Der arme Heinrich
Encyclopedia
Der Arme Heinrich is a Middle High German
narrative poem by Hartmann von Aue
. It was probably written in the 1190s and was the second to last of Hartmann's four epic works. The poem combines courtly and religious narrative patterns to tell the story of a noble
knight
who has been stricken by God with leprosy
; he can only be cured by the heart's blood of a virgin who willingly sacrifices herself for his salvation.
(baron) of Ouwe in Swabia
commanding great material wealth and the highest social esteem. He embodies all knightly virtues
and courtly behavior including being skilled in the Minnesang
.
Heinrich plummets from this ideal life when God afflicts him with leprosy and those around him turn away from him in fear and disgust. In contrast with the biblical Job
, Heinrich is unable to come to terms with this and visits doctors in Montpellier
, who are unable to help him. At the famous Schola Medica Salernitana
, he learns from a doctor that the cure does exist, though it is not available for Heinrich: only the life blood of a virgin of marriageable age, who freely sacrifices herself can cure him. Despairing and without hope of recovery, he returns home, gives away the greater part of his worldly goods and goes to live in the house of the caretaker of one of his estates.
There the daughter of a farmer becomes the second main character. The girl (in manuscript
A she is 8, in manuscript B she is 12) is not afraid of Heinrich and becomes his devoted companion. Soon Heinrich jokingly calls her his bride. When he tells her, after three years, what he needs for his cure, she is determined to lay down her life for him. She wants to sacrifice herself for him, because she believes it is the only way to escape this sinful life and as the quickest way to get to everlasting life with God in the hereafter. In a speech whose rhetorical power is ascribed to divine inspiration, she convinces her parents and Heinrich to accept her sacrifice as God's will.
Heinrich and the girl travel to Salerno
. As the doctor, who had tried to talk the girl out of it before the operation, is about to cut out the girl's heart out, Heinrich sees her through a chink in the door, naked and bound to the operating table and intervenes at the last minute. He says that as he compared her beauty to his disfigured form, he became aware of the monstrosity of their undertaking. In this sudden change of heart he accepts his leprosy as the will of God. Thereupon the girl flies off the handle, strongly criticizing him for not letting her die and taunting him as a coward.
On their return journey Heinrich is cured miraculously by God's providence and returns home with the girl where the two are married despite the difference in their social standing. Heinrich returns to his earlier social position and his estate's caretaker becomes a yeoman
farmer. Heinrich and the girl both achieve eternal salvation.
' Erec and Enide
, the model for Hartmann's first novel Erec, was probably well-known by 1165. Therefore, Hartmann probably emerged as an author some years after that, perhaps around 1180. At the latest all four of Hartmann's novels were known by 1205 or 1210, because Wolfram von Eschenbach
refers to Iwien, Hartmann's final work, in his work Parzival. In the chronological framework, Poor Heinrich is thought to have been written third of the four.
In the chronology of Hartmann's work, Poor Heinrich is, for stylistic reasons, counted as the third of his narrative works. The first is generally considered to be the Arthurian novel Erec followed by the legendary story Gregorius. His final work is the second Arthurian story, Iwein, which was possibly begun right after the completion of Erec but only completed later. Hartmann's Minnelieder
(love songs) and Crusades poems are very difficult to date or order, though his short poem Klagebuechlein is usually placed prior to the four novels.
, or Latin records of the Middle Ages
, so one must conclude that the report of the source is fictional and intended as a literary device to underscore the authenticity of the story. The traditional Latin stories from the 14th or 15th centuries Henricus pauper and Albertus pauper are probably derivative of Hartmann's story rather than its sources.
One traditional source is spoken to directly in the text, that of Job, who in the Bible
was tested by God with leprosy. Among other stories of supernatural cases and cures of leprosy are the legend of Pope Sylvester I, who was supposedly healed by Constantine the Great as well as the Amicus und Amelius of Konrad von Würzburg
.
The central question that the story leaves open is the reason God has stricken Heinrich with leprosy. On the one hand it can be considered punishment for his worldly lifestyle—this is how Heinrich himself understands it and there is also a comparison with Absalom
early in the work which support this reading. On the other hand, the leprosy can be interpreted as a test from God, supported by the comparisons with Job. However, unlike Job, Heinrich does not at first accept the test; he seeks a cure and then despairs.
The role of the girl presents another central problem. That she remains nameless, seems to push her into an inferior position that belies her role in the story. The rhetorically masterful and theologically expert speech, which she gives to Heinrich and her parents, convincing them to accept her sacrifice, is attributed to the Holy Ghost. It remains unclear whether she is motivated by true altruism or by a sort of "salvation-egoism," wanting to buy the saving of her own soul, as it often seems.
The girl falls back into a secondary role at the end of the book, though not without being raised to the nobility through her marriage. The social position of the female protagonist presents a real conundrum. The life of Heinrich with his vassal farmer, who at the end becomes a yeoman farmer, can be read as a kind of societal utopia. Equally utopian, is the idea that a farmer's daughter could have been raised to the nobility as the legitimate wife of a baron. It stands to reason that the free or unfree birth of the girl, which Hartmann overtly wished to thematize, is also to be understood as a spiritual allegory.
Also striking is the similarity of the main character's name, Heinrich von Ouwe, with the author's, Hartmann von Aue. One can read it as an attempt at clarifying family history--which would explain the Ministerialis
-class (the lower, unfree nobility) of von Aue's family due to an ancestor's marriage to a commoner. However, Hartmann is silent on the subject.
in 1815. Around that time, it was translated into a number of other languages, including English.
The story was the original basis for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
's loose adaptation in an 1851 poem "The Golden Legend." Longfellow's poem was adapted into a very popular cantata of the same name by Arthur Sullivan
with libretto by Joseph Bennett first performed in 1888.
The poem was later, independently adapted into a full, German-language opera by Hans Pfitzner
with the libretto
by James Grun. It opened in 1895 in Mainz
and was later performed in numerous German cities.
The story was also adopted into a play by Gerhart Hauptmann
, which opened in 1902 in Vienna
.
Middle High German
Middle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German...
narrative poem by Hartmann von Aue
Hartmann von Aue
Hartmann von Aue was a Middle High German poet. He introduced the courtly romance into German literature and, with Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg, was one of the three great epic poets of Middle High German literature...
. It was probably written in the 1190s and was the second to last of Hartmann's four epic works. The poem combines courtly and religious narrative patterns to tell the story of a noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
who has been stricken by God with leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
; he can only be cured by the heart's blood of a virgin who willingly sacrifices herself for his salvation.
Plot
After a short prologue, in which the narrator names himself and from which we have most of our information about Hartmann von Aue, the story begins: Heinrich, a young FreiherrFreiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
(baron) of Ouwe in Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
commanding great material wealth and the highest social esteem. He embodies all knightly virtues
Knightly Virtues
Knightly Virtues were part of a medieval chivalric code of honor. The virtues were a set of 'standards' that Knights of the High Middle Ages tried to adhere to in their daily living and interactions with others. Today, this term still carries similar meanings.Some organizations attempt to continue...
and courtly behavior including being skilled in the Minnesang
Minnesang
Minnesang was the tradition of lyric and song writing in Germany which flourished in the 12th century and continued into the 14th century. People who wrote and performed Minnesang are known as Minnesingers . The name derives from the word minne, Middle High German for love which was their main...
.
Heinrich plummets from this ideal life when God afflicts him with leprosy and those around him turn away from him in fear and disgust. In contrast with the biblical Job
Job (Biblical figure)
Job is the central character of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible. Job is listed as a prophet of God in the Qur'an.- Book of Job :The Book of Job begins with an introduction to Job's character — he is described as a blessed man who lives righteously...
, Heinrich is unable to come to terms with this and visits doctors in Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
, who are unable to help him. At the famous Schola Medica Salernitana
Schola Medica Salernitana
The Schola Medica Salernitana was the first medieval medical school in the cosmopolitan coastal south Italian city of Salerno, which provided the most important source of medical knowledge in Western Europe at the time...
, he learns from a doctor that the cure does exist, though it is not available for Heinrich: only the life blood of a virgin of marriageable age, who freely sacrifices herself can cure him. Despairing and without hope of recovery, he returns home, gives away the greater part of his worldly goods and goes to live in the house of the caretaker of one of his estates.
There the daughter of a farmer becomes the second main character. The girl (in manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
A she is 8, in manuscript B she is 12) is not afraid of Heinrich and becomes his devoted companion. Soon Heinrich jokingly calls her his bride. When he tells her, after three years, what he needs for his cure, she is determined to lay down her life for him. She wants to sacrifice herself for him, because she believes it is the only way to escape this sinful life and as the quickest way to get to everlasting life with God in the hereafter. In a speech whose rhetorical power is ascribed to divine inspiration, she convinces her parents and Heinrich to accept her sacrifice as God's will.
Heinrich and the girl travel to Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
. As the doctor, who had tried to talk the girl out of it before the operation, is about to cut out the girl's heart out, Heinrich sees her through a chink in the door, naked and bound to the operating table and intervenes at the last minute. He says that as he compared her beauty to his disfigured form, he became aware of the monstrosity of their undertaking. In this sudden change of heart he accepts his leprosy as the will of God. Thereupon the girl flies off the handle, strongly criticizing him for not letting her die and taunting him as a coward.
On their return journey Heinrich is cured miraculously by God's providence and returns home with the girl where the two are married despite the difference in their social standing. Heinrich returns to his earlier social position and his estate's caretaker becomes a yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
farmer. Heinrich and the girl both achieve eternal salvation.
Poor Heinrich among Hartmann's works
The date of origin of Poor Heinrich can only be approximated. Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
' Erec and Enide
Erec and Enide
Erec and Enide is the first of Chrétien de Troyes' five romance poems, completed around 1170. It is one of three completed works by the author...
, the model for Hartmann's first novel Erec, was probably well-known by 1165. Therefore, Hartmann probably emerged as an author some years after that, perhaps around 1180. At the latest all four of Hartmann's novels were known by 1205 or 1210, because Wolfram von Eschenbach
Wolfram von Eschenbach
Wolfram von Eschenbach was a German knight and poet, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of his time. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry.-Life:...
refers to Iwien, Hartmann's final work, in his work Parzival. In the chronological framework, Poor Heinrich is thought to have been written third of the four.
In the chronology of Hartmann's work, Poor Heinrich is, for stylistic reasons, counted as the third of his narrative works. The first is generally considered to be the Arthurian novel Erec followed by the legendary story Gregorius. His final work is the second Arthurian story, Iwein, which was possibly begun right after the completion of Erec but only completed later. Hartmann's Minnelieder
Minnesang
Minnesang was the tradition of lyric and song writing in Germany which flourished in the 12th century and continued into the 14th century. People who wrote and performed Minnesang are known as Minnesingers . The name derives from the word minne, Middle High German for love which was their main...
(love songs) and Crusades poems are very difficult to date or order, though his short poem Klagebuechlein is usually placed prior to the four novels.
Subjects and sources
Hartmann speaks in the prologue of stories that he has found in books, which he simply wants to retell. However, such sources have not been found in German, FrenchOld French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
, or Latin records of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, so one must conclude that the report of the source is fictional and intended as a literary device to underscore the authenticity of the story. The traditional Latin stories from the 14th or 15th centuries Henricus pauper and Albertus pauper are probably derivative of Hartmann's story rather than its sources.
One traditional source is spoken to directly in the text, that of Job, who in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
was tested by God with leprosy. Among other stories of supernatural cases and cures of leprosy are the legend of Pope Sylvester I, who was supposedly healed by Constantine the Great as well as the Amicus und Amelius of Konrad von Würzburg
Konrad von Würzburg
Konrad von Würzburg was the chief German poet of the second half of the 13th century.As little is known of his life as that of any other epic poet of the age. By birth probably a native of Würzburg, he seems to have spent part of his life in Strassburg and his later years in Basel, where he died...
.
Interpretations
The poor system of transcription led to a number of inconsistencies and obscurities in the story, most of which have to do with the nameless farmer's daughter. There are two surviving manuscripts as well as various fragments. Most obviously, Manuscript A give her age as 8 when Heinrich comes to live at the steward's house while Manuscript B gives it as 12, along with a number of other differences.The central question that the story leaves open is the reason God has stricken Heinrich with leprosy. On the one hand it can be considered punishment for his worldly lifestyle—this is how Heinrich himself understands it and there is also a comparison with Absalom
Absalom
According to the Bible, Absalom or Avshalom was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maachah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom...
early in the work which support this reading. On the other hand, the leprosy can be interpreted as a test from God, supported by the comparisons with Job. However, unlike Job, Heinrich does not at first accept the test; he seeks a cure and then despairs.
The role of the girl presents another central problem. That she remains nameless, seems to push her into an inferior position that belies her role in the story. The rhetorically masterful and theologically expert speech, which she gives to Heinrich and her parents, convincing them to accept her sacrifice, is attributed to the Holy Ghost. It remains unclear whether she is motivated by true altruism or by a sort of "salvation-egoism," wanting to buy the saving of her own soul, as it often seems.
The girl falls back into a secondary role at the end of the book, though not without being raised to the nobility through her marriage. The social position of the female protagonist presents a real conundrum. The life of Heinrich with his vassal farmer, who at the end becomes a yeoman farmer, can be read as a kind of societal utopia. Equally utopian, is the idea that a farmer's daughter could have been raised to the nobility as the legitimate wife of a baron. It stands to reason that the free or unfree birth of the girl, which Hartmann overtly wished to thematize, is also to be understood as a spiritual allegory.
Also striking is the similarity of the main character's name, Heinrich von Ouwe, with the author's, Hartmann von Aue. One can read it as an attempt at clarifying family history--which would explain the Ministerialis
Ministerialis
Ministerialis ; a post-classical Latin word, used in English, meaning originally servitor, agent, in a broad range of senses...
-class (the lower, unfree nobility) of von Aue's family due to an ancestor's marriage to a commoner. However, Hartmann is silent on the subject.
Adaptations
Von Aue's story was first translated into Modern German in the late 18th century but only became well-known in Germany through an adaptation by the Brothers GrimmBrothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
in 1815. Around that time, it was translated into a number of other languages, including English.
The story was the original basis for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
's loose adaptation in an 1851 poem "The Golden Legend." Longfellow's poem was adapted into a very popular cantata of the same name by Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
with libretto by Joseph Bennett first performed in 1888.
The poem was later, independently adapted into a full, German-language opera by Hans Pfitzner
Hans Pfitzner
Hans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer and self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the great sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.-Biography:Pfitzner was born in Moscow, Russia, where his...
with the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by James Grun. It opened in 1895 in Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
and was later performed in numerous German cities.
The story was also adopted into a play by Gerhart Hauptmann
Gerhart Hauptmann
Gerhart Hauptmann was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.-Life and work:...
, which opened in 1902 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.