Man mocht es griffen mit der hand. The shattering of expectations as a characteristic of Hugo von Montfort's poetry

This article offers a completely innovative perception of the texts of Hugo von Montfort, according to which the author continuously and systematically disappoints certain expectations which the poems raise in the recipient who has internalized the poetics of courtly poetry of the classical Middle Ages. By virtue of this strategy Hugo develops a thoroughly unique and idiosyncratic aesthetic, in which protestations of the author's inability, which are contradicted by his obvious mastery of poetic norms and their deliberate violation respectively, have their specific function as do numerous other cover-up tactics and smoke and mirror games, which once recognized as such may even raise doubts as to the existence of a Burk Mangolt. Based on these reasons, the article makes the case not only for a re-evaluation of the aesthetic qualities of Hugo von Montfort's poetry, but, more generally, for a new poetics for the 14th century, the literary products of which are still being measured against the ideals of classic courtly literature and thus constantly evaluated in negative terms by comparison.