Perhaps it is because I am watching Pride and Prejudice at the same time as I am writing this post, but I feel very much in the mood for love now - and what is more romantic-looking than this 'Heart Book' from Denmark?
The Heart Book is considered as the oldest ballad manuscript ever written in Denmark. It dates back to the beginning of the 1550s and is a collection of eighty-three love ballads. The book was compiled in the circle of King Christian III's Court but nobody knows who did it nor instigated its writing. The only thing known is that all the ballads - except no.66- were written by the same person.
The picture above shows the ballad no. 43, Store længsel, du går mig nær (Great Yearning, thou touches me). A mysterious Christen Masse, a later reader of the Heart Book, added notes on several pages, amongst which this prayer: "May god end and turn my misery into a good and happy ending amen". Nobody knows what he was referring to, but I like to think that this was the complaint of a tormented lover... What do you reckon?
