Note 42 — From the Low German ‘Reinke de Vos,’ Book 2: Reinke under the Pope’s ban; Martin the Ape offers to assist him.
Reading edition
Erk and Böhme, I, 40. The Venus of the folk-song represents the German Frau Holde, a love-goddess who holds her court in a mountain and infatuates men to the peril of their souls. Just how and when the saga attached itself to the historical minnesinger Tannhäuser is not known. Urban IV, referred to in the last stanza, was pope from 1261 to 1265.