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GOTTFRIED VON STRASSBURG

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 278 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOTTFRIED VON See also:

STRASSBURG , one of the See also:chief See also:German poets of the See also:middle ages. The See also:dates of his See also:birth and See also:death are alike unknown, but he was the contemporary of See also:Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach and See also:Walther von der Vogelweide, and his epic See also:Tristan was written about the See also:year 1210. In all See also:probability he did not belong to the See also:nobility, as he is entitled Meister, never Herr, by his contemporaries; his poem—the only See also:work that can with any certainty be attributed to him—bears See also:witness to a learned See also:education. The See also:story of Tristan had been evolved from its shadowy See also:Celtic origins by the See also:French trouveres of the See also:early 12th See also:century, and had already found its way into See also:Germany before the See also:close of that century, in the crude, unpolished version of Eilhart von Oberge. It was Gottfried, however, who gave it its final See also:form. His version is based not on that of Chretien de See also:Troyes, but on that of a See also:trouvere See also:Thomas, who seems to have been more popular with contemporaries. A comparison of the German epic with the French See also:original is, however, impossible, as Chretien's Tristan is entirely lost, and of Thomas's only a few fragments have come down to us. The story centres in the fatal voyage which Tristan, `a See also:vassal to the See also:court of his See also:uncle See also:King Marke of Kurnewal (See also:Cornwall), makes to See also:Ireland to bring back Isolde as the king's See also:bride. On the return voyage Tristan and Isolde drink by See also:mistake a love potion, which binds them irrevocably to each other. The epic resolves itself into a See also:series of love intrigues in which the two lovers ingeniously outwit the trusting king. They are ultimately discovered, and Tristan flees to See also:Normandy where he marries another Isolde—" Isolde with the See also:white hands "- without being able to forget the blond Isolde of Ireland. At this point Gottfried's narrative breaks off and to learn the close of the story we have to turn to two See also:minor poets of the See also:time, See also:Ulrich von Turheim and Heinrich von See also:Freiberg—the latter much the See also:superior—who have supplied the conclusion.

After further love adventures Tristan is fatally wounded by a poisoned See also:

spear in Normandy; the " blond Isolde," as the only See also:person who has See also:power to cure him, is summoned from Cornwall. The See also:ship that brings her is to See also:bear a white See also:sail if she is on See also:board, a See also:black one if not. Tristan's wife, however, deceives him, announcing that the sail is black, and when Isolde arrives, she finds her See also:lover dead. Marke at last learns the truth concerning the love potion, and has the two lovers buried See also:side by side in Kurnewal. It is difficult to form an estimate of Gottfried's See also:independence of his French source; but it seems clear that he followed closely the narrative of events he found in Thomas. He has, however, introduced into the story an astounding fineness of psychological See also:motive, which, to See also:judge from a See also:general comparison of the Arthurian epic in both lands, is German rather than French; he has spiritualized and deepened the narrative; he has, above all, depicted with a variety and insight, unusual in See also:medieval literature, the effects of an overpowering See also:passion. Yet, glowing and seductive as Gottfried's love-scenes are, they are never for a moment disfigured by frivolous hints or See also:innuendo; the tragedy is unrolled with an earnestness that admits of no See also:touch of See also:humour, and also, it may be added, with a freedom from moralizing which was easier to attain in the 13th than in later centuries. The mastery of See also:style is no less conspicuous. Gottfried had learned his best lessons from Hartmann von Aue, but he was a more original and daring artificer of rhymes and rhythms than that See also:master; he delighted in the sheer See also:music of words, and indulged in antitheses and allegorical conceits to an extent that proved fatal to his imitators. As far as beauty of expression is concerned, Gottfried's Tristan is the masterpiece of the German court eF c. Gottfried's Tristan has been frequently edited: by H. F.

Massman (See also:

Leipzig, 1843) ; by R. Bechstein (2 vols., 3rd ed., Leipzig, 189o-1891) ; by W. Golther (2 vols., See also:Stuttgart, 1889) ; by K. Marold (1906). See also:Translations into See also:modern German have been made by H. See also:Kurz (Stuttgart, 1844) ; by K. See also:Simrock (Leipzig, 1855) ; and, best of all, by W. See also:Hertz (Stuttgart, 1877). There is also an abbreviated See also:English See also:translation by Jessie L. See also:Weston (See also:London, 1899). The continuation of Ulrich von Turheim will be found in Massman's edition; that by Heinrich von Freiberg has been separately edited by R. Bechstein (Leipzig, 1877).

See also R. Heinzel, " Gottfrieds von Strassburg Tristan and See also:

seine Quelle " in the Zeit. See also:fur deut. Alt. xiv. (1869), pp. 272 ff.; W. Golther, See also:Die See also:Sage von Tristan and Isolde (See also:Munich, 1887); F. See also:Piquet, L'Originalite de Gottfried de Strasbourg clans son poeme de Tristan et Isolde (See also:Lille, 19o5). K. See also:Immermann (q.v.) has written an epic of Tristan and Isolde (184o), R. See also:Wagner (q.v.) a musical See also:drama (1865). Cp. R.

Bechstein, Tristan and Isolde in der deutschen Dichtung der Neuzeit (Leipzig, 1877).

End of Article: GOTTFRIED VON STRASSBURG

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