Editing Tannhäuser

{{short description|German poet, composer and musician}}
{{other uses}}
{{Expand German|Tannhäuser (Dichter)|date=January 2021}}
[[File:Codex Manesse Tannhäuser.jpg|240px|thumb|Tannhäuser, from the ''[[Codex Manesse]]'' (about 1300).]]

'''Tannhäuser''' ({{IPA|de|ˈtanhɔʏzɐ|lang}}; {{langx|gmh|Tanhûser}}), often stylized "The Tannhäuser", was a German [[Minnesang|Minnesinger]] and [[poet|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]]"–type [[folk ballad]] in [[German folklore]] of the 16th century.

==Historical Tannhäuser==     
The most common tradition has him as a descent from the ''Tanhusen'' family of [[Holy Roman Emperor|Imperial]] ''[[ministeriales]]'', documented in various 13th century sources, with their residence in the area of [[Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz|Neumarkt]] in the Bavarian [[March of the Nordgau|Nordgau]]. These sources identify him as being descended of an Old [[Styria]]n noble family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Tannh%C3%A4user_(Dichter)?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en|title=Tannhäuser (Dichter) – Wikipedia|website=de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog|accessdate=19 May 2023}}</ref>

The illustrated ''[[Codex Manesse]]'' manuscript (about 1300–1340) depicts him clad in the [[Teutonic Order]] habit, suggesting he might have fought in the [[Sixth Crusade]] led by Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] in 1228/29. 
For a while, Tannhäuser was an active [[courtier]] at the court of the [[Duchy of Austria|Austrian]] duke [[Frederick II, Duke of Austria|Frederick the Warlike]], who ruled from 1230 to 1246. Frederick was the last of the [[House of Babenberg|Babenberg]] dukes; upon his death in the [[Battle of the Leitha River]], Tannhäuser left the [[Vienna]] court.

Tannhäuser was a proponent of the ''[[Lai (poetic form)|leich]]'' (''lai'') style of minnesang and dance-song poetry. As literature, his poems [[parody]] the traditional genre with irony and hyperbole, somewhat similar to later [[commercium song]]s. However, his ''Bußlied'' (Poem on Atonement) is unusual, given the eroticism of the remaining ''Codex Manesse''.

==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.

==See also==
* [[Medieval German literature]]
* [[The Woman Who Had No Shadow]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last1=Garrett|first1=Leah|title=A Knight at the opera: Heine, Wagner, Herzl, Peretz, and the Legacy of der Tannhäuser|date=2011|publisher=Purdue University Press|location=West Lafayette, Ind.|isbn=9781557536013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3l-B28DWouwC}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Rindsmaul_(Adelsgeschlecht)?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en Wikipedia of the Rindsmaul family]
* [https://archive.org/details/lausvenerisother00swinuoft Laus Veneris, and other poems (1900), Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 1837–1909]
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9071198/Tannhauser Encyclopædia Britannica Online – Tannhäuser]
* James G. Nelson, ''Publisher to the Decadents: Leonard Smithers in the Careers of Beardsley, Wilde, Dowson''.  Rivendale Press, May 2000. {{ISBN|0-953503-38-0}}.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091211194031/http://www.fairytalechannel.org/2008_05_29_archive.html A Translation of Grimm's Saga No. 171 "Tannhäuser"]
* [https://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/germanica/Chronologie/13Jh/Tanhuser/tan_intr.html Der Tanhuser um 1200/10 – nach 1266] at the Bibliotheca Augustana—a collection of his works (original language)
* {{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Tannhäuser}}
{{German folklore}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tannhauser}}
[[Category:13th-century German poets]]
[[Category:German male composers]]
[[Category:Medieval German knights]]
[[Category:Medieval legends]]
[[Category:Minnesingers]]
[[Category:Middle High German literature]]