This compendium provides the first complete methodical documentation of the aphorisms and proverbs in the German medieval romances of Arthur, Tristan, and The Holy Grail . The work collects and classifies the sayings from 21 romances over a period of about 100 years (approx. 1170 - 1300), relates them to their narrative context, gives a paraphrastic explanation of their meaning, locates them via parallel passages in the network of sayings in each work, and using passages from the Bible and both Latin and vernacular medieval literatureplaces them in the relevant tradition of their use.