The legs must be straight and narrow, the calves full, the
feet small and narrow, with high instep. The color of the skin
generally must be clear and of a tempered rosiness. (A. Schultz,
_Quid de Perfecta Corporis Humani Pulchritudine Germani Soeculi
XII et XIII Senserint_, 1866.) A somewhat similar, but shorter,
account is given by K. Weinhold (_Die Deutschen Frauen im
Mittelalter_, 1882, bd. 1, pp. 219 et seq.). Weinhold considers
that, like the French, the Germans admired the mixed eye, _vair_
or gray.
Adam de la Halle, the Artois _trouvere_ of the thirteenth
century, in a piece ("Li Jus Adan ou de la feuillie") in which he
brings himself forward, thus describes his mistress: "Her hair
had the brilliance of gold, and was twisted into rebellious
curls. Her forehead was very regular, white, and smooth; her
eyebrows, delicate and even, were two brown arches, which seemed
traced with a brush. Her eyes, bright and well cut, seemed to me
_vairs_ and full of caresses; they were large beneath, and their
lids like little sickles, adorned by twin folds, veiled or
revealed at her will her loving gaze.
Pages:
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300