Höfisches Epos

Höfisches Epos, term used to denote one type of Middle High German poem, often of considerable length, read or more frequently declaimed or intoned at the more sophisticated courts in Germany in the 12th c. and 13th c. The courtly epic sought not only to entertain, but also to embody the chivalric virtues (mâze, maintaining the golden mean or a harmonious self-control, milte, generosity, and minne, respectful love) which this esoteric society esteemed. The poems were chiefly derived, in free translation or adaptation, from French sources, notably several epics of Chrétien de Troyes and one by Thomas de Bretagne. Their subjects come from legends of Brittany, especially the Arthurian tradition.

The history of the German court epic begins with Eilhart von Oberge's Tristrant und Isalde and the Eneit of Heinrich von Veldeke c.1170. It quickly reaches its peak in the work of three great poets, Hartmann von Aue with Erec and Iwein, Wolfram von Eschenbach with Parzival, and Gottfried von Straßburg with Tristan, all three of whom were writing c.1200. There are numerous other contemporary and later writers of court epics, including Ulrich von Zazikhofen (Lanzelet), Heinrich von dem Türlîn (Die Krone and Der Mantel), Wirnt von Grafenberg (Wigalois), der Stricker (Daniel vom blühenden Tal), K. Fleck ( Floire und Blanscheflur), and der Pleier (Garel vom blühenden Tal, Meleranz, and Tandareis und Flordibel). Mention should also be made of Rudolf von Ems (Alexander) and of Konrad von Würzburg's three late courtly epics, Engelhard, Partonopier und Meliur, and Der Trojanerkrieg, which mark a decline in the form, though courtly epics continued to be copied and circulated in the 14th c. and even the 15th c. The earliest works of this kind were written by noblemen, but, as time passed, more and more were composed by commoners whose calling was poetry.