Gottfried of Strassburg 307Gothic Art: Glorious Visions(New York: Harry N. Abrams,
1996); Teresa Grace Frisch, Gothic Art 1140–c. 1450:
Sources and Documents(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-
Hall, 1971); Richard Marks and Paul Williamson, eds.,
Gothic Art for England, 1400–1547(London: V&A Publi-
cations, 2003); see the “Art, Architecture, and Manuscript
Studies” in Section III of the Bibliography, pp. 835–840.
Goths They supposedly originated by the Baltic Sea. By
the third and the fourth centuries, Gothic groups had
moved south and were living along the northern hinter-
land of the Black Sea, in what is now modern Ukraine,
Romania, and Byelorussia. They were a ruling elite,
rather than an entire population. They invaded the
Roman Empire in the third century, raiding into the
Balkans, Greece, and ANATOLIA, even killing the emperor
Decius (r. 249–251) in battle in 251. They were eventually
driven back outside the empire in the 260s. Their rela-
tions with the empire remained ambivalent and fluid
thereafter. At various times they were paid clients, send-
ing soldiers to fight, especially against Persia. But mostly
the Goths maintained their own political and cultural
agendas, resisting Christianity and intervening in the
Roman civil wars, supporting one candidate or another.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE HUNSAfter about 375, this situation changed completely when
the HUNSarrived from Central Asia. Some Goths were
overrun by the Huns, while others were granted entry in
375 into Roman territory. By now they seemed to have
been converted to ARIANISMand had begun to separate
into the VISIGOTHS or western Goths and the OSTRO-
GOTHSor eastern Goths. In 378 the Visigoths killed the
Eastern emperor Valens (r. 364–378) and destroyed two-
thirds of his army at the Battle of ADRIANOPLE. After that
they became allies and settled along the Danube River. In
405–406 a large Visigothic force under ALARICrampaged
through Italy, sacked Rome, and eventually settled in
Gaul, then Spain. After the death of ATTILAand the sub-
sequent collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 460s, the
Ostrogoths moved into Eastern Roman territory in the
Balkans. The Goths had coalesced into two large groups,
the Visigoths and Ostrogoths, and from then on their dif-
ferent histories were of those peoples.
See also BARBARIANS AND BARBARIAN MIGRATION;
ULPHILAS.
Further reading:Jordanes, The Gothic History of Jor-
danes, ed. Charles Christopher Mierow (Cambridge:
Speculum Historiale, 1960); Peter J. Heather, Goths and
Romans, 332–489(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991); Peter
J. Heather, The Goths(New York: Blackwell, 1996); A. A.
Vasiliev, The Goths in the Crimea (Cambridge: The
Medieval Academy of America, 1936); Herwig Wolfram,
History of the Goths,trans. Thomas J. Dunlap, rev. 2d Ger-
man ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).
Gotland In the VIKINGera, this large Baltic island was
an independent state but a tributary territory of SWEDEN.
The Saga of the Gotlandersand The Law of the Gotlanders
indicate its continued consensual links with Sweden. By
1285, this annual tribute became an obligatory tax of 60
marks. The island was an oligarchic republic of peasant
proprietors whose assembly dispensed justice. Other than
collecting a tax, the king of Sweden did not collect a
share of judicial fines or keep a representative on the
island until later.
Gotland’s wealth was based on its lucrative commer-
cial location and location in the Baltic. At NOVGORODthe
Gotlanders possessed a trading center and a church in the
11th century. In 1161, HENRY THELIONrenewed the priv-
ileges granted to the Gotland MERCHANTSby the emperor
Lothair III (r. 1125–37). A community of German mer-
chants was soon established at Visby on the island. A war
between Visby and the other inhabitants of the island in
1288 weakened the position of Gotland in the long run
and in 1361 the Danish king Valdemar IV Atterdag (r.
1340–75) crushed an army of Gotland farmers and mer-
chants. In the late 14th century, from 1398 to 1407,
debilitating attacks of pirates led to an occupation of Got-
land by the TEUTONICORDER. The island later returned to
Danish rule.
See alsoFURS AND FUR TRADE;RUSSIA ANDRUS’.
Further reading:Erik Nylén, Stones, Ships, and Sym-
bols: The Picture Stones of Gotland from the Viking Age and
Before(Stockholm: Gidlunds, 1988); Lena Thunmark-
Nylén, Bibliography for the Viking Age of Gotland(Visby:
Riksantik varieämbetet och statens historiska museer,
1983).Gottfried of Strassburg(fl. early 13th century) Ger-
man court author
Nothing is known about his life except what can be
glossed from his work. In the late 12th century, the theme
of fatal love was reproduced in the various Celtic, English
and French versions of his story of TRISTAN ANDISEULT.
Gottfried took it up early in the 13th century, translated it
into Middle High German, and adapted it for German
court society. The theme of his unfinished work was to be
faithful to love through suffering model, but he diverged
creatively to modify certain episodes. He favored the
tragic love story over an array of warlike actions that also
form part of his legendary material.
See alsoWOLFRAM VONESCHENBACH.
Further reading: Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan
with the Tristan of Thomas,trans. A. T. Hatto (Baltimore:
Penguin, 1960); Michael Batts, Gottfried von Strassburg
(New York: Twayne, 1971); Hugo Bekker, Gottfried von
Strassburg’s “Tristan”: Journey through the Realm of Eros
(Columbia, S. C.: Camden House, 1987); W. T. H. Jack-
son, The Anatomy of Love: The “Tristan” of Gottfried von
Strassburg(New York: Columbia University Press, 1971).