Parzival

Feasts at long tables, armored knights on noble steeds in battle or riding before a city, and crowned heads at the court of King Arthur – these motifs make up the subject matter that is encompassed in the magnificent miniatures of the Munich Parzival manuscript. In doing so, they illustrate the Middle High German poem by the famous Wolfram von Eschenbach in a wonderful way. With the Parzival, he wrote an epic poem about the Arthurian legends between 1200 and 1210 divided into 16 books. Alongside the Willehalm, this 25,000 verse story is the famous poet’s primary work.

An Outstanding Evidential Text

This noteworthy manuscript already originated in the years between 1228 and 1236 in Strasbourg shortly after the completion of the text by Wolfram von Eschenbach. Aside from the Parzival, it additionally contains the Titurel fragments and two rare aubades. Among the altogether 84 surviving manuscripts and fragments of the Parzival, one has assumed a pre-eminent positon and is considered among researchers to be the authoritative reference manuscript. Six scribes worked on the manuscript, whose popularity and frequent use can be attested to by its numerous signs of wear.

Four Special Image Pages

The manuscript with the shelf mark Cgm 19 in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich boasts an additional special feature with its four-page miniature sheet (49r, 49v, 50r, and 50v). These miniature pages present 12 pictures altogether in blocks of three image strips on top of one another respectively. Brightly colored scenes set against blue, green, and gold backgrounds stretch out in an ochre yellow frame. The primary characters are identified with banderoles. Parzival and his half-brother Feirefiz are in battle amidst other figures, at a feast, or depicted during baptism. As a result, these miniatures give an overview of a few passages of the tale in verse and make the manuscript an art-historically significant 13th century artifact!