By Richard
Back on the second weekend in August I went with some friends on a day-trip to the little towns south-west of Nuremberg. We visited several beautiful little towns with their medieval walls still intact and lots of half-timbered houses. A couple of the towns have connections to my favorite medieval troubadour, Wolfram von Eschenbach, who wrote the Arthurian romance "Parzival" sometime between the year 1200 and 1210. One town, called Abenberg, has a statue of him that I had to have a picture of.
That's me with Wolfram, who is playing his lute while reciting the 25,000 rhyming couplets that make up "Parzival". The story is of a
boy, Parzival, who is secluded in a forest dwelling by his mother in order to prevent him from learning the ways of knighthood and to keep him entirely ignorant of chivalry and the ways of men. His seclusion is shattered by three knights passing who tell him of King Arthur's court at Camelot. His inner nature drives him to go join Arthur's court. His mother is heartbroken at the news of his decision but allows him to depart, dressing him in fool's garments in the hopes that the knights will refuse to take him in. Soon after his departure she dies, utterly heart-broken.
At court, Parzival fights and kills Ither, the Red Knight. Putting on the knight's red armor, he rides away from the court and meets Gurnemanz, who teaches him the duties of knighthood, especially self-control and moderation and to avoid asking unnecessary questions.
Parzival rides out to seek adventure, and he eventually arrives at the castle of the Holy Grail. His host, Anfortas, the Fisher King, is terribly wounded, but Parzival remembers Gurnemanz's training and does not ask about the mysterious wound. His failure to show compassion results in his failure to obtain the Grail and relieve the Fisher King's misery. The Grail and the Fisher King and everyone in the castle disappear. The rest of the story is about Parzival's struggle to find the castle again so that he can ask the important question.
We went to the town of Wolframs-Eschenbach. There is no direct evidence that this is the birthplace of Wolfram, because there are no historical documents which mention him. But his works provide evidence for the town's claim, such as the dialect of his works (which is East Franconian) and a number of geographical references.
We came into town through the western city gate, and were met by the view in the photo. A lot of the half-timbered buildings are almost as old as Wolfram, but only a few date back to Wolfram's day. Still, the layout of the town and the atmosphere must be close to what Wolfram knew. There is a nice little museum at the very center of town, across from the central fountain. The museum has information on Wolfram's poetry, especially the symbols in Parzival and his other Arthurian romances such as Titurel and Willehalm, and on aspects of the Medieval Ages such as the roles of men and women and the life of knights.
After we left Wolframs-Eschenbach, we visited a couple more little towns. The last town that we visited was Abenberg. The town is mentioned in the Parzival story in connection with a jousting tournament. The tournament field is still there just outside of the walls of Abenberg Castle, and a bit of it can be seen in the extreme lower-right corner of the photo. Inside the castle is the House of Frankish History, which has a permanent collection called "Travel through Time in Frankonia" which describes life in a medieval castle, explains why Frankonia territories were split up the way they are, and how the Reformation, the Farmer's War, and the 30-Year War affected Frankonia and its people.
_2006-11-04.jpg)
Also in the castle is the School of Bobbin Lace. (Here is a picture from Wikipedia of bobbin lace being made) When we were in Brugge, Belgium, we visited the school there, and we saw some beautiful lace. Afterwards I wondered where you could learn the craft in Germany. I never guessed it would be so close. But then again, I never guessed that the hometown of my favorite medieval poet would be so close either.
Back on the second weekend in August I went with some friends on a day-trip to the little towns south-west of Nuremberg. We visited several beautiful little towns with their medieval walls still intact and lots of half-timbered houses. A couple of the towns have connections to my favorite medieval troubadour, Wolfram von Eschenbach, who wrote the Arthurian romance "Parzival" sometime between the year 1200 and 1210. One town, called Abenberg, has a statue of him that I had to have a picture of.
That's me with Wolfram, who is playing his lute while reciting the 25,000 rhyming couplets that make up "Parzival". The story is of a
boy, Parzival, who is secluded in a forest dwelling by his mother in order to prevent him from learning the ways of knighthood and to keep him entirely ignorant of chivalry and the ways of men. His seclusion is shattered by three knights passing who tell him of King Arthur's court at Camelot. His inner nature drives him to go join Arthur's court. His mother is heartbroken at the news of his decision but allows him to depart, dressing him in fool's garments in the hopes that the knights will refuse to take him in. Soon after his departure she dies, utterly heart-broken.
At court, Parzival fights and kills Ither, the Red Knight. Putting on the knight's red armor, he rides away from the court and meets Gurnemanz, who teaches him the duties of knighthood, especially self-control and moderation and to avoid asking unnecessary questions.
Parzival rides out to seek adventure, and he eventually arrives at the castle of the Holy Grail. His host, Anfortas, the Fisher King, is terribly wounded, but Parzival remembers Gurnemanz's training and does not ask about the mysterious wound. His failure to show compassion results in his failure to obtain the Grail and relieve the Fisher King's misery. The Grail and the Fisher King and everyone in the castle disappear. The rest of the story is about Parzival's struggle to find the castle again so that he can ask the important question.
We went to the town of Wolframs-Eschenbach. There is no direct evidence that this is the birthplace of Wolfram, because there are no historical documents which mention him. But his works provide evidence for the town's claim, such as the dialect of his works (which is East Franconian) and a number of geographical references.We came into town through the western city gate, and were met by the view in the photo. A lot of the half-timbered buildings are almost as old as Wolfram, but only a few date back to Wolfram's day. Still, the layout of the town and the atmosphere must be close to what Wolfram knew. There is a nice little museum at the very center of town, across from the central fountain. The museum has information on Wolfram's poetry, especially the symbols in Parzival and his other Arthurian romances such as Titurel and Willehalm, and on aspects of the Medieval Ages such as the roles of men and women and the life of knights.
After we left Wolframs-Eschenbach, we visited a couple more little towns. The last town that we visited was Abenberg. The town is mentioned in the Parzival story in connection with a jousting tournament. The tournament field is still there just outside of the walls of Abenberg Castle, and a bit of it can be seen in the extreme lower-right corner of the photo. Inside the castle is the House of Frankish History, which has a permanent collection called "Travel through Time in Frankonia" which describes life in a medieval castle, explains why Frankonia territories were split up the way they are, and how the Reformation, the Farmer's War, and the 30-Year War affected Frankonia and its people.
_2006-11-04.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment