Hartmann
von Aue
Portrait of Hartmann von Aue from the
Codex Manesse (folio 184v).
born c. 1160
died c. 1210
Middle High German poet, one of the
masters of the courtly epic.
Hartmann’s works suggest that he
received a learned education at a
monastery school, that he was a
ministerialis at a Swabian court, and
that he may have taken part in the Third
Crusade (1189–92) or the ill-fated
Crusade of the Holy Roman emperor Henry
VI in 1197. Hartmann’s extant works
consist of four extended narrative poems
(Erec, Gregorius, Der arme Heinrich,
Iwein), two shorter allegorical love
poems (Büchlein I and II), and 16 lyrics
(13 love songs and three Crusading
songs). The lyrical poems and the two
Büchlein appear to have been written
first, followed by the narrative
poems—his most important works—in the
above order. Gregorius and Der arme
Heinrich are religious works with an
openly didactic purpose. The latter,
Hartmann’s finest poem, tells the story
of a leper who is healed by the
readiness of a pure young girl to
sacrifice her life for him. The two
secular epics Erec and Iwein, both based
on works by Chrétien de Troyes and
belonging to the Arthurian cycle,
enshrine Hartmann’s ethical ideal of
restraint and moderation in human
conduct, and are complementary in that
they depict the return to grace of
wayward knights.
Hartmann regarded his works as
instruments of a moral purpose. Edifying
content mattered more than elegance of
style, for his narratives are
characterized by clarity and directness
and by the avoidance of rhetorical
devices and displays of poetic
virtuosity.
