Like virtually all great writers of medieval Germany,
little is known regarding Hartmann von
Aue’s life. From references made in his own works
and in the writings of his contemporaries, it can be
surmised that the writer was born to an aristocratic
family and grew up near the southern German
city of Freiburg. He likely received a clerical
education and learned Latin and French before beginning
his activities as a writer in royal and aristocratic
courts.
Hartmann’s first works were poetry and courtly
religious tales, but his literary fame and importance rests on the strength of his longer verse narratives
written between 1180 and 1200. His first
novel, Erec (ca. 1187), was the first story about
King Arthur’s court written in the German language.
He based Erec and his other Arthurian romance,
Iwein (ca. 1193), on the work of the French
writer CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES, but he often diverged
from his source to impart his own unique vision of
courtly life and morals.
Hartmann’s most well-known and personal
work is his Poor Heinrich (ca. 1200). Written in
rhyming verse, the work tells the story of the hero’s
illness and ultimate physical and spiritual redemption.
It is a kind of miracle tale with a strong Christian
message. For his mercy and faith, Heinrich is
ultimately healed by God and therefore serves as a
model of Christian belief and self-sacrifice. Considered
by many as Hartmann’s masterpiece, Poor
Heinrich established the writer as a key figure in
medieval German literature, and the work has
given rise to many modern interpretations and
variations, from the Grimm Brothers’ fairy-tale
version to Longfellow’s Golden Legend.
The scholar Volker Mertens has written of
Hartmann von Aue, “In his poetic precision and
sensibility . . . his mild irony and his feeling for social
and existential problems . . . Hartmann
emerges as a writer with modern subjectivity and
vision.” These qualities continue to make Hartmann’s
work both relevant and moving for present-
day readers.
An English Version of Works by
Hartmann von Aue
Arthurian Romances, Tales and Lyric Poetry: The Complete
Works of Hartmann Von Aue. Translated by
Frank Tobin, Kim Vivian, and Richard Lawson.
University Park: Penn State University Press, 2001.
Works about Hartmann von Aue
Hasty,Will. Adventures in Interpretation: The Works of
Hartmann von Aue and Their Critical Reception.
Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1996.
Jackson,William H. Chivalry in Twelfth-Century Germany:
The Works of Hartmann Von Aue. Rochester,
N.Y.: Boydell & Brewer, 1995.
Mills,Mary Vandegrift. Pilgrimage Motif in the Works
of the Medieval German Author Hartmann Von
Aue. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996.