently a matter of ambition, encouraged by the hope of finding favor with a princely patron or winning the love of a high-born lady. The _Volkslied_, a product of the people, made no such appeal and was its own reward. The tournaments of song were therefore limited to the _Minnesinger_ and represented a counterpart of those other contests which in the period of chivalry brought out physical prowess and skill.