Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift
Heidelberg University Library, Cod.Pal.germ. 357
Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift, fol. 26r
Also known as	Minnesang MS A
Date	1270-1280; additions to c. 1375
Place of origin	Alsace
Language(s)	Middle High German (Alemannic dialect)
Scribe(s)	six hands
Author(s)	Various
Patron	possibly Conrad of Lichtenberg, Bishop of Strassburg
Material	Parchment
Size	45 folios
Format	185 x 135 mm, single column
Script	Gothic minuscule
Contents	Minnesang texts of various authors
Illumination(s)	Lombardic capitals

The Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschift ("Small Heidelberg Song-manuscript") is a collection of Middle High German Minnesang texts. In Minnesang scholarship it is referred to as MS. A. It is held by the Heidelberg University Library with the signature Cod.Pal.germ. 357 (Cpg 357).^[1]

Along with the Weingarten Manuscript (MS. B) and the Codex Manesse (MS. C), it is one of the major sources of Minnesang texts from the beginnings (around 1150) to the end of the "golden age" (around 1230).

Dating from 1270–1280, it is the oldest of the three Upper German Minnesang manuscripts. It was created in Alsace, possibly in Strassburg. There is no certainty about the patron, though Conrad of Lichtenberg, Bishop of Strassburg has been suggested.^[2]

It contains 45 parchment pages in small format (18.5 x 13.5cm),^[1] hence its name, which distinguishes it from the larger format Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift ("Great Heidelberg Song-manuscript"), as the Codex Manesse is often called, which is held in the same library.

The main part of the manuscript is written by a single scribe and the language is Low Alemannic. The appendix, the work of five different scribes, shows some Central German influence.^[2] The manuscript is written in Gothic minuscule. The songs are written in a single column, the beginnings indicated by paragraph marks. The individual strophes are indicated by blue and red Lombardic capitals, some of which are elaborate. Unlike the Codex Manesse it has no miniatures showing the poets.

The songs themselves date from the central period in the development of Minnesang. The earliest are probably those of Heinrich von Rugge (around 1180) while the latest, dating to around 1240, are the songs of Neidhart von Reuental and Bruder Wernher.

The main part of the manuscript is divided into 34 sections or author names; the material in the appendix is anonymous. Four or five of these authors are represented in each of two collections under a slightly modified name, thus about 30 authors are distinguished. The number of songs for each poet ranges from two (Reinmar der Junge) to 151 strophes (Walther von der Vogelweide). The appendix consists of 56 verses without names and initials. They can be attributed to known poets on the basis of other manuscripts.

Named sections^[3]

Anonymous texts

1. 40r Rubin
2. 40v Walther von der Vogelweide
3. 40v Rubin
4. 41r Walther von der Vogelweide
5. 42r Reinmar von Zweter
6. 42v Ulrich von Liechtenstein / von Wissenloh / Anonymous a
7. 43r Reinmar der Alte / Anonymous a
8. 43v Friedrich von Sonnenburg
9. 44r Pseudo-Friedrich von Sonnenburg
10. 45r Rubin

• Handschriftencensus. "Heidelberg, Universitätsbibl., Cpg 357". Handschriftencensus. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
• Heidelberg University Library (2017). "Cod. Pal. germ. 357. Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift A und Anhang a". Heidelberger historische Bestände – digital. Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg. doi:10.11588/DIGLIT.164. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
• Miller, Matthias; Zimmermann, Karin (2007). "Die Codices Palatini germanici in der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg (Cod. Pal. germ. 304–495)". Kataloge der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg. Vol. 8. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. doi:10.11588/heidok.00008470.

• Digital facsimile