Godfrey of Strasbourg (Gottfried von Strassburg)

(end of 12 in. - Ca. 1210)
Famous for the poem Tristan, who served as Richard Wagner's main source for the libretto of his opera Tristan and Isolde. Latest information on the life of Gottfried science does not have, but for some textual grounds Tristan is dated about 1210. The poem, consisting of 19 552 chetyrehudarnyh verse in rhymed couplets, by the time the author's death remained unfinished. Unlike most modern secular poets, Gottfried was not a knight, a clerk, scribe, well versed in the liberal arts and theology.
Tristan (Tristan) Gottfried's biography is built on the principle - narrates the life of Tristan, son of the Prince of Brittany Rival and Blanshfler, sister of King Mark of Cornwall. Tristan was orphaned at birth; secretly brought Roald governing possessions of his late father, he was already at a young age mastered all the arts and subtleties kurtuaznyh. Tristan being captured by pirates but the sea makes it to the shore of Cornwall, in the possession of the mother's uncle, King Mark, who is tied to him with all my heart. Eventually it becomes clear who he is and where. Erected in knighted, . Tristan by his valor, . innate skill and resourcefulness (in addition to him often tell fortunes unprecedented success) performs miraculous feats, . for which the country of Cornwall and King Mark is in front of him in debt,
. The peak of the exploits of Tristan was a dangerous trip to Ireland for a princess Isolde, the daughter of the enemy Mark Morolta, which Tristan had once killed in a duel; princess destined to marry King Mark. But, sailing from Ireland to Cornwall, Iseult and Tristan accidentally drink a magic love potion intended for Isolde and King Mark, and from that moment imbued with one another irresistible passion. Out of jealousy, King Mark adjusts lovers trap, but his cunning is opposed to their ingenuity and invention. Expelled, they live happily for some time in the grotto of love - an episode in which the allegory replace typical of the poem as a whole credibility of the story. The king then forgave them, and returns to the court, which eventually finds them in each other's arms. Tristan flees, leaving his beloved forever. In the land of Arundel, he meets another Isolde, Isolde, which is called Lar, and the sound of your favorite name so act on it, that grief and desire he loses sanity. At this point the poem breaks off Gottfried. In continuation, written by Ulrich from Tyurgeyma (ca. 1236) and Henry of Freiburg (1300), Tristan marries Isolde second, but forget your first true love he can not. Wounded in combat, he called her from overseas, that it has healed his wounds, but Tristan's jealous wife, cheating, telling him that she allegedly refused to come, and he dies in despair. Isolde on arrival finds her lover dead, throws himself on his body and also died of grief.

Narrative Gottfried, preserved in complete list of eleven and twelve fragments, is the most characteristic product of medieval courtly literature.