Hartmann von Aue

Hartmann von Aue (c. 1160/65 – c. 1210) was a German medieval author of epic poetry, one of the three most important poets of German courtly literature of the Middle Ages. He is especially credited with introducing Arthurian romances to the German-speaking world and is best known for his Arthurian epics Iwein and Erec, and the saint's legends Gregorius and Der arme Heinrich.

Life

Practically nothing is known about the poet himself, despite the fact that he identifies himself explicitly in practically all his works. Unfortunately, the personal information he includes is often imprecise and includes no unambiguous references to places or overlords with whom he may have been associated. His most famous self-description is found in Der arme Heinrich:

Ein ritter sô gelêret was

Daz er an den buochen las
Swaz er dar an geschriben fand
Der was Hartman genant

Dienstman was er zOuwe

(There was a knight so learned / That he would read in books / Whatever he could find written down; / This one was called Hartmann, / A ministerialis he was in Ouwe.)

The reference to Ouwe (in modern German Aue) could refer to many different places in modern Swabia or Switzerland. This is at least consistent with the clearly Alemannic dialect found in the transmitted manuscripts of his works. Attempts to localize Hartmann through the associations of his works with coats of arms found in some illuminated manuscripts of his Minnesang have not yielded any conclusions. Based on references to Hartmann by contemporaries, scholars conclude that Hartmann was active as an author around 1180 or shortly thereafter. Wolfram von Eschenbach refers to characters from Hartmann's Iwein in his Parzival; since Wolfram composed Parzival around 1205, Hartmann must have finished Iwein, believed to be his last work, before that time. Gottfried von Straßburg speaks of Hartmann as still alive in his Tristan (c. 1210) but Heinrich von dem Türlin eulogizes him in Diu Crône (after 1220).

Works

The first author of the rich courtly period (höfische Literatur) in German medieval literature, Hartmann's great accomplishment is the introduction of Arthurian romance to the German-speaking world, through his Erec and Iwein, both translations (or adaptations) of the French author Chrétien de Troyes.

Erec

Hartmann's Erec is the first Arthurian romance in German, possibly written around 1190. It is a fairly loose adaptation of the romance of the same name by the medieval French author Chrétien de Troyes. Although the two works are essentially the same story, Hartmann has changed and added considerable amounts. The German version is over 3,000 lines longer and differs in some important respects from Chrétien's original, leading some scholars to think that Hartmann may have used other sources. Such a hypothesis is not necessary, however, as the differences could be explained quite easily by Hartmann's desire to make the French story with its foreign culture understandable to a German audience. In general, Hartmann has expanded the descriptions of the courtly pomp and circumstance and added more moralizing intrusions by the narrator.

The romance relates the story of Erec, a young knight, who attains great fame, power, and a good wife early in life but then squanders his reputation and his subjects' loyalty on account of his immature behavior as a king. Erec has to regain his honor in a long series of tests and adventures in which he learns what it means to be a true knight and good king.

The work survives in only one (almost) complete manuscript, the Ambraser Heldenbuch from the early 16^th century. There are also a few fragments from the 13^th and 14^th century.

Iwein

This work is, like Erec, an adaptation of a work by Chrétien de Troyes (his Yvain or Chevalier au Lion). In his Iwein Hartmann remains quite close to his original.

Iwein tells the story of a knight at King Arthur's court who is so zealous for knightly adventure that he neglects his wife and comes to shame. It is a story with many references to magical objects and events. Iwein's adventures begin when he pours water from a magical fountain onto a stone, an act which conjures up a big storm. After the storm subsides, the lord and protector of the magical fountain arrives and fights the intruder Iwein in a duel. Iwein deals him a fatal blow and pursues the defeated and fleeing knight to his castle where Iwein is trapped. He escapes a terrible fate through the use of a magical ring of invisibility given to him by a lovely maiden, Lunete. On observing the grieving widow of the now dead knight, Laudine, Iwein falls in love with her. Lunete arranges a shrewd plan so that Iwein and Laudine end up marrying each other. When King Arthur and Gawain arrive, the latter warns Iwein not to be too lazy at home (like Erec) and persuades him to come along with him and be active. Laudine gives her new husband a one-year leave. Iwein, however, is so busy that he misses the deadline. Shamed, Iwein withdraws from society and lives as a mad hermit until a passing countess with a magical ointment heals him of his madness. The knight then undergoes a number of adventures, including most famously a fight with a dragon that results in a life-long friendship with a lion which he had rescued from the dragon's attack. Henceforth, Iwein is called Knight with the Lion. Eventually Iwein restores his honor and, again by an ingenious device proposed by Lunete, is reconciled to his wife Laudine.

There are 15 complete manuscripts of Iwein and 17 fragments. The romance presents one important philological problem, because there are some not inconsiderable differences between the two oldest manuscripts (Ms. A Gießen and Ms. B. Heidelberg, both 13^th century), making it impossible to produce a traditional stemma of the surviving manuscripts.

Reception and influence

Hartmann von Aue was admired by most of his contemporaries. Gottfried von Straßburg lauds him in the famous "praise of poets" passage in Tristan. Rudolf von Ems and Heinrich von dem Türlin also praise him. Only Wolfram von Eschenbach is highly critical of Hartmann. In several passages in his Parzival Wolfram takes issue with several plot decisions in his colleague's work.

Hartmann's works have remained influential until recently. In the twentieth century, Thomas Mann took Hartmann's Gregorius legend as inspiration for his own novel Der Erwählte (The Holy Sinner), while Gerhart Hauptmann adapted Der arme Heinrich into a drama.