Freidank wrote about a wide variety of topics, offering thoughts or advice. They have been recently translated by Albrecht Classen, who describes the writer this way: “here we encounter a medieval poet who, certainly a devout Christian, perceptively grasped all the shortcomings in life and dealt with them in a philosophical manner. Little wonder that posterity admired him greatly because his verses contain much obvious and subtle wisdom.”

Here are 13 pieces of wisdom from Bescheidenheit: