Search results for ""Author Hartmann von Aue""

New edition, with facing English translation, of one of the most important Arthurian works from the middle ages. Erec is the earliest extant German Arthurian romance, freely adapted and translated into Middle High German by the Swabian knight, Hartmann von Aue, from the first Old French Arthurian romance, Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide. Hartmann's work dates from c. 1180, but the only (almost) complete manuscript dates from the early sixteenth century, copied into the huge two-volume Ambraser Heldenbuch, now housed in Vienna - the most comprehensive extant compilation of medieval German romances and epics, commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I. Otherwise, only a few earlier medieval fragments survive. Erec tells the story of a young knight at King Arthur's court, whose early prowess wins him high repute, and a beautiful wife, Enite. He falls into disrepute because of his excessively zealous devotion of his time to her. Alerted to his notoriety, he embarks on a series of symbolic adventures, which eventually lead to his achieving a new balance between the claims of love and those of society. Far more than a simple translation, Hartmann's first attempt at an Arthurian romance is notable for its zest and gusto. This is the first edition with a parallel text translation into English; it is presented with explanatory notes and variant readings. Cyril Edwards is a Senior Research Fellow of Oxford University's Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, and an Honorary Research Fellow of University College London.

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As the earliest Arthurian verse-novel in the German language, Hartmann von Aue's Erec was highly influential, not only on the many Arthurian works that followed, but also on courtly narrative verse in general. However, his tale is of more than antiquarian interest. Its subjects—the individual in conflict with society and the destructive force of possessive love—are modern, and its language, when transferred into prose, is more direct and lucid than most contemporary writing. Indeed, it was the conviction that the story deserved a much larger audience than that of medieval scholars which inspired this translation, the first into English.

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First English translation of Iwein[B], a German adaptation of Chrétien's famous Yvain. Iwein, or The Knight with the Lion, is a free Middle High German adaptation of Chrétien de Troyes' Old French Arthurian romance, Yvain. Written c.1200 by a Swabian knight, Hartmann von Aue, Iwein chartsthe development towards maturity of a young knight who falls into error, neglecting his hard-won wife by devoting himself excessively to chivalric pursuits. This parallel-text edition, offering the first English translation,is based on one of the two earliest complete manuscripts, Giessen, University Library, no. 97 (Iwein B), dating from the second quarter of the thirteenth century. It contains a large number of lines, particularly in the later stages of the poem, which are not present in the other early manuscript, A (Heidelberg, cpg 397). These show a special interest in the woman's side of the story, expanding a passage concerned with embroidery and weaving, and adding a marriage for the maidservant Lunet, whose cunning brings about the reconciliation between Iwein and her mistress, Laudine. The authorship of these passages is uncertain, but they may be Hartmann's own revision of his text.The volume is completed with an introduction, notes and bibliography. The late CYRIL EDWARDS was Senior Research Fellow of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford.

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Few stories were as widely known during the Middle Ages as the account of Iwein and Laudine, which appeared in French, Welsh, English, Norse, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, and two German variants. The older German version, that by the Swabian nobleman Hartmann von Aue, won instant popularity and became a model of form, style, and language for the many courtly epics which his countrymen composed up to the beginning of the modern period. In recent years, his Iwein has enjoyed a remarkable revival among medieval scholars as traditional interpretations have been challenged by new ones.

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