ENRICO of MELK. - The earliest German satirical poet (second half of the 12th century).
Disgusted with worldly life, he entered the monastery of Melk as a lay brother, where he composed Von des Todes Erinnerung (1160), a poem whose opening passage also bears the title Vom gemeinen Leben. The other, incomplete work, Pfaffenleben, is perhaps also his. Both reveal the strict moral temperament of the A., who, although less uncompromising than the moralist Hartmann von Aue, a fellow resident of the monastery, spares neither the aberrations nor the defects of religious and laymen, providing a most effective portrayal of the culture of the time. Through asceticism, he promoted respect for and appreciation of women in Germany.
BIBL.: Works: L'Erinnerung was published in facsimile by R. A. Barack, in Zeitschrift f. deutsches Altertum, 23 (1878), and, together with Priesterleben, by K. Kochendorffer, ibid., 35 (1890). Studies: O. Lorenz, H. V. M., der Juvenal der Ritterzeit, Halle 1886; G. Ebrismann, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters, II, 1, Monaco 1922, p. 186 ff.; H. II. ivi 1927, passim: H. Steinger, s. V. in Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters, Verfasserlexikon, II, cols. 299-304. Giovanni Guerra