Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German

Minnesinger (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who w ...

and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1265. His name becomes associated with a "

fairy queen In folklore and literature, the Fairy Queen or Queen of the Fairies is a female ruler of the fairies, sometimes but not always paired with a king. Depending on the work, she may be named or unnamed; Titania and Mab are two frequently used name ...

"-type folk ballad in

German folklore German folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Germany over a number of centuries. Partially it can be also found in Austria. Characteristics It shares many characteristics with Nordic folklore and English folklore due to th ...

of the 16th century.

Historical Tannhäuser

The most common tradition has him as a descent from the ''Tanhusen'' family of Imperial ''ministeriales'', documented in various 13th century sources, with their residence in the area of Neumarkt in the Bavarian Nordgau. These sources identify him as being descended of an Old Styrian noble family. The illustrated ''

Codex Manesse The Codex Manesse (also Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift or Pariser Handschrift) is a ''Liederhandschrift'' (manuscript containing songs), the single most comprehensive source of Middle High German ''Minnesang'' poetry, written and illustrat ...

'' manuscript (about 1300–1340) depicts him clad in the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

habit, suggesting he might have fought in the Sixth Crusade led by Emperor Frederick II in 1228/29. For a while, Tannhäuser was an active

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...

at the court of the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

duke Frederick the Warlike, who ruled from 1230 to 1246. Frederick was the last of the Babenberg dukes; upon his death in the

Battle of the Leitha River The Battle of the Leitha River was fought on 15 June 1246 near the banks of the Leitha river between the forces of the King Béla IV of Hungary and Duke Frederick II of Austria. The Hungarian army was routed, but Duke Frederick was killed, endin ...

, Tannhäuser left the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

court. Tannhäuser was a proponent of the '' leich'' (''lai'') style of minnesang and dance-song poetry. As literature, his poems

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

the traditional genre with irony and hyperbole, somewhat similar to later

commercium song Commercium songs are traditional academic songs that are sung during academic feasts: commercia and tablerounds. Some very old commercium songs are in Latin, like '' Meum est propositum'' or '' Gaudeamus igitur''. In some countries, hundreds ...

s. However, his ''Bußlied'' (Poem on Atonement) is unusual, given the eroticism of the remaining ''Codex Manesse''.

Tannhäuser legend

Tannhäuser en el Venusberg, por John Collier

Based on his ''Bußlied'', Tannhäuser became the subject of a legendary account. It makes Tannhäuser a knight and poet who found the Venusberg, the subterranean home of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

, and spent a year there worshipping the goddess. After leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser is filled with remorse, and travels to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

to ask

Pope Urban IV Pope Urban IV ( la, Urbanus IV; c. 1195 – 2 October 1264), born Jacques Pantaléon, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death. He was not a cardinal; only a few popes since his time hav ...

(reigned 1261–1264) if it is possible to be absolved of his sins. Urban replies that forgiveness is impossible, as much as it would be for his papal staff to blossom. Three days after Tannhäuser's departure, Urban's staff bloomed with flowers; messengers are sent to retrieve the knight, but he has already returned to Venusberg, never to be seen again.D. L. Ashliman,
Forgiveness and Redemption: folktales of Aarne-Thompson types 755 and 756
The ''Venusberg'' legend has been interpreted in terms of a

Christianised Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

version of the well-known folk-tale type of a mortal visiting the

Otherworld The concept of an otherworld in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other Earth/world"), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherwor ...

: A human being seduced by an elf or fairy experiences the delights of the enchanted realm but later the longing for his earthly home is overwhelming. His desire is granted, but he is not happy (often noting that many years have passed in the world during his absence) and in the end returns to fairy-land. The Venusberg legend has no counterpart in Middle High German literature associated with Tannhäuser. ''Venusberg'' as a name of the "Otherworld" is first mentioned in German in '' Formicarius'' by

Johannes Nider Johannes Nider (c. 1380 – 13 August 1438) was a German theologian. __NOTOC__ Life Nider was born in Swabia. He entered the Order of Preachers at Colmar and after profession was sent to Vienna for his philosophical studies, which he finishe ...

(1437/38) in the context of the rising interest in

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...

at the time. The earliest version of the narrative of the Tannhäuser legend, as yet without association with the figure of Tannhäuser, and naming a "

Sibyl The sibyls (, singular ) were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he described local tradi ...

la" instead of Venus as the queen in the mountain, is recorded in the form of a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

by the Provençal writer

Antoine de la Sale Antoine de la Sale (also ''la Salle'', ''de Lasalle''; 1385/861460/61) was a French courtier, educator and writer. He participated in a number of military campaigns in his youth and he only began writing when he had reached middle age, in the late ...

, part of the compilation known as ''La Salade'' (c. 1440). The association of the narrative of La Sale's ballad, which was likely based on an Italian original, with the name of Tannhäuser, appears to take place in the early 16th century. A German ''Tannhäuser'' folk ballad is recorded in numerous versions beginning around 1510, both in High German and Low German variants. Folkloristic versions were still collected from oral tradition in the early- to mid-20th century, especially in the Alpine region (a Styrian variant with the name ''Waldhauser'' was collected in 1924). Early written transmission around the 1520s was by the means of printed single sheets popular at the time, with examples known from

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, Straubing,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest ...

. The earliest extant version is from ''Jörg Dürnhofers Liederbuch'', printed by Gutknecht of Nuremberg in ca. 1515. The popularity of the ballad continues unabated well into the 17th century. Versions are recorded by Heinrich Kornmann (1614), Johannes Preatorius (1668).

Modern reception

The Preatorius version was included in the ''

Des Knaben Wunderhorn ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder'' (German; "The boy's magic horn: old German songs") is a collection of German folk poems and songs edited by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, and published in Heidelberg, Baden. The book was p ...

'' folksong collection by

Clemens Brentano Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz ...

and

Achim von Arnim Carl Joachim Friedrich Ludwig von Arnim (26 January 1781 – 21 January 1831), better known as Achim von Arnim, was a German poet, novelist, and together with Clemens Brentano and Joseph von Eichendorff, a leading figure of German Romanticism. ...

in 1806. The folk ballad was adapted by

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck was born in B ...

(''Der getreue Eckart und der Tannhäuser'', 1799) and Heinrich Heine (1836). Richard Wagner adapted the legend in his three-act opera ''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and ...

'', completed in 1845. The plot of the opera covers both the ''Tannhäuser'' legend and the epic of the ''

Sängerkrieg The ''Sängerkrieg'' (minstrel contest), also known as the ''Wartburgkrieg'' (Wartburg contest), was a contest among minstrels (''Minnesänger'') at the Wartburg, a castle in Thuringia, Germany, in 1207. Whether the contest was purely legend or h ...

'' at

Wartburg The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the ...

Castle.

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the ...

started to write an erotic treatment of the legend which was never to be finished due to his conversion to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, repudiation of his past works, and subsequent illness and death;* James G. Nelson, ''Publisher to the Decadents: Leonard Smithers in the Careers of Beardsley, Wilde, Dowson''. Rivendale Press, May 2000. the first parts of it were published in '' The Savoy'' and later issued in book form by Leonard Smithers with the title '' Under the Hill''. In 1907, the original manuscript was published and entitled ''The Story of Venus and Tannhäuser''. Max Tannhäuser

John Heath-Stubbs John Francis Alexander Heath-Stubbs (9 July 1918 – 26 December 2006) was an English poet and translator. He is known for verse influenced by classical myths, and for a long Arthurian poem, ''Artorius'' (1972). Biography and works Heath-Stub ...

wrote a poem on the legend called " Tannhauser's End" (Collected Poems page 294).

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

wrote a play called ''Tannhauser'' which follows the characters Tannhauser and Venus. English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne's "Laus Veneris" ("In Praise of Venus") is a telling of the Tannhauser legend. Swinburne also composed the medieval French epigraph that purports to be its source.

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

retells the story in "The Hill of Venus", the final story of his epic 1868-1870 poem '' The Earthly Paradise''. Guy Willoughby in hi
Art and Christhood
asserts that the blossoming staff of the eponymous Young King in Oscar Wilde's fairy tale evokes that of Tannhäuser. H.G. Wells' Sleeper watches an adaption in ''

The Sleeper Awakes ''The Sleeper Awakes'' is a dystopian science fiction novel by English writer H. G. Wells, about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London in which he has become the richest man in the worl ...

'' (1910). He also references it in his short story ''

The Man Who Could Work Miracles ''The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' is a 1937 London Films British fantasy-comedy film directed by Lothar Mendes and produced by Alexander Korda. The film stars Roland Young with a cast of supporting players including Sir Ralph Richardson. ...

'' (1898). Author

Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers ...

references Tannhäuser and Venusberg in the 1967 sci-fi novella ''

Riders of the Purple Wage ''Riders of the Purple Wage'' (1967) is a science fiction novella by American writer Philip José Farmer (1918-2009). It appeared in ''Dangerous Visions'', the New Wave science fiction anthology compiled by Harlan Ellison and won the Hugo Award ...

''. The plot of Neil Gaiman's story "

Neverwhere ''Neverwhere'' is an urban fantasy television miniseries by Neil Gaiman that first aired in 1996 on BBC 2. The series is set in "London Below", a magical realm coexisting with the more familiar London, referred to as "London Above". It was d ...

" broadly mirrors the Tannhauser legend, as does the

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

series ''

Life on Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

''.

References

Bibliography

External links