Drawing upon the most current methodologies, the essays in this book pursue the multifarious functions of end-times in medieval German texts. The contemporary fascination with the end of the world and of life as we know it would not have surprised our counterparts a millennium ago; only the fact that such an end has not yet occurred. Current visions of the apocalypse encompass climate change, terrorism, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and war. Popular culture expresses the fear associated with these global crises, obsessively portraying zombies, alien attacks, pandemics, and self-destructive technology. This book explores how end-times were envisioned in medieval Germany. The essays, written by well-established scholars, examine the period's fascination with the apocalypse by applying the most current methodological approaches to a wide range of literary genres. Drawing upon methodologies such as adaptation theory, gender analysis, space and place studies, reception studies, and memory studies, this book uncovers the rhetorical, didactic, narratological, mnemonic, thematic, cultural, and political functions of end-times in medieval German texts. Contributors: Tina Boyer, Albrecht Classen, Winfried Frey, Will Hasty, Ernst Ralf Hintz, Winder McConnell, Evelyn Meyer, Scott E. Pincikowski, Marian E. Polhill, Alexander Sager, Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand, Joseph M. Sullivan. Ernst Ralf Hintz is Professor of German and Medieval Studies at Truman State University. Scott E. Pincikowski is Professor of German at Hood College.

This book explores the metaphor of topography as a mechanism for the inscription of gender roles in Arthurian romance.

An engagement with the huge growth in neomedievalism forms the core of this volume, with other essays testing its conclusions. Following on from previous issues, this volume continues to explore definitions of neomedievalism and its relationship to traditional medievalism. In four essays that open the volume, Harry Brown, KellyAnn Fitzpatrick, David W. Marshall, and Nils Holger Petersen underscore the elusive nature of distinctions between the two fields, particularly when assessing contemporary film, music, and electronic media. Seven articles then test the need for these distinctions, on subject matter ranging from Sir Walter Scott as a historian; M. E. Braddon's gendered medievalism; friendship models in Mary Elizabeth Haweis's Chaucer for Children; Jorge Luis Borges's Northern interests; medieval practices in Ellis Peters's Cadfael novels; innovative exhibits at the Museum of Wolframs-Eschenbach; and Celtic patterns in modern tattoos. Theory and practice are thus juxtaposed once again in a volume that is certain to fuel a central debate in not one but two of the fastest growing areas of academia. Contributors: Harry Brown, KellyAnn Fitzpatrick, David W. Marshall, Nils Holger Petersen, Mark B. Spencer, Megan L. Morris, Karla Knutson, Vladimir Brljak, Alan T. Gaylord, Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand, Maggie M. Williams

New essays on major aspects of the work of the great medieval German poet. In perhaps 25 years of creative productivity (ca. 1180-ca. 1205), Hartmann von Aue authored a dispute about love between the body and the heart, Die Klage, numerous songs of courtly love, crusading songs, and most likely took part in a Crusade himself. He composed the first German Arthurian romance, Erec, based on Chretien's like-named work, and he -- apparently -- ended his literary career with a second, Iwein. Further, he is the creator of two provocative rel-igious-didactic works, Gregorius, a tale of double incest, repentance, and redemption, and Der arme Heinrich, the account of a seemingly perfect nobleman who is stricken with leprosy and then ultimately cured by a process set into motion by a very young peasant girl, whom he ultimately marries. No other medieval German poet treats such an extraordinary breadth of themes at such a high level of artistic expression. The essays in this volume, written by scholars from North America and Europe, offer insight into many aspects of Hartmann's oeuvre, including the medieval and modern visual and literary reception of his works. The volume also offers considerations of Hartmann and Chretien; Hartmann's putative theological background and the influence of the Bible on his tales; the reflection of his medical knowledge in Der arme Heinrich and Iwein; and acomplete survey of his lyric production. Newer avenues of research are also presented, with essays on issues of gender and on the role of pain as a constitutive part of the courtly experience. It is hoped that this volume will prove to be a stimulating companion not only for those familiar with Hartmann but also for those who are just making the acquaintance of one of the greatest of medieval German poets. Francis G. Gentry is Professor Emeritusof German at the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A wide overview of court culture in the middle ages. The court exercised an enormous amount of influence on the culture of the middle ages, as the essays collected here demonstrate. They examine a wide variety of different areas of medieval courtly culture, from the history of the book through courtly music to the theory of courtesy and courtly love. While some authors deal with the central texts of courtly literature, such as Castiglione's Book of the Courtier, Marie de France's Lais, the romances of Chretien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Gottfried von Strassburg, and the corpus of courtly lyric in various languages, others consider less-studied works like Galeran de Bretagne, or the French version of the Disciplina Clericalis. Several contributions take a comparative approach to courtly texts outside the Western tradition, while others point to the courtly nature of chronicle literature and to courtly influences on religious-didactic works. The volume as a whole thus presents an overview of medieval court culture. Contributors: GLORIA ALLAIRE, LAURA D. BAREFIELD, ANNE BERTHELOT, BERT BEYNEN, JEAN BLACKER, WALTER BLUE, MAUREEN BOULTON, FRANKBRANDSMA, EMMA CAYLEY, MARCO CEROCCHI, CHRISTOPHER R. CLASON, ALAIN CORBELLARI, IVY A. CORFIS, PAUL CREAMER, EVELYN DATTA, JUDITH M. DAVIS, FIDEL FAJARDO-ACOSTA, YASMINA FOEHR-JANSSENS, STACY L. HAHN, CAROL HARVEY, C. STEPHEN JAEGER, KATHY M. KRAUSE, JUNE HALL MCCASH, MATTHIAS MEYER, EDWARD J. MILOWICKI, JEANNE A. NIGHTINGALE, CHRISTOPHER PAGE, ANA PAIRET, WENDY PFEFFER, RUPERT T. PICKENS, MARIA PREDELLI, SILVIA RANAWAKE, PAUL ROCKWELL, SAMUEL, N. ROSENBERG, JUDITH RICE ROTHSCHILD, MARY ROUSE, RICHARD ROUSE, MARIANNE SANDELS, SUSAN STAKEL, ALEXANDRA STERLING-HELLENBRAND, JOSEPH M. SULLIVAN, YUKO TAGAYA, RICHARD TRACHSLER, ADRIAN TUDOR, MARION UHLIG, LORI J. WALTERS, LOGAN E. WHALEN, VALERIE M. WILHITE, MONICA L. WRIGHT.

How is the medieval world depicted today? Two German museums serve as case studies for a vibrant, imaginative, and provocative enactment of twenty-first century medievalism: the Museum Wolfram von Eschenbach in Wolframs Eschenbach (1995) and the Nibelung Museum in Worms (2001). Emerging around the turn of the 20th century, the museums explore medieval German literature, cultural memory and local history. As the museums reconstruct and transform medieval narratives for the contemporary audience, they enact the process of medievalism: they reveal how memory, through the lens of the middle ages, shapes modern cultural identity and heritage. Medieval Literature on Display thereby contributes to important conversations about medievalism's role in constructing and affirming cultural identity, in conceptualizing and finding places for the future of the past. This unique book is vital reading for scholars of medieval literature and historians of medieval Europe, as well as scholars of visual culture and museum studies.

How is the medieval world depicted today? Two German museums serve as case studies for a vibrant, imaginative, and provocative enactment of twenty-first century medievalism: the Museum Wolfram von Eschenbach in Wolframs Eschenbach (1995) and the Nibelung Museum in Worms (2001). Emerging around the turn of the 20th century, the museums explore medieval German literature, cultural memory and local history. As the museums reconstruct and transform medieval narratives for the contemporary audience, they enact the process of medievalism: they reveal how memory, through the lens of the middle ages, shapes modern cultural identity and heritage. Medieval Literature on Display thereby contributes to important conversations about medievalism's role in constructing and affirming cultural identity, in conceptualizing and finding places for the future of the past. This unique book is vital reading for scholars of medieval literature and historians of medieval Europe, as well as scholars of visual culture and museum studies.