Stefan Tomasek

• This article focuses on the effects that crusade motives woven into Middle High German courtly lovesongs have on gender binarism in these text. The analysis draws on two examples from the first period of Middle High German crusade poetry: Friedrich von Hausen, ‘Si darf mich des zîhen niet’ and Albrecht von Johansdorf, ‘Guote liute, holt die gâbe’. I examine whether the relation between lady and male speaker is altered by the crusader’s divine service and whether this affects the gender binarism in the songs. The article concludes with aThis article focuses on the effects that crusade motives woven into Middle High German courtly lovesongs have on gender binarism in these text. The analysis draws on two examples from the first period of Middle High German crusade poetry: Friedrich von Hausen, ‘Si darf mich des zîhen niet’ and Albrecht von Johansdorf, ‘Guote liute, holt die gâbe’. I examine whether the relation between lady and male speaker is altered by the crusader’s divine service and whether this affects the gender binarism in the songs. The article concludes with a discussion of the repercussions gender binarism has on the concepts of crusading in the two texts.…