¹The prologue clearly addresses a courtly audience, pointing out the theme (Minne) and purpose (Beispiel) of the work.
²A foreboding comment, similar to the ones employed in the Nibelungenlied, anticipates the unhappy ending. Cf. ll. 78f. and ll. 88f.
³Notice how the poet in the story does not plan to go to the Holy Land to serve  the Lord, but only to be close to his lady.
⁴“Die Gewalt der unerbittlichen Liebe”:  the power of inexorable love
⁵Untadelige:  this would suggest that she has not done anything wrong thus far.
⁶The fact that she refers to herself as ‘virtuous’ sounds somewhat specious under the circumstances.
⁷“zärtlich” suggests more than the original “friundes kus.”
⁸Already in the Song of Songs (2:12) the turtle dove is a symbol of love, and its woeful cooing is often compared to sighs of love.  Notice also that the wife in Der Ackermann aus Böhmen is referred to as “mein auserwelte turteltauben” (chapt. III).
⁹For an interesting parallel, cf. Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale V: 3: “I, an old turtle, will wing me to some wither’d bough, and there my mate, that’s never to be found again, lament till I am lost.”
¹⁰Cf. the description of Tristan as “der edele senedære” (l. 121), that is, one who is overcome with yearning and the pain of love.
¹¹This is not as barbarian as one might think.  In fact, it was not at all uncommon for royalty to have one’s heart cut out and placed in an urn at a pilgrimage church.
¹²wie zufällig:  casually
¹³etwas Gleichgültiges:  some trifle
¹⁴die Beglückende:  she who used to make others happy
¹⁵ferner:  from now on
¹⁶schmerzlich ineinanderkrampfte:  she squeezed her hands so hard that it hurt
¹⁷These lines are reminiscent of the «laudatio temporis acti» in Walther von der Vogelweide's ‘Elegy.’
¹⁸Konrad bemoans the fact that men and women have lost their capacity for total commitment.
¹⁹damals:  in the days of courtly love. Konrad is perhaps alluding to Tristan and Isolde as examples of this relentless commitment of love.
²⁰It is interesting to note how Konrad appears to place himself on a level with Gottfried von Straßburg by mentioning the latter in ll. 8f. at the beginning of the Herzmære and himself in the eighth line from the end.
²¹The choice of words is significant here particularly in light of what was mentioned in the previous footnote.