Hartmann von Aue

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, …

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 …