During the remainder of this century and the next, the political and social conditions of Germany became more tranquil as the constitution of the empire became more fixed. In the cities especially life grew settled and sheltered; it crystallized indeed into very rigid forms, in their internal polities and in the guilds which governed that large part of life occupied by industrial interests; even the domain of private life was invaded by the sumptuary laws which regulated the dress and the table of each class, but were probably never very strictly obeyed. But the sense of being a member of an important and politically free community made up for the loss of much of that personal liberty of action which the Teutonic race had so highly valued; and the activity of mind produced by constant association with their fellow-men, rendered the citizens now the great patrons of art and letters. Town schools became usual, and before the end of the fifteenth century as many as eight great universities had been founded. And so, too, poetry now passed into their hands from those of the knightly order. It did not at first profit by the change. It was enrolled among the crafts of which the guilds had the control, schools for verse and song-making were set up, and the Minnesingers were succeeded by the Master-singers. For the most part it was but poor mechanical work that they turned out, generally moral and didactic, often directly religious in tone, but very prosaic in quality. Yet there must have been a great deal of reading and reciting of this poetry such as it was, for the Master-singers are counted by hundreds, and their verses by thousands. By far the best of them are the first and last (of any note) in their ranks, -- Heinrich Frauenlob and [26]Hans Sachs. The latter belongs to the period of the Reformation, and marks the transition to modern thought; the former (1250-1318) belongs to the close of the crusading age, and marks the transition of poetry from the knightly to the burgher order. In spirit and form he belongs to the Minne-singers, and is frequently counted among them; he is reckoned among the Master-singers because he was the first to found a sort of guild of poets. He was a very voluminous writer, greatly admired in his own day, and from his constant praise of women won for himself the title of Frauenlob (Praise-the-ladies), and the honour of being borne to his grave by them. A very large proportion of his poems are love-songs, but there are many more serious; many prayers and pious reflections, many lamentations over the degeneracy of the times, and praises of Brother Berthold, a famous Franciscan preacher, who travelled about the country, heard gladly by the common people, and was a sort of forerunner of [27]Tauler. From his religious poems we choose two, one evidently written when he was fighting with the fear of death; the other expressing the confidence that helped him through it. In style Frauenlob is graceful and fluent, but often too prolix and elaborate. The mode in which the following is rhymed is an instance of his love of an intricate arrangement of rhymes.