Old High German literature

[1][2] The surviving texts were written exclusively by clerics, in the main monks in a small number of monastic scriptoria, and serve almost entirely the purposes of the church in a region that was still being fully Christianized.

Pre-Christian and non-clerical literary traditions are reflected in a small number of works, such as the Hildebrandslied and the charms, but otherwise there is little surviving evidence of the oral culture which must have been present outside clerical circles.

[5] As Murdoch explains, "Written down without prescriptive rules in more or less isolated monasteries, then, it is to be expected that Old High (and Old Low) German texts show a bewildering amount of linguistic variation.

Works include the short Ludwigslied, celebrating the victory of the Frankish army, led by Louis III of France, over Danish (Viking) raiders at the Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu on 3 August 881.

Works include the Evangelienbuch of Otfrid von Weissenburg, the Latin-German dictionary Abrogans, the magical Merseburg Charms and the Old High German translation of the theologian Tatian's Gospel harmony.