Hans Folz (c. 1437 – January 1513) was a German author of the late medievalearly Renaissance period.
Folz was born inWorms. He was made a citizen of the city ofNuremberg, Germany in 1459 and master barber of the city in 1486. Folz was a reformer of the meistersangs, adding 27 new tones to those that had been allowed by the twelve "Alten Meister" (old masters) up to that point. HisMeisterlieder (a type of song), of which he wrote about a thousand, were mostly devoted to religious questions. He also wrote twelveFastnachtsspiele (short plays that made light of people in medieval society, for instance farmers, priests, and thebourgeoisie) in the same style asHans Rosenplüt, but with more subtle language.
Folz has been labelled as anantisemite byAndrew Gow, who called him "a thorough-going Jew-hater" for his workEin Spil von dem Herzogen von Burgund (A Story of the Dukes of Burgund).[1] His brutal hostility towards Jews is particularly prominent in the carnival playsThe Old and the New Marriage andThe Dukes of Burgund, both of which culminate in the public humiliation and mistreatment of Jews, with vulgar references to theJew's sow.[1]
According toAlbert Wimmer'sAnthology of Medieval German Literature, "Folz's plays were trendsetters in the development of moderately dramatic plays (so-called «Handlungsspiele»)".[2].
His name was adapted byRichard Wagner for the coppersmith "Hans Foltz," one of the Mastersingers portrayed in the operaDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Folz is also the author of afechtbuch of c. 1480, preserved inWeimar as MS Q566.
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