Abstract

In addition to the thematic recourse to Old Testament and mythological bathing scenes, the metaphorical potential of bathing is used in the vernacular poetry of the Middle Ages. Due to its connotations such as ritual ablution and baptism, but also thanks to its possible associations with purgatory and hell, it is used several times in the word field around repentance and contrition. In the configuration “singing in the bath”, it can also draw on the Old Testament prefiguration around David, Bathsheba and the penitential Psalms, especially Psalm 51. In Neidhart’s Winter Song 30, the artful play with the multi-layered and ambiguous references of the elements is sought. Self-referential moments are a subtle part of it. In Konrad’s von Würzburg religious leich, these aspects come to the fore: the configuration is emphasized semantically, acoustically, and allegorically and developed into a self-reflexive programme.