Editing Tannhäuser (section)

==Tannhäuser legend==
{{main|Venusberg (mythology)#Tannhauser folk ballad}}
[[File:Tannhäuser en el Venusberg, por John Collier.jpg|thumb|''In the Venusberg'' by [[John Collier (Pre-Raphaelite painter)|John Collier]], 1901: a gilded setting that is distinctly Italian [[quattrocento]].]]

Based on his ''Bußlied'', Tannhäuser became the subject of a legendary account. It makes Tannhäuser a knight and poet who found the [[Venusberg (mythology)|Venusberg]], the subterranean home of [[Venus (goddess)|Venus]], and spent a year there worshipping the goddess. After leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser is filled with remorse, and travels to [[Rome]] to ask [[Pope Urban IV]] (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.<ref name="redeem">D. L. Ashliman, "[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0756.html Forgiveness and Redemption: folktales of Aarne-Thompson types 755 and 756]"</ref>

The earliest version of the narrative of the  legend, not yet associated with name of Tannhäuser, is first recorded by the Provençal writer [[Antoine de la Sale]] (c. 1440) in his book La Salade. Here he narrates his visit to the town of [[Montemonaco]] in the [[Sibillini Mountains]], Italy, and reports on the local legend of a fairy court hidden in a [[Sibyl's Cave|cave]] on the local mountains. La Sale personally visited the cave but did not delve into it past the entrance. He also reports the legend of an unnamed german knight who would have descended in the cave and lived there as one of the fairies' spouse, before coming back to seek forgiveness from the Pope. Despairing of not being forgiven for his sins, he would have returned to the fairies' cave to live eternally among them.

The association of this narrative 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.

The popularity of the ballad continues unabated well into the 17th century. 

The motif became most popular as the principal source for [[Richard Wagner]]'s large three-act opera ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]'' (1845), which changes a few story elements and is known for including a scandalous depiction of the revels of Venus's court in its first scene. The plot of the opera covers both the ''Tannhäuser'' legend and the epic of the ''[[Sängerkrieg]]'' at [[Wartburg]] Castle.