Teilband 11 Kleinepik. Wolfram von Eschenbach: ‚Titurel‘. ‚Brief des Priesterkönigs Johannes‘

Open Access

In this eleven-volume complete transcription of the ‘Ambraser Heldenbuch,’ all texts appear in the original Early High German for the first time. A transcription that is faithful to individual characters used by the scribe is synoptically juxtaposed with the manuscript image. A second, diplomatic transcription is arranged by verses and numbered according to established editions. The lavishly illustrated manuscript of almost 250 parchment folios, commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I at the beginning of the sixteenth century, is one of the most important sources of German narrative literature of the Middle Ages. Volume 11 contains the shorter epic texts of the ‘Ambraser Heldenbuch’ (‘Die böse Frau’; Herrand von Wildonie: ‘Die treue Gattin,’ ‘Der betrogene Gatte,’ ‘Der nackte Kaiser,’ ‘Die Katze’; Ulrich von Liechtenstein: ‘Frauenbuch’; Wernher der Gärtner: ‘Helmbrecht’; Der Stricker: ‘Pfaffe Amis’) as well as Wolfram’s von Eschenbach ‘Titurel’ and the ‘Brief des Priesterkönigs Johannes.’ Except for ‘Helmbrecht,’ ‘Pfaffe Amis,’ and ‘Titurel,’ these texts have survived solely in the ‘Ambraser Heldenbuch.’ The ‘Brief des Priesterkönigs Johannes’ is preserved in five German verse adaptations, each of which represents an independent version.

Mario Klarer, University of Innsbruck, Austria.