misuse of offi ce, be it secular or clerical. Heinrich dem-
onstrates, through the implications of the episodes he
adds to those he adapts from his sources, an intimate
knowledge of local politics in the late twelfth century;
the position discernible in his work is opposed to the
Hohenstaufen, imperial one. He also is knowledgeable
in the intricacies of Germanic law, adjusting his French
sources where necessary to make the trial scene at the
end of the work accord with audience’s understanding
of legal procedure.
Further Reading
Düwel, Klaus, ed. Der Reinhart Fuchs des Elsässers Heinrich.
Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1984.
Göttert, Karl-Heinz, ed. and trans. Heinrich der Glîchezâre:
Reinhart Fuchs. Stuttgart: Reclam: 1978.
Hubert Heinen
HEINRICH VON DEM TÜRLIN
(fl. fi rst half of the 13th c.)
The author of Diu Crône (The Crown), a 30,000-line
Middle High German Arthurian romance in rhymed
couplets, with triplets marking the end of each sec-
tion, may also have written Der Mantel (The Cloak), a
fragment of 994 lines, the authorship of which is rather
uncertain.
Heinrich lived in the fi rst half of the 13th century.
The Crône must have been completed by ca. 1230.
The date is linked to Rudolf von Ems’s Alexander,
where Heinrich’s work receives favorable mention as
Allr Aventiure Krône (“Crown of all Adventures”). Of
Heinrich’s biographical background, virtually nothing
is known with certainty. The previously accepted con-
nection with the family name von dem Türlin (meaning
“of the doorway”) in the Carinthian town of St. Veit
seems untenable. From his work we can identify only
his name, his language (Bavarian-Austrian), the degree
of his education (extensive knowledge of French and
Latin, and some Italian), and possibly his social status
(hardly a knight). Internal evidence also suggests strong
ties with the area of the Eastern Alps. Since his work
has been shown to be uniquely syncretistic and thus
dependent on numerous French and German literary
sources, only a major court with strong dynastic con-
nections to France could have enabled him to embark
on a project of such scope. As potential patrons, recent
research has considered the Counts of Görz and Otto
of Andechs-Meran.
Diu Crône belongs to a later group of Arthurian ro-
mances often referred to as “postclassical.” Apart from
recasting much of the matière de Bretagne (Breton,
i.e., French, material), it takes a new and innovative
approach to the aesthetics of romance: in its form, as an
unprecedented venture into the medium of the fantastic;
in its theme, because of its new emphasis on Fortuna
(fortune); and in its structure, by departing from the
standard two-part scheme of Chrétien’s classic form
of romance.
The work is also unique in making Gawein the central
hero. In a plot that synthesizes the exploits of a great
many Arthurian heroes, Gawein turns into an almost
operatic superhero and savior fi gure who makes their
adventures part of his own mission. In essentially three
narrative sequences, he rescues Arthur’s court from
the threat of losing Ginover, undergoes a sequence of
adventures structured around his own role in the Grail
romance, and fi nally–like a second Parzival–reaches a
somewhat anticlimactic zenith in delivering the living
dead at the Grail castle.
As a protégé of Lady Fortune (Salde), Gawein’s rai-
son d’être is the preservation of Arthur’s court. Instead of
pursuing a search for spiritual perfection, Heinrich’s new
type of hero operates in the secular context of a model
court. Arthurian romance, as redefi ned by Heinrich,
turns into a romance of society, stressing the stability
of a central court as an indispensable basis of chivalrous
existence. Heinrich’s view of Arthur’s court, no longer
Utopian, rather aims at a mythic model whose basis is
fragile and ultimately doomed.
See also Rudolph von EmsFurther Reading
Cormeau, Christoph. ‘Wigalois’ und ‘Diu Crône’: Zwei Kapitel
zur Gattungsgeschichte des nachklassischen Aventiureromans.
Munich: Artemis, 1977.
Dick, Ernst S. “Tradition and Emancipation: The Generic Aspect
of Heinrich’s Crône.” In Genres in Medieval German Litera-
ture, ed. Hubert Heinen and Ingeborg Henderson. Göppingen:
Kümmerle, 1986, pp. 74–92.
Jillings, Lewis. Diu Crone of Heinrich von dem Türlein: The
Attempted Emancipation of Secular Narrative. Göppingen:
Kümmerle, 1980.
Kratz, Bernd. “Zur Biographie Heinrichs von dem Türlin.”
Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 11 (1976):
123–167.
Scholl, G. H. F. Diu Crône von Heinrîch von dem Türlîn, 1852;
rpt. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1966.
Thomas, J. W. The Crown: A Ta l e of Sir Gawein and King Arthur’s
Court by Heinrich von dem Türlin. Lincoln, Neb.: University
of Neberaska Press, 1989.
Ernst S. DickHEINRICH VON MELK (d. after 1150)
Heinrich is believed to be the author of Vo m Priester-
leben (On the Life of Priests) and Vo n des todes gehugde
(On the Remembrance of Death), both written after- Although the virtual identity of lines 397–402 in
Vo m Priesterleben with lines 181–186 in Vo n des todes
HEINRICH DER GLÎCHEZÂRE