The 'arch-humanist' Konrad Celtis (1459-1508) is not only a key figure in the history of humanism north of the Alps but can legitimately claim to be one of the originators of modern-age German literature. His love elegies (>>Amores<<) were the first significant cycle of neo-Latin literature in Germany. The aim of the study is to cast light on Celtis' project for German literature in Latin by way of an extensive examination of its foundations in the history of ideas and literature. The monograph is the first of its kind to systematically cover all the major texts and pictorial documents from the early >>Ars versificandi<< to the >>Amores<< and to take a discourse-oriented approach to them.