Born: Swabia, Germany, 1160. Education: Educated in a monastery.Career: Minister in the service of a lord. Took part in a crusade,1189-90 or 1197. Died: Between 1210 and 1220.
Publications
Collections
Selections from Hartmann vonAue, translated by Margaret F. Richey. 1962.
Das Hartmann-Liederbuch, edited by Richard Kienast. 1963.
Werke, edited by E. Schwarz. 2 vols., 1967.
Die Lieder Hartmanns von Aue, edited by Ekkehard Blattmann. 1968.
The Narrative Works of Hartmann von Aue, translated by R.W. Fisher. 1983.
Arthurian Romances, Tales, and Lyric Poetry: The Complete Works of Hartmann von Aue, translated with commentary by Frank Tobin, Kim Vivian, Richard H. Lawson. 2001.
Verse
Der arme Heinrich, edited by Johann Gustav Busching. 1810; also edited by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, 1815; Karl Simrok, 1830; W. Wackernagel, 1835; Franz Kocian, 1878; H. Raul, 1882; J.G. Robertson, 1895; E. Gierach, 1911; C.H. Bell, 1931; F. Maurer, 1958; Helmut de Boor, 1967, revised edition by H. Henne, 1987; translated by R.W. Fisher, in The Narrative Works of Hartmann von Aue, 1983.
Das BUchlein, edited by Petrus W. Tax. 1979.
Erec, edited by Moriz Haupt. 1839, revised edition, 1871; also edited by O. von Heinemann, 1898; Albert Litzmann, 1939, revised edition, 1972; as Erec, translated by J.W. Thomas, 1979; also translated by R.W. Fisher, in The Narrative Works of Hartmann von Aue, 1983; Michael Resler, 1987; Thomas L. Keller, 1987.
Gregorius, edited by Karl Lachmann. 1838; also edited by Hermann Paul, 1873; F. Neumann, 1958; as Gregorius: A Medieval Oedipus Legend, translated by Edwin H. Zeydel, 1955; as Gregorius: The Good Sinner, translated by Sheema Zeben Buehne, 1966; as Gregorius, translated by R.W. Fisher, in The Narrative Works of Hartmann von Aue, 1983.
Gedichte, edited by Fedor Bech. 1867.
Iwein, edited by G.F. Benecke and K. Lachmann. 1827; also edited by A. Pernhoffer, 1857; as Iwein, translated by J.W. Thomas, 1979; also translated by R.W. Fisher, in The Narrative Works of Hartmann von Aue, 1983; Patrick M. McConeghy, 1984.
Die Klage, edited by Herta Zutt. 1968.
Das Klagenbuchlein: Hartmann von Aue und das zweite Buchlein, edited by Ludwig Wolff. 1972; edited and translated by Thomas L. Keller, 1986.
Critical Studies:
”An Interpretation of Hartmann’s Iwein" by H. Sacker, in Germanic Review, (36), 1961; ”Heinrich’s Metanoia: Intention and Practice in Der Arme Heinrich" by T. Buck, in Modern Language Review, (60), 1965; Hartmann von Aue and His Lyric Poetry by Leslie Seiffert, 1968; ”Christian Allegory in Hartmann’s Iwein" by J. Clifton-Everest, in Germanic Review, (48), 1973; Hartmann von Aue edited by Hugo Kuhn and Christoph Cormeau, 1973; Gregorius and Der arme Heinrich: Hartmann’s Dualistic and Gradualistic Views of Reality by Frank J. Tobin, 1973; Symbolism in Hartmann’s Iwein by R.E. Lewis, 1975; Hartmann von Aue by P. Wapnewski, 1976; ”The Fortune in Hartmann’s Erec" by F. Pickering, in German Life and Letters, (30), 1976-77; ”The ex lege Rite of Passage in Hartmann’s Iwein" by T.L. Markey, in ColloquiaGermanica (II), 1978; ”The Maiden in Hartmann’s Armen Heinrich: Enrite Redux?” by W.C. McDonald, in Deutsche Vierteljahresschrift, (53), 1979; ”Hartmann’s Gregorius and the Paradox of Sin” by R. Fisher, in Seminar, (17), 1981; Hartmann von Aue: Changing Perspectives edited by Timothy McFarland and Silvia Ranawake, 1988; Hartmann von Aue: Landscapes of the Mind by Susan L. Clark, 1989; Chivalry in Twelfth-Century Germany: The Works of Hartmann von Aue by W.H. Jackson, 1994; The Pilgrimage Motif in the Works of the Medieval German Author Hartmann von Aue by Mary Vandegrift Mills, 1996; Adventures in Interpretation: The Works of Hartman von Aue and Their Critical Reception by Will Hasty, 1996; Bodies of Pain: Suffering in the Works of Hartmann von Aue by Scott E. Pincikowski, 2002.
According to contemporaries, Hartmann von Aue set the standard for the great generation of German poets flourishing around 1200. Hartmann identifies himself as a "dienstman" (ministerialis) ”von Ouwe.” On linguistic grounds we know that he came from Swabia (south-western Germany), a member of the unfree class of ministeriales who, through service as functionaries of the high aristocracy, won noble status for themselves in the course of the 12th century; in his depiction of an ideal knighthood, noble status is legitimated by service to society. He emphasizes his Latin clerical education, unusual for a layman. It is not possible to identify Hartmann’s family—or even his patrons—with any reliability; he may have belonged to the sphere of the Dukes of Zahringen. His literary activity can with confidence be said to extend from about 1180 to around 1205, and he seems to have participated in the Crusade in either 1189-90 or 1197-98; testimony of other poets indicates that he died before 1220.
Hartmann’s oeuvre comprises a youthful disputation on love, Die Klage [The Lover's Lament]; a substantial corpus of love lyrics whose chronology cannot reliably be determined; and four narrative works: two courtly romances, Erec and Iwein, and between them two religious legends, Gregorius and Der arme Heinrich [Poor Sir Henry]. This sequence for his compositions, posited early on stylistic grounds, has long been accepted.
Hartmann’s two Arthurian romances, Erec and Iwein, were based upon two romances by the French poet Chretien de Troyes, who inaugurated the genre of Arthurian romance. These works present critically an ideal by which the problematical nature of knightly ways can be explored. Common to Arthurian texts on the model of Chretien is a tectonic structure in which the hero, accepted into chivalric society, incurs guilt through some specific fault, is repudiated by the community, and must in a second sequence of exploits make good this fault in order to achieve a new, higher integration into aristocratic society. In a system of thematic harmonics which embody the statement of the narrative, the events and persons of these adventures reflect through repetition, parallel, and contrast the nature of the deficiency which is to be remedied.
In spite of its significance as the first German Arthurian romance, Erec, composed soon after 1180, is preserved whole in only a single, large manuscript (the Ambraser MS, a compendium of chivalric poetry) from the early 16th century, and even then its opening is lost; the test has 10,135 verses. Significant divergences from Chretien show that Hartmann also knew other versions of the story. Erec treats marital sexuality, chivalric violence, and their proper regulation as socially beneficial functions. The compulsive Erec and his devoted wife Enite succumb to the erotic delights of marriage and accordingly neglect their public duty as king and queen; once apprised of his disgrace, Erec imposes absolute silence upon his wife during his quest for rehabilitation, but after repeatedly being saved only through her warnings is forced to acknowledge their marital interdependence. Similarly, he learns to exercise his martial prowess in works of rescue and liberation rather than as an end in itself, and finally through social responsibility merits his crown. Enite, growing in maturity and perception before her husband, can be deemed an equal protagonist. Hartmann points up more strongly than his French source the religious dimension of this idealized chivalry.
Iwein, completed by about 1205, is 8,165 verses in length and adhered much more closely to its French source. It is widely recorded, being preserved in 32 manuscripts (some fragmentary). The foreground theme reflects that of Erec, for the protagonist has here to curb his eagerness for chivalric exploits in order to regain the favour of his wife, whom he has neglected. The essential theme here too, however, is the social function which alone legitimates chivalric feats of arms, for after total breakdown and loss of self, Iwein overcomes his frivolous desire for aventiure—the term means both ”a chivalric encounter” and ”a story about chivalric encounters”—and directs his knightly endeavours to deeds of rescue and the defence of what is just. The plot requires feats of diplomatic persuasion in order to motivate the reconciliations between Iwein and his lady. With its myth and fairytale elements the narrative has less inherent linear focus than Erec. Irony embedded in the work serves to convey the author’s critical play with the values of conventional knighthood and the assumptions of chivalric romance.
In narrative structure Hartmann’s religious legends resemble the romances: the protagonist in all his worldly glory is suddenly struck down because he has failed to live according to God’s ordinance, presuming his fortune to be his by right. Gregorius, 4,007 verses in length and composed either in 1188 or in the 1190s, is recorded in 11 manuscripts. Based on a version of the contemporary French Life of Pope Gregory, it portrays the son of a sibling relationship who, after renouncing a monastic life for the world of chivalry, unknowingly commits incest with his mother. After 17 years of harsh penance he is called to the papal throne, and mother and son devote themselves to God’s service in Rome. This work is probably related to a legend type recorded by the Persian Firdousi (10th century) rather than the Oedipus myth, and it focuses more on the need for penance than on the incurring of guilt. Der arme Heinrich, 1,520 verses long and composed probably around 1195, survives in six manuscripts; it depicts an ideal, courtly knight who, visited with leprosy, fails still to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and is prepared even to countenance the willing sacrifice of a pure young virgin for the sake of his cure. Relenting finally as the surgeon prepares the sacrifice, Henry recognizes God’s will and accepts his life as penance for the sin of worldliness. The peasant girl, his counterpart in delusion, denied immediate salvation by means of her sacrifice, must accept that life on earth is meant to be lived. God rewards their acceptance of his will by curing Henry, who marries the girl below his rank and lives in marriage and penance isolated from courtly society.
With their lucid expression and crafted composition, Hartmann’s works illustrate vividly the interaction between clerical learning and the aspirations of the lay aristocracy in a period of dynamic social evolution. Their manuscript transmission suggests that they were perceived to be in distinct categories rather than the work of a single personality; none the less they ranked from the outset as classical models in their genres. Gregorius was translated into Latin as early as 1210, and Iwein served from the 13th century as the basis for cycles of frescoes in Rodeneck in the Tyrol and Schmalkalden in Thuringia. Hartmann’s legends have been reworked in the past century by Thomas Mann and Gerhart Hauptmann.
