Gottfried von Strassburg

Gottfried von Strassburg was a Middle High German poet whose unfinished verse romance Tristan, composed around the early thirteenth century, became a major retelling of the Tristan and Isolde story.

Middle High German: A group of High German dialects used in central Europe from about 1050 to 1350. Gottfried composed Tristan in the literary language of his era.
Tristan: Gottfried von Strassburg’s unfinished Middle High German verse romance about Tristan and Isolde. The surviving poem is the work through which Gottfried’s style is known.
Thomas of Britain: A twelfth-century Anglo-Norman poet whose Tristan romance survives only in fragments. Gottfried names Thomas as a source for his version of the legend.
Ulrich von Türheim: A thirteenth-century German poet who continued Gottfried’s unfinished Tristan romance. His continuation demonstrates the poem’s unfinished ending invited later completion.
Wolfram von Eschenbach: A medieval German poet, best known for the Arthurian romance Parzival. Gottfried criticizes Wolfram’s poetic style in Tristan’s literary debate.
Courtly romance: A medieval narrative genre centered on aristocratic love, adventure, and courtly conduct. Tristan belongs to this genre while questioning its ideals.
Narrator: The voice that presents and shapes a narrative for its audience. Gottfried’s narrator comments on storytelling and guides judgments of the lovers.
Béroul: A twelfth-century French poet whose surviving Tristan fragments tell a distinct version of the legend. His account shows how differently the Tristan story could be narrated.
Heinrich von Freiberg: A medieval German poet who wrote another continuation of Gottfried’s Tristan. His continuation offers a separate response to Gottfried’s narrative ending.
Hartmann von Aue: A medieval German poet whose romances include Erec and Iwein. Gottfried’s literary references place him alongside major German romance poets.

Linked from 2 pages