The complete text is extant in three fi fteenth-century
paper manuscripts and was fi rst printed by Anton Sorg
in Augsburg as a prose version (chapbook) in 1484. This
chapbook experienced a long-lasting popularity far into
the eighteenth century. Eilhart’s Tristrant was exten-
sively used as an inspirational source for thirteenth-and
fourteenth-century tapestry (e.g., Wienhausen).
In contrast to Gottfried’s later version, Eilhart relies
on simpler motivational elements to explain how Tris-
trant and the Irish princess Isalde meet and fall in love.
The couple is eventually forced to leave the court and
spends two miserable years in the woods until the effects
of a love potion fade and each of them can return to his
or her life. Tristrant marries Kehenis’s sister, also named
Isalde, but continues to love fair Isalde, his King’s,
Marke’s, wife, whom he meets several times in secret.
The lovers are caught fl agrants delicto and are supposed
to be executed. But a leper suggests that Isalde be turned
over to his band to be raped by all of them, which then
provides the opportunity for Tristrant to free himself and
rescue his beloved mistress. Later Tristrant returns home
from another adventure, mortally wounded, and calls
his mistress for his rescue. When she arrives, however,
he has already died, and so she also succumbs to death.
Now King Marke learns about the love potion, forgives
the lovers, and buries them together. Because Eilhart
included more comical elements, gave a time limit to
the power of the potion, and hence described love as a
dangerous power undermining both King Marke’s and
Tristrant’s marriage, this courtly romance had a more
mundane and entertaining character than Gottfried’s
Tristan. Here the fi gure of King Arthur and his court
also play a signifi cant role.
See also Gottfried von Straßburg
Further Reading
Bertau, Karl. Deutsche Literatur im europäischen Mittelalter,
vol. 1, 800–1197. Munich: Beck, 1972.
Eilhart von Oberg. Tristrant, ed. Hadumond Bußmann. Tübingen:
Niemeyer, 1969.
Eilhart von Oberg. Tristrant und Isalde, ed. Danielle Buschinger
and Wolfgang Spiewok. Greifswald: Reineke, 1993.
——. Tristrant, trans. J.W. Thomas. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1978.
McDonald, William C. “King Mark, the Holy Penitent: On a
Neglected Motif in the Eilhart Literary Tradition.” Zeitschrift
für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur 120 (1991):
393–441.
Mertens, Volker. “Eilhart, der Herzog und der Truchseß. Der
‘Tristrant’ am Welfenhof.” in Tristan et Iseut, mythe européen
et mondial, ed. Danielle Buschinger. Göppingen: Kümmerle,
1987, pp. 262–281.
Strohschneider, Peter. “Herrschaft und Liebe: Strukturprob-
leme des Tristanromans bei Eilhart von Oberg.” Zeitschrift
für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur 122 (1993):
36–61.
Albrecht Claasen
EINARR HELGASON SKÁLAGLAMM
(10th century)
Einarr Helgason skálaglamm was one of the most
notable poets of the 10th century. He was of a distin-
guished family of western Iceland, the brother of Ósvífr,
father of Guðrún, whose life is depicted in Laxdæla
saga. Little is known about Einarr’s life, except some
episodes connecting him with Egill Skalla-Grímsson,
whose infl uence is apparent in Einarr’s poetry. Presum-
ably, he spent a great part of his life at the court of Earl
Hákon (d. 995). According to Jómsvíkinga saga, Einarr
was fi rst known as “skjaldmeyjar” (“shield-maiden”)
Einarr, but was later called “skálaglamm” (“scale-
tinkle”), because Earl Hákon gave him a pair of scales
that gave a tinkling sound and foretold the future. Apart
from Vellekla, a panegyric on the Norwegian sovereign
Earl Hákon, some other stanzas by Einarr have been
preserved: two stanzas of a panegyric on the Danish
king Harald Blåtand (BB uetooth), a stanza of another
panegyric on Earl Hákon, and some lausavísur. Vellekla
is one of the most important skaldic poems of the 10th
century. Unfortunately, the poem has not been preserved
as a whole; yet, many of the stanzas are quoted in the
biographies of the Norwegian kings Haraldr gräfeldr
(“grey-cloak”) Eiríksson and Óláfr Tryggvason in
Heimskringla and in that of Earl Hákon in Fagrskinna.
The introductory stanzas and those that deal with the
battle of the Jómsvíkingar are preserved in Snorra Edda.
Certainly, the poem in its present state is not complete;
for example, the “stef”-stanza, which is essential for a
drápa, is lacking.
Although the original structure of Vellekla is un-
certain because of the poem’s state of preservation, it
is possible to offer a synopsis of its contents. After a
comparatively long introduction (six stanzas) containing
the customary elements, such as the request for silence,
the praise of the sovereign, and the announcement of
the theme, the drápa depicts the events that mark Earl
Hákon’s advance to power over the whole of Norway:
the wars with Haraldr gráfeldr and his brothers, the
sons of Eiríkr blóðøx (“blood-axe”) Haraldsson, during
which he took vengeance on his uncle Grjotgarðr and
Haraldr for his father’s, Earl Sigurðr’s, death; the battles
with Ragnfrøðr, another of Eiríkr’s sons, who tried to
reconquer Norway; the victorious battle at the Danevirke
against the German emperor Otto II, which he fought
in the service of the Danish king; the long expedition
through the unknown Gautland back to Trondheim. It
is doubtful whether the stanzas relating to the battle
of the Jómsvíkingar under Earl Sigvaldi belong to this
poem, since they are cited neither in Heimskringla
nor in Fagrskinna; some of these stanzas describe the
benefi cial consequences of the earl’s government. He
restored the old pagan cults that had been abolished
under Eiríkr’s sons, which returned good harvests toEINARR HELGASON SKÁLAGLAMM