HARTMANN VON AUE (c. 1170-c. 1210)

This article appears in Volume V13, Page 37 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HAN-HEG

HARTMANN VON AUE (c. 1170-c. 1210) , one of the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

Middle High German poets. He belonged to the lower

nobility

NOBILITY

of Swabia, where he was born about 1170. After receiving a monastic education, he became retainer (dienstman) of a noble-man whose domain, Aue, has been identified with Obernau on the Neckar. He also took part in the Crusade of 1196-97. The date of his death is as uncertain as that of his

birth

BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

; he is mentioned by Gottfried von Strassburg (c. 1210) as still alive, and in the Krone of Heinrich von dem Turlin, written about 1220, he is mourned for as dead. Hartmann was the author of four narrative poems which are of importance for the evolution of the Middle High German court epic. The oldest of these, Erec, which may have been written as early as 1191 or 1192, and the latest and ripest, Iwein, belong to the Arthurian cycle and are based on epics by Chretien de Troyes (q.v.); between them lie the romance, Gregorius, also an adaptation of a French epic, and Der arme Heinrich, one of the most charming specimens of medieval German poetry. The theme of the latterthe cure of the leper, Heinrich, by a

young

girl who is willing to sacrifice her life for himHartmann had evidently found in the annals of the family in whose service he stood. Hartmann's most conspicuous merit as a poet lies in his style; his language is care-fully chosen, his narrative lucid, flowing and characterized by a sense of balance and proportion which is rarely to be found in German medieval poetry. Gregorius, Der arme Heinrich and his lyrics, which are all fervidly religious in tone, imply a tendency towards asceticism, but, on the whole, Hartmann's striving seems rather to have been to reconcile the extremes of life; to establish a middle way of human conduct between the worldly pursuits of

knighthood

KNIGHTHOOD

and the ascetic ideals of medieval religion.
Erec has been edited'by M. Haupt (2nd ed.,

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 1871); Gregorius, by H. Paul (2nd ed.,

Halle

, Igloo) ; Der arme Heinrich, by W. Wackernagel and W. Toischer (Basel, 1885) and by H. Paul (2nd ed.,

Halle

, 1893) ; by J. G. Robertson (London, 1895), with English notes; Iwein, by G. F. Benecke and K. Lachmann (4th ed., Berlin, 1877) and E. Henrici (Halle, 1891-1893). A convenient edition of all Hartmann's poems by F. Bech, 3 vols. (3rd ed.,

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 1891-1893, vol. 3 in 4th ed., 1902).
The literature on Hartmann is extensive. See especially L. Schmid, Des Hinnesingers Hartmann von Aue Stand, Heimat and Geschlecht (Tubingen, 1874) ; H. Rotteken, Die epische Kunst Heinrichs von Veldeke and Hartmanns von Aue (Halle, 1887); F. Saran, Hartmann von Aue als Lyriker (Halle, 1889) ; A, E. Schdnbach, Uber Hartmann von Aue (

Graz

GRAZ [GRATZ]

, 1894); F. Piquet, Etude sur Hartmann d'Ave (Paris, 1898). Translations have been made into modern German of all Hartmann's poems, while Der arme Heinrich has repeatedly attracted the attention of modern poets, both English (Longfellow. Rossetti) and German (notably, Gerhart Hauptmann). See H. Tardel, Der arme Heinrich in der neueren Dichtung (Berlin, 1905).

End of Article: HARTMANN VON AUE (c. 1170-c. 1210)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/HAN_HEG/HARTMANN_VON_AUE_c_1170_c_1210.html">
HARTMANN VON AUE (c. 1170-c. 1210)
</a>

(Previous)
HARTLIB, SAMUEL (c. 1599c. 1670)

(Next)
HARTMANN, KARL ROBERT EDUARD VON (18421906)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email