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P o o r H e i n r i c h Introduction “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Nothing could seem more heroic or more in line with Christian ideals than this. Yet if we apply these words of Jesus spoken to his disciples at the Last Supper to Poor Heinrich, we find that being a Christian martyr may not be so simple and straightforward. Briefly, the situation of the protagonist is this: though he is the embodiment of knightly virtues, Heinrich is stricken with leprosy. He is told that his only chance for a cure would be to obtain the heart’s blood of a virgin . Dejected by this news he takes refuge in the household of one of his farmers. A young daughter in the family boldly proclaims that she is willing to give her life so that Heinrich may be cured. The strong-willed girl’s arguments for her proposed sacrifice, her parents’ predictable shock at the thought, and the evolution in Heinrich’s attitude offer the reader a variety of perspectives from which to ponder the matter. Though the material could be the stuff of tragedy, the ensuing actions of Heinrich and the girl lead to a fairy-tale conclusion, and the narrator’s occasional comments on the characters and their actions often complicate rather than clarify the reader’s wish to understand the significance of the tale as it progresses toward a happy resolution. Poor Heinrich has much in common with Hartmann’s other narratives. The structure , though abbreviated, is similar. Instead of watching the hero struggle to attain a goal that proves illusory and then struggle again to attain his true goal, we here find the hero already in possession of his illusory goal when the catastrophe in the form of leprosy occurs. As in the other narratives, the essential turning point here is the hero’s moment of insight rather than a physical event. Here also, the hero rides forth twice to seek his fortune. Commentators usually consider Poor Heinrich to have been composed after Erec and Gregorius and before Iwein, though their reasons for doing so have often had H A R T M A N N V O N A U E 216 more to do with their conjectures about the evolution of Hartmann’s thought than with solid evidence. Juxtaposing it to its non-Arthurian counterpart Gregorius, we can note a pervasive lightheartedness in the narrative despite the temporarily wretched fate of its hero. In contrast, Gregorius is somber, and no real reconciliation with the world is possible. One is left with the impression that Gregorius, deeply scarred by his experiences, is forever incapable of laughter. Despite its religious theme, in Poor Heinrich we leave the dreary landscape inhabited by the penitential saint of legend and enter the land of fairy tales, where dire events have no lasting effects and living happily ever after is never in serious doubt. In at least one respect, however, Hartmann has seen fit to raise his story above the level of fairy tale, where cause-effect relationships are magical, where a kiss awakens the fair maiden or turns a frog back into a prince. In Hartmann’s story it is not simply the blood from the heart of a virgin that Heinrich must find. The blood must flow from the heart of a virgin who sacrifices herself knowingly and willingly. In other words, it must be a fully human act. Finally, it should be mentioned that the poet’s discussion of the social status of the peasant family has left many commentators puzzled. The father is called both vrîer bûman and meier. The first term, “free peasant,” indicates that, though a member of the peasant class, he is not an unfree serf. Therefore, though obviously holding the farm in dependence on Heinrich, he possesses the rights of a freeman or a freeborn person. Meier, which comes from the Latin major (a greater man), also indicates a farmer but frequently refers to someone of greater stature, such as the steward of an estate. This peasant farmer probably should be thought of in this way because when there is talk of the family’s possibly losing much through Heinrich’s death, they fear losing not just lant but liute (people; i.e., workers) as well. In any case, the poet takes several opportunities to point out this family’s...

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