#gottfried von strassburg

[ladyjuquia]

「Meeting the ❝Idol❞」

Lady Juquia and Gottfried von Straßburg - Let’s talk about a Knight from the past and his tragic tale that would inspire us 'til today!

➵ My Take on Gottfried von Straßburgs Look is based on two Paintings that exist of him fused with my own imagination I had of him when reading his comments, drawn by @glacescup I always felt he had something angelic and yet down to earth onto him, someone who sings about Love in a grounded voice…

Paintings:

First by Glacescup, Second is in the Codex Manesse, Third one is by E. v. Luttich

[sixty-silver-wishes]

so in my arthurian literature class a few years ago, we read gottfried von strassburg’s tristan and isolde, and I can’t stop thinking about how FUNNY it is

a list of dumb things that happen in gottfried von strassburg’s tristan and isolde:

tristan manages to sneak into ireland calling himself "tantris," and somehow fools isolde and the queen (also named isolde; there are three people named isolde in the whole book) and the only way isolde finds out it's him is because she's able to match his sword with the wound in her uncle's skull, and not, you know, because tristan just switched the two syllables in his name around. she spends a whole paragraph trying to figure this out

tristan can speak five different languages and the best thing he can come up with is fucking tantris

isolde and her mother are supposed to be like super advanced healers but they somehow can’t immediately figure this out

one of tristan’s skills is being a really good liar. but no we got TANTRIS. do you see why I’m mad about this

this whole story started in the first place because tristan got abducted by norwegian pirates while playing chess on a boat, and he doesn't even notice he's been kidnapped at first

a whole two pages on how to skin a deer carcass, as well as extensive etymology for obscure hunting terms

tristan saying he's not good at playing the harp, only for his epic harp playing to be described in lengthy detail

tristan being depressed until he meets his friend's dog, then wanting to get the dog for isolde, then going on a huge side quest where he fights a giant so his friend will give him the dog

the whole love triangle where tristan has to choose between isolde and someone else also named isolde with basically the same personality

in the wagner opera adaptation, brangane deliberately switches the love and death potions. meanwhile in gottfried’s source text, she literally just forgets she was supposed to deliver a love potion so isolde and mark could drink it, mistakes it for wine, and gives it to tristan and isolde

tristan and isolde spend the entire journey to cornwall having sex

the whole sideplot where marjadoc and melot are trying to catch tristan and isolde having an affair so they dump flour all over the ground

there’s a dragon for some reason

in conclusion, you can guess why I was so disappointed when I watched the wagner opera

[child-of-hurin]

How right he was who said that however one guards against it, the eye longs for the heart, the finger for the pain. The eyes, those lodestars of the heart, long to go raiding to where the heart is turned: the finger and the hand time and time again go towards the pain.

— Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan translated by A. T. Hatto (1960)

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

Isoldes (of Ireland), ranked

5. Gottfried von Strassburg. 0/10, a real bottom-of-the-barrel Isolde. All of her compelling qualities are ported onto other characters so that she can embody the empty shell of idealized femininity: she doesn’t have the medical skill to heal Tristan, her mother does; she doesn’t have any political savvy, Brangien does. Insipid, limp, fickle, boring. Also, and this isn’t strictly related to her, but it is emphasized that she HATES Tristan prior to the potion, and I vastly prefer the versions where they develop a real friendship before the potion turns them into lust-drunk maniacs.

4. Eilhart von Oberge 4/10, a mixed bag. You see where Gottfried got some of his Isolde’s worst characteristics — the pettiness, the fickleness, both when Tristan does something extremely minor like not halting for her sake, and the awful post-wedding-night trying to murder Brangien thing. But she also keeps many of her fun qualities — her medical skill, her deductive reasoning (the detective work to figure out that the Lord High Steward didn’t kill the dragon! Finding Tristan by tracking down his non-Irish horseshoes!). You tried, Eilhart, but you didn’t try hard enough.

3. The Prose Tristan. 7/10, this Isolde is really cooking with gas. She’s giving Tristan a run for his money in the writing-emo-songs department, which sounds honestly insufferable for everyone around them but they seem happy, so like good for them. When called out by Mark gives him a real “yeah, I AM in love with Tristan, and I sure hate you, the fuck are you gonna do about it,” which we love for her. Points docked for attempted Brangien murder, however.

2. Le Morte D’Arthur. 9/10, the Isolde that first made me not normal about Arthuriana. She’s willing to do anything to save Brangien. She holds a castle against Palamedes while he lies down outside the gates and mopes. She writes heartfelt letters to Guenevere. She has a very sweet relationship with Dinadan and lets him pour out his heart about how much he hates love.

1. Béroul 10/10 no notes. Ten steps ahead of Mark at every turn and hilarious about it. Engineering the scenario wherein she will be able to swear honestly that no man ever been between her thighs except Mark and “the leper who made himself a beast of burden and carried me across the ford, and my husband King Mark” by ordering Tristan, in the guise of a beggar, to get down on his knees and “turn your face away and your back toward me, and I will straddle you like a man,” in case we were in any doubt about what they get up to in bed. An icon. A legend. The greatest tragedy of the Arthurian manuscript tradition is that we only have fragments of this one.

[litinart]

isolde by aubrey beardsley (1895)

[tillman]

Web weaving post but its quotes from the baccano light novels about isaac and miria paired with quotes from medieval literature about tristan and isolde (a man a woman a woman a man, chevrefoil, etc etc)

[queer-ragnelle]

Beginner’s Guide to Medieval Arthuriana

Just starting out at a loss for where to begin?

Here’s a guide for introductory Medieval texts and informational resources ordered from most newbie friendly to complex. Guidebooks and encyclopedias are listed last.

All PDFs link to my Google drive and can be found on my blog. This post will be updated as needed.

Pre-Existing Resources

Hi-Lo Arthuriana

Medieval Literature by Language

Retellings by Date

Films by Date

TV Shows by Date

Documentaries by Date

Arthurian Preservation Project

The Camelot Project

If this guide was helpful for you, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi!

Medieval Literature

Page (No Knowledge Required)

The Vulgate Cycle | Navigation Guide | Vulgate Reader (French)

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle (Middle English)

The Marriage of Sir Gawain (Middle English)

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (Middle English)

Sir Lanval (French) | Sir Launfal (Middle English)

The Welsh Triads (Welsh)

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (Middle English)

Squire (Base Knowledge Recommended)

The Mabinogion (Welsh)

Owain (Welsh) | Yvain (French) | Iwein (German) | Ywain (Middle English) | Íven (Norse)

Geraint (Welsh) | Erec (French)| Erec (German) | Erex (Norse)

King Artus (Hebrew)

Morien (Dutch)

Knight (Extensive Knowledge Recommended)

The History of The King's of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth (Latin)

Alliterative Morte Arthure (Middle English)

The Marvels of Rigomer (French)

Jaufre (Occitan/Tagalog)

Le Bel Inconnu (French) | Gliglois (French) | Wigalois (German) | Vidvilt (Yiddish) | Sir Libeaus Desconus (Middle English)

Here Be Dragons (Weird or Arthurian Adjacent)

The Crop-Eared Dog (Irish)

Perceforest | A Perceforest Reader (French)

Le Roman de Silence (French)

From Camelot to China (Yiddish)

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (Middle English)

Grail Quest

Peredur (Welsh) | Perceval + Continuations (French) | Parzival (German) | Perceval (Middle English) | Parceval (Norse)

The Crown by Heinrich von dem Türlin (Diu Crône) (German)

The High Book of The Grail (Perlesvaus) (French)

The History of The Holy Grail (Vulgate) (French)

The Quest for the Holy Grail (Vulgate) (French)

The Quest for The Holy Grail (Post-Vulgate) (French)

Merlin and The Grail by Robert de Boron (French)

The Legend of The Grail (French)

Lancelot Texts

Knight of The Cart by Chrétien de Troyes (French)

Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven (German)

Spanish Lancelot Ballads (Spanish)

The Lancelot Compilation (Dutch)

Gawain Texts

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (Middle English)

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle (Middle English)

Sir Gawain Eleven Romances and Tales (Middle English)

Sir Gawain and The Lady of Lys (French)

The Knight of The Two Swords (French)

The Turk and Sir Gawain (Middle English)

Perilous Graveyard (French)

Roman van Walewein (Dutch)

De Ortu Waluuanii (Latin)

From Camelot to China (Yiddish)

Tristan/Isolde Texts

Béroul & Les Folies (French)

The Romance of Tristan (Prose Tristan) (French)

Tristan and The Round Table (La Tavola Ritonda) | Italian Name Guide (Italian)

Tristano Panciatichiano (Italian)

Tristano Riccardiano (Italian)

Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg (German)

Byelorussian Tristan (Russian)

The Tristan Legend (Norse)

Educational/Informational Resources

Encyclopedias & Handbooks

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia by Norris J. Lacy

The Arthurian Handbook by Norris J. Lacy & Geoffrey Ashe

The Arthurian Name Dictionary by Christopher W. Bruce

The King Who Was and Will Be by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Warriors of Arthur by John Matthews, Bob Stewart, & Richard Hook

Essays & Guides

A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes edited by Joan Tasker & Norris J. Lacy

A Companion to Malory edited by Elizabeth Archibald

A Companion to The Lancelot-Grail Cycle edited by Carol Dover

A Companion to the Gawain-Poet edited by Derek Brewer

Arthur in Welsh Medieval Literature by O. J. Padel

Diu Crône and The Medieval Arthurian Cycle by Neil Thomas

Wirnt von Gravenberg's Wigalois: Intertextuality & Interpretation by Neil Thomas

The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac by Jessie Weston

The Legend of Sir Gawain by Jessie Weston

[morrigan-reads]

Some Freely Available Arthurian Content

in my ongoing endeavour to dive down the rabbit hole that is arthuriana, i've been in pursuit of as much free and easy to access stuff as i can find. (shoutout to @fuckyeaharthuriana's big list, which has made this way easier!)

i haven't necessarily seen links to everything i have managed to put hands on, so i'm going to link a few things here in case they're helpful to anyone else. (plus then i can come back to this post in a few weeks when i've forgotten which things i've already tracked down, i have gone to download jaufry three times in the past month, before realising i already grabbed it. this should help, but probably not.)

Free to Download:

Geraint filius Erbin: [x] no idea the pedigree of this translation, but i think this is the one.

Tristan (Gottfried von Strassburg): Part 1: [x] Part 2: [x] an older prose rendering, but check below for a more modern one.

Jaufre: [x] this has sweet gustave dore art (hence my trying to download it so often.)

Vulgate Cycle: [x] an abridged version of the lancelot, grail, and morte. an unabridged translation of the grail quest is here: [x] unabridged morte below.

La Pulzella Gaia: Part 1: [x] Part 2: [x] a fan translation. very readable tho.

Cantare di Astore e Morgana: [x] another fan translation.

Eachtra an mhadra mhaoi/Eachtra Mhacaoimh-an-iolair: [x] some irish stories!

Layamon's Brut: Part 1: [x] Part 2: [x] Part 3: [x] an older translation, but most of the widely available translations though more modern are only the arthurian portion.

Open Library:

so, these aren't free to download, but if you make a free archive.org account you can check them out digitally for an hour. just be sure not to read this thread on reddit, because it'll tell you how to break the DRM and download them permanently.

there's a tonne more stuff on there, and you can check it out for free! just like a library. i'm a fan. here are just a few bits and pieces.

Erec/Iwein (Hartmann von Aue): [x]

Tristan (Gottfried von Strassburg): [x] includes fragments of the tristan of thomas of england.

Lanzelet: [x]

Vulgate Morte: [x]

Lancelot do Lac: [x] an abridged translation of the non-cyclic lancelot.

Prose Tristan: [x] an abridged translation.

Diu Crône: [x] my fave, not gonna lie.

The Knightly Tales of Sir Gawain: [x] this is a collection of gawain stories (my beloved ladies' knight.) contains the carl of carlisle, the adventures at tarn wadling, golagros and gawain, the avowing of arthur, and dame ragnell - plus some more!

Bonus: Le Morte d'Arthur: Norton Critical: [x] Armstrong: [x] Lumiansky: [x] i know everyone knows how and where to read some version of malory. but these three are my personal faves. the norton critical is, by my understanding, the standard edition of the text. the armstrong and lumiansky are modern english versions, but translations unlike the retellings of most people. i have the lumiansky in print (because it was, like, ten dollars second-hand) and i quite enjoy it, and the dorsey armstrong is also very good (i haven't actually read it cover to cover yet, but i have enjoyed all i have read of it!)

i will come back and add anything new and interesting i find links to! currently trying to find a clearnet link to some dissertations that i have institutional access to through my uni that contain translations, and i'm actually working on some translations of my own that i plan on releasing for free somewhere eventually.

[gellavonhamster]

Curiously, at least, in one Arthuriana Brangaine is related to Isolde as her cousin. It is in the 13th German Arthuriana “Tristan” by Gottfried von Strassburg, where Brangain is called Brangwen in the narrative. This is where Erskine got his inspiration to make them related. It also adds to the timeline because just around the time he wrote it the most recent translation of Von Strasburg's work had come out.

Oh, thank you! I haven't read this one, will keep it in mind

[themuseumwithoutwalls]

MWW Artwork of the Day (8/18/24) Aubrey Beardsley (British, 1872-1898) Isolde (1895) Color lithograph on wove paper, 22.8 x 14.2 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Gift of John Bonebrake)

Beardsley's drawings are admirably suited to the technical possibilities of industrial reproduction. Ambitious and supremely gifted, the young artist developed a perverse and playfully theatrical style partly inspired by Greek vase painting. The Irish princess, Iseult of Ireland (also Iseult La Belle or Iseult la Blonde, "Iseult the Fair"), is the daughter of King Anguish of Ireland and Queen Iseult the Elder. She is a main character in the Tristan poems of Béroul, Thomas of Britain, and Gottfried von Strassburg and in the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner.

[child-of-hurin]

With this they both grew aware (as is inevitable in such matters) that their thoughts for each other ran somewhat in the direction of Love, and they began at once to behave in affectionate accord and watch for time and opportunity for their whispered conversations. Love’s huntsmen as they were, again and again, with question and answer, they laid their nets and their snares for one another, they set up their coverts and lurking-places. (...) ‘Lameir is what distresses me,’ answered Love’s falcon, Isolde

— Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan translated by A. T. Hatto (1960)

[lordgrimwing]

tagged by @zannolin

three ships: Elrond/Celebrian, Elrond/Gil-galad, Gil-galad/Elrond/Celebrian (what can I say? I like them)

first ship: Red Alert/Inferno (not counting the very distant things of my youth from before i was in fandom)

last song: The Minstrel by Blind Guardian

last movie: I so rarely watch movies. probably either Rain Man or The Hobbit: The battle of five armies

currently reading: The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien, The Wicked King by Holly Black, and The Story of Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg (English translation from the Stanford University Library)

currently watching: My Lady Jane, and Ring of Power season 2 as soon as it comes out at the end of the month!

tagging: @totallynotadisplacer, @thescrapwitch, @eclectickefi, and @niennawept

[lesbianboyfriend]

🎤 jules. i've wanted 2 get into arthuriana for ever and ever and i was reading a margaret atwood story today that mentioned something so that is why i am asking u this there are so many books and so many translations. where do i start with this business. people say the once and future king and/or le morte d'arthur is a good place to begin but is this true.. what do u recommend. also how are youuu how was your dayyy

hiii margot!!! gna answer this to the best of my ability but disclosure this is also my first foray into arthurian lit! i am taking a class on it rn so i’m mostly reading what the prof assigns hehe

that being said we started with le morte d’arthur and i do think that’s a good place to start! we didn’t read the whole thing, just the first and last two sections. the writing style wasn’t always my favoritee as it was very. straightforward but it was definitely a good overview of like. the span of arthurian legend and i would def like to read the rest of it. i will say we read the original translation by william caxton and he was. a bit annoying at times but idk what other translations are out there!

rn we are reading selections from chrétien de troyes’ arthurian romances and i really like them!!! i prefer his writing style to malory but it is definitely more episodic stories about different knights and doesn’t offer the same overview as le morte d’arthur. sir gawain and the green knight is also a great episodic knight story

i haven’t read the once and future king—i’ve also heard it’s a good place to start but i unfortunately can’t speak to that. from my experience i’ve found reading at least the beginning and end of malory to be a good intro and i’m sure the rest also provides a great foundation. i do think the beauty of arthuriana is that it’s not bound to like. one overarching canon so you can just kind of fuck around and find what you like. our next reading is gottfried von strassburg’s tristan which i am excited for!!

hopefully this was at least somewhat helpful hehe ^_^ and i am doing good!!! i just spilled chocolate on my white shirt which is sad but it’s just a pajama shirt. i had my first tutoring client in the writing center today and i think it went well!! and i am listening to the bvert playlist and it’s soooo good you have such wonderful music taste <333 kisses!!!

[tillman]

Btw biggest recommendation please read gottfried von strassburgs tristan it is hands down my favorite piece of medieval literature hell maybe literature at all. Gorgeous tale. Dont fucking touch the verse translation though its god awful you can not translate german poetry to english like that.

[quidam-sirenae]

“Gottfried von strassburg” is that not just gottfried of street city?

[merpmonde]

Palais Universitaire de Strasbourg

In 1870, a broad coalition of German nations waged a war against France. Napoleon III's Second French Empire fell swiftly, and the Second German Reich formed on the back of this victory, with a Kaiser at its head. Germany annexed Alsace and Moselle, and had particularly grand plans for Strassburg, the capital of the region. While the city centre on the island was repaired after heavy shelling, the Germans decided to develop around it. To the North, the Neustadt, "New Town", was built, with, at its core, a wide avenue with a palatial residence for the Kaiser at one end, and a University Palace at the other, the storefront of a brand new campus complex. It's still part of the university today, with classrooms and all.

Completed in 1884 in a neo-Renaissance style as a monument to Germany's newfound power, the Palace is richly decorated with statues, ranging from effigies of Germania and Argentina - no relation, the Roman settlement at Strasbourg was called Argentoratum -, and historical figures of German science and thought: below, theologist Martin Luther, mathematician Gottfried von Leibniz, astronomer Johannes Kepler and educator Johannes Sturm. Though probably not a direct response, the Eiffel Tower would provide a similar list of French greats a few years later.

France regained Alsace following World War I, and would de-germanify several buildings in the Neustadt area. The home of Germania insurances became the Gallia building, and the effigy of Germania, restored below, was removed from the University Palace. A similar process would be undertaken in 1945, after Alsace was once again be annexed by Germany in 1940 - the University Palace would need de-nazifying.

However, a few symbols remain as a reminder of the Nazi oppression. In the grand hall, called the Aula, a subtle swastika appears among the geometric patterns on the floor. It sits in a corner, as lonesome as it is loathsome. I thought I had a picture of that swastika, but looking through my folders, I don't appear to have taken photos of the interior at all. I seem to remember thinking "nah, it's weird to take pictures of Nazi swastikas". It's still weird, right?