{{short description|Alemannic German satirical didactic poem}} [[File:Codex Donaueschingen 113 Des Teufels Netz.jpg|thumb|Title illustration of the Donaueschingen codex (Codex Donaueschingen 113, dated 1441, now at [[Baden State Library]]).]] '''''Des Tüfels Segi''''' (''des tuiffels segin'' "The Devil's Net", conventional Standard German title ''Des Teufels Netz''<ref> ''sege(ne), segi'' being a [[Middle High German]] term for "net", in origin a loan of Latin ''sagena''. Barack (1863:440, citing [[Johann Adam Pupikofer|Pupikofer]] ''Thurgau'', 1830) notes that during his time, ''segin'' was still a living word used by the fishermen of [[Lake Constance]] for the largest sort of net they used.</ref>) is an [[Alemannic German]] satirical [[didactic poem]] of the early 15th century, most likely written during the years 1414–1420. The contents involve a long treatise on the [[Estates of the realm|estates (''Stände'')]] of traditional feudalism; the "devil's net" is an allegory for the various forms of [[vice]] affecting the various classes. The poem takes the form of a [[dialogue]] between a hermit and the devil. The theme of enumerating the various classes of society as all subject to sin and damnation is related to the ''[[Danse Macabre]]'' theme (enumerating them, somewhat less pessimistic, as all subject to death) which first developed at about the time of the poem's composition.
The text survives in divergent forms in four manuscripts; the longest version is in a [[Donaueschingen]] ms., extending to 13,657 verses, nearly twice as long as the shortest version<ref>[[Neustadt an der Aisch]], mentioned 1782 by Schnizer, ''Der Kirchen-Bibliothek zu Neustadt an der Aysch Erste Anzeige, von den darinnen befindlichen Handschriften etc.''</ref> at a still appreciable 7,050 verses. A third ms. is both of intermediate length and age, Augsburg (formerly [[Maihingen]]) (1449, 9,979 verses).
==See also== *''[[The Ring (poem)]]''
==References== {{reflist}}
==Literature==
*Karl August Barack, ''Des Teufels Netz: satirisch-didaktisches Gedicht aus der ersten Hälfte des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts'' (1863). [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BLV_070_Des_Teufels_Netz.pdf Scan at WikiCommons] *Heinrich Werner, ''Des Teufels Netz. Überlieferung und Handschriftenverhältnis'', Diss. Halle (Saale) 1911. *Gudrun Friebertshäuser, ''Untersuchungen zu »Des Teufels Segi«'', Diss. Freiburg i. Br. 1966. *Anke Ehlers, ''Des Teufels Netz. Untersuchung zum Gattungsproblem (Studien zur Poetik und Geschichte der Literatur 35)'', 1973. *Karin Lerchner, ''Des Teufels Netz'', 2VL 9 (1995), 723-727. *Meinolf Schumacher, ''Catalogues of Demons as Catalogues of Vices in Medieval German Literature: „Des Teufels Netz“ and the Alexander Romance by Ulrich von Etzenbach.'' In: Richard Newhauser (ed.): ''In the Garden of Evil: The Vices and Culture in the Middle Ages'', Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 2005, 277–290, ISBN 0-88844-818-X ([https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/1860163 PDF]) *Franz-Josef Schweitzer, ''Das Lehrgedicht »Des Teufels Netz« und die Konzilien von Konstanz und Basel'', in: Flüeler, Rohde (eds.), ''Laster im Mittelalter'', Volume 23 of Scrinium Friburgense / Scrinium Friburgense, ISSN 1422-4445, Walter de Gruyter, 2009, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Arly1t2ILksC&pg=PA125 125]–135. *Albrecht Classen: Death, Sinfulness, the Devil, and the Clerical Author. The Late Medieval German Didactic Debate Poem Des Teufels Netz and the World of Craftmanship, in: Death in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times. The Material and Spiritual Conditions of the Culture of Death, hg. von Albrecht Classen (Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Moderln Culture 16), Berlin/Boston 2016, S. 277–296.
==External links== *[http://www.handschriftencensus.de/werke/1062 Descriptions of all known manuscripts at www.handschriftencensus.de ] *[http://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/urn/urn:nbn:de:bsz:31-28668 Des Teufels Netz - Donaueschingen 113] (blb-karlsruhe.de)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tufels Segi, Des}} [[Category:Medieval German poems]] [[Category:1410s works]] [[Category:15th-century poems]] [[Category:Narrative poems]]