Gottfried von Strassburg: Tristan and Isolde

Elegant ladies in genteel dresses, crowned heads at a feast and agile horses at a tournament. Such courtly portrayals and others like them are found in the artistic illustrations of Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan-fragment from the Bavarian State Library in Munich. The oldest surviving manuscript – originating from around 1240/50 – of this “most lithe and melodious of all German poetry from the Middle Ages” amazes not only through the entertaining text, but also through the numerous detailed illustrations.

The Most Significant Courtly Tale of the Middle Ages

The main work of the most important medieval poet originated, as the name affix of the author indicates, from the Alsace region. Influenced by German and French court poetry, Gottfried von Strassburg revised the widespread Tristan material according to Anglo-Normanic source material. Yet the Tristan poem remained only a fragment, and was resumed and completed by Ulrich von Türheim. To this day, Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan and Isolde is considered to be “the most artistically advanced German tale from ca. 1200”. That the poetry was already counted among the most beloved works of literature in Gottfried’s lifetime and across the following centuries is also proven by the fact that the Munich manuscript boasts stark signs of use and stress. The oldest surviving copy of a Tristan manuscript according to Gottfried’s poetry was probably produced in the middle of the 13th century in either the region of Swabia or Lake Constance. On 30 full-page miniatures in addition to the text, the Tristan material is told with fine painting in thrilling pictures. The masterpiece of court poetry, which still leads the canon of Old German literature today along with the Song of the Nibelungs or the Arthurian legends, was organized into two columns respectively and recorded with perfectly legible, fine script with a few initials. A story about the central motif of courtly love was spun in an exciting fashion.

The Courtly World in Powerful and Delicate Colors

The 30 illustrated pages are divided into three strips, respectively. Each of these picture fields shows a primary scene from the geste about the protagonist Tristan. The background of the scenes are mostly monochrome in a luminous color such as intense red, yellow, or blue, as allowed to emerge by the scenes in the foreground. The scenes mentioned are acted out against this powerfully colored background. The figures are either depicted predominantly in monochrome and skillfully drawn with a quill or are additionally colored in what originally were probably luminous, bright colors, which are faded today because of its frequent use. The diverse gestures of the delicate figures are particularly delightful, lending the scenes exciting movement and tension. The manifold, sometimes very expressive faces of the figures exactly express what the depictions and text want to convey. The tale of Tristan and Isolde, like in the text, was imbedded into the contemporary court living environment. Today, Gottfried’s text and illustrated pictures offer us with an entertaining, informative, and intense glimpse in the Middle Ages, its lifestyles, and ways of thinking.