bavarikon4UDescription
The epic was composed by Wolfram, who probably called himself after the Frankonian city Eschenbach (from 1917 Wolframs-Eschenbach), after the "Percival" in ca. 1210-1220. It comprises 13,988 pairs of rhymed verses. As source of the seemingly unfinished work served a "Chanson de geste", an epic from the cycle on Guillaume d'Orange that focuses on the wars of Charlemagne and his successor. In the centre of attention is Willehalm, margrave of Provence, who is taken prisoner by the Pagans. With Arabel, the daughter of the king of Saracens, he manages to flee. Arabel is baptised and becomes Willehalm's wife. The Saracens are thirsting for revenge but are beaten in a second battle at Alischanz. Wolfram enriches the narrative with deeply human traits - even the heroes are creatures of God. His epic was very popular during the Middle Ages, as is attested by the over 70, however usually only fragmentary preserved manuscripts show. The present codex from the area Quedlinburg/Halberstadt (ca. 1270-1275) was with originally 1,300 figures "the probably most richly illuminated manuscript of the Middle Ages" (Elisabeth Klemm/Ulrich Montag). Image and text are treated as equivalent. It is the only manuscript of an epic with its own image column set next to the text. Datum: 2016
Author
Peter Czoik