Hans Folz

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Hans Folz (c. 1437–January 1513) was a notable medieval German author.

Made a citizen of the city of Nürnberg, Germany in 1459 and master barber of the city in 1486, Folz was a reformer of the meistersangs, adding 27 new tones to those that had been allowed by the twelve "Alten Meister" (old masters) up to that point. His Meisterlieder (a type of song), of which he wrote about a thousand, were mostly devoted to religious questions. He also wrote twelve Fastnachtsspiele (short plays that made light of people in medieval society, for instance farmers, priests, and the bourgeoisie) in the same style as Hans Rosenplüt, but with more subtle language.

Folz has been labelled as an anti-semite by Andrew Gow, who called him "a thorough-going Jew-hater" for his work Ein Spil von dem Herzogen von Burgund (A Story of the Dukes of Burgund).^[1]

According to Albert Wimmer's Anthology of Medieval German Literature, "Folz’s plays were trendsetters in the development of moderately dramatic plays (so-called «Handlungsspiele»)" ^[2].

[edit] Works

Bäderbüchlein (Bath Booklet, in 1480) Dises puchlein saget vns von allen paden, die von natur heiß sein. ^[3]. [4]
Hausratbüchlein (Furniture Booklet, in 1490)
Das Spiel von dem König Salomon und dem Bauern Markolf (The Story of King Salomon and the Farmer Markolf)
Von einem Kaiser und einem Abt (Of an Emperor and an Abbott)
Die Bauernheirat (The Farmer's Marriage)
Ein Spiel von dem Herzogen von Burgund (A Story of the Dukes of Burgund)