HARTMANN VON AUE, a Middle High German poet, was born about 1170. He was of knightly rank, and held a fief at Aue, which was probably on the upper Neckar. He seems to have been educated in a monastery, and was able to read and write. Among his accomplishments was a knowledge of French, and as he took part in the third crusade he must be considered to have passed under>the influences which were in his time most favourable to poetic impulse. Although his lyrics are not without merit he excels chiefly in narrative poetry; and the best known of his narrative poems, which was also one of the earliest, is Der arme Heinrich ( ci Poor Henry ”). Some of the incidents of this tale are exceedingly repulsive, but others are marked by delicate grace and pathos. Two other tales, Erec and Iwein, the former written before 1197 and the latter before 1204, treat of the Arthurian legend, and are based upon French poems by Chrétien de Troies. The story of each is clearly conceived, and the diction is fresh, harmonious, and animated. Hartmann has neither the exquisite finish and charm of Gottfried of Strasburg nor the soaring imagination of Wolfram von Eschenbach; but he stands next to these supreme mediaeval writers in the power of giving artistic shape to strong feeling. He is mentioned a® alive in 1207 by Gottfried of Strasburg, but in 1220 his death is deplored by Heinrich von dem Türlein in the Krone.

Each of his works has found a special editor; and a complete edition of his writings has been issued by F. Bech in the Deutsche Classiker des Mittelalters. See L. Schmid, Stand, Heimat, und Geschlecht des Minnesängers Hartmann (1874).