Mills, Mary V.

Pilgrimage Motif in the Works of the Medieval German Author Hartmann Von Aue

1996 0-7734-8855-3
Within his writings, Hartmann von Aue addresses a problem characteristic of his period, got und der werlt gevallen, by fusing the quest for secular happiness as it is presented in the heroic literatures of ancient and medieval times with the search for spiritual happiness as it is depicted by St. Augustine in his Civitas Dei. In the discussion of the quest for saelde within Hartmann's works, this study establishes the pilgrimage motif as his main tectonic principle and most significant action motif. The examination of Hartmann's tectonic principle also documents the ideologized transformation of the pilgrimage motif as a progression from the rather stark dualism of his Kreuzzugslieder to the gradualism in Gregorius and Der arme Heinrich and marks a peak of gothic style and ideology in the medieval epic tradition.